Subscriber products moved to State Affairs-WisPolitics

As of July 17, 2025, all WisPolitics subscriber products have moved to the State Affairs-WisPolitics platform. Archived subscriber products from before this date are available below or search here.  

If you are an existing Silver, Gold or Platinum subscriber, you can log on to the State Affairs-WisPolitics site using the email address to which your WisPolitics subscriber emails are sent, no password required. If you would like to subscribe, reach out to schmies@wispolitics.com. 

Subscribers unable to access the archives below can contact schmies@wispolitics.com to request access.

Source: Dem Bakken opts against guv bid

Dem Mark Bakken, a Madison businessman who co-founded Nordic Consulting and then left to launch the venture capital firm HealthX Ventures, has decided against a bid for guv, according to a source with knowledge of his decision. Bakken’s name surfaced

Read More »

Circus World makes case for being managed by state

Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm says today’s a much different time than 2013, when lawmakers rejected a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to bring the Circus World Museum under state management and give it a more certain financial footing. First there’s

Read More »

Evers ‘pleased’ with Walker’s DPI budget proposal

State Superintendent Tony Evers said today he’s pleased with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to add $649 million toward K-12, though he’d like some changes in the budget. That includes Walker’s proposal to allow permanent licenses for teachers and administrators

Read More »

Cross says he supports audit on UW campus foundations

UW System President Ray Cross told the Joint Finance Committee today he supports an audit lawmakers approved today reviewing UW System campuses and their respective private foundations. The Legislative Audit Committee today approved the audit, along with a separate one

Read More »

School leaders ask JFC to keep Walker’s proposed K-12 funding boost

Public school leaders today praised Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed K-12 funding increase and asked Joint Finance Committee members to support it. They spoke on the UW-Platteville campus at JFC’s first public hearing, where lawmakers also heard concerns over funding for senior programs, transportation funding, Walker’s self-insurance proposal and his effort

Read More »

School district officials: Open enrollment breeds competition

In the nearly two decades since open enrollment began, districts with higher student populations like Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay are among the those that have lost the most dollars as students transfer to other schools, an analysis from WisPolitics.com shows. The other districts most negatively impacted by open enrollment

Read More »

Source: Dem Bakken opts against guv bid

Dem Mark Bakken, a Madison businessman who co-founded Nordic Consulting and then left to launch the venture capital firm HealthX Ventures, has decided against a bid for guv, according to a source with knowledge of his decision. Bakken’s name surfaced earlier this year as a potential candidate. But he joins

Read More »

FRI AM Update: JFC completes agency briefings; weekly radio addresses

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers Advertisement The Madison Club From WisPolitics.com … — The Joint Finance Committee’s agency briefings wrapped up last night. The last item on the agenda was Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed elimination of the Labor and Industry Review Commission, an independent agency that reviews worker disputes. LIRC Chair

Read More »

Senate committee approves proposal on federal balanced budget amendment

A Senate committee today on a 3-2 party-line vote OK’d resolutions requesting a constitutional convention on a balanced budget amendment. The GOP members of the Committee on Financial Services, Constitution and Federalism also tweaked a bill that would govern how a Wisconsin delegation would operate for the proposed convention. One

Read More »

Whitnall school board sends letter to community on Holtz’s email use

The Whitnall school board in a letter to district families last night said it has contacted the Milwaukee County District Attorney about former superintendent Lowell Holtz’s possible “misuse of district resources.” But Holtz’s state superintendent campaign accused the district of hypocrisy and “using district resources to a political end.” The

Read More »

Super PAC supporting Nicholson raises $2 million from Uihlein

Solutions for Wisconsin, the super PAC supporting Nicholson, announced today Illinois businessman and GOP mega donor Dick Uihlein has ponied up $2 million for the group in an effort to get the former Marine into the race. The group released a statement with Uihlein saying he wanted to avoid “a

Read More »

Circus World makes case for being managed by state

Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm says today’s a much different time than 2013, when lawmakers rejected a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to bring the Circus World Museum under state management and give it a more certain financial footing. First there’s the announcement this year that Ringling Bros. would shut down

Read More »

Evers ‘pleased’ with Walker’s DPI budget proposal

State Superintendent Tony Evers said today he’s pleased with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to add $649 million toward K-12, though he’d like some changes in the budget. That includes Walker’s proposal to allow permanent licenses for teachers and administrators by eliminating their expiration dates. Evers told the Joint Finance

Read More »

Cross says he supports audit on UW campus foundations

UW System President Ray Cross told the Joint Finance Committee today he supports an audit lawmakers approved today reviewing UW System campuses and their respective private foundations. The Legislative Audit Committee today approved the audit, along with a separate one of State Fair Park. The audit follows a UW System

Read More »

Tech colleges want lawmakers to scrap Walker’s tuition freeze

Wisconsin Technical College System President Morna Foy today asked JFC members to scrap Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed tuition freeze from the budget. The provision — one of several proposed changes Foy raised concerns over — would freeze tuition for in-state students for the next two years. Walker’s budget also would

Read More »