Wisconsin

Zack Baun 'surprised' by the loyalty of his Wisconsin hometown

Published

11 months ago

January 12, 2025

“Zack is just a guy that’s tough, physical, loves football. Great work ethic, those guys that have all that, usually have an opportunity to reach their ceiling,” Head Coach Nick Sirianni said on Friday. “And he just keeps getting better, so I don’t think we know what his ceiling is. You know, he keeps getting better with every rep that he gets on the inside at linebacker. Very versatile, the different things that he can do. He’s worked really hard at that. You know, there’s – (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio) has done a great job of putting him in positions to succeed. (Inside Linebackers Coach) Bobby King and (Assistant Linebackers/Defensive Quality Control Coach) Ronell Williams have done a great job of helping him get better with his fundamentals day in and day out.”

Baun was on the field for 95 percent of the snaps on defense through the first 16 games of the season before a majority of starters were rested in the regular-season finale.

“Individual awards are what they are. I’m really proud of what we’re able to do as a defense this year,” Baun.

The Eagles led the league in total defense in terms of yards allowed for just the seventh time in franchise history and the first time since the historic Gang Green defense of 1991. The Eagles also led the league in passing yards allowed. Following the Week 6 bye, Philadelphia led the NFL in defensive points allowed, yards allowed, passing defense, opposing three-and-out percentage, opponent passer rating, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, and tied for first in takeaways.

But the Eagles allowed 29 points and 414 yards of total offense. The Eagles, believe it or not, were outgained on the ground.

“By no means a clean game. I nitpick on the scheme stuff that I did wrong,” Baun said of the opening game. “They’re confident and they’re committed to the run game. They do a lot of different things in the run game.”

Sunday marks a clean slate. It’s just Baun’s second playoff game, after sort of experiencing the atmosphere as a rookie with the Saints during the COVID year of 2020 when there was a limited amount of fans in the stadium.

“The guys in the locker room are accustomed to making the playoffs,” Baun said. “You have to hear it from guys who have been around the league and maybe haven’t won a division championship or won a playoff game or haven’t even been to the playoffs. Those guys have to hear it from the other guys to gain that appreciation, ‘OK, what we’re doing is special here. This doesn’t come around very often.’”

Baun said the prevailing message from Sirianni this week is to remain consistent with what got the team here.

“It’s the same routine. It has to be that way because if you start making things more than what they are, and, obviously, it’s a big game, but if you start changing your routines, then you’re acting different, then you’re treating the game different. And it shouldn’t be like that,” Baun said. “If you’re a consistent player and it’s a consistent coach and a consistent team, then you should already have those habits built in.”

Of course, don’t expect the fans to treat it like any ordinary Sunday.

“The guys have been telling me about how exciting it gets in there and rowdy it gets in there during the playoffs,” Baun said. “I’m excited for it.”

As well as the chance to disappoint the roughly 13,000 people of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and Packers fans all over the globe.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin students can soon use Pell Grants to enroll in short-term programs

Published

8 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin students can soon use Pell Grants to enroll in short-term programs

Wisconsin students enrolled in short-term, workforce training programs will soon be able to use federal grants to pay their tuition.

Millions of low-income students rely on Pell Grants to pay for college, including more than 70,000 in Wisconsin. The awards have long been limited to courses that span a minimum of 15 weeks or 600 “clock hours.”

The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed into law this summer will extend Pell Grant eligiblity to include short-term nondegree programs as short as eight weeks beginning July 1, 2026. The expansion is the largest in decades, making programs previously paid out of pocket – from truck drivers to machinists to nursing assistants – more affordable to students.

These types of programs are mostly offered by community and technical colleges, which have long lobbied for the change. They are studying their programs and deciding which need adjustments ahead of the eligibility expansion.

“Opening up financial aid and making financial aid policy more flexible and relevant to how folks are accessing workplace today, I think it has the potential to be really exciting,” said Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield. “How do we bundle these skills? How do we construct these programs and get students a credential that’s very relevant to their field that could potentially provide a great on-ramp to a further credential later on?”

Some education policy experts have reservations about the financial aid expansion and whether it will deliver for students. There’s concern about online training programs and for-profit institutions, some of which have a pattern of predatory practices and poor graduation outcomes. Research also shows short-term programs lead to less upward mobility and lower long-term earnings for students than associate or bachelor’s degrees.

“There is a big risk here,” said Wesley Whistle, the higher education project director at New America, a left-leaning think tank. “An eight-week program is really easy to crank out lots of people. You could have a lot of low-quality programs that don’t lead to much. Students could waste their time, exhaust their Pell eligibility and be left without the right skills to succeed in the workforce. That’s my worry.”

Short implementation timeline, outcome requirements among Workforce Pell challenges

Advocates say the proposed regulations approved Dec. 12 by the federal education department include accountability measures to prevent programs from taking advantage of students and wasting taxpayer money.

The programs must be run by an accredited institution of higher education, and be offered for more than one year before being approved. States must track outcomes, requiring programs meet a 70% completion and job-placement rate, and demonstrate they lead to in-demand, high-wage jobs.

The law includes no additional funding for states to take on the new role of approving individual programs, a worry of Whistle’s.

The tight timeline is also a concern to him. States could quickly throw together an approval process and never again look at it. Whistle advocated for states to start with a pilot approach and reassess in the coming years. He also suggested they creatively leverage state funding to target specific programs that serve high workforce needs.

“This could actually be a moment where we have laboratories for democracy,” Whistle said. “To see what works and what doesn’t.”

Merrifield said technical colleges are working closely with the state Department of Workforce Development on program approvals. She said she’d love to see the expansion in place for fall 2026 but it may realistically take a little longer than that.

Wisconsin technical colleges take stock of programs

State technical colleges already have some programs that will qualify for the expanded financial aid. But they are considering which ones to revamp.

Take the certified nursing assistant program, Merrifield offered as an example. Students pursuing their registered nursing degree earn their CNA as part of the program. But some students aren’t in the RN program and are seeking only their CNA.The program is 75 hours, which is not enough to meet the new financial aid criteria.

Do technical colleges keep the program short, meaning students continue paying out of pocket? Or do they overhaul it, add skills that hospitals and medical facilities may be looking for and allow students to qualify for Pell Grants?

“There’s potential to re-examine why is it that we package skills the way that we do,”Merrifield said. “What is it that employers are really loooking for in the marketplace?”

Merrifield said manufacturing and agriculture programs may also be ripe for revamp.

Milwaukee Area Technical College has identified eight technical diploma programs that will qualify for a Pell Grant under the expansion, said Barbara Cannell, the executive dean of academic systems and integrity. The programs include nail technician, office technology assistant, real estate broker associate, truck driver training, IT user support technician and food service assistant.

MATC has a number of other programs, mostly certificates, that are too short to qualify for the expansion, she said. College officials are deciding whether to keep the programs as-is or tweak them to allow students to qualify for Pell Grants.

Both Cannell and Merrifield see the Pell Grant expansion as a way to make work-force training more accessible to nontraditional students.

“This opens the door to populations of students who just never saw themselves in that way before,” Merrifield said.

Kelly Meyerhofer has covered higher education in Wisconsin since 2018. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin to receive $750k in multistate Menards settlement

Published

20 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin to receive 0k in multistate Menards settlement

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A more than $4 million multistate settlement was reached with Menards Wednesday over deceptive rebate advertising and price gouging, Wisconsin officials announced Wednesday.

Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said the settlement resolves claims that Menards falsely marketed its merchandise credit check program, also known as the Menards’ 11% Rebate Program, and allowed price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wisconsin will receive $750,000 in the settlement, according to DATCP.

“Figuring out how much you’ll have to pay to buy something should be straightforward,” Kaul said. “It shouldn’t be an adventure.”

Investigators involved in the multi-state lawsuit, which included Illinois and Minnesota, reviewed several aspects of Menards’ sales practices.

Wisconsin officials said investigators reviewed allegations that Menards’ use of the 11% off rebate program falsely claimed a point-of purchase discount, when the home improvement chain only offered in-store merchandise credit for future use, among other advertising claims.

Officials also investigated price gouging on four-gallon bottles of purified water at two locations in Wisconsin, including in Johnson Creek.

As part of the settlement, Menards will need to follow several advertising and sales practices. The terms, noted by DATCP, are as follows (wording theirs):

Not advertising or representing that any program that offers store credit for making purchases at Menards provides consumers with a point-of-purchase discount;
Clearly and conspicuously disclosing material limitations of the rebate program and disclosing all applicable terms and conditions of the rebate program in a readily available manner;
Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely submit rebate application forms and receipts online;
Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely redeem their rebate for online purchases;
Clearly and conspicuously disclosing that Menards is doing business as Rebates International;
Allowing consumers at least one year from the date of purchase to submit a rebate claim;
Updating their online rebate tracker with information about the rebate claim within 48 hours of the application being input into Menards’ system;
Updating their online rebate tracker with additional information about the rebate, including updates about returns affecting the rebate; and
Not engaging in price gouging during a period of abnormal economic disruption.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. Will it go up in 2026?

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has been .25 an hour since 2009. Will it go up in 2026?

With consumers still concerned about affordability, nearly two dozen states across the country will raise their minimum wage next year.

The minimum wage will increase in 19 states and 49 cities and counties on Jan. 1, 2026, plus four more states and 22 municipalities later in the year, USA TODAY reported, citing an annual report from the National Employment Law Project.

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has not changed since 2009, when the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25.

But will it be one of the states raising its minimum wage in 2026?

Here’s what to know:

Is Wisconsin increasing its minimum wage in 2026?

No, Wisconsin is not one of the states increasing its minimum wage in 2026.

What is Wisconsin’s minimum wage?

Wisconsin’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s the same as the federal minimum wage.

What states are raising their minimum wage in 2026?

Here are the 19 states increasing their minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2026, according to USA TODAY:

Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Hawaii
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
Virginia
Washington

Alaska, Florida and Oregon will implement increases later in the year, according to the report. California also plans to enact a minimum wage increase specifically for health care workers.

Andrea Riquier of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

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