Governor Evers signed a new state budget into law early Thursday morning.

For more on Wisconsin’s new spending plan and the negotiations that made it happen, @fayeparks.bsky.social sat down with @jrrosswrites.bsky.social.

www.wortfm.org/wispolitics-...

The Trump bill is unusual in two ways;
*Unlike prior tax cuts, which tended to throw the poor a bone or hold them harmless, this bill makes them materially worse off
*It connects safety net reductions with tax cuts. There was a time politicians did not dare to do so. No more.

Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

Isn't it ironic ... that opinion writers are being forced to write about personal liberties?

How many federal workers would DOGE need to fire to make up for Musk not paying his fair share of taxes?

Answer: 677,000. That's 44% of the entire non-DoD federal workforce.

Again, this power grab is not about the budget. It’s about politics.

Look Familiar?
1: Keep your winning coalition as small as possible
2: Keep your nominal electorate as large as possible
3: Control the flow of revenue
4: Pay your key supporters just enough to keep them loyal
5: Don't take money out of your supporters' pockets to make the people's lives better

My favorite “feature” of Madison’s Bus: everyone says “thank you” when they get off at their stop. If you ride the bus you hear “thank you” for a public institution dozens of times a day. Compare that with a person who never rides the bus and simply sees a line item for a service they never use.

I've already been hearing from NIH and NSF grantees that this is impacting work and research that is years in planning and execution. The chaos is the point.

When I was a Hill staffer in 2009, a Dem trifecta was trying to pass universal healthcare. In response, Senate GOP released a memo detailing all of the tactics they in the minority could use to delay the effort as much as possible. I'm recirculating that 2009 GOP memo here. Take inspiration from it.

We prove our trustworthiness by demonstrating capability, motivation, and opportunity and that we stand ready to be relied upon. We cannot control others reliance or belief, but we can control and demonstrate our competency, motivation, and opportunity.

Over half of Wisconsin lives in a child care desert. It's clear that the private market is not fully solving this problem. We need way more public support and effective regulation.

Shower Thought: As an elected official endorsed by the local Democratic Party, the biggest problem we need to solve is eroding trust in government institutions. Anyone know how to do that?