The retention policy requirement in a Republican-backed education proposal is a "non-starter" and opposed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The literacy bill, Right to Read, would provide $50 million to train Wisconsin teachers on new methods of reading. Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, said the focus would be on phonics and the science of reading.

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The Institute for Reforming Government says its analysis of IRS data shows most of the people who left Wisconsin went to states with either flat, or no income taxes at all. “We found that 92,000 people, in the latest numbers from back in 2021, left the state,” IRG Vice President Chris Reeder told The Center Square. “When you look at where they left, they went largely to states that had a better tax climate.”

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Wisconsin’s members of Congress are pretty much exactly where you’d expect them to be on the debt ceiling proposal on Capitol Hill. Republicans support the agreement, while Democrats have concerns. Western Wisconsin Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden said on Twitter that the deal handles the nation’s debt without risking default or draconian cuts.

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The state of Wisconsin could soon be expected to return as much as $447 million in federal funds to the government as part of the debt ceiling agreement brokered by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Gov. Tony Evers told reporters his administration is now planning for the possibility of returning the untapped funds, which were originally part of the windfall the state received from the federal pandemic funds that were issued to states that helped them recover from the impact of COVID-19.

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Two of Green Bay’s state lawmakers are asking for millions of dollars to welcome the NFL Draft to town. The NFL on Monday announced that Green Bay will host the 2025 Draft. On Tuesday, state Rep. David Steffen, R-Green Bay, and state Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, submitted a formal request for $2 million to help “offset” the costs.

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Milwaukee’s mayor is predicting bankruptcy within two years, as well as possibly hundreds of layoffs for police officers and firefighters if Wisconsin lawmakers can’t come to terms on a shared revenue deal. Mayor Cavalier Johnson was one of several people to speak at the Senate’s first hearing on the plan to send as much as $500 million to local governments across the state, “Without question, my city’s budgetary situation is dire,” Johnson told senators. “My city is on a path to catastrophic budget cuts.”

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There are complaints, and at least one possible lawsuit brewing about Milwaukee’s new proposed food truck rules. Two aldermen, Jocasta Zamarripa and Johnathon Brostoff, last week proposed a new two-zone approach for food trucks in the city. “This heavy regulation seems to be picking winners and losers. And is set-up in a way that only the connected are able to get it,” Chris Reader, executive vice president with the Institute for Reforming Government, told The Center Square Tuesday. “It literally says that people who have more seniority are going to get the favored spots.”

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Democrats in the Wisconsin Assembly used a routine resolution to honor fallen police officers to try and make a point about gun control. Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay, spoke during the usually perfunctory debate time for the resolution recognizing May 2023 as Law Enforcement Appreciation Month in Wisconsin. “Acts of appreciation, like this joint resolution, are important. But actions speak louder than words,” Andraca said Wednesday. “How can this legislature express appreciation for the men and women in law enforcement when the majority party actively seeks to pass laws that put their lives in more danger than they already are?”

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The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says six months of negotiations over the plan to send more money to local governments is enough. Speaker Robin Vos on Wednesday said the latest version of their shared revenue proposal is pretty much a take-it-or-leave it proposal. “We are done negotiating,” Vos told reporters Wednesday. “We are not going to make changes. We are not going to change the bill substantially. What we have before us is the deal that we are going to send to our colleagues in the State Senate, and hopefully Gov. Evers agrees this historic investment is worth signing.”

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There is zero early support on the Milwaukee County Board to spend taxpayer funds on the hundreds of millions of dollars of improvements at the Brewers’ ballpark. The county’s Committee on Intergovernmental Relations on Monday unanimously voted for a resolution opposing the use of any local tax dollars to pay for upgrades at American Family Field.

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