MADISON, Wis. (Gray) – Wisconsin is working to assess damage from last week’s severe weather that brought extensive flooding, wind damage and 25 reported tornadoes across the state.

“We have pretty widespread damage, really in most areas of the state,” Greg Engel, a Wisconsin Emergency Management administrator, said.

As Wisconsin begins its path to recovery, Gov. Tony Evers is urging Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to start conversations with the Trump administration to “convey the importance of FEMA assistance.”

In a Friday letter to Wisconsin’s congressional delegation, Evers wrote, “It would be unfortunate if Wisconsin’s anticipated requests for emergency assistance are once again declined.”

The historic storms come after August’s thousand-year floods in Wisconsin, which particularly impacted Milwaukee. While FEMA approved homeowner relief funds, it denied Evers’ request for more than $26 million to support public assistance and hazard mitigation for six impacted counties.

Now, Wisconsin is still working to tally up the extent of the destruction from April’s storms. Some communities likely won’t complete their damage assessments until early next week, Engel explained.

Marathon County Emergency Management said they’ve already assessed nearly 150 damaged residences, and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson said recovery will be expensive.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that all those communities together will be millions of dollars worth of damage,” Nelson said.

After the end of these severe weather events, Evers will have 30 days to submit an application to FEMA for federal assistance. Engel said they’re working to collect as much information as they can for their report and will continue to provide resources for recovering communities.

A White House official said they “continue to monitor forecasted weather and flooding that is affecting Wisconsin.”

If you are an impacted homeowner, Rock County is encouraging homeowners to contact their insurance early, start a claim, ask what they are required to do or not do, ask about temporary housing or emergency coverage and not throw out major items until approved.

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Wisconsin Lutheran High School basketball star Zavier Zens has officially committed to play for the University of Illinois next season.

Zavier Zens Makes It Official with the Illini

Zens, a tenacious 6-foot-7, 215-pound senior forward, initially committed to play collegiately for Northern Iowa but reopened his recruitment as the result of a head coaching change, ultimately narrowing his final choices to Illinois, Utah State, and Wisconsin.

On April 17, the highly touted three-star recruit signed a Big Ten Conference Athletics Scholarship Agreement to compete for Illinois, ending the greatly anticipated recruitment journey.

A Chance to Maximize His Development Was the Key

“What I was looking for was the best chance to develop and become the best player I can become,” said Zens, in an interview with Zac Bellman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Illinois, they arguably have the best team in the country coming in next year, and the chance to get to go up against them every day, along with the good development program and their record of developing guys, was really big to me. Obviously, the fit and culture was right as well.”

Illinois tied for second in the Big Ten Conference under the guidance of head coach Brad Underwood, advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four for the first time in 21 years (2005), and finished with a 28-9 overall record.

“Zavier first and foremost is a winner,” said Underwood, in an official release posted on fightingillini.com. “He is an extremely high IQ player who has been well coached and brings a championship pedigree to the table, winning three straight state titles. He fits our recruiting mold as a 6-foot-7 versatile wing who can score at all three levels and process the game.”

Zens Helped Wisconsin Lutheran to a WIAA Three-Peat

Zens averaged 23.4 points per game (including a 61.8% field-goal percentage) with 5.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists this season in leading the Vikings to a third consecutive WIAA state championship and statement-making 30-0 overall record.

Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball contributed 20 points with four 3-point baskets, six rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots, and one steal as top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran defeated third-seeded Madison Memorial 57-37 in the WIAA Division 1 state championship game at the University of Wisconsin’s Kohl Center on March 21.

The 2026 Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year finished his memorable four-year high school career with a 109-7 overall record (including an 88-2 mark during the three-year championship run) and as the third-leading scorer in program history (1,611 points).

Zens Continues the Trend of Mr. Wisconsin Playing Out-of-State

In an interesting twist, Zens (a cousin of NBA rookie sensation Kon Knueppel who competes for the Charlotte Hornets) joins an elite group of seven recent Wisconsin Mr. Basketball recipients who opted to play out of state.

Wisconsin, under current head coach Greg Gard, has advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight times, with the fifth-seeded Badgers most recently falling to No. 12-seeded High Point 83-82 in this year’s opening round on March 19.

The impressive list of Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association honorees includes:

2025: Xzavion Mitchell, Oshkosh North (Iowa State)

2023: (co-winner) Milan Momcilovic, Pewaukee (Iowa State)

2023: (co-winner) John Kinzinger, De Pere (Illinois State)

2022: Seth Trimble, Menomonee Falls (North Carolina)

2021: Brandin Podziemski, St. John’s (Illinois, Santa Clara)

— Jeff Hagenau | jeffreyhagenau@gmail.com

WISCONSIN (WBAY) – Wisconsin residents contributed more than $36 million in marijuana taxes to Illinois last year and nearly $6 million to Michigan in 2024, according to new numbers released by the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The revenue comes from counties bordering Wisconsin that legally sell marijuana, while bills to legalize both medical and recreational marijuana remain stalled in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Wisconsin will have a new governor, new speaker in the Assembly and a new majority leader in the state Senate next January.

All three people holding those leadership positions decided not to seek re-election.

State lawmakers will have a fresh debate regarding marijuana for the first time in a while, and the latest numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau are likely to be a big part of it.

Illinois dispensaries generate millions from Wisconsin buyers

On the Wisconsin border, from Michigan to Illinois, marijuana sales have become big business.

“The economic value to restoring this plant back to our economy is huge. We can’t even put a dollar amount on it,” said Jay Selthofner, founder of the Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Network.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo, Wisconsin residents contributed $36.1 million last year to the overall marijuana tax collected by Illinois.

That’s based on data from 36 dispensaries located in five of the six counties bordering Wisconsin. Jo Daviess, Lake, McHenry, Winnebago and Boone counties have dispensaries, while Stephenson County does not.

Among the five counties with dispensaries, a total of $319.4 million in sales was generated. The report concludes $132.4 million, or 41.5%, of these sales were made to out-of-state residents.

“It’s concerning that yeah, revenue is leaving the state both tax wise and tourism dollars without being a state that is looked at as recreational marijuana, we’re losing some tourism there,” Selthofner said.

Michigan collects nearly $6 million in taxes from Wisconsin residents

On the other side of the state, Michigan is making money off Wisconsin residents.

The most recent data from 2024 shows the state with 854 retailers and microbusinesses licensed to sell cannabis. Of those licensees, 22 were located in counties bordering Wisconsin: Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee.

The report states, “Assuming that each retailer/microbusiness makes an equal amount of sales,” those businesses in the Upper Peninsula brought in $85.4 million. Using the same estimate as Illinois, 41.5% of sales came from Wisconsin residents, translating into $5.8 million in tax revenue collected.

Minnesota is also mentioned in the report. The state began legalized cannabis sales in September 2025, but so far there is no data on taxes paid by Wisconsin residents.

Gubernatorial candidates weigh in on legalization

If Wisconsin makes changes, it’s likely to be next year after the November election.

Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany said he is open to medical marijuana and supporting veterans.

“I think in particular we should look out for our veterans. I’ve heard from so many veterans that suffer from PTSD and I’m very open to that as well as medicinal. I think we just work our way through it and get to a good spot in regards to marijuana,” Tiffany said.

Among the Democrats running for governor, at least seven have come out supporting efforts to legalize marijuana, aligning with the state party platform.

“A lot of people look at it as the wild west right now here in Wisconsin, it’s not. It’s the wild Wisconsin and what Wisconsin is going to do is it’s going to show the rest of the country how innovative a state can really be on cannabis,” Selthofner said.

Twenty-four states, along with the District of Columbia, legalize recreational marijuana, and 40 total legalize medical marijuana. The most recent additions are Ohio, Minnesota and Missouri.