Wisconsin

Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn, who served as former Gov. Scott Walker’s chief legal counsel and helped draft the state's landmark Act 10 law, said Thursday he will not participate in pending litigation seeking to overturn several components in the law.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday on whether a law that legislators adopted more than a decade before the Civil War bans abortion and can still be enforced.

Abortion rights advocates stand an excellent chance of prevailing, given that liberal justices control the court and one of them remarked on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights. Monday's arguments are little more than a formality ahead of a ruling, which is expected to take weeks.

From the Article:

Customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service will pay more for electricity in 2025 and 2026, after the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Thursday approved rate increases for both utilities.

The utilities, both owned by WEC Energy Group, applied for the rate hikes in April, citing a need to ramp up forestry efforts to ensure reliability and costs from construction of renewable energy and natural gas facilities.

We Energies’ request sparked backlash that led to customers protesting the proposed rate hike in downtown Milwaukee last month. The utility had already hiked rates in 2023 and 2024.

At Thursday’s meeting, commission chair Summer Strand said the commission sought to balance the need for safe, reliable and environmentally responsible utility service with affordability.

“My approach to these rate cases is measured and seeks to maintain stability and balance through a fair, gradualist approach,” she said. “Rate shock and major changes in any direction do have significant impacts on all parties.”

Strand also said she was “disappointed” that WEC Energy Group partially attributed the need for a rate increase to “disadvantaged communities struggling to pay their bills” and the company’s partnership with labor unions.

From the Article:

More than 1.5 million Wisconsinites have already cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election. Wisconsin’s top elections official says the state is poised to set a new record for early in-person absentee voting.

All told, more than 41 percent of all active, registered voters in Wisconsin have already cast absentee ballots, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Of those, nearly 950,000 were in-person absentee ballots, which were cast in clerks offices or early voting sites.

During a Monday briefing, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said there have been nearly 645,000 mail-in absentee ballots requested by voters for the presidential election.

“To kind of contrast that, in 2020, the volume of by-mail absentee ballots set records,” Wolfe said. “This year, it appears there’s a record number of in-person absentee ballots that were cast.”

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, absentee voting exploded during Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election. That year, WEC data shows nearly 1.9 million ballots were returned. Of that total, there were just 644,843 people who cast early, in-person absentee ballots.

From the Article:

Milwaukee could see expanded service to Chicago after the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) received $72.8 million in federal funding that will be funneled toward boosting freight rail capacity.

The funding will go to the Muskego Yard bypass project, which will upgrade and reconfigure routes to create less traffic between commuter and freight trains. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) announced the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation this week.

When completed, WisDOT said it will give the railway the ability to increase service to eight daily round trips between Milwaukee and Chicago. Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service currently runs seven daily trips between the cities.

"Along with the completion of the Milwaukee Airport Rail Station project in 2026, WisDOT will be able to implement eight daily round trips between Milwaukee and Chicago, allowing more customers to use this high-demand corridor," WisDOT said in a statement provided to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Upgrading the railway and creating a two-track mainline would allow freight trains to bypass the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. This would minimize passenger delays and free up track capacity, a news release says.

Additionally, funding would go toward replacing or rehabilitating approximately five bridges along the Milwaukee-to-Chicago route.

“In many ways, the future of rail in Wisconsin hinges on a successful Muskego Yard bypass project,” WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman said in the release. “We’re thrilled to receive this pivotal funding that will significantly reshape our rail infrastructure plans in the coming years.”

Funding will come from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, which invests in railway projects around the country.

From the Article:

As part of the America Amplified project, WPR is among dozens of public radio stations reaching out directly to voters and answering their questions.

Some voters had questions about how elections are run in Wisconsin and what measures are in place to ensure election security.

The following answers are compiled from sources including the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Wisconsin laws and interviews with current and former Wisconsin clerks.

From the Article:

For a year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has operated without a leader at the helm, and some former agency heads say Gov. Tony Evers may be waiting to see whether the election changes prospects for state Senate confirmation of his next appointee.

It’s the longest the agency has been without a DNR secretary in more than two decades, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. Former DNR Secretary George Meyer said he can’t recall any significant gap in the office in more than 50 years.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Meyer said.

Meyer was the last secretary appointed by the Natural Resources Board before former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and the Legislature stripped the board of that power in 1995. Meyer served as DNR secretary from 1993 until 2002, and Thompson reappointed him to the position in 1998.

Meyer said the year-long vacancy is at the heart of a political battle between the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled Senate, which has rejected 21 Evers’ appointees. They include eight appointees fired last fall, as well as Evers’ appointee to the Public Service Commission in January.

“Hopefully, something will break after the election if the governor feels he needs a different legislature to work with,” Meyer said.

From the Article:

Three of the state’s major utilities are planning to spend almost $2 billion on five renewable energy projects as part of their plans to cut carbon emissions and shift to clean energy.

We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric filed plans with the Public Service Commission to acquire and build facilities that would cost around $1.9 billion combined. The five projects are expected to power about 250,000 homes. They include 500 megawatts of solar, around 180 megawatts of wind and 100 megawatts of battery storage. The wind and solar facilities are being built by developers Invenergy and Qcells USA. They include the Dawn Harvest Solar Energy Center in Rock County, Saratoga Solar Energy Center in Wood County, Ursa Solar Park in Columbia County, Badger Hollow Wind Farm in Iowa and Grant counties and the Whitetail Wind Farm in Grant County.

“As we close our older, less efficient fossil fuel plants, we’re replacing that with clean energy, and these projects are going to be an important part of doing that,” We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said.

We Energies would own 80 percent of the projects. WPS and MGE would each own 10 percent.

We Energies and WPS, which are owned by WEC Energy Group, plan to invest nearly $8 billion in renewable energy, natural gas projects and storage in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee-based company said it’s part of a larger plan to save customers more than $2 billion over the next two decades.

From the Article:

The Wisconsin Vehicle Inspection Program (WIVIP) announced on Monday, Sept. 30 a new vehicle emission testing program. It features kiosks which motorists can use to conduct the testing themselves.

A news release says the two self-service kiosks have been installed at the new test-only facilities located at 8718 W. Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee and 9300 S. 27th Street in Oak Creek. Vehicles with a model year of 2007 and newer will be able to test at the WIVIP Self-Service Kiosks.

Officials said the launch of self-service kiosks is part of a larger initiative from the Wisconsin Vehicle Inspection Program to expand emission testing services throughout the seven-county southeast Wisconsin region.

From the Article:

Kwik Trip plans to start the rollout of the first of its 24 planned electric vehicle charging stations, with the initial two slated to open in October.

The first two are under construction in the Wisconsin communities of Ashland and Salem, with two others planned later in 2024. The majority of the stations will be built in 2025, according to Ben Leibl, public relations specialist for the convenience store chain.

The state of Wisconsin previously allocated $23.3 million in funds it received under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program to offset the costs of installing 53 electric vehicle charging stations in the state.

Those stations are expected to cost $33.8 million in aggregate. The remaining $10.5 million is to come from private financing.

La Crosse-based Kwik Trip will open 24 of the 53 EV charging stations planned for Wisconsin, the most of any single entity among the hotels, restaurants and fuel retailers that are part of the project.

The Kwik Trip program will provide direct current fast chargers (DCFCs) for customers. It will include connectors for both Combined Charging System (CCS) and North American Charging Standard (NACS), "allowing drivers of almost any electric vehicle to charge at a safe, clean and staffed 24/7 location," Kwik Trip said in a Monday news release.

According to the retailer, the chargers will offer a minimum of 150kW of power per dispenser when four vehicles are plugged in, or up to 400kW of power for a single vehicle.

"These rates depend on a variety of factors when the vehicle pulls up, but Kwik Trip is excited to be able to offer some of the fastest chargers in the market, furthering their commitment to quality guest service," the company said.

Customers will also be able to view charger availability, pricing and where chargers are through a standalone mobile application.

From the Article:

A complaint filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission says a town in Rusk County is breaking the law by refusing to make voting machines available to voters with disabilities. Despite a warning from the U.S. Department of Justice, the town allegedly conducted the August primary election using only hand-counted, paper ballots.

The complaint filed by Disability Rights Wisconsin says the Town of Thornapple violated the federal Help America Vote Act by not making electronic voting machines available to people with disabilities during the April and August primaries. “By ceasing to use electronic voting equipment and, instead, exclusively using paper ballots completed and tabulated by hand, Respondents are no longer using voting systems that are accessible for individuals with disabilities in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters,” the complaint said.

Disability Rights Wisconsin is asking the Wisconsin Elections Commission to order Thornapple to make accessible voting machines. DRW Director of Legal and Advocacy Services Kit Kerschensteiner told WPR the goal is to ensure all town residents are able to cast private ballots in the November presidential election. She said voting machines were used without issue in Thornapple before April.

“This is not the situation of a machine that just isn’t functioning that day at the polling place,” Kerschensteiner said. “This is a place that has chosen specifically, knowing that they were disenfranchising individuals with disabilities, and choosing to go ahead and do that, which we find to be unacceptable.”

From the Article:

Two Wisconsinites have died and a third has been hospitalized because of West Nile virus, according to state health officials.

On Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported the state’s first three cases of the mosquito-borne illness this year.

West Nile virus is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and cannot be passed from person to person. The state sees an average of 18 cases annually, with cases usually peaking in August or September.

DHS epidemiologist Rebecca Osborn said on a call with reporters that Wisconsin has seen cases of West Nile virus every year since it was discovered in the state in 2002. She said the location of cases each year is “quite sporadic.”

“It’s an unpredictable disease at times,” Osborn said. “We can have as few as one or two cases in a given year, and we can have as many as 52 cases, I think was our record. So there’s this sort of ebb and flow.”

Osborn told reporters around 80 percent of people who are infected with the virus don’t have symptoms. People who do become ill typically develop a fever and experience symptoms similar to influenza, like headache and body aches.

From the Article:

Two Waukesha County municipalities have decided to prevent residents from using absentee ballot drop boxes in the upcoming presidential election. The decision comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court last month reversed a near-total ban of the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state.

The Brookfield Common Council last week voted against allowing residents to use the city’s utility payment drop box outside of City Hall for absentee ballots. Last month, New Berlin took a similar step.

Brookfield Alder Mike Hallquist, who voted against the ban, said the decision from the council was a disappointment. “Essentially what we did as a community is we rolled back a voting method that makes voting more accessible in our community, that we previously had without issue,” Hallquist said.

Absentee voting and the use of ballot drop boxes became a more popular option for voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2021, the Wisconsin Elections Commission found there were 570 drop boxes being used in 66 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

But the use of the boxes has also become a highly politicized issue in recent years. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority made them illegal in 2022. The election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 gave the court a liberal majority. In July, the court’s four liberal justices reversed the earlier decision.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in the majority opinion that the ruling “does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes.”

After that decision, the Wisconsin Elections Commission issued suggested guidance for municipal clerks for their ballot box use, which said the boxes should be affixed to the ground and should be in a well-lit area.

“Ideally, unstaffed 24-hour drop boxes should be located in areas with good lighting and be monitored by video surveillance cameras,” the guidance said. “When this is not feasible, positioning the box close to a nearby camera is a good option.”

The guidance adds that “chain of custody” forms should be completed every time ballots are collected.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/15783542

From the Article:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is spearheading an effort to help more workers in the upper Midwest gain skills for green jobs that support manufacturing.

UW-Milwaukee will assist nine community colleges in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois to establish Industrial Training Assessment Centers — places where workers can develop energy assessment skills. Those skills can then be used to help manufacturers reduce energy consumption and cut carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Energy Department selected UW-Milwaukee to lead one of its Clean Energy and Manufacturing Workforce Consortia, with the goal of helping companies be more competitive while addressing climate change. The university received a $5.7 million federal grant to assist in the effort, the college announced this week.

From the Article:

Less than a month after buying roughly 170 acres in Racine County, Microsoft has acquired even more land for its $3.3 billion data center campus.

Microsoft purchased 70.9 acres of mostly vacant land in Mount Pleasant for $12.75 million, according to Wisconsin Department of Revenue online records.

The sale was recorded Tuesday. Like the 173 acres purchased last month, the land acquired in August is located along Louis Sorenson Road. It’s near the main data center development site, according to a project overview. The company also bought 32.1 acres on the road back in May.