The proposal is the first in a series of agreements aimed at making sure customers aren’t on the hook for transmission costs for data center projects, including others in Port Washington and Beaver Dam.
The post American Transmission Co., We Energies ask regulators to approve data center cost agreement appeared first on WPR.
Leaders of Wisconsin nursing schools are optimistic a new emergency rule allowing RNs with bachelor's degrees to teach hands-on courses will help ease a faculty shortage.
The post Qualified nurses with 4-year degrees can now teach college-level clinical courses appeared first on WPR.
Students heading to Stevens Point Area Senior High this fall will have a new option for classes: programming robots by using AI tools.
The post Stevens Point offers new high school classes focused on AI ethics appeared first on WPR.
As far back as 2014, body cameras for Madison police have been debated, but never adopted on a department-wide basis. That could be poised to change following a fatal police shooting on July 22.
The post Madison fought for years about police body cams. Leaders say things have changed. appeared first on WPR.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is asking demonstrators to voluntarily leave an encampment that's sprung up at the site where a Madison police officer shot and killed 38-year-old Corey Ruiz on July 22.
The post Madison mayor: Cars will be towed from encampment at site of police shooting appeared first on WPR.
Laina G. Stebbins
The Michigan Public Service Commission must revisit its order approving the Enbridge Energy Line 5 tunnel project because it did not properly examine environmental harms that might arise from extending the pipeline’s lifespan, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The controversial pipeline runs from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario, with a 4.5-mile segment of dual pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet.
The decision written by Justice Elizabeth Welch was nearly unanimous — Justice Brian Zahra, the lone Republican-nominated justice, issued a dissent. Welch was joined by Chief Justice Megan Cavanagh and Justices Richard Bernstein, Kyra Harris Bolden, Kimberly Thomas and Noah Hood, all nominated or appointed by the Democratic Party.
Welch ultimately determined that the commission needed to assess the potential environmental harms in a new review, and compare those impacts with presented alternatives.
“The PSC must consider the extent to which the replacement project may pollute, impair, or destroy public trust resources,” Welch wrote.
The commission in December 2023 approved the project’s permit application, determining that the tunnel project would be the best available solution to mitigate concerns of an oil spill from the 4.5 mile-segment of dual pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac.
The Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi and several environmental advocacy groups challenged the decision.
They argued the commission failed to consider several alternatives to the Line 5 tunnel project, and that the commission had improperly limited the scope of its review by blocking parties from submitting evidence on the scope of the project’s environmental impacts and detailing whether there is a public need for the petroleum products Line 5 transports.
A Court of Appeals panel upheld the permit. The lawsuit rose to the Michigan Supreme Court, where the justices heard oral arguments in March.
Welch wrote that the commission also inconsistently considered greenhouse emissions from the pipeline as a whole in its harms analysis, and declined to consider other environmental risks — like oil spills — using that same scope.
“The inconsistencies in the PSC’s comparisons did not allow for such a ‘reasoned choice,’” Welch wrote. “The PSC incorrectly compared the environmental effects of alternatives that would fully replace Line 5 with the effects of the Replacement Project alone.”
The commission erred by failing to determine whether the project would pollute, impair, or destroy public trust resources, as well, Welch said.
As for the Court of Appeals’ error, Welch said the panel relied on state agency decision making, more specifically the commission’s Michigan Environmental Protection Act determination. It should have looked at the case without any deference toward the commission’s determination.
Bay Mills Indian Community President Whitney Gravelle said the ruling was “a reminder that when people stand together with courage and conviction, change is possible.”
“For years, Tribal Nations, communities, and thousands of people across the country have raised their voices to protect the Great Lakes,” Gravelle said in a statement. “This decision gives us another opportunity to honor our treaty rights, protect our waters, and consider the generations who will inherit this place.”
Gravelle said the Straits of Mackinac were not simply a route for an oil pipeline “to be abused. They are sacred waters, the heart of creation for Anishinaabe people, and a source of life for millions.”
“Some things are simply too sacred to be buried beneath a tunnel,” Gravelle added. “Our work continues, and we remain committed to protecting the Great Lakes for generations to come.”
Earthjustice and the Native American Rights Fund represented the various Tribes in challenging the permit.
“This ruling is an inspiring victory for Tribes, environmental advocates, and everyday people who’ve joined hands in the fight to stop the dangerous Line 5 tunnel project,” Earthjustice Senior Attorney Adam Ratchenski said in a statement. “The Court’s decision upholds the bedrock principles of Michigan environmental law. Enbridge’s application to build the tunnel now heads back to the Michigan Public Service Commission, where we will be prepared with robust arguments in defense of Tribal rights and the Great Lakes.”
This story was originally produced by Michigan Advance, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
President Donald Trump on July 31, 2026 defended his "anti-weaponization" settlement fund as he sought confirmation of his nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche. In this photo, Trump looks on during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on May 27, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump defended his highly criticized, nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” settlement fund on social media and in a Cabinet meeting Friday, as two key Republican senators withheld support for the president’s nominee for attorney general over Trump’s refusal to formally end the pot of money.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the fund, in exchange for him dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, would not benefit him, but rather “the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration” after they participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On the first day of his second term, Trump commuted the prison sentences of 14 of the attack’s ringleaders and members of the paramilitary groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. The president granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all others charged with crimes after the attack.
“Perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history. They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them,” Trump continued in a 254-word post.
He also attacked Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn and said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche should be “immediately approved” as attorney general.
Cornyn and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, both members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, have refused to advance Blanche’s nomination from committee to the full Senate until Blanche, also Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, formally ends the “anti-weaponization” fund in writing.
Blanche, of Florida, maintains his comments before a House Appropriations subcommittee in June prove the administration ended the fund.
In a late morning statement on X, Tillis said Trump “made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it.”
“While I never disagreed that the Biden Administration pursued a number of vindictive prosecutions related to January 6, the criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of government abuse.’ Anyone who attacked law enforcement should still be in prison, not getting a check from the federal government,” Tillis wrote.
He added he and Cornyn are working with Blanche, whom he described as “forthright, thoughtful and patient,” on ending the fund.
“It’s a shame his confirmation has hit a snag only because an incompetent personal advisor to the President refuses to amend the bogus settlement. I will continue working in good faith to put an end this legal and political albatross and prevent any potential misallocation of taxpayer dollars,” Tillis wrote.
Tillis’ office did not respond to a question about the identity of the adviser the senator mentioned in the statement.
When being questioned by reporters at the Cabinet meeting at Camp David just over an hour later, Trump said Blanche should be confirmed as attorney general “forthwith” and that the fund is “dead.”
“But you know, I wish it weren’t. To be honest with you, I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused. … and I’d like to see them compensated for the pain.”
The White House press office on Friday issued a press release linking to statements and quotes in support of Blanche from dozens of law enforcement associations, former Justice Department officials and Republican lawmakers.
On Thursday, Trump threatened to pull Blanche’s nomination and leave him in an acting capacity until both Cornyn and Tillis leave office at year’s end.
Cornyn’s career in the Senate is ending after he lost in a runoff election in May to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom Trump endorsed.
Tillis announced last year he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened to find primary opponents to challenge the North Carolina Republican after he refused to support Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had scheduled a committee vote on Blanche’s nomination for Thursday morning, but postponed the vote late Wednesday when it was clear Cornyn and Tillis were not yet satisfied.
The Judiciary Committee is split between 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats. All Democrats are expected to oppose Blanche, and a majority vote is required to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
Trump’s settlement with the IRS faced opposition on multiple fronts, including in court.
In a July 13 order, the Florida federal judge in Trump’s IRS case slammed the president’s settlement with his own administration as using the presidency to “manipulate” the courts.
Lawyers for Trump, his two sons and the Trump Organization made public in a federal court filing Friday their plans to appeal a lower court order that bars them “from referring to the purported ‘settlement agreement’ … as evidence of a ‘settlement’ reached in this matter.”
The Justice Department’s announcement of the “anti-weaponization” fund in May immediately drew scrutiny from both sides of the aisle for the possibility that Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers could reap a reward.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. and Frank Bisignano, the Internal Revenue Service’s chief executive officer, a position created by Trump, signed the settlement that Trump negotiated with his own administration officials for himself, his sons and the private Trump Organization.
Like Blanche, Woodward also had ties to Trump’s criminal cases prior to the president’s second term. Woodward represented Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta in the government’s 2023 case regarding classified material found at Mar-a-Lago.
Opposition to the “anti-weaponization” fund among Republicans snarled quick passage of an immigration enforcement package to fund Trump’s mass deportation agenda for the remainder of his term.
The settlement deal also includes immunity for Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization from tax audits and enforcement connected to any tax information leaked by a government contractor in 2019. The contractor was prosecuted and sentenced to jail time in 2024.
Cornyn pressed Blanche on the tax immunity portion of the deal during a July 15 confirmation hearing. Blanche defended the terms as “typical” of settlements with the IRS.
Cornyn wrote on social media Thursday the president is “mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”
Former Department of Justice officials told committee Democrats the IRS settlement language was “mind-boggling,” during a July 22 forum hosted by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
Amelia Twyman contributed to this report.
Wildfire smoke caused unhealthy levels of air pollution across Washington, D.C., in mid-July as fires raged across Ontario, Canada. A new study examining years between 2003 and 2019 found that the primary pollutant affecting pregnancies was wildfire smoke. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
A new study examining pollution levels across a 16-year span found that while general pollution levels from sources such as cars and industry have significantly declined, recent increases in wildfire smoke air pollution have offset those gains and could be contributing to negative outcomes for pregnant women and babies such as low birth weight and preterm births.
Published by Frontiers in Environmental Health, the study included data from about 64.5 million pregnancies between 2003 and 2019, covering more than 2,800 counties in 48 states. Even in regions that are not strongly associated with wildfire, such as the southeast region of the U.S., wildfire pollution rates grew substantially during that time period. The study did not account for any movement between counties or regions during pregnancy, or whether pregnant people used any protection against smoke such as masks, air filters or temporary relocation.
Idaho Gov. Little declares wildfire disaster emergency, authorizes Guard to help along Oregon border
Wildfire pollution is included in the same type of pollution as exhaust from cars or industrial outputs, but the study authors looked at two models of pollutants, one of which removed all fire-related pollution to determine how much of it was correlated with wildfire. Over the study period, about 65% of the days that recorded pollution levels above the National Ambient Air Quality Standard could be attributed to wildfire smoke.
Menglu Liang, leading author of the study and assistant clinical professor of biostatistics at the University of Maryland, said in a news release that efforts to reduce other forms of pollution have not been in vain.
“Those gains have genuinely protected pregnant people and unborn babies, and without them, exposures today would be considerably worse,” Liang said. “What our findings show is that wildfire smoke is offsetting a growing share of these hard-won improvements.”
The study time period does not include some of the most recent, most explosive wildfire seasons in the United States and Canada, such as 2020, 2024 and this year. By mid-July this year, there were more than 800 wildfires burning across Canada, leading to hazardous levels of wildfire smoke across parts of the Midwest and northeast, and in late July, a rash of wildfires across Oregon created hazardous air over much of the northwest.
Recent reports show Oregon is on track to have its worst fire season on record, with nearly 1.8 million acres already burned and at least two months left of the peak season. The previous record was set in 2024, with 1.9 million acres burned.
The study found that some regions were disproportionately affected by the smoke, including in the Northwest, where rates of pollution from wildfire more than doubled over that period. The study noted that the burdens were highest in low-income, rural areas with significant populations of American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and areas with maternity care shortages.
Recent studies have correlated wildfire smoke exposure with an increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and other negative outcomes such as stillbirth and some congenital anomalies. Scientists believe the body’s inflammatory responses to wildfire smoke can be harmful to the placenta, which is central to fetal survival, and some of the pollutants could cross the placental barrier and affect fetal growth and development.
“These outcomes matter well beyond the delivery room and harms experienced before birth can echo for decades,” Liang said in the release. “That makes prenatal exposure a particular public health concern.”
Stateline reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris can be reached at kmoseley@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Rhode Island Democratic Attorney General Peter Neronha in Providence earlier this year. Rhode Island is one of 25 Democratic-led states that sued the Trump administration over new Medicaid work requirements. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
States will have to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to implement new Medicaid work requirements, after a federal judge denied 25 Democratic-led states’ request to pause implementation of the rule.
The broad tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed last summer, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, requires states that have expanded Medicaid to cover more adults under the Affordable Care Act — 42 states plus the District of Columbia — to mandate that those adults work, go to school or volunteer for at least 80 hours a month to keep their coverage.
On June 29, the Democratic-led states sued the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), taking aim at new federal guidance, published earlier that month, that narrows the definition of who can qualify as “medically frail.” That designation excuses Medicaid recipients from work requirements if they have serious disabilities or illnesses.
The plaintiffs argued that the new exemption is too narrow, and would force patients with severe illnesses and disabilities to “jump through unnecessary administrative hoops” to keep their coverage. They also asserted that implementation would be costly and time-consuming, and noted that the new guidance came months after they’d already begun consulting with the federal government on how to implement the work requirements.
But United States District Judge Richard Stearns of Massachusetts noted in a ruling issued on Wednesday that CMS has said it will reimburse states for 90% of the costs associated with designing and executing the requirements. Stearns said he wasn’t convinced that states would be unable to cover the remaining 10%, and pointed out that the Jan. 1 deadline was set by Congress, not CMS.
“Because injunctive relief is the exception, not the rule, there is a certain point at which damages fail to justify the issuance of such an extraordinary measure,” he wrote. “Plaintiffs have not shown that their damages rise above that minimal threshold here. Moreover, the additional costs that may be incurred by the States are unlikely to bloom disproportionately given the familiarity of the responsible state agencies with the tasks to be performed.”
The court acknowledged that the case presents “difficult issues” about the scope of what Congress delegated to HHS. It also raises questions about CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz’s “faithfulness to Congressional intent,” the judge wrote.
Between 3 and 7 million people could lose coverage as a result of the new work requirements, the Urban Institute estimated earlier this year. With the addition of more frequent eligibility checks, up to 10 million people could lose coverage over the next decade.
Along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the complaint was brought by Democratic attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
(Photos and full video by freelance videographer Jonathan Klett)
Hasan Piker and Ilhan Omar join Francesca Hong on the campaign trail for governor of Wisconsin. Polls show that Francesca Hong is leading the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor. Hasan Piker, Ilhan Omar, and Hong deliver their remarks to a boisterous crowd at South Milwaukee High School. Freelance videographer Jonathan Klett captures full video of the event.
Construction work at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on May 5, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved Friday to dismiss charges against a former Olympian canoeist alleged to have damaged part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Pirro had charged David Hearn, of Bethesda, Maryland, with destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly vandalizing the newly refinished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. President Donald Trump, who has overseen the multi-million-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool, blamed vandals for damage to it.
But in a 20-page motion to dismiss filed by the U.S. attorney’s office, Pirro said her office wouldn’t have sought charges if the Interior Department, which manages the Lincoln Memorial, had initially shared more information about repair work on the Reflecting Pool.
Instead, the department only recently disclosed findings that Pirro said “strongly suggest that a rushed and botched installation by (Atlantic Industrial Coatings), the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the Reflecting Pool.”
That information was not known by prosecutors or the grand jury that returned an indictment of Hearn, she said.
She said it was not until her office “reached out to DOI dozens and dozens of times that DOI slowly started trickling information to USAO-DC. Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”
Pirro related: “Specifically, the newly released documents reveal that work on installing the lining almost immediately fell behind, due to a combination of very rainy and windy weather, repeated failures of testing on the sealing of the expansion joints, and delays in obtaining sealing product at the worksite. The rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed.”
Pirro said that “almost immediately after work was initially completed, peeling was observed along the pool perimeter.”
A National Park Service engineer’s June 11, 2026, email “stated that the cause of the damage was contractor error via ‘overspray’; that the peeled lining would not float; and that the peeling would ‘not impact the strength of the liner,’” she said.
“Moreover, the July 20, 2026, inspection by contractors confirmed that overspray and delamination had occurred, again pointing to contractor error,” Pirro said. “Finally, a recent visual inspection showed damage throughout the Reflecting Pool, even in the middle of the pool, where a vandal would not likely attempt to peel the lining. Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Hearn on July 9 pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing and was released on his own recognizance.
His lawyers, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP, said in a statement on Friday night that the government owes Hearn an apology for pursuing the case.
“The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” they said. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”
Hearn’s lawyers earlier this week had asked the judge in the case to release more information from the grand jury.
They wrote in a motion that “the Government’s sole grand-jury witness on damages testified that the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it; that the same repairs would have been required regardless of Mr. Hearn’s conduct; and that he could not quantify any loss attributable to that conduct.”
In a June 21 statement on its website, Atlantic Industrial Coatings defended its work on the Reflecting Pool.
“Atlantic Industrial Coatings in conjunction with the US Park Service has identified some areas in the Reflecting Pool that require repairs. These areas are a very small part of the massive 7 acre project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner,” it said.
“These repairs can not be made until the pool is drained. As soon as its feasible for the Park, the pool will be drained and AIC will be back to make those needed repairs as part of the warranty.”
The company did not immediately return a request for comment. The Department of Interior also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Online prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are attracting scrutiny from state lawmakers, who argue the platforms are undermining state gambling regulations. (Photo by Alyssa Chen/Minnesota Reformer)
CHICAGO — The escalating feud between states and online prediction markets was on full display at a summit of state lawmakers this week as legislators publicly scolded Kalshi and Polymarket, the two most prominent platforms.
Prediction market platforms say they are like commodity markets that offer contracts to speculate on the future price of corn or oil — not sportsbooks that allow gamblers to place bets. But many states reject those justifications, arguing the platforms are a backdoor to skirt state gambling regulations, particularly on sports.
The issue has sparked action from state regulators, new legislation, and a flurry of lawsuits from states, prediction markets, and the Trump administration, which has sought to sideline state oversight.
During a sometimes-heated panel discussion at the annual gathering of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, Iowa Republican state Sen. Dan Dawson told the audience that a group of students at his son’s high school recently enrolled in Kalshi to bet on World Cup matches. In Iowa, people must be at least 21 to participate in legal online sports betting.
“States are the ones that pick up the pieces,” Dawson said as a Kalshi executive looked on.
Dawson has previously raised concerns about the public health consequences of prediction markets. While an industry representative pledged to work with states, Dawson said a legislative subcommittee that recently studied the issue could not get even basic information from the prediction markets about their reach in Iowa.
“We couldn’t get one answer,” he said.
In March, Kalshi preemptively sued to block Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, from taking civil or criminal enforcement action against it. In its suit, Kalshi claimed there was “a substantial risk that the attorney general of Iowa will bring an enforcement action.”
Sara Slane, Head of Corporate Development at Kalshi, told lawmakers in Chicago that the company was committed to building relationships with the states. But she said the prediction markets are not subject to state oversight, as they are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates derivatives such as futures contracts on stocks.
She said prediction markets require a national standard rather than a “state-by-state regulatory patchwork.”
“This was exactly what the commodity exchange was set up for,” she said.
The five-member, presidentially appointed CFTC currently has four vacancies. But it has aggressively sought to exclude states from overseeing prediction markets, suing red and blue states alike to maintain its jurisdiction over the markets.
Earlier this week, a coalition of 44 state attorneys general wrote to the agency, arguing it does not have the power to regulate sports-related event contracts, which they say are subject to state gambling regulations.
In addition to encroaching on state-regulated and state-taxed sports gambling, states argue that prediction markets are subject to potential insider trading, lack consumer oversight and can fuel problem gambling.
Slane said her firm works to prevent money laundering and allows people who have problems with gaming to block themselves from the site. She said Kalshi also works with major sports leagues to prevent athletes and referees from trading on sports events.
“We take this very seriously,” she said. “We want to promote integrity around our exchange.”
But prediction markets continue to gain national attention for allowing people to unfairly bet on the outcome of events by leveraging nonpublic information.
This week, the White House announced the president’s teleprompter operator was no longer on staff after he was accused of using inside knowledge to make bets about presidential speeches on Kalshi.
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday signed an executive order prohibiting state employees from using inside information to bet on prediction markets. At least eight states, including Arizona, California, Maryland and Wisconsin, have implemented similar restrictions.
Mick Mulvaney, executive director of the Gambling is Not Investing Coalition, said he was sympathetic to the argument that prediction markets want to avoid a regulatory patchwork across the states.
“That being said, there’ve been two areas where the states have almost always been entirely sovereign: That’s on booze and gambling,” he said.
Mulvaney, a Republican, represented South Carolina in the U.S. House and served as acting White House chief of staff during President Donald Trump’s first term. His organization argues that prediction markets should be subject to the same state and tribal regulations as other forms of gambling.
With litigation flying, he said there’s no question the debate is heading toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Mulvaney said it’s unclear how the conservative court will rule, given its recent decisions. Some of those rulings have allowed the expansion of federal executive power, while others have tilted toward the states.
“So that will be fascinating to see how it shakes out at the Supreme Court,” he told Stateline. “But I have every expectation that this is going all the way up.”
Casino gambling has been the sole economic engine for many Native American tribes for years, said Michael Hoenig, vice president and associate general counsel for gaming at the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation in Southern California.
He said tribes have built up the gambling industry over the last 40 years — sometimes in cooperation with states, other times “in friction with the states.”
“This is just a profound affront to tribal sovereignty, tribal self-government,” he said. “Tribes are supposed to have the sovereign right to decide who gets to operate gaming on their lands and who doesn’t.”
Aside from regulatory concerns, state leaders worry about how the rise of prediction markets may impact the financial and mental health of their residents. Since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to legalize sports gambling, 39 states and the District of Columbia have done so.
Advocates, researchers and lawmakers are already raising alarms about how the burgeoning market could fuel gambling addiction and hurt household finances.
Aside from regulation, there is little difference between the potential impacts of prediction markets and online sports betting, said Rachel Volberg, a professor emerita of epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Volberg, who has studied gambling addiction for 40 years, told lawmakers in a separate presentation that the research is clear about how over involvement in gambling can hurt individuals and families. However, she told Stateline that legal sports gambling is too new for researchers to fully measure how much the high-speed and accessible world of online gaming has changed the dynamics.
In North Carolina, a new poll found that most people generally approve of sports betting, but a majority wants the state to ban prediction markets.
In the Meredith College poll released Tuesday, 51% of registered voters said they were satisfied with state regulation of sports gambling. Only 11% said they were dissatisfied, while 38% said they didn’t know.
In that poll, two-thirds of registered voters said they would support state legislation banning prediction markets, while 24% said they should be legal.
Though sports fans, policymakers and the researchers continue to grapple with the quickly evolving landscape, experts gathered in Chicago were clear that this industry is here to stay.
“It’s not going anywhere,” said Anthony D’Angelo, who leads responsible gaming efforts at Fanatics Betting & Gaming.
D’Angelo said his company’s sportsbook invests heavily in providing assistance for problem gamblers, flags potentially problematic transactions and incentivizes customers to set and stick to betting limits.
He said lawmakers can help keep people away from illegal and offshore betting platforms that have no oversight or consumer protections.
“We all want the same things to happen,” he said. “I think we want a sustainable, long-term industry where customers are protected.”
Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
The hallway to immigration court in the Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
WASHINGTON — Bryan Chavez knows that having access to legal representation as an unaccompanied minor can be a lifeline.
In 2017, immigration officials separated him from his mother and brother at the southern border, as they were caught up in the family separation policy of the first Trump administration.
The 15-year-old remained in a detention center for children, knowing that if he were sent back to Mexico, he would likely die at the hands of the cartel who threatened to kill him, his brother and father.
“Everything changed when attorneys from (the Immigration Defenders Law Center) arrived,” he told reporters during a press conference Friday. “For the first time, someone explained what was happening. As a child, I couldn’t understand why I was being separated from my mother.”
Chavez, who is now a case worker at the same center that provided him legal services as an unaccompanied minor, worries about what will happen to the thousands of immigrant children who are set to lose their legal representation at midnight Saturday.
That’s because the Trump administration declined to renew a federal contract with nonprofits that provide legal aid services to more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children.
Chavez, along with a handful of advocates and attorneys for immigrant children, detailed their concerns during a virtual press conference about the end of the contract.
They warned that it will lead to children being quickly deported, because without a lawyer, fewer than 10% of immigrant children win the right to remain in the United States while their case goes through immigration court.
“For many of them, an attorney can be the difference between fear and hope, separation and reunification, or even life and death,” Chavez said. “I came to this country asking for help. The children I work with today are asking for the same thing.”
For more than six months, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has not reimbursed $65 million to the Acacia Center for Justice, which distributes the federal funding to roughly 100 organizations across the country who provide legal representation to unaccompanied children in immigration cases.
The Acacia Center for Justice has said those funds are being withheld because attorneys refused to hand over to the Trump administration sensitive case data from the unaccompanied children, such as medical records and the types of legal relief the minors are seeking.
“For months, Acacia has been negotiating in good faith with the government to find a way to continue representing unaccompanied children who would be left without their trusted lawyers, and at the whims of an administration that seems intent on finding new and crueler ways to target and deport them as quickly as possible,” said Bilal Askaryar, communications director at the Acacia Center for Justice.
HHS did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.
The Acacia Center for Justice’s chief of staff, Bettina Rodriguez Schlegel, said that on Wednesday, government officials submitted a solicitation notice giving the Acacia Center for Justice time to transition legal services to another provider.
Rodriguez Schlegel said she doesn’t know for sure to whom the Trump administration will contract legal services, but the administration is eyeing a small Texas state commission that aids low-income people with criminal defense representation.
“What will happen on Monday morning when kids go to court?” she asked. “There remains a lot of uncertainty and a great deal of concern.”
Additionally, with the contract ending, children who have experienced trauma will have to recount painful experiences to attorneys who might not have the proper training. That can cause more anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress for kids, said Dr. C. Nicholas Cuneo.
Cuneo is an assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the executive director at HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Collaborative, which provides trauma-informed healthcare services to immigrants.
“A trusted attorney can buffer that harm, explaining an incomprehensible process, providing consistency and safety, protecting a child’s interests, and connecting them to healthcare, school, housing, and other essential support,” he said. “Abruptly severing that relationship can not only reactivate the abandonment and powerlessness from which children are trying to recover, but really cause direct physical and mental health injury.”
Cuneo said Congress recognized those consequences, and created the Unaccompanied Children Program to provide funding for legal representation of migrant children.
Erin Maxwell, a social worker at Legal Services for Children in California, said so much of their training is in providing trauma-informed legal services.
“I’m afraid that if a group of attorneys that were not trained on working with children, were not trained on providing trauma-informed legal services, that children wouldn’t be able to fully participate in their cases (to share their stories),” she said.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is preparing to implement new federal Medicaid work requirements that could put health insurance coverage at risk for tens of thousands of BadgerCare Plus members.
Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson and Wisconsin Medicaid Director Amanda Dreyer answered reporters’ questions Thursday about how the state plans to implement the new requirements and what members should do now.
Here’s what you need to know.
The new requirements were created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which requires states to implement Medicaid work requirements for some adults.
In Wisconsin, the requirements apply to BadgerCare Plus members ages 19 to 64 who do not have a dependent child younger than 19 living with them.
About 200,000 Wisconsin adults will be subject to the new requirements. The agency estimates about 63,000 people are at immediate risk of losing their health care coverage because the state does not currently have documentation showing they meet the requirements or qualify for an exemption.
To keep Medicaid coverage, affected members must show they completed at least 80 hours of employment, volunteer work, school, job training or another qualifying activity in a single month during the 12-month period since they were last approved for health care coverage.
Some people may qualify for exemptions, including those who are medically frail or family caregivers, but Department of Health Services leaders say they are waiting for federal guidance on what documentation will be required.
Work requirements will take effect for new Medicaid applicants early next year. Starting in January 2027, new applicants must meet the federal work requirement in the month before they apply.
Current BadgerCare Plus members will be subject to the requirements when they renew their coverage starting in March 2027.
State officials say the most important step is making sure the department has current contact information.
Medicaid members should keep their mailing address, phone number and email address up to date to ensure they receive important notices about the upcoming changes. Members can update their information through the ACCESS Wisconsin website or the ACCESS smartphone app.
The department also recommends keeping documentation such as pay stubs, volunteer records or school enrollment information that may be needed during the renewal process.
Where possible, the Department of Health Services plans to use existing medical records and diagnosis codes to identify people who qualify for exemptions rather than requiring new paperwork. During the program’s first year, members who believe they are medically frail may self-attest while the department obtains supporting documentation.
The Department of Health Services is working with health care providers, counties and community organizations to prepare for the changes, with a particular focus on helping people experiencing homelessness and others who may have difficulty meeting the new reporting requirements.
The department has also created a “Medicaid: New Federal Work Requirement” webpage that it will update with new information about eligibility, exemptions, reporting requirements and implementation timelines.
Johnson said the state’s goal is to ensure everyone who qualifies for Medicaid can keep their coverage despite the new federal requirements.
Department of Health Services leaders estimate the first year of implementation will cost about $10 million in system upgrades. The agency is still finalizing staffing and training costs. Officials say they will continue working with local partners to help members understand the new rules and avoid unnecessary loss of health coverage.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
New Medicaid work requirements are coming. Here’s what you need to know. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A Madison police officer last week shot and killed Corey Ruiz during an attempted arrest on the city’s east side. The shooting renewed debates about race, policing and use of force, while also prompting broader conversations about homelessness and mental health.
To help readers make sense of the fast-moving story, we’ve collected reporting from across Wisconsin that explains what happened, what’s next and why it matters.
We’re working on several in-depth stories exploring the issues the shooting brought to the forefront, and we’ll continue sharing that reporting in the weeks ahead.
The shooting unfolded in less than 30 seconds, but questions about what happened and whether the officer’s actions were justified continue to shape public debate.
For readers seeking a closer look at the shooting, ABC News produced a frame-by-frame analysis of the fatal confrontation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked three policing experts to review the encounter. Two raised concerns about the officers’ tactics and use of force, while a third concluded that Ruiz’s resistance during the arrest and the presence of a knife likely justified the officer’s decision to shoot.
The Wisconsin State Journal reviewed Ring camera footage and police scanner audio that shed light on the calls that prompted police to attempt to arrest Ruiz.
Read:
The shooting has become an issue in Wisconsin’s race for governor, while drawing responses from elected officials across the state and beyond. Most political leaders have called for transparency and an independent investigation, but state Rep. Francesca Hong, the Democratic front-runner for governor, quickly labeled the shooting an “execution,” while others — including Republican front-runner U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany — have urged the public not to reach conclusions before the investigation is complete.
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The shooting has revived long-standing debates over how Madison investigates police use of force — and whether the city has appropriate oversight tools. As required by state law, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating whether a crime occurred during the shooting. At the same time, the Madison Police Department is conducting an internal administrative investigation into whether officers followed department policies. Madison’s independent police monitor is carrying out a separate review.
WPR explores the role — and limits — of Madison’s independent police monitor and examines why Madison remains one of the few major Wisconsin cities without police body cameras. The Cap Times breaks down what each investigation meant to answer and why city leaders postponed broader police oversight reforms after the shooting.
Read:
Memorials, protests and an encampment have turned the Willy Street neighborhood into a space for mourning, reflection and demands for accountability.
The Cap Times captures the emotion of a vigil honoring Ruiz. Isthmus explores how the intersection has become an evolving community hub — what some are calling “Corey Street” — while examining why longtime residents see echoes of previous police shootings.
Read:
The shooting has prompted statewide reflection on what healing and recovery might look like.
@wisconsinwatch Memorials and an encampment have transformed the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin streets into a space for mourning and protest after a Madison police officer fatally shot Corey Ruiz during an attempted arrest on July 22. Businesses near the site face a balancing act. Many owners support calls for justice while struggling with the financial effects of street closures. Here’s a rainy day look at what some have renamed “Corey Street.” Read more about the shooting and its aftermath at WisconsinWatch.org. #coreyruiz #madisonwi
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Alan Robinson wrote in Madison365 about what the city owes Ruiz and what meaningful accountability could look like. “Corey Ruiz’s name cannot become a ladder for anyone’s campaign, organization, career or social-media following,” he writes. “No person owns this moment. No organization owns this grief.”
The Wisconsin State Journal, meanwhile, highlights the balancing act facing businesses near the protest site. Many owners support calls for justice while struggling with the financial effects of ongoing street closures.
WMTV reports on the city’s effort to move unhoused people from the area with hotel vouchers. It has drawn criticism from at least one advocates, who argues the strategy prioritizes clearing the neighborhood over addressing long-term housing needs.
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service gathered a range of voices from Milwaukee and beyond.
“Another senseless police-involved shooting,” Milwaukee resident Bryan Winters said. “I believe there were multiple missed opportunities to get Corey the proper mental health treatment that was missed by the community and the justice system.”
Read:
We’ll continue sharing reporting that helps add context and clarity as this story unfolds.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The Corey Ruiz shooting: essential reading is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
This is the 10th year of the rare birds nesting on the restored Cat Island after more than 75 years of absence.
The post Endangered piping plovers are rebounding in Green Bay thanks to local conservation efforts appeared first on WPR.
"No Kings" protesters converge on the Lady Forward statue at the Capitol after marching up State Street. Wisconsinites have organized for change successfully many times in the past, former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler reminds us in his new book, "This is the Plan." In our current fractious and troubled times, Ruth Conniff writes in a commentary, it's helpful to remember it. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
A rock concert sized crowd packed the Overture Center in downtown Madison on Friday, July 17, eager to hear former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler talk about his new book, “This is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy.”
People are desperate for a little optimism and a sense of direction and Wikler offers both, served with a big smile and a hefty dose of energetic encouragement. To enthusiastic applause, he described, during an hour-long conversation on stage with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, how Wisconsin has played a starring role in the fight against authoritarianism and the destruction of democracy by a greedy, corrupt elite. He cast the long battle against former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in heroic terms, connecting it to progress during Gov. Tony Evers’ two terms in office, the end of Republican gerrymandering, the defeat of Elon Musk’s preferred candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the election of a new liberal Court majority and, prospectively, a Democratic sweep of state government this fall.
The Walker fight was a warmup for the battle against Donald Trump and the unprecedented destruction of society he unleashed, Wikler said. Our state is an example to the nation, leading the way in a people-powered fight to restore a more humane, civilized society.
Listening to him you could forget for a moment how tenuous Wisconsin’s political situation is, and how rocky the Democratic primary has been right up to the eve of an election that will determine who faces Trump’s choice for governor, Tom Tiffany, in November.
But the lesson Wikler is offering is not that political victory is a sure thing. The “plan” he’s devised involves a lot of hard work and a difficult fight. The outcome is far from certain. But he makes a solid case that organizing is the best antidote to despair and has resulted in some impressive victories here in Wisconsin.
It took years after the massive, historic protests of 2011 to defeat Walker, who survived a recall effort and went on to be elected to a second term before Evers beat him by a narrow 1-point margin in 2018.
Evers hasn’t unwound all the damage Walker and the Republican Legislature did to workers, state agencies and, most of all, public schools in Wisconsin, but in Wikler’s opinion he did a great job playing defense against an arrogant, destructive Republican majority in the Legislature and put the state on the right path. Now that we have fair maps, the days of Republican supermajority control are over and Wisconsin is on its way to restoring labor rights and a once-great school system, Wikler says. Some public schools advocates who feel deeply disappointed by the “education governor” might disagree. Schools all over Wisconsin are in desperate financial shape and the ever-expanding private school voucher program, which is draining their resources, coupled with austerity budgets passed by the Republicans and signed by Evers, have left Wisconsin public schools in desperate shape. Advocates are angry that Evers didn’t get more done.
But broadly, Wikler makes a good case for optimism. And that is not just helpful, it’s necessary. Reminding people of past triumphs and encouraging them to fight for something better is the only way out of our current fix.
We are living in dangerous times. We need leaders to help bring us together.
In the governor’s race, we saw yet another top candidate drop out this week under a cloud of damaging allegations.
Meanwhile Wisconsin is reeling from a horrible police shooting, and a powerful tornado just leveled several communities days after wildfire smoke blanketed parts of the state, a reminder of the existential threat of climate change.
In the face of these challenges, and under a violent authoritarian regime, it’s easy to see how things can spin out of control. People are angry, desperate, divided.
Wikler offers a better vision. We could pull together and recommit to a peaceful, generous and unifying vision. It’s helpful to reflect on how we’ve done that before.
In the primary, ultimately voters have to come together behind a single candidate or just accept losing a high-stakes race.
But the same idea applies to communities buffeted by natural disasters. Politicians who deny what’s happening are betraying all of us, regardless of political party. We need to prepare and protect ourselves from the undeniable bad weather that’s going to continue to come our way and we need to organize ourselves to stop destroying the planet before there’s nothing left to protect.
On a smaller scale, Madison leaders need to engage with the protesters on Willy Street, take meaningful steps to address the series of appalling police killings in that neighborhood, and figure out how to allow the life of the neighborhood to go on, as tempers fray over an indefinite encampment on the site where Ruiz was shot.
Division and fear are part of what plagues the Madison neighborhood where a police officer killed Ruiz by shooting him in the head after knocking him off a bicycle in a shocking, broad-daylight encounter. Well-meaning neighbors and local officials have blocked streets and canceled community events in part to show solidarity with the protesters and mourners who set up the encampment, but also out of fear that those protesters will disrupt more events after they shut down the Concert on the Square, the Dane County Farmers’ Market, and a city press conference following the shooting. The fear is a symptom of our mutual isolation of an anxious, segregated city that wants to be progressive but has a long way to go toward fostering real inclusion. It ought to be possible to accommodate political speech and healthy public dialogue about racism, violence and injustice right in the same common space where local businesses remain open and we hold inclusive community events. The shutdown and the silent standoff with no visible movement by either the city or the protesters is becoming dysfunctional and driving people further apart.
In a way it’s not surprising that the wheels are coming off the wagon in local communities as we face more rage, despair and bleak news every day. We are living in a click-bait world. We need to get out of fight-or-flight mode and connect with each other, discover our common interests and organize to build the society we want.
That’s Wikler’s vision. It beats the hell out of being divided and conquered.
Third-party solar, also known as Third-party ownership, takes two forms— a solar lease or a power purchase agreement. The lease option is similar to how you would lease a car, paying for the system’s use over time. The power purchase agreement would allow you to purchase the system’s energy from the installer at a rate lower than you would normally pay for energy. Both options for a more affordable pathway to solar exist but are caught in a legal gray area for Wisconsinites, but that doesn’t mean it’s never been allowed in the state.
Around 2020-2021, there were some Wisconsin utilities that allowed TPO. At this time, WE Energies notably blocked installations in Milwaukee that would have utilized TPO arrangements.
Requests for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) to weigh in on legal clarity were unsuccessful until 2022. The PSC took up two “declaratory ruling” requests, ultimately approving a request to allow TPO on a case-by-case basis and rejecting a request to instead appoint criteria for TPO.
Utilities challenged the PSC ruling approving an instance of TPO on a case-by-case basis. The family involved in the ruling moved before there was resolution in a case that would have provided clarity on the matter. Without a customer for the solar system, the PSC ruling was invalid. It is possible that another person or organization could seek approval for a TPO solar system, but it hasn’t happened yet.
These days, utilities seem unified in their approach to block the TPO option in their territories. For the most part, electric utility cooperatives take a similar approach to TPO.
Though it’s our position that TPO could be allowed under current law, there are conflicting interpretations of the law resulting in legal uncertainty. The disagreement comes from the state statute that says only utilities are able to sell power to the public. With TPO, it has long been our view that a customer involved in a TPO contract is not the general public and that this would be a business transaction rather than a utility transaction.
We also recognize that all Wisconsin utilities are actively blocking TPO during the interconnection process, and the PSC is not able to stop them. Wisconsin solar installers should know this history and avoid offering TPO at this time. If an installer is offering TPO in Wisconsin as part of their services, it is either not aware of important regulatory information or is lying to customers.
If you are still considering a TPO offer from an installer, speak to your utility before moving forward with the project.
In the meantime, creating clarity around TPO remains a priority for RENEW. It is our hope that either a case will find its way before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and provide clarity around the use of TPO, or that new legislation can be crafted and passed to create a clear pathway for TPO.
This would allow us to join the 28 other states across the country that have opened a clear pathway to financing options that help more people gain access to the benefits of clean and affordable solar energy.
The post Understanding Third-Party Solar in Wisconsin appeared first on RENEW Wisconsin.
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