state-news - The Daily Cardinal

GOP legislators circulated a bill Tuesday that would prohibit fetal tissue research from for-profit entities and abortion clinics.

STATE NEWS

Republican legislators reintroduce ban on fetal tissue research

By Sarah Schoenfeldt | Feb. 9, 2017

State Republican lawmakers reintroduced a bill this week that would ban the sale, circulation and research of fetal tissue, which could affect ongoing research at UW-Madison starting in 2018. The bill would allow the attorney general to prosecute the sale of fetal tissues in Wisconsin, which is currently not allowed, forbid fetal tissue research from a for-profit entity, abortion clinic or entity that exists to collect fetal tissue to sell. If signed into law, those who violate the ban would face a $50,000 fine and potentially nine months in prison.

Gov. Scott Walker gave his biennial budget address to a Joint Session of state Legislature Wednesday at the state Capitol, emphasized how his administration is “working and winning for Wisconsin."

STATE NEWS

Walker’s budget looks to restore previous education cuts, strengthen K-12

By Lilly Price | Feb. 8, 2017

After weeks of releasing bits and piece of his executive budget while traveling throughout Wisconsin, Gov.

Gov. Scott Walker announced part of his state budget proposal Tuesday, which includes a 5 percent tuition cut for all in-state UW System undergrads.

STATE NEWS

Walker proposes 5 percent tuition cut, $42.5M more in performance-based funding for UW

By Peter Coutu | Feb. 7, 2017

Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget proposal includes a 5 percent tuition cut for all in-state undergraduates in the UW System and $42.5 million more in funding that is tied to performance. The tuition cut would take place during the 2018-’19 academic school year, while the in-state tuition freeze continues for the first year of the new biennial budget.

Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, is one of the sponsors of two bills that would move the state closer to legalizing medical marijuana.

STATE NEWS

Democratic legislators introduce medical marijuana bills

By Andy Goldstein | Feb. 6, 2017

Democratic lawmakers seized the opportunity to move toward the legalization of medical marijuana in Wisconsin after a prominent state Republican expressed openness to the legislation.

Gov. Scott Walker proposed allocating over half a billion dollars to K-12 education, and said education is the state’s No. 1 priority.

STATE NEWS

Walker proposes a $649 million increase in funding for K-12 schools

By Lilly Price | Feb. 5, 2017

Three days before his official budget address, Gov. Scott Walker boasted Sunday that his 2017-’19 budget will invest more money into K-12 education than any other budget in Wisconsin history.

STATE NEWS

Bills aimed to tighten up drunk driving penalties receive support from alcohol lobby

By Madeline Schachte | Feb. 5, 2017

Republican legislators recently reintroduced three bills to enforce harsher penalties for repeat drunk driving offenders, among others to make Wisconsin’s roads safer. The bills, introduced by Rep.

A crowd of over 1,000 protesters listened to speakers in Jefferson Park before picketing outside Speaker Paul Ryan’s office in downtown Janesville.

STATE NEWS

More than 1,000 converge on Janesville, picket Paul Ryan’s office

By Noah Habenstreit | Feb. 4, 2017

JANESVILLE, Wis.—In a demonstration that Janesville police said dwarfed any they’d seen, residents of south-central Wisconsin and beyond marched to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s constituent office Saturday to protest his stance on President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. About 1,000 people—most residents from the area but some coming from as far as Chicago and Eau Claire—convened at 12 p.m.

STATE NEWS

Sen. Tammy Baldwin says she will not vote for Gorsuch for Supreme Court justice

By Lilly Price | Feb. 2, 2017

Keeping in line with some of her party’s colleagues, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Thursday that she will vote against President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, conservative Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch. Baldwin issued a statement Tuesday, the day of Gorsuch’s appointment, saying she would “fully review” Gorsuch’s record and was “deeply troubled” about his rulings on disabled students, against workers and against women’s reproductive healthcare.

Republican lawmakers will vote behind closed doors Thursday on hiring two law firms that will represent them in redistricting battle that is expected to reach the Supreme Court.

STATE NEWS

GOP legislators hire law firms to represent them in redistricting appeal

By Sam Schulz | Feb. 2, 2017

Behind closed doors, Republican legislators plan to vote Thursday to hire two law firms that will aid the state government’s appeal to a recent federal ruling that said current GOP-drawn legislative districts are unconstitutional.

STATE NEWS

President Trump nominates Judge Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court

By Sarah Schoenfeldt | Feb. 1, 2017

President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court Tuesday.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (right) has voted “yes” to all Trump’s appointees so far, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin (left) has voted “no” on Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State and Mike Pompeo for CIA director.

STATE NEWS

Track the voting records of Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin on Trump's cabinet picks

By Lilly Price | Feb. 1, 2017

As President Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments move forward through the confirmation process and into his official cabinet, stay up-to-date on how Wisconsin’s senators, Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Ron Johnson, vote on the appointees with The Daily Cardinal’s vote tracker.

Gov. Scott Walker pledged $20 million more to less populated school districts and $10.4 million for transportation costs in rural schools Wednesday as part of his K-12 public funding plan.

STATE NEWS

Walker releases specific details of his K-12 funding proposal

By Meghan Kuemmel | Feb. 1, 2017

Gov. Scott Walker announced Wednesday specific details of a plan that offers more financial support to Wisconsin’s rural public schools as part of his biennial budget proposal.

STATE NEWS

School board conditionally approves private school’s transition to public charter

By Meredith Nesbitt | Jan. 31, 2017

Amid a national discussion of voucher programs and change in education secretary, the Madison School Board voted Monday to allow the Isthmus Montessori Academy to transition from a private to public charter institution starting in the fall of 2018, following a few required changes.

STATE NEWS

Acting Attorney General fired for not defending Trump’s immigrant ban

By Claire Grummon | Jan. 31, 2017

President Donald Trump was quick to dismiss former President Barack Obama-appointed Attorney General Sally Yates Monday after she refused to defend his recent executive order temporarily banning all refugees and indefinitely banning Syrian refugees in court.

President Donald Trump’s immigration ban is aimed to protect the United States, but some are worried it will have the opposite effect.

STATE NEWS

UW foreign policy expert warns immigration ban could hurt national security

By Andy Goldstein | Jan. 31, 2017

Dozens of protesters gathered outside a federal courthouse in Milwaukee Saturday to protest President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on travel and immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. Many of the more than 100 protesters are Iranian-born faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin system, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Trump’s executive order, which intends to “suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and nonimmigrants,” persons from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, spurred major protests at airports around the country. “The ban is counter to longstanding U.S.

Wisconsin’s Attorney General, Brad Schimel, appealed an earlier court ruling to the Supreme Court Friday that said state Assembly districts were unconstitutional and suppressed Democratic votes.

STATE NEWS

Attorney general rolls out sexual assault kit tracking initiative

By Noah Habenstreit | Jan. 30, 2017

Alongside the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Schimel’s office rolled out the “By Your Side” campaign, an initiative designed to help sexual assault survivors track the progress of their cases.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., is a cosponsor of legislation that would prohibit federal dollars from being used to implement Trump’s immigration ban.

STATE NEWS

Wisconsin congressional Democrats denounce Trump’s immigration ban

By Noah Habenstreit | Jan. 30, 2017

While some Republicans continue to remain silent on the issue, all four of Wisconsin’s Democratic members of Congress say they disagree with President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration ban.

STATE NEWS

Report: Department of Transportation miscalculated cost of projects by billions

By Ningyuan Ma | Jan. 26, 2017

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation underestimated the cost of completed and ongoing highway projects due to failure from officials to account for inflation and other unexpected cost increases, according to an audit report released Thursday.

STATE NEWS

Conflict sparks between Mexico and the U.S. over border wall finances

By Claire Grummon | Jan. 26, 2017

Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico, canceled his trip to Washington, D.C., Thursday following President Donald Trump’s executive action to build a wall on the Mexican border and insisting Mexico pay for it.

STATE NEWS

Trump’s freeze on EPA grants and contracts could affect UW-Madison research

By Sam Schulz | Jan. 26, 2017

A recent freeze on contracts and grants awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency could potentially affect millions of research dollars at UW-Madison. The Trump administration instituted the freeze Tuesday, though the EPA has not issued any formal notices to the university about the status of existing or pending grants.

State News