Each week more than 20 million listeners around the country enjoy music on public radio stations, including WPR.
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Wisconsin lawmakers and some victims of reckless driving are proposing yet another measure to get a grip on reckless driving across the state.
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The State Building Commission has agreed to release $15 million for "planning and design" as part of the governor's plan to reorganize Wisconsin's prison system.
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Wisconsin homeowners and businesses hit by flooding and other natural disasters would have a new avenue to help rebuild under bipartisan legislation moving through the state Capitol.
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Food service providers across Wisconsin say they’ve felt a squeeze in recent months, as household costs have increased and federal programs for the needy have been canceled. Now, with the prospect of a pause in federal food assistance looming, they’re bracing for an acute spike in need.
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A new bill supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers would legalize online sports betting statewide throughout Wisconsin. This comes as a lawsuit from the state’s Ho-Chunk Nation alleges that several companies are already operating illegal online sportsbooks in the state.
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Deconstruct some of the most significant moments in zombie pop culture.
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DNA detective work solves longstanding family mysteries for actor Laurence Fishburne and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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Melissa Tempel, the former first grade teacher who was fired after publicly criticizing the School District of Waukesha for banning a Dolly Parton song, has filed an appeal to her First Amendment case.
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An emergency room nurse tends to a patient at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital in Texas. States, counties and nonprofits are striving to continue their work to close racial health disparity gaps but are struggling amid a loss of federal dollars. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Racial health disparities may widen as states, universities and nonprofits grapple with federal funding cuts to programs that were aimed at filling gaps in care, public health experts say.
As part of its federal restructuring and crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the Trump administration has been shuttering federal offices and rescinding grants dedicated to addressing worse health care access and outcomes for racial minorities.
The shake-up has caused some state agencies and nonprofits to pause programs and some groups and universities to apply for foundation grants instead.
Hundreds of grants have been terminated for state, local and territorial health departments as well as nonprofits and universities, many of which addressed health equity across rural, low-income and communities of color.
The nation’s racial health disparities were laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the virus killed Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people at higher rates than white people. The police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 also fueled a racial reckoning across the nation, prompting efforts by states, universities, health systems and the federal government to address racial health disparities.
Those approaches ranged from targeted vaccine campaigns and efforts to enroll more people of color in clinical trials to corrections of diagnostic tests that relied on inaccurate information about race and biology.
COVID revealed the impact of health disparities to individual health — as well as how not addressing these disparities undermines the health system for everyone.
– Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association
Communities of color have long had less access to health care, increased exposure to environmental pollutants and higher rates of certain chronic illnesses and cancer deaths. They also have more diabetes-related amputations because of a lack of access to care. And specific genetic diseases, such as sickle cell disease, disproportionately affect Black people.
“COVID revealed the impact of health disparities to individual health — as well as how not addressing these disparities undermines the health system for everyone,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Now, many of the programs trying to address health disparities are being rolled back.
As a result, health policy experts, clinicians and researchers fear those disparities will widen as states, universities and nonprofits grapple with lost federal dollars while the administration continues to limit federal funding for DEI programs. In July, the U.S. Department of Justice released guidance saying such initiatives should not receive federal funding, alleging they are “discriminatory.”
Entities that receive federal funds “must ensure that their programs and activities comply with federal law and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics—no matter the program’s labels, objectives, or intentions,” the news release said.
Several state and local health officials were reluctant to speak with Stateline on the record about how the federal administration’s DEI crackdown has left them in a bind, fearing retaliation or targeting by the federal government. The White House did not respond to Stateline’s request for comment.
“My concern about what the administration is doing is that they are, in effect, making these disparities worse,” Benjamin said. “Everybody’s health is not the same. … It’s important to know that the disparities are really profound.”
Benjamin added that the cumulative effect of disparities means more late-stage disease — costing both patients and health systems more.
“There’s a trope or misunderstanding out there that DEI is a ‘woke’-related agenda. DEI is not a ‘woke’ agenda. DEI is an American agenda, because it’s really one that is the same thing as ‘rising tides lift all boats,’” said Brandon Wilson, senior director of Health Innovation and Public Health at Community Catalyst, a health equity advocacy organization. “When you cut [resources] off, you’re actually disproportionately impacting those who are already impacted.”
The administration canceled billions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many of the grants helped recipients create solutions tailored to their communities’ needs and strengths.
At least three dozen state, local and territorial health departments have had pandemic-era grants that addressed health equity terminated. While originally focused on COVID-19, agencies have since used that grant money for other public health efforts: testing and contact tracing for a wide range of diseases, better data reporting, and community partnerships that address social and environmental effects on health.
The money was part of a $2.2 billion national health equity initiative that aimed to address vulnerabilities and protect those communities ahead of the next outbreak.
The Department of Health and Human Services told media such cancellations were due to the pandemic emergency ending in 2023.
At NIH, the administration terminated more than 5,400 NIH research grants, although about 2,800 were reinstated. Canceled grants included research toward illnesses like HIV and AIDS, which disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic people as well as gay and transgender people.
The Trump administration has also gutted federal offices dedicated to fighting disparities, including the Offices of Minority Health under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services.
At the state level, the Arkansas Department of Health recently shut down its own minority health-focused office. Ashley Whitlow, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement that it “relies on federal grant funding to support a variety of public health programs.”
“The recent reduction in program staff reflects the Arkansas Department of Health’s ongoing efforts to operate more efficiently with the resources available. Despite these changes, ADH remains fully committed to serving communities across the state,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s Department of Health said its minority health office is funded through state general funds and not directly impacted by the federal cuts.
The nation has seen a spike in congenital syphilis cases, which disproportionately occur among Black and Indigenous families.
“Regardless of whether you’re at the highest risk, any outbreak that’s not controlled can spread widely and broadly, and you can see that that’s what’s happening with measles,” said Dr. Julie Morita, former executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former health commissioner Chicago Department of Public Health.
But states likely can’t replace all the lost federal dollars.
“You’ve got declining capacity, and increasing need — which is a formula for problems,” said Richard Frank, director of the Brookings Institution Center on Health Policy.
“It’s impossible to make all that up with state and local dollars,” he continued. “You’re going to see programs that serve real people getting pulled back.”
Frank and Wilson also expressed concern about the Medicaid changes included in the broad tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed in July. The law is projected to cut federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $911 billion over the next decade, largely because new work requirements will push people off the rolls. Data shows the majority of Medicaid enrollees already work, and experts say many will be kicked off the rolls due to difficulties in states’ reporting processes. Black and Hispanic people are disproportionately represented on the Medicaid rolls.
OB-GYN Dr. Versha Pleasant, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan, directs the Cancer Genetics and Breast Health Clinic at Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. She treats patients at high risk for breast and ovarian cancers. Black women have an almost 40% higher risk of death from breast cancer than white women.
“That, to me, is unacceptable,” she said, adding that such disparities speak to the need for ongoing programs to “provide everyone with a fair chance at leading a long and healthy life.”
“If we don’t make a special effort to save the most vulnerable lives … where does that leave us?” she continued. “The changes that we’re seeing are only going to magnify preexisting challenges.”
Dr. Sarah Rudman, acting public health officer at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in California, and others have told Stateline that federal officials are informing health agencies that race and ethnicity data are no longer required to be reported.
“We are being asked to change the way we collect our own data here and report it,” Rudman said, adding that her county is going to continue collecting data to “understand who is here, who’s experiencing what health outcome and what they need.”
Many families, in the shadow of the county’s Silicon Valley, still struggle with poverty — more than 27,000 children suffer food insecurity, United Way Bay Area says.
“It is sometimes surprising and striking to people to understand how much poverty and other types of vulnerability are hidden among the more visible wealth of Silicon Valley, and that’s where we’ve dedicated our resources,” Rudman said.
“It’s hard to even imagine what my colleagues in smaller areas of California or in other parts of the country are experiencing,” she added about lower-income counties. “We are feeling extremely strained and already in our second round of layoffs, knowing that many more are likely. So I think that the hits are going to be that much more significant in areas who have less resources than we do.”
Federal officials also canceled the county’s $5.7 million grant to address COVID-19-related disparities, used to shore up vulnerable communities ahead of the next disease outbreak, natural disaster or heat wave, Rudman said. The money helped the county conduct basic laboratory testing and vaccine outreach for a wide range of diseases, not just COVID-19.
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.
The USDA has announced it will stop providing nutrition assistance on Nov. 1. Milwaukee officials and nonprofits are organizing a food drive to try to meet residents' needs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Local officials and community organizations are uniting to provide families with food and basic necessities during the government shutdown. City and county governments together with the Milwaukee Public School District, the Milwaukee Bucks and faith groups are organizing a food drive with Feeding America Western Wisconsin and Nourish MKE. The drive will begin immediately and continue until FoodShare benefits are restored.
On Nov. 1, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are expected to end amidst a government shutdown in Washington D.C.. Across the nation, there are over 42 million Americans who depend on the federal food assistance program.
“The federal government shutdown needs to end,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “This is not an abstract issue. It’s about whether families can afford to eat. While Washington debates, Milwaukee is stepping up. We’re coming together to keep each other fed, safe and cared for. That’s who we are as a city.”
Food drive donations will be accepted locations across the city including:
“Food insecurity affects physical health, mental health and stability to entire households,” said Shakita LaGrant-McClain, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services. “I encourage everyone to consider donating to your local food pantry. This is a time where the community really needs to come together.”
Democrats have insisted that any resolution to continue funding the federal government must include renewing Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies which are set to expire soon, causing health costs to skyrocket across the country, including for 310,000 Wisconsinites, many of whom will see their insurance payments rise by between 45 and 800%. Milwaukee and surrounding counties are also still reeling from the denial of FEMA disaster assistance to help repair damage left behind by the historic floods in August.
“Milwaukee County is strong and resilient, but the health and wellbeing of our residents and families should never be casualties of political fights in Washington,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “Until this federal shutdown ends, we will do what we always do: look out for our neighbors and step up to help in times of need. I’m grateful to all our community partners to encourage every resident who is able to join us in caring for our community.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
President Donald Trump attends inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump sought to remove his status as the only felon to be elected president by appealing his conviction on 34 New York state charges just before midnight Tuesday, arguing, in part, that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling giving the president broad immunity invalidated the conviction.
In a 96-page appeal nearly 18 months after his state court conviction that he falsified business records by disguising hush money payments over an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels as legitimate legal payments, Trump’s attorneys recited a list of complaints over his prosecution.
Among those complaints were that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, targeted the then-former president, and that the presiding Democratic judge created at least the appearance of partiality, the appeal said.
“This is the most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history,” the lengthy brief began. “After years of fruitless investigation into decade-old, baseless allegations — and under immense political pressure to criminally charge President Donald J. Trump for something — New York’s district attorney manufactured felony charges against a once-former and now-sitting President of the United States.”
Bragg’s office declined to comment on the appeal Tuesday.
The case centered on payments Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, made to Daniels in the run up to the 2016 election. Trump wanted to keep her from telling the tabloid National Enquirer about a tryst she said she had with the married Trump years earlier.
After Trump won the White House, his private business reimbursed Cohen for the payment to Daniels, according to the 2023 indictment.
Federal prosecutors had explored whether the payment to Daniels could have violated campaign finance laws. Cohen paid Daniels to keep her from publicizing her account during Trump’s 2016 race against Hillary Clinton.
They ultimately declined to bring charges.
Trump’s appeal this week said New York prosecutors impermissibly depended on campaign finance violations to charge him with felony business record falsification.
To be charged as a felony, the business records must be falsified in service of another crime, but Trump argued Monday those allegations could not have been charged because federal law preempts state law.
The New York law also requires prosecutors to show the defendant had “intent to defraud” to win a conviction for falsifying business records. Bragg and his team did not do that at trial, Trump’s attorneys said.
Trump’s attorneys also said the trial court admitted evidence that should have been protected by presidential immunity, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that established broad protections for sitting presidents.
The Supreme Court opinion said the president was not only protected from criminal charges based on official actions, but that any official action could not be used as evidence to prove an allegation that centered on an unofficial act.
The prosecution did include some official acts Trump took while in office, his lawyers said.
Prosecutors examined Hope Hicks, a former Trump White House communications director, Trump’s statements on social media, communications with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — which Trump denies took place — and the president’s general work habits while in office.
Those examples should all be considered official actions that are immune from being used in a criminal case, Trump’s attorneys wrote.
Trump’s attorneys also argued Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial, should have recused himself.
Merchan donated a total of $25 to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and to a political action committee called “Stop Republicans.”
The nominal contributions violated a “clear bar on sitting judges making political contributions,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
His daughter also worked for a political organization that opposed Trump in 2020, the brief noted.
Trump had asked Merchan to recuse himself during the trial phase, but the judge declined. Trump’s attorneys said Monday that was a “clear ground for reversal” of the conviction.
“In the face of all these undisputed and damaging facts, Justice Merchan’s refusal to recuse created, at the very least, ‘the appearance of bias,’” they wrote.
Whatever problems arose from Trump’s prosecution in New York, it had the political effect of elevating his stagnant comeback campaign.
At the nadir of his popularity following his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, several credible challengers entered the Republican presidential field for the 2024 cycle and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led in some early polls.
But four criminal prosecutions, of which the New York hush money case was the first, had the effect of galvanizing Republicans and other voters who believed the former president was the victim of a political prosecution, and he easily won the GOP nomination.
The prosecutions played out amid the 2024 campaign, and a New York jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts on May 30, making him the first former president to be convicted of a felony.
He won that November’s election and became the first felon to be elected president.
He successfully delayed sentencing until after the 2024 election. Merchan imposed a sentence of unconditional discharge on Jan. 10, 2025, allowing Trump to avoid prison time.
A barista prepares a coffee drink. (Nazar Abbas Photography via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Five Republican U.S. senators joined Democrats Tuesday to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency that triggered steep tariffs on goods from Brazil.
The vote came ahead of a major case before the Supreme Court that could decide whether many of the president’s tariffs violate the Constitution.
Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, supported a joint resolution in a 52-48 vote.
The measure’s passage in the Senate marks a shift from a previous effort in April, when Senate Republicans blocked a resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency tariffs on Canada. Murkowski, Collins and Paul also supported that measure.
The resolution is not likely to see a vote in the Republican-controlled U.S. House, meaning it is not likely to become law.
Senate Democrats forced Tuesday’s floor vote just days after they filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to find Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, triggered under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, unconstitutional. Murkowski was the lone Republican to join the brief.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., spoke on the floor ahead of the vote with a canister of Maxwell House coffee beside him.
Kaine said Trump’s tariffs on Brazilian goods are an “abuse of presidential power that people are feeling every time they walk down a grocery store aisle to buy coffee for their families, to buy ground beef for their families.”
“No president, Democrat or Republican, should be able to declare a national emergency justifying the imposition of 50% tariffs because a friend of theirs is being prosecuted for breaking the law in another country,” he said.
Kaine used a decades-old law that allows the minority party to force a vote to terminate a national emergency.
Trump declared a national emergency and imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports on July 30 after accusing Brazil’s government of “politically persecuting” its former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup to remain in power in 2022.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who cosponsored Kaine’s bill, said on the floor ahead of the vote Trump is using his emergency powers “to tax us without our consent.”
“I, for one, still believe in the principle of no taxation without representation, and will vote to terminate this contrived emergency and end these unconstitutional import taxes,” Paul said.
The vote to reverse Trump’s tariffs on Brazilian products was the first of three bipartisan resolutions this week protesting the administration’s emergency tariffs.
Kentucky’s senior senator and former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive.”
“The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise. This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities,” McConnell said, referring to Trump’s decision to add another 10% tariff on Canadian goods. That came after the Ontario province ran an anti-tariff ad featuring the words of President Ronald Reagan.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, criticized the joint resolution as “counterproductive to the progress already made by President Trump.”
“The president’s historic trade negotiations are bearing fruit. President Trump already announced new deals, trade deals with major trading partners, including, most recently, Cambodia and Malaysia. Other such announcements may still be forthcoming. I urge other trading partners to reach similar trading deals,” Crapo, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said on the floor ahead of the vote.
Both tariffs and climate change are to blame for the recent spike in coffee prices, reports the Los Angeles Times.
A sign with a notice of closure is seen pinned on the fence to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration cannot carry out layoffs that it announced after the government shutdown began Oct. 1 and is barred from issuing any new layoff notices under a court order issued Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said at the end of an hour-long hearing in the Northern District of California she granted the preliminary injunction because the reductions in force are unlawful and “intended for the purpose of political retribution.”
Illston referenced a social media post by President Donald Trump that said, “I can’t believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”
Michael Velchik, a Justice Department attorney representing the government, argued against the judge issuing a preliminary injunction.
Velchik said statements from Trump and other administration officials were an expression of policy differences with Democrats and were not evidence of attempted political retribution.
The hearing was the latest step in a lawsuit filed in late September. In the month since, attorneys for labor unions have contended the Trump administration’s actions violate federal law, while lawyers for the government have said it’s well within the scope of their authority.
Illston, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, granted a temporary restraining order in mid-October that she clarified and expanded days later amid a misunderstanding within the administration about its impact.
Illston said during Tuesday’s hearing that she’s likely to schedule an evidentiary hearing over claims that some layoff notices that have gone out during the shutdown were planned before it began, and shouldn’t be subject to any court orders in this lawsuit.
Danielle Leonard, an attorney representing the labor unions that brought the case, said she believed that type of hearing could help all involved “get to the heart of” the disagreement.
Leonard requested the preliminary injunction cover employees at the Interior Department, Commerce Department’s patent office and the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights from layoffs until after the judge scheduled that evidentiary hearing.
Illston didn’t respond directly to that proposal, but said she planned to release a written version of the preliminary injunction she issued from the bench as soon as Tuesday.
Illston said the injunction didn’t apply to employees at the Small Business Administration who received layoff notices in late September, before the shutdown began.
Velchik contended that layoff notices issued since the shutdown began were well within the administration’s authority, saying the country does not “have a fossilized executive branch where we cannot reduce the size.”
Velchik also told the judge that efforts to lay off federal employees during the shutdown were “the right thing to do, morally. And it’s the democratic thing to do.”
Bananas and cereals at a grocery store in Fairfax, Virginia, on March 3, 2011. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.)
A coalition of Democratic state officials sued the Trump administration Tuesday, asking a federal judge to force the release of food assistance funds for 42 million people that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said cannot be paid during the ongoing government shutdown.
Attorneys general representing 22 states and the District of Columbia and three governors launched the suit days before benefits are expected to be cut off for low-income Americans enrolled in the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, on Nov. 1.
Despite holding $6 billion in a reserve fund, USDA said last week it would not process November SNAP benefits without fiscal 2026 funding approved by Congress.
The USDA’s refusal to provide November benefits runs contrary to precedent from other recent shutdowns, and even the department’s own Sept. 30 contingency plan that said the contingency fund would be used to continue benefits through the shutdown.
The administration has also shuffled some other money to provide funding for certain programs, but not SNAP.
The Democratic officials said those factors made the decision arbitrary and capricious, a violation of federal administrative law, and asked a federal court in Massachusetts to order the USDA’s move unlawful and block the administration from putting it in place.
“It is an abuse of discretion for Defendants to decline to use available appropriations, including the SNAP contingency reserve, to fund benefits for the mandatory SNAP entitlement program,” they wrote.
SNAP benefits typically cost the federal government about $9 billion per month, meaning the contingency fund could cover about two-thirds of November’s benefits.
The department could cover a full month by dipping into another USDA nutrition assistance program that holds about $23 billion, the state officials said. Part of that fund was used to cover a shortfall in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children earlier this month.
The attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Wisconsin brought the suit, along with Democratic Govs. Laura Kelly of Kansas, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
In an emailed statement, a USDA spokesperson did not address the lawsuit, which came from state officials, and instead blamed the shutdown on U.S. Senate Democrats.
“We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats,” the spokesperson wrote. “Continue to hold out for the Far-Left wing of the party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments.”
SNAP, which the federal government funds and states administer, is one of the high-profile programs affected by the government shutdown that began Oct. 1 when Congress failed to appropriate funds for the fiscal year that began that date.
Congressional Republicans have tried to pass a stopgap measure to reopen the government, but Democrats have successfully blocked that bill as they demand Congress address the expiration of health care premiums for coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
In a Tuesday afternoon letter, 19 Republican attorneys general called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to support the Republican stopgap to prevent an interruption to SNAP benefits.
The letter, led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, called SNAP “one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent hunger in America.”
“You have the power to prevent a crisis that is entirely avoidable,” the letter said. “A clean resolution is not a political concession; it is the responsible thing to do. … Refusing to do so now is not leadership; it’s leverage at the expense of the most vulnerable.
In addition to Yost, the letter was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
Because of processing times required to add money to SNAP recipients’ electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, cards, benefits for November may already be delayed in some states.
The suit says California’s EBT vendor, the private company contracted to load monthly benefits onto individuals’ EBT cards, requires about a week to process those transfers.
“So, in order to ensure recipients received their November 2025 benefits on time, California would have had to send its issuance files to its vendor by October 23, 2025,” the suit said. “Each day after October 23 that California does not send its issuance files to its vendor will result in November benefits being delayed another day.”
Additionally, because most states use one of two EBT vendors, there’s a strong possibility the vendors will be overwhelmed by the workload “from all their client-states at essentially the same time” once benefits are unfrozen, the state officials said.
So even if USDA immediately released funding, there would be a lag before they appeared on EBT cards, they said.
Travelers move through Salt Lake International Airport in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
This report has been updated.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Tuesday failed for the 13th time to advance a stopgap spending bill that would fund the government until Nov. 21 and end the nearly one-month government shutdown.
Tuesday was also the day when air traffic controllers, who are working without pay, missed their first full paychecks. The FlightAware delays tracker reported 7,404 delays within, into or out of the United States on Monday and 161 cancellations within the U.S. A temporary ground stop was issued at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday morning due to staffing issues.
In the nation’s capital, the 54-45 vote was nearly identical to the previous 12 votes, as Republicans and Democrats stuck to their positions. The legislation needed at least 60 votes to advance, under the Senate’s legislative filibuster.
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, both Democrats, and Maine independent Sen. Angus King voted with Republicans to advance the legislation. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted no.
Democrats are under increasing pressure to pass the House-passed GOP stopgap measure, with 42 million Americans at risk of losing food assistance for November, many federal workers beginning to miss their paychecks and one of the largest unions representing federal workers calling for an end to the government shutdown, now at day 28.
Amid the government shutdown, the Trump administration has moved to lay off federal workers, and a federal judge is holding a Tuesday hearing to consider a preliminary injunction to block the mass Reductions in Force, or RIFs.
As President Donald Trump continues his overseas travel throughout Asia meeting with foreign leaders, Vice President JD Vance joined Senate Republicans during their Tuesday caucus lunch meeting.
Vance defended USDA’s decision to not tap into its contingency fund provided by Congress to continue food assistance benefits amid a funding lapse.
“We’re exploring all options,” Vance said.
Congress provided USDA with the multi-year contingency fund, which totals about $6 billion — short of the roughly $9 billion needed to cover a full month of SNAP benefits. USDA would have to reshuffle funds to provide November payments.
“We are trying as much as possible to ensure that critical food benefits get paid,” Vance said.
A coalition of Democratic state officials Tuesday sued the Trump administration and urged a federal judge to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release SNAP benefits for 42 million people.
Vance called on five Democrats to join Senate Republicans in approving a short-term funding bill.
“If the Democrats just opened up the government, then we wouldn’t have to play this game where … we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with the budget,” Vance said.
Democrats have continued to vote against the House’s GOP short-term spending bill to draw attention to and force negotiations on tax credits that will expire at the end of the year for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Republicans maintain the government must reopen before they begin any talks.
Republicans are also weighing whether to pass a stand-alone bill by GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley to approve funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Ten Senate Republicans have joined to sponsor the bill, including Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine. One Democratic senator also cosponsored the bill, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats would also introduce their own separate bill to provide funding for not only SNAP, but for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC.
During a Tuesday press conference, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not seem receptive to scheduling a Senate vote on a stand-alone bill to address SNAP.
“I mean, this piecemeal approach where you do one off here, one off there, to make it seem more politically palatable to somebody…that is just a wrong way to do this,” Thune said.
Instead, he argued that Democrats should just support the stopgap spending bill.
Another critical deadline is approaching. Active-duty military members will miss their paychecks by Friday if the government is still in a funding lapse. The Trump administration already reprogrammed $8 billion earlier this month from multi-year research funds from the Defense Department in order to pay the troops.
However, Vance said the Trump administration expects to be able to pay troops this Friday, although the vice president didn’t detail where those funds would come from.
Before Tuesday morning’s vote, Thune said Democrats should listen to calls for an end to the shutdown from the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, labor union, which typically aligns with Democrats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, also cited the call from AFGE, telling Democrats “you have an off-ramp,” during a Tuesday press conference.
“The largest unions are saying, ‘Please do this,’” Johnson said. “You can claim that as cover and say that you had to do it.”
Last week, there were dueling bills from both parties related to paying federal workers amid the shutdown, but those efforts failed to meet the 60-vote threshold to move forward.
The end of the 2019 government shutdown, which lasted 35 days, was in part due to shortages of air traffic controllers that upended air travel across the country and forced lawmakers to strike a deal.
During a Tuesday press conference, Schumer slammed the Trump administration for refusing to tap into its contingency fund for SNAP.
“The money is there,” the New York Democrat said. “The hungry people, the hungry children, the hungry veterans, the hungry elderly, could be fed, but Trump’s using them as hostages.”
Of the 42 million people on SNAP, roughly 40% are children 17 and younger.
He also criticized Trump for traveling abroad and for his administration’s priority to demolish the East Wing of the White House for a ballroom.
“His number one priority is his ballroom,” Schumer said. “When people are suffering, what kind of president is this?”
Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) will challenge Senate Assistant Minority Leader Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) in 2026 for Senate District 31. James at press conference in April and Smith at a press conference in September. (Photos by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) will challenge Senate Assistant Minority Leader Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) in 2026 for Senate District 31, a key district that will help determine control of the Wisconsin Senate.
All of Wisconsin’s odd-numbered Senate seats — 17 out of 33 — will be in play in 2026, the first election in those districts since they were redrawn as part of new voting maps adopted in 2024. The maps already shook up the Senate in 2024, when Democrats gained five additional even-numbered seats, cutting the Republican majority from 22 seats to 18.
Next year, Republicans will be competing to hold onto their majority as Democrats have launched an effort to flip the entire body. The last time Democrats held a majority in the Legislature was during the 2009 legislative session.
Democrats will need to win at least two additional seats and hold all their current seats to win the majority. Most of the seats, including SD 5, SD 17 and SD 21, are currently held by Republicans.
SD 31, which represents the entirety of Eau Claire County and parts of Dunn, Trempealeau and Chippewa counties, is the one district that Democrats have tagged as a seat to protect.
Smith, the second top Democrat in the Senate, is the incumbent of SD 31 and he announced his intention to seek reelection earlier this year. He was first elected to the Senate in 2018. He told the Wisconsin Examiner that the prospect of flipping the Senate is one of the reasons he is running again.
“I see the opportunity is right in front of me where I think we’re going to reach a point where we’re in the majority, and I’m going to have to be able to carry that voice into our state Legislature,” Smith told the Examiner.
Smith said he has introduced over 130 bills in his time in office and only one of those has gotten a public hearing.
“The public should have the ability to hear all sides and all ideas,” Smith said, adding that he believes that would happen under Democratic control.
Among the priorities he listed in the next session are boosting state funding for Wisconsin public schools, ensuring that private schools that receive public funding are held accountable and increasing access to health care.
“It shouldn’t matter whether you’re working or not working, everyone should be able to access the same level of care in any hospital, in any clinic, in not only our state, but in our country,” Smith said.
Smith’s Republican challenger, Jesse James, announced his plans to seek reelection earlier this month.
When James was elected to the Senate in 2022, he lived in Altoona, which sits outside Eau Claire and was part of Senate District 23. Under the new maps, however, Altoona was drawn into SD 31, so James said he decided to “uproot” his life to Thorp to finish out the rest of his four-year term.
In his campaign announcement for 2026, James said he is “ready to come home.”
“Being 40 minutes away sucks,” James told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview. The Republican senator said he is still helping take care of things at his family and home in Altoona as well as helping take care of his father who is sick.
James, who comes from a law enforcement background and has continued working as a part-time police officer while in office, said he loves what he does in the Legislature and wants to continue the work. Prior to the Senate, James served in the Assembly for two terms. Mental health services, substance use prevention and public safety are among his top priorities.
At the start of his current term, he proposed the Senate form a committee focused on mental health, substance abuse prevention, children and families, which he now chairs. He said he had 27 bills signed in his first two years and has spent the majority of his time seeking to advance legislation in those three areas, including for expanding postpartum Medicaid access — a bill that is currently held up by members of his own party — as well as an effort to establish psychiatric residential treatment facilities in Wisconsin.
“I’m coming home. I’m in a prime seat where I chair the committee that I do, everything that I fought for up to this point motivates me, and I’m going to continue that work record,” James said. “I’m going to continue the performance level that I’m at and continue working for the people… It’s going to be an uphill battle. I’m OK with that. I’ve been through uphill battles my whole life, and I’m willing to take on challenges.”
There’s about a year before Wisconsin’s 2026 November general elections, leaving plenty of time for a campaign. Both candidates said they are prepared for a tough race, especially with the Senate majority at stake.
“I’m always for competition,” James said about challenging his Democratic colleague.
“This is going to be a huge seat. It’s going to be a battle, and everything we know right now it’s going to be interesting with midterms because… they don’t always bode well,” James added. “Come this midterm election, we’ll know where things are if I win, and we’ll know where things are if Jeff wins.”
According to an analysis by John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University, the current 31st Senate district has a slight Democratic lean. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the area by 2.2 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election and Sen. Tammy Baldwin won it by 4.7 percentage points in the 2024 Senate race.
According to data compiled by the State Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and shared with the Examiner, the district’s Democratic lean goes back further than the recent elections. In 2014, the district voted for Mary Burke, who lost statewide to former Gov. Scott Walker, and in 2016, it chose Hilary Clinton by a 51-point margin as President Donald Trump won the state.
James said when he decided to run for reelection some people questioned why he was running in a district that is “kind of a lost cause,” though in his mind, he views the race as a 50-50 prospect.
“It’s going to be ugly, and I cannot wait to see what ads come out,” James said, adding that he doesn’t plan to “go negative” during his campaign. “I want to talk about me. I’m not going to talk about Jeff. Jeff can do his thing. I’m going to do mine.”
While James is a popular legislator who has generally sought to avoid polarizing partisanship, Smith sees his entry into the race as part of a larger partisan plan.
“The bottom line about Republicans somehow convincing Sen. James that he should run for this district is simply because they also understand one thing, and that is, whoever wins this district is going to be in the majority,” Smith said. He added that this “isn’t about Jesse James and it isn’t about Jeff Smith. It’s about the state of Wisconsin, and who actually is going to govern and lead Wisconsin to a better future, and I really believe that we as a Democratic Party are in the best position to be able to do that.”
Smith is accustomed to running in tough races, he added.
Smith won a second term to the Senate in 2022 to represent SD 31, defeating his Republican challenger by 697 votes. In 2018, Smith defeated his Republican opponent with 51% of the vote.
Smith also served in the Assembly for two terms from 2007 to 2011. He was ousted from his seat in 2010 by Republican Warren Petryk.
Smith said he will take the same approach to this race that he has always taken, knocking doors and talking to people where they are. In the past he has been known for setting up shop in his truck, putting up a sign encouraging people to stop and talk to him.
“I know how to do this. I’ve done it before, over and over, and it is nothing new to me to have to run a difficult race,” Smith said. “I’m a great believer… go to the people, don’t make them come to you.”
In a statement after James’ campaign announcement, Smith said the Republican senator would need to explain himself to voters.
“After years of toeing the line for Republican leadership, botching the hospital closure funding, dropping the ball on PFAS funding and failing to deliver results — voters in the 31st District know all too well how these failures have affected their lives,” Smith said.
Two hospitals, HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, closed abruptly last year due to financial difficulties, leaving a big swath of the Chippewa Valley with diminished access to health care. Wisconsin policymakers sought to help provide funding to help the area, but lawmakers refused to release the funds after Gov. Tony Evers exercised a partial veto on a related bill.
Asked about Smith’s statement on his candidacy, James pushed back.
“I’m not going to talk about the hospital funding. It’s dead. It’s over. The $15 million went back into the GPR [General Purpose Revenue],” James said. He added that he’s helped secure other investments in the area since.
One bill, coauthored by James, to set up the legislative framework for Rogers Behavioral Health to establish a behavioral health hospital in Chippewa Falls passed the Assembly in September and the Senate in October. James also helped secure $1 million for Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, so it can re-open the former L.E. Phillips Libertas Treatment Center in Chippewa Falls.
James said securing the funds are his biggest wins for the Chippewa Valley, especially given the recent closures.
“It’s a start, and I still think that there’s more — I already have ideas for next session, that if I come back, or when I come back, I’ll be able to work on so that we’re already starting to look at the future and improving what we can for our rural areas, primarily, especially up north, with mental health and substance abuse prevention,” James said.
For his part, Smith said that he believes there needs to be more accountability for hospitals, noting that the ones in Chippewa Falls were being managed by an Illinois-based health care system and they closed “because they just weren’t bringing in enough money…That shouldn’t be the reason that people lose access to health care because someone can’t make enough money off them.”
“It’s been a real struggle up there, and has become at the forefront of what my office is dealing with these days,” Smith said.
When it comes to funding for cleaning up PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, in the water supply, James said he hasn’t been involved in drafting or negotiating on the bill to make use of $125 million set aside to combat them. “I will call Jeff out on this,” James said. “He’s the assistant minority leader, and he’s part of leadership to where he could be part of these discussions, so why not use that leadership position as far as having the discussions about PFAs and stuff?”
James also noted that he recently helped author a bipartisan bill that would require the state Department of Natural Resources to warn county and tribal health departments when an exceedance of state groundwater standards is discovered.
“We want clean, safe drinking water. That’s why I worked with Jill Billings [the Democratic Assembly representative from La Crosse]… The PFAS funding and stuff that’s all political. I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t like to be political,” James said. “My work record shows I like to get things done. I’ve gotten things done to better people’s lives. I will continue to work on things bipartisan.”
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The Solar for Good grant program has awarded over $100,000 in grants and solar panel donations to Wisconsin nonprofit organizations for the Fall 2025 grant round. Thanks to a generous donation from the Couillard Solar Foundation, the 10 nonprofits will install 896 panels for nearly 500 kilowatts of solar electricity, leading to more than $1.87 million in renewable energy investments in Wisconsin.
The following organizations have been awarded Fall 2025 Solar for Good grants to install new solar energy systems:
Mondovi Public Library – library, Mondovi
Elroy Public Library – library, Elroy
Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society – place of worship, Madison
Alma Public Library – library, Alma
Independence Public Library – library, Independence
Social Justice Center – community center, Madison
Wonewoc Area Lions Club – community service, Wonewoc
Wonewoc Area Fire Department – community service, Wonewoc
Sunny Side Development – affordable housing, Madison
Luther Park Bible Camp – place of worship and recreation, Chetek
The grant recipients from the Fall 2025 grant round are a diverse range of organizations, representing affordable housing organizations, schools, and houses of worship. Each organization’s solar project will have a significant impact on their budget and will allow them to focus more funds on their missions.
“We’re always excited to see the wide variety of grantees who are making the decision to use a clean energy resource like solar power,” said Jackie Harrison-Jewell, Executive Director of the Couillard Solar Foundation. “With the withdrawal of grant support for many clean energy projects and nonprofits this year, as well as the shuttering of tax credits for solar investment in the coming months, it’s especially heartening to see these Wisconsin nonprofits really commit to supporting their communities by reducing their energy use, reducing their utility bills, and helping to make Wisconsin a healthier place to live and work. We want to welcome all of our 2025 grant recipients to the growing community of solar-powered nonprofits we have in our state.”
Through the assistance from Solar for Good grants, these 10 projects will accelerate Wisconsin’s transition to solar energy, facilitating the expansion of environmental stewardship and energy savings. As Solar for Good looks ahead to future grant rounds, the program remains committed to supporting nonprofits and houses of worship across the state of Wisconsin by supporting organizations in their efforts to contribute to a positive environmental impact, enhance economic advancement in Wisconsin, and strengthen their ability to aid the communities they serve.
The post Fall 2025 Solar for Good Grant Awards appeared first on RENEW Wisconsin.
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