The director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin says the unusual spike in 17 year olds voting illegally in the April 2016 primaries shows the need for greater voter education. The state elections commission says as many as seventy 17 year olds across the state, including a student in Fond du Lac thought they could legally vote if they turned 18 before the next election. League of Women […]
A battle pitting big-box retail giants including Menards and Wal-Mart against Wisconsin towns and cities is headed to the Legislature. Republican-backed proposals are designed to close the so-called dark store loophole and increase how much the mega-retailers pay local communities in property taxes. The bills are in reaction to court rulings in Wisconsin and nearby Midwestern states that have helped the retail giants lower the value placed on their stores […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court could make it easier for landowners to get paid when government rules make their property less valuable. Justices hear arguments Monday in a dispute over a Wisconsin family's effort to sell a riverfront plot. The family says conservation rules barring a sale have stripped the land of value. County officials nixed the sale because regulations treat the family's two lots as a single property […]
APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy and his crusade against alleged communists in the 1950s are back in the news. President Donald Trump referred to McCarthyism in one of his late-night tweetstorms. Others have broached McCarthy's name in debates over illegal immigration and travel bans. Historians have largely attributed the recent interest in McCarthy to his personal and ideological ties to the candidacy and election of Trump. […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin consumers tired of trekking across state lines to buy a popular Irish butter are taking their fight to court. A 1953 state law bans the sale of Kerrygold butter in Wisconsin, along with any other butter that hasn't been locally graded for quality. A handful of butter aficionados filed the lawsuit, saying it's unconstitutional to require butter sold in the state to undergo a government-mandated […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's son is mulling a run for his mother's old job. Josh Kaul said that he's considering challenging current Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel next year. He says he expects to make a decision within the next month or two. He declined further comment. Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos referred a request for comment to the state Republican Party. Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman […]
EAST TROY, Wis. (AP) — A historic musical venue in southeastern Wisconsin is taking the season off. Alpine Valley Music Theatre says it will close for the 2017 season, the first time that's happened since it opened in 1977. The amphitheater's manager Live Nation says the acts that usually play Alpine, including the Dave Matthews Band and Jimmy Buffet, are playing other venues this season. Marketing manager Jon Reens says […]
The investigation is continuing to try to determine the cause of a massive fire that destroyed a barn and attached pole shed in Eldorado. Ten dairy cows perished in the fire, several more were injured. Firefighters from 15 area departments were called to the Laura and Greg Rickland farm on Lincoln Road in the town of Eldorado at about 3:30am Friday. The 18 thousand square foot structure was destroyed. Fond […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker tells The Associated Press it would be "unwise" for the Republican-controlled Legislature to reject his proposal to switch state workers to a self-insurance model. Walker spoke to the AP after Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke told University of Wisconsin-Madison professors that the proposal is unlikely to pass the Legislature. Walker's budget assumes the move would save the state $60 million over two […]