(WISCONSIN) — Donald Trump’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately harmed communities of color. Black Wisconsinites are seven times more likely to die from Coronavirus than white Wisconsinites, and while Black people only make up 7% of Wisconsin’s population, they make up 24% of the COVID-19 deaths. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Vice-Chair Felesia Martin released the following statement calling out Trump’s endangerment of communities of color: “Trump’s failed COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the Black and brown communities across Wisconsin. People of color have disproportionately lost their lives to this virus, experienced unemployment at levels that far

CONTACT: DWD Communications, 608-266-2722 On the Web: dwd.wisconsin.gov/news On Facebook: facebook.com/WIWorkforce On Twitter: @WIWorkforce MADISON – After receiving awaited official guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today encouraged Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients whose ability to work was impacted by COVID-19 to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. Those who are eligible for PUA may be able to receive retroactive benefits to the week ending February 8, 2020, or the first week an individual is out of work due to COVID-19, whichever is later. Wisconsin state law disqualifies SSDI recipients from receiving

July 28, 2020 – Syracuse, NY & Florence, SC) The Green Party’s Hawkins/Walker campaign for president is calling on its supporters to go to polling places to stop voter suppression against Black and immigrant voters. “Voter suppression is essential for the Republicans in the 2020 election,” said Howie Hawkins. “Voter suppression has been used by Republicans since the days of Richard Nixon. One tactic has been to send white people to polling places to intimidate Black voters. We need to combat that and show solidarity with Black, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Muslim voters and let them know we will be there

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Tuesday to their committees’ ranking members, U.S. Sens. Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), to respond to the disinformation campaign propagated by Democrat leaders. Full text of the letter is below, and it can also be viewed here. July 28, 2020 The Honorable Gary C. Peters Ranking Member Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Ron Wyden Ranking Member Committee on Finance U.S.

MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), today announced a recovery of $856,609.39 to the Wisconsin Medicaid program after three providers failed to comply with basic program requirements regarding the prescription and dispensing of blood clotting medicine. “As the recovery of these funds shows, the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit protects taxpayers and the Medicaid program,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Thank you to the members of our team at DOJ whose work contributed to this successful outcome.” “Medicaid is a vital program that many Wisconsinites rely

MILWAUKEE — Rev. Steven Avella, professor of history in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, is the 2020 recipient of the Haggerty Research Award. A full-time member in the Department of History since 1991, Father Avella has effortlessly combined his vocations as an ordained priest and a scholar in his teaching, community outreach and scholarship. He was one of the first historians in the U.S. to integrate social and political contexts into diocesan histories, and his work has helped explain the complicated transformations in the Catholic Church in the decades since World War II. Father Avella is known as

MILWAUKEE _ The Institute for Urban Education will offer a free virtual speaker series Aug. 3-7 as part of its 2020 Professional Development Academy. The institute is a UW System initiative, housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that helps prepare teachers to work in urban schools. The theme of this year’s speaker series is “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Education in the 21st Century. Speakers and times are: August 3, 2:30 – 4 p.m. Gloria Ladson-Billings will deliver the keynote speech, “Educating in a Post-Pandemic World.” Ladson-Billings was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for more than 26 years

After months of treating and researching COVID-19, doctors have learned more about how to help sick patients and what recovery looks like for most people. UW Health chief quality officer and UW School of Medicine and Public Health emergency physician Jeff Pothof shares in this Badger Talks video what we now know about the course of the disease. A few medications have shown promise for treating seriously ill patients in the hospital. They include the anti-viral remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone. These medications have given doctors new options to prevent or mitigate the worst symptoms of COVID-19. At the same

Racine, WI – Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough today endorsed Democrat Roger Polack in the race for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional seat. Polack, a Racine native, a national security expert who served in the Obama administration, and an attorney, announced his candidacy in January. “As President Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff, I am proud to endorse Roger Polack for Congress in Wisconsin’s First District. Roger worked on some of the most pressing national security issues throughout the Obama Administration, including deploying to Afghanistan multiple times as a civilian to stop funding to the Taliban and implementing

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) kicked off the week with a distribution of the following shared revenue and property tax credit payments to counties, municipalities, school districts, technical colleges and special districts. JULY 2020 – SHARED REVENUE AND PROPERTY TAX CREDIT DISTRIBUTIONS First Dollar Credit $149,415,365.19 County-Municipal Aid $105,901,822.28 Utility Aid $10,413,293.76 Expenditure Restraint $59,311,699.61 School Levy Tax Credit $940,000,000.03 Video Service Provider Aid $5,000,000.00 Exempt Computer Aid $98,047,058.69 TOTAL JULY DISTRIBUTION $1,368,089,239.56 Wisconsin has a long history of sharing state revenues with local governments.  State revenue sharing began in 1911 with the enactment of the state income tax

MADISON – On Monday and Tuesday this week, Nada For Wisconsin announced three new labor endorsements: American Federation of Teachers – Wisconsin (AFT Wisconsin), Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI), and Teaching Assistants’ Association – UW Madison (TAA). Madison teachers voted to endorse Nada as the best candidate to fight for public education. “The Committee highlights Ms. Elmikashfi’s education and working-class campaign platform; her commitment to strengthening unions; and her advocacy for increasing teachers salaries,” stated the MTI Endorsement Committee. “Additionally, she highlighted the need to create supportive environments for new teachers and promote equitable outcomes for all students.”  Kim Kohlhaas, president

MADISON – Last night, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) received official guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor allowing Wisconsin workers who also receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) to qualify for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development is encouraging individuals who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and whose work was affected by COVID-19 to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits today. Rep. Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) released the following statement: “This is great news for the many people across Wisconsin who work and receive SSDI, who were previously unable to receive any