Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s congressional delegation split along party lines over US strikes on Iran
After the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, Wisconsin federal lawmakers’ reactions were divided along party lines.
Republicans praised the strikes as a necessary step and said they were within the bounds of presidential authority. Meanwhile, Democrats criticized President Donald Trump for ordering the strikes without approval from Congress and said they risked creating a wider conflict.
In an interview Sunday on FOX News, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Trump had been clear that Iran could not become a nuclear power.
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“They were getting too close. They simply would not listen to him. They wouldn’t give it up,” he said.
He expressed disbelief that “anybody could have been surprised at this,” arguing the president had “telegraphed” his intentions.
Johnson said the U.S. was “not at war with the Iranian people.”
“I hope they take this opportunity of the regime’s weakness to rise up and establish a more democrat, Western-leaning, prosperous Iran,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin argued that diplomacy, not war, was the way to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons.
“I have been clear-eyed that Iran is a threat to the safety of people across the world and cannot have a nuclear weapon,” she wrote in a statement Sunday.
That was why, she wrote, she supported former President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal. She claimed Trump’s withdrawal from it “got us into this whole situation.”
“We should be learning lessons from our war in Iraq and what it means to engulf us in a conflict across the globe,” she wrote. “I did not support that war, and I don’t support this one.”
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Reactions were similar among Wisconsin’s U.S. House delegation, which is split between six Republicans and two Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Clyman, called diplomacy “our preferred path,” but argued Trump’s actions will “prevent a far greater conflict down the road.”
“Now is the time for Iran to reassess its path and choose negotiation over provocation,” the 5th Congressional District representative wrote in a statement Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, characterized the strikes differently.
She said Trump was “putting American lives in jeopardy and choosing to escalate in a region already on edge.”
“Rest assured, no one is sleeping safer or more secure because of the unfolding attacks,” she wrote on social media site X.
Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, blamed “weak” previous Democratic administrations for emboldening Iran.
“I fully support President Trump’s actions to defend our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, and send a clear message to our adversaries that America does not tolerate nuclear intimidation,” he wrote.
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, said Iran’s leadership bore blame.
“Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has squandered our good-faith efforts to negotiate for nuclear disarmament and left the US with few options other than to destroy Iran’s ability to have a nuclear weapon,” he wrote on X Monday.
Axios reported Trump was willing to meet Iran’s president in Turkey as recently as last week, but the Iranian side couldn’t reach Khamenei to greenlight the meeting.
“Iran’s rulers have been vowing ‘Death to America’ for decades,” wrote U.S. Rep Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in a statement. “President Trump understands that peace is achieved through strength, and strength means preventing a nuclear Iran.”
U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, reposted an American flag shared by Trump and echoed the president’s “peace through strength” motto. But he also wrote that “now is the time for peace and an end to endless wars.”
Also writing on X, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from the Town of Vermont west of Madison, urged Congress to pass a recently-introduced bill that orders the president to seek congressional authorization before military action in Iran.
The bill was written by Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative libertarian from Kentucky who frequently clashes with Trump. It’s cosponsored by 43 Democrats, including Moore and Pocan.
“Hot take: war is bad,” Pocan also posted Monday.
The office of U.S. Rep. Grothman, R-Glenbeulah, did not respond to a request for comment, and as of Monday afternoon, Grothman had not shared a reaction to the attack on his social media accounts.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
In a bit of a surprise, Wisconsin Badgers starting center Jake Renfro is using a medical hardship year and entering the transfer portal for his final season of eligibility.
Renfro, a sixth-year senior in 2024, battled numerous injuries this season, limiting him to only four games after having season-ending surgery. He was a full-time starter for Wisconsin in 2024 after missing the entire 2023 season except for the team’s bowl game due to injury.
Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Renfro had played for head coach Luke Fickell at Cincinnati for three seasons. He played in seven games as a freshman in 2020, making six starts at center. He then was the full-time starter as a sophomore in 2021, earning All-AAC honors before missing the entire 2022 season due to injury.
Now, he’s set to come back to college football for a seventh year, rather than turn pro, and will look to do so at another school.
“I want to thank Coach Fickell, the entire coaching and training staff, my teammates, and the University of Wisconsin for everything over the past three seasons,” Renfro wrote. “I am grateful for the support, development, friendships, and memories I have made during my time in Madison. After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to enter the transfer portal and use a medical hardship year to continue my college football journey. I will always appreciate my time as a Badger.”
Renfro was one of the biggest supporters of Fickell publicly, being a vocal leader on the team as the starting center.
With his departure, Wisconsin could need a new starting left tackle, left guard, and center next season, depending on whether Joe Brunner heads to the NFL or returns for another season.
Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield discusses tournament win
Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield commented on the Badgers’ ‘huge’ win over North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
MADISON — It did not take long for Alicia Andrew to text her younger sister after watching the NCAA volleyball selection show with her Wisconsin teammates in a lounge area in the south end zone of Camp Randall Stadium.
“I was like, ‘Girl!’” Andrew said. “She’s like, ‘I know! I’ll see you in Texas! And I was like, ‘I’m so excited!’”
Andrew will not see her younger sister in the Gregory Gym stands like any other family members, but rather on the court as an opposing player in the Badgers’ NCAA tournament regional semifinal match against Stanford.
Alicia Andrew is a 6-foot-3 redshirt senior middle blocker for Wisconsin. Lizzy Andrew is a 6-foot-5 sophomore middle blocker for Stanford. The sisters will play against each other for the first time with a spot in the NCAA regional finals on the line.
“Certainly when you’re having two high-level Division I starters on teams that are top five, top 10 in the country playing the same position, that’s pretty unique,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “They’re both talented and competitive. But I also know that the players aren’t going to make it about themselves or the person that’s on the other side of the net. They’re parts of teams that are trying to move on and move forward and play great volley.”
Alicia has naturally fielded questions about the sibling rivalry, but she is “not reading too much into rivalry stuff and just playing this sport.”
“It’s another game,” she said after a recent UW practice. “Yes, it’s her across the net. But it’s a business. We both want to move on to the next round.”
Both players have played key parts in their respective teams’ path to this stage.
Alicia, after transferring from Baylor, is the only UW player to appear in all 98 sets this season and one of five to appear in all 30 matches. She is second on the team with 111 blocks, barely trailing fellow middle blocker Carter Booth’s 119.
“Really wants to be good for the people around her,” Sheffield said of Alicia. “Wants to do her job. Takes pride in her job. There’s a maturity, but yet there’s a playfulness that is a really good balance for her. Love coaching her. She’s wired the right way. She really is.”
Lizzy, meanwhile, ranks seventh in the country with a .441 hitting percentage in 2025 after earning a spot on the all-ACC freshman team in 2024. She also has experience playing with the U.S. U21 national team.
“I’m so proud of how hard she worked and her journey to Stanford,” Alicia said. “She puts in so much work, and she just loves the sport of volleyball. And I have loved watching her grow. It’s been fun to see her get better and better every year. And this past season, she’s been playing lights out.”
That pride has turned Alicia into a frequent viewer of ACC volleyball, of course whenever it has not conflicted with the Badgers’ own matches.
“We try to watch as many of each other’s games as we can, and I always just love watching her play,” she said. “I’m so proud of her. She’s just worked her tail off at Stanford, so to see her excel has been so fun.”
The Andrew sisters — Alicia, Lizzy and Natalie, who is on the rowing team at the U.S. Naval Academy — competed together in high school. (They also have a younger brother, William.) Competing against each other is a new concept for them, though.
“We’re not huge trash talkers, neither one of us,” Alicia said. “So I think that she’s going to play her game. I’m going to play my game. We’re going to have our heads down. There might be some looking across and smiling because we make the exact same expressions and quirky faces and reactions.”
The sisters don’t look the same – Lizzy has blonde hair and Alicia has brown hair. But Alicia quickly sees the resemblance with those on-court mannerisms.
“If there’s a silly play or if there is like a really unexpected dump or something, she’ll turn around and make the exact same face that I will,” Alicia said. “And it’s funny watching her on TV because I’m like, ‘Wow, that looks scary familiar.’”
They have some similarities off the court, too.
“We’re just goobers,” Alicia said. “We just like to have a good time together. Obviously she’s my little sister, but we have always been a close family — like all the siblings — so I feel like we’ve done all the things together growing up in all the sports.”
The Andrew parents are perhaps the biggest winners of the NCAA tournament bracket.
“My parents were super excited,” Alicia said. “They don’t have to split the travel plan, so they can save some frequent flyer miles there and both be in Texas. … They’re always trying to coordinate all the schedules.”
The Andrew family made T-shirts for the unique sisterly matchup. (Alicia thinks she is getting one considering they asked her and Lizzy for their shirt sizes in the family group chat.) The shirts are black, too, so there is no favoritism between Wisconsin and Stanford’s variations of cardinal red.
“They have a Stanford ‘S’ and a tree on it and then a Wisconsin ‘W’ and a little Badger on it, too,” Andrew said. “They’re really excited about these shirts. They’re being non-biased; they’re repping both daughters.”
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP, Wis. (FOX 9) – A crash in western Wisconsin killed an 8-year-old boy and seriously injured a 27-year-old Wednesday morning.
Fatal crash in Richmond Township, Wisconsin
What we know:
According to St. Croix County, just before 10 a.m., deputies responded to a crash on the 1500 block of County Road A.
Authorities say that a 27-year-old woman was driving a van southbound, and lost control on an icy curve and collided with another vehicle.
The woman suffered serious injuries from the crash and was taken to the hospital to be treated, law enforcement said. The boy was critically injured, and was also taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Both were wearing seat belts during the crash.
The driver of the other vehicle was treated for minor injuries at the scene and was released.
This is the 10th traffic fatality in St. Croix County.
What we don’t know:
The current condition of the woman is unknown.
The Source: A press release from St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office.
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