(The Center Square) – The list of Wisconsin lawmakers who are not running again continues to grow.
Two more Republicans recently announced plans to step away from the Wisconsin Capitol.
State Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, called it quits.
“Serving as your Assembly Representative has been more rewarding than I could have imagined,” O’Connor said. “While I look forward to spending more time with my family and pursuing personal interests, I remain committed to completing my term through the end of the year and focusing on the work I was elected to do,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor served just two terms.
Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, announced his retirement after 12 years in the Assembly.
“While I am stepping away from office, I still care deeply about the future of Wisconsin,” Brooks said. “Strong leadership in Madison matters, and it is important that we continue to elect people who understand our communities and are willing to stand up for them,” Brooks said.
Brooks and O’Conner join other Republicans like Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, and Sen, Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, in retiring this year.
In all, nine state lawmakers have announced that they will not run again in November.
Some of the retirements, like in Vos and LeMahieu’s districts, will likely not end with a Democrat replacing a Republican. But that’s the case for every retiring Republican.
Hutton’s decision not to run has touched off what could be the most intense race in the state legislature this year.
Pewaukee doctor Mike Roberts is running against Democratic state Rep. Robyn Vinning, D-Wauwatosa.
Roberts has said his race is the key for Republicans to hold the Senate majority.
There will also be a crucial race in Racine.
Longtime Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, last month announced that he won’t run for re-election. He said he is stepping away from the Capitol to spend more time with his family.
Democrats partially redraw Wanggaard’s district in 2022 and see his seat as a possible pick-up.
Candidates for state legislative seats can begin to gather signatures in their races next week.

(The Center Square) – No committee vote was taken Thursday as two of the 10 University of Wisconsin System Regents appeared before the committee for confirmation of their nominations to the board in the days following the board’s decision to fire UW President Jay Rothman.
The Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges chose not to vote on the nominations on Thursday with Sen. Rob Hutton, R–Brookfield, saying the committee will evaluate the testimony from Regents Amy Bogost Blumenfeld and Tim Nixon on Tuesday and seek more information from the UW System before taking further action.
“I was dismayed that they were unable to provide any documentation whatsoever – not so much as a meeting note – on the performance reviews that they repeatedly cited as leading to Rothman’s termination,” Hutton said in a statement. “Even the smallest of private businesses must keep extensive documentation on similar personnel matters. I was also disappointed that the remaining 8 nominees whose nominations were to be considered were not in attendance.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Tony Evers issued a statement as the committee began its work assuming a vote would be taken, saying the committee vote is “largely symbolic and will have no impact on the confirmation of Gov. Evers’ UW Board of Regents appointees.”
“If Republicans are going to use this as a pretext to justify firing people just because they were appointed by a Democratic governor, that would be a mistake,” Evers said in a statement. “It would also seriously jeopardize our continued bipartisan work this session on behalf of the people of our state.
“It’s pretty simple: I trust that the Regents are doing what is best for students, faculty, staff, and our UW System—lawmakers should, too.”
Meanwhile, the committee felt many of its questions on the firing remained unanswered.
“In all my years in the legislature, I have only known the Board of Regents to be guardians of the status quo, so I have my doubts that the Regents have been stonewalled in a desire to make significant reforms,” Hutton said. “I look forward to receiving specifics about the comprehensive reforms they sought that President Rothman allegedly held back.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill Thursday that will legalize online sports wagering in the state.
Evers will now negotiate compacts with Wisconsin’s 11 tribes to send revenue from gaming from the tribes to the state. Those compacts must be approved by the federal government.
Evers framed the bill signing as “the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one” and vowed to come up with agreements that benefit all of the state’s tribes.
“I have heard from each of the 11 affected Tribes that this bill offers an opportunity for their governments and for their people to improve the quality of life, health, and stability of their communities,” Evers wrote in a statement. “As governor, I am responsible for ensuring the state of Wisconsin upholds Tribal treaty rights and appropriately respects Tribal sovereignty in Wisconsin.
“Most importantly, this means respecting every Tribal Nation’s right to do what is best for its people. I do so today as I always promised I would, but I am not without reservations about signing this bill.”
The proposal changes the state’s definition of “bet” to allow the state’s tribes to offer mobile sports wagering if the bettor is in Wisconsin and the sportsbook servers are on tribal land, an amendment to current compacts allowing for casino gambling and sports wagering on tribal lands despite the state’s ban on betting.
The law would allow for a similar sports wagering model as Florida, where the state’s sportsbook operators have servers on federally recognized tribal lands while users can be in the state of Wisconsin.
“This is an opportunity to avoid the mistakes of past compact amendments that left some Tribes and their members in poverty while only lifting up a few,” Evers wrote. “It is further my expectation that we look beyond mere dollar signs and economics and insist these decisions also be guided by respect, humility, compassion and solidarity.”
The law received opposition from large national sports wagering companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet365 through the Sports Betting Alliance because those groups believe the agreement will keep them out of Wisconsin sports wagering in favor of the tribes and partnering with the tribes would result in deals that would not cover the large sportsbook’s expenses.
“Wisconsin voters definitely want to have a say in this policy and they haven’t gotten that opportunity,” SBA President/CEO Joe Maloney said previously.
Maloney said the law would create a monopoly rather than a competitive market between sportsbooks that would give users the best options.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has said it believes the sports wagering bill is unlawful and explained the reasoning, starting with a state law that the Legislature cannot pass a law to allow for gambling in the state and because the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act prevents creating a tribal gambling monopoly off reservation.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin mayor who moved his community’s ballot drop box will not face any criminal charges.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney recently announced he will not pursue charges against Wausau Mayor Doug Diny.
Toney said the lack of clarity in Wisconsin’s rules for ballot drop boxes played a role in his decision.
“The Election Commission correctly, I believe, determined that the drop box in question here did not fit the statutory definition of a ballot box,” Toney said. “And so that left us with determining whether or not there could be ballots inside it that we could look at it. And the clerk in Wausau knew or determined there were no ballots in it when it was ultimately removed.”
Diny made national headlines when he moved Wausau’s ballot drop box from the sidewalk in front of city hall into his office in September 2024.
Diny originally said he moved the box because he was “uncomfortable” with the idea of allowing people to drop off ballots in an unmanned, unmonitored box.
“This wasn’t intended to solely be a drop box for ballots,” Toney added. “It could take any correspondence related to city government. So, you could have letters to the mayor’s office, other city departments, and once it would have been unlocked, ballots [would have been] all co-mingled together.”
Toney asked other prosecutors in northeast Wisconsin to review the case along with him. They also decided against filing official charges.
Toney acknowledged that the decision will not be popular.
“There are some that wanted charges issued based on politics and others that did not want charges issued based on politics,” Toney explained. “However, the facts are the facts, and the law is the law, no matter how badly someone may wish for a result, our duty is to follow the facts, and the law, not politics or emotions. Partisan politics has no place in the justice system, and we will not in engage in lawfare.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a name, image and likeness bill for the University of Wisconsin that will send the athletic department $15 million annually for facility debt service and provide a wide-ranging public records exemption for any revenue or expenditure for the athletic department.
Evers’ partial veto removed the word “maintenance” from the bill so the $15 million annually from the state’s general fund can only be used for facility debt at any of the UW schools.
“I am partially vetoing this bill because I object to the potential confusion created by referring to ‘maintenance,’ and my partial veto will better reflect the intent that the funding alleviate existing debt service,” Evers wrote in his partial veto. “I also object to how this bill unnecessarily restricts the use of funds appropriated for athletic facilities within the University of Wisconsin System. I believe that greater flexibility is necessary to ensure this funding can be used effectively and allow the system to maximize the state’s investment.”
Evers chose not to alter a portion of the bill that the Wisconsin Newspaper Association warned lawmakers and the public about that could have a sweeping unintended impact that goes well beyond NIL records.
The bill would exempt records related to the “generation, deployment, or allocation of revenue generated by an intercollegiate athletic program.”
The NIL bill narrowly passed the Wisconsin Senate on a 17-16 vote.
UW-Madison Athletics Director Chris McIntosh said in committee that the $14.6 million in funding annually to the school’s athletic department for facilities debt is essentially for the athletic department to remain competitive and supporting 23 sports and 600-plus athletes. He said that women’s and Olympic sports were at stake related to the bill.
The Badgers’ football program accounted for 80% of the program’s revenue, equaling $113.6 million last fiscal year, according to the NCAA report, which showed the football program brought in $72 million in excess during the year.

(The Center Square) – The city of Port Washington approved a referendum Tuesday that would require future projects worth more than $10 million to be approved by taxpayers before being added to a tax increment district.
The initiative, in response to a large-scale AI data center in the city, passed with 2,710 votes of approval compared to 1,371 in opposition. More than 50% of the 8,257 registered Port Washington voters voted in the election.
The initiative came in response to an $8 billion data center project that is expected to receive more than $450 million in property tax breaks along with not paying state sales tax on everything from construction to the servers inside to electricity at the site, which is estimated to require as much electricity as the city of Los Angeles once fully operational.
“Tonight, democracy worked the way it’s supposed to,” said Great Lakes Neighbors Incorporated member Christine Le Jeune in a statement. “Over 1,000 residents signed the petition that put this measure on the ballot, and tonight Port Washington voters spoke with one clear voice. The people deserve a seat at the table when their tax dollars are on the line.”
Data centers have shown to be unpopular with voters as 69% of Wisconsin voters in a recent Marquette poll said that they believe that the cost of data centers outweigh the benefits.
Republican candidate for governor and Congressman Tom Tiffany vowed to “end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin” if he becomes governor.
Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens has also been outspoken about the secrecy and impact of data centers, especially the Port Washington project and process. Berens testified in support of a bill to block non-disclosure agreements at data centers that did not pass the Legislature before session closed.
Le Jeune and two others from Great Lakes Neighbors United were removed from a public meeting on the Port Washington project in December by police when, after her allotted three minutes to speak in public comment, she shouted “shame” and “recall” as she headed to her seat.
Video from the meeting then showed a police officer approaching Le Jeune in the audience and asking her to leave.
Le Jeune would not leave and then a second officer approached and then began pulling on her arms to remove her from the meeting. Le Jeune and two others were then taken to the floor in the meeting room and handcuffed before being removed from the building.

(The Center Square) – Leaders at the University of Wisconsin will soon be asked, again, to explain why they fired the UW’s president.
University regents on Tuesday voted to fire UW President Jay Rothman. But they didn’t offer any reasons as to why.
“The Universities of Wisconsin must be led with a clear vision that both protects and strengthens our flagship, supports our comprehensive universities, and ensures we are meeting the evolving needs of our students, workforce and communities across all 72 counties,” Regents President Amy Bogost read in a statement to reporters.
Rothman said last week that he was told to resign or be fired. He chose not to resign.
His exit is not going over well with Republican lawmakers.
State Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, said regents owe Rothman and the people of Wisconsin an explanation.
“The Board of Regents once again appears to be distracted by politics and unable to concentrate on addressing the big picture challenges the UW System faces. Instead of focusing on major structural and curriculum reforms throughout the entire system, the Regents seem determined to stray into backroom maneuvering that further diminishes the reputation of the UW brand and undermines its long-term mission of preparing our students for an ever-changing marketplace,” Hutton said in a post on social media.
Hutton sits as the head of the State Senate’s Committee on Universities.
Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Hortonville, who heads the Assembly’s Committee on Colleges and Universities called for a formal hearing into the decision to fire Rothman.
“The Board owes Wisconsin taxpayers, students, and families a full explanation,” Murphy added. “They should provide specific reasons or stand down from this effort. This hearing will ensure accountability and transparency in our University of Wisconsin System.”
Murphy said a hearing date will be announced in the next few days.
Rothman took over as UW president in 2022 and oversaw both the closure of some of the UW’s two-year campuses, and a historic deal to get millions of dollars more to the university system.
UW Regents say they will now begin the search for a new university president.

(The Center Square) – Judge Chris Taylor won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race over conservative candidate Maria Lazar on Tuesday, increasing the amount of liberal justices on the court to a 5-2 advantage compared to conservatives with another conservative seat up for election next year.
Multiple media outlets called the race less than an hour after polls closed with Taylor holding a 61% to 38% advantage.
Taylor will serve a 10-year term.
The candidates were vying to replace conservative justice Rebecca Bradley for a 10-year term on the court. Both candidates are currently appellate court judges.
Conservative Annette Ziegler has announced that she will not run again in 2027.
Taylor is a former Democratic Party state representative who has also represented Planned Parenthood as a lawyer.

(The Center Square) – Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, wants Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction to continue an investigation into allegations of grooming and sexual assault at Oconto Falls School District even after one of those accused voluntarily surrendered his teaching license.
DPI has come under fire this year for allowing accused teachers to surrender a teaching license to avoid the scrutiny of a full investigation into misconduct, leading the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to order a full audit of the department’s investigation process that Wimberger recently said would be completed in the coming weeks.
Oconto Falls is currently facing a federal civil rights lawsuit over a series of sexual misconduct accusations over decades and how the school district has handled those accusations. David Heisel, one of the teachers accused of misconduct, surrendered his teaching license March 31, according to DPI’s investigation database.
“The highest responsibility of any education official is to ensure our children are safe at school, especially from predators disguising themselves as authority figures,” Wimberger said in a statement. “Ending the Heisel investigation early will not only betray the public’s trust, but deny the chance of restoring accountability for the victims who came forward.
“I am calling on DPI to continue investigating the Oconto Falls situation, even after David Heisel surrendered his license. These allegations deserve a full and proper examination so our community can transparently know what happened, when it happened, and who knew about the misconduct occurring in our schools.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have ended the ability of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to raise fees for animal market licenses, animal dealer licenses, animal trucker licenses and animal transport vehicle registrations after the department had proposed large increases in those fees earlier this year.
DATCP had proposed increasing a livestock market fee from $420 to $7,430, trucker license fees from $60 to $370 and animal dealer fees from $220 to $670 last year before receiving significant pushback and later proposing smaller increases.
“I am also vetoing this bill because I believe the current process relating to rule promulgation and setting, increasing, or creating fees works, including ensuring adequate public input and accountability for agency decisions regarding fees,” Evers wrote in his veto message. “I am also vetoing this bill because it fails to establish a reasonable and sustainable funding plan for the department. It would not cover annual program costs, nor eliminate the current structural deficit in the programs, resulting in the appropriation operating in a negative cash balance.”
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau and Americans for Prosperity–Wisconsin collected public feedback, sending it to DATCP after the rules were proposed, and leading DATCP to later propose lower fees.
The fee increase proposal came after a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that blocked legislators from oversight on rulemaking with Evers telling agencies to bypass having rules heard in committee and instead simply enact them.
Bill sponsor Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, said in a statement that he was particularly upset with Evers stating the fee freeze was “enabling the Legislature to go right back to indefinitely obstructing the People’s Work.”
“I find it offensive that the governor would consider it the ‘people’s work’ to target those who work hard to survive in our ag industry,” Quinn said. “Governor Evers chose to back his unelected bureaucrats instead of looking out for the farmers in this state. Forcing his unchecked power against the will of the majority…looks like we have some new material for the next ‘No Kings’ protest.”
Republican lawmakers and Congressman Tom Tiffany’s War Room official campaign for governor account responded to The Center Square’s initial report on the DATCP bill veto questioning why Evers’ would want to put the large fee increases on Wisconsin farmers.
This is insane. Democrats want to raise fees on Wisconsin farmers and livestock barns by 1,700%.@saraforwi, @TheOtherMandela, and @FrancescaHongWI all support it. https://t.co/hZlzgJJNRe— Tiffany War Room (@TiffanyWarRoom) April 3, 2026
“Unelected bureaucrats in the Evers-Rodriguez Administration tried sneaking through a 1700% fee increase on Wisconsin farmers,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, wrote. “Republicans fought to end it, but today Evers VETOED that bill—doubling down on harmful fee hikes on our family farms.”
Unelected bureaucrats in the Evers-Rodriguez Administration tried sneaking through a 1700% fee increase on Wisconsin farmers. Republicans fought to end it, but today Evers VETOED that bill—doubling down on harmful fee hikes on our family farms. https://t.co/RmVXsDo1gk pic.twitter.com/QaNGTlQOBz— Rep. Amanda Nedweski (@RepNedweski32) April 3, 2026

(The Center Square) – Fewer people voted early in Wisconsin this year.
The latest numbers from the Wisconsin Elections Commission show a nearly 50% drop in early absentee voting in the state.
WEC’s numbers show that in Wisconsin’s early voting period, between March 24 and Sunday, 148,307 people cast an early, in-person ballot.
Last year, that number was more than 361,000 early, in-person votes.
Another 176,089 people cast their early vote by mail this year. That too, is down from last year, when the mail-in early vote total hit nearly 333,000 votes.
Some of the drop is being blamed on what some are calling a lower stakes Supreme Court race.
Last year’s race between Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford decided the ideological balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Last year’s race also became a national race and saw the involvement of Elon Musk.
The 2025 race, just like Wisconsin’s 2024 race, set spending records. Last year Schimel and Crawford saw more than $100 million spent on their race. It remains the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. The 2024 race was the previous record holder, with more than $50 million in total spending.
This year’s race between Judge Maria Lazar and Judge Chris Taylor will be a multi-million-dollar affair but won’t come anywhere close to the cost of the last races in the state.
While early voting numbers are down statewide, early votes are largely concentrated this year.
The Elections Commission said early votes from just three counties. Milwaukee, Dane and Waukesha account for 45% of all early votes cast this year. Those are also Wisconsin’s three largest counties.
The rest of the voters in the state will get to cast their ballots today. Polls in the state are open until 8 p.m.

(The Center Square) – The head of Wisconsin’s elections commission says it was mistakes, not fraud, that led to some voters getting two ballots ahead of the primary election on Tuesday.
News broke over the weekend that nearly 150 voters in Green Bay were sent duplicate ballots. On Monday, some voters in Racine said they too were sent two separate ballots.
“Two sets of Wisconsin voters received TWO ballots for tomorrow’s election for different reasons. This does NOT mean they get to vote twice. It is not fraud. It was human error,” WEC Chairwoman Ann Jacobs wrote on social media.
In Green Bay, the local elections clerk said someone on her staff mistakenly printed two sets of mailing labels, and someone else accidentally mailed two ballots to those voters.
In Racine, Jacobs explained, someone in the local clerk’s office left a judicial race off the ballot.
“In Racine, a non-contested municipal judge race was left off of the ballot. Ballots are printed by the county clerks and proofed by the municipal clerks. Both failed to note the missing race. To remedy this, the Racine clerk properly sent out,” Jacobs explained. “The ‘A’ ballot was the original wrong ballot ‘B’ ballot is the new correct ballot. Voters who submitted the ‘A’ ballot have the right to submit the ‘B’ ballot & vote in that missing race. When the ‘B’ ballot is received, the ‘A’ ballot is NOT counted & is documented.”
Jacobs was quick to dismiss critics who pointed to the mistakes as voter fraud, or as opening the door to doubling voting in both communities.
“In both situations, it was ordinary human error, not fraud. And in neither situation will anyone be able to vote twice,” Jacobs added. “A/B ballots happen (we even have a section in our manual about it). The system is designed so no voter can return 2 ballots & have them both count.”
This year’s double balloting in Green Bay and Racine comes after the city clerk in Madison sent out more than 2,200 double ballots to some voters in the 2024 election. That is the same election where Madison’s clerk did not count nearly 200 absentee ballots.
Those ballots were found in two batches, one about a week after Election Day, and the other about a month after Election Day.
Madison’s clerk reportedly took time off after the November 2024 election to bake Christmas cookies for city hall staffers, and no one ever counted the ballots.
Jacobs said it was clear that Madison’s clerk broke the law, but she did not ask for charges in the case.
Madison’s clerk was allowed to resign, though Madison city leaders continue to fight the changes that Jacobs and the Elections Commission ordered after the uncounted ballots were discovered.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin congressman and candidate for governor Tom Tiffany said that he will “end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin” if he becomes governor.
Tiffany was responding to a video highlighting both proposed increased energy rates and the many tax exemptions for Wisconsin data centers.
As governor, I will end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin. https://t.co/ZglSs88x8w— Tom Tiffany (@TomTiffanyWI) April 4, 2026
We Energies is proposing a 14% increase in energy prices over two years after multiple energy increases were approved by the Public Service Commission last year.
Along with increased energy rates, Wisconsin qualified data centers do not pay sales tax on construction materials, equipment inside the buildings and electricity. Many are also built as part of tax increment districts, meaning the increased property taxes paid once the data center is built don’t go to public entities but are kept by the data center companies.
The sales tax exemption was part of the 2023-25 budget passed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature and then approved by Gov. Tony Evers. Exemptions to allow the data centers to be part of TIDs despite going over a statewide mandated cap of 12% of a local entities property value being placed in a TID were proposed by Republican lawmakers and signed by Evers.
The Center Square has reported that the sales tax exemptions have already far exceeded projections with $70 million in forgone sales tax in the first two years of that program with that number expected to multiply in coming years as data center projects in Mount Pleasant, Verona, Beaver Dam and Port Washington have been certified by the state to be eligible for the sales tax exemption.
Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue estimated the value of the incentives would be $8.5 million for the full multi-year construction of a facility and $735,000 recurring afterward. The department attributed the estimates to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that a typical data center costs about $215.5 million to construct.
But many of the Wisconsin data centers are much more expensive, with Microsoft announcing a second data center in Mount Pleasant that will cost $4 billion.
“The state budget accounted only for regular data centers, not hyperscale like the Microsoft one you have in Wisconsin,” Good Jobs First Senior Research Analyst Kasia Tarczynska previously told The Center Square. “Therefore, the cost estimates in the tax expenditure report might be way higher than what they predicted in the budget in 2023.”
Data center incentives have shown to be unpopular with voters as 69% of Wisconsin voters in a recent Marquette poll said that they believe that the cost of data centers outweigh the benefits.
Several bills looking to limit the impact of data centers on energy rates and one looking to block non-disclosure agrees that was backed by comedian Charlie Berens was discussed but did not pass the Legislature before session closed.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a pair of bills Friday that would have exempted overtime pay and cash tips from state income taxes.
Assembly Bill 461 would have matched a temporary federal income tax exemption on overtime that would apply to the extra pay received for working overtime up to $12,500 per year for an individual or $25,000 per year for joint filers.
The exemption is targeted at middle-income residents and is phased out for those making an adjusted gross income between $150,000 and $275,000 as an individual or $300,000 to $550,000 as a joint filer.
“My position has always been that when we provide tax relief, it should be real, responsible, and targeted to the middle class and working families who need it,” Evers said in his veto message. “Unfortunately, I must veto this bill in its entirety because I object to this bill changing the tax code in a way that will treat Wisconsin workers who earn similar wages differently just because of their classification as salaried or hourly workers.
“A salaried worker who earns $35,000 (and is not eligible to earn overtime compensation) should not pay a different amount in taxes from an hourly worker who earns $35,000 through working overtime. We should focus on creating a fairer tax code that provides real, responsible tax relief that supports rather than divides working Wisconsinites.”
Senate Bill 36 would similarly had created an exemption for up to $25,000 in cash tips from state income tax.
“I am vetoing this bill because I object to the Legislature effectively ceding control over the direction of state tax policy to Congress by connecting the proposed state tax deduction for tips to any change in the federal deduction, regardless of what is best for Wisconsin,” Evers wrote in his veto message. “We should not be at the whims of a Republican-controlled Congress that has no problem gutting basic necessities and services like food and access to healthcare just to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
“Wisconsin should retain control over the parameters of a potential income tax deduction for tips so we can modify the policy based on what makes the most sense for Wisconsinites.”
Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-7th Congressional, is a candidate for governor and said on Friday that he would have signed both bills into law.
“If you pick up extra shifts, work overtime, or rely on tips to make ends meet, Democrats in Madison think they should get a cut of your paycheck,” Tiffany said in a statement. “They claim to stand with workers, but when it matters most, they vote to take more of your money.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a pair of bills into law Friday aimed at providing more transparency into teacher’s license investigations related to sexual misconduct and prevents local school officials from entering into agreements to hide information related to staff immoral conduct.
Senate Bill 785 requires the state Department of Public Instruction to keep a free, online searchable platform to include information on teachers who have had their licenses revoked and who are investigated by DPI.
The portal must name the license holder and the outcome of the investigation and must include if the teachers’ license holder voluntarily surrendered his or her license to avoid further investigation.
DPI currently posts each license holder who is under investigation and the name of each person whose license is revoked after an investigation.
The bill comes in response to a Capital Times investigation last year that showed DPI was shielding information on how it handled 200 cases of sexual misconduct and grooming between 2018 and 2023 and was forcing the public to file public records requests to access that information.
“By requiring DPI to post not only the names of license holders but also the results of investigations, AB 795 addresses this lack of transparency and strengthens the ability of families and school leaders to make informed decisions regarding the safety of students in their care,” bill sponsor Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Omro, said in testimony on the bill.
Assembly Bill 1004 prevents schools from entering into confidentiality agreements related to investigations into immoral conduct.
“These ‘pass the trash’ policies simply move problematic staff from one school to another, putting more students at risk of being preyed upon,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said as the bills passed the Assembly.
She noted that 10 states – including Michigan, Iowa and Illinois – have bans in place on confidentiality agreements.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District represents a rural area running from the Minnesota and Iowa borders to Eau Claire and a strip that ends between Wausau and Appleton. But a large topic of debate in the rematch race between incumbent Republican Derrick Van Orden and Democrat Rebecca Cooke is about a country a world away – China.
The race is expected to be close, which Cooke’s team claiming its internal polling showed a 1 percentage point lead over Van Orden in polling by Impact Research between Feb. 12-17 with questions asked of 500 likely general election voters.
Cooke recently touted an endorsement from the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Plan, a group heavily tied to China with everything from a Beijing office to employees who came to NRDC from the Chinese government. The group supports a fracking ban, opposes the Line 5 pipeline that stretches across Wisconsin and it supports the Green New Deal.
“It’s not just concerning, it’s completely disqualifying,” Van Orden Spokesperson Grace Kim told The Center Square. “Rebecca Cooke is in lockstep with radical left-wing groups like the NRDC, the same extremists pushing fracking bans, killing American energy, blocking pipelines like Line 5, and shoving Joe Biden’s reckless Green New Deal down our throats.
“If she gets her way, costs will soar, family farms will collapse, and the U.S. will hand more power to adversaries like China. She claims her family lost their farm to competition, but now she’s willingly siding with radicals who would make it impossible for any small farm to survive. Cooke would sell out Wisconsin families, even her own, just to pander to Washington Democrats.”
Cooke’s campaign, however, has a different viewpoint. They didn’t directly respond to questions from The Center Square about NRDC’s Chinese ties, but told The Center Square that Cooke has clearly stated she is against foreign nationals, including Chinese, from owning Wisconsin farmland.
“It’s not just a food security issue but a national security issue,” Cooke said at a recent event.
She also is against hyper-consolidation in the agricultural industry and beyond, saying there is no place for monopolies in America.
“Cooke can’t claim that she’s against Chinese owned farm land, while getting in bed with groups tied to China whose policies enrich China and crush American farmers,” Kim said. “So either she didn’t bother to research who she’s getting in bed with, or she’s willing to sell out Wisconsin farmers to advance a far-left, China-benefiting agenda. Neither is acceptable and shows that she is completely unfit to represent our state.”
Cooke’s campaign then pointed to Van Orden, who accepted a $5,000 donation from Syngenta, an agricultural technology company with Swiss roots that is now Chinese-owned. Van Orden refunded the donation in March and has since told his fundraising team not to accept donations from any Chinese state-owned companies.
Gov. Tony Evers recently vetoed a Wisconsin bill that would have banned allowing Chinese nationals from purchasing Wisconsin land.
In terms of fracking, Cooke’s campaign said that the federal government does not regulate frac sand projects, so her NRDC endorsement doesn’t relate to the group’s anti-fracking stance. But the state is one of the country’s largest producers of frac sand, which is used for hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from rock formations in other states, according the the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the mining.
“Unlike Derrick Van Orden, who voted to raise electricity costs, Rebecca supports efforts at the federal level to lower energy costs while protecting Wisconsin’s natural resources and environment,” the Cooke campaign said.