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Wisconsin business leaders have a message for fellow employers. Encourage your workers to vote

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Wisconsin business leaders have a message for fellow employers. Encourage your workers to vote


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A group of Wisconsin business leaders is pushing for more employers to encourage voting and other civic engagement.

The nonpartisan civic engagement group, the Wisconsin Business Leaders For Democracy, advocated for Wisconsin businesses to allow for voting during work time, facilitate voter registration and encourage poll working.

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Among the speakers at a roundtable discussion Friday were Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee Election Commissioner Claire Woodall, business leaders including Greg Marcus, CEO of The Marcus Corp.; Tom Florsheim, CEO of Weyco Group; and Paul Miller, cofounder of Colectivo Coffee.

“I know how critically important it is to have people across our city to be engaged in our electoral process,” Johnson said at the event. “Everybody in this community should raise their voice to vote … none of this works unless we have an engaged democracy.”

Here are the main takeaways from the event.

Poll workers needed in Milwaukee’s elections

Woodall said the biggest need for local elections is workers at the polls, particularly in early afternoon shifts.

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She said the Milwaukee elections take about 2,300 poll workers and the city battles issues with workers not showing up for shifts.

“We’re still seeing large numbers of people who, life happens, maybe they aren’t feeling well,” Woodall said. “They wake up and they decide not to come to work. So then we’re left scrambling.”

Many of the attendees said they encourage workers to become poll workers and Woodall said the city has a permanent position dedicated to training poll workers at off-site locations, like businesses with groups of interested employees.

Among those encouraging workers was Colectivo’s Miller, who employs about 500 workers in Wisconsin. Woodall referenced that one of the company’s cafés had its entire staff work at the polls and Miller said that they encourage poll workers by paying the difference between poll worker pay and their typical daily pay.

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Combatting misinformation key to public safety, mayor says

David Irwin, president and CEO of gThankYou, a provider of gift certificates for food items, raised the topic of distrust in elections during the event. He noted the need for the business community to combat misinformation to maintain trust in elections.

Irwin, who said he typically supports “right of center” politicians, said he viewed some of the misinformation coming from his political community.

“A lot of the people who have been kind of part of my political community for the last couple of decades, I view, as having been on kind of the wrong side of spreading disinformation and sowing undue lack of confidence in our elections,” he said. “We need to really, as leaders of business or anything, we need to fight misinformation and we need to encourage anyone … to seek out the truth.”

The topic was raised again when Irwin was in discussion with Johnson, when he asked the mayor his thoughts on public safety around elections.

Johnson stressed the need for the public to understand and trust the electoral process as one that is fair and safe.

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“Folks have to first understand that and know that,” he said. “We want people engaged in our electoral process.”

What local businesses are doing to encourage civic engagement

Almost all of the business leaders emphasized the work they’ve done to facilitate voter engagement in their workforce.

Tom Florsheim, of the shoe company Weyco Group, said his company has given paid time off to vote; offered on-site voter registration; and paid time off for working at the polls.

Others like Lori Richards, president and CEO of Mueller Communications, said her company gives 24 hours of paid time off for activities like poll working.

“We believe that companies are in a unique position, because the large number of people we employ, to really have an impact on civic engagement in Milwaukee,” Florsheim said.

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Marcus stressed the need for further civic engagement and took note of primary elections decided by smaller groups of voters who may advance candidates who don’t represent larger community interests.

“Our system is not delivering the results that we want,” he said. “If we delivered this as companies, our customers would be screaming at us.”

How Milwaukee, Wisconsin businesses can do more. There’s a toolkit

The Wisconsin Business Leaders For Democracy promoted a civic engagement toolkit the group designed. That toolkit had been incorporated by almost all of the attendees of the roundtable event and was positioned as a strong step forward for other businesses looking to build on it.

The toolkit, while not updated yet for the upcoming November election, provides a suggested timeline for how businesses should share information on elections. For example, the April election iteration had communication plans for five weeks before, two weeks before, one week before and the morning of the election. Those plans were centered around either making a plan to vote early or on election day.

Additionally, the plan offered links to information on working the polls and email templates for a company’s human resources departments to send to employees.

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The toolkit can be downloaded from the group’s website and Florsheim said it will be updated for the November election soon.

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How to register to vote in Wisconsin (you’ll need a have a photo ID)

Here’s how to register and vote in Wisconsin.



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Wisconsin

Wisconsin, National Campus Protests: Follow The Money Trail [Up Against The Wall]

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Wisconsin, National Campus Protests: Follow The Money Trail [Up Against The Wall]


Hmm, how come so many of those tents by the campus occupiers are exactly the same? If I was the police, I’d follow the money trail. That always works. Someone is funding these protestors and pushing their buttons. Another curious observation – why are the protestors wearing masks? It ain’t about COVID. They’re wearing masks because they know that they are doing something illegal and they don’t want to be identified.

The real problem is that these protestors, now including at the UW-Madison, are trying to disrupt classes; even graduations have been canceled at some other campuses, and that’s not fair to the students who worked their butts off for the last 4.5 years.

So here are my thoughts on how to handle these protestors. First, I’ll place a bet that many of these troublemakers are foreigners here on visas. Sooo, let’s cancel the visas. Any foreign protestor who breaks the law should be deported. That starts with revoking their visa. Then suspend the domestic terrorists, err, I mean, students who are breaking the law.

Worse, what really makes me sick is that many of these foreigners may even be here on scholarships – scholarships paid for by you and me – the taxpayers, enabling them to come here and protest. And maybe they even got student loans from our government, too.

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Most people don’t know a dirty little secret – that the immigration authorities give universities (even elementary schools) the right to issue their own visas! Yeah, that’s right. Without checking on who they are letting into our country, universities can issue visas like writing a blank check. So while they hire foreigners for high-paying jobs that Americans want, they also issue visas and give away valuable student slots at our taxpayer-funded universities while rejecting Wisconsin residents, the children of hard-working, taxpaying Wisconsin families.

Why? Because the universities want the out-of-state tuition, which is a lot higher than the tuition that we cheeseheads pay. And by the way, why is UW-Madison letting these troublemakers set up camp anyway?

Where is our chancellor? (I’m surprised the university isn’t screaming “insurrection! insurrection!” but of course, they wouldn’t do that unless it was the College Republicans setting up camp and protesting; then the university would take immediate action.) What’s the point of having rules if the university won’t enforce them? But then the D.A. won’t arrest them, and they won’t be prosecuted. So I guess there’s no point, instead, the university will just let this blow up in their face.

Unfortunately, we all know that they won’t be prosecuted, unlike the January 6th protestors who were mercilessly demonized, hunted down weeks and months later, arrested, held without bail, and prosecuted even when they didn’t commit a violent act. But we all know we have a two-tiered justice system. A free pass if you protest in favor of leftist causes; cancellation if you protect in favor of right(eous) causes.

So, the next step is to motivate universities that won’t stand up to internal law-breaking terrorists and trace back the food chain to those funding them. (By their own words and definition, terrorist is the standard they meet.) That next step is to revoke federal and state funding from universities that let these anti-Israel protests continue and revoke the universities’ right to issue visas in the future because if it continues, it’ll end up like the last few times – when protestors firebombed the city-county building, trashed, looted and burned State Street businesses, and bombed Sterling Hall. How quickly we forget.

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Remember, not only are we taxpayers funding the public universities, even the private universities like the ivy leagues are public funded too – through their tax exempt status. They don’t pay property taxes or corporate tax on their income.

These students are protesting instead of studying and learning – violating the rules of the universities, trespassing, stirring up trouble – and disgustingly, they are supporting the terrorist group Hamas against the democracy Israel. Hamas attacked the Jews in Israel. It is Israel that is the victim. Do these protestors think that Israel should not defend itself against the murderers and kidnappers? How do they feel about a rape victim? A victim of murder? What if it was their wife or sister or daughter? Would they protest in favor of the criminal then?

Why is it that these whack-jobs always, always defend the criminal? Why, why, why?

Frankly, I’m tired of it. I say clear them out, revoke their visas, suspend their student status, and ship them home.



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Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans calls for Social Security improvements

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Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans calls for Social Security improvements


GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – Demonstrations across the state are calling for Social Security to be protected, modernized, and expanded.

The Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans made a stop in Green Bay on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to increase funding.

Members say without more funding, Social Security will not be able to meet the needs of America’s most vulnerable citizens. Alliance officials say Democratic lawmakers have noticed and agree with their protest, but the alliance is aiming to grab the attention of republican lawmakers, saying both parties should work toward a common goal.

The Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans made 13 stops across the state.

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‘A unicorn of a dog’: Bella the shelter dog has 5 legs and a lot of heart

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‘A unicorn of a dog’: Bella the shelter dog has 5 legs and a lot of heart



Bella’s fifth leg is basically fused with her back right leg. X-rays unveiled the mystery: Two femurs, two tibias, two fibulas and nine toes. The shelter where she’s at says she’s happy and healthy.

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When a 6-month-old dog named Bella was surrendered to the Wisconsin Humane Society, one thing − or rather one leg − stuck out.

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The 50-pound pup, who was surrendered on April 15, had an abnormal gait, her back right leg was wider than the other three and her paw looked like a flipper.

Bella’s X-rays revealed the mystery: Two femurs, two tibias, two fibulas and nine toes. Basically, a fifth leg.

“I actually thought somebody was playing an AI prank on me or was playing in Photoshop,” Wisconsin Humane Society spokesperson Angela Speed told USA TODAY on Wednesday. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Bella the five-legged shelter pup gets diagnosis

Bella has been diagnosed with dimelia, a congenital condition so rare that her case is the first the Wisconsin Humane Society has seen in its 145-year history.

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The Humane Society consulted with outside veterinarians and determined that since Bella does not appear to be in any pain from the condition, that the leg can stay as-is. Speed did say that Bella has some mobility issues and that the family who adopts her should develop a close relationship with a veterinarian.

“It’s really hard to know what the next six months, two years, five years, are going to look like for Bella,” Speed said. “We know that today she’s a happy otherwise healthy girl.”

The “unicorn of a dog” loves eating chicken, her treats and going on walks. She is currently available for adoption.

“We’ve never met anyone like her,” Speed said

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Shelter hopes Bella’s noteriety helps find others forever homes

Speed hopes that the publicity Bella generates will bring more attention to the animals in the Humane Society’s shelters, where she says intake has been higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“2024 has been a really challenging year for shelters across the country, including at the Wisconsin Humane Society. We’re seeing a lower demand for adoption right now but higher intake. It’s creating bottlenecks,” Speed said. “Fortunately, the Wisconsin Humane Society animals in our adoption program have as long as it takes to find a new home, but it’s taking longer.”

According to Shelter Animals Count, an organization that tracks the number of animals in shelters across the nation, over 1,800 shelters have taken in over 529,000 animals from the start of the year through March. Of them, 241,270 were strays and 148,381 were relinquished by their owners.

The organization also reports that the shelters have completed over 324,00 adoptions and returned nearly 59,000 animals to their owners.

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“We’re hoping that Bella’s story does help shine the light on the fantastic and amazing dogs available at your local shelter,” Speed said.



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