Latest news with #HenryRedman
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Evers raises Pride flag over Wisconsin State Capitol
The Progress Pride Flag flies over the Wisconsin Capitol. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) For the seventh time, Gov. Tony Evers ordered the Progress Pride Flag to fly over the Wisconsin State Capitol for LGBTQ Pride Month. This year, Pride Month begins on the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which gave same-sex couples the right to get married in 2015. But Evers' celebration of LGBTQ pride is occuring as the administration of President Donald Trump attacks the rights of transgender people and a recent Gallup poll found that Republican acceptance of same-sex marriage has fallen to its lowest level in nine years. 'When the Pride Flag flies above the People's House, it sends a clear and unequivocal message that Wisconsin recognizes and celebrates LGBTQ Wisconsinites and Americans,' Evers said in a statement. 'Every day, but especially today and this month, we reaffirm our commitment to striving to be a place where every LGBTQ kid, person, and family can be bold in their truth and be safe, treated with dignity and respect, and welcomed without fear of persecution, judgment, or discrimination. I promised long ago that, as governor, I would always fight to protect LGBTQ Wisconsinites with every tool and every power that I have. I will never stop keeping that promise.' In the executive order Evers signed Friday, he notes that the LGBTQ has been under attack in recent years, including in Wisconsin where Republicans have tried more than once to pass legislation attacking transgender children. 'Despite historic victories, in the last several years, there has been a significant increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced in state Legislatures across the country, including in Wisconsin, that have targeted LGBTQ kids and people and increased dangerous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, as well as efforts on a state and national level to erase LGBTQ history and stories.' The Progress Pride Flag flying above the Capitol includes the recognizable LGBTQ rainbow colors and a chevron of additional stripes that represent LGBTQ people of color, the transgender community and people with HIV/AIDS. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Examiner wins 7 Milwaukee Press Club awards
Examiner staff members Baylor Spears, Henry Redman, Erik Gunn, Ruth Conniff and Criminal Justice Fellow Andrew Kennard with Milwaukee Press Club awards on May 9, 2025 | Wisconsin Examiner photo Wisconsin Examiner staff members were recognized for investigative reporting, public service reporting, explanatory reporting, and in several feature-writing categories in the Milwaukee Press Club annual Excellence in Journalism contest for work published in 2024. Henry Redman received the Bronze award for online investigative reporting for a series of stories that uncovered the influence of an out-of-state right-wing pro-development group on land use planning in Oneida County. Editor Ruth Conniff was recognized in the public service reporting category for a special report on human trafficking in Wisconsin agriculture. For the third year in a row, Conniff also received an award for the best online column for a selection of her work. Criminal Justice Project Fellow Andrew Kennard received a bronze award for explanatory reporting online for a story about problems with access to telephone communication for incarcerated people in Wisconsin prisons. Baylor Spears was honored with a bronze award for hard news feature writing for her story on how Democratic Party candidates were campaigning in parts of the state that they have been shut out from in the past by gerrymandering. Deputy Editor Erik Gunn was the recipient of a silver award for feature writing for his story on a project in La Crosse by college students and neighborhood activists to eliminate the use of mulched rubber as a playground surface. Gunn also received a bronze award for personal profile writing for his story on a mother who has campaigned for years to have meningitis vaccines required in Wisconsin after her son died of the illness in college. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Small businesses are the backbone of America — but right now, tariffs are breaking their backs
Main Street in the Wisconsin community of Cambridge. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner) As a former small business owner for 27 years and a longtime board member of the Monroe Street Merchants Association in Madison, I've spent decades working to strengthen the small businesses and Main Streets that make our communities thrive. Today, I'm deeply concerned — because Main Streets across America are under threat like never before. The sweeping tariffs imposed by the current administration are already fueling inflation, disrupting supply chains, and pushing small businesses to the brink. Local retailers, independent producers and small manufacturers — the very backbone of our neighborhoods — are being hit hardest. Carol 'Orange' Schroeder, our board chair at the Monroe Street Merchants Association and owner of Orange Tree Imports, a favorite Madison store, understands this better than most. This year, Orange is celebrating 50 years in business — an incredible milestone. Over the decades, she's helped independent retailers nationwide weather many challenges, including fierce online competition. But as she recently wrote, not even the pandemic has matched the level of economic turmoil small businesses are facing today. The problem is clear and devastating: suppliers can't get the goods they need, vendors are questioning whether they can stay afloat and customers — grappling with rising prices and financial anxiety — are pulling back from shopping locally. Sales reps are going unpaid as orders are canceled, and stores of all sizes are bracing for empty shelves. In short, the social fabric that binds our communities is beginning to fray under the weight of uncertainty. The National Retail Federation recently warned that these tariffs threaten the American dream — and they're right. Small businesses aren't just part of our economy; they're central to our national identity, job creation, innovation and the strength of our local communities. Now more than ever, Congress must step up and act. Policymakers have a critical opportunity to end these harmful tariffs, restore stability, and reassert balance in our trade policies. Just as importantly, Congress must reassert its constitutional authority over the power of the purse — a responsibility that rests with the legislative branch, not the executive alone. The stakes couldn't be clearer. Without immediate action, we face shuttered storefronts, lost jobs and an avoidable recession. According to Gallup, Americans' economic outlook is now worse than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic or the global financial crisis — a sobering indicator of just how fragile the moment is. This is not a partisan issue. It's a matter of economic survival, community resilience and protecting the American dream for generations to come. Congress must act now. Small businesses, workers, and families across the country are counting on bold leadership. It's time to end the tariff chaos, restore stability, and ensure Main Street can keep doing what it does best: creating jobs, driving innovation and strengthening the communities we all call home. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Assembly Corrections Committee questions DOC Sec. Jared Hoy on budget plan
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Madison offices. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner) Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy took questions from lawmakers on the Assembly Corrections Committee Tuesday, explaining the plan for Gov. Tony Evers' about $500 million state budget request. Hoy previously defended the proposal to the Joint Finance Committee prior to which co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) had expressed concerns that the plan lacked detail. About $325 million in Evers' proposal would go to overhaul the state's correctional facilities through a 'domino' plan — starting with work to close Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, which were initially supposed to close in 2021 under 2018 Act 185, and culminating in the closure of the Green Bay Correctional Institution. 'There are a lot of issues with running facilities that are that old,' Hoy said about the Green Bay facility, which was built in 1898. It would cost about $6.3 million for the closure. 'We shouldn't be running prisons in that manner in 2025… We want to do more with our population than what those facilities can afford us to do.' Under the plan, Waupun Correctional Institution would be closed temporarily for renovations, including replacing the existing cells with modern housing for 600 medium-security beds and establishing space for a 'vocational village.' The work on Waupun would cost about $245.3 million and be ready to open in 2031. 'If we are going to keep Waupun open, we are going to completely flip the script. We are going to rewrite the narrative of Waupun,' Hoy said. Hoy said that the idea wouldn't be far from turning the Waupun facility into a 'college campus' where inmates can receive vocational, career and technical education. 'They're living in community together. They're going to school together. They're studying in the evenings together, and it's predicated on robust partnerships with the community so that we have manufacturers out in the community who come in to do the training on site,' Hoy said. Other infrastructure funding would include $130 million to complete construction of a Type 1 youth facility in Dane County, which would be necessary to close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools, $9 million to convert Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake into a 500-bed facility for men, $8.8 million to convert Stanley Correctional Institution to a maximum-security institution and $56 million to expand Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center by 200 beds. Committee Chair Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) asked how DOC considered future budgets and whether there would be increases to the cost. 'It's not the full cost of capital and programming for the future, so there's a cost that is going to be harder to quantify when you build this, and you get it up and running,' Kaufert said. Hoy said that closing Green Bay would actually represent a significant decrease in operating budget and updating Waupun would also lead to some decreases. 'Operating Waupun is quite cost prohibitive because [of] the number of staff that you need to run those aging facilities,' Hoy said. 'Running a smaller facility at Waupun…requires less staffing, as well as shutting down Green Bay, your overall operating budget starts to offset [needing] more staff at Sanger Powers [Correctional Center]' to help with the additional beds. Hoy also addressed some of the policy changes meant to address the growing prison population. Wisconsin's prison population as of February was 23,074 and is expected to grow to 24,000 by the end of the biennium, despite the state only having capacity to house 17,638 people across its correctional facilities. 'About a third of our entire population is nonviolent in our prisons, and so we have existing programs that help people get the treatment, get the support and get them back out the door in a timely manner,' Hoy said. 'One of the main mechanisms we have to do that at our disposal is the earned release program.' Evers' plan would expand access to the state's Earned Release Program to allow an additional 2,500 participants. The plan would expand access to workforce training and substance use treatment for people who have 48 months or less left in their sentences for nonviolent offenses to support this. Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) asked if the state is hitting a 'tipping point' when it comes to its prison population. 'Are we at the point of even thinking about sending people to other jails? Are we thinking about sending people out of state?' Stubbs asked. 'Our incarceration numbers right now… are very high.' Hoys said that would be a 'nuclear' option, given that it would take people away from their families and community. 'I have no intention, no desire to send people out of state,' Hoys said, but added that 'at some point our options are going to run out.' Hoys said DOC is leveraging jail contracts as much as it can and noted that one change that is being sought in the budget is an increase to the daily rate. Right now, he said the rate is capped at $60 a day and he wants that bumped to $80 to match the rate for federal inmates. 'If I'm a sheriff and I'm looking at taking in-state guys versus federal guys or women for that matter, I'm going to choose the federal folks because the price tag [is] better,' Hoy said. 'I want to be able to have that as a resource. Again, I'd like to keep everybody in our facilities as opposed to county jails, but that is a safety valve for us that we currently do utilize.' Kaufert, who was newly elected to his seat in November, noted that during his previous tenure in the state Legislature in the 1990s, lawmakers on the corrections committee toured facilities in other states where Wisconsin inmates were being held. 'I don't want to make that mistake again,' Kaufert said. Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) asked whether DOC would at least consider building a new facility to replace the Green Bay one. He added that he recently spoke to the Brown County sheriff, who said there are hundreds of people at home on ankle bracelets because there just isn't enough space. 'I want to commend the governor for acknowledging that that needs to go away — GBCI,' Franklin said. 'We definitely did look… but to just replace Green Bay [maximum] facility — same size, same number of beds — you're approaching a billion dollars, if not more,' Hoy said, adding that the state also got an estimate of about $800 million for a smaller facility. 'If I was looking across our population right now, and we were packed to the gills with violent offenders… I wouldn't be saying, no, let's not build anything. I'd be saying… we need to make sure our communities are safe and continue to house these people,' Hoy said. 'But when I'm sitting on, you know, a third of 23,000 people that are non-violent… I believe it's not only the right thing to do, but fiscally responsible to give those folks a chance in the community.' Rep. Jerry O'Connor (R-Fond Du Lac) asked how far up DOC is on Evers' priority list. Noting the University of Wisconsin system budget and the public K-12 funding challenges, he said that everyone is seeking funding from the same pot of money. Wisconsin has a $4 billion budget surplus and Evers had suggested raising taxes on the wealthiest Wisconsinites. 'I think we're pretty close to the top, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the secretary of DOC. I mean I think it's one of his biggest priorities,' Hoy said. Kaufert expressed interest in having more committee hearings with DOC about the plan. 'There's so many arms and legs on this that one impacts the other,' Kaufert said, adding that they could break it down to have more time to speak about all the pieces. He noted that if they are spending hundreds of millions and ending up with less beds, they better have 'darn good answers' for taxpayers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rules committee deadlocks on vote to kill election observer rules
Voting booths set up at Madison, Wisconsin's Hawthorne Library on Election Day 2022. (Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner) The Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) deadlocked Thursday on whether to object to a proposed administrative rule that would guide the conduct of election observers at polling places. The 5-5 vote moves the rule one step closer to going into effect because if the committee doesn't take any action, it will be returned to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) to be implemented. Even though the rule was written by WEC with input from an advisory committee that included members of right-wing election conspiracy groups, election skeptics opposed the rule's passage at a number of public hearings. At a hearing on Monday, 2020 election deniers — including former state Rep. Janel Brandtjen — testified in opposition to the rule because they believed it didn't do enough to protect the rights of election observers. Lawmakers on the committee, including its co-chair, Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee), complained that the rule was written without enough input from legislators. Despite that opposition, Rep. Kevin Petersen (R-Waupaca) joined with the committee's four Democrats, Sens. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) and Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Reps. Margaret Arney (D-Wauwatosa) and Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) to vote against the motion objecting to the rule's passage. In Monday's hearing, election commissioner Don Millis said the rule gives the state the best chance to clarify how election observers should conduct themselves while protecting the rights of voters. 'I don't agree with everything in the rule, but I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good,' he said. 'Without this rule, municipal clerks have wide ranging authorities to manage polling places as they see fit. There's no reasonable argument that observers are better off without this rule.' While Thursday's vote is a step toward implementation, the rule is still in the committee until May 11, according to the office of the committee's other co-chair, Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater). The committee could vote on the issue again before then. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
