Author: Scott Bauer

Tony Earl, a Democrat who served one term as Wisconsin’s governor in the 1980s and later bemoaned the increasing partisanship in politics, has died. He was 86. Earl, a champion of gay rights and a staunch environmentalist, died on February 23 “peacefully surrounded by family,” his daughter Julia Earl said in a statement. Earl had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke earlier this week. “A formidable leader and public servant, trusted colleague and mentor, and a good and loyal friend, Tony was well-liked and respected by so many “A formidable leader and public servant, trusted colleague and mentor, and...

A liberal Milwaukee judge and a conservative former state Supreme Court justice won the primary on February 21 to face off in a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race that will determine majority control with major issues looming. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and ex-Justice Dan Kelly were the top two vote-getters in a four-candidate field and advance to the April 4 general election. Conservatives currently hold a 4-3 majority on the court and have controlled the court for 15 years. But an open seat this year gives liberals a chance to take the majority with issues like abortion...

A Wisconsin judge recently considered whether to make clear that local election officials can accept absentee ballots missing parts of a witnesses address, the latest legal fight in the battleground state where Republicans oppose the acceptance of partial addresses. The case was brought by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin last fall, weeks before the midterm election. The crux of the lawsuit, and another similar pending case, rests with how much of a witness address needs to be present in order for an absentee ballot to count. Wisconsin law says if the witness address is missing, the ballot...

Governor Tony Evers recently proposed that counties and more than two dozen large cities in Wisconsin be allowed to ask voters to raise the sales tax to pay for local services such as police and fire protection and road repairs. He first unveiled a proposal to change how local governments are funded in his State of the State speech last month. Evers, a Democrat, wants to fund local governments with 20% of the state sales tax, or 1 cent of the 5-cent sales tax charged per dollar spent. That amounts to about $576 million in the first year, with...

A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled on February 2 that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest in 2020 can proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers and others. The father of Anthony Huber, one of two men shot and killed by Rittenhouse, filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing officers of allowing for a dangerous situation that violated his son’s constitutional rights and resulted in his death. Anthony Huber’s father, John Huber, also alleged that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, conspired with law...