CONTACT: Meredith McGlone, meredith.mcglone@wisc.edu, (757) 477-2114 Faculty and staff have returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Vilas Hall Monday to aid in cleanup while facilities crews assess and repair flood damage there and in the Chemistry Building. Both buildings remain closed to the public following flooding caused by burst pipes. In all, about 30 incidents of flooding occurred in 28 campus buildings from Friday through the weekend, likely caused by very low temperatures last week followed by rapid warming. No new incidents were reported as of Monday morning, suggesting the worst may have passed. About 180 course sections scheduled for Monday

CONTACT:  Jonathan Barry, Executive Secretary (608) 266-8369 MADISON – Today, the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) unanimously approved slightly more than $1.5 million in State Trust Fund Loans to support six community projects in Wisconsin. The BCPL approved the following loans: Town of Remington, Wood County / Purchase plow truck / $135,419.95 Town of Sparta, Monroe County / Purchase dump truck with plow / $53,124.50 City of Tomah, Monroe County / Finance TID #8 small business loan program / $70,000 City of Tomah, Monroe County / Finance TID #8 development incentive / $1,000,000 City of Tomah, Monroe County / Finance

Contact: Ron Boehmer 202-225-2906 Olivarez, staff attorney for the Madison-based Community Immigration Law Center, worked with families after ICE arrested 83 people in Wisconsin last September More than 100 days after Pocan submitted a FOIA request regarding the arrests, ICE officials still refuse to release information WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) today announced Aissa Olivarez, Staff Attorney for the Community Immigration Law Center (CILC) in Madison, as his guest for the State of the Union. Olivarez is the first-ever full-time staff attorney at CILC, a nonprofit resource center which helps low-income immigrants with legal services. Her practice primarily focuses on helping those

For more information, contact: WisDOT Office of Public Affairs 608/266-3581, opa.exec@dot.wi.gov Anyone who doesn’t have an ID needed to vote in the Spring Primary should start the process now Wisconsin driver licenses or IDs are the most common form of proof of identity. Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) encourages voters to check and be sure that they have the proper identification needed to vote in this month’s primary (February 19). The Wisconsin Elections Commission notes other forms of identification are valid for voting purposes, such as military or student ID cards. To see if a card meets

Educators in Eau Claire, Milwaukee, and Oshkosh recognized for work to support student success MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will honor the recipients of the 11th annual Regents’ Diversity Awards on February 8 in Madison at the next Regents meeting. These awards recognize individuals and programs that foster access and success for students who are members of historically underrepresented populations. Each recipient will receive $5,000 to support professional development or continue the program being honored. “The remarkable people and teams we selected for this year’s Regents’ Diversity Awards are making an impact on their

MEDIA CONTACT Mike Browne, Deputy Director mike@OneWisconsinNow.org (608) 444-3483 Sought to Advance Personal Opposition to Equal Rights on the Job as Top Legal Aide to Former Governor Scott Walker MADISON, Wis. — After the revelations he wrote a series of homophobic, anti-LGBTQ articles for a blog he maintained, state Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn is claiming that he would not act on his discriminatory beliefs if elected. One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin pointed to actions Hagedorn took during his four plus years as Scott Walker’s legal counsel, working to stymie rights for the LGBTQ community, as evidence his

Here’s something we just posted on our website that might interest you. It’s about all $1.7 million that corporations gave to political parties and legislative campaign committees in the last election cycle: Corporate Contributions Totaled Nearly $1.7M in 2018 to State Parties, Legislative Campaign Committees And here’s an article from the Wisconsin State Journal today about the $70 million spent in lobbying during this period. It quotes our executive director, Matt Rothschild, saying, “We’re in an ever escalating cycle of grotesque spending by lobbyists in Wisconsin who are throwing around ungodly numbers of dollars to get their way in the

MADISON — In Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn’s first public interview since news broke that he once authored a blog with radical, hateful content, Hagedorn refused to apologize or even walk back statements he made as extreme as likening homosexuality to bestiality. Talking to conservative radio host John Muir, Hagedorn lashed out at those criticizing his posts, rejecting suggestions that if elected, he consider recusing himself from cases where he’s expressed a personal political belief. “It’s unacceptable that it’s been four days and Wisconsin voters still don’t know whether or not Brian Hagedorn still holds these extreme, partisan beliefs,” said Courtney

MADISON – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local affiliates filed a lawsuit today to challenge as unconstitutional legislation enacted by Republican lawmakers and the outgoing Republican governor during the December 2018 lame duck session. Through this lawsuit, working people in Wisconsin are fighting back against the anti-democratic power grab of the outgoing anti-union, anti-worker governor Scott Walker.   “It’s outrageous that anti-worker, anti-union Governor Walker tried to strip away from the incoming pro-worker governor the same powers that Walker himself relied upon to take away the right to unite in unions over the past eight years,” Bisno said. “Politicians don’t