By Wisconsin Public Radio
Attention dear listeners, we have an announcement: The WPR Politics Podcast is taking a quick winter break!!
Do you remember 2021? That's OK, neither do we! But that just means it's time to take a look back at the year that was in Wisconsin state politics news on another episode of everyone's favorite fake podcast game show!...
The Wisconsin Supreme Court's conservative majority issued a ruling this week laying out how they'll handle the political map-drawing process in the state: basically change things from the existing, GOP-slanted maps as little as possible. And how better to make...
A new bipartisan bill sparked fresh discussion about marijuana policy in Wisconsin this week. It would standardize penalties for marijuana possession across the state, and while it would mellow out restrictions in many areas, some communities that have lax rules...
Our very own Shawn Johnson has been away on a journey for many weeks, but today is the day he returns, and with news of Wisconsin redistricting no less. Just in time for GOP lawmakers' passage of their political maps....
It is just over 12 months until election day 2022 in Wisconsin, and that means it's high time for a podcast breakdown of the major races to keep an eye on over the next year — you've got your governor's...
Deep in the bowels of the Capitol square, shrouded in mystery, you’ll find the LAB. What goes on there, nobody’s quite sure. But for months, day and night, something has been growing, bit by bit, taking on a life of...
No tiny tweets or scrawny stories here! This week we have literally all the information there is on crane hunting, school transfers, election investigations, you name it! Hours and hours of state Capitol news on this special extended cut!
Yeah, it's October 2021, but somehow November 2020 is front-page political news in Wisconsin this week. It's like a wise man once said: "Time is a flat circle. Yes it is, yes it is."
The wheels are turning on Wisconsin's once-a-decade legislative redistricting process and everyone has mapmaking fever — Republicans in the state Legislature, the governor and his fellow Democrats, and eventually probably the courts. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
It has been a refreshing few weeks off for summer vacation, but the seasons are changing it's time to get back to work! That's right, fall is in the air and as the leaves start to drop, so will crisp...
Attention dear listeners, we have an announcement: The WPR Politics Podcast is going on summer vacation!!
We were preparing for this for weeks. Training day and night. Running through all the eventualities. Time to cover Gov. Tony Evers' action on the two-year state budget. Partial vetoes? One big veto? You name it. So what happened? Strap...
The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature has been passing a lot of bills lately that raise the prospect of gubernatorial vetoes. For some of the legislation it seems likely, for others it's harder to tell. We could use our experience as political...
Long week in the Legislature — Joint Finance wrapped up their work on the state budget, Republicans introduced a massive tax cut proposal, and Laurel didn't get much sleep. So how about some terrible parody karaoke to bring it all...
What happens when you run a state like, say, Wisconsin, and all of a sudden you find out that your state has more money coming in than you expected? Like a lot more money? Billions of dollars more money? Well,...
Alright class, settle down. If you'll open your budget papers, today we're talking about state and federal funding for Wisconsin's K-12 schools and the UW System. Now who knows how the ed funding plan from the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature compares...
Another week in Wisconsin's divided state government and it seems like we've seen this one before — Both Democrats and Republicans push big ideas that they know they other side won't buy. But maybe that's part of the point.
It's that time in point in the Wisconsin legislative session where things are humming along — bills are being considered, votes are being taken — pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. But wait just a darn minute, because even run-of-the-mill lawmaking can be...
It's that time in the biennium when the budgetary blocks are being stacked. The governor has made his spending proposal, lawmakers have held public hearings on the issues, and this week the Legislature's budget committee took their first vote. But...
There were plenty of important Wisconsin politics stories this week but they were wandering all over the news pasture like a herd of calves. So it's time to hop in the saddle and rope 'em up. That's right, it's time...
With divided government at the Wisconsin Capitol there's never a shortage of feuding going on, but this week especially, a pile of federal money coming the state's way has Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature's GOP majority jostling over...
After arguments way back in November, the Wisconsin Supreme Court finally issued a ruling this week, deciding that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers overstepped his authority in declaring multiple states of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic without input from the...
What happens when John is out and the list of bills that passed the Legislature is long? Laurel and Shawn talk about all of them, that's what. From administrative rules to "cocktails to go" to the latest on Wisconsin's capital...
This week marks one year since the last episode of the WPR Politics Podcast that we all recorded together in the same room — and what a year it has been. So, in an endeavor of profound self reflection, we...
It's a bit unusual for us to devote an entire episode to a single Wisconsin politician, but lately, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has been in the news — a lot. He's been amplifying refuted claims about election fraud; he's...
With the way the world is moving these days, you could be forgiven for totally forgetting all those Wisconsin election challenges brought by former President Donald Trump and his supporters after his loss in November 2020. But state GOP lawmakers...
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers released his second biennial state budget proposal this week. Chances are if you're a Democrat, you thought his last budget rocked super hard. Two years later, the governor is playing a similar song, but you could...
It's been 10 years this week since former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker introduced sweeping legislation gutting the state's once-strong public-sector unions, leading to giant protests and epic political drama. Whether you remember Act 10 like it was yesterday, or you...
Sometimes state government is orderly; sometimes it's a mix of like ping pong, pin the tail on the donkey, Jenga, Mouse Trap and Twister. And nobody seems to be winning. This week the Legislature's COVID-19 response bill collided with Republicans'...
It's finally (probably) safe to say that the election cycle is now behind us, and for a state politics podcast, that means shifting focus back to the business of governing. So what's dominating things at the state Capitol as a...
There were some relatively normal political things that happened this week. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gave his annual State of the State address. Republicans gave a response. State senators passed a bill. But speech was remote, the response was in...
It's a new year, and a new legislative session here in Wisconsin. And normally we'd probably do a look-ahead, talking about new members being sworn in, new proposals, the upcoming budget process, maybe this week’s COVID-19 legislation. But the events...
Is it early? Is it late? Who knows? It's a patented WPR Politics Podcast step-by-step guide through all of the election lawsuits — state and federal — that were decided in Wisconsin in the last week or so, not to...
Well, last week we kinda failed. We waited all day on Friday to record an episode, but news kept breaking, and breaking, and breaking. So here we are, on a MONDAY, ready to fill you in on all of the...
Just when you thought it was safe to take a stroll outside in the post-election news world — RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE — Oh no! It's a presidential recount! And a new COVID-19 emergency order! And lawsuits! AAAAHHHHH!!!!
This is it. The moment we've been waiting for. It's time to put on your costume and gorge yourself on candy because it's the last episode of the podcast before the November 2020 election and we have a lot to...
With Shawn away for the day, that means it's time to par-tay — election style that is! We'll break out the democracy snacks, pump up the jams and talk about early voting, polling and the presidential campaigns in Wisconsin during...
Wisconsin has lawsuits about COVID-19. And lawsuits about voting. Oh, and there's a presidential election in like two weeks and we're still a swing state.
Over the course of this year, we've found ourselves repeating some variation on the sentiment: "Oh man, 2020! What? There is so much news! This is the craziest week!" But maybe, just maybe, this week is actually the craziest week,...
There is so much news that happened this week — federal election rulings, a new COVID-19 emergency declaration, more presidential campaign visits to Wisconsin than you can shake a stick at and so much more — you can't rely on...
You know that friend, the one who always seems to have some issue going on? Some sort of drama? Well if states were people, it kinda seems like Wisconsin would be that friend this election year. Other states just decide...
The events in Kenosha continued to drive political news this week, with both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden visiting the city that has been rocked by a police shooting, protests, destruction and killings. We were certainly...
This has been a hard week for Wisconsin — Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer; Protesters took to the streets to express outrage; Some set fires and destroyed buildings;...
This was the week of the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee — that wasn't really in Milwaukee. At one point we were expecting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be here. Instead, Donald Trump and Mike Pence were. Wisconsin Democrats...
Well there was some big political news this week about someone making a much discussed selection — but it really doesn't a Wisconsin angle, so instead we've put together our own short list of news stories, and we're going to...
2020 has a way of warping one's perspective of the news. This week there were stories that years or even months ago would have felt unimaginable — a rap superstar filed to be on Wisconsin's presidential ballot; the much-hyped DNC...
This week Gov. Tony Evers issued a statewide mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But the timing of the order also has some political dimensions. There was a swift show of opposition from Republican state lawmakers, who...
In an alternate non-COVID world, the 2020 Olympics were supposed to start this week. But while we won't get to marvel at the pure athletic spectacle of disciplines like handball, sport climbing or artistic swimming, there's plenty of action going...
Using fear in political campaigns is certainly nothing new, but against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic, not to mention a national reckoning over systemic racial inequity, it feels like political fear is front and center in 2020, up and...
