From the Article:

The former chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Sunday he was “tricked” into signing documents alleging then-President Trump won the 2020 election as part of the state’s “fake elector” scheme.

Andrew Hitt told Anderson Cooper in a “60 Minutes” interview that he was advised by the state GOP’s legal counsel to sign the documents as a contingency, in case the Trump campaign’s legal case against Wisconsin’s election integrity succeeded.

Hitt said he “wasn’t comfortable with” Trump campaign attempts to toss out votes in Wisconsin, and that he didn’t believe the legal claims of widespread fraud.

“We got specific advice from our lawyers that these documents were meaningless, unless a court said they had meaning,” he said.

He added that he felt pressured into signing the document, fearful that he would be held responsible in the situation that Trump won the suit and the electors were not prepared.

“It was not a safe time,” he said. “If my lawyer is right, and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I will be scared to death.”

“If I knew what I knew now, I wouldn’t have done it,” he continued. “It was kept from us that there was this alternate scheme, alternate motive.”

The 10 Wisconsin GOP electors met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14 to sign the document under supervision of Kenneth Chesebro, the Trump campaign lawyer whom federal special counsel Jack Smith described as the “architect” of the fake elector scheme.

From the Article:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed new legislative district maps into law on Monday that he proposed and that the Republicans who control the Legislature passed to avoid having the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court draw the lines.

Democrats hailed the signing as a major political victory in the swing state where the Legislature has been firmly under Republican control for more than a decade, even as Democrats have won 14 of the past 17 statewide elections.

“When I promised I wanted fair maps — not maps that are better for one party or another, including my own — I damn well meant it,” Evers said prior to signing the maps into law at the state Capitol. "Wisconsin is not a red state or a blue state — we're a purple state, and I believe our maps should reflect that basic fact.

Democrats are almost certain to gain seats in the state Assembly and state Senate under the new maps, which will be in place for the November election. Republicans have been operating since 2011 under maps they drew that were recognized as among the most gerrymandered in the country.

Democrats tried unsuccessfully for more than a decade to overturn the Republican-drawn maps. But it wasn’t until control of the state Supreme Court flipped in August after the election of liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz that Democrats found a winning formula.

From the Article:

A Wisconsin bill would require an ignition interlock device to be placed in the vehicle of all drunken driving offenders in the state.

That device requires a driver to pass a breath alcohol test before their vehicle starts. The legislation’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said it’s aimed at changing behavior for what he called a “toxic culture” of drinking and driving that exists across the state.

“It’s time that we do more to curb the culture of drinking and driving in Wisconsin, while mitigating fatalities, injuries and property loss caused by drunk drivers,” Larson said during a press conference in Milwaukee Thursday.

Current state law requires the device for people with two or more charges for operating while intoxicated, or OWI. It’s also mandatory for first-time offenders with a blood alcohol content above 0.15, according to an analysis from the Legislative Reference Bureau. The bill expands the ignition interlock requirement to all OWI offenses that involve the use of alcohol.

This isn’t the first time Larson has introduced a similar version of the bill. He’s introduced the measure every legislative session that he’s been in office since 2011 — a total of seven times.

Larson said the measure has received some bipartisan support in the past, but with the Republican-controlled state Legislature, the bill has only gotten one hearing in the past 13 years.

“I would hope that as there’s more pressure, that people realize, ‘Hey, this is something that we can change,’” Larson said after the press conference.

Larson said he’s open to discussion on amendments to the bill to help move it along. Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay, is also a co-sponsor of the bill.

“We want to get something passed, we would like to see this happen,” Larson said.

The device would be in the vehicle for one year under Larson’s measure. The driver would also need to blow under a .02 during the breath alcohol test.

Erin Payton, the regional executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, also spoke in favor of the bill Thursday. Payton said since 2019, drunken driving deaths have increased 31 percent across the nation.

From the Article:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A constitutional amendment supported by Republicans that attempts to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin won approval Thursday in the state Assembly.

The measure is the latest effort targeting DEI efforts nationwide, but it is a long way from becoming law in Wisconsin. It must also pass the Senate this year and then the full Legislature next session before it would go to a statewide vote to be added to the Wisconsin Constitution.

The Senate is only expected to be in session a couple more days before ending its work for the year in March.

Wisconsin Republicans have been proposing more constitutional amendments because they don’t require a sign off from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. He has vetoed more bills than any other governor in state history, serving as a block on the agenda of Republicans who have strong majorities in the Legislature.

From the Article:

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says it will start sending out new license plate stickers to drivers who own electric and hybrid vehicles due to a new law.

The law passed last year requires all hybrids and EVs to have license plate stickers as a safety precaution for first responders, letting them know when they approach the scene of a crash whether the vehicle is electric or a traditional combustion engine so they can use the appropriate equipment.

The bill proposal introduced last year referenced a report published in 2013 by the National Fire Protection Alliance noted that EV fires are less likely to include explosions than combustion engine vehicle fires, but EV fires may burn more intensely due to the chemicals used in batteries. Hybrids and EVs may also have a higher risk of electric shocks to first responders, according to a 2020 report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Anyone who already owns a hybrid or EV will automatically be sent the stickers in the mail, and they should receive them by June. Anyone who buys a hybrid or EV starting this summer will get the stickers with their new license plates. The DOT says there is no need to contact the DMV to get the stickers.

The DOT says the sticker should be placed in the upper right corner of each standard-sized license plate.

State records show there were nearly 146,000 hybrids and EVs on Wisconsin roads last year.

Under legal pressure to address Wisconsin’s “Swiss cheese” and oddly shaped districts, the Legislature approved redrawn maps that promise to create a new dynamic in a state known for its pivotal role in national politics.

At least one tornado was confirmed south of Madison and the National Weather Service was investigating reports of several more spawned from storms that swept across the southeastern part of the state around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, said meteorologist Taylor Patterson.

From the Article:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, voiced skepticism Wednesday about the possibility of the Republican-controlled Legislature passing new legislative maps that Evers proposed.

Evers was asked about Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu floating the possibility earlier in the day of the Senate voting on the Evers maps. The Assembly would also consider passing the Evers maps, said Republican Speaker Robin Vos’ spokesperson Angela Joyce.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Evers told reporters. But when asked if he would sign his maps if the Legislature passed them unchanged, Evers said, “Why not?”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is weighing maps submitted by Evers and others after it ruled in December that the current Republican-drawn maps were unconstitutional.

From the Article:

Senate Republicans are considering adopting legislative maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers with no changes, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told the Wisconsin State Journal Wednesday.

While the maps Evers proposed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court could dramatically reduce — and even reverse — Republicans’ legislative majority, GOP lawmakers have found the governor’s maps to be more favorable for them than the other three Democrat-supported alternatives before the court.

In response, Evers told reporters, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Asked whether he’d sign the proposal into law if his maps remain unchanged, he said, “Why not?”

LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, later told reporters that Senate Republicans will consider Evers’ maps along with other alternatives in a closed discussion Wednesday. Any action to pass the governor’s maps would likely be taken in the next two weeks, LeMahieu said.

Steve Scaffidi sat down with my friend @nsarwark former chairman of the Libertarian Party for a eye-opening conversation on the 2024 presidential campaign and his thoughts about the popularity of the two leading candidates in the race.

wtmj.com/government-and-politi…

From the Article:

As a legal battle over witness addresses on absentee ballots heads towards the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republican lawmakers say they’re hoping to settle the debate over the definition of “address” before the court does.

A bill authored by Wisconsin Reps. Donna Rozar, R-Marshfield; Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa; and Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, would specify that a witness’s address must contain the person’s name, house number, street name, municipality, state and ZIP code.

It would also bar clerks from filling in missing address information regardless if they can identify where that person lives. If a clerk — or anyone other than the voter — corrects the address, they could face fines of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail, under the legislation.

Current law states that a witness must print their name and address on the absentee ballot envelope, known as a witness certificate, but doesn’t spell out what constitutes an address.

Krug said the bill is a response to lawsuits on absentee witness signatures working their way through state courts. The most recent ruling came from Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen, who ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to tell local clerks that absentee ballots with witness addresses missing things like a ZIP code or municipality must be counted and that clerks can correct them if they can confirm where a witness lives.

“This is where the definitions and guidance and ideas should come from, is the Legislature passing them and the governor signing them into law, so the courts don’t have to guess,” Krug said.

The Dane County lawsuit was filed by the League of Women Voters and youth organizing group Rise, Inc. They argued state law is vague on what witness address information needs to be included on ballots and clerks around Wisconsin are using different standards.

A separate federal lawsuit filed in October by a national Democratic law firm argues the state law requiring witness signatures on absentee ballot envelopes violates the federal Voting Rights Act. That case is ongoing.

From the Article:

Gov. Tony Evers signed two bills, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 92 and 2023 Wisconsin Act 93, on Friday that will release long-awaited pay raises to employees of the University of Wisconsin System.

The 4% raises for about 35,000 UW employees were included in the 2023-24 budget that was passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Evers. However, they were held up last year by Republican lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) decided to use the raises as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the UW System over diversity, equity and inclusion issues as well as funding.

The UW System and Republicans came to a deal in December 2023 under which lawmakers agreed to finally release the pay raises and fund some infrastructure projects for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin schools, while the System agreed to freeze DEI hiring and realign some positions.

“All our UW faculty, staff, and workers should be treated with dignity and respect,” Evers said in a statement about signing the raises. “While I’m glad these well-deserved pay increases will finally be in the hands of the UW building trades employees who’ve earned them, these workers never should have had their wages held up for political games in the first place.”

The actions by Republican lawmakers regarding the pay raises also became one of the subjects of a lawsuit filed by Evers in October 2023. In the ongoing lawsuit, Evers argues that the actions by lawmakers constitute “legislative vetoes” that are “unconstitutional and unlawful.”

“Republicans’ obstruction of basic functions of government have harmed tens of thousands of people across our state — folks, that’s wrong,” Evers said in his statement. “Wisconsinites expect government to work for them, not against them, and for elected officials to do their jobs and get things done. I will continue to fight every effort by Republicans in the Legislature to unconstitutionally and unlawfully obstruct our administration from doing the right thing for Wisconsin.”

From the Article:

Two consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority said redistricting plans submitted by the Republican-controlled Legislature do “not deserve further consideration” by justices as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the state’s political maps.

Their report on six map proposals said plans submitted by Gov. Tony Evers, Democrats and academics are “tilted toward the Republicans” but are competitive enough that “the party that wins the most votes will win the most seats.”

The findings, released to the court Thursday night, struck at the heart of an argument long used by Republicans that Wisconsin’s “political geography” favors their party because Democrats are generally clustered in larger cities. Wisconsin’s current legislative maps, first drawn by Republicans in 2011 and redrawn in 2021, have helped the GOP cement lopsided majorities in the Assembly and Senate, even in years when Democratic candidates performed well statewide.

But University of California, Irvine political scientist Bernard Grofman and Carnegie Mellon University political scientist Jonathan Cervas told the court that the maps submitted to the court contradicted that claim.

“To put it simply, in Wisconsin, geography is not destiny,” they wrote.

The report argues map proposals from every party except the Legislature and voters represented by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty are able to “improve on traditional good government criteria compared to the current map and manage to create plans with modest levels of partisan bias.”

Also, the consultants wrote, the Legislature’s plan and the plan submitted by WILL “are partisan gerrymanders” from a social science perspective.

The other four plans, the report said, are similar on most criteria, and more competitive than the GOP maps. The consultants did not endorse a specific map but told the court they were prepared to improve map proposals if justices choose.

Shortly after the report was released, Evers called it an important step in the process for finding new maps.

“The days of Wisconsinites living under some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country are numbered,” Evers said.

From the Article:

A Dane County judge has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to create new rules that allow local clerks to accept absentee ballots with missing witness address information.

The move could lead to more votes being counted in this year’s elections compared to in 2022. An attorney for the Republican-controlled state Legislature plans to appeal the ruling.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen issued the ruling as part of a permanent injunction Tuesday. The order requires the commission to rescind guidance it sent to clerks in September stating the agency could no longer advise clerks on whether or not to accept absentee ballots with incomplete address information written on ballot envelopes by a voter’s witness.

In it’s place, Nilsestuen’s order requires the commission to notify clerks that ballots cannot be rejected if witness addresses are missing things like a ZIP code or municipality. It also states that witness addresses marked “same as voter” or “ditto” must be accepted if that person lives at the same residence as the voter.

“The right to vote is one of our most important, if not the most important, right,” Nilsestuen said. “And this furthers that.”

The injunction wasn’t unexpected. On Jan. 3, Nislestuen, a former chief legal counsel for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, issued preliminary rulings on the witness address issue in cases brought by the League of Women Voters and the national youth organizing group Rise, Inc. At that time, he said rejecting absentee ballots due to incomplete witness addresses violates the federal Civil Rights act of 1964 and that the definition of an address should mean “a place where the witness can be communicated with.”

From the Article:

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday vetoed a redistricting proposal that the Republican-controlled Legislature passed last week in a last-ditch effort to avert the drawing of legislative boundaries by the state Supreme Court.

The veto came a day after five of Wisconsin’s Republican members of Congress, along with the GOP-controlled Legislature, asked the newest liberal member of the state Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit that seeks to redraw congressional district maps ahead of the November election.

The political stakes in both cases are huge for both sides in the presidential battleground state, where Republicans have had a firm grip on the Legislature since 2011 even as Democrats have won statewide elections, including for governor in 2018 and 2022.

Evers had promised to veto the GOP legislative-district proposal, which largely mirrored maps he had proposed, but with changes that would reduce the number of GOP incumbents in the state Senate and Assembly who would have to face one another in November.

Evers said he vetoed the maps because they are “more of the same.”

“Republicans passed maps to help make sure Republican-gerrymandered incumbents get to keep their seats,” he said in a statement. “Folks, that’s just more gerrymandering.”

Republicans don’t have enough votes in the Legislature to override the veto.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos accused Evers of trusting the Wisconsin Supreme Court “to give him even more partisan, gerrymandered maps for Democrats.” And Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement that Evers is confident the court “will trample the constitutional authority of the legislature.”

The liberal-controlled state Supreme Court last month tossed the current Republican-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional. The court said it would draw new maps unless the Legislature and Evers agreed to ones first.

They could not agree.

The Legislature raced to pass maps ahead of Thursday’s deadline for consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to submit their recommendations for new boundary lines. They were reviewing six maps submitted separately by Evers, Republicans, Democrats and others. They could recommend one of those maps, or their own. It will then be up to the liberal-controlled court to order the maps.

The legislative machinations in Wisconsin come as litigation continues in more than dozen states over U.S. House and state legislative districts that were enacted after the 2020 census. National Democrats last week asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take up a challenge to the state’s congressional districts, but the court has yet to decide whether to take the case.

That lawsuit argues that decision last month ordering new state legislative maps opens the door to the latest challenge focused on congressional lines.

Republicans asked in that legislative-district case for Justice Janet Protasiewicz to recuse herself, based on comments she made during her campaign calling the maps “rigged” and “unfair.” She refused to step aside and was part of the 4-3 majority in December that ordered new maps.

Now Republicans are making similar arguments in calling for her to not hear the congressional redistricting challenge. In a motion filed Monday, they argued that her comments critical of the Republican maps require her to step aside in order to avoid a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution. They also cite the nearly $10 million her campaign received from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

“A justice cannot decide a case she has prejudged or when her participation otherwise creates a serious risk of actual bias," Republicans argued in the motion. “Justice Protasiewicz’s public campaign statements establish a constitutionally intolerable risk that she has prejudged the merits of this case.”

Protasiewicz rejected similar arguments in the state legislative map redistricting case, saying in October that the law did not require her to step down from that case.

“Recusal decisions are controlled by the law,” Protasiewicz wrote then. “They are not a matter of personal preference. If precedent requires it, I must recuse. But if precedent does not warrant recusal, my oath binds me to participate.”

Those seeking her recusal in the congressional redistricting case are the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature and Republican U.S. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Mike Gallagher, Bryan Steil and Tom Tiffany.

The only Republican not involved in the lawsuit is U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District. His is one of only two congressional districts in Wisconsin seen as competitive.

The current congressional maps in Wisconsin were drawn by Evers and approved by the state Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 declined to block them from taking effect.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is under an extremely tight deadline to consider the challenge. State elections officials have said that new maps must be in place by March 15 in order for candidates and elections officials to adequately prepare for the Aug. 13 primary. Candidates can start circulating nomination papers on April 15.

The lawsuit argues that there is time for the court to accept map submissions and select one to be in place for the November election.

From the Article:

Remote work has declined in Wisconsin after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic, but office vacancies remain elevated in the state’s largest city and its suburbs.

From 2021 to 2022, the state saw an 11 percent decrease in the number of people working remotely, from 437,295 to 387,700, according to a recent study from LLC.org.

Both Madison and Milwaukee have seen about a 20 percent decline in the number of people working from home, according to the report. Madison’s remote workforce declined by 22 percent from 40,253 to 31,385 people. Milwaukee’s has declined by 19 percent from 40,265 to 32,627.

Despite the decrease, remote work nationally remains higher than it was before the pandemic. In September 2023, the average U.S. worker reported spending 3.8 days each month doing their job remotely, down from 5.8 days in 2020 but up from 2.4 days in 2019, according to Gallup.

As of 2023, Forbes reported that 12.7 percent of full-time employees worked from home, while 28.2 percent worked a hybrid model.

Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon said the decline in remote workers noted in the LLC.org report isn’t surprising, but he doesn’t expect remote work to return to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.

“It will continue to be higher than it was pre-pandemic but never be what it was during the pandemic,” Brandon said. “You’re going to continue to see businesses and governments sort out what works and what doesn’t work.”

While remote work has decreased in Wisconsin, it hasn’t necessarily led to offices brimming with activity in the greater Milwaukee area.

From the final three months of 2021 to the same period in 2022, office vacancies in southeast Wisconsin increased slightly from 15.3 percent to 15.8 percent, according to reports from the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin. By the end of 2023, office vacancies in southeast Wisconsin increased to 17.7 percent.

Tracy Johnson, president and CEO for the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin, said generally smaller offices are faring better in the market than larger office spaces.

“A lot of it has to do with the fact that people are just rethinking the way that they use their space,” she said. “You’ve got the hybrid model that, I think, is very pervasive.”

While office vacancies haven’t recovered, Brandon said offices are important to local economies because their workers help support surrounding businesses.

“Offices have amenities around them, (and) those amenities are struggling,” he said. “It’s not uncommon to see places that used to be open for lunch seven days a week (that) are not open for lunch every day of the week anymore, if they’re open for lunch at all.”

Johnson and Brandon said offices also provide an important social space for workers to build a sense of camaraderie. In a virtual work environment, they said it’s harder for coworkers to forge friendships, creating a feeling of isolation.

“We may not have water coolers per se anymore in offices, but the concept of the water cooler is real,” Brandon said.

A 2023 survey from the Society for Human Resource Management found that U.S. workers who have close work friends are more likely to say they’re satisfied with their job than those without close friends at work. And 80 percent of employees with close friends at work say they feel a strong sense of belonging to their organization.

“It’s good for their mental health, I think people feel very isolated,” Johnson said. “When you feel disconnected, I think that contributes to your ability to create trust, and also create innovation.”

From the Article:

Wisconsin’s budget surplus will be less than what was projected six months ago.

The state is predicted to have a surplus of $3.25 billion by the end of the current budget cycle, according to a new estimate of the state’s general fund from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

That’s nearly $800,000 less than what was projected when the current budget was signed last June.

Jason Stein, research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said the surplus is still large enough to give lawmakers and the governor some options. Republicans have called for more tax cuts, while Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has proposed new spending.

“The state’s extremely bright financial picture dimmed a little bit,” Stein said. “On the whole things are still very strong with regard to state finances, but there was a little bit of a weakening compared to where we thought things were at six months ago.”

The state is projected to collect less tax revenue while spending has increased. The fiscal bureau is now expecting the state will collect $422 million less than previously expected from both individuals and corporations.

This estimate from the bureau included spending that has passed since June, as well as bills currently working their way through the legislature. That includes $423 million for building projects on University of Wisconsin system campuses and other items.

Republican leaders said the new estimates show there is still enough of a surplus to deliver more tax cuts.

“These estimates are consistent with what we expected when we crafted our budget. We created a responsible budget that protects taxpayer resources, while making important investments in our state,” Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born wrote in a statement. “With over $3 billion in the bank and $1.8 billion in the state’s rainy day fund, it is critical for us to return a portion of these funds to the people of Wisconsin.”

Earlier this week, Republicans called for tax cuts that would total $2.1 billion during this budget cycle and $1.4 billion every year after that.

“There’s a lot of room to do one-time spending increases or one-time tax rebates and there is less, but still significant room, to do ongoing spending increases or ongoing tax cuts,” Stein said.

Stein said state revenues grew very rapidly during and immediately after the pandemic.

“They’re not (growing) now, and there’s no real prospect for them doing that in the near future, absent some sort of tax increase by the state,” he said.

When asked for a response to the revised estimate, a spokesperson for Evers pointed to this week’s State of the State address.

In that speech, Evers called for funding a variety of programs, including child care, expanded Medicaid coverage for new mothers and investing in education.

From the Article:

A pair of Wisconsin Republicans want to give the Universities of Wisconsin $500,000 a year to ensure conservative voices on public campuses are heard.

Rep. Scott Johnson, R-Jefferson, and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, are proposing a bill that would fund the university system’s free speech office, the Wisconsin Institute of Citizenship and Civil Dialogue.

The bill proposal says the Wisconsin Institute of Citizenship and Civil Dialogue was not adequately funded when it was created.

The Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue was created in November 2022 by UW System President Jay Rothman in conjunction with a student free speech survey. The UW system spent $250,000 on the center in its first year, according to a university spokesperson.

At the time, Rothman said it was an extension of UW-Madison’s “It’s Just Coffee” program that brought students from different backgrounds together to discuss politics, religion and economics in a non-threatening environment.

The survey of more than 10,000 Universities of Wisconsin undergraduate students found stark differences in opinion on free speech when broken down by political affiliation, gender and race.

From the Article:

Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate cited decisions by a utility regulator that have made it easier for some customers to afford their utility bills and install rooftop solar projects among the reasons for firing him this week.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 21-11 to reject Tyler Huebner’s appointment to the Public Service Commission. Huebner, an appointee of Gov. Tony Evers, had been serving since 2020. He’s the governor’s 10th appointee to be rejected by GOP senators. In a separate vote, they confirmed Evers’ appointee, Summer Strand, to the commission in a 27-5 vote.

Democrats said the move was tied to “partisan political games.” But Republicans, like Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Franklin, accused Huebner of using his position as an activist and acting beyond his authority under state law.

“Their job is to be regulators, not policymakers,” Bradley said.

In a statement on his firing, Huebner said he’s proud of the decisions he made “to balance safety, reliability and affordability” in the services provided by utilities.

From the Article:

Wisconsin’s population is holding steady, with modest gains attributed to immigration and people moving from other states.

According to data released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau, the state saw an estimated gain of 20,412 people between July 2022 and July 2023.

Wisconsin’s population is now estimated to be nearly 5.9 million people — a jump of about 1 percent since the last census was taken in April 2020.

So far this decade, the state has experienced about a quarter of the population growth it saw between 2010 and 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in deaths that altered the state’s trajectory, said David Egan-Robertson, demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory.

“It actually may be a case that population will grow a little bit faster because there will be fewer deaths going forward in the state,” Egan-Robertson said.

During the period covered by the most recent estimates, there were 1,147 more births than deaths. That’s a change from recent years when there were more deaths than births.

Still, most of the state’s population growth has come from immigration, or from domestic migration. An estimated 13,653 people came to Wisconsin from other countries. Another 5,648 moved from another state.

“We’re not Texas, we’re not Florida or any of the other southern states that might be growing quite a bit,” Egan-Robertson said. “(Wisconsin’s) growth is pretty moderate and it’s in the positive direction.”

Mark Sommerhauser is the communications director and policy researcher for the Wisconsin Policy Forum. He said Wisconsin’s estimated growth was smaller than what most states saw in the same time period, but it’s still a positive sign.

“Given the sort of trajectory of population growth that we have seen in the last decade or two, that’s actually a decent annual number,” Sommerhauser said. “It’s higher than most of the years that I’ve looked at since 2010.”

John Johnson agreed. A research fellow at the Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, Johnson said any net gain from other states is an encouraging sign.

“Whether or not more people are moving to our state or leaving our state is a sign of how satisfied people are with the quality of life that we’re providing. So I think that is an important indicator. And we do see positive net migration to Wisconsin overall,” Johnson said.

Other states are faring worse, Johnson said.

“Milwaukee is predicted to have the same number of congressional districts at the end of this decade as they did at the beginning,” he said, after having lost a seat after the 2000 census. That’s in contrast to cities such as San Francisco, which is on track to lose representation.

From the Article:

Wisconsin's powerful Republican Assembly leader said Tuesday that he hopes the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court adopts new constitutional legislative boundary maps, even as he slammed proposals from Democrats as “a political gerrymander” and threatened an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court tossed Republican-drawn maps, long considered among the country's most favorable to the GOP, and ordered new maps that do not favor one party over another. It said if the Legislature doesn't adopt maps, the court will.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republicans have approached Democrats about passing new maps in the Legislature, but “we have not gotten a warm reception to that idea.”

“We are ready, willing and able to try to engage in that process,” Vos said at a news conference.

Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer questioned Vos' sincerity.

“We are always open to conversations with our colleagues, but have yet to be convinced that Republican Legislators are serious about passing a fair and representative map, especially given the extreme gerrymander they submitted to the court on Friday," she said in a statement.

Wisconsin is a purple state, with four of the past six presidential elections decided by less than a percentage point. But under legislative maps first enacted by Republicans in 2011 and then again in 2022 with few changes, the GOP has grown its majorities to 64-35 in the Assembly and 22-11 in the state Senate.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the maps passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021, leading the then-conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt the maps that are currently in use. The court has since shifted to liberal control, and it threw out the maps last month.

In a 4-3 ruling, the high court said the current maps were unconstitutional because not all districts were comprised of a contiguous territory. Some districts included areas that weren't connected to the whole.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers, along with Evers, a conservative Wisconsin law firm, a liberal law firm that brought the redistricting lawsuit, a group of mathematics professors and a redistricting consultant submitted new proposed maps on Friday.

The map submitted by Republicans would maintain the current 64-35 GOP majority, while other maps would narrow it to as little as a one-seat Republican edge, according to an analysis by Marquette University Law School research fellow John D. Johnson

Vos dismissed the maps submitted by Democrats, saying they would move too many boundary lines and force incumbent lawmakers to run against one another. He called them “nothing more than a political gerrymander.”

In the 2022 election, Wisconsin’s Assembly districts had the nation’s second-largest Republican tilt behind only West Virginia, according to an Associated Press statistical analysis that was designed to detect potential gerrymandering. Republicans received less than 55% of the votes cast for major party Assembly candidates, yet they won 65% of the seats.

The submitted maps are being reviewed now by two consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They will submit their report by Feb. 1, which will include their recommended maps.

“My hope is that the court, in any fair reading, rejects the maps that were submitted which have large partisan bias and either has maps drawn by the professors, if they go that route, or ultimately we'll have to go to the (U.S.) Supreme Court and demonstrate the huge political nature of what they’ve done, ” Vos said.

When asked when such an appeal would be filed or what it would argue, Vos declined to say.

“Our goal is not to rush to the U.S. Supreme Court," Vos said. “We want to try and have a map that meets the constitution."

Republicans have indicated that they would argue that there were due process violations. Vos has also suggested that the appeal would argue that liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who called the current maps “rigged” and “unfair” during her run for office, should not have heard the case. She sided with the three other liberal justices in ordering new maps.