Wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans would keep upper hand in Legislature under maps proposed by Democratic voters

Published

2 years ago

January 12, 2024

Wisconsin Republicans would keep upper hand in Legislature under maps proposed by Democratic voters

Republican majorities would shrink but the party would maintain an upper hand in the Wisconsin Legislature under new redistricting plans proposed by the Democratic voters who convinced the state Supreme Court to declare the state’s Republican-drawn legislative maps unconstitutional.

Seven sets of map proposals were submitted to the court Friday afternoon by parties to a redistricting lawsuit that has generated national attention.

In its Dec. 22 opinion, the Supreme Court’s liberal majority said remedial maps must comply with the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirements that voting districts be compact, include equal populations and have boundaries that physically connect. That last requirement, known as contiguity, was the justification the court’s 4-3 liberal majority used to strike down current Republican drawn maps.

The majority said it would also consider “partisan impact” to measure political fairness of new maps, telling parties that it would take care to avoid picking new maps that favor one political party over another.

The proposals submitted Friday mark the beginning of the court’s efforts to replace maps that have helped Republicans cement lopsided legislative majorities in a state that’s otherwise known for close elections.

Maps from Democrats who sued would maintain GOP majority

A brief filed by Democratic voters who brought the redistricting lawsuit claimed their proposed maps comply with all requirements, including political fairness.

An analysis they submitted to the court by a George Washington University political science professor suggests Republicans would win 52 percent of seats in the state Assembly, which works out to a GOP majority of around 52 of 99 seats. Republicans currently hold a 64-35 majority in the Assembly, leaving them just shy of a two-thirds supermajority.

In the state Senate, petitioners said, Republicans would also likely get a 52 percent majority, which works out to around 17 out of 33 seats. The GOP currently holds 22 seats, giving Republicans a supermajority.

A joint statement from law firms that represented Democratic voters called the submission of new maps “an important step for our clients and communities across the state whose voices have been silenced for the last 12 years” by the current GOP-drawn districts.

Sign up for daily news!

Stay informed with WPR’s email newsletter.

“Today’s filing is the next step to ensuring that all Wisconsinites – no matter where they reside in the state or which party they belong to politically – can get a fair shot to elect leaders who will best serve their communities,” read a written statement by Mark Gaber of the Campaign Legal Center.

Wisconsin Legislature’s new maps ignore court’s ‘partisan impact’ requirement

The Republican-controlled Legislature took a different approach entirely in its brief to the court submitted Friday.

While attorneys for Republicans said the Legislature’s new map proposals complied with the court’s order that voting districts have boundaries that physically connect, they made no changes to address partisan impact.

The Legislature’s brief argued the only way for the court to ensure political neutrality when choosing new maps “is to stay out of politics altogether.”

“The Legislature’s proposed remedy does so. It corrects all noncontiguities by moving less than 0.1% of Wisconsinites with no conceivable ‘partisan impact,’” the Legislature’s brief said. “This remedy ensures that the Court exercises only judicial power and spares the Court the burden of inventing new “neutrality” standards.”

The Legislature also argued Wisconsin’s constitution grants no authority to the court to determine whether maps are politically fair to parties. Therefore, it said, the overall makeup of districts in its proposed maps “should remain largely the same.”

Maps submitted by the Legislature and the Democratic voters, along with others from Democratic Governor Tony Evers and various parties who intervened in the redistricting case, will now be analyzed by two redistricting experts hired by the liberal majority.

University of California, Irvine Political Scientist Bernard Grofman and Carnegie Mellon University Political Scientist Jonathan Cervas have until Feb. 1 to issue a report on the map proposals. If the two determine maps from the parties don’t satisfy the court’s requirements, justices tasked them with drawing their own proposals.

Source link

Click to comment

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Adds Robert Steeples to 2026 Coaching Staff

Published

12 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin Adds Robert Steeples to 2026 Coaching Staff

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has added Robert Steeples to its 2026 coaching staff, head coach Luke Fickell announced on Tuesday. Steeples will serve as cornerbacks coach for the Badgers, moving Paul Haynes to oversee the entire secondary.

“Bringing Robert Steeples to Wisconsin is a great addition to our coaching staff,” Fickell said in a statement. “He has seen the game at every level – Playing professionally, coaching at the high school and collegiate level. Our players and staff will love working with him and we’re excited to get him here.

“With the addition, we will be moving Paul Haynes to a role that will allow him to work with our entire secondary to strengthen our unit.”

Steeples spent the last two seasons at Iowa State as a defensive analyst. Prior to his two seasons with the Cyclones, Steeples coached cornerbacks at LSU from 2022-23. The St. Louis native played collegiately at Missouri and Memphis. He went undrafted in 2013, but spent four seasons in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, and Dallas Cowboys.

“Wisconsin’s commitment to excellence and rugged style of play gives me the opportunity to work with the type of student-athletes that can benefit most from my style of coaching,” Steeples said in a statement. “The defensive structure and culture that Coach Fickell and Coach Tressel have implemented complements the guys on the island – the corners. The defensive staff is full of experience, great leaders, but most importantly great human beings – which makes for a fantastic environment for growth. I’m excited to get into the trenches with the guys and do my part. The opportunity ahead is a blessing.”

Steeples will inherit a Wisconsin cornerback room that currently returns two key performers from the 2025 season — redshirt freshman Omillio Agard and true freshman Cairo Skanes.

Steeples is the second off-season hire for the Badgers, joining offensive line coach Eric Mateos, who came over from Arkansas.

———————————

The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2 and the insider rumblings are already heating up for Wisconsin! There’s not a better time to join the fastest-growing UW team site. New members can sign up and enjoy insider access for just $1!

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

Published

24 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who almost killed her sixth-grade classmate to please the fictional horror villain known as Slender Man was ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital Tuesday after she escaped from her group home last month.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner granted a state Department of Health Services request to revoke 23-year-old Morgan Geyser’s release privileges. Geyser told the judge through her attorney, Tony Cotton, last week that she would not fight revocation. Wagner then approved the request during a short hearing.

Cotton didn’t immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.

Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered her on. A passing bicyclist discovered Leutner, who barely survived. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man enough that he would make them his servants and wouldn’t hurt their families. Both of them were eventually committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25 years.

Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Wagner granted Geyser conditional release this past September despite warnings from state Department of Health Services officials that she couldn’t be trusted.

Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.

Follow on

Geyser was placed in a Madison group home. Authorities say that on Nov. 22 she cut off her GPS monitor and fled the state with a 43-year-old companion. Police arrested both of them the next day at a truck stop outside Chicago, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.

Geyser’s companion told WKOW-TV that the two of them became friends at church and had been seeing each other daily for the last month. Geyser decided to escape because she was afraid the group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the companion said.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

MILWAUKEE – The FBI calls it an online crime against kids – perpetrators convincing kids to send sexual images of themselves and then blackmailing them.

Online crime against kids

The backstory:

The reality is settling in. This will be Brittney Bird’s first Christmas without her son, Bradyn Bohn, since he was born. That is because just nine months ago, the 15-year-old died by suicide, just hours after telling his family good night.

“This winter has been pretty heavy,” Bird said. “This will be a lot of first this year.”

Bird said Bradyn was the kind of kid who would always try to make you launch. The teen had a lot of friends, played sports, did well academically, and had big plans for the future.

“Definitely a kid who we were just so proud of,” Bird said. “Bradyn never struggled with or suffered from mental illness or depression or anything of that nature so immediately we knew, you know something’s wrong.”

Once police went through Bradyn’s phone, she said it came out he was the victim of the cyber crime, sextortion.

What is sextortion?

What we know:

“Sextortion is a form of online child exploitation where a child is coerced by a perpetrator to send compromising images,” said Jesse Crowe from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sent out a public service announcement on sextortion.

Officials say suspects often pose as someone else online. While exchanging messages, they convince a child to send images of themselves. Once they have explicit images of the child, they use the photos or videos to blackmail the child into sending even more images, money or ask for sexual favors.

FBI data, change in Wisconsin law

Dig deeper:

The FBI said victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, but any child can be a target.

This crime led to at least 20 suicides between October 2021 and March 2023.

In the months after Bradyn’s death, change would come to Wisconsin. Earlier in December, Gov. Tony Evers signed Bradyn’s Law. It creates a new crime of sexual extortion in Wisconsin. It aims to ensure harsh penalties for those who exploit children online.

“It will bring, hopefully statewide, eventually nationwide attention to where every family is having this conversation with their kids,” Bird told FOX6 News.