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From the Article:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A constitutional amendment supported by Republicans that attempts to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin won approval Thursday in the state Assembly.

The measure is the latest effort targeting DEI efforts nationwide, but it is a long way from becoming law in Wisconsin. It must also pass the Senate this year and then the full Legislature next session before it would go to a statewide vote to be added to the Wisconsin Constitution.

The Senate is only expected to be in session a couple more days before ending its work for the year in March.

Wisconsin Republicans have been proposing more constitutional amendments because they don’t require a sign off from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. He has vetoed more bills than any other governor in state history, serving as a block on the agenda of Republicans who have strong majorities in the Legislature.

From the Article:

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says it will start sending out new license plate stickers to drivers who own electric and hybrid vehicles due to a new law.

The law passed last year requires all hybrids and EVs to have license plate stickers as a safety precaution for first responders, letting them know when they approach the scene of a crash whether the vehicle is electric or a traditional combustion engine so they can use the appropriate equipment.

The bill proposal introduced last year referenced a report published in 2013 by the National Fire Protection Alliance noted that EV fires are less likely to include explosions than combustion engine vehicle fires, but EV fires may burn more intensely due to the chemicals used in batteries. Hybrids and EVs may also have a higher risk of electric shocks to first responders, according to a 2020 report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Anyone who already owns a hybrid or EV will automatically be sent the stickers in the mail, and they should receive them by June. Anyone who buys a hybrid or EV starting this summer will get the stickers with their new license plates. The DOT says there is no need to contact the DMV to get the stickers.

The DOT says the sticker should be placed in the upper right corner of each standard-sized license plate.

State records show there were nearly 146,000 hybrids and EVs on Wisconsin roads last year.

From the Article:

A Milwaukee County-backed affordable housing project in Whitefish Bay is back on track after it was blocked by a village commission in January. On Tuesday, the Village’s Board of Appeals overturned an architectural review board decision.

Spoerl Development LLC is planning to build a three-story, 17-unit affordable apartment building, called The Hampton, at 4800-4818 N. Santa Monica Blvd. The site is located at the intersection of N. Santa Monica Boulevard and E. Hampton Road, near the border of Whitefish Bay and Shorewood. The intersection is considered one of the gateways to the village.

The project was designed to be in compliance with village zoning, and only needed approval for permitting. It went before the village Architectural Review Commission (ARC) twice, and during the second meeting, in December, the project was denied.

The denial proved controversial, as the Milwaukee County Housing Division had just awarded the project $3.2 million, with authorization from the county Board of Supervisors, to support the creation of affordable housing. “It just so happens that the same day this project went to the ARC that the county announced their grant for us, for an affordable housing development,” the developer Brian Spoerl, told Urban Milwaukee in January.

Expanding affordable housing, with a special attention to housing options in the suburbs, has been a policy priority of the county’s Housing Division under County Executive David Crowley.

According to a “Finding of Facts” produced by the commission, the project was rejected based upon a handful of considerations including concerns about local property values, parking; a subjective notion that one of the walls was “cold” and “not residential feeling”; and that it “still doesn’t feel like Whitefish Bay.”

From the Article:

Concordia University in suburban Milwaukee will likely cut staff in the face of “financial instability” according to a spokesperson for the university.

University President Erik Ankerberg sent an email to students and staff Feb. 13 saying the university’s campuses in Mequon and in Ann Arbor, Michigan must reduce costs to operate sustainably.

“Concordia University is taking these necessary steps to continue to fulfill its mission,” a statement from the university said.

According to the university, property, facilities and equipment on the campus in Michigan will likely be sold. The statement did not detail how many jobs would be cut.

Both universities are a part of the Concordia University System, a nationwide network of colleges and universities that are run independently but are all affiliated with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The two campuses merged in 2013 when Ann Arbor “could not obtain needed cash flow.”

Enrollment has grown on average over the last decade. The suburban Milwaukee campus enrolled 6,274 students during the 2022-23 school year, compared to 1,359 students in Ann Arbor. Since 2013, enrollment at the Michigan campus has more than doubled.

The announcement comes after university staff completed a financial review on Feb. 1. Concordia’s tax forms show the school has run a deficit in five of the last six years, ranging from $2 million to $6.3 million.

Benjamin Brenckle is a senior at Concordia University Wisconsin, studying music education. He said when he first heard the news, he was worried.

“I just kind of get concerned that because we don’t have as many people in the degree that we might lose the program or we might lose our staff,” Brenckle said.

Brenckle said his professors have assured him that the Wisconsin campus will not be hit as hard by cuts as the Michigan location.

The university has ambitious goals for its future. In a synopsis of the 2024-2028 strategic plan, the university aims to build enrollment to 8,500 students and increase donations to the university’s annual fund.

From the Article:

Wong’s Wok, a Chinese chain restaurant with roots in Milwaukee, has shuttered its final location. The closure marks the end of a 45-year run for the family-owned restaurant, which operated as many as 13 locations at its peak.

Since its inception in 1979, Wong’s Wok has operated as a fast food concept with a focus on traditional Cantonese recipes such as egg foo young, sweet-and-sour chicken and lo mein. The takeout-focused restaurant also served several varieties of fried rice, sesame chicken, crab rangoon and more.

The last remaining Wong’s Wok, 3702 S. 27th St., was open as recently as early January, according to online reviews. As of Monday, however, the building has been stripped of its signage. A note posted in the drive-thru window reads: “restaurant closed.”

The restaurant chain, originally founded by Edward Chin, has been passed down through multiple generations. Chin’s daughter, Jennifer Norvik, is the current business owner.

In addition to its brick-and-mortar locations, Wong’s Wok was a regular vendor at Summerfest. The restaurant served fried rice, sesame chicken, crab rangoon and other crowd-favorites throughout the annual festival. Summerfest has not yet announced a full list of vendors for the 2024 event.

The proprietor is now seeking a new tenant for the southside restaurant space. The standalone building shares a parking lot with a strip mall containing a number of businesses including Dollar Tree, an auto parts store and several others. The building is also home to a Chinese Buffet restaurant. A third Chinese restaurant, Panda Express, is located just north of the property.

From the Article:

Go deep into motorcycle culture with Mama Tried, a sprawling show of custom and collectible bikes named for a Merle Haggard song.

The weekend kicks off on Feb. 23 at Fiserv Forum with Flat Out Friday, the “world’s largest indoor flat track race” on a surface coated with Dr Pepper syrup. (It adds traction, like a sticky movie theater floor.)

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the homegrown show, which runs Feb. 24-25 at the Eagles Ballroom.

“People come into town from all over the world to spend the whole week doing motorcycle-related parties and stuff like that,” says co-founder Scott Johnson.

From the Article:

The City of Milwaukee celebrated the start of early voting for the spring election with the opening of a new voting center at the intersection of N. 60th St. and W. Capitol Dr.

The new location at 6001 W. Capitol Dr., replaces the early voting site at the Midtown Center Shopping Complex. City officials decided to move the site in 2023 after an Atlanta-based firm bought the building, tripling cost of the city’s lease and reducing the space offered for the voting site, as Urban Milwaukee reported.

Losing the Midtown site without a replacement would have been a blow to voting access for Milwaukee residents, particularly those living in the predominantly Black neighborhoods that surround the site.

And a blow to turnout in Milwaukee. “This is the busiest early voting center in the Midwest,” said Claire Woodall, director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

The new site is located in two-story building that was originally a bank. It can be accessed by several bus routes, including Route 60, which runs north and south along 60th Street, and the RedLine, which runs east and west along Capitol Drive. The building is also ADA accessible and has parking for approximately 90 vehicles.

“We’re hoping that this site will be more convenient than our previous site,” Woodall said. The city is planning to be in the location at least through 2025.

From the Article:

Last winter, a Milwaukee police officer walked into Axel’s. Shouting over the dive bar’s thumping music, he told underage patrons to leave the bar immediately.

“This is your one chance,” he said, holding up a finger.

A few seconds later, more than three dozen patrons stood up and filed out of the building. The incident, which was captured on video and distributed across multiple social media platforms, was just one of several cases of underage drinking found at the tavern throughout the past several years.

The pattern captured the attention of the Licenses Committee, which on Jan. 23 recommended a 20-day suspension for the East Side tavern, 2859 N. Oakland Ave.

But just minutes before the full Common Council was to vote on the matter Tuesday, area Alderman Jonathan Brostoff recommended the committee change the suspension to a warning letter — the tavern’s fourth in five years — during a special committee meeting.

From the Article:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, voiced skepticism Wednesday about the possibility of the Republican-controlled Legislature passing new legislative maps that Evers proposed.

Evers was asked about Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu floating the possibility earlier in the day of the Senate voting on the Evers maps. The Assembly would also consider passing the Evers maps, said Republican Speaker Robin Vos’ spokesperson Angela Joyce.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Evers told reporters. But when asked if he would sign his maps if the Legislature passed them unchanged, Evers said, “Why not?”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is weighing maps submitted by Evers and others after it ruled in December that the current Republican-drawn maps were unconstitutional.

From the Article:

Senate Republicans are considering adopting legislative maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers with no changes, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told the Wisconsin State Journal Wednesday.

While the maps Evers proposed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court could dramatically reduce — and even reverse — Republicans’ legislative majority, GOP lawmakers have found the governor’s maps to be more favorable for them than the other three Democrat-supported alternatives before the court.

In response, Evers told reporters, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Asked whether he’d sign the proposal into law if his maps remain unchanged, he said, “Why not?”

LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, later told reporters that Senate Republicans will consider Evers’ maps along with other alternatives in a closed discussion Wednesday. Any action to pass the governor’s maps would likely be taken in the next two weeks, LeMahieu said.

From the Article:

As a legal battle over witness addresses on absentee ballots heads towards the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republican lawmakers say they’re hoping to settle the debate over the definition of “address” before the court does.

A bill authored by Wisconsin Reps. Donna Rozar, R-Marshfield; Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa; and Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, would specify that a witness’s address must contain the person’s name, house number, street name, municipality, state and ZIP code.

It would also bar clerks from filling in missing address information regardless if they can identify where that person lives. If a clerk — or anyone other than the voter — corrects the address, they could face fines of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail, under the legislation.

Current law states that a witness must print their name and address on the absentee ballot envelope, known as a witness certificate, but doesn’t spell out what constitutes an address.

Krug said the bill is a response to lawsuits on absentee witness signatures working their way through state courts. The most recent ruling came from Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen, who ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to tell local clerks that absentee ballots with witness addresses missing things like a ZIP code or municipality must be counted and that clerks can correct them if they can confirm where a witness lives.

“This is where the definitions and guidance and ideas should come from, is the Legislature passing them and the governor signing them into law, so the courts don’t have to guess,” Krug said.

The Dane County lawsuit was filed by the League of Women Voters and youth organizing group Rise, Inc. They argued state law is vague on what witness address information needs to be included on ballots and clerks around Wisconsin are using different standards.

A separate federal lawsuit filed in October by a national Democratic law firm argues the state law requiring witness signatures on absentee ballot envelopes violates the federal Voting Rights Act. That case is ongoing.

From the Article:

Gov. Tony Evers signed two bills, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 92 and 2023 Wisconsin Act 93, on Friday that will release long-awaited pay raises to employees of the University of Wisconsin System.

The 4% raises for about 35,000 UW employees were included in the 2023-24 budget that was passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Evers. However, they were held up last year by Republican lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) decided to use the raises as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the UW System over diversity, equity and inclusion issues as well as funding.

The UW System and Republicans came to a deal in December 2023 under which lawmakers agreed to finally release the pay raises and fund some infrastructure projects for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin schools, while the System agreed to freeze DEI hiring and realign some positions.

“All our UW faculty, staff, and workers should be treated with dignity and respect,” Evers said in a statement about signing the raises. “While I’m glad these well-deserved pay increases will finally be in the hands of the UW building trades employees who’ve earned them, these workers never should have had their wages held up for political games in the first place.”

The actions by Republican lawmakers regarding the pay raises also became one of the subjects of a lawsuit filed by Evers in October 2023. In the ongoing lawsuit, Evers argues that the actions by lawmakers constitute “legislative vetoes” that are “unconstitutional and unlawful.”

“Republicans’ obstruction of basic functions of government have harmed tens of thousands of people across our state — folks, that’s wrong,” Evers said in his statement. “Wisconsinites expect government to work for them, not against them, and for elected officials to do their jobs and get things done. I will continue to fight every effort by Republicans in the Legislature to unconstitutionally and unlawfully obstruct our administration from doing the right thing for Wisconsin.”