Search Results for: Wisconsin

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled on Tuesday that West Virginia’s ban on transgender girls competing on girls’ sports teams violates a transgender student’s rights under Title IX. The law, which is known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” prohibits individuals who were assigned male at birth from competing on girls’ [...]

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) vetoed SB 233 on Friday, a Senate bill aimed at prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including surgery, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers. Additionally, it proposed revoking the licenses of doctors providing such care and restricting state funds for gender-affirming treatments. Kelly stated that she vetoed the bill because “he [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a plan Thursday to expand background check requirements for gun dealers. The goal of the plan is to close loopholes for gun shows and online sales while simultaneously expanding the definition for firearm dealers required to be licensed. The rules, which fulfill provisions in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer [...]

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers vetoed a bill that requires schools to separate sports based on sex assigned at birth. The bill was seen by Evers and members of the LGBTQ+ community as being targeted against trans student-athletes. It was largely supported by Republican state legislators. In his signed veto message, Evers cited two main legal [...]

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission announced in a memo Friday that the Wisconsin county prosecutors of Chippewa, Florence and Langlade Counties have declined to pursue felony charges for conspiring to evade campaign finance laws against the fundraising committee for former President Donald Trump and Wisconsin state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R) due to “a conflict of interest.” [...]

The American Library Association (ALA) announced on Thursday that censorship demands and book ban attempts in public libraries and schools hit a record high in 2023. The ALA documented 1,247 demands to ban 4,240 different books. This is a 65 percent increase from 2022, when 2,571 books faced censorship demands. In 17 states, book ban [...]

The Missouri Senate voted in favor of legislation Thursday that would make it more challenging to amend the state’s constitution. Essentially, the legislation imposes a higher threshold for ballot initiatives submitted to Missouri voters to succeed in passing constitutional amendments. The legislation, Senate Substitution (SS) No. 4, is a substitute for Senate Joint Resolutions (SJRs) [...]

The US Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear an appeal from a group of attorneys associated with former president Donald Trump, led by Sidney Powell, against sanctions placed upon them for allegedly abusing the Michigan state legal system in their 2020 election fraud lawsuit. The case, Powell v. Whitmer, began in 2020 when Michigan saw [...]

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 94 into law on Monday, remapping legislative districts and remedying some of the most gerrymandered maps in the US. 2023 Wisconsin Act 94 focuses on legislative redistricting and enacts maps that are responsive to the will of the people, avoid partisan bias, and increase the number of [...]

The Wisconsin State Assembly passed a constitutional amendment Thursday to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within state and local governmental entities. Introduced by Republican representatives and cosponsored by select senators, the amendment aims to “prohibit governmental entity discrimination.” Explicitly, the amendment declares: A governmental entity may not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment [...]