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(The Center Square) - Wisconsin is now expected to have $1.5 billion more in surplus after its current budget cycle ends on June 30, 2027, after new estimates were announced by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
That would mean the state would have $2.3 billion in surplus, lower than the $4 billion heading into this budget but well above the $800 million surplus that was previously projected.
The group said that the surplus would be the result of nearly $1.4 billion in increased tax collections and $104 million in additional departmental non-tax revenues.
Both Republicans and Democrats took credit for the surplus.
“These revenue estimates are further proof that Legislative Republicans’ long-standing commitment to responsible budgeting and fiscal discipline is working,” Joint Committee on Finance Co-Chairs Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said in a joint statement. “Through careful planning, conservative assumptions, and thoughtful decision-making, Wisconsin remains on strong financial footing, even in the face of economic uncertainty.”
Recent Wisconsin Department of Revenue numbers have shown the increased tax collections, with 4.9% more in general purpose revenue taxes and fees collected for the fiscal year through November
“This good news is a tribute to Wisconsin Democrats, who have prioritized investments in the people of Wisconsin that have improved our state’s economy, provided middle class tax relief, and helped make Wisconsin a state where businesses want to invest and families want to live,” said Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein. “The bi-partisan 2025-2027 budget, which I helped negotiate, advances those important priorities.
“The people of Wisconsin expect that we will invest these increased revenues in initiatives that will lower costs, improve lives, and continue to help make Wisconsin a place where everyone can thrive.”
The Trump administration has launched a series of investigations into various public schools and state departments of education across the country over Title IX allegations related to the participation of transgender athletes in girls' sports.
The investigation led by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court beginning oral arguments on transgender sports cases.
The core of the complaints asserts that these K-12 districts and state agencies maintain policies that discriminate based on sex. By permitting transgender students to participate in sports, the Department argues that these institutions are violating Title IX protections.
According to the Department of Education, these policies jeopardize both the safety and the equal opportunities of women in educational programs and activities, the Department said.
“In the same week that the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the future of Title IX, OCR is aggressively pursuing allegations of discrimination against women and girls by entities which reportedly allow males to compete in women’s sports,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said.
"We are currently reviewing the letter and will respond appropriately through the proper legal and administrative channels,” the University of Nevada, Reno, one of the schools under investigation, told Fox News. "The University remains committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and respectful campus environment for all of our students. We recognize and uphold our responsibilities under state and federal law, and we will continue to act in accordance with the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions.”
The department has also announced this week an investigation into the California Community College Athletic Association over its Transgender Participation Policy, which allows transgender females to compete on women’s teams after one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.
Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education, said during a webinar that allowing transgender athletes to compete in female sports has done violence toward women's equality.
“[Title IX] a federal statute, only 37 words long, something that was really the crown jewel of the women's liberation movement in the '60s and early '70s. To expand it to transgender status and gender identity did a significant amount of violence to the notion of women's equality, not just within athletic contexts, but within all sex-separated offerings,” Perry said.
The following entities are currently under investigation:
Jurupa School District (California).Placentia-Yorba School District (California).Santa Monica College (California).Santa Rosa Junior College (California).Waterbury Public Schools (Connecticut).Hawaii State Department of Education (Hawaii).Regional School Unit 19 (Maine).Regional School Unit 57 (Maine)Foxborough Public Schools (Massachusetts).University of Nevada – Reno (Nevada).Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District (New York).New York City Department of Education (New York).Great Valley School District (Pennsylvania).Champlain Valley School District (Vermont).Cheney Public Schools (Washington).Sultan School District No. 311 (Washington).Tacoma Public Schools (Washington).Vancouver Public Schools (Washington).
The lowest number of illegal border crossings were reported for the first quarter of a fiscal year in U.S. history in President Donald Trump’s first year in office.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (October, November and December 2025), U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded the lowest illegal border crosser encounter/apprehension totals ever reported at the beginning of a fiscal year.
A total of 91,603 encounters/apprehensions were reported nationwide – lower than any prior fiscal year to date, according to the latest CBP data.
By comparison, record highs were reported under the Biden administration of 392,196 in Q1 of fiscal 2025; 988,512 in Q1 of fiscal 2024; and 865,333 in Q1 fiscal 2023, according to the data.
Border Patrol agents also apprehended the lowest number of illegal border crossers at the southwest border in U.S. history in the first quarter of a fiscal year of just 21,815.
The total is 95% lower than the first quarter average under the Biden administration.
In December, Border Patrol agents apprehended 6,478 illegal border crossers between ports of entry at the southwest border, a 96% drop from the monthly average during the Biden administration.
The total is also less than the number apprehended in just four days in December 2024.
To put this in perspective, Border Patrol agents apprehended 209 illegal border crossers a day along the entire southwest border in four states in December 2025.
That is less than the number apprehended every 1.5 hours during the Biden administration, according to CBP data.
Nationwide, illegal border crossings in December remained historically low, totaling 30,698. This is the lowest total ever reported for the month of December in U.S. history.
By contrast, 370,883 were reported nationwide in December 2024 under the Biden administration, according to the data.
Border Patrol officers also released zero illegal border crossers into the country through parole programs in December and over the last eight months, CBP says. This is after the Trump administration terminated Biden-era parole programs, including catch and release, and implemented expedited removal processes, The Center Square reported.
By comparison, Border Patrol agents were ordered to release illegal border crossers into the country by the Biden administration. In December 2024, they released 7,041 along the southwest border, according to CBP data.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the dedication of DHS law enforcement, America’s borders are safer than any time in our nation’s history. What President Trump and our CBP agents and officers have been able to do in a single year is nothing short of extraordinary,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “Once again, we have a record low number of encounters at the border and the eighth straight month of zero releases. Month after month, we are delivering results that were once thought impossible: the most secure border in history and unmatched enforcement successes.”
The numbers are a complete reversal from the Biden era that saw a minimum of 14 million illegal border crossers, The Center Square reported. This included more than two million gotaways, those who illegally entered between ports of entry to evade capture. It also excludes millions released through more than a dozen parole programs and multiple visa programs the previous administration created and expanded. The Trump administration either terminated or revamped them. It is also implementing new policies and procedures to identify waste, fraud and abuse in several federal immigration programs and agencies.
“Help is on its way,” President Donald Trump said in a short but powerful message to Iranian protesters facing an oppressive regime that reportedly is targeting demonstrators.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – Take OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS…MIGA [Make Iran Great Again].”
The latest message to Iranian protesters comes as the president told reporters over the weekend that he is weighing “strong options” against the Islamic Republic’s regime, inching closer to striking the country for a second time within a year.
Trump told reporters late Sunday evening on board Air Force One that he and the military are looking very seriously at responding to reports that the Iranian regime is killing protesters.
Earlier in the month, the president issued a stern warning to the regime if it retaliated against protesters.
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United State of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” the president posted to his Truth Social Account.
Trump told reporters Sunday evening that he is receiving “hourly updates” and that he is “looking at some very strong options.”
The president said Iranian officials have reached out to the White House to negotiate. He added that a meeting is being set up, but indicated it may be too little, too late.
“Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We may meet with them … But we may have to act, because of what’s happening, before the meeting,” Trump told reporters.
Now it appears those meetings could be put off indefinitely.
Retaliation against protesters in Iran adds more fuel to the fire as the president is eyeing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
During the last week of December, Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when the two leaders reportedly discussed the potential of future strikes on Iran if the Islamic Republic attempts to rebuild its nuclear capabilities, after U.S. strikes in June that targeted the country’s nuclear sites.
“I hear Iran is looking to rebuild its facilities again, and if they do we will have to knock them down again,” the president told reporters during a news conference in late December. “We’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that build up. So I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I’ve been reading.”
The civil uprising in Iran follows a pattern of Iranian citizens protesting the brutal regime’s grip on its citizens. The most recent unrest occurred in 2019, with one of the most significant events taking place in 2009, known as the Green Movement, which resulted in millions of Iranian citizens demonstrating against the government.
(The Center Square) - A bill that would make grooming a felony in Wisconsin is now headed to the Senate.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said she was compelled to propose the bill after the Kenosha case of a teacher that led to 12 misdemeanors and sentence of 450 days in jail and three years of probation.
During that case, Nedweski said prosecutors were looking for an enhanced charge and she began working to create a specific grooming law. The legislation was then introduced soon after a series of investigative stories from The Capital Times highlighted how state Department of Public Instruction investigations into 200 cases of sexual misconduct and grooming in Wisconsin schools had been concealed.
Assembly Bill 677 passed the Assembly with a 93-6 vote and is scheduled for the Senate Committee on Education.
DPI supported the legislation, saying that it aggressively moves to act swiftly and decisively to protect children and “a clear statutory definition of grooming will support that work, giving the department and law enforcement additional means to protect students.”
“AB 677 treats grooming as the serious crime that it is, closing the gap in state law and giving prosecutors greater ability to hold predators accountable and give families and victims the justice that they deserve,” Nedweski said in a statement after the bill passed the Assembly. “This bill specifically targets the intentional, calculated, and manipulative behaviors that predators use to exploit our children’s innocence.”
The Kenosha case involved former teacher Christian Enwright, who was convicted of the misdemeanors after evidence of thousands of text messages over two school years with a then-12-year-old student were shown in court.
The new law would make grooming a felony charge that could lead to 10 years in prison, with further penalty if the offender was in a position of trust over the victim, if there are multiple victims, or if the victim has a disability.
The bill defines grooming as “a course of conduct, pattern of behavior, or series of acts with the intention to condition, seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child for the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse or sexual contact or for the purpose of producing, distributing, or possessing depictions of the child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
“I have seen firsthand that grooming is frequently a deliberate, gradual process; one that may unfold over weeks or months and often occurs through digital communication, emotional manipulation, isolation, or the abuse of trust,” bill sponsor Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, wrote in testimony for the bill. “By the time enticement or physical contact occurs, substantial harm has already been done. This bill allows law enforcement to intervene earlier in that process, when prevention is still possible.”
President Donald Trump returned to Michigan on Tuesday to tout the economy and the auto industry.
During his visit, Trump spoke to the Detroit Economic Club and visited a Ford plant in Dearborn. During his speech, he praised his first year in office as an economic success – pointing to dropping inflation and gas prices.
“Who knew it was going to turn out this well,” Trump said. “After less than 12 months in office, I’m back in Michigan to report to you on the strongest and fastest economic turnaround in our country’s history.”
In his speech, the president also defended his tariff policies.
“The Trump Tariffs have delivered us trillions of dollars of new investment,” he said. “They brought hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into the United States Treasury, helped curb inflation, and helped cut the federal budget deficit by a staggering 27%.”
A number of states and businesses have challenged his authority to put those in place and that is currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court, with a decision expected by June.
Just before the president took the stage in Detroit, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its much-anticipated Consumer Price Index for December.
It found that consumer prices climbed 2.7% over the last year, before seasonal adjusting. Trump applauded the report’s numbers.
“Biden gave us a colossal stagflation catastrophe, but my administration has rapidly and very decisively ended that,” he said. “We have quickly achieved the exact opposite of stagflation – almost no inflation and super high growth.”
While 2026 inflation dropped significantly from 2022’s high of about 6.5%, a recent poll found that Michiganders are still feeling the effects of higher prices.
A poll conducted by WDIV and Detroit News asked voters from across the state a number of different questions, including one on what impact they think Trump’s economic policies have had on the nation’s economy.
In response to that question, 38% said “stronger,” 48% said “weaker,” and 10% said “no impact.” That could be a bellwether for Republicans going into the midterm election, especially in a swing state like Michigan which helped push Trump over the finish line to an election win in 2024.
Possibly sensing that Americans’ continued concerns about the cost of living, the president also laid out future plans to try to address that. Those plans include banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, capping credit card interest rates, and announcing a “healthcare affordability framework.”
Investments into the car industry was another highlight of Trump’s trip.
Michigan saw companies like Stallantis and JR Automation announce millions of dollars in investments in the state last year. On this trip, Trump stopped by a Ford factory to focus on that company’s recent growth.
“We have a great relationship with the president and his whole staff,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. “We couldn’t be more excited. We’re adding market share. We’re growing as a company. We’re adding jobs.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday he will not seek a third term in 2026.
Walz was first elected to the position of Minnesota governor in 2018 after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives beginning since 2007. He ran unsuccessfully as Vice President alongside Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024.
Walz decision not to seek a third term comes amidst allegations of fraud with federal dollars in Minnesota. In November, a report alleged millions of taxpayer dollars were stolen from Minnesota's welfare system and sent to a Somali-based terror group.
Fraud allegations intensified when independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a video that claimed to reveal $110 million in fraudulent federal support sent to Minnesota day cares.
The Minnesota governor is expected to testify before Congress on Feb. 10 in response to allegations of fraud in the state.
Without an incumbent Democrat in the race for Minnesota governor, the 2026 primary election will likely be a heated contest as contestants vie for their parties nomination to the governor's mansion.
The Republican primary for governor already includes Minnesota Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth; CEO of the pillow company MyPillow, Mike Lindell; and former state senator and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen.
Demuth criticized Walz's decision to step down and pointed to the allegations of financial fraud plaguing the state in a post on social media.
"Democrat in Minnesota has spent years enabling criminals who stole our tax dollars, with still no meaningful accountability and no end in sight to the billions in fraud that still plagues nearly every government program imaginable thanks to 16 years of Democrat control," Demuth wrote on social media.
Minnesota's primary election is set for Aug. 11.
(The Center Square) – 2025 was a deadlier year in Milwaukee after the city’s police department reported a jump in homicides last year.
Milwaukee’s homicide database shows 142 people were killed in the city in 2025, compared to 132 in 2024. That is an 8% increase.
Milwaukee Police are not offering any thoughts as to why more people were killed in 2025 than 2024.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the spike in homicides is “vexing.”
The murder increase in Milwaukee stands out, in part, because 2025 saw fewer murders in most big cities. Washington, D.C reported a 31% drop in homicides, while Chicago reported 30% fewer killings. New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans also reported a drop in homicides in 2025.
Nationwide, the FBI said homicides fell almost 20% in the last year.
Milwaukee did see a double digit drop in other crimes, however.
The police database shows a 19% drop in non-fatal shootings. Milwaukee Police say 515 people were shot and survived in 2025, down from 637 in 2024.
Aggravated assaults fell 22%, and robberies dropped 28%. But the biggest year-over-year decline in crime in Milwaukee came from carjacking cases.
The police database reported a 49% drop in carjackings, from 513 in 2024 down to 264 in 2025.
Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are reacting to President Donald Trump's announcement of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
In a post to social media, Trump announced the U.S. carried out a "large scale strike" against Venezuela, capturing Maduro and his wife.
The two are in U.S. custody and charged with "narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.," according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., praised Trump's decision-making and called Maduro an illegitimate dictator. He said the Venezuelan leader was running a "vast drug-trafficking operation."
Cotton also said he was briefed on Maduro's capture by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He said Rubio confirmed Maduro was in U.S. custody.
"The interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world," Cotton said. "I urge them to choose wisely."
Similarly, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said she fully supports Trump's actions in Venezuela.
"Nicolas Maduro will face justice on American soil," Blackburn said. "I fully support the Trump administration for doing what is needed to protect American lives."
House Republican chair Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., also emphatically backed President Trump's decision-making in a post on social media.
"President Trump has cracked down on drug trafficking harder than any President in history," McClain wrote. "Maduro is a narco-terrorist. Period. His illegitimate regime floods our country with deadly drugs and Americans pay the price. President Trump didn’t look the other way; he acted. That’s what leadership looks like, and it’s how you protect the American people."
