Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, speaks during a press conference at Columbia University on April 24, 2024 in New York City. Johnson visited the campus as school administrators and pro-Palestinian student protesters made progress on negotiations after the school set a midnight deadline for students to disband the encampment, and agreed on a 48-hour extension. Johnson has called for the resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson decried antisemitism and raised the possibility of callin ..read more

Wisconsin Election Commission member Robert Spindell talks to election observers in Milwaukee on Election Day in April 2023. (Photo | Isiah Holmes) The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s (WEC) effort to create a new rule to guide the conduct of election observers at polling places received a public hearing Wednesday. Supporters and opponents expressed their opinions, which included the airing of false claims of election fraud that have hounded the agency for the past four years.  Under the rule, election observers would only be allowed in certain designated areas between three and eight fe ..read more

President Joe Biden shakes hands with NABTU President Sean McGarvey after giving remarks at the North American Building Trades Unions 2024 Legislative Conference at the Washington Hilton on April 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Biden attended the conference to receive an official political endorsement from NABTU. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Cheered for his pro-union stance and promise to rework the tax code, President Joe Biden picked up a major endorsement Wednesday from North America’s Building Trades Unions, a massive labor organization now committing resources in th ..read more

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is a supporter of the “Right to Contraception Act” in Congress. Moore speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in December 2021. (Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images) Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and state Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) called statutory protections for contraception an “urgent” need on Wednesday. Both lawmakers have pushed for a “Right to Contraception” Act in their respective roles at the federal and state levels. Moore said encoding protections into law are more important than ever due to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which elimin ..read more

President Joe Biden on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, signed into law foreign aid that includes $60.84 billion in assistance for Ukraine. In this photo, Biden delivers remarks about Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified” military invasion of neighboring Ukraine in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 24, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan emergency spending law Wednesday to provide an additional $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, ending months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and public pleas for Co ..read more

Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Wisconsin Eric Hovde speaks at a rally hosted by former President Donald Trump on April 2, 2024, in Green Bay. Democrats are criticizing Hovde's bank's ownership of an assisted living home that is being sued while he has criticized how nursing home voting was handled in 2020 in Wisconsin. (Scott Olson | Getty Images) An assisted living home in California connected to the bank owned by Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Eric Hovde has been cited for a series of violations, records with the state of California show. The home, Claremont Hacienda in Los Angeles C ..read more

An empty high school classroom. (Dan Forer | Getty Images) Wisconsin schools reported more than 5,000 seclusion incidents and more than 6,000 physical restraint incidents during the 2022-23 school year, according to a report published Tuesday by the state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI). There were in total 1,868 students involved in 5,396 seclusion incidents, and 2,763 students involved in 6,366 restraint incidents. Students with disabilities represented a disproportionate number of those involved in incidents.  Students with disabilities make up 14% of the statewide student po ..read more

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, speaks during a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — An additional $95 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is on a glide path to passage in the U.S. Senate after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted Tuesday to limit debate on the package. The 80-19 procedural vote sets up a final passage vote as soon as Tuesday evening, though that could move into Wednesday depending on how quickly debate w ..read more

A poll worker in Madison, Wis., sets up signage before early voting began in a 2023 election. This month, Wisconsin voters opted to ban private grants from funding local election administration. Morry Gash/The Associated Press This month, Wisconsin joined 27 other states that have banned or restricted local governments’ use of private donations to run cash-strapped election offices, buy voting equipment or hire poll workers for Election Day. All of the state laws came in the past four years, pushed by conservative lawmakers and activists who claim that Democratic voters disproportionately ben ..read more

VP Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event at the La Crosse Center Monday focused on reproductive rights. (Screenshot | Kamala Harris campaign YouTube channel) Vice President Kamala Harris — making her third visit to Wisconsin this year — announced two federal rules meant to improve conditions for health care workers and quality of care for seniors and people with disabilities on Monday. After visits with health care workers she rallied with supporters of reproductive rights at a campaign event.  Harris’ first stop in the battleground state was Hmoob Cultural & Community Agency ..read more