state-news - The Daily Cardinal

The Joint Finance Committee finalized the two-month late 2017-’19 budget Wednesday with the passage of transportation funding, taxes and wrap-up motions.

STATE NEWS

Budget-writing committee finalizes two-month late budget

By Lilly Price | Sep. 6, 2017

The state’s budget writing committee wrapped up their work Wednesday, completing the budget two months late and adding in multiple provisions affecting the UW System. In the last motion of the budget, the state’s Joint Finance Committee threw in non-fiscal items proposed in Walker’s budget pitch which had previously been removed. Those provisions included a policy to track and report how many hours UW System professors teach in a classroom.

STATE NEWS

Foxconn incentive bill passes out of budget-writing committee, on to Senate

By Lilly Price | Sep. 5, 2017

Legislation to secure Wisconsin's multi-billion dollar investment in bringing a technology giant to the state is moving swiftly through the state Legislature after the state’s budget writing committee passed the incentive package Tuesday on a party-line vote. Lawmakers hope to pass two massive pieces of legislation by the end of the week.

Students and activists will gather inside the Capitol rotunda to protest gun violence.

STATE NEWS

UW-Madison campus to receive millions in funding to maintain buildings

By Lilly Price | Aug. 28, 2017

The state’s budget-writing committee unanimously voted Monday to approve a proposal that would give UW-Madison $60 million to repair and maintain buildings on campus. The bipartisan 16-0 vote by the Joint Finance Committee grants $1 billion for building projects throughout the state, $60 million of that portion going toward the UW System.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was one of five senators to push for a further repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

STATE NEWS

GOP Wisconsin senator becomes key player in health care repeal process

By Lilly Price | Aug. 14, 2017

Repealing and replacing the federal healthcare program Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is the marquee political issue this summer. One of Wisconsin’s U.S. senators, Ron Johnson, became a key player in the repeal process, which has stalled for now in the Senate.

CAMPUS NEWS

After “Wisconn Valley” announcement, some leery of potential broken promise

By Maggie Chandler | Jul. 28, 2017

Since the announcement Wednesday that Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, will invest $10 billion to build a plant in southeastern Wisconsin, some have expressed concerns over the high price tag and the company’s track record on following through with agreements.

STATE NEWS

Bill to end agreement between UW, Planned Parenthood received committee hearing

By Sammy Gibbons | Jul. 18, 2017

State lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a bill which would bar UW medical students from receiving training on how to perform an abortion, a move which critics say could threaten the accreditation of some programs. The bill, sponsored by state Rep.

Infighting between top Republican leaders has caused the state’s two-year budget to miss its June 30 deadline.

STATE NEWS

State budget misses deadline, stalled over transportation

By Lilly Price | Jul. 1, 2017

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature will not pass the state’s two-year budget on time due to disputes between leaders in the Assembly and Senate over how to fund road and highway projects. The state’s current budget ran out on June 30, a date that arrived without a consensus between the two chambers.

Assembly Session, Right to work, Budget 2015

STATE NEWS

State representatives attempt to curb teen dating violence with bipartisan bill

By Noah Habenstreit | Jun. 23, 2017

Teen dating violence is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as “physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship.”

STATE NEWS

Campus Free Speech Act could be implemented in the fall semester

By Lilly Price | Jun. 12, 2017

First-year and transfer students may receive First Amendment training during a new freshman orientation that would explain the university’s free expression policies, as part of a bill gaining traction in the state’s Legislature.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said Saturday he might run for Wisconsin governor, after considering the success likeminded Sen. Bernie Sanders had in last year’s presidential primary.

STATE NEWS

Mayor Paul Soglin considers challenging Walker for governor’s post

By Gina Heeb | Jun. 3, 2017

Breaking away from past reluctance toward a run for Wisconsin governor, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin has announced he might challenge Gov.

The Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee passed a motion rejecting Gov. Scott Walker's proposed 5 percent tuition cut for UW System schools and continuing the tuition freeze.

STATE NEWS

Committee members vote to continue tuition freeze

By Sammy Gibbons | May. 25, 2017

Lawmakers passed a motion to continue the UW System tuition freeze, rejecting a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker that would slash tuition by 5 percent, electing instead to use those funds for other pieces of the 2017-’19 biennial budget.

CAMPUS NEWS

?JFC holds off vote on UW System tuition cut

By Maggie Chandler | May. 23, 2017

The state’s Joint Finance Committee decided Tuesday to postpone a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget for the UW System, with Republicans in a disagreement over tuition rates.

UW System President Ray Cross praised the GOP proposal to create a new merit-based scholarship for Wisconsin students in a press conference Tuesday.

STATE NEWS

Merit Scholarship would create 'largest scholarship in state history' for students who attend UW

By Lilly Price | May. 9, 2017

To avoid losing Wisconsin’s top students to other top universities, state lawmakers and agency officials presented a bill Tuesday establishing “the largest scholarship in state history” for UW schools. The scholarship, referred to as the Wisconsin Merit Scholarship, would grant $5,000 per student based off metrics such as test scores and GPA.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who received an undergraduate degree in journalism from UW-Madison, took a trip to Vilas Hall to speak with Cardinal staff about national and local issues affecting Wisconsin.

STATE NEWS

Full transcript of U.S. Congressman Mark Pocan’s interview with The Daily Cardinal

May. 8, 2017

In April, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., sat down for with The Daily Cardinal an hour-long interview to discuss issues surrounding the university, Wisconsin and the nation as a whole.

All five Wisconsin Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted for a bill that would repeal and replace large sections of the Affordable Care Act.

STATE NEWS

Wisconsin House members vote down party lines on controversial health care bill

By Noah Habenstreit | May. 6, 2017

U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Glenn Grothman, Sean Duffy and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., all voted for the American Health Care Act.

STATE NEWS

Madison state representative’s bill would attempt to curb ‘stealth’ sexual assault

By Noah Habenstreit | May. 4, 2017

Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, introduced a bill Thursday to curb non-consensual condom removal, better known as “stealthing.”

STATE NEWS

Republican state lawmakers introduce another UW ‘free speech’ bill

By Noah Habenstreit | May. 3, 2017

Just one week after state Republicans introduced a bill to harshly punish students who protest and disrupt speeches or presentations, lawmakers have launched separate and potentially harsher “free speech” legislation.

Tim Burns, a partner at Perkins Coie LLP and a longtime Democratic donor, will run for state supreme court.

STATE NEWS

Madison lawyer will run for Wisconsin Supreme Court

By Noah Habenstreit | May. 2, 2017

A Madison lawyer and longtime Democratic donor announced Monday he will run to take a conservative justice’s seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The state Legislature passed nine bills regarding opioid treatment Tuesday. Gov. Walker said he will sign them into law.

STATE NEWS

Nine bills designed to combat opioid abuse pass state Legislature

By Noah Habenstreit | May. 2, 2017

Both houses of the Wisconsin state Legislature passed nine bills that target the state’s opioid epidemic Tuesday, and Gov. Scott Walker said he will sign the bills into law.

While home on congressional recess, U.S. Congressman Mark Pocan stopped by Vilas Hall for an interview with The Daily Cardinal to discuss national and state politics before his town hall later that day.

STATE NEWS

Highlights of U.S. Congressman Mark Pocan’s interview with The Daily Cardinal

By Lilly Price | May. 1, 2017

In April, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., sat down for with The Daily Cardinal an hour-long interview to discuss issues surrounding the university, Wisconsin and the nation as a whole.

State News