(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin lawmakers are working on legislation to enable sports wagering throughout the state, but the law could meet legal opposition since the Wisconsin Constitution states “the legislature may not authorize gambling in any form” outside a few exceptions, including bingo, raffle games, pari-mutual racing and some forms of lottery.
The new legislation would change the state’s legal definition of a bet by stating that bet does not include a sports wager by a person “physically located in this state using a mobile or other electronic device if the server or other device used to conduct such event or sports wager is physically located on a federally recognized American Indian tribe’s Indian lands.”
A bet that fits the state statute definition of “bet” is currently a misdemeanor offense in Wisconsin.
While the proposed Wisconsin hub-and-spoke model has already been approved in Florida, Wisconsin has a different constitution with different definitions that would need to hold up in court if challenged.
Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has looked into the details of how Wisconsin went from a state that doesn’t allow gambling to one that earns revenue each year through gaming compacts with tribes in the state.
“This is a huge industry, obviously, in Wisconsin,” Vebber told The Center Square. “But the way we got there is just an interesting narrative of kind of this legal back and forth. People kind of forget that sometimes and I just like to point it out and how this all came to be.”
Vebber was clear that he and WILL are not planning a lawsuit on the legislation.
But he detailed the history of legal gaming in the state, from the original ban to amendments in the 1960s and 1980s to allow the exceptions to the law to the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, gaming compacts negotiated in 1991 and 1992 by Gov. Tommy Thompson and then a state constitutional amendment that banned most gaming in 1993.
After a challenge, the compacts were allowed to continue because they were approved before the amendment and they were allowed to be amended themselves in the future, including to allow for sports wagering on tribal lands several years ago, something the new legislation would expand upon.
“The question is does that violate Article 4, Section 24 of the constitution, which is pretty clear that the Legislature doesn’t have any authority enact any bill that authorizes gambling in any form,” Vebber said.
He noted that the opposing viewpoint could be that wagering is already authorized and this legislation is just changing the definition of where that occurs.
“It’s something that I don’t think have ever been contested … certainly not in this context, that I am aware of,” Vebber said.
The cleaner way to avoid legal challenges would be to create a new constitutional amendment to allow for sports wagering. But that would have to pass two different Legislatures and then go to a statewide vote.
The new legislation states “this bill does not authorize gambling on its own; it only is one part in a multi-step process to create the legal framework necessary for Wisconsin to participate in mobile sports wagering under tribal compacts,” it reads. “Gaming compacts between states and tribes need to be federally approved by the U.S. Department of Interior before going into effect.”
That means which sports wagering companies are able to work with the tribes on statewide mobile wagering and what level of shared revenue will come from the expanded sports wagering is still to be determined.
Each of the tribes has a compact currently in place with the state where the state earns a percentage of tribal gaming revenue.
The bill estimates it will bring hundreds of millions of illegal bets into legal sportsbooks in the state, stating the change “generates new revenue through tribal gaming compacts and reduces consumer risk from offshore operators.”
In 2024, the state received more than $66 million in shared revenue payments with nearly $66 million in 2023 and nearly $57 million in 2022.

(The Center Square) – Another month of rising prices is not scaring people away from buying a house in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Realtors released their housing report for September, showing prices are up almost 9% over September of last year.
“Both statewide existing home sales and prices rose by solid margins in September. Compared to September 2024, closings increased 6.9%, and median prices rose 8.7% to $337,000,” the report stated.
That $337,000 median price is actually slightly lower than the median price in August. The association said the median price tag was $338,000 to close out the summer.
The association said there are more homes for sale, and more homes selling compared to this time last year. But the September report notes that sales since January have been a bit more sluggish.
“On a year-to-date basis, the growth was more modest, with sales up 2% relative to the first nine months of 2024, and median prices up 5.2% to $326,000 over that same period,” the report stated. “We’re still in a seller’s market with just four months of supply statewide,
but it’s good to see our listings continue to improve. Higher inventories should help drive sales growth and moderate prices in the months ahead,” Realtors board chair Chris DeVincentis said in a statement.
Once again prices and sales are regional, and the Madison and Milwaukee areas drove both.
The median price for a home in south central Wisconsin, including Madison and Dane County, continues to be the highest at $389,900. Southeast Wisconsin comes in second with a $350,000 median price tag.
Southeast Wisconsin led the state in sales. Thirty-four percent of the homes sold in September of 2025 were sold in southeast Wisconsin.
Northeast Wisconsin saw the second most sales, with 21% of closings in. September. South central Wisconsin saw just over 18% of sales in September.
“We’ve seen some nice improvements in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate over the past couple months, and it was good to see rates finally fall below 6.5% in September. Hopefully these rate improvements continue for the remainder of this year and into 2026,” Realtors CEO Tom Larson said in a statement.

(The Center Square) – Thursday’s committee hearing looking at the sexual misconduct investigation process for Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction included plenty of questions but no DPI superintendent.
Jill Underly was instead at Indiana University to collect a distinguished alumni award, which led to criticism from committee leaders and a pair of Republican candidates for governor.
“Not only was the superintendent absent from the hearing, she was absent from our state,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said after leading the informational hearing in the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency.
Underly was invited to a Nov. 4 informational hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Education and Deputy State Superintendent Tom McCarthy said that she planned to appear in front of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee at 9 a.m. on Nov. 5.
McCarthy and a pair of DPI employees answered questions in Underly’s place.
“I’m disappointed that Dr. Underly is not here,” Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona said as the meeting began. “… She should be.”
The hearing began with comments from Kenosha Chief of Police Patrick Patton, who added context about the difficulty of pinpointing charges against teachers who cross ethical lines with students, advocating for a grooming law and for a change current law involving sexual misconduct by a school staff person after a teacher was able to avoid the charge by changing schools.
Patton was asked whether he believes sexual misconduct from teachers and school staff is a growing issue.
“I think this has been a historically underreported problem,” Patton said.
DPI representatives then detailed their investigative work and how teachers are often offered the option of permanently revoking their teacher license in order to end an investigation.
McCarthy, however, admitted that process was not in statute nor could they prevent a teacher from later asking for the license to be reinstated. He also said that there are jobs within schools, like some paraprofessional roles, that do not require licenses.
DPI representatives said that revoked licenses are noted in a national database but that school districts and the public cannot access that database, only state education departments can.
Lawmakers also pointed the finger at Gov. Tony Evers, previously the DPI superintendent, for his lack of response to the stories and legislative inquiries into the department’s investigative process.
“Gov. Evers has said nothing,” Congressman and Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany said at a press conference outside the Wisconsin Capitol after the hearing. “Not a word.”
Fellow Republican governor candidate Josh Schoemann again called for Underly to resign.
Underly posted a brief video in response to the inquiries, saying the “safety, dignity and well-being” of Wisconsin children is her top priority.
“At DPI, we investigate every complaint we receive,” Underly wrote. “Decisions are guided by evidence, due process, transparency and a commitment to protecting kids.”

(The Center Square) – More people are asking more questions about how Wisconsin’s public school managers handle investigations into teachers accused of grooming or sexual misconduct.
The Institute for Reforming Government announced that it has filed a public records request with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction “seeking to uncover details surrounding the Department’s handling of teacher licenses for educators accused of misconduct and
grooming.”
IRG is just the latest to press DPI for answers about The Cap Times investigation and The Center Square’s follow up stories into teacher grooming. That investigation found that 200 teachers over a five-year period were allowed to walk away from a grooming or sexual misconduct investigation by simply resigning.
Some of those teachers found their way back to classrooms and schools.
“Every parent in Wisconsin places enormous trust in our schools and educators, and that trust is broken when misconduct is swept under the rug,” Jake Curtis, director of IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight, said. “Our request demands transparency and oversight. The public has the right to know whether DPI’s leadership intentionally allowed abusers to remain in classrooms or turned a blind eye when they were quietly shuffled to other districts.”
Curtis said Wisconsin’s state superintendent, Jill Underly, needs to answer questions about DPI’s investigations as soon as possible.
She won’t be answering those questions today.
Underly has committed to a celebration at her alma mater Indiana University today, instead of attending the Wisconsin Assembly’s hearing on the investigation, DPI’s failures, and three pieces of legislation aimed at protecting students from predatory teachers.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly will not attend hearing this morning on how her department investigates sexual misconduct and grooming allegations against teachers and school staff, according to Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie.
Underly will instead be at Indiana University to receive a distinguished alumni award from Indiana’s College of Arts & Sciences.
Nedweski scheduled the hearing to obtain information after a series of stories from Madison’s Capital Times showed flaws in the DPI’s process of investigating sexual misconduct and grooming cases.
“Parents deserve transparency from Wisconsin’s top education official,” Nedweski wrote. “The @CapTimes report is deeply unsettling — families deserve to know their kids are safe in school.
“At no point did Underly or her team even try to reschedule the hearing date with my office.”
DPI responded Friday in a letter claiming the Capital Times should correct its story related to 200 investigations from 2018 to 2023 into teachers for sexual misconduct and grooming were shielded from the public.
Nedweski announced she will introduce three bills related to protecting students from grooming and sexual misconduct since the report, including a specific grooming law modeled after laws from Illinois and Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s Senate Committee on Education also requested answers from Underly in a letter, along with her presence at a committee hearing.
Five Wisconsin U.S. Congress members sent a letter to Underly requesting a thorough investigation into DPI’s process.
“Rather than covering up these allegations, each incident should be thoroughly investigated and, if verified, the public and the student’s parents should be informed,” the congressmen wrote. “We echo many of the same questions that members of Wisconsin State Legislature have asked in a recent letter to Superintendent Jill Underly and request that you and the Superintendent hastily answer the letter in its entirety.”

(The Center Square) – The definition of grooming in a new law being proposed in Wisconsin will include influence from a 2021 Illinois law and a 2024 law passed in Florida, according to the bill’s sponsor.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, spoke with News Talk 1130-WISN on Wednesday, asking questions on behalf of The Center Square about Nedweski’s proposal, which she has begun pushing after a series of stories from Madison’s Capital Times showed flaws in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s process of investigating sexual misconduct and grooming cases.
DPI said in a Friday statement that grooming and professional boundary violations aren’t included in current statute in the definition of immoral conduct, “limiting our agency’s ability to obtain critical pieces of information.”
But the statutory definition of immoral conduct is “conduct or behavior that is contrary to commonly accepted moral or ethical standards and that endangers the health, safety, welfare, or education of any pupil.”
“I would beg to differ,” Nedweski said in her Wednesday radio interview. “I might say ‘Gee, I think grooming and professional boundary violations certainly are contrary to commonly accepted moral and ethical standards.’
“I’m concerned that the state’s superintendent of schools is saying maybe they don’t fall under that standard. It’s very concerning and I’m hoping to get an answer on that tomorrow.”
The Illinois grooming law, dubbed Faith’s Law, passed the Legislature unanimously in 2021 before being signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker.
That law requires school districts to create a code of conduct for teachers to protect students from misconduct and also includes the requirement of a resource guide for parents that must be posted on the school’s website and listed in the school’s handbooks.
The definition is “when he or she knowingly uses a computer online service, Internet service, local bulletin board service, or any other device capable of electronic data storage or transmission, performs an act in person or by conduct through a third party, or uses written communication to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, or attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, a child, a child’s guardian, or another person believed by the person to be a child or a child’s guardian, to commit any sex offense … to distribute photographs depicting the sex organs of the child, or to otherwise engage in any unlawful sexual conduct with a child or with another person believed by the person to be a child.”
The Florida law passed the House unanimously, the Florida Senate amended it and it passed unanimously and then 11 representatives voted against the final bill because it changed the word “grooming” to “harmful communication to a minor.”
“We’re going to do the best we can to have a comprehensive definition of what grooming is in the statute once we introduce the bill and then we will have different levels of penalty for different types of interactions,” Nedweski said, noting that seven or eight states already have “good laws” on the topic that Wisconsin can learn from.
She said there are multiple advocacy groups that can conduct professional development for teachers are the correct professional boundaries.
Attempts by The Center Square to reach DPI the Wisconsin Education Association Council were unsuccessful.

(The Center Square) – The expectations are not high headed into the Wisconsin Assembly hearing on teachers grooming students, and the state’s response.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, told News Talk 1130 WISN on Wednesday that she has not heard from State Superintendent Jill Underly, who has been invited to headline the hearing, and hasn’t heard much more from the state’s Department of Public Instruction.
“We got some answers. I think we’ll hear them again in the hearing,” Nedweski said of her discussions with DPI managers. “[They were] not necessarily acceptable answers.”
Nedweski is holding an informational hearing Thursday to get answers about the number of teachers who have voluntarily surrendered their teaching licenses to avoid DPI investigations into grooming or sexual misconduct charges.
The Cap Times recently broke a story that 200 teachers over five years were allowed to walk away, while sometimes being able to return to teaching a few years later.
Nedweski said that news made it clear that there is something wrong in how the Department of Public Instruction handled those cases and how it informed parents.
“I think that there is a complete and total lack of accountability on [DPI’s] part to explain why they haven’t been straightforward with the public as to what they’ve been doing with these cases,” Nedweski explained.
Underly’s only comments on the grooming investigation came Friday in an open letter. In it, she complained that The Cap Times piece ignored the limits DPI faced, but Underly said she supports any effort to update DPI’s “legal framework.”
“I welcome a long overdue discussion about the need to both modernize our licensing systems, and update existing statutes to clarify, broaden and deepen the limited statutory authority the DPI has in these serious matters,” Underly wrote.
Nedweski said that’s too little, too late.
“Where were these calls for updates to laws and systems long ago?” Nedweski asked. “Why all of a sudden now because there was a report by The Cap Times? That’ll be a question. If this was such a problem for you all along, why didn’t you ask for help before? If you needed money in the budget for updating systems for teacher licensure and to fund investigators for teacher misconduct, why didn’t you ask for it in your budget request earlier this year?”
Nedweski’s hearing before the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency is set to begin at 11am on Thursday.

(The Center Square) – If Wisconsin Democrats want to avoid having kings, one Republican senator thinks they should be big proponents of a constitutional amendment to limit the power of a governor.
A joint resolution to limit Wisconsin’s governors from using their veto power to delete words, letters or characters from appropriations will be heard next Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development.
Senate Joint Resolution 11 would need to be approved in two separate legislative sessions before reaching the ballot statewide as early as 2017.
The proposed constitutional amendment comes after Gov. Tony Evers used the current veto power to erase numbers and a hyphen to change the year “2024-25” to “2425” in a school appropriation in the budget bill.
That meant a $325 per student per year funding increase for the next 400 years was allowed and later upheld in a 4-3 ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“For a guy who’s popular with the ‘No Kings’ crowd, Gov. Evers sure loves playing monarch,” Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, told The Center Square. “With one royal flick of his veto pen, he taxed homeowners for the next 400 years.
“This amendment restores the balance our founders intended: government of the people, not by decree.”
The constitutional amendment would limit the veto power to sections of an appropriations bill rather than allowing for words and numbers to be deleted individually.
The amendment was originally introduced in February in both the Senate and Assembly but is now seeing its first committee action in the Senate with the scheduled public hearing. A public hearing was held in the Assembly Committee on State Affairs in June.
Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, described the proposal as a “once and for all” measure to rein in the powers of a governor in the state and “restore balance.”
He explained that the current veto power can allow a governor to write laws that the public never had a voice in creating and the Legislature didn’t have a say in allowing, calling the current veto power a “quirk that makes our state an outlier in America.”
Allen said that both Evers and former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, stretched the veto power beyond what he believes the public would approve, citing Walker ending a levy limit exemption for school energy efficient projects.

(The Center Square) — Wisconsin’s race for attorney general could end up being a rematch.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney on Tuesday launched another bid to become the state’s attorney general.
“After seven years of broken promises and political spin in the Attorney General’s office, it’s time for change,” Toney said in his announcement.
Toney ran against current Attorney General Josh Kaul in 2020, losing by about 35,000 votes.
Kaul announced his re-election bid earlier this month.
In that 2020 race, Toney made an issue of what he called Kaul’s mismanagement of the state’s crime labs. He is going back to message this year as well.
“As your Top Cop, I will stand up for every Wisconsinite, enforce the law, and bring conservative, common-sense leadership back to the DOJ,” Toney added. “That’s what Wisconsinites expect and deserve.”
In fact, his first priority is “fixing misguided policies, providing transparency and leadership, with clear timelines, and public metrics to cut backlogs and delays.”
Toney also says he wants to deal with Wisconsin’s “drug crisis,” and “target violent crime in Milwaukee.”
“Wisconsin needs an Attorney General who protects our people, not our politics,” Toney said. “Let’s put public safety first, restore competence to the labs, take on crime in Milwaukee, and protect all of Wisconsin.”
As of now, there are no other Republicans in the race. If Toney does draw an opponent, voters will have until August before they’d have to decide in the 2026 primary.

(The Center Square) – Milwaukee voters would rather consolidate schools in the district than see a future referendum for additional property taxes, according to a new poll.
The voters, across parties and demographics, also preferred the state opt in to a $1,700-per-person school choice federal tax credit that Gov. Tony Evers has said that he will reject.
Embold Research asked 535 likely Milwaukee voters in 2026 the questions between Oct. 6-10 on behalf of City Forward Collective and CFC Action Fund.
“We at City Forward Collective have been on the record for some time that right-sizing is inevitable, it’s necessary and it’s part of the reason that we opposed the 2024 referendum,” CFC Executive Director Colleston Morgan Jr. told The Center Square. “We said the district didn’t have a financial plan or an academic plan.”
Morgan said that “affordability” showed up as a large concern for voters in the poll.
Milwaukee schools will receive $105 million more in state aid this year than last despite having 1,700 less students all while property taxes went up nearly 30% last year, Morgan said. Milwaukee public schools saw a total enrollment drop of nearly 30,000 students (32.8%) between 2006 and 2024.
Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius has said that the school will need to close “more than five” schools in the coming years. The district is currently working on that consolidation plan.
Milwaukee passed a $252 million referendum in April 2024 and it was later revealed that Milwaukee Public Schools had not filed the paperwork with the Department of Public Instruction. The district missed the deadlines by eight months and had $42 million withheld.
Legislators are currently discussing a bill that would require districts to file the required paperwork before being eligible for a referendum.
The poll first asked voters if they supported consolidating schools in the district, with 58% for and 27% against. After hearing the pro and con arguments on the topic, voters then were 68% in favor and 22% against consolidation.
They were then asked if they would prefer consolidation or a funding measure in a future referendum and 57% favored consolidation over another referendum.
“This question of MPS living within its means absolutely matters for taxpayers in Milwaukee, families in Milwaukee, for the broader community in Milwaukee,” Morgan said. “But it’s also a question of statewide concern. I think you’ve seen a number of state legislators and now you start to hear some districts talk about this sort of cumulative impact. Milwaukee is obviously the sort of 600-pound gorilla in the conversation.”

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced a bill to create a $25 per diem payment to nonprofits or non-governmental entities that house homeless veterans.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, said the bills are in response to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers electing to close veterans homes in Chippewa Falls and Green Bay, citing budgetary issues.
But Wimberger said that Evers chose to not use $1.9 million in appropriated funds, what he said was a 15% increase in funding for the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program.
Wimberger and Rep. Benjamin Franklin, R-De Pere, are looking for co-sponsors for the legislation through Friday afternoon.
“This legislation will do what Governor Evers has failed to do: spend the money we already set aside to house homeless veterans,” Wimberger said in a statement. “Increased funding was appropriated in the budget to support the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program, yet Gov. Evers chose to shutter these facilities.
“If the Governor’s Administration won’t do this work, the Legislature will move to do what’s right and work with nonprofits and other organizations to house veterans in need across our state.”
The VHRP recipients are also receiving federal per diem payments for homeless veterans.
“I am proud to introduce this legislation,” Franklin said in a statement. “This proposal works, and will support our homeless veterans and those at risk of homelessness. Earlier this year, the bipartisan budget included a 15 percent increase to the VHRP program, and this legislation takes that commitment a step further.”

(The Center Square) – A bill looking to assure free speech is upheld at campus in the University of Wisconsin system and Wisconsin Technical Colleges would carry a punishment of two academic years of frozen tuition if a school violates any of the requirements of the bill multiple times in a five-year period.
The UW system said that its largest issue with Senate Bill 498 is the potential financial penalties for not following the rules.
“We have a concern with SB 498 and it really centers around some of the penalties prescribed in the bill that we believe would adversely impact our universities financially,” UW Vice President for University Relations Chris Patton told the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges. “Freezing state funding to our universities that put our financially health potentially at risk and really compromise the very mission and the efforts that we’re all attempting to undertake.
Lawmakers, however, are looking to have important enforcement behind the bill rather than having the bill pass and be only aspirational.
“It’s not to punish any of our institutions,” said Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Fox Crossing. “It’s to ensure that they’re following what’s already in the Bill of Rights.”
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, cited several studies and surveys including a UW System survey showing that UW Madison students and students across the country felt less comfortable speaking out if they are conservative, a Foundation for Individual Rights in Education survey showing that 35% of UW-Madison students believe it’s acceptable to use violence to stop a speaker on campus and data from The College Fix showing that more than 99% of donations from UW system professors went to Democrats, not Republicans.
“That (FIRE) number is disturbing on its own but it’s clearly even more chilling in light of the recent political assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus,” Nedweski said. “When we accept the false premise that speech is equivalent to violence, we allow violence to replace speech as a means of debate.”
Nedweski also cited UW-Eau Claire professor José Felipe Alvergue for throwing a table of the College Republicans on its side and storming off.
The bill requires that the colleges not restrict free speech if the speaker is lawful or restict the time, place or manner of free speech on campus. The school cannot create a “free speech zone” and limit speech to that area, require a permit to limit expression or require a security fee be paid.
The school also cannot “sanction individuals or groups for discriminatory harassment unless the speech targets its victim on the basis of a protected class under law, and is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars a student from receiving equal access to educational opportunities or benefits,” the bill states.
There are exceptions for the permit and security but “if a permit is required, the permitting process and any security fee must be content and viewpoint neutral.”