Wisconsin Watch
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Wisconsin Watch is a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news outlet. They increase the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
Wisconsin Watch
18h ago
Reading Time: 3 minutes
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a lower court ruling that declared some delivery drivers for Amazon were employees as the state argued, not independent contractors as the online retail giant contended.
The court, in a unanimous decision, said the appeal was “improvidently granted,” meaning the Supreme Court should not have reviewed the case. That decision dismissing the case, issued after the court heard oral arguments, leaves a 2023 Wisconsin appeals court ruling against Amazon in place.
That ruling found that drivers in the Amazon Flex progr ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
18h ago
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
No.
The average waiting period for an immigration asylum hearing is 3.9 years, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which tracks enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the Madison area, claimed at a March 16, 2024, town hall that “right now, the waiting time in order to have your c ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
18h ago
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Yes.
Milwaukee Public Schools’ property tax levy would increase 30% if voters approve an April 2, 2024, referendum.
It would allow MPS to collect $252 million in additional revenue over four years.
According to MPS:
The 2023-24 levy, $320.2 million, would rise to $417.6 million in 2024-25. That’s an increase of $97 million, or 30.4%.
That first-year increase would add $216 to the property ta ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
1d ago
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Anthony Larson describes himself as a hard-core ice fisher.
Living in La Crosse, Wisconsin, right next to the Mississippi River, he has the luxury to fulfill that description. Once the river and its backwaters ice over each winter, he aims to fish every day, using his work commute to scope out particular spots he wants to hit. Even if all he can spare at the end of the day is 15 or 20 minutes, he goes for it.
This winter was different.
The above-average temperatures across the upper Midwest, driven in part by the El Niño climate pattern and in part by human-caused clima ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
1d ago
Reading Time: 5 minutes Click here to read highlights from the story
This year’s maple sap season began early in Upper Midwestern states for many producers, who experienced shorter seasons. Some credit those shifts to the year’s record warm winter.
Experts say human-caused climate change also is having varied and unpredictable effects on the maple harvest.
Farmers and Indigenous communities whose ancestors have tapped trees since time immemorial are altering their practices and planning for an erratic future.
The art of maple syrup production flows through generations of Dan Potter’s f ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
2d ago
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Next week Wisconsinites in 34 counties will elect some of the most powerful office holders in their communities: circuit court judges.
Making up the bottom tier of the state’s court system, Wisconsin’s 261 circuit court judges collectively handle hundreds of thousands of cases each year, ranging from speeding tickets to murder trials to challenges to state law. Elected to six-year terms, circuit court judges enjoy broad autonomy and far-reaching authority in the cases they oversee.
Despite that power, just 10 of 56 circuit court races on the April 2 ballot will feature ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
3d ago
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Every week illuminating data flows through our mailbox from groups like the Wisconsin Policy Forum or the Legislative Fiscal Bureau without ever generating a story.
That’s why when Wisconsin Watch earlier this year launched Forward, our weekly newsletter focused on the upcoming week in state government and politics, we wanted to include a regular way to feature that information.
And so we created “Data Watch” to amplify that statistical information. Here are 10 of our most recent examples.
Legislative occupations
In the latest legislative session, Wisconsin had more far ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
3d ago
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Manitowoc County resident Jeanette Deschene had been working remotely for Advocate Aurora Health for two years when the system ordered its employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
She refused and was fired.
“I really thought that this was a human right to be able to choose what you wanted to do,” said Deschene, who for a total of eight years helped patients get financial assistance for their bills.
The 38-year-old’s firing was in October 2021, when U.S. deaths from the pandemic exceeded 752,000 and Badger State hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Wi ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
6d ago
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday vetoed Republican proposals that would have allowed election observers to get closer to poll workers and required a new post-election audit while signing a bill increasing the penalty for assaulting an election official.
Evers, a Democrat, also signed into law a bill requiring that political TV ads using artificial intelligence come with a disclaimer and a bipartisan bill exempting purchases of precious metal, such as gold and silver, from the state sales tax. The exemption does not apply to jewelry and other personal property ..read more
Wisconsin Watch
1w ago
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed bipartisan bills designed to jump-start creation of an electric vehicle charging network along the state’s interstate system and major highways.
The new laws free up nearly $80 million in federal construction aid and make it easier for gas stations, convenience stores and other businesses to operate the electric vehicle charging stations. The measures were backed by businesses and environmentalists alike and cheered as a way for Wisconsin to expand its electric vehicle charging network.
The funding is designed to support Lev ..read more