Wisconsin
Editorial Roundup: Wisconsin
![Editorial Roundup: Wisconsin Editorial Roundup: Wisconsin](https://www.startribune.com/static/img/branding/logos/strib-social-card.png?d=1651001261)
Eau Claire Chief-Telegram. April 27, 2022.
Editorial: Honoring Wisconsin’s youth
Final week our editor had the privilege of being a choose for the Wisconsin Civics Video games, which returned after a COVID hiatus. The video games concerned highschool groups from round Wisconsin in a quiz bowl-style occasion.
The competitors did not crown a champion, however set the stage for the Civics Video games finals. Every spherical acquired harder, and it was spectacular to observe the groups within the final matches of the day sq. off. There have been a number of terribly shut matchups. You may see the preparation and funding of time these college students put in.
How arduous did issues get? The primary query of Spherical 1 was “Identify the 2 main political events in america.” Most groups might reply earlier than the choose was completed studying the query. By the final spherical college students have been being requested this: “Wisconsin was the primary state to ratify the nineteenth Modification, granting ladies the precise to vote. Which state was the final to ratify earlier than it went into regulation?”
The reply was Tennessee.
The next are 10 questions from the 4 rounds of final week’s Civics Video games. The solutions will probably be on the backside of the editorial.
1. Beneath Wisconsin’s Open Conferences Legislation, how a lot discover have to be given for a gathering of a authorities physique?
2. Identify two necessities for serving on a jury.
3. The US Postal Service is an impartial company of which department of presidency?
4. What’s the minimal variety of conferences per yr required for a county board in Wisconsin?
5. Who was the primary governor of Wisconsin Territory?
6. What number of electors are within the Electoral Faculty?
7. So as to immediate a recall election in Wisconsin, what number of signatures are required?
8. What number of cities are in Wisconsin?
9. Victoria Woodhull, in 1872, was the primary lady to do what in america?
10. Which division of the federal authorities points United States passports?
The data and enthusiasm displayed by the scholars on the Civics Video games clashes with the headlines since Friday.
This has been a tough week for everybody within the space. The dying of a kid is all the time a heavy blow. The very fact one other youngster is accused within the case would not assist. And there is a clear restrict to how a lot we are able to constructively say on the topic on this second.
It is simple to overlook when information like that is on everybody’s thoughts how spectacular the youth of Wisconsin actually are. In spite of everything, college students have been anticipated to have the ability to reply the above questions. That is a part of what hurts proper now. There’s a lot potential that will probably be endlessly unfulfilled.
The investigators within the Lily Peters case deserve the general public’s thanks for his or her efforts. It is vital that we not overlook that, whereas we are able to all discover distractions, they needed to deal with such a wrenching occasion at size. They have been clearly aided by the ideas individuals referred to as in. Thanks to everybody who helped.
Could Lily’s reminiscence be a blessing for these she liked, and those that love her.
Solutions: 1. 24 hours 2. Not less than 18 years outdated, a U.S. citizen, and in a position to perceive English 3. The manager department 4. Two 5. Henry Dodge 6. 538 7. 15% of the residents who voted within the earlier gubernatorial election 8. 190 9. Run for president of america 10. The U.S. Division of State
___
Racine Journal Instances. April 25, 2022.
Editorial: Maintain boosting state’s wet day fund
Politicians on either side of the political aisle get positively giddy when there may be an sudden surge in tax collections that buoy Wisconsin coffers — just like the one that’s at the moment projected to provide the state a $3.8 billion basic fund stability on the finish of fiscal 2023.
So many {dollars} — and so some ways to spend it.
Gov. Tony Evers in January proposed further spending for faculties and sending $150 checks to each state resident — which was derided as an election-year gimmick by Republicans. GOP legislators, in the meantime, are speaking longingly about tax cuts within the subsequent biennial finances and different spending proposals.
And no, state officers mentioned in January, socking a few of that surplus away within the state’s “wet day fund,” for use within the occasion of an financial downturn was not on the precedence checklist.
In spite of everything, Wisconsin put $967 million into the fund at shut of 2021, bringing the entire to about $1.73 billion — the biggest quantity in state historical past. Beneath state regulation 20 years in the past, lawmakers requited that half of extra tax revenues be deposited into the wet day fund till it reached 5% of state funding ranges. At the moment, the wet day fund stability equates to eight.4% of state spending.
So we’re good, proper? Properly, possibly. For now.
However there are nonetheless some alarm bells ringing. This month a report by the Wisconsin Counties Associations nonpartisan analysis arm, Ahead Analytics, mentioned Wisconsin must nearly double the wet day fund — that it ought to be 15% to 16% to correctly stand up to a future recession.
Dale Knapp, the creator of the report, prompt further contributions to the emergency fund ought to be the primary declare on what’s within the basic fund stability.
“Even when we try this, there’s sufficient there to fund another priorities that the governor or legislators might need and and it units us up able the place we’re truly ready for the subsequent downturn and we do not have to make important cuts to spending or elevate taxes considerably like we did within the final recession,” Knapp mentioned.
Knapp mentioned Wisconsin’s 5% stage is just too low and that the Authorities Finance Officers Affiliation recommends holding at the very least 16% of spending in reserve.
Knapp just isn’t the one one signaling this can be a time for warning.
The Federal Reserve is combating a difficult battle to dampen down hovering inflation by elevating rates of interest whereas nonetheless not hurting the financial system or the labor market — or triggering a recession. Final month, the Fed raised its benchmark rate of interest by 0.25% — the primary elevate since 2018 — and as many as seven price will increase are projected this yr, together with bumps of 0.5% in Could and June, based on some economists.
Economists argue that the Fed’s response was tardy and even Fed chair Jerome H. Powell conceded final month the Fed “clearly” ought to have begun tightening charges earlier earlier than they acquired so excessive.
It is a sophisticated scenario compounded by the struggle within the Ukraine, the disruption of Russian oil shipments, the struggles in China with COVID that proceed to disrupt provide chains all over the world and a good labor market right here within the U.S.
That requires a bit little bit of warning by the governor and state lawmakers earlier than they begin writing checks for brand spanking new applications, tax cuts or anything to sop up the state’s surplus.
The Reuters information service polled economists final week they usually projected the chance of toppling right into a recession is 25% this yr and 40% subsequent yr.
They’re saying it is pretty doubtless it is going to rain. Wisconsin ought to have a more healthy wet day fund to make use of as an umbrella, simply in case.
___
Wisconsin State Journal. April 22, 2022.
Editorial: Courts fail the general public in push for honest maps
A double whammy of bizarre courtroom choices has made Wisconsin’s gerrymandered voting districts even worse than earlier than.
Meaning the Republicans who management the Legislature will probably be even much less accountable to voters over the subsequent decade.
It is unhappy and shameful.
This is what simply occurred, and why it is extra vital than ever for Wisconsin residents to advocate for nonpartisan redistricting, much like Iowa’s confirmed mannequin:
The primary whammy got here on March 23, when the U.S. Supreme Courtroom rejected new legislative districts drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom had narrowly authorized these maps as a result of, based on the state courtroom’s novel standards, the governor’s maps have been nearer to present maps than competing Republican-drawn maps.
With out in depth briefing or oral arguments, the nation’s highest courtroom dominated that the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom had didn’t correctly decide if Evers’ maps adjust to the federal Voting Rights Act. Particularly, the courtroom questioned Evers’ try to extend the variety of majority-Black Meeting districts in Milwaukee from six to seven.
The consequences of Evers’ adjustments have been unclear. They may have fostered extra Black illustration. Or, as a result of Evers’ maps lowered the dimensions of Black majorities within the six present districts, Black illustration might need been much less doubtless. His maps additionally collapsed some GOP lawmakers into the identical districts in Milwaukee’s suburbs, hurting their possibilities.
This will get to the center of why not one of the politicians — not the Republicans nor the Democrats — ought to be drawing the strains of voting districts. They are going to all the time attempt to skew the maps to their favor. They only can not help themselves.
As a substitute, like Iowa, Wisconsin ought to assign the once-every-decade job of adjusting the strains to mirror inhabitants adjustments to a impartial state company. In Iowa, the map-drawing company is nonpartisan and forbidden from contemplating the destiny of incumbents or voting patterns. As a substitute, it should draw the strains as contiguous and compact as potential whereas respecting group boundaries.
Evers tried to encourage an analogous course of by making a citizen panel to attract the strains in Wisconsin final yr. However the GOP-run Legislature has repeatedly rejected any try to take the politics out of the method. As a substitute, Meeting Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Chief Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, have doubled down on gerrymandering and proceed to waste tens of millions of tax {dollars} on legal professionals to defend their rigged districts. They worry shedding their energy and Republican majorities if the maps are drawn pretty.
Republicans have been poised to win the newest spherical of redistricting both method. That is as a result of, resulting from a state Supreme Courtroom edict, even Evers’ maps needed to be much like present maps, which the GOP had gerrymandered in secret a decade in the past.
What was disappointing was the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s determination to inject itself into this subject so late within the sport and with so little justification. The conservatives who management the U.S. Supreme Courtroom typically deride liberal judges for “judicial activism,” accusing them of going past decoding legal guidelines to really making regulation.
However on this case, those self same conservative justices seem like working towards what they preach in opposition to. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, such a abstract ruling is often issued solely when settled regulation has been violated, which was not the case right here.
A lot for judicial restraint. About the one shiny spot was that the excessive courtroom left in place considerably extra aggressive congressional voting districts that Evers drew.
The second whammy for Wisconsin voters got here final Friday, when the state Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority abruptly reversed course and adopted the Republican-drawn maps, giving GOP legislative candidates much more political benefits than they already loved. The conservative justices claimed the U.S. Supreme Courtroom left them little selection. They mentioned they needed to rapidly select completely different maps than Evers’ in order that candidates might begin circulating nomination papers to run this fall.
However the U.S. Supreme Courtroom had particularly prompt in any other case — that the state’s prime courtroom did have “adequate time to undertake maps” earlier than the Aug. 9 main, even when it sought extra info.
The state Supreme Courtroom’s newest determination seems chaotic and suspect, relatively than deliberate and impartial.
In Iowa, the courts aren’t wanted to settle partisan squabbles over redistricting. Each political events finally settle for the maps drawn by the nonpartisan state company. That is occurred with out fail for 5 many years in Iowa.
Voters in Wisconsin should proceed to demand a good system like that. Voters right here deserve impartial maps — even when our courts, sadly, will not require them.
END
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Wisconsin
Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better?
![Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better? Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better?](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/31101058/USATSI_24117504-scaled.jpg)
MADISON, Wis. — In an ideal world for Wisconsin football, the Badgers would have built a multi-score lead early during their season opener and never relented, cruising to the type of victory that said one thing to ease an uncertain fan base searching for more: Hey, this is progress.
That’s not exactly what transpired during Wisconsin’s 28-14 victory against Western Michigan on Friday night. Yes, the Badgers did end up winning by multiple touchdowns. They also trailed by a point as late as four minutes into the fourth quarter and needed a fortuitous bounce on a muffed punt just to end up in scoring position for the go-ahead touchdown.
It was a performance that, while able to avert calamity, left plenty of questions on the table about whether this team — and especially this offense — will take the necessary steps forward in Luke Fickell’s second season after a 7-6 debut.
“I’ve been in these games before, and sometimes they’re not the most fun,” Fickell said. “But what it comes down to is you’ve got to find a way and you got to make some adjustments that maybe you didn’t envision you’d have to make, you didn’t want to make in game one. But you have to make some of those adjustments. And we did.”
Relive last night’s win 🦡 pic.twitter.com/10af1WvGuQ
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 31, 2024
Fickell acknowledged earlier in the week that “we know as little as we ever have known” about an opponent entering the first game of the season, and the chess match that ensued has to be factored into the equation. Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor hired a new offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator during the offseason. As a result, Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said he spent the week watching clips of Louisiana Tech, where Broncos defensive coordinator Scott Power previously worked.
“They didn’t show any of what they did there,” Van Dyke said. “They were trying to keep everything in front of them, playing a lot of Cover 3 and not letting us take any of the deep shots, really.”
Even if the opener provided unexpected challenges, this was still a game against a MAC team coming off a 4-8 season that Wisconsin had hoped to dominate. The Badgers were, after all, 24-point betting favorites. As Wisconsin readies for Week 2 foe South Dakota — ranked fifth in the FCS Top 25 — with Alabama looming the following week, we’re left to wonder exactly what the result means.
Tyler Van Dyke went 21-of-36 for 192 yards in his Badgers debut. (Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
A year ago, Wisconsin opened the Fickell era with a 38-17 victory against MAC opponent Buffalo that foreshadowed the team’s uneven offensive performances because the Badgers led by just four points in the third quarter. Wisconsin then averaged just 23.5 points per game, its fewest in 19 years. Is this group in for more of the same?
There were at least some encouraging signs. Wisconsin’s 1-2 running back combination of Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker ran with tenacity and power. Both players scored on touchdown runs that featured them knocking back defenders on the way to the end zone. Fickell said the primary objective was to run the ball and establish a physical identity, even if it meant sacrificing on some deep passes.
Wisconsin’s top two slot receivers, Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna, are dynamic and should be among Van Dyke’s favorite targets all season. The offensive line allowed just one sack when Van Dyke remained in the pocket too long and didn’t throw the ball away. Van Dyke himself produced some decent moments, looking at ease on quick throws over the middle and showing a willingness as a ball carrier on read options. Wisconsin’s first four drives went for 16 plays, 16 plays, 14 plays and 14 plays — the type of possession control reminiscent of previous Badgers regimes.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/25165705/0826_BillCallahan-1024x512.png)
GO DEEPER
‘We’re gonna change this crap’: Bill Callahan and Wisconsin, origin stories intertwined
But within all those positives were enough concerns to keep the coaching staff busy. For one, those four 14-plus-play drives yielded just one touchdown despite the Badgers reaching the red zone each time. Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo can spread defenses out with his version of the Air Raid, but that becomes trickier in a more condensed part of the field. The Badgers ranked 63rd nationally in red zone offense last season and scored a touchdown just 63 percent of the time.
Fickell said the lack of red zone efficiency was glaring in the opener. Van Dyke’s decision-making was a part of that process. He threw a couple of passes that could have been intercepted, including one in the end zone before Wisconsin settled for a field goal to take a 13-7 third-quarter lead. Van Dyke also lost a fumble when he scrambled out of the pocket and kept the ball too loose in one hand as he was being pursued.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect for the offense was the lack of explosive plays. Mellusi averaged 3.9 yards per carry and Walker 4.4 yards. Wisconsin produced 11 pass plays of at least 10 yards but none of at least 20 yards, with Van Dyke often finding his pass catchers on shorter throws. Van Dyke’s longest pass play came on a third-and-6 early in the third quarter when he tossed a quick completion to Pauling, who turned upfield and did the rest of the work on a 17-yard gain. Rarely did the Badgers even attempt anything down the field. Of Van Dyke’s 36 attempts, only three were thrown with 15-plus air yards, per TruMedia. None were completed.
Mellusi attributed the overall performance to “some first-game jitters.”
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mellusi said. “But watching film all week, their goal was to stop the run. Not to say we weren’t expecting to break a big one. Of course you want to break a big one all the time. But you’ve got to be OK with the 4- or 5-yarders, and eventually you’re going to bust one.”
Former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used to cite a theory he gleaned from Lou Holtz that a great team needed five great players and no glaring weaknesses. Fickell was asked whether he believed a lack of playmakers on this team was an issue.
“It’s hard to say whether there’s not enough playmakers on the field,” Fickell said. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that there’s going to be days — I don’t want to make excuses — days like this. But games like this, that all of a sudden become that slow, methodical. I would think around here, you’ve seen a few of those. It’s not what maybe you envision every single day. It’s not maybe what we envision going into this thing, but I give our guys a lot of credit for their ability to adjust and adapt.”
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/31003421/GettyImages-2169523623-1024x683.jpg)
GO DEEPER
Badgers survive scare against Western Michigan: Wisconsin football opener instant takeaways
Wisconsin does indeed deserve at least some credit for how it finished because the outcome could have been much worse. Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead on Jalen Buckley’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14:15 remaining in the fourth quarter — a potentially backbreaking moment for the Badgers after the Broncos converted a fake field goal into a 26-yard run and a first down to the 4-yard line.
Wisconsin took advantage of a Western Michigan’s muffed punt by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in just three plays, on Walker’s 6-yard run. The defense then stopped Western Michigan on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, which led to the Badgers scoring on Van Dyke’s 6-yard keeper to account for the final margin.
“We all rallied together,” Badgers inside linebacker Jake Chaney said. “Nobody really flinched. There’s a lot of work to be done, but that was a good team win and I don’t think that should be overlooked.”
Returning players and coaches said all offseason that the second year under Fickell and Longo felt different and that things were operating more smoothly. There were signs of momentum during spring and preseason practices, though it always comes with a caveat until it translates to the games.
Based on Wisconsin’s season-opening performance, there is substantial room for growth. And while progress means different things for different teams, the Badgers will need much more of it to have any chance of moving the needle this season.
(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
Wisconsin
Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness
![Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/31/PMJS/75024162007-mjs-uwgrid-30-3.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4641,2612,x0,y41&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Here are some of the reasons why quarterback Tyler Van Dyke came to Wisconsin
Here are some of the reasons why quarterback Tyler Van Dyke came to Wisconsin
The Wisconsin football team faces some challenging teams in 2024, with three of its opponents (Alabama, Oregon and Penn State) in the preseason top 10.
Western Michigan wasn’t supposed to be among the biggest tests. They were predicted to be seventh in the Mid-American Conference.
But the Broncos gave the Badgers all they could handle for much of the season opener on Friday at Camp Randall Stadium and even led Wisconsin briefly in the fourth quarter before Luke Fickell’s squad finally rallied for the 28-14 win.
There were some notable performances like Chez Mellusi’s impressive comeback — it was his first game since fracturing his fibula nearly a year ago — the important fourth-down stand in the fourth quarter that led to the Badgers’ final score and the incredible interception late in the game by true freshman Xavier Lucas.
But the Badgers, despite controlling the time of possession, also left the game with mistakes to clean up.
It began with a missed field goal, it continued when they couldn’t finish long drives for a large chunk of the game and it didn’t look good after they allowed a fake field goal that turned into Western Michigan’s go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
And taking into account the frustrating 2023 season, the showing for three-plus quarters led fans on social media to feel very uneasy about the prospects for the rest of the year.
5 takeaways: In Wisconsin football’s 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener
The Badgers should again be heavy favorites next week —they were favored by 24 points on Friday — against FCS opponent South Dakota, but national title contender Alabama comes to town in a couple weeks.
Here’s how social media reacted to Wisconsin’s Week 1 game.
Wisconsin defeats Western Michigan, 28-14
Ricardo Hallman is a reigning All-American for a reason
Xavier Lucas makes incredible interception late in the game with the Badgers ahead 28-14
Wisconsin football fans weren’t feeling too good about the showing for much of the game
Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter after Jalen Buckley ran it in from 1-yard out. The Broncos’ TD came six plays after they recovered a fumble from Badgers quarterback Tyler Van Dyke at their own 34-yard line late in the third quarter.
The Badgers would regain the lead, 21-14, at the 10:35 mark after Walker scored from 6 yards out and Van Dyke connected with Trech Kekahuna in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion.
The TD was set up thanks to a gift from Western Michigan. Wisconsin’s special teams recovered a live ball on a punt after it hit a retrieving Bronco on his back as he was running down the field.
The Badgers held the lead the rest of the way but that likely didn’t change a lot of fans’ perceptions.
Wisconsin
West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness
![West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1280/720/4P-MOSQITO-PROTECTION-VO_00.00.03.08.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness
Health officials in Wisconsin are urging the public not to let their guard down when it comes to mosquitoes this Labor Day weekend. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed two people have died and another was hospitalized this year because of West Nile virus.
MILWAUKEE – Health officials in Wisconsin are urging the public not to let their guard down when it comes to mosquitoes this Labor Day weekend.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed two people have died and another was hospitalized this year because of West Nile virus.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
Individuals who become infected with West Nile Virus might feel body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and rash. Lindsey Page, director of the Milwaukee Health Department’s infectious disease program, said roughly one-in-five people experience those symptoms – but most people don’t.
“Most people recover completely from West Nile virus,” Page said.
A more severe neuroinvasive form of the virus can develop that causes meningitis, which is swelling of the brain or spinal cord.
“We have long sleeves,” said Priya Jacobs. “Try to pack as many clothes as we can, or shoes, hiking gear, making sure that we got all the stuff that we need just to be outside.”
-
Connecticut1 week ago
Oxford church provides sanctuary during Sunday's damaging storm
-
Technology1 week ago
Breakthrough robo-glove gives you superhuman grip
-
Politics1 week ago
Clinton lauds Biden as modern-day George Washington and president who 'healed our sick' in DNC speech
-
Politics1 week ago
2024 showdown: What happens next in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump face-off
-
News1 week ago
Who Are Kamala Harris’s 1.5 Million New Donors?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taunted over speculated RFK Jr endorsement: 'Weird as hell'
-
Politics1 week ago
Vivek Ramaswamy sounds off on potential RFK Jr. role in a Trump administration
-
World6 days ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake