(The Center Square) – Wisconsin taxpayers will send $250,000 to WisconsinEye in monthly installments through the end of the year to keep the live-streaming network operational until a new legislative session begins.
The Joint Committee on Legislative Organization approve the $50,000-per-month funding for the network with a 9-1 vote this week.
“We view today’s vote as a strong statement of support by the legislative body as a whole – both houses and both parties – for unfettered citizen access to state government proceedings,” WisconsinEye president Jon Henkes said in a statement. “They’ve put action to their words that transparency is essential to our democracy, and we are extremely grateful.”
The network said that it will use the funding to provide campaign coverage heading into the Aug. 11 primary and Nov. 3 general election along with coverage of study committees.
Previous legislative attempts to fund the network’s operations stalled after the network was not able to raise the long-term funds necessary to receive $10 million in matching funds from the state to go toward an endowment that would fund WisconsinEye into the future.
“WisconsinEye remains hopeful that when the new legislature convenes in January 2027, both houses will come together in bipartisan fashion to accomplish what the Senate and Assembly attempted in the previous legislative session – a level of continuing, partial funding that helps to maintain WisconsinEye as a trusted and independent window into our State Capitol,” the network said in a statement.

(The Center Square) – Five days after a powerful EF-3 tornado ripped through Menasha, Wisconsin’s National Guard is being sent to help.
Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday mobilized the guard.
“By activating the Wisconsin National Guard, we’re ensuring every available resource is deployed quickly and effectively to support cleanup, restore essential services, and keep folks safe as recovery efforts continue,” the governor said in a statement.
The governor did not say why he waited to activate the guard.
WGBA in Green Bay reported it took some time for local leaders in Menasha and other Fox Valley cities to work “through the approval process.”
The governor was in Menasha on Thursday. He said the storm leveled some parts of the town and did likely millions of dollars in damage.
“What I’ve seen from the maps, it’s unbelievable. Having so much of [of the damage] be in urban areas, it’s really quite extensive,” the governor told reporters.
One of Menasha’s elementary schools took an almost direct hit.
“It’s going to be tough to bring that building back,” the governor explained. “They’ll certainly do it, but it is also a truism that school districts don’t have a lot of money. No matter what the insurance pays it’s going to be difficult.”
The governor did not say just how many National Guard troops will be sent to the Fox Valley.
Local leaders say they hope the first batch of troops will arrive some time Friday. They are not saying just how long the guard will stay.
We Energies, the power company for customers in Menasha and the Fox Valley, said as of Friday morning that more than 1,000 people in the storm zone still do not have electricity.

(The Center Square) – Mandela Barnes, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, is the latest Democrat to drop out of the race on Thursday.
“Last night I had a very difficult conversation with my staff,” Barnes said in a social media video. “Now we’re incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished and all the resources that we have raised to spread our message, but it’s become very clear who our nominee is going to be.”
Barnes was referring to a pair of polls including a Marquette Poll that showed the lead in the race is widening for state Rep. Francesca Hong of Madison. Hong held 38% support from Democratic primary voters in the newest Marquette poll, ahead of 16% for Barnes, 7% for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and 2% each for former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys.
Crowley recently reentered the race with Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out following campaign finance issues.
“To everyone who backed Mandela: there’s a place for you in what we’re building,” Crowley wrote in response. “It’s going to take all of us to beat Tom Tiffany. Let’s get to work.”
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said Thursday it was preparing to publish accusations against Barnes.
“Mandela Barnes leaves the guv race after receiving questions from the Journal Sentinel about allegations from sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity who said Barnes used his role in the party to seek out sexual encounters with young adult women,” MJ-S reporter Molly Beck wrote on social media. “Barnes has not been accused of any crimes.
“The state Democratic Party in 2025 hired a law firm to look into similar claims. The internal review and outside probe found nothing actionable because the allegations they received were anonymous and unspecific, according to a source familiar with the party’s actions.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Act 10, in its 15th year, was again upheld against a challenge in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals but will next likely head to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty defended the law, which allows certain public employee non-union members to avoid union payments, called “fair share” payments.
WILL said that it is ready to make its case again when the law is challenged in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“WILL has fought to protect Act 10 since its enactment because of the substantial benefits provided to taxpayers and local governments,” WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement. “For 15 years, various legal challenges have been unsuccessful, because ultimately this is a law signed by the Governor and passed by a duly elected legislature which meets all constitutional requirements. As this case likely heads to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we stand ready to make the case once again.”
The current case was originally brought to the Dane County Circuit Court, which found that the law’s classifications of certain employees violated the Wisconsin Constitution’s equal protection clause, declaring that nearly all of the law was unconstitutional.
WILL represents teacher Kristi Koschkee, who it says supports the Act 10 requirement that unions must recertify themselves annually through a vote requiring a majority of employees’ approval.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin voters cannot revote on their absentee ballots and Democrats prefer state Rep. Francesca Hong more than ever, according to new polling.
Hong held 38% support from Democratic primary voters, ahead of 16% for former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, 7% for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and 2% each for former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys in the newest Marquette Poll.
The poll came as a judge ruled not to allow Wisconsin voters to recast absentee ballots that are already submitted after upheaval in the Aug. 11 race, which will likely lead to a matchup with Republican frontrunner and congressman Tom Tiffany.
Various polls have shown a potential close race between Tiffany and whoever emerges from the Democrat primary.
The Marquette Poll was conducted July 22-27 with 407 registered voters who say they will vote in the Democratic primary with a margin of error of +/-6.6 percentage points.
Hong polled best with those ages 18-29, with 66% support along with 51% support from those ages 30-44. Barnes, meanwhile, led amongst voters 60 or older with 24% support.
That’s a jump from 43% support for Hong in the youngest age bracket in a poll conducted between July 8-16. Barnes also led the 60 and over voters with 17% support compared to 9% for Hong in the earlier July polling.
The Marquette Poll showed similar results to a State Navigate poll that showed Hong with 44% support followed by Crowley and Barnes at 14% then Roys and Brennan at 4% support. That poll was of 1,085 likely Democratic primary voters conducted from July 23-26 that had a 3.0% +/- margin of error.

(The Center Square) – There are no surprises at the top of the latest poll in Wisconsin’s race for governor, but there are some new insights that show what matters to voters.
The Institute for Reforming Government released its latest poll Thursday. The poll shows that affordability is far and away the most important issue for Wisconsin voters.
“Eighty-two percent of voters call inflation and the cost of living ‘very important’ from the provided issues, and 38% name it their single most important issue — more than double the next-highest answer,” the poll states.
But it goes further than that according to IRG’s Chris Reader.
“When we ask ‘What is the main thing that would help you in your affordability’…the main thing is food costs,” Reader explained. “[But] lower taxes is number two.”
Reader said the cost of housing is also quickly becoming a huge concern.
“There is a differentiation of ‘What is the biggest affordability topic by age.’ And we’re starting to see young, 18-34-year-old voters, moving housing back up,” Reader said. “That’s their number one issue.”
The poll’s other top headline is a general, statewide lack of support for socialism and Democratic Socialist candidates.
“[The] free market economy has a net +48 favorability with voters, outperforming every party and ideology brand tested, left or right,” the poll states. “A Democratic Socialists of America affiliation costs a candidate a net 18 points statewide — and that penalty nearly triples among independents, to –52.5.”
However, Reader said young voters, particularly Democrat voters, support the idea of socialism.
The poll also shows that 73% of voters want to eliminate Wisconsin’s personal income tax by 2030, and another 48% want to see state spending cut.
The poll did ask voters about the candidates in the race, including hypothetical head-to-head matchups.
Democrat frontrunner Francesca Hong has the narrowest lead over Republican candidate Tom Tiffany. She beats him in the IRG poll 44%-43%. Tiffany also trails the second and third place Democrats. The poll says David Crowley has a 46%-43% lead, and Mandela Barnes has a 47%-42% lead.

(The Center Square) – Home prices in Wisconsin rose nearly 6% in June, according to a report from the state’s realtors association.
“Existing home sales increased 5.9% in June compared to June 2025, while the statewide median home price rose 5.9% over the same period to $360,000,” the Wisconsin Realtors Association wrote. “Year-to-date, existing home sales were up 3.7%, and the median price climbed 6.3% to $340,000 compared to the first six months of 2025.”
Home prices in the Milwaukee and Madison areas were higher than those statewide norms in June.
The media price for a house near Madison, in south central Wisconsin, was $415,000 in June. The median price for a home in southeast Wisconsin was $375,000. Homes in northeast Wisconsin had a median price of $331,500. Homes in central Wisconsin had the lowest median price in the state at $278,000.
Realtors say those higher prices are not slowing sales.
“In a typical year, June is the strongest month for closings, so it was good to see a healthy bounce in June sales, which led to a solid first half for the year,” Realtors CEO Tom Larson said.
The report shows 7,768 homes were sold in June of this year.
And there are more homes for sale.
“Although months of inventory remained static, there were more new listings of homes on the market, which resulted in more total listings than last year,” association Chairwoman Amy Curler said. “This led to a solid increase in sales for the month of June.”
The report said 24,463 homes were on the market in June.
Larson said steadily increasing prices make it hard for some people to buy a home.
“While affordability remains a challenge for first-time buyers, higher inventory helps grow sales and also helps moderate price appreciation,” Larson said. “Hopefully these trends continue throughout the second half of 2026.”

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit in Dane County on Friday asking the court to allow Wisconsin voters who believe their absentee ballots won’t be counted by Election Day to vote using a provisional ballot.
The lawsuit, filed by Law Forward, said that delays from the U.S. Postal Service can interfere with delivery of ballots by the deadline of 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“Wisconsin voters who have reason to believe that their mailed absentee ballots will not arrive in time to be counted (“Impacted Voters”) are prohibited by Defendants from remedying this issue by going to the polls to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” the lawsuit states. “This rule risks denying Impacted Voters their right to vote – the right most preservative of all others.”
The lawsuit also lists League of Women Voters member Barbara Feeney as a plaintiff.
The lawsuit came the day after Gov. Tony Evers and Sen. Tammy Baldwin sent a joint letter to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner and the USPS Board of Governors asking that postal delays are corrected to prevent the delay of absentee ballots.
“Hundreds of absentee ballots received by the Postal Service before Wisconsin’s spring election were delivered after Election Day, preventing them from being counted,” the letter said. “Now, USPS is rushing to implement President Trump’s unconstitutional executive order that would, at best, significantly delay Wisconsinites’ mailed ballots from reaching election officials and, at worst, allow the USPS to prevent a Wisconsin voter’s fully legal, timely ballot from being counted at all.
“We call on the Postal Service to immediately resolve the issues that delayed ballots during Wisconsin’s spring election, withdraw the rule that will add significant additional delays in ballot delivery, and ensure preparations for Wisconsin’s fall elections prioritizes timely delivery of election mail.”
The letter says that 500,000 Wisconsinites used mail-in ballots in 2024, accounting for 15% of all votes cast. There were 218,000 mailed absentee ballots for the 2026 spring election.

(The Center Square) – It might cost as much as $5 million to prosecute about 50 animal rights activists who attempted to take beagles from a now-defunct Wisconsin breeder accused of abusing them, according to an attorney who was among those arrested.
By contrast, the dog breeder, Ridglan Farms, struck a deal and avoided criminal charges.
The disparity in prosecution has perplexed the arrested activists and their supporters who argue that Ridglan would still be breeding thousands of beagles each year without their advocacy, and that the attempted rescues that led to the charges wouldn’t have been necessary had law enforcement acted sooner.
“The district attorney, if he had spent just a fraction of the time that he has now spent investigating and charging and trying to prosecute rescuers, investigating Ridglan Farms (instead), all of this could have been avoided,” said Steffen Seitz, a litigation fellow for the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, which is representing at least one of the activists in court. “Thousands of dogs wouldn’t have been subjected to unnecessary suffering. Extreme amounts of taxpayer money would have been saved. People would not be going through the really anxiety-inducing process of being charged and going to trial.”
Abuse allegations
Ridglan was among the biggest beagle breeders for research experiments in the country and had faced abuse allegations for years by animal rights activists. After law enforcement officers didn’t act, the activists sought to compel prosecution in court.
In early 2025, a judge agreed there was evidence to support animal cruelty charges against Ridglan and that the Dane County “district attorney has failed to issue a complaint or commence an investigation into Ridglan’s conduct,” court records show.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne’s office did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this article.
The judge ordered the appointment of a special prosecutor – a district attorney from a different county – who later last year agreed to withhold criminal charges against Ridglan if it stopped breeding the dogs and relinquished those that remained by July 1, 2026.
The special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, wrote in a report to the judge that the agreement was “the best resolution available” because it resulted in the closure of Ridglan “without the expense and uncertainty of a prosecution” for felony mistreatment of animals. Gruenke did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Ridglan could not be reached to comment for this article. Its website says: “No credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridglan Farms has ever been presented or substantiated.”
No anesthesia
The special prosecutor’s investigation found that Ridglan had routinely and wrongly delegated surgeries to unqualified workers who didn’t use anesthesia.
Those surgeries were meant to rectify a somewhat common problem among young beagles called “cherry eye” – when an eye gland dislodges and becomes exposed. Contemporary veterinarian guidance says the gland should be tucked back into place, but Ridglan opted to cut it off, court records show.
Removing the gland can cause chronic dry eye.
Former Ridglan employees testified that the surgeries were done without anesthesia, pain medication or attempts to contain bleeding. They said other dogs would lick the blood from those that underwent the surgeries.
A veterinarian testified that the dogs likely experienced significant pain.
Former employees also alleged that Ridglan had deliberately mutilated the dogs’ vocal cords to quiet their barks, but the special prosecutor had no evidence it had happened within the past six years so that it could be prosecuted.
Seitz, the attorney who is representing activists, said beagles are often preferred for breeding for research because they are docile.
“They’ve been chosen, over time, because basically you can abuse a beagle and they’ll trust you again and come back to you,” Seitz said.
Felony charges
Despite the agreement for Ridglan to stop breeding, the activists staged two public attempts to retrieve dogs from the site in March and April, according to court records.
In the first instance, more than 50 people broke into the site, which is about 20 miles west of Madison. Some wore white suits. They took more than a dozen dogs before law enforcement officials intervened.
In April, hundreds of activists went to the site, but no dogs were taken. The event was well-publicized, and law enforcement officers were ready.
Liam Gray, executive director of the Wilberforce Institute, was among those who attended the April event. He told The Center Square that he and other activists were quickly met with tear gas and rubber bullets.
“Spending endless taxpayer dollars to try to arrest people for trying to help dogs, I think, is a pretty crazy prospect,” Gray said.
Elise Schaffer, public information officer for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, which led the law-enforcement response that included multiple agencies, did not respond to a request to reveal what the office spent to quell the attempted rescues and to investigate for crimes.
Ridglan has shared surveillance video recordings from the April incident that shows someone driving a sport-utility vehicle through the site’s main gate and another person stealing a baton from a law officer who was arresting someone else.
This month the Dane County District Attorney’s Office filed felony burglary and theft charges against about four dozen people the sheriff’s office suspected had participated in the March break-in. The burglary charges are punishable by up to 12 1/2 years in prison.
“Claims that the (Dane County Sheriff’s Office) is ‘protecting animal cruelty’ or acting with bias are inaccurate,” the sheriff’s office posted on its webpage about the Ridglan situation. “The DCSO enforces laws as written and operates within clearly defined legal boundaries.”
It’s unclear whether a similar barrage of criminal charges are planned for the April incident.
Ridglan blames Wayne Hsiung for instigating the break-ins. He was accused of burglary and theft at the site nearly a decade ago, but the charges were dismissed at Ridglan’s request. Ridglan said it made the request “after receiving numerous threats.
“The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of Wayne Hsiung, who organized, egged on and then led hundreds of individuals in a coordinated, violent assault on our facility,” according to a Ridglan statement on its website about the April incident. “Instead of respecting the rule of law and the results of a thorough investigation which led to a binding legal agreement between the state of Wisconsin and Ridglan Farms, Mr. Hsiung decided to encourage lawlessness and vigilantism because he did not personally agree with the results of the legal process.”
‘Horrific conditions’
Gray, of the Wilberforce Institute, said he and others were compelled to go to Ridglan despite its July deadline to remove all dogs because they feared abuse was ongoing.
“These dogs were still under really, truly criminal and horrific conditions that weren’t going to cease anytime soon, and so I think it became kind of a necessary thing, like, the dogs needed to be rescued, they were being hurt, actively being hurt,” Gray said.
Hsiung declined to be interviewed for this article, but he estimated the cost to prosecute each person would exceed $100,000.
“The attorney time alone is very expensive,” he told The Center Square in an email. Hsiung is an attorney who is defending himself in court.
The Dane County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a question about whether Hsiung’s estimate is right.
Seitz, the attorney who is representing other defendants, said he could not provide an accurate estimate of the costs but that many of those who have been charged want to take their cases to trial.
Federal surveys have shown that the average cost for a felony prosecution in populous counties is less than $10,000, but less than 5 percent of the cases go to trial, which can be significantly more expensive. Appeals can also add to the costs.
“There’s a lot of people who are very eager to go to trial who believe that what they did was not only morally right but legally right and want to have their day in court and defend it,” Seitz said of the Ridglan defendants.
He said they can argue they had a right to intervene to protect the dogs from an ongoing, unsafe situation.
“We’re all familiar with the idea of a dog trapped in a hot car,” Seitz said. “I can’t ordinarily go around breaking windows, but if there’s a dog or a child in the back of a car who’s overheating, then I can take emergency action and break someone’s window and save that dog or that child.”
Hsiung’s trial is set to begin in January 2027 and is scheduled to go for two weeks, according to court records.

(The Center Square) – David Crowley continues to be pushed to answer questions about his old “Dirt McGirk” Twitter account.
Crowley, who is currently Milwaukee County’s executive and a Democrat candidate for governor, spent the weekend answering questions about some of the old posts on his old account.
“I created this Twitter account, but many individuals had access to this account,” Crowley explained during an appearance on UpFront on Sunday. “There are different posts on this account. And there are a lot of offensive and crude comments on these posts. And I want folks to understand that I don’t condone that type of language. And anyone who knows me, knows I wouldn’t use this kind of language.”
Crowley didn’t say which posts he considers offensive or what specific language he doesn’t “condone.”
But the “Dirt McGirk” account contains several posts that use the n-word, as well as one post about “gay thoughts,” and another about “kickin it with drunk chicks.”
“I did go back and look at those tweets, and again, they were offensive and [with] crude language, and I don’t condone that language,” Crowley added.
Hr did not say which posts he wrote and which posts came from the other people who had access to the account.
“You would have to go through all of these different posts, but the ones that were printed, I did not write those posts,” Crowley explained.
Crowley is fighting to get past the past Twitter questions as he struggles to gain ground in the Democrat race for governor.
Crowley has never polled above 5% in the statewide polls and was left out of last week’s Marquette Law School Poll. An internal poll from the Crowley campaign, however, put him in third place with 15% of the vote. Francesca Hong led that poll with 35%.
Early voting in Wisconsin has already begun, but Election Day is not for another two weeks. Voters will go to the polls Aug. 11.

(The Center Square) – The five Democrats running for governor will take part in a debate at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, two weeks before the state’s Aug. 11 primary.
Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, state Rep. Francesca Hong, businessman Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and state Sen. Kelda Roys will be at the hourlong event, hosted by WISN. It will be moderated by WISN’s Gerron Jordan and Matt Smith and streamed for free along with running on stations such as Green Bay (WBAY), Madison (WKOW), Wausau (WAOW), Eau Claire (WQOW) and La Crosse (WXOW).
Hong led the race again in the most recent Marquette Poll, which included Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez but not Crowley, because Rodriguez withdrew from the race after polling was completed. Crowley reentered the race after Rodriguez left.
Hong was vocal in her criticism of Madison Police after the shooting of Corey Ruiz, who reportedly had a knife, by officers. She called the shooting an execution while Barnes called for transparency and Crowley said that it was a reminder of other tragedies in the state.
Crowley has also faced questions about postings on his old “Dirt McGirk” Twitter account.
Early voting has already begun with lawsuits filed last week to change Wisconsin Election Commission guidance that early arriving absentee ballots cannot be spoiled and recast after Rodriguez dropped out of the race and to allow provisional ballots from those whose absentee ballots were not expected to arrive by Election Day due to U.S. Postal Service delays.
Early in-person absentee voting begins on Tuesday.
Republican congressman Tom Tiffany is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination over Andy Manske in the primary.

(The Center Square) – One time Wisconsin candidate for governor Kirk Bangstad says politics and a conspiracy from the state’s big brewers is to blame for losing his brewers permit.
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue confirmed that it revoked Bangstad’s brewing permit for his taprooms in Minocqua and Madison.
The state opened an investigation into Bangstad after he was selling beer brewed in Illinois in his taprooms in Wisconsin without paying the proper taxes.
On Monday, Bangstad wrote on Facebook that the charges are “laughable.”
“I couldn’t believe it and neither could the law firm that handles my liquor permits,” Bangstad wrote. “They both believe that someone in Wisconsin’s government is trying to make an example out of me, and they’ve told me to fight this with everything I’ve got.”
Bangstad then claimed he’s really a victim of both Gov. Tony Evers’ and Wisconsin’s other, bigger breweries.
“Our brewery is very popular among progressives throughout the Upper Midwest because we actively fight against right-wing authoritarianism and corruption. As a result of our political activism, we’ve been boycotted by beer distributors and major grocery chains,” he added. “Once you ‘understand’ that all of the laws that [the DOR] said we broke were created to help large distributors take advantage of small breweries, you can see the ‘whole picture,’ and how the government can use byzantine liquor laws to put ‘mouthy brewers’ out of business.”
Bangstad has made no secret of his progressive politics and has been a frequent critic of Evers.
Bangstad briefly ran for governor earlier this year but dropped his bid when he failed to make the ballot.
Bangstad said he is exploring his legal options and is promising to stay in business if he can.
” I’m not taking this lying down. We’re going to fight the state of Wisconsin tooth and nail, and once again, they’ll have to pry me out of my taprooms before I stop selling beer to thirsty progressives who come to visit us,” he wrot

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin legal group has filed another lawsuit over 20 race-based scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison following a Wisconsin Supreme Court win related to race-based grants in the state.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is representing Young America’s Foundation and Citizens Defending Liberty in the case against both scholarships and grants that use race-based criteria and are administrated with taxpayer funds.
“The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to administer scholarships and grants to students based on race, and it’s happening with our tax dollars,” WILL Deputy Counsel Rebecca Furdek said in a statement. “WILL is holding the university accountable so eligibility for scholarships doesn’t depend upon the color of a student’s skin.”
WILL argues that the scholarships do not pass a five-point test identified by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine if race-based funding is constitutional including whether race is overinclusive or arbitrary, it it’s based upon a stereotype and if the programs have a defined endpoint.
“Students should earn scholarships for merit and financial need, not simply due to their race,” UW-Madison student Jenna Lawrence said in a statement. “I am proud to stand alongside YAF and WILL and argue for our universities to treat all students equally.”
The lawsuit comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in June that a Wisconsin college grant program that sent financial aid to students based on specific race, national origin and ancestry cannot legally operate.
WILL then sued the state of Wisconsin over a $250 million supplier grant program that has criteria based upon race.

(The Center Square) – A state of emergency has been declared in the Menasha and Appleton area by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers after high winds, hail and severe storms caused significant damage Monday.
The storm was rated EF3 damage and the declaration means that the Evers may call the National Guard to the area in Outagamie, Winnebago, Forest and Vilas counties.
Staff from Wisconsin Emergency Management along with fire, law enforcement and emergency medical staff have responded to the area.
“We are continuing to assess the devastation and destruction Wisconsin is seeing, especially in the Fox Cities, and we are committed to doing everything we can to help every family, business, and community affected recover,” Evers said in a statement. “This emergency declaration will ensure every available resource is deployed so we can respond quickly to the needs on the ground, and I want to thank the neighbors, emergency and first responders, local partners, and volunteers who are already working to help to restore essential services, clean up neighborhoods, and assess the damages. Together, we will recover and recover stronger, and I ask everyone to keep the families and communities affected in your thoughts over the coming days and weeks as they rebuild.”

(The Center Square) – The head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission is doubling down on his stance that state law does not allow voters to cast a do-over ballot.
But other election officials disagree.
Elections Commission chairman Don Millis wrote an op-ed for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that explains Wisconsin’s “spoiled ballot” law and refutes claims from other Elections Commission members who claim the state changed the rules in the middle of the election for governor.
“The law is clear. A clerk provides a replacement ballot only when the voter brings the spoiled or damaged ballot to the clerk,” Millis wrote. “The law does not contemplate a voter returning a ballot to the clerk and then sometime later asking the clerk for the ballot back so the voter can change his or her vote.”
A number of Democrat voters have sued to try and get a second chance to vote after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out of the governor’s race.
No one is saying how many votes Rodriguez got during the early absentee period, but election managers say more than 90,000 people have already voted ahead of the Aug. 11 primary.
Millis added that with that many votes cast, allowing some voters a do-over would be almost impossible.
“If the Democratic Party prevails and clerks are told they must return ballots to voters so they can vote for a different candidate, not only would this be inconsistent with the law, it would be a disaster to the administration of the election,” he wrote.
Millis said the Elections Commission never contemplated guidance on do-over votes but said “we probably should have.”
Election Commission member Ann Jacobs, however, is on the opposite side of Millis’ reading of Wisconsin’s ballot spoilage law. She said the Commission should give voters a second chance.
“The Commission’s guidance… unlawfully treats absentee voters worse than voters who cast their ballots on Election Day. Voters who vote on Election Day can spoil their ballot twice and obtain up to two new ballots. Treating absentee voters differently violates equal protection,” Jacobs posted on X.
Jacobs and Elections Commission member Mark Thomsen on Monday asked to join the lawsuit over the do-over ballots.
Millis, however, warned that Jacobs’ reading of the law could end-up hurting the election integrity goal that the Commission has worked so hard to uphold.
“I understand why voters who have already cast their ballots for any candidate — the guidance the Democratic Party wants reinstated would not be limited just to candidates who withdrew — might want to change their vote. But the costs and risks of such a policy are just too great and is inconsistent with Wisconsin law,” Millis said.

(The Center Square) – The five Democratic candidates for Wisconsin governor agreed on data center guardrails, income tax increases, property tax solutions and requiring police departments like Madison to use body cameras during Tuesday night’s debate.
The differences in policy from the candidates remained in the smaller details on how they would implement those frameworks, like state Sen. Kelda Roys encouraging using executive power to stop data centers from having the public subsidize their energy needs.
Ultimately, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes called for a second debate before the Aug. 11 primary for the candidates to discuss issues.
“I think there needs to be another, equal distinct, deserve to hear more from the candidates, especially in a primary that has been as wide, chaotic, and unpredictable,” Barnes said after the debate.
The debate came on a day when a new poll conducted by State Navigate showed state Rep. Francesca Hong with 44% support and a large lead in the race in the poll of 1,085 likely Democratic primary voters conducted from July 23-26 that had a 3.0% +/- margin of error.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Barnes polled at 14% while Roys and former Wisconsin Dept. of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan received 4% support.
Hong made it clear that she considers herself a democratic socialist but does not agree with all of the group’s national agenda and she is not endorsed by the group. Hong said that she would call a special session to place a moratorium on data centers and put guardrails in place.
Brennan said that he wanted to ensure that Wisconsin union construction workers were used to build the data centers. He added that he would spend the first $100 million of the state’s surplus on child care and the next $100 million to restart the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program budget to acquire new park and protected land in the state.
Crowley explained that he left the race and said that he didn’t see a path to victory then because “we were going off of false data.” But he denied that he is the establishment pick despite reentering with an endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers.
Crowley was the lone candidate who supported the late-session compromise surplus deal the Legislature rejected after Evers and Republican legislative leaders put it forward.
“I was never born into the establishment, I was born into struggle,” Crowley said.
Heavy Republican favorite Tom Tiffany attacked Hong’s positions after the debate.
“Tonight’s debate confirmed that the Democrat primary has become a race to the far left,” Tiffany said in a statement. “It is increasingly clear that Socialist Francesca Hong, who has called to abolish the police, prisons, and the U.S. Senate and says returning the surplus to taxpayers is ‘irresponsible,’ will be the nominee. While Democrats offer chaos, I’m offering common sense: lower taxes, safer communities, stronger schools, and a government that lets the people of Wisconsin keep more of their hard-earned money.”