Wisconsin
Wisconsin Republicans pass parental rights bill but face uphill battle with Democratic governor
Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin passed legislation this week that would give parents the right over their children to determine what name their child is called in school as well as the pronouns associated with their child.
The bill also gives parents and guardians the right to pull their children out of classroom discussions on gender, race, sexual orientation, structural racism, or other topics they find personally or religiously inappropriate.
The bill, which passed 62-35 in the state assembly on Thursday, has an uphill battle in the state Senate. If it garners enough support in the Senate, it will go to Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI), who has vetoed similar legislation in the past. Despite previous challenges, the bill’s sponsor,
Republican state Rep. Robert Wittke told reporters he is hopeful for a different outcome this time.
“At some point in time, we have to get back to the way Gov. [Tommy] Thompson governed, and that was that we do things for what’s best for the families in Wisconsin and not be in that partisan divide continually,” he said.
The bill would also give parents the right to sue the school district if it doesn’t adhere to the proposed changes.
Critics argue the legislation will inflict trauma on children who are gay and transgender if they are prohibited from participating in general or sexual orientation discussions.
“Once again, I’m here on this floor disheartened and discouraged that legislative Republicans are making Wisconsin’s kids political footballs,” Democratic state Rep. Robyn Vining said during debate on the bill. “Culture war after culture war, you’ve taken aim at the LGBTQ+ community. And more recently, you’ve given yourself permission to take aim at kids.”
Democratic state Rep. Melissa Ratcliff argued the bill would open the door to “misgendering, deadnaming, and psychological harm for an already disenfranchised community.”
The hourslong debate got heated after Democratic state Rep. David Considine, a teacher and a parent, suggested, “Parents don’t always know best. Let’s be honest.”
Republican state Rep. Karen Hurd called the comment “a lie from the pit of hell” and said the implication that she, as a parent of five children, didn’t know what was best for them was “offensive.”
Evers vetoed similar legislation in 2022. He said that while parents are the “first and best teachers” children have, he was “vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to sowing division in our schools, which only hurts our kids.”
Parent’s rights bills have been introduced in at least two dozen states, according to tracking by FutureEd.
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Four states have enacted them, including Florida, where the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law forbids “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.”
Evers and Wisconsin lawmakers did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s calls with requests for comment.
RANDALL, Wis. – Two people are in critical condition after a motorcycle crash on the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, according to officials.
Around 3:28 p.m. on Sunday, crews responded to the 12500 block of Fox River Road for reports of a motorcycle crash.
Officials found two people lying in the road. One individual had sustained a significant head injury and was reportedly not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. The victim was transported by helicopter to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in critical condition.
The second victim was transported to Froedtert South Pleasant Prairie in critical but stable condition.
Kenosha County Major Crash Assistance Team is investigating the incident.
The public are reminded to wear helmets while riding motorcycles and urged to use caution during the ongoing road construction in that area.
The Source: Details for this story were provided by the Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue.
MADISON – Well, this was different.
“And better,” said Alexander Pendleton of Shorewood, Wis.
We stood May 17 on Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and took in the sight.
The grassy space is famous for hosting gatherings, sometimes even pranks by students. One of the most well-known was the Sept. 4, 1979 placement of about 1,000 plastic pink flamingos on the sloping terrain.
But this day Bascom was graced by something more natural.
The hill was peppered with dozens of wild turkey decoys. Hens. Toms. Preeners. Strutters. Feeders.
A crowd of people, volunteers, biologists, conservation organization staff and curious onlookers, reveled in the scene.
I think I even saw a satisfied smile crease the face of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, the statue that overlooks the hill.
Everybody knew this was no joke. This was a gathering with meaning.
“The most successful wildlife reintroduction in state history,” said Pendleton, accompanied by his wife Terese. “What an achievement.”
The May 17 event on Bascom, and a subsequent luncheon and program in UW Memorial Union, was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the reintroduction of wild turkeys to Wisconsin.
The National Wild Turkey Federation was the primary sponsor of the events. Department of Natural Resources staff, both current and retired, also took part.
Significantly, former DNR employees Ron Nicklaus and Jon Nelson were on hand. Nicklaus was the leader of field operations of the 1976 turkey reintroduction and helped release the first 29 birds near Romance in Vernon County. Nelson was hired as a field technician about three months after the first birds arrived and worked on the turkey project for 10 years.
“Nobody really knew how it would go,” Nicklaus said. “And if anyone tries to tell you they knew it would be so successful and over so much of the state, they are lying. It’s been incredible.”
Wild turkeys were native to Wisconsin but the species was depleted through the 1800s by removal of vast areas of timber and high, unregulated turkey harvests by market and subsistence hunters.
By 1860 the birds were rare, and in 1881 the last wild turkey in the state’s original flock was killed near Darlington, according to the Department of Natural Resources’ document “Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin.”
Efforts through the early to mid-1900s to bring the species back, mostly through stocking game farm birds, largely failed.
But by the 1970s the DNR had seen what worked in other states and put a plan together for Wisconsin.It was based on transferring wild turkeys obtained in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri into suitable habitat. In Wisconsin, the best wild turkey habitat was in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin.
The plan also relied on an agreement between state agencies. The Wisconsin DNR would exchange three ruffed grouse for each wild turkey provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
That proved trickier than it may seem. Nicklaus, who was tasked with capturing the grouse, had to bend and even break some rules to get it done.
“The grouse were tough to trap, and then of course you had to check the traps at least once a day, even on weekends and holidays,” Nicklaus said. “So we worked every day to get it done.”
Eventually enough grouse had been captured to convince the Missouri biologists to collect some wild turkeys for the trade.
On Jan. 21, 1976 the first flight of 29 Missouri wild turkeys landed at the La Crosse airport. It was met by about a dozen people, including Nicklaus and wildlife biologist Carl Batha, local rod-and-gun club members and UW-Madison professor Tom Yuill, an expert in wildlife diseases.
Yuill took a blood sample from and inspected each turkey. After the birds were pronounced healthy, Nicklaus, Batha and a crew of other DNR staff and volunteers drove the birds to Vernon County and released them on the farm of Butch and Iva Lee Baumgartner near Romance.
More turkey transfers followed. The success is now seen in all 72 Wisconsin counties.
Wisconsin started a spring turkey hunting season in 1983 and a fall season in 1989. By 2000, the DNR had earned a reputation for one of the leading turkey management programs in the nation. Wisconsin regulations spread hunting pressure over time and space and have helped reduce hunter conflicts, improve hunting quality and protect the turkey population, all while providing ample hunting opportunity.
It’s become common for the Wisconsin spring turkey harvest to be in the top three in the nation.
Pendleton, who was a UW freshman in 1979 when the flamingos were planted, hatched the idea for a wild turkey flock on the hill.
“I’ve always thought that in celebration of one of the anniversaries of the 1976 successful reintroduction of wild turkeys to Wisconsin a group should get together and cover Bascom Hill with gobbler and hen turkey decoys,” Pendleton wrote to me in October 2017. “Would be even better [and more germane to Wisconsin] than the 1979 covering of Bascom Hill with the pink flamingos.”
He and I corresponded about it over the years and it came together for the 50th due to the NWTF’s expert and enthusiastic staff and volunteers.
When I suggested it to Al May, state chapter chairman, his immediate response was: “Let’s do something!”
Scott Chandler, NWTF regional director, and Brian Dalsing, Wisconsin NWTF board member, took on lead roles in the planning and execution. More than a dozen other NWTF staff and volunteers pitched in.
Decoy manufacturer Avian X donated 50 dekes for the event, most of which were raffled off at NWTF banquets to help sponsor the 50th celebration and will be used in future years at Wisconsin learn to hunt turkey events.
The donated decoys arrived in an NWTF trailer wrapped with turkey images and information on the organization’s “Roots to Roost” program, a Midwestern initiative to provide landowners and others with training, tools and resources for forest management, prescribed fire and conservation best practices.
Those donated decoys were joined by dozens of others brought by attendees to help adorn Bascom Hill.
After group photos, the celebration headed indoors to UW Memorial Union for lunch, speeches and raffles.
Award winning turkey call makers Heather van Doorn of Glen Flora and Dave Constantine of Durand donated hand-carved and painted turkey calls.
Van Doorn’s wild turkey hen was made of basswood and nested on a northern Wisconsin red oak burl and a maple base, accompanied by a hand-turned red oak pot call including pyrography art and a bit of color depicting an alert hen with a spring trillium flower.
Inspiration for the call was “based on my appreciation for the wild turkey hen and her dedication which is unwavering for ensuring the continued existence and survival of the wild turkey population,” van Doorn said.
Pendleton, who earned a history degree from UW and a law degree from the University of Minnesota, said the turkey reintroduction is “a great example of the Wisconsin way.”
“We’ve got the university, a private conservation organization and the DNR, which I’ve always thought is the governmental agency that’s closest to the people, in this tremendous success story,” Pendleton said. “Everybody should know about it and take inspiration from it.”
Nicklaus and Nelson, the retired DNR biologists who were blazing the reintroduction trail in 1976, were humbled by the attention.
Fifty years have passed and the signs of their success are visible daily around the state.
“Working on the turkey reintroduction was one of the greatest privileges of my life,” Nicklaus said. “I hope it helps people realize what good can happen and also to make sure these birds, and other native species, will never get wiped out again.”
Manuel Franco claims his $768 million Powerball jackpot
Manuel Franco, 24, of West Allis was revealed Tuesday as the winner of the $768.4 million Powerball jackpot.
Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Wisconsin Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 30, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 30 drawing
01-27-35-44-52, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 30 drawing
Midday: 9-6-3
Evening: 3-8-5
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 30 drawing
Midday: 1-5-3-1
Evening: 3-7-8-8
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning All or Nothing numbers from May 30 drawing
Midday: 02-04-05-07-08-11-12-15-17-18-22
Evening: 02-04-06-08-12-13-14-16-19-21-22
Check All or Nothing payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Badger 5 numbers from May 30 drawing
06-15-22-29-30
Check Badger 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning SuperCash numbers from May 30 drawing
07-12-22-23-24-37, Doubler: N
Check SuperCash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks numbers from May 30 drawing
04-16-22-34-46-48
Check Megabucks payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
- Prizes up to $599: Can be claimed at any Wisconsin Lottery retailer.
- Prizes from $600 to $199,999: Can be claimed in person at a Lottery Office. By mail, send the signed ticket and a completed claim form available on the Wisconsin Lottery claim page to: Prizes, PO Box 777 Madison, WI 53774.
- Prizes of $200,000 or more: Must be claimed in person at the Madison Lottery office. Call the Lottery office prior to your visit: 608-261-4916.
Can Wisconsin lottery winners remain anonymous?
No, according to the Wisconsin Lottery. Due to the state’s open records laws, the lottery must, upon request, release the name and city of the winner. Other information about the winner is released only with the winner’s consent.
When are the Wisconsin Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Super Cash: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
- Pick 3 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
- Pick 3 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
- Pick 4 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
- Pick 4 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
- All or Nothing (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
- All or Nothing (Evening): 9 p.m. CT daily.
- Megabucks: 9:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Badger 5: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
That lucky feeling: Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
Feeling lucky? WI man wins $768 million Powerball jackpot **
WI Lottery history: Top 10 Powerball and Mega Million jackpots
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Wisconsin editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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