The price tag for the University of Wisconsin is set to go up next year. UWE President Jay Rothman on Thursday said regents will vote next week on a plan to raise tuition for Wisconsin students by 3.75%. The proposed tuition increase means in-state students in Wisconsin will pay $11,604 at UW-Madison, $10,398 at UW-Milwaukee and between $8,200 and $9,800 for the state’s other, smaller campuses. The proposed tuition increase also comes after a 5% tuition increase at the beginning of the current school year.

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Gov. Tony Evers signed more than two dozen new laws, including bans on child sex dolls and child porn created by artificial intelligence. One of the new laws creates the new crime of possession of virtual child pornography. Prosecutors say the law is needed because even AI generated images feed into child pornography and often the pictures or videos are created based on real images. Another new law bans the sale, possession, manufacture or advertisement of child sex dolls.

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Republicans’ advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives will be only 217-213 after April 19, following Friday’s decision by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher to resign. The resignation means no more than one Republican can cross the aisle on party-line votes. Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District representative, just 31 when he first won his seat in November 2016, had already said he would not seek a fifth term this election cycle. 

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The former Milwaukee election manager who sent three fake military ballots to a state lawmaker back in 2022 is claiming to be a whistleblower, but the lawmaker who got those ballots isn’t sure. Kimberly Zapata’s trial began this week. She’s the former Milwaukee Election Commission supervisor charged with official misconduct after she mailed three military ballots to state Rep. Janel Brandtjen ahead of the 2022 election. Zapata’s lawyers said she is “political whistleblower” who simply wanted to ensure a “fair and secure” election.

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The latest opposition to Milwaukee Public Schools’ proposed quarter-billion-dollar tax hike is a calculator. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Tuesday launched its property tax calculator to let people in Milwaukee know just how much more they will pay if the $252 million tax increase passes in April. MPS says it needs the money to avoid deep cuts to school programs. But WILL's Kyle Koenen said Milwaukee Public Schools have seen record amounts of money, mostly from the federal government, over the past few years.

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The Green Party’s Jill Stein says she’s not going to be a spoiler in November. Stein, who has not yet been formally nominated by the Green Party, was a guest on UpFront on Milwaukee television over the weekend. She said Democrats have abandoned their voters, and those voters are looking for somewhere else to go.

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The effort to unseat Wisconsin’s assembly speaker is now in the hands of the state’s Elections Commission. The group that is looking to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Monday submitted 10,700 signatures. Wisconsin law requires it has at least 6,850 valid signatures to move ahead. Those trying to oust Wisconsin’s assembly speaker say they are on board with an investigation into possible fraud in their recall effort.

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Wisconsin’s governor is promising to veto a proposal that would keep girls sports in Wisconsin for biological girls only. The Wisconsin Senate approved the plan Tuesday. The legislation would ban anyone born a male from competing in girls sports in middle school, high school or college in Wisconsin.

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Wisconsin’s push to help children in the state’s schools read better took its next step forward Monday. The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee approved four new reading programs for the state’s public schools. JFC co-chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said more than 60% of Wisconsin fourth-graders currently cannot read or write at grade level. Born said changing the way Wisconsin teachers teach reading is the obvious first step.

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The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says he’s not afraid of this fall’s election. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber he’s actually looking forward to running under the new legislative maps the Gov. Tony Evers drew. Evers’s maps pit dozens of incumbent Republican lawmakers against each other, many in new districts.

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