WisPolitics.com

Major #racialdisparities persist between #students of color and white students in English language arts, according to new statewide test results. Results for the 2023-24 school year were released after the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction came under fire this year for implementing new categories for student achievement that critics argue mask poor #performance. The state had used the terms “below basic, basic, proficient and advanced” to describe student performance since 2014-15. Those terms were replaced with “developing, approaching, meeting and advanced.” Due to the change in terminology, this year’s results for #English language arts and math cannot be compared with previous years. National Assessment of Educational Progress (#NAEP), Jill Underly, Ph.D., Governor Tony Evers, Will Flanders, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, John Jagler ?? Read more and share your thoughts: https://lnkd.in/gw-cVBvn

President Joe #Biden in #Wisconsin today will announce the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized federal regulations requiring drinking water ??systems in the U.S. to replace lead service lines within 10 years. He will also announce the #EPA is investing ?? $2.6 billion more into #drinkingwater upgrades and #leadpipe replacements, funded by his #Bipartisan #Infrastructure Law. Of the new funding, 49% must be provided to disadvantaged communities as grant funding or principal forgiveness that does not have to be repaid. EPA is also announcing the availability of $35 million in competitive grant funding for reducing lead in drinking water. The City of Milwaukee, where Biden will make the announcement, is already set to replace lead pipes within the 10-year timeline. So far, lead pipe replacement in the city, funded by a $30 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2024, has cut what had been a 60-year timeline. Similarly, Edgerton, southeast of Madison, has replaced 100% of its known lead pipes after receiving funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gKb2PWXR

Scott Walker is firing back at Liz Cheney for accusing the former #GOP governor of “stunning” comments and saying “basically people are over Jan. 6.” “I think this is just a reflection of now, she’s appealing to an audience in Washington who seems focused on that,” Walker said on WISN-TV’s “#UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “When I talked to #voters around the state, I’ve been all over the state of #Wisconsin the last several years, I even said this two years ago before the midterms, people were concerned on Jan. 6 about what happened. But they’re more concerned right now about filling up their #grocerycart, filling up their #gastank, paying their #mortgage and their #rent along the way. ?? “I’m always amazed when people come from #Washington into Wisconsin and they want to lecture us about what people really care about,” Walker added. “Those are the things people care about.” When asked if he believes people are really over Jan. 6, Walker said, “Yeah, I mean, I think the bottom line is they were concerned that day. They want to make sure that we have strong safeguards going forward. But again, the bottom line is people ask that question over and over again. And I’ll tell you, even with the students we work with at Young America's Foundation, a nationwide poll we did, the number one issue wasn’t any of the things people expected. It was the #economy.” Also on the show: ?? Former Brown County GOP Chair Mark Becker says he’s ? voting for Kamala Harris because “it’s about left versus right, it’s about right versus wrong.” ?? The Wisconsin Department of Justice is now the lead agency investigating City Of Wausau Mayor Doug Diny after he moved the city’s ?? ballot drop box into his office two weekends ago. See more from the show at https://lnkd.in/g8Dh28R8

Dem presidential nominee Kamala Harris for President, 2024 condemned Donald J. Trump For President 2024, Inc. as a threat to #democracy and vowed to be a “president for all #Americans” as she sought to appeal to #GOP voters in the birthplace of the #Republican Party. Harris spoke at a rally Thursday with former GOP U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who has endorsed her campaign. #Cheney is an outspoken Trump critic who led the House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack following the former president’s 2020 loss. “If people across #Wisconsin and our nation are willing to do what Liz is doing, to stand up for the rule of law, democratic ideals and the #Constitution of the United States, then together I know we can chart a new way forward,” Harris said. “Not as members of any one party, but as Americans.” Harris said she has never wavered in upholding her #oathofoffice. “And therein lies the profound difference between Donald Trump and me,” Harris said. “He who violated the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and — make no mistake — he who, if given the chance, would violate it again.” Read more and watch ?? campaign stop at https://lnkd.in/gpZkmRjC

This year's #WisPolitics summit features top pollsters and analysts. ?? KEYNOTE: Ray Block, a senior political scientist at RAND. Block is also the Laurence and Lynn Brown McCourtney Endowed Career Professor at Penn State University’s The McCourtney Institute for Democracy. He is also a professor in Penn State's Political Science and African American Studies departments. Block will join the panel after his keynote. THE PANEL: ?? Pew Research Center's senior associate director of research, Jocelyn Kiley ?? Marquette University Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin ?? Pollster-analyst Ken Goldstein, formerly with University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of San Francisco and the Association of American Universities (AAU) in DC. Price of admission includes lunch. ?? Thank you to sponsors Michael Best Strategies, Spectrum, WCA: Wisconsin Counties Association and AARP Wisconsin. Their support made this event possible. ?? Register for this "can't miss" event today at https://lnkd.in/gkK2cZ5M

?? Kamala Harris for President, 2024 had an edge on Donald J. Trump For President 2024, Inc. in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll, continuing a trend of little movement in the #presidential race. Meanwhile, #Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s lead on #GOP businessman Eric Hovde ticked up slightly compared to a month ago, though the movement was within the margin of error. The latest poll found 52% of likely voters backed #Harris, while 48% favored #Trump. In a multiple candidate race, it was 49-44 for Harris, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr at 3%. Support for the independent, who remains on the #Wisconsin ?? #ballot after dropping out of the race, has dropped in half compared to the last poll, which was released Sept. 11. Poll Director Charles Franklin said Dems have been remarkably unified behind Harris with 99% of them saying in this poll that they backed the vice president after 100% favored her in the last one. Franklin said such unity is rare, and the poll could be overestimating how loyal Dems are to Harris. But the consistency “suggests we should take them seriously,” Meanwhile, 94% of Republicans back Trump. ?? Read much more at https://lnkd.in/gMzErWPH

Donald J. Trump For President 2024, Inc. during a stop in #Milwaukee praised #schoolchoice, said he’ll campaign in #GreenBay soon and downplayed injuries #soldiers suffered in #Iraq while he was in office. Meanwhile, during a Dane County rally earlier Tuesday, he promised to crack down on illegal #immigration and ?? reduce #taxes. He also used his #Waunakee rally to insult Dem rival Kamala Harris for President, 2024 as grossly incompetent and a “bad human being” while labeling her the “tax queen.” During the Milwaukee stop, which wasn’t open to the public, former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson introduced Trump, who said Harris and the “radical left Democrat party” want to “keep #Black and #Hispanic children trapped in family government.” “I believe that school choice is the #civilrights issue of our time,” Trump said. ?? Read MUCH more and watch ?? video at https://lnkd.in/dPkXxd34

#GOP state Rep. Janel Brandtjen has filed a suit that argues #Wisconsin is barred from participating in a multi-state effort created to improve ?? #voter rolls under a constitutional #amendment approved this spring. That amendment states only #electionofficials may perform tasks related to a primary, #election or referendum. Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, argues that prohibits the ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION INFORMATION CENTER INC from aiding the Wisconsin Elections Commission in maintaining the state’s voter rolls. Her suit, filed two weeks ago in Waukesha County Circuit Court, seeks a judgment that Wisconsin’s participation in #ERIC is #unconstitutional under the new amendment, as well as an injunction barring the Elections Commission from transmitting data to the multi-state partnership. She also wants Judge Brad Schimel — the former GOP AG who’s now running for state Supreme Court — to order the Elections Commission to retrieve Wisconsin data from ERIC and any third-party vendors working with the group. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gUVRSn8u

Former #GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says “there’s always room for improvement” for Republicans ahead of ?? #ElectionDay, noting GOP Senate candidates are struggling in key swing states like #Wisconsin. “I’m somebody who holds myself to a high standard,” Ramaswamy said on WISN-TV’s “#UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “I can criticize the other side, but part of this is also holding our side to the highest possible standard. I think we’re doing great. I think I’d like to see many of the #Senate candidates, one of the things that we’re seeing, it’s a hard truth, so I’ll just say it: Donald J. Trump For President 2024, Inc. is over-performing Senate candidates by double digits on the #Republican side. “So I think Donald Trump is doing great,” he added. “What I’d like to see in the next five weeks is a lot of down-ballot #candidates take that level of fortitude and leadership to their own message as well as from #Ohio to Wisconsin to candidates in other states as well. It’s not enough just to put Donald Trump in The White House.” #Ramaswamy was in #Waukesha last week as part of a town hall hosted by the Trump campaign, which in part used a statewide bus tour to encourage Republicans to ?? #voteearly. Also on the show: ?? Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will be in Wisconsin campaigning this week for Vice President Kamala Harris for President, 2024 as the Harris campaign continues its bus tour focused on #abortion rights. ?? Anna Johnson, Washington The Associated Press bureau chief, says the news organization will promote more #transparency on #electionnight, especially in key #swingstates like Wisconsin as it calls key races. ?? Read much more at https://lnkd.in/gK-bEgbC

On this episode of Rewind: Your Week in Review, WDJT CBS 58 Emilee Fannon and WisPolitics.com JR Ross...It’s the beginning of the bus tour campaign season in Wisconsin - both presidential campaigns are flooding the state with surrogates. We have their message to voters. Plus, state election officials spar over how voters can return absentee ballots in November. And, new figures show crime rates are down in Wisconsin. We address why the issue continues to be a key talking point on the campaign trail. -Watch full program: https://lnkd.in/g3R6FZax -More: https://lnkd.in/ggXE-piH