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Who can work Wisconsin's elections? New restrictions won't affect much, attorney general says

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Who can work Wisconsin's elections? New restrictions won't affect much, attorney general says


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new constitutional amendment restricting who can work on Wisconsin elections should have little practical effect, according to a legal opinion issued by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul on Tuesday.

Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment in April that says only lawfully designated election officials can perform any work on primaries, elections and referendums.

It’s unclear how the amendment might change current practices beyond placing definitions about election officials, which are already in state law, into the constitution.

Dane County Corporation Counsel Carlos Pabellon asked Kaul weeks after the amendment was approved for a legal opinion on the definition of a lawful election official. Pabellon pointed out that parts of state law define them as special deputies who help nursing home residents vote, election inspectors and tabulators while other sections say they’re anyone charged with any duties relating to an election.

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He questioned whether county and municipal clerks and their staffs remain election officials under the amendment. He also asked whether third-party vendors such as ballot printers could work with election officials since the amendment states only lawfully-designated election officials can do any election work.

Kaul wrote that the amendment doesn’t change the definition of a lawfully designated election official so the multiple definitions in state law remain viable. The amendment also doesn’t negate state laws empowering clerks and other election officials to run elections, he said.

What to know about the 2024 Election

The attorney general went on to say that the amendment doesn’t require election work to be performed only by election officials. Essentially, the amendment mandates that only lawfully designated election officials can control election administration, he wrote.

Kaul noted that Republican lawmakers drafted the amendment in reaction to grant money that came into Wisconsin in 2020 from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a liberal group that promotes voter access. That year the group received a $300 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife to help election officials buy supplies and run elections at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Wisconsin’s five largest cities, which President Joe Biden went on to win, received $8.8 million, sparking outrage from Republicans. They accused Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich of ceding authority for running the election to a paid consultant who had worked on Democratic campaigns in the past. Green Bay city attorneys said the claims lacked merit.





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NWS is investigating possible tornado touchdowns across 5 Wisconsin counties

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NWS is investigating possible tornado touchdowns across 5 Wisconsin counties


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The National Weather Service in Milwaukee/Sullivan is assessing storm damage to confirm if tornadoes touched down April 14 in three areas near southeastern Wisconsin.

J.J. Wood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Milwaukee/Sullivan, said teams are going out Wednesday, April 15, to Sussex, as well as Endeavor in Marquette County and an area around eastern Walworth County and western Racine and Kenosha Counties, to look into the damage.

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He said that based on reports and radar signatures, meteorologists suspect the damage came from tornadoes, but will not be able to confirm whether tornadoes touched down, or if the damage just came from powerful winds, until the teams assess the areas.

“It might take today and tomorrow for them to really assess everything before we can get final numbers,” Wood said. “We’re not going to be able to get to everything today.”

A tornado warning was issued for Milwaukee County around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, lasting until around 7:15 p.m. The National Weather Service warned that a “tornadic thunderstorm” would impact Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Brown Deer, Elm Grove, Glendale and River Hills.

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Around 8:30 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Racine County. Just before 9 p.m., the warning extended into much of Kenosha County, including the cities of Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie and Somers.

Damage from the April 14 storms was caused by more than just intense winds; large hail also hit areas closer to Madison.

“The east side of Madison has some very large hail – a lot of golf ball to up to baseball-sized [hailstones]. We got a report or two of softball-sized hail … so there’s a lot of hail damage there,” Wood said.

Large hail was also documented in Waukesha and Jefferson counties, he said, and some flooding took place across areas of southeastern Wisconsin.

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“It wasn’t anything major, but we did have some minor flooding in some low areas,” Wood said.

While storms may hit the area again April 15, they will likely not be as severe.

“If anything does occur, it won’t be like [April 14],” Wood said. “I think hail and wind would be the biggest risk, if we see anything later today into this evening.”

Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.





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Powerful storms move through SE Wisconsin

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Powerful storms move through SE Wisconsin


Severe storms move through southeast Wisconsin bringing damage and flooding.

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Powerful storms move through SE Wisconsin

Severe storms move through southeast Wisconsin bringing damage and flooding.

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>> FROM WEATHERWATCH 12. THIS IS A SEVERE WEATHER UPDATE. >> GOOD EVENING. AND WEATHERWATCH 12 CHIEF METEOROLOGIST MARK BADEN NEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING AND NEW FLASH FLOOD WARNING TO TALK ABOUT HERE ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. SO WE STILL HAVE THIS LINE OF STORMS. THE NEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS PRETTY MUCH ALL OF WANT TO STOP THIS AND TALK ABOUT THE WARNINGS THAT WE DO HAVE IN PLACE RIGHT NOW. TALK ABOUT THE LATEST WARNING. THAT’S THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WALWORTH COUNTY GOES ALL THE WAY UNTIL 9:00. THE STORMS ARE STILL OUT TO THE WEST. THAT’S GOING TO BRING WITH IT POSSIBLY SOME STRONGER WINDS AND SOME HAIL. THERE’S ALSO A NEW FLASH FLOOD WARNING THAT CONTINUES UNTIL 11:00. I’M GOING TO ZOOM IN ON THIS AREA BECAUSE IT LOOKS A LITTLE IT’S KIND OF HARD TO FIND WHERE THIS IS. LET’S TAKE YOU BACK INTO SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN AND WE’LL BRING YOU BACK IN TO THIS AREA THAT WE ARE SEEING HERE. IT’S SO WE’VE GOT THIS LITTLE AREA AND THAT’S ON TOP OF THIS OTHER FLASH FLOOD WARNING. BUT THIS IS THE NEWEST ONE. THIS INCLUDES DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE. THIS INCLUDES WAUWATOSA AND WEST ALLIS, BROOKFIELD, ELM GROVE AND PEWAUKEE. WHY? BECAUSE WE KEEP GETTING THIS SAME RAIN OVER THE SAME PLACES, GETTING HIT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. ADD UP. WE’RE SEEING SOME FLOODING ISSUES. WE’VE HAD FLOODING ISSUES ALONG I-43 IN NORTHERN MILWAUKEE COUNTY. WE’VE HAD SOME FLOODING ISSUES IN MEQUON, AND I’M SURE WE’RE HAVING FLOODING ISSUES ALSO INTO PARTS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY EXTENDING BACK INTO DODGE COUNTY, WHERE WE CONTINUE TO SEE THIS SAME AREA. THEN THE NEXT PART OF THIS STORM, AGAIN, THIS AREA HASN’T HAD ANY RAIN AT ALL. SO YOU’RE STILL PRIMED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF MORE SEVERE WEATHER. THAT’S WHAT THIS NEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS INTO PARTS OF WALWORTH COUNTY. AGAIN, THAT GOES UNTIL 9:00 TONIGHT. AND WE’LL CONTINUE TO SEE THIS HEAVY RAIN. WE NEED TO MAKE IT THROUGH ANOTHER HOUR OR TWO, AND THEN WE SHOULD START SEEING OURSELVES ON THE OTHER SIDE, AT LEAST OF THIS THREAT. BUT IT’S NOT DONE JUST YET. STAY WITH WEATHERWATCH 12. WE’LL CONTINUE TO HAVE UPDATES.

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Powerful storms move through SE Wisconsin

Severe storms move through southeast Wisconsin bringing damage and flooding.

Updated: 8:15 PM CDT Apr 14, 2026

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Severe storms move through southeast Wisconsin bringing damage and flooding.

Severe storms move through southeast Wisconsin bringing damage and flooding.

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}

function refreshWeatherIframe(containerId) {
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weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, “https://www.wisn.com/alerts”);
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if (weatherWatchLink) {
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function updateCurrentWeather(weatherData) {
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feelsEl.textContent = feelsLikeValue + ‘°F’;
feelsEl.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, feelsLikeValue + ‘ degrees Fahrenheit’);
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var weatherContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-temp-container’);
if (weatherContainer) {
var summary = ‘Current temperature ‘ + tempValue + ‘ degrees Fahrenheit, ‘ +
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try {
var bgPath = weatherImages.backgrounds[iconName] || weatherImages.backgrounds.unknown;
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console.log(‘Error updating weather background:’, e);
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function updateForecastTabs(weatherData) {
var visibleItems = isWeatherBoxV2 ? 6 : 5;

if (weatherData.hourly) {
var hourlyContainer = container.querySelector(‘.weather-hourly-forecast’);
if (hourlyContainer) {
var html=””;
var maxHours = Math.min(visibleItems, weatherData.hourly.length);

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for (var i = 0; i 0 ? currentIndex – 1 : tabs.length – 1;
tabs[prevIndex].focus();
break;
case ‘ArrowRight’:
e.preventDefault();
var nextIndex = currentIndex

`;
}

function refreshWeatherIframe(containerId) {
var iframeId = ‘weather-iframe-‘ + containerId;
var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId);
if (iframe && iframe.src) {
var originalSrc = iframe.src;
iframe.src = originalSrc + (originalSrc.indexOf(‘?’) > -1 ? ‘&’ : ‘?’) + ‘t=” + Date.now();
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}

function initializeWeatherBox(container) {
var containerId = container.getAttribute(“data-container-id’);
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function switchWeatherTab(tabName, clickedElement) {
container.querySelectorAll(‘[data-tab-id]’).forEach(function(tab) {
tab.classList.remove(‘open’);
tab.setAttribute(‘aria-selected’, ‘false’);
});

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clickedElement.classList.add(‘open’);
clickedElement.setAttribute(‘aria-selected’, ‘true’);

container.querySelectorAll(‘[data-content-id]’).forEach(function(content) {
content.style.display = ‘none’;
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});

var targetContent = container.querySelector(‘[data-content-id=”‘ + tabName + ‘”]’);
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targetContent.removeAttribute(‘hidden’);
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}

function loadWeatherData() {
// If weather data is already being loaded, wait for it
if (window.weatherDataPromise) {
window.weatherDataPromise.then(function(data) {
if (data && data.data) {
var weatherContainer = container.closest(‘.weather-box-container’);
if (weatherContainer) {
weatherContainer.style.display = ‘flex’;
updateCurrentWeather(data.data);
updateForecastTabs(data.data);
updateWeatherAlertsBar(data.data);
}
}
});
return;
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var location = { zip: window.DEFAULT_ZIPCODE };

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try {
var storedLocations = localStorage.getItem(‘hrst.zip.history’);
if (storedLocations) {
var locations = JSON.parse(storedLocations);
if (locations && locations.length > 0) {
location = locations[0];
}
}
} catch (e) {}

var apiUrl = (window.DEWY_HOSTNAME || ”) + ‘/api/v1/weather/full/’ + location.zip;

if (window.fetch) {
window.weatherDataPromise = fetch(apiUrl)
.then(function(response) { return response.json(); })
.then(function(data) {
if (data && data.data) {
var article = container.closest(‘.article–wrapper’);
var weatherContainer = container.closest(‘.weather-box-container’);
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var weatherWatchLink = weatherWatchHeader.querySelector(‘.weather-watch-link’);

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if (weatherData.alerts_count > 0) {
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}
weatherWatchLink.setAttribute(‘href’, “https://www.wisn.com/alerts”);
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var skyEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–sky’);
if (skyEl) {
skyEl.textContent = skyValue;
skyEl.setAttribute(‘aria-label’, ‘Current condition: ‘ + skyValue);
}

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var feelsEl = container.querySelector(‘.weather-grid–feels’);
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feelsEl.textContent = feelsLikeValue + ‘°F’;
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var bgPath = weatherImages.backgrounds[iconName] || weatherImages.backgrounds.unknown;
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if (weatherData.hourly) {
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if (hourlyContainer) {
var html=””;
var maxHours = Math.min(visibleItems, weatherData.hourly.length);

for (var i = 0; i 0 ? currentIndex – 1 : tabs.length – 1;
tabs[prevIndex].focus();
break;
case ‘ArrowRight’:
e.preventDefault();
var nextIndex = currentIndex

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A tornado touched down in Taylor County on April 13, NWS confirms

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A tornado touched down in Taylor County on April 13, NWS confirms


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The National Weather Service station in La Crosse confirmed a tornado touched down in Gilman, a town in Taylor County, Monday evening, April 13.

La Crosse station meteorologist Alex Ferguson said they have not received any potential damage reports yet, but are working with local authorities in the Taylor County to confirm more details about the tornado.

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Speed and severity are usually calculated after the fact based on potential damages, Ferguson said.

There is an enhanced risk of further severe thunderstorms in southwest and east central Wisconsin Tuesday evening, April 14, according to the NWS.



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