TOP STORIES

Rising Wisconsin surplus produces little clamor to revisit rebate deal
… Just 16% of Wisconsin’s 132 full-time state lawmakers responded to a survey by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in recent days asking them whether they support returning to the floor to take up a bill that died earlier this year [in Senate, Dems + 3 GOP citing fiscal caution] that would have provided rebates to income taxpayers and funding for schools. … most of the Democrats surveyed did not respond … including Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein. … Eighty percent of Wisconsin residents [in MU Law poll] supported the bill … Of the 21 who responded, 14 were supportive [including Born and Marklein, Doyle, Franklin, Penterman, Sortwell, Spiros, Swearingen, Tranel, Wittke, Cabral-Guevara, Feyen, Testin, Wanggaard – Doyle is the only Dem]. … new projections did not change [Sen. Roys’] position … [Mikkelson said Sen. Nass supports only] “a very large one-time rebate check that would not create a structural deficit.” … [Sen. Kapenga support only returning entire surplus. Reviews Tiffany calls to oppose, Crowley support to sign it. Reviews LFB memo postulating deficit from surplus-return, Hesselbein and Neubauer opposition.] … If nothing is done with it by the end of the year, it will be up to the winners of the Nov. 3 election to determine how the surplus is spent.
* Gov. Evers: “I haven’t heard anything [from legislative leaders] on it, so I’m guessing it’s not going to happen. If it does, you know, God bless us. But I’m not sure the politics are there to make it happen. We gave it a good try, but it just didn’t play out. … I would say that Tom Tiffany didn’t really help a hell of a lot when he convinced a handful of Republicans to vote no. That was kind of stupid for someone that’s running for my office, but that’s his problem, not mine.”
* Kapenga: “It would be one thing if the powers that be could keep their hands out of the cookie jar and get this all back to the people who were overcharged, but they have proven untrustworthy too many times. Sorry, but it isn’t happening.”
* opponent Sen. Hutton on X said Tiffany “didn’t convince anyone to vote no. Those opinions preceded Tiffany weighing in.”
* Tranel also urged “addressing rural energy concerns, including industrial wind and solar projects and the proposed 765 kV transmission line through the Driftless Region.”
* Rep. Phelps pushed alternative, “Assembly Bill 1176, which would reduce property taxes and provide immediate support for special education” by boosting special ed rate top 60% and general school aids by $445 million. By Opoien and Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tiffany proposes barring shared revenue funds for Flock cameras
… “As governor, I will prohibit shared revenue dollars from funding Flock cameras until the [state] task force completes its review and strong protections for personal privacy are in place,” Tiffany said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel. “We need clear protections for personal privacy, strict limits on who can access the data, tough consequences for abuse, and safeguards against foreign adversaries.” … would establish the task force on his first day in office, and include restrictions on the use of shared revenue in his first state budget. … [responds to] Crowley, announc[ing] this week that he was pushing for new limits on Flock cameras in Milwaukee County. … On Aug. 28, USA Today released an investigation into national Flock misuse. The reporting prompted at least 19 police and sheriff’s office employees to be arrested, fired, placed on administrative leave or placed under investigations, according to the investigation.
* Schulman for Crowley: “Wisconsinites can’t trust MAGA Congressman Tom Tiffany to protect us from big tech after he’s voted in Washington to give them massive tax breaks and let them operate with little transparency and accountability.”
* Tiffany campaign accused Democrats of “conflating regulation of AI systems and models with regulation of every piece of equipment that uses AI.” By Beck and Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [see Law And Order] 

Marinette, Peshtigo residents closer to aid after lawmakers release $10M for PFAS
… “The DNR will continue to collaborate with local leaders and communities to ensure we get these funds out the door and to the impacted communities to address their most urgent needs in a timely fashion,” Evers said. While Tyco has been replacing some wells, Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, said some people still need help. … bulk of the $10 million is set to go toward installation of deep wells, private well testing and in-home treatment systems. … [DNR Sec.] Hyun thanked the committee for “fast bipartisan action … The DNR plans to use these funds in line with priorities identified by the community during public input opportunities.” State suit against JCI/Tyco and other companies to recover cleanup costs has been consolidated in multi-district suit in U.S. District Court in South Carolina.
* Marinette Councilor/ Save Our Water’s Oitzinger: “We think that was very fast, and we’re appreciative of everybody that was involved in making it go forward,” complained settlement amount was too low and didn’t require Tyco to help residents with contaminated wells in an expanded area around its facility.
* Peshtigo’s Boyle: “Those folks in the expanded site investigation area definitely needed some additional support and resources, so fortunately … we’ll be able to go to help those people,” pleased the plan includes up to $50,000 for blood serum testing to help people determine whether they face elevated risk of serious health issues linked to the chemicals.
* Wimberger, noted around $500-750K would be spent on contracting with a local liaison to provide the staff and resources to conduct testing and assist homeowners, “We need to work on stopping the introduction of PFAS. Spending some money on helping fill out forms for 500 people (or less), I think the DNR probably has enough staff to handle anybody who’s confused about it.” By Kaeding, WPR

TOPICS

GOVERNOR RACE
– Civic Media: Public education in the spotlight as Tiffany, Crowley vie to lead state

– Daily Cardinal: The Beet dives deep in an exclusive tell-all with Tom Tiffany: Q&A with Tiffany

– Wisconsin Examiner: Ahead of Labor Day, unions back Crowley … Leaders from American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, the Service Employees International Union Wisconsin, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1473 and the Wisconsin Education Association Council announced their organizations’ endorsements of Crowley — acknowledging that even if they don’t agree with the Democratic nominee on every issue, he’s preferable to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany — who as a member of the Legislature voted for Act 10, the controversial law that stripped collective bargaining rights from most public employees. 

CONGRESSIONAL RACES
– Axios: Scoop: NRCC goes all in on coordinated spending … ended July with $92.4 million in the bank, roughly $12 million more than the DCCC. The Supreme Court ruled in June that national party committees can spend unlimited amounts in coordination with their candidates … has reserved some $8.7 million in TV … DCCC hasn’t made any coordinated general-election reservations yet … also experimented with unlimited coordinated spending, but only in a trio of primaries, losing all three. … infuriated some House Democrats who objected to the party using hard dollars to pick sides in Democratic primaries. … 4th Circuit ruled last week that [FCC] erred in allowing national party committees to receive the same discounted television rates as candidates. Republicans have asked the Supreme Court to stay or vacate the ruling before Friday, when the 60-day lowest-unit-rate window begins.

– TMZ: Derrick Van Orden Calls Out Congressional Insider Trading, Defends Trump … came out swinging Wednesday, saying a bunch of members of Congress shamefully use insider trading to make loads of cash, but he says Prez Trump doesn’t cross the line.

STATE GOVERNMENT
See State Affairs reporting on the states at Pluribus

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
– CNBC: Former House Speaker Paul Ryan on fixing the debt crisis, entitlement reform and 2026 midterms … Solamere Capital partner, Teneo vice chairman and former House Speaker, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the growing U.S. debt, solving the debt crisis, welfare reform, 2026 midterm elections, and more. 14:39 video [see Ryan column] 

– Columbus Dispatch: Paul Ryan Hasn’t Given Up on Wonky Conservatism, The former House speaker believes populists are ill-equipped to fix the country’s thorniest problems.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office staffer resigns after missing hearing … [Deputy City Atty.] Sanders resigned in lieu of termination Sept. 1 and it went into effect the next day, according to a court document. Sanders missed an Aug. 26 court appearance in a hearing over a contested 2024 property tax assessment … prompted the attorney for building owner SP Milwaukee Propco 1 to file for default judgment, which could potentially cost the city $500,000. … Judge Timothy Witkowiak granted the motion at the Aug. 26 hearing. … Goyke’s office contested that filing Sept. 1. … “While the City Attorney’s Office takes full responsibility for its failure, these failures do not reach the very high bar needed to impose default judgment as a sanction.” An Oct. 15 court hearing is scheduled in the case. … Sanders did not immediately respond … Mayor Cavalier Johnson described Sanders’ no-show in court as a “preventable setback” that he was disappointed by. … former Assistant City Attorney Kyle Bailey, who previously worked on the same case Sanders resigned over, had missed a deadline in a major lawsuit and resigned in lieu of termination. The city now faces a more than $800,000 default judgment in that case that it is contesting. … It wasn’t until Sanders was traveling out of the country in July that she learned Bailey was not sharing the documents with [SP Milwaukee Propco 1] attorneys. … due to a technology error and her late notice of representation in the case, she missed the Aug. 26 court hearing where the default judgment was ordered, according to Goyke’s filing. … reviewing how his office tracks and manages cases to avoid these problems in the future. “Regardless, the City Attorney’s Office, including former Deputy Sanders, recognize that their representation of the City Assessor’s Office in this action was inadequate,” Goyke’s motion says.

– Ashland Press: Bayfield County reviews $1 million EMS plan, data center moratorium

AGRIBUSINESS
– WPR: Rural WI counties face critical shortage of veterinary care for farm animals, pets

– WPR: ‘Natural’ American cheese? Wisconsin company says it’s made a low-ingredient alternative … [Sargento] debuted its natural American cheese on store shelves last year. … realized there were aspects of American cheese that kept some shoppers buying the processed option. … melted the natural cheese and thoroughly mixed it with an emulsifying salt, causing the proteins to latch on directly to the fat. … [VP] estimates his team made thousands of the sandwiches over the roughly 10 years it took to develop and market the new product, which hit store shelves last year.

CONSUMER PROTECTION
– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why a Milwaukee airport cafe added a 4% employee benefits fee … Rossmann, who runs a popular YouTube channel about consumer rights, found the fee to be deceptive. He believes prices should be listed upfront, without added fees at checkout. After he posted his frustration online, one of his subscribers reached out to Public Investigator to ask if this fee is illegal. … Companies can use service charges for virtually any reason, according to [atty.] Clegg. Nor are they required to prove to the Department of Workforce Development or any other agencies how it actually uses these service charges. … said customers can ask whether they can tip an employee directly instead of paying a service fee. But the business isn’t required to oblige. Your best bet to avoid the fee is to shop somewhere else … “You’re trying to make it sound like we’re doing this for the benefit of our employees, but there is no evidence that money even goes to the employee,” Rossmann said.

CULTURE
– Urban Milwaukee: Outagamie Exec. Nelson book excerpt from The Green And Gold Standard.’ – How Green Bay Avoided Losing the Packers to Milwaukee 

– Milwaukee Courier: Brady Street district bars sold to nearby owner after ‘no play list’ of Black artists causes outrage … Last week, a leaked text message spread on social media that stated DJs could not play music from a list of 40 prominent Black hip-hop artists. The message said this was “coming from ownership” of The Garage … failure to comply would result in a loss of gigs. … After the list went viral, owners of the establishment posted to Instagram blaming an employee for issuing the list, “which was not approved by ownership.” … Given the events in recent days, The Garage and neighboring Hi Hat Lounge, 1701 N. Arlington Place, will be sold to Scott Schaefer, owner of Jack’s American Pub on Brady Street and Milwaukee Brat House on MLK Drive, and his business partner, Daz Towers

EDUCATION
– Urban Milwaukee: Lincoln Elementary School Moves to Pulaski High: MPS Supt. Cassellius, School Board Pres. Zombor, DPI Super Underly, Gov. Evers, Mayor Johnson and others attended first day of school. 

– La Crosse Tribune: Healthcare, increased staff wages priority at UW-La Crosse 

ELECTIONS
– WPR: The Fox Valley’s massive tornado upended a key Assembly race … [AD53 candidate Nichols-D had roof torn off Menasha home] requiring her family to temporarily find a new place to live. … only recently started knocking on doors again. … All three candidates [Nichols, Daniels-R, Dowling-I] said they suspended campaign activities in the aftermath of the tornado, which damaged homes, displaced residents and thrust local communities into emergency management mode. … Dowling … shifted toward helping residents access resources and identifying what she described as “holes in the system.” “Our local governments put all of the resources online,” she said. “A lot of people didn’t have internet. We didn’t have power. We didn’t have a way to charge our phones. It just wasn’t helpful, so I got into physically making flyers and going door to door and checking on my neighbors.” … Dowling sent a text to Nichols to make sure her opponent had living accommodations after seeing the damage to Nichols’ roof on social media. … Daniels said his home in Neenah wasn’t damaged by the storm … got a call from friends who were at work asking him to check on their home. … “I got down to Doty Island and had to park a little ways away from their house,” he said. “You couldn’t drive because all the power lines were down, all the trees were blocking the street.” … All three candidates say they’ve tried to avoid door-knocking in areas that were affected by the storm. 

– Janesville Gazette: SD15 candidate Dean-I hospitalized after finding envelope with ‘white substance’ on property … would not give specific details, but he says he suspects the envelope was left by someone with political motivation. … acknowledged finding a mail envelope he said had a “white substance” in it plus a note inside. He said the envelope was discovered on his rural Town of Center property at around midnight Friday. Running against Sen. Spreitzer-D and Fleming-R

– AP: Immigrant rights group warns of voter purge from federal databases … Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights [repped by UCLA Voting Rights Project] alleges that DHS and the U.S. Justice Department are interfering with fair elections by using inaccurate federal databases in an attempt to buttress allegations of voter fraud. … “Comparing government databases to try and arrive at a list of noncitizen registrants has been shown to result in erroneous data,” the lawsuit said. “Congress has never authorized such activities and in fact has … prohibited invasion of voter privacy through government data matches in this way.” … At least 67 million registrations, primarily from Republican-controlled states, have gone through a beefed-up verification program, or SAVE … In June … [Biden appointed Judge] Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to … SAVE aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from voter rolls. … “It’s not an accident the federal government is trying to interfere with the right to vote. … They believe they can intimidate naturalized U.S. citizens,” said [ex-AG, Dem guv nominee] Becerra … who is acting as a senior adviser to the voting project.
* DHS: “The department accessed publicly available data from states’ voter rolls and cross referenced them with known illegal aliens in our systems. It’s not rocket science; it’s an easy step to secure our elections. DHS is laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens,”

ENERGY
– Wisconsin State Journal: RUSD using solar power at three schools, three more soon … That 25-year project aims to provide energy independence and environmentally friendly financial savings for RUSD. … RUSD used $5.2 million in capital referendum money … received a $1.1 million federal grant and $62,000 from Focus on Energy to help fund the four-school project. … projected to have net savings of $7.55 million at the four schools over the project’s 25-year span.

– Watertown Times: Planning & Zoning Committee reiterates 6-mw Oakland solar farm deadline 

– Pluribus News: New Jersey plugs in to balcony solar trend … as Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill seeks ways to stem rising electricity costs. … new law exempts these smaller panels — known as plug-in, balcony or portable solar — from the need for so-called interconnection agreements … requires landlords, homeowners associations and other similar entities and municipalities to allow the placement and use of portable solar. … prohibits utilities from charging extra fees or requiring notification. 

ENVIRONMENT
– GM Today: EHD outbreak in deer centered in Washington County … epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreak has been confirmed in wild deer … According to the DNR, the number of deer reported in Washington County alone has eclipsed over 500 as of Aug. 30. When included between the other impacted counties in the area, that number can reach over 700. The DNR is continuing to catalog all reports of potentially impacted deer, but sampling is prioritized in regions where the virus has not already been confirmed this summer.

LAW AND ORDER
– Milwaukee Neighborhood News: MPD says Flock restrictions will apply to other license plate reader systems … department also uses Genetec and Axon systems. As of June, MPD had access to: 35 Flock cameras; 39 Genetec cameras; and Axon license plate readers installed in 80 patrol vehicles. … [Review Mayor Johnson’s new rules.] … asked … whether the changes would be written into MPD policies and what the dashboard and audits would include. … mayor’s office referred the questions to MPD, confirming that the police chief has authority over department policy. … [ACLU’s Merkwae said] changes are “a step in the right direction” but that “Flock is still an incredibly invasive technology that has the power to indiscriminately surveil our communities on a mass scale.” … should require a warrant based on probable cause. … independent oversight and written policies for all surveillance technologies used by MPD … “We cannot only accept a solution where police are responsible for policing themselves.” [see Kyte column] 

– Superior Telegram: Douglas County committee, sheriff spar over Flock cameras, After entering into an agreement with Flock Safety in January, the sheriff acknowledges the cameras were present in Douglas County.

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin ICE arrests hit new high this summer, Deportation Data Project shows … ICE detained and arrested more than 250 people in Wisconsin in June alone, a 82% increase compared to the previous month. Immigration arrests slowed but remained elevated in July. … when a team of ICE agents came from Illinois to southeast Wisconsin [June 26-30] for what it called a “targeted operation.” … agents arrested and detained around 20 people each day … arresting people on the streets by boxing in cars and breaking windows, with some pointing guns. … [DHS] claimed that many of those arrested in the June operation had criminal histories, the data shows that only one-fifth of the people arrested in Milwaukee around that time had convictions or pending criminal charges. … 38 people without criminal convictions or pending charges … Of those arrested in Wisconsin deemed by ICE to be “convicted criminals,” more than 90% are not associated with violent crimes … DHS said the data is being “cherry picked” [though DDP used DHS data won in FOIC suit]
* DHS: “ICE does not separate families or deport U.S. citizens. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”
* Forward Latino’s Morin expects arrests across the country to increase in the coming months as ICE hires more agents, “If they were truly taking the worst of the worst, I wouldn’t have so many employers calling us, asking for guidance on what they could do to help individuals that worked for them that were lawfully here.” 

– Wisconsin Watch: UW-Madison police officer disciplined over student interactions, Two students complained to Greek life officials about Officer Diego Lema Hernandez, but the complaint was not forwarded to UWPD, which interviewed no students during its investigation. … Wisconsin Watch first reported in July 2025 on allegations that UWPD Officer Diego Lema Hernandez had initiated late-night texting conversations, asked female students on coffee dates while on duty and relayed confidential police information to help students avoid consequences for underage drinking. … UWPD confirmed he received a letter of reprimand in June 2025 [for informing students of underage drinking enforcement]. Lema Hernandez did not respond to requests for comment. … Other allegations, which are fully redacted from the final report, were not sustained.

REAL ESTATE
– WPR: State gets final OK to sell GEF-2, GEF-3 in downtown Madison … [JFC approval ste] off a 90-day timeframe for [DOA] to close on the sale. … subsidiary of Urban Land Interests will be purchasing the buildings for a total of $12.7 million. In all, the Madison-based developer has proposed building more than 400 residential units and 315 parking stalls at the property just blocks from the state Capitol. … offloaded as part of Gov. Tony Evers’ “Vision 2030” plan

SMALL BUSINESS
– WPR: Fall events planned to support businesses through Blatnik Bridge closure, Marketing fairs, weekly construction updates and customer-tracking data among efforts. Q&A with MNDOT’s Peterson and Huston

TRANSPORTATION
– Urban Milwaukee: Federal Transit Cuts Threaten County Bus System … Congress is considering cutting federal transit funding by between 14% and 20% over the next five years. In the House of Representatives, the Build America 250 Act would reduce federal support for transit by $16.5 billion between 2027 and 2031, according to the American Public Transit Association. In the Senate, a continuing resolution to keep the government funded is proposing a 20% cut in transit funding. … [CD4] represented by U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and including most of Milwaukee County — stands to lose approximately $17.7 million in federal transit funding under the proposal … MCTS does not have any cushion in its budget to absorb federal funding cuts. The system has, for years, been repurposing federal funding intended for infrastructure to operate bus routes. A loss in federal funding is likely to have a direct impact on service levels for MCTS and the paratransit system, Transit Plus.

– Milwaukee Magazine: Financial Instability is Catching up to Milwaukee’s Bus System 

– WPR: 3 WI trucking schools among dozens shuttered as part of immigration crackdown … after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says it reviewed roadside inspection records for drivers who were cited for not meeting English Language Proficiency requirements … say they’ve decertified 111 Entry-Level Driver Training providers — removing them from the federal Training Provider Registry — on an “emergency” basis. … At a news conference in Detroit Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the targeted schools are the “greatest offenders” out of 5,000 schools cited for overly lax English language requirements. … [Duffy’s DOT] has been withholding funding from states that it finds isn’t doing enough to stop undocumented people from getting commercial licenses. … threatened to withhold $160 million from California if that state didn’t cancel thousands of licenses. A lawsuit, filed in response by organizations representing Sikh and other South Asian drivers, is in federal court. … policies are tied to Trump’s overall crackdown on immigration. … “All I’m saying is, if you’re here illegally and you can’t speak the language and you’re not well trained, you don’t deserve to be in a big rig, driving on American roads endangering American citizens,” Duffy said. … But advocacy groups … say these cases smear all immigrants as being uniquely dangerous on the road, and make it harder for immigrants to work stable, middle class jobs. WI Motor Carriers’ Johnson comments. 

– Washington Post: Aptera’s solar-powered vehicle is due to go on sale. I test-drove one. Test-driving a [tear-drop shaped, 2-seat, 3-wheeled, gull-winged doors, SUV-caliber 33 cubic feet of cargo space in its extended rear] car coated in solar panels gave me a preview of a future without gas pumps or charging cables. … technically classified as a motorcycle. … can travel up to 40 miles a day on sunlight alone, on top of a 400-mile battery range [44-KWH]. Plans to enter market at $40K. A 250-mile version for $28,000 is also planned. Built in Shanghai, final assembly in Carlsbad, CA. … Strictly speaking, the odds of Aptera surviving are not good. The company says it has just $16 million in the bank and burns $2 million a month. It’s unclear how many of the nearly 50,000 people who plunked down refundable reservations — $2.1 billion in potential orders — still want a car that’s now four years late. … secret to Aptera’s (potential) success is not just collecting more sunlight. It’s getting rid of more car. … carbon-fiber body weighs about 2,200 pounds … ability to coast after reaching 60 mph, it took roughly two miles to roll to a stop, a lightness you feel at every stoplight. … vehicle collects about 4.2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) over the course of a day. The company expects that to equate to more than 40 miles of range. The company has set 30 miles per day as a more realistic expectation, or around 20 in cloudy cities like Seattle. The worst-case scenario — say, winter in Minneapolis — would still add up to about 3,500 miles of charge annually for nothing … handling, while sporty, wasn’t silky. The carbon-fiber shell transmits road vibration and noise more directly than a standard cabin. … jerky braking or acceleration, and an inexplicably loud HVAC system. Aptera says it plans to fix these before customers take delivery later this year.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
– Wisconsin State Journal: UW-Madison tips don’t go straight to servers. What happens? … sign next to a card reader explains the “T.I.P.S.” system — “Thoughtful Investment in the Potential of Staff” — and indicates that donations go toward recognizing student employees but aren’t paid directly to any individual team member. … donations to the fund go toward student employee recognition, such as food vouchers or employee-of-the-month rewards and are distributed based on recommendations from a student advisory organization. … Union employees aren’t allowed to accept tips because it’s not “operationally feasible,” Union spokesperson Shauna Breneman said, citing difficulties complying with federal law, UW system payroll and accounting requirements. … Cash donations fell by 25%+ [to $77K] in 2025 … But under the new T.I.P.S. credit card system, customers donated $209,000 in just the first six months of this year, Breneman said. … As of Friday, more than a hundred student employees had signed on to a petition with demands … includ[ing] releasing detailed records about the fund, hosting public forums with UW-Madison students and Union workers, and reinstituting communication with student employees about their concerns.

– Stateline: Where have the workers gone? 2 million foreign-born men have left the country, analysis says. … About 720,000 Americans seemingly stopped looking for work between May and June alone, CNBC reported. And Policy Matters Ohio reports that 74,000 fewer people are seeking jobs in the Buckeye State than were this time last year. One reason for the losses: millions of foreign-born men are no longer in the country, according to an analysis that was published on Sunday. Happening amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportations, many were probably forced to leave. … “Over the past two years foreign-born men’s labor force shrank by 1.4 million,” the report on Pachman’s website, Data 4 the People, says. “But in a normal pair of summers it would have grown by about 360,000 — so measured against trend, the swing is 1.8 million. … There’s a narrative that a lot of people believe despite their political party. Call it the labor-displacement effect,” Pachman said in an interview. “It says that if an immigrant takes a job, that is a job that’s being taken from another individual, say a native-born, white American. If that is true, what we should be finding when we look at the public data is that as jobs go away that immigrants were holding, those jobs should be getting filled by native-born men. But we’re not finding that. We’re finding that the participation rate of native-born men is continuing to decline. … If this displacement theory does not hold, then we’re playing with fire with the economy,” Pachman said. “All that is going to do is lead to certain vacancies in the economy for certain types of jobs that were more likely to be done by the foreign-born. If they go unfilled, then all this does is lead to more inflation.” 

COLUMNS
– Bruce Thompson, Urban Milwaukee: How Gerrymandered Are Wisconsin’s Congressional Districts? Graph: Cook Report Classification of Wisconsin Congressional Districts. Statutory excerpts related the legally challenging maps. Review cases before WI Supreme Court. … Oral hearings on each of the two lawsuits have been scheduled for Sept. 16, 2026, in the Supreme Court’s Madison courtroom (at 9 a.m. for Bothfeld and 10:30 a.m. for WECB). In a future column, I plan to look at some of the issues that have been raised by these cases.

– State Superintendent Jill Underly, Capital Times: What Wisconsin students need today to thrive tomorrow … This year, the department is leading the development of statewide literacy and mathematics plans that will represent a shared vision for teaching and learning in these critical areas. … At the same time, the world learners will enter after high school is changing rapidly. Graduates need skills that remain relevant over time as technology and artificial intelligence continue to change the job market. That is why, earlier this year, we introduced the Wisconsin Portrait of a Graduate — a shared vision, shaped by voices across the state, that defines the durable skills every student needs to thrive after high school.

– Viterbo prof. Richard Kyte, Wisconsin State Journal: Flock cameras erode trust in local government … There are as many as 140,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras installed in cities across the U.S. Somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 of those are made by Flock. But nobody seems to know exactly how many there are. … because resistance to ALPR cameras has been intensifying rapidly. … over privacy rights and … little oversight into how the information is accessed and used, little consistency regarding data storage guidelines, and, so far anyway, little accountability for misuse. … 93 cities and counties have moved to end their contracts with Flock in the past 30 days, bringing the total number of rescinded contracts to well over 200 in the past year. … according to the Flock Safety website: 700,000 crimes per year are solved with the help of Flock cameras. … approximately 10% of reported crime … means we are all safer because ALPRs have been widely adopted … [but] most people are deeply suspicious about the rapidly expanding intrusion of AI into their daily lives. … the same reason they oppose data centers … Most people don’t want their every movement recorded and analyzed, even if it will make them demonstrably safer, even if the cameras never make mistakes, even if they are never misused. And I don’t blame them. … their increased use will further depersonalize local government agencies, including law enforcement. And that will erode trust. … greatest challenge facing our society over the next several years is rebuilding trust in our institutions and in one another. … tech companies … agencies and businesses eager to implement the latest new gadgets, just don’t get it. It’s all about relationships. It always has been.

– Svapna Sabnis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Don’t forget history as Wisconsin measles outbreak spreads: Contact state lawmakers and ask them to support strong, science-based vaccine policies. Our children, elderly, and community members are counting on all of us to take measles seriously.

– AEI’s Paul Ryan and Ford Policy’s Les Ford, Wall Street Journal: Americans Are Getting Caught in the Safety Net, The 1996 welfare reform helped move people from dependency to work. We need to do that again. … Thirty years after welfare reform, America can build on its legacy by changing the incentives that trap families in poverty. Or we can abandon the work-first principle and layer unconditional cash onto an already failing system. Our safety net should catch people when they fall. It shouldn’t hold them down or pay them to remain there.

– Dylan Wilder, MacIver Institute: House Democrats embrace socialism: Two House Resolutions put Congressmen on record regarding their stance on socialism. In less than a year, a party which was split on the issue became unanimous.

– Masood Ahktar, Capital Times: Two attacks on America; two very different responses: America has experienced many moments of tragedy, but two dates stand apart: Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021. … Both tested the strength of American democracy. … Republicans and Democrats stood together. … perpetrators of 9/11 were hunted, prosecuted or killed. Those captured were not celebrated as political heroes or pardoned by the president. … Violence cannot be allowed to determine who governs America. … a question America cannot avoid: Do we apply one standard when violence comes from abroad and another when violence comes from within our own country? We should not. … challenge of our generation is not merely to remember Sept. 11 or Jan. 6. It is to make sure that neither ever happens again.

– West Bend Mayor Joel Ongert, GM Today: A countywide approach can save taxpayer dollars