Wisconsin
With no evidence, Kleefisch calls 2020 presidential election ‘rigged’
MADISON – Republican candidate for governor Rebecca Kleefisch is escalating her criticism of how the final presidential election was carried out in Wisconsin, calling it a “rigged” contest regardless of court docket rulings and recounts confirming the result.
The characterization comes as a fourth candidate enters the Republican major with the power to pour hundreds of thousands into his marketing campaign and a backstory that would attraction to the pinnacle of the celebration, former President Donald Trump.
Seventeen months after the 2020 election, grievances over its end result loom over Wisconsin’s 2022 races as Trump continues to stress Republicans to maintain alive his false claims of widespread fraud to construct momentum for his anticipated 2024 marketing campaign for president.
Recounts, court docket rulings, state audits and a research by a distinguished conservative group have confirmed President Joe Biden received Wisconsin in 2020 by practically 21,000 votes. Not one of the evaluations have proven fraud manipulated the result of the election.
Kleefisch on Tuesday in contrast choices made by Wisconsin election officers to navigate the coronavirus pandemic to these of NFL quarterback Tom Brady in 2015 when he was accused of utilizing deflated footballs to achieve a bonus for the New England Patriots in a playoff recreation.
“I usually examine this to deflategate,” Kleefisch mentioned in a Tuesday interview on WTAQ.
“They received the sport. Did they win legitimately? Did they replay the sport? These are the questions that we face proper now on the very best degree of governance,” she mentioned.
“I can not actually let you know ends in Pennsylvania and in Arizona and different states the place there are questions. I’m centered completely on Wisconsin. And what I can let you know about Wisconsin, is that I really feel prefer it was rigged.”
She cited election officers’ choices to make use of poll drop packing containers, ship absentee ballots to residents of nursing houses that weren’t permitting ballot staff in to assist with voting, and to simply accept funding from Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg to manage the election.
Extra:Remembering Deflategate: What actually occurred? Did Tom Brady cheat with New England Patriots?
Extra:Marquette Ballot reveals Mandela Barnes, Alex Lasry in tight Democratic U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin
Kleefisch mentioned candidates who do not tackle the 2020 election needs to be disqualified in voters’ minds, referring to Tim Michels, a rich building govt from Waukesha County who entered the race final week.
Michels held a rally Monday to launch his marketing campaign for governor and didn’t point out the final presidential election in his nine-minute speech.
However Michels mentioned in an interview earlier Monday that he has “questions” concerning the 2020 election and would signal into legislation laws Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers vetoed earlier this 12 months that will change how elections are administered in Wisconsin. He didn’t instantly have a response to Kleefisch’s feedback.
“Lots of people have questions concerning the final election. So do I,” Michels mentioned Monday on WISN-AM. “If we do not have honest, clear elections, our entire system goes to return aside.”
Kayla Anderson, a marketing campaign spokeswoman for Evers, mentioned Kleefisch’s feedback are injecting “extra chaos and division into Wisconsin elections.”
“We don’t must waste extra time and taxpayer cash on this politically motivated train,” Anderson mentioned in a press release. “Governor Evers plans to proceed doing the precise factor and preventing to make sure each eligible voter is ready to take part in secure, honest and safe elections.”
A spokesman for Kleefisch didn’t instantly reply questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Trump efficiently pressured Meeting Speaker Robin Vos this week into preserving open a taxpayer-funded assessment of the 2020 election overseen by former Supreme Courtroom Justice Michael Gableman.
The assessment has a price range of $676,000 and has lasted six months longer than initially deliberate as Gableman has missed deadlines to provide a remaining report into his probe.
To this point, Gableman’s studies to Meeting lawmakers largely embrace particulars of how the 2020 election was administered that have been already uncovered by others. In one other case, he reported incorrect nursing dwelling voter turnout knowledge to allege suspicions of fraud contained in the services.
Regardless of being funded by taxpayers, the assessment has not been clear. A Dane County choose just lately ordered Gableman to cease deleting information associated to his assessment as a part of a lawsuit introduced by a liberal group alleging Gableman has withheld requested information.
Gableman argued he may delete information he deemed to be “irrelevant” or “ineffective” to his effort. State legislation bars this follow, nonetheless.
Kleefisch mentioned Tuesday that Gableman’s probe ought to proceed.
“I additionally had a very lengthy discuss with Gableman over the weekend, and he’s nonetheless uncovering issues and I believe these subpoenas shall be helpful to figuring out new issues or maybe even solidifying different issues that we have already lined in larger quantity,” Kleefisch mentioned.
Gableman has issued dozens of wide-ranging subpoenas and requested a choose to jail elections officers, mayors and others who he claims aren’t cooperating with him. The targets of his subpoenas have mentioned they’re following the legislation and requested the choose to search out Gableman should interview them in public and never behind closed doorways, as Gableman needs.
“If for no different cause, then to guarantee that folks really feel that their vote goes to rely and we’re not jeopardizing our democratic republic by disenfranchising voters, that I believe it should proceed,” Kleefisch mentioned.
Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Comply with her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better?
![Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better? Wisconsin beating Western Michigan didn’t answer crucial question: Are the Badgers better?](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/31101058/USATSI_24117504-scaled.jpg)
MADISON, Wis. — In an ideal world for Wisconsin football, the Badgers would have built a multi-score lead early during their season opener and never relented, cruising to the type of victory that said one thing to ease an uncertain fan base searching for more: Hey, this is progress.
That’s not exactly what transpired during Wisconsin’s 28-14 victory against Western Michigan on Friday night. Yes, the Badgers did end up winning by multiple touchdowns. They also trailed by a point as late as four minutes into the fourth quarter and needed a fortuitous bounce on a muffed punt just to end up in scoring position for the go-ahead touchdown.
It was a performance that, while able to avert calamity, left plenty of questions on the table about whether this team — and especially this offense — will take the necessary steps forward in Luke Fickell’s second season after a 7-6 debut.
“I’ve been in these games before, and sometimes they’re not the most fun,” Fickell said. “But what it comes down to is you’ve got to find a way and you got to make some adjustments that maybe you didn’t envision you’d have to make, you didn’t want to make in game one. But you have to make some of those adjustments. And we did.”
Relive last night’s win 🦡 pic.twitter.com/10af1WvGuQ
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 31, 2024
Fickell acknowledged earlier in the week that “we know as little as we ever have known” about an opponent entering the first game of the season, and the chess match that ensued has to be factored into the equation. Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor hired a new offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator during the offseason. As a result, Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said he spent the week watching clips of Louisiana Tech, where Broncos defensive coordinator Scott Power previously worked.
“They didn’t show any of what they did there,” Van Dyke said. “They were trying to keep everything in front of them, playing a lot of Cover 3 and not letting us take any of the deep shots, really.”
Even if the opener provided unexpected challenges, this was still a game against a MAC team coming off a 4-8 season that Wisconsin had hoped to dominate. The Badgers were, after all, 24-point betting favorites. As Wisconsin readies for Week 2 foe South Dakota — ranked fifth in the FCS Top 25 — with Alabama looming the following week, we’re left to wonder exactly what the result means.
Tyler Van Dyke went 21-of-36 for 192 yards in his Badgers debut. (Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
A year ago, Wisconsin opened the Fickell era with a 38-17 victory against MAC opponent Buffalo that foreshadowed the team’s uneven offensive performances because the Badgers led by just four points in the third quarter. Wisconsin then averaged just 23.5 points per game, its fewest in 19 years. Is this group in for more of the same?
There were at least some encouraging signs. Wisconsin’s 1-2 running back combination of Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker ran with tenacity and power. Both players scored on touchdown runs that featured them knocking back defenders on the way to the end zone. Fickell said the primary objective was to run the ball and establish a physical identity, even if it meant sacrificing on some deep passes.
Wisconsin’s top two slot receivers, Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna, are dynamic and should be among Van Dyke’s favorite targets all season. The offensive line allowed just one sack when Van Dyke remained in the pocket too long and didn’t throw the ball away. Van Dyke himself produced some decent moments, looking at ease on quick throws over the middle and showing a willingness as a ball carrier on read options. Wisconsin’s first four drives went for 16 plays, 16 plays, 14 plays and 14 plays — the type of possession control reminiscent of previous Badgers regimes.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/25165705/0826_BillCallahan-1024x512.png)
GO DEEPER
‘We’re gonna change this crap’: Bill Callahan and Wisconsin, origin stories intertwined
But within all those positives were enough concerns to keep the coaching staff busy. For one, those four 14-plus-play drives yielded just one touchdown despite the Badgers reaching the red zone each time. Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo can spread defenses out with his version of the Air Raid, but that becomes trickier in a more condensed part of the field. The Badgers ranked 63rd nationally in red zone offense last season and scored a touchdown just 63 percent of the time.
Fickell said the lack of red zone efficiency was glaring in the opener. Van Dyke’s decision-making was a part of that process. He threw a couple of passes that could have been intercepted, including one in the end zone before Wisconsin settled for a field goal to take a 13-7 third-quarter lead. Van Dyke also lost a fumble when he scrambled out of the pocket and kept the ball too loose in one hand as he was being pursued.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect for the offense was the lack of explosive plays. Mellusi averaged 3.9 yards per carry and Walker 4.4 yards. Wisconsin produced 11 pass plays of at least 10 yards but none of at least 20 yards, with Van Dyke often finding his pass catchers on shorter throws. Van Dyke’s longest pass play came on a third-and-6 early in the third quarter when he tossed a quick completion to Pauling, who turned upfield and did the rest of the work on a 17-yard gain. Rarely did the Badgers even attempt anything down the field. Of Van Dyke’s 36 attempts, only three were thrown with 15-plus air yards, per TruMedia. None were completed.
Mellusi attributed the overall performance to “some first-game jitters.”
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mellusi said. “But watching film all week, their goal was to stop the run. Not to say we weren’t expecting to break a big one. Of course you want to break a big one all the time. But you’ve got to be OK with the 4- or 5-yarders, and eventually you’re going to bust one.”
Former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used to cite a theory he gleaned from Lou Holtz that a great team needed five great players and no glaring weaknesses. Fickell was asked whether he believed a lack of playmakers on this team was an issue.
“It’s hard to say whether there’s not enough playmakers on the field,” Fickell said. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that there’s going to be days — I don’t want to make excuses — days like this. But games like this, that all of a sudden become that slow, methodical. I would think around here, you’ve seen a few of those. It’s not what maybe you envision every single day. It’s not maybe what we envision going into this thing, but I give our guys a lot of credit for their ability to adjust and adapt.”
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/31003421/GettyImages-2169523623-1024x683.jpg)
GO DEEPER
Badgers survive scare against Western Michigan: Wisconsin football opener instant takeaways
Wisconsin does indeed deserve at least some credit for how it finished because the outcome could have been much worse. Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead on Jalen Buckley’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14:15 remaining in the fourth quarter — a potentially backbreaking moment for the Badgers after the Broncos converted a fake field goal into a 26-yard run and a first down to the 4-yard line.
Wisconsin took advantage of a Western Michigan’s muffed punt by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in just three plays, on Walker’s 6-yard run. The defense then stopped Western Michigan on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, which led to the Badgers scoring on Van Dyke’s 6-yard keeper to account for the final margin.
“We all rallied together,” Badgers inside linebacker Jake Chaney said. “Nobody really flinched. There’s a lot of work to be done, but that was a good team win and I don’t think that should be overlooked.”
Returning players and coaches said all offseason that the second year under Fickell and Longo felt different and that things were operating more smoothly. There were signs of momentum during spring and preseason practices, though it always comes with a caveat until it translates to the games.
Based on Wisconsin’s season-opening performance, there is substantial room for growth. And while progress means different things for different teams, the Badgers will need much more of it to have any chance of moving the needle this season.
(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
Wisconsin
Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness
![Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness Wisconsin football fans react to Badgers’ 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener with uneasiness](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/31/PMJS/75024162007-mjs-uwgrid-30-3.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4641,2612,x0,y41&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Here are some of the reasons why quarterback Tyler Van Dyke came to Wisconsin
Here are some of the reasons why quarterback Tyler Van Dyke came to Wisconsin
The Wisconsin football team faces some challenging teams in 2024, with three of its opponents (Alabama, Oregon and Penn State) in the preseason top 10.
Western Michigan wasn’t supposed to be among the biggest tests. They were predicted to be seventh in the Mid-American Conference.
But the Broncos gave the Badgers all they could handle for much of the season opener on Friday at Camp Randall Stadium and even led Wisconsin briefly in the fourth quarter before Luke Fickell’s squad finally rallied for the 28-14 win.
There were some notable performances like Chez Mellusi’s impressive comeback — it was his first game since fracturing his fibula nearly a year ago — the important fourth-down stand in the fourth quarter that led to the Badgers’ final score and the incredible interception late in the game by true freshman Xavier Lucas.
But the Badgers, despite controlling the time of possession, also left the game with mistakes to clean up.
It began with a missed field goal, it continued when they couldn’t finish long drives for a large chunk of the game and it didn’t look good after they allowed a fake field goal that turned into Western Michigan’s go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
And taking into account the frustrating 2023 season, the showing for three-plus quarters led fans on social media to feel very uneasy about the prospects for the rest of the year.
5 takeaways: In Wisconsin football’s 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener
The Badgers should again be heavy favorites next week —they were favored by 24 points on Friday — against FCS opponent South Dakota, but national title contender Alabama comes to town in a couple weeks.
Here’s how social media reacted to Wisconsin’s Week 1 game.
Wisconsin defeats Western Michigan, 28-14
Ricardo Hallman is a reigning All-American for a reason
Xavier Lucas makes incredible interception late in the game with the Badgers ahead 28-14
Wisconsin football fans weren’t feeling too good about the showing for much of the game
Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter after Jalen Buckley ran it in from 1-yard out. The Broncos’ TD came six plays after they recovered a fumble from Badgers quarterback Tyler Van Dyke at their own 34-yard line late in the third quarter.
The Badgers would regain the lead, 21-14, at the 10:35 mark after Walker scored from 6 yards out and Van Dyke connected with Trech Kekahuna in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion.
The TD was set up thanks to a gift from Western Michigan. Wisconsin’s special teams recovered a live ball on a punt after it hit a retrieving Bronco on his back as he was running down the field.
The Badgers held the lead the rest of the way but that likely didn’t change a lot of fans’ perceptions.
Wisconsin
West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness
![West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness West Nile virus in Wisconsin, Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox6now.com/www.fox6now.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1280/720/4P-MOSQITO-PROTECTION-VO_00.00.03.08.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Labor Day weekend mosquito awareness
Health officials in Wisconsin are urging the public not to let their guard down when it comes to mosquitoes this Labor Day weekend. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed two people have died and another was hospitalized this year because of West Nile virus.
MILWAUKEE – Health officials in Wisconsin are urging the public not to let their guard down when it comes to mosquitoes this Labor Day weekend.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed two people have died and another was hospitalized this year because of West Nile virus.
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Individuals who become infected with West Nile Virus might feel body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and rash. Lindsey Page, director of the Milwaukee Health Department’s infectious disease program, said roughly one-in-five people experience those symptoms – but most people don’t.
“Most people recover completely from West Nile virus,” Page said.
A more severe neuroinvasive form of the virus can develop that causes meningitis, which is swelling of the brain or spinal cord.
“We have long sleeves,” said Priya Jacobs. “Try to pack as many clothes as we can, or shoes, hiking gear, making sure that we got all the stuff that we need just to be outside.”
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