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Packers remain winless against winning teams (AUDIO)

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Marquez Valdes-Scantling

For only the second time this season, the Green Bay Packers faced a team with a winning record and lost.  After scoring 28-points in the first half and leading 28-14 at halftime, the Packers (7-3) went on to lose to the Indianapolis Colts (7-3) 34-31 in overtime on Sunday.

The loss dropped the Packers out of the top position in the NFC playoff picture, still with six games left.

The Packers played arguably their best half of football this season in the first half, then played one of their worst in the second half.

Aaron Rodgers completed 27 of 38 for 311 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.  His favorite target, Davante Adams, caught seven passes for 106 yards and a score.  But the Packers ground attack managed just 66 yards on 18 carries with Aaron Jones finishing with 41 yards on 10 carries. [Read more…]

Mertz, offense struggle in Badger loss at Northwestern (AUDIO)

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Graham Mertz – Photo Courtesy of David Stluka / UW Athletics

Redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz committed three first half turnovers and four overall as the Wisconsin Badgers (2-1) fell to the Northwestern Wildcats
(5-0) (17-7 in Evanston, Illinois on Saturday.

The Badgers, who played without injured wide receivers Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor, lost for the fifth time in the last six trips to Evanston.

The Badgers managed just one score on 17 offensive possessions and finished three for 16 on third downs, committing five turnovers for the game.  UW has committed 18 turnovers in the last six meetings against the Wildcats.

Graham Mertz, who hadn’t turned the ball over in his first two games, finished 23 of 41 for 230 yards with a touchdown [Read more…]

Evers declares new public health emergency and face covering order to address continuing COVID-19 crisis

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As promised, Governor Tony Evers on Friday declared a new public health emergency in response to Wisconsin’s coronavirus crisis.

Evers noted that “hospitals are operating at or very near full capacity and healthcare providers are struggling to keep up with the demand for care.” He also issued a new statewide mask order. Both are effective immediately and will expire after 60 days — well into the New Year.

The governor’s actions came as the state Department of Health Services reports another 78 COVID-19 related deaths for Friday.

That brings the statewide toll since the start of the pandemic to 2,954. DHS reported 6,473 new confirmed cases and 190 people newly hospitalized. The 3-day average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has doubled in the past month.

More than 15,500 Wisconsinites have had to be hospitalized, up from just over 9500 a month ago.

Also on Friday, Evers met virtually with Republican legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and new Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu to discuss a pandemic response.

That meeting came after months of inaction by the Republican controlled legislature, and continued GOP supported legal efforts to block Evers’ actions. Both lawmakers and the governor released statements, saying the meeting was productive, but did not provide details on what, if anything, they are prepared to agree on.

 

Evers and Republican legislative leaders to discuss coronavirus response

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Governor Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders are meeting Friday, to discuss a coronavirus strategy. The virtual link up will be the first face to face discussion between the Democratic governor and Republican leadership in months.

With deaths, cases and hospitalizations continuing to climb, and Wisconsin Hospitals Association President Eric Borgerding urging them to take unified action, Evers will meet with incoming Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

READ: WHA letter to the governor and legislative leadership

“My hope is that we have every chance to sit down, find common ground,” Vos told WKOW 27 News on Thursday. “There are certainly things that he has proposed that we won’t support, and I’m sure he’ll feel the same way. But that’s the art of compromise.”

Vos said he agrees with the Hospitals Association that the state needs more COVID testing and contact tracers. Earlier this week, Evers sent the Republican leaders legislation to address COVID-19.

Recount now underway in Dane and Milwaukee Counties, says WEC

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Wisconsin’s partial presidential election recount is now underway.

Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meghan Wolfe says local officials in Dane and Milwaukee Counties will be the ones handling things.

“Those counties have already begun talking with the parties to make sure that they understand the process for designating representatives and for making sure that people will have opportunities to engage with the process and to be able to meaningfully engage with offering those objections and challenges and information.”

Wolfe says that while outside observers will still be welcome to watch the proceedings, they are not allowed to interfere with the recount process.

“They could certainly raise their concerns or their objections to somebody like the primary representative for the candidate, and if they felt like that was information that needed to be brought before the board of canvassers they could.”

Selected officials with either the Biden or Trump campaign will be able to inspect or challenge ballots, and observers can be on hand at a safe distance to watch the proceedings. The exact process will be up to local officials in either Milwaukee or Madison.

There’s also been a discussion on getting a full audit of the state’s voting equipment. Wolfe says that by law they have to inspect 3% of the voting machines in the state every election, but that they check 5%.

“Again, we’ve never had a problem that resulted from the voting equipment audits, but if there were that of course would be a huge deal and something that we would bring to the commission and the public’s attention immediately so that they can address next steps.”

Wolfe says that those audits are performed on random machines across the state through a hand counting method, so technically the machines that are under a recount are also being audited at this time.

The recount will have to be completed by December 1st. 

Vos says he’s willing to work with governor on pandemic response but offers few specifics

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After months of doing nothing about the pandemic, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he’s ready to work with the governor.

But during a Tuesday press conference, reporters pressed Vos for specifics. “You don’t have a bill. You just have ideas you want to talk about after 8 months. How can you say ‘we’ve been working on this all along’ if we haven’t got anything to show for it,” Vos was asked.

“Oh we do,” Vos said. “We have those exact ideas, but the whole point is as we have gone through the summer the Democrats have spent tens of millions of dollars lying about our record, saying we didn’t care about COVID, and that of course is not true.”

Governor Tony Evers has proposed legislation which includes a potential ban on evictions, requiring health plans to cover COVID-related testing and treatment, and to continue waiving the waiting period for unemployment insurance.

Evers’ office said he forwarded those proposals to Republican leadership, and had not heard back prior to Vos’ press conference.

Vos offered little in the way proposals beyond continued support for National Guard deployments at testing sites, and a need for more testing and tracing.

“We do not have bill language drafted. We do not have specific provisions that we’re offering like he does,” Vos said. “But I do think it’s important that as he has news conferences two and three times a week – and he should – that Assembly Republicans also have the chance to talk about things that we are for, and the things that we want to do, which is why we’re here today.”

His office released a statement Tuesday afternoon.

None of this may matter, as Senate President Chris Kapenga told the Journal Sentinel that he’s “not real keen,” on Evers’ proposals, which would cost about $541 million.

On Tuesday, the state reported new records for coronavirus-related deaths and hospitalizations.

Vos said most people in the state don’t care about partisan fights. “They want us to say ‘don’t focus on who’s fighting with who, don’t focus on who’s going to meet, what time where. Nobody cares. What they want is they want us to find answers where you can actually move the ball forward, and be able to things that can actually help those that are dealing with the coronavirus.”

Record day for COVID-19 deaths in Wisconsin, Dane County puts strict gathering ban in place

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It’s been another record day of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Wisconsin as a surge of infections continues to move through Wisconsin.

The Department of Health Services reports that 318 people were sent to the hospital and 92 people died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a record for both of those numbers. Over 7,000 people tested positive, putting the total number of cases over 323 thousand.

The seven day average number of deaths is now at 49, and that’s up over 800 percent in only 2 months.

Public Health Madison – Dane County has put a ban on public indoor gatherings, and is restricting outdoor gatherings to just 10 people, even with social distancing. 

That includes sporting events, meetings, movies, conferences, and other activities. Indoor mass gatherings of any people who do not live together are prohibited. “This virus does not spread on its own. We spread it. Every gathering – no matter the size – is an opportunity for disease spread and prolongs the pandemic,” said Janel Heinrich, Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County. “We are hopeful that with the community’s cooperation, we can bring our numbers down and avoid more hospitalizations and deaths,” added Heinrich.

The new emergency order will be in effect starting on Wednesday and running through December 16th.

Bucks were busy overnight!

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Bucks GM Jon Horst

Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst held a pre-draft Zoom call with reporters on Monday to discuss the latest on the team as the NBA Draft approaches Wednesday night, the ability to make trades starting yester (Monday) and free agency opening Friday.  By the time the day finished, most of what Horst said became irrelevent.

Monday night, the Bucks pulled off a pair of big deals with New Orleans and Sacramento, hoping their all-in approach will convince star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a Supermax deal with the team as early as Sunday.

The Bucks and Pelicans came up with a trade agreement with the Bucks getting all-star guard Jrue Holiday for Eric Bledsoe and George Hill as well as three first-round draft picks.  The deal also allows the Bucks to swap picks with the Bucks in two other drafts.  The deal is expected to leave the Bucks without their first round pick (24th overall) in Wednesday nights draft.

Following that deal, the Bucks sent Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova to the Kings for Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin James.  DiVincenzo was the Bucks first round pick in 2018 while Wilson was taken in the first round in 2017.

The deals still leave the Bucks well over the salary cap with just seven players on their roster and little depth to speak of at the moment.  It’ll leave Horst trying to build the rest of his roster with minimum contracts. [Read more…]

Badger football team moves up in both Top-25 Polls

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The Wisconsin Badgers, coming off a 49-11 win over the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday night, moved up in both Top 25 Polls on Sunday.

The Badgers climbed two spots to number-12 in the Amway Coaches Poll.  They’re third among four Big Ten Conference teams in this weeks poll.

Ohio State (3-0) is at number-3.  Indiana (4-0) is at number-10.  Northwestern (4-0) moved up three spots to number-20.

The Wildcats have made the turnaround from a 1-8 record a year ago and will host the Badgers on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Evanston.

The Badgers also moved up three spots to number-10 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Packers lock up Bakhtiari for four years with record deal (AUDIO)

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#69 David Bakhtiari blocking during Sunday’s win over Jacksonville

It was a goal for David Bakhtiari to be the highest paid left tackle in the National Football League.  When the ink dried on the contract extension that he signed late Saturday night, the Green Bay Packers offensive lineman had just become the highest paid offensive lineman in league history.

Bakhtiari’s new deal, as reported by ESPN, is for four years and worth up to $105.5 million.  It includes $2 million in incentives and a $30 million signing bonus, all payable by the end of the current 2020 season.  The deal averages $23 million over the four years, surpassing the deal Laremy Tunsil signed with the Houston Texans in May ($22 million per year).  ProFootballTalk.com first reported the news of Bakhtiari’s extension during Sunday’s 24-20 win over Jacksonville.

“That was something that I’ve been chasing for a while,” said Bakhtiari after the game.  “In having the talks with my family, to have that monetary validation for all the hard work that I’ve put in really meant a lot and that was something that I can hold on to and have that title for the rest of my life.  That is something special that I’ve been chasing really ever since I got in the league.  I have goals, very lofty ones, and I always wanted to say that I was the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL [Read more…]