Biden trashes Trump, touts Microsoft investment in Wisconsin (RACINE)
President Joe Biden touted Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment to build an AI data center on the Mount Pleasant campus of the failed Foxconn project. And as expected, Biden’s remarks over the noon hour in Racine on Wednesday included digs at his predecessor. Biden said former President Donald Trump and his administration promised a $10 billion investment by Foxconn, to build a new manufacturing complex and create 13,000 new jobs. Instead, Biden said 100 homes were bulldozed and hundreds of millions of state and local tax dollars were spent on a project that never panned out. Biden’s fourth campaign visit to Wisconsin comes as the latest Quinnipiac University poll shows him leading Trump 50-44 percent among registered voters in Wisconsin. The poll finds the race too close to call if third party and independent candidates are included.
UW issues warning against commencement disruptions (MADISON)
UW Madison officials won’t tolerate any disruptions of spring commencement events by pro Palestinian protesters. A Wednesday email to students warned that disruption of events including graduation activities would violate state law and won’t be tolerated. The university will recommend a minimum of suspension for students including current graduates who participate in any disruption and place holds on their degrees registration and official records. In addition, the warning says students and non-students engaging in disruptions also risk arrest, citation and criminal charges. Also Wednesday, negotiations between protesters and campus officials broke down. The encampment was ordered removed by 4 PM Wednesday, although it wasn’t immediately clear what would happen if that did not occur.
Madison alders deadlock on resolution in support of UW protesters (MADISON)
A resolution of support for UW protesters failed to pass in Madison Tuesday night. On an 8 – 8 vote, Madison’s city council deadlocked on a resolution that called on UW Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to allow the encampment on Library Mall to continue. So it failed. The UW’s stance has been clear – the encampment is illegal and unsafe. The resolution was just a symbolic move and not any sort of mandate. Even so, there was a nearly 4 hour discussion on the topic with residents and officials airing grievances.
Study finds Wisconsin worst state for Black residents (UNDATED)
A new study again ranks Wisconsin worst in the nation for Black American residents. The study from 24/7 Wall St. analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources. According to the study, the median household income for Black individuals in Wisconsin of just over $38,000 is only 51% of the $75,000 median household income for whites. That’s the widest income gap among all states. The homeownership rate for Black residents stands at 26.5%, compared to nearly 72% for white residents. Black residents make up 6.1% of the state’s population and have an unemployment rate of 8.3%, while the unemployment rate for white residents is 3.0%. Other midwestern states fare little better in the study, with Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois ranking just above Wisconsin.
Ryan won’t vote for Trump (UNDATED)
Paul Ryan doesn’t want Donald Trump back in the White House. The Janesville native, who served as House Speaker during part of Trump’s first term, telling Yahoo Finance this week that he doesn’t plan on voting for his party’s presumed nominee, and instead plans to write in another Republican candidate. Ryan saying character is too important to him, and that the presidency requires the kind of character Trump doesn’t have.
NWS confirms tornadoes in Tuesday night storms (SULLIVAN)
Tuesday night’s storms brought a pair of tornadoes to southern Wisconsin. The National Weather Service confirms a pair of tornado touchdowns in Walworth County. An E F One tornado with winds up to 90 miles per hour touched down near Darien, and an E F Zero with 80 mile per hour winds touched down near Sharon. No one was injured but several buildings were destroyed in Darien.
UWM chancellor meets with protestors, says campus can’t meet some of their demands (MILWAUKEE)
UW Milwaukee’s chancellor some demands from anti-war protestors can’t be met. Protestors want the Milwaukee campus to cut ties with Israeli organizations and businesses over the war in Gaza. Chancellor Mark Mone says some of those requests are legally impossible, but that he’s willing to listen to students. He’s asking protestors to take down their encampment because the university isn’t equipped to protect protestors from bad actors or malicious acts. The encampment has added another 20 tents, as the protest moves into its 11th day on Thursday.
Ascension Health warns of possible data breach (UNDATED)
Ascension Health is warning patients about a possible data breach. The company announced Wednesday it’s seen some suspicious activity on its networks and is investigating. That activity and the response lead to an outage of the health care system’s network. A consultant group is now going over logs from the day to find out if any information was stolen.