We continue to highlight that Boss Vos is blocking bi-partisan health care for children and mothers for the first year of the child’s life and is creating a wedge among Republican Legislators. Is this a foot in the door to more legislative independence from the powerful “boss” of the Assembly? We think it is an important fight that must be won or there will be more futility in the upcoming state budget and next legislative session despite new maps. We urge our listeners to call their state representatives immediately, especially Republicans.

We preview the upcoming state budget battle on public education funding by revealing new data finding Wisconsin again has the widest disparity in US between Black and White reading scores following over a decade of state budgets failing to properly fund public schools, including the last state budget that gave away a historic increase to failed voucher schools. We encourage our listeners to sign up for an upcoming Citizen Acton lobby day at the state Capitol on March 4th.

We highlight the mainstream media taking the bait on a fake Susan Crawford scandal hook, line, and sinker, with Wisconsin Public Radio’s awful headline leading the pack of poor coverage. We encourage our listeners to attend our An Evening with Susan Crawford, February 13th, 6pm and hear directly from the candidate.

We review and try to provide context to Trump’s continued chaos this week, including ramping up ICE raids, Trump’s flagrantly illegal order to freeze all in-direct federal social spending causes confusion and pain. We discuss our appreciation for the leadership many state and local leaders have shown standing up to Trump actions during the first couple of weeks, including Wisconsin Democrats proposing legislation to forbid state and local officials from cooperating with mass deportation. The leadership of state and local progressives will be vital to continue making progress on the issues and values we care about as the federal government descends into dysfunction on these critical priorities.