President Joe Biden plans to return to Wisconsin next week to discuss his administration's record on the economy, the White House announced Wednesday.
Biden
Biden will visit the battleground state on Thursday "to highlight how his Investing in America agenda is benefiting communities across Wisconsin and ensuring Americans have a brighter, more prosperous future," according to the White House.
Additional details, including the location of Biden's visit, were not immediately available.
Biden's visit to Wisconsin is his first since he ended his re-election bid in late July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris following the Democratic president's poor debate performance with former President Donald Trump in June.
Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are dramatically ramping their presence in Wisconsin — one of a handful of states that many expect to play a pivotal role in determining the winner of the November presidential election.
Vance was scheduled to hold a campaign event in De Pere on Wednesday, while Trump is slated to be in La Crosse on Thursday. Walz and Minnesota's first lady, Gwen Walz, plan to hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Monday.
Trump and Harris appear locked in a neck-and-neck race in the battleground state, according to a recent Marquette Law School Poll.
If he's incompetent to run for president again, then he's incompetent to be the president now. Enough with the rule of a senile old man. Step down, Sleepy Joe.
For the nearly 60% of Wisconsin's youth who say they've dealt with at least one mental health challenge in the last year, prioritizing academic success and social connections may fall to the wayside without the right supports in place.
Wisconsin families have options, depending on the child's mental health needs, according to Daniel Parker, assistant director of special education with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Paying attention to changes in behavior is always important, as is listening to what their children are saying. But if a child is struggling with grades, connecting to others or regulating their emotions and there's no end in sight, it may be time for parents to start looking into whether an individualized education program, or IEP, is appropriate.
Another sick attempt to cripple our youth with woke assessments and psychobabble. If a kid has a hangnail, the woke jokes want him labeled as disabled and in need of psychiatric care. Well, fuck you. I grew up in an alcoholic household where my parents cared more about their drinking than about their children. Three attempts were made to molest me as a child. I witnessed fights, violence and horror growing up. Yet, I never considered myself a "victim." Victimhood is what the snowflakes want for our children. They are unable to care for their own lives, so they inflict themselves upon innocent children What disgusting swine they are. Pigs looking to make more pigs out of kids just trying to grow up.
MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by opponents of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to expedite a case that would revive their effort to launch a recall election against the Rochester Republican.
The court did not offer any commentary in its decision to deny the recall proponents' request to bypass an appeals court.
Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled last month that signatures collected in the recall effort were obtained under legislative district maps that are now invalid and cannot be used in upcoming elections. His ruling followed a decision by the Wisconsin Elections Commission in June declaring the petitions to have too few valid signatures because a portion were collected beyond the time period allowed under state law.
It was the Racine County-based group's second failed effort.
Vos, who has been speaker for 10 years and represented the southeastern Wisconsin 63rd Assembly District since 2005, is the most effective Republican in the GOP-controlled state Legislature but has faced fierce criticism from members of his own party in recent years over his rejection of calls to decertify the 2020 election, which has been impossible as long as supporters of Trump have called for the idea.
The court's decision means the petitioners, Racine Recall and Matthew Snorek, must take the case to an appeals court if they wish to proceed.
Members of the bipartisan state Elections Commission rejected the group’s first recall effort against Vos in April after commission staff determined the group didn’t gather enough signatures in the correct legislative districts and found petition circulators illegally forged signatures.
The recall efforts are led by a Racine County-area group that has sought to oust Vos over his previous criticism of Republican former President Donald Trump and his refusal to take up legislative efforts to impeach WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe. The group has espoused conspiracy theories and false claims about the 2020 election in Wisconsin.
Trump won Wisconsin by about 23,000 votes in 2016, then lost by about 21,000 votes to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020.
Vos endorsed Trump in March, after previously saying his nomination as the GOP presidential candidate would be a "suicide mission" for Republicans.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a Democratic challenge seeking to oust her.
Democrats are concerned that third-party candidates could draw votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris and help Republican Donald Trump win Wisconsin. The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a deciding factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
The court decided against hearing the challenge brought by David Strange, an employee of the Democratic National Committee, who sought to oust Stein from the ballot. The court did not explain its reasoning.
“We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks,” the court said in its unsigned order.
Strange argued that the Green Party can’t nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin because the party does not have any state officeholders or legislative candidates authorized to nominate presidential electors.
The Green Party and Republicans countered that the party met all of its legal requirements and that Stein should be allowed to remain on the ballot.
Stein praised the decision, saying the Green Party “beat back the DNC's attack.”
“Today justice prevailed,” she said in a statement.
Michael White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, called the complaint a “mark of fear by the Democratic Party” and said the attention generated by it had motivated Stein backers.
“It was an inevitable conclusion because the complaint had no merit to begin with and we knew that,” he said.
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the decision “disappointing” and said the Green Party should not be on the ballot.
Stein last appeared on the Wisconsin ballot 2016, when she won just over 31,000 votes — more than Trump’s winning margin of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year.
Strange had challenged a Wisconsin Elections Commission decision in February to grant the Green Party ballot access. The commission did so because a candidate from the party won more than 1% of the vote in a statewide race in 2022, meeting a requirement under the law. Sheryl McFarland got nearly 1.6% of the vote while finishing last in a four-way race for secretary of state.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify which candidates can appear on the ballot. Democrats are also challenging the placement of independent candidate Cornel West on the ballot. A Republican National Committee employee is challenging independent Shiva Ayyadurai’s candidacy.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court kept Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins off the ballot in 2020 after the elections commission deadlocked on whether he filed proper nominating signatures.
Photo by: Alex Brandon/AP
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks during a rally at Union Park during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Wisconsin Elections Commission met Tuesday to decide ballot access for the November general election, which will decide the nation's next president.
After dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Donald Trump last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. submitted a request to the commission to rescind his nomination papers so he wouldn't appear on the ballot.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission decided to reject Kennedy's request, meaning voters will still be able to check his name on their ballots in November.
The vote was 5-1 to keep Kennedy on the ballot, with only Robert Spindell voting against.
TMJ4's Harm Venhuizen has been covering the meeting and will bring you more details on air and online.
Photo by: Jose Luis Magana/AP
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Libertarian National Convention.
MADISON – Wisconsin men's basketball coach Greg Gard scored his first commitment for the 2026 class Sunday afternoon.
LaTrevion Fenderson, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward from Racine, announced his commitment to the Badgers on X.
Fenderson attends DME Academy at St. John’s Northwestern in Delafield. He played his sophomore and junior years of high school ball at The Prairie School near Racine and his club ball with Wisconsin Playground.
He averaged 21.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists for The Prairie School last season. He was a first-team all-conference selection in the Metro Classic and first-team Division 4 all-state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.
RACINE — Racine residents could soon find themselves reading poetry while riding a city bus.
The Poetry Movement is inviting community members to submit 25-syllable poems about mental health to be considered for publication inside RYDE Racine buses.
Submissions are due Oct. 1, and the poems are expected to be published in January, according to a news release from the nonprofit.
The inaugural contest is intended to create “conversation starters” to help develop “an awareness and consideration of what other people might be struggling with,” while also “highlighting the need for public transit within our community,” according to Nicholas Ravnikar, contest organizer and former Racine writer-in-residence.
In addition to the call for submissions, The Poetry Movement is facilitating writing workshops to help interested participants write and revise their work.
The next workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 12, at NAMI-Racine county, 4701 Washington Ave., Suite 255.
Poems can also be mailed to The Poetry Movement, care of ArtRoot, PO Box 1523, Racine, WI 53401. Submissions by mail should include the poet’s first and last name, contact information and a short biography.
Contest winners will be notified in November. Cash prizes also will be awarded.
That's right. Our government watchdog is pointing out minor miscues in the language rather than alerting us to the crimes that our "representatives" commonly commit in our name. The newspaper is playing Funk & Wagnall's while our republic is attacked. What petty, childish, banal minds are behind that? Elections bring out the worst in us. Go fuck yourself, JSOnline.
The two biggest liars in politics are cumming in their pants as they scream their untruths at us, vying for the chancre to be the biggest swine on the planet. Two untrustworthy pieces of shit looking to further loot the American public with their swindles and scams. The upcoming election is an absolute insult to the voters. Having to choose the lesser of two evils is no choice at all. Fuck the system that continuously lies to us and forces us to deal with lowlifes like Kamala and Donny. They spit in our faces as they fuck us in the ass. Our best hope is that someone chooses the bullet over the ballot. Go to hell, you grifters and toilet bowl scum.
Right, I'm going to entrust my healthcare to the same technology that powers self-driving cars that can't negotiate in emergency situations. The same technology used to fool millions of people with false images and words. The same technology that answers telephone calls with useless diversions and unanswerable questions. When I get AI on the phone, I start steaming because I know that it's just another impediment to obtaining the information that I desire.
Healthcare is in crisis today because of crappy, lying doctors that treat everyone like an object on an assembly line.
CHICAGO — A video played at the Democratic National Convention before former President Bill Clinton's speech took a dig at the unfulfilled promises of the Foxconn deal championed by former President Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump talked a big game about bringing jobs back to America. But it was all talk, like Foxconn," an ironworker narrating the clip says. "Trump talked a massive game about infrastructure. What a joke."
Trump in 2018 famously broke ground at the Mount Pleasant site alongside Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan. A clip of the groundbreaking was included in the Democrats' video that played Wednesday.
At the time, Trump touted the plan for the high-tech campus as "the eighth wonder of the world." A clip of Trump saying the phrase was also included in the DNC video.
Today, Microsoft is building a data center on land that Foxconn had been expected to use for a $10 billion LCD manufacturing plant, PolitiFact reported. Neither the investment nor the jobs fully came to fruition.
In May, President Joe Biden visited Wisconsin to highlight Microsoft's investment in its Mount Pleasant data center, touting it as a "comeback story." "Foxconn turned out to be just that," Biden said during that visit. "A con."
"Infrastructure is just a fancy word for jobs. Not just union workers, but for everyone. Small businesses are booming, communities are starting to thrive again," the ironworker narrator said.
Requiring an ID to vote shouldn't disenfranchise anyone. I need one for doctor appointments, to buy alcohol, cash a check, check in at a hotel, get on a plane, rent an apartment, drive a car. On any given day you can be asked to confirm your identity.
The article also stated that voters (in Ohio) didn't know that the rules had changed. One has an obligation to know certain things, and the rules for voting is one of them.
What does disenfranchise voters is the obnoxious partisan ballot that gets put out for the primaries. If someone wants to vote for a Democrat for office A, a Republican for office B and a Libertarian for office C they should be able to do so.
All the blah-blah-blah from the city "leaders" is worth so much horseshit. They will do absolutely NOTHING about crime because they are criminals themselves. Keep voting for liars, this is what you get.
To recommend a sentence of time served to the judge would be an act of courage and grace. No public purpose is served by incarcerating Kizer any longer.
Diane L. Rosenfeld
Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Chrystul Kizer will be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to reckless homicide in the death of her pimp, Randy Volar. She was 16 when Volar first met her through Backpage.com, a site that has been shut down for the sex trafficking of women and girls. Volar was twice her age. The case is extraordinary for many reasons, including that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that Kizer can use a defense at trial that could excuse her for crimes committed that are a direct result of trafficking.
The ruling signifies a new understanding of the trauma associated with being a victim of sex trafficking, and changes the valence of this case. Instead of seeing Kizer as simply a cold-blooded criminal, it requires that the court take into consideration how her victimization at such a young age led her to the act.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court said, “Unlike many crimes, which occur at discrete points in time, human trafficking can trap victims in a cycle of seemingly inescapable abuse that can continue for months or even years.” Kizer's young life was rife with abuse; she went from being a gifted violin player to an impoverished sophomore in high school who needed money for school supplies.
DA should use discretion to show seriousness of human trafficking
And now she stands to be sentenced. Given the extremely compelling facts of this case, the most just sentence for her is to consider her sentence as time served. The Kenosha County District Attorney, Michael Graveley, can use his prosecutorial discretion to recommend and the judge to sentence her to time served. He has succeeded in securing a guilty plea; recommending time served will show that the State takes seriously the crime of sex trafficking.
“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America,” said Robert Jackson, the Attorney General of the United States in 1940. Prosecutorial discretion is a bedrock value of the American justice system. District Attorney Michael Gravely has the discretion to show some grace to Kizer.
Here's why Kizer’s sentence should be time served. From the time she met Volar when she was 16, she was psychologically imprisoned by him through threats, promises, and sexual exploitation. After his death, she was imprisoned by the State, and has endured six more years of hell and punishment for an act that arguably could have been avoided if police had brought charges against Volar for child sexual exploitation when they could have.
Kenosha authorities knew about sex trafficking ring
The Kenosha Police Department had extensive evidence that Volar was operating a child sex trafficking ring at the time of his death. A 15-year-old girl had called 911 for help after fleeing Volar’s house, and was found wandering the street drugged and half-naked on a February night. Police searched Volar’s house ten days later and seized a mountain of evidence, including videos of clearly underaged girls, home videos of Volar sexually assaulting them, bikini bottoms, underwear, and women’s pajamas.
Moreover, there were videos where Volar instructed the girls on performing sexual acts in preparation for them to be sold into prostitution. Kizer was identified as one of the girls in the videos. Despite all this evidence, the police arrested Volar but he was released the same day and no bail was posted. In fact, no case was entered into the system.
The day of Volar’s death, his bank alerted Kenosha police of suspicious financial activity that triggered an alarm for potential trafficking activity. Volar had around $800,000 in his account that was in cryptocurrency, and transactions involving $1.5 million. Yet as far as the public knows, no investigation of this activity has taken place. Although the evidentiary trail might be cold at this point, the photos, videos, computer evidence and bank transactions may lead to other members of the trafficking ring. Bringing these predators to justice would be a great victory for Wisconsin.
Graveley already has won the case; he has secured a guilty plea. To recommend a sentence of time served to the judge would be an act of courage and grace. No public purpose is served by incarcerating Kizer any longer. She does not pose any threat to society. Instead, the state should offer her resources and support to help her reintegrate into society and recover from this horrific tragedy; one for which she has paid dearly in her short life.
Diane L. Rosenfeld Contributed By Diane L. Rosenfeld
Diane L. Rosenfeld is the director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School and author of the book The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance.
Sex crimes against children are regularly ignored in Wisconsin. I know, I was the victim of one. The only possible explanation is that the "authorities" are riddled with sex crime perpetrators themselves. Otherwise, why protect these predators? Swine run our government. Pigs who get off on seeing babies made into sex objects. The people who "represent" you are pedophiles who enjoy molesting your children.
UNION GROVE — State ethics officials have started assessing fines against a group that has failed to disclose financial information about its campaign to recall Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission said the first fine of $100 will be followed by additional fines, and possibly litigation.
Reports were due July 15 showing who donated to the recall effort and how the group spent its money.
After 30 days, the state begins enforcement actions to achieve compliance.
Recall organizer Matt Snorek said others in the group are responsible for submitting reports to the state and referred questions to Conrad Reynolds, a Republican from Arkansas who traveled to Wisconsin to help run the recall petition drive, which was based in a storefront office in Union Grove.
As of two weeks ago, Snorek said, Reynolds was back in Arkansas and was preparing the finance reports.
“He said he was working on it,” Snorek said. “He’s got all the records.”
Reynolds could not be reached for comment.
The recall group sought to remove Vos from his state legislative seat after the Assembly speaker refused calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election.
The group registered with the state ethics commission in January under the name “Recall Vos,” and again in March under the name “Racine Recall Committee.” Both committees are required to file campaign finance reports with the state.
David Buerger, staff counsel to the ethics commission, said the recall committees will continue to be assessed fines for the next four months, up to $500 total.
The ethics commission then will consider filing a civil lawsuit asking a judge to order the recall group to submit the reports. The dispute could be settled through a negotiated agreement without litigation, Buerger said, but officials would not agree to waive the financial disclosure requirement.
“Our settlements do not allow them to skip out on the reporting,” he said.
Posts
