WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Wisconsin State Fair officials announced on Wednesday, Jan. 15 that Boyz II Men will return to the State Fair to headline the Bank Five Nine Main Stage on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. 

What we know:

Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. at WiStateFair.com. All seating for this show is reserved, and tickets will be $47 – $62. 

Each ticket includes admission to the 2025 Wisconsin State Fair for the day of the show when purchased prior to entering the State Fair Park.   

Become a Friend of the Fair:

Tickets are available for pre-sale with the Friends of the Fair membership, which benefits the Wisconsin State Fair Park Foundation. This non-profit organization helps support the State Fair and State Fair Park initiatives. 

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Get access to the pre-sale and become a Friend of the Fair by visiting WSFPFoundation.org. 

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor on Tuesday created a new office dedicated to preventing gun violence, a month after a school shooting not far from the state Capitol and an idea that drew immediate opposition from Republicans who said it was misguided.

Gov. Tony Evers also called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a series of gun control and public safety measures, saying reducing violence should be a “shared priority that transcends politics.”

The Legislature has already rejected numerous gun control measures put forward by Evers, including universal background checks for gun purchases. But Evers said the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School last month demonstrated the need for lawmakers to act.

“Reducing crime and violence should be an issue that receives earnest bipartisan support,” Evers said at a news conference surrounded by gun control advocates, Democratic lawmakers and the mayor and police chief of Madison who responded to last month’s school shooting.

Republicans were not on board.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos blasted the proposal as “not well thought out” and said it amounts to “a whole bunch of touchy feely bureaucrats that are going to go around wasting time, wasting money and certainly not putting the effort where it’s deserved.”

“You know what the most effective violence prevention office is? The police,” Vos said at a news conference.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu was noncommittal, but he emphasized that GOP lawmakers have supported spending on other initiatives to address violence, including creating a state Office of School Safety.

Evers signed an executive order creating a statewide office of violence prevention, a move that does not require legislative approval. He said the office will work with local partners, including law enforcement agencies, nonprofits, school districts and gun shop owners with the goal of reducing gun violence.

Creating the office was discussed prior to the school shooting, but the shooting “cemented” his plans, Evers said.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes, who is leaving next month to become Seattle’s chief of police, called the new anti-violence office a “transformative approach to understanding and addressing the root causes of violence in our society.”

“No city, no matter the size, reputation, or claim to fame, is immune from gun violence,” Barnes said. “We must recognize that to truly safeguard our neighborhoods, we need a comprehensive understanding of violence that goes beyond traditional policing.”

The office will work to develop public education campaigns and promote safer communities, Evers said. It will also award grants to reduce violence, in particular gun violence, to school districts, firearm dealers, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits and government agencies.

Evers announced $10 million in federal funding to create the office. He said his state budget being submitted to the Legislature next month will request more state money to sustain the office over the next two years.

Vos said Assembly Republicans would oppose the request.

Evers also said he would be proposing a sweeping package of gun violence and public safety measures.

Republican majorities in the Legislature shrunk after the November election, leading Evers and Democrats to say they hoped for more bipartisanship and consideration of ideas that have been summarily rejected in the past. But following the Dec. 16 shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison that left a student, teacher and the 15-year-old shooter dead, Republicans have not voiced support for any gun control measures backed by Democrats.

Wisconsin polls have repeatedly shown high public support for a variety of gun control measures.

Evers in 2019 called a special session of the Legislature to pass a universal gun background check bill and a “red flag” proposal that would allow judges to take guns away from people determined to be a risk to themselves or others. Republicans immediately adjourned without debating the measures. It was the first of a dozen special sessions Evers has called since 2019, none of which have been successful.

Democrats have reintroduced those and more than two dozen other gun safety bills over the past six years, but Republicans have repeatedly refused to take them up. Republicans, instead, have introduced bills that would expand access to guns and discussed arming teachers. Evers in 2022 vetoed Republican bills that would have allowed holders of concealed carry permits to have firearms in vehicles on school grounds and in churches located on the grounds of a private school.

MADISON – Wisconsin voters in April will decide whether to amend the state constitution to include the state law requiring voters to show photo identification while casting ballots — a move Republicans are hoping will protect the law from being overturned by a liberal-controlled state Supreme Court.

Assembly lawmakers on Tuesday approved a resolution 54-45 to ask voters in the April 1 election to approve the photo ID amendment. The vote was the last hurdle in a two-year process to amend the state constitution and will put the question to voters in the same election they will decide partisan control of the state’s highest court.

State laws already require voters to show photo identification, but the measure now moves the question to voters in a statewide referendum on the spring election ballot. If passed, the rule will be included in the Wisconsin Constitution.

Adding the voter ID requirement to the constitution would make it more difficult for the state Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional. It also would be harder for Democrats to repeal the law if they gain control of the Legislature in future years.

The implementation of the state law that requires voters to show photo identification increased ballot security, Republican authors argue, but the side effects have disproportionately hit Black voters in Milwaukee who are more likely not to have a photo ID and less inclined to seek one than their white peers, experts and advocates say.

Thirty-six states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The remaining 14 states and Washington, D.C., use other methods to verify the identity of voters. 

A national poll conducted by Pew Research Centers in January 2024 showed broad support — 81% — for the idea of requiring voters to show government-issued IDs to vote.

To obtain a state ID card, voters must complete an application at a DMV customer service center, where they are required to provide proof of name and birth (through a birth certificate, passport or certificate of naturalization), Wisconsin residency, U.S. citizenship and their Social Security number.

Advocates have said the difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate can be among the bigger hurdles for some in acquiring an ID.

Since the state’s voter ID law survived legal challenges and went into effect for the 2016 presidential election cycle, a host of advocacy groups have emerged to study and help voters navigate the law.

Their findings show a drop in accessibility that began in 2012, when Republicans took control of state government, and accelerated after the voter ID law became practice.

If approved by Wisconsin voters, the amendment would still let lawmakers decide what types of photo ID are acceptable and create exceptions. Voters who don’t have a photo ID when they go to the polls could still cast a provisional ballot, which is counted after they return to their clerk with their ID.If voters reject the amendment, the state will still require photo ID to vote under existing laws.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.