Yearly Archives: 2024

A former IRS contractor who leaked former President Donald Trump's tax returns along with tax information for some of the nation's wealthiest people was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.

Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in October to disclosing tax return information without authorization.

Littlejohn, while working at the IRS as a contractor, stole tax return information associated with Trump and others. Littlejohn accessed tax returns associated with Trump on an IRS database "after using broad search parameters designed to conceal the true purpose of his queries," according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He then evaded IRS protocols to detect and prevent large downloads or uploads from its systems.

Prosecutors said Littlejohn then saved the tax returns to multiple personal storage devices, including an iPod, before contacting a news outlet. Between around August 2019 and October 2019, Littlejohn provided the news outlet with the tax return information associated with Trump. Littlejohn then stole additional tax return information related to Trump and provided it to the same news organization, which is not named in the indictment.

In September 2020, The New York Times published a series of articles about Trump's returns.

The Times has previously said Littlejohn was a whistleblower.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said: "We remain concerned when whistleblowers who provide information in the public interest are prosecuted."

"The Times's reporting on this topic played an important role in helping the public understand the financial ties and tax strategies of a sitting president – information that has long been seen as central to the knowledge that voters should have about the leader of our government and the candidates for that high office."

In July and August 2020, prosecutors said Littlejohn separately stole tax return information for thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, again evading IRS detection. In November 2020, Littlejohn disclosed this tax return information to another unnamed news organization, which published more than 50 articles using the stolen data. Littlejohn then obstructed the forthcoming investigation into his conduct by deleting and destroying evidence of his disclosures, according to prosecutors.

ProPublica published a series of articles on wealthy taxpayers during the same time frame.

"By using his role as a government contractor to gain access to private tax information, steal that information, and disclose it publicly, Charles Littlejohn broke federal law and betrayed the public's trust," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement last October.

The world is awaiting President Joe Biden’s response to a drone attack in Jordan over the weekend that left three U.S. servicemembers dead and more than 30 injured.

In his statement Sunday, Biden said “we know [the attack] was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” and pledged to respond to the “despicable and wholly unjust attack.”

That statement raised questions about what the response could look like and if it would be severe enough to escalate to a broader war in the region.

White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said at the White House briefing Monday that the administration “does not want a war” and “does not want to escalate.”

“But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves and to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks,” Kirby said.

Kirby went on to say he would not get ahead of the president’s decision-making or give much information about what a response could look like. He said Biden is “weighing the options before him” and reiterated that the groups responsible for the attack are “backed by Tehran,” the capital of Iran.

The weekend drone strike is the latest in a string of attempted attacks by various terror and militia groups in the region. Those attacks have amplified since the Iranian-backed Hamas fighters carried out their deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Some experts and U.S. lawmakers called for a retaliatory strike against Iran, which has nuclear capabilities, but that strike could quickly grow into a wider regional war involving Israel and other Middle East nations.

Iran has publicly pushed back against the claim it is tied to the deaths of the U.S. servicemembers.

So far, the U.S. has not responded with a strike in the region, which is already on edge.

Biden’s response could be crucial for the Israeli-Hamas war and for determining whether the ongoing Middle East issues escalate into a larger conflict.

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels in Yemen have fired on ships in the Red Sea attempting to pass through the Suez canal, forcing billions of dollars in shipping to begin going south around the tip of Africa instead.

Biden responded by sending a U.S. mobile Naval base to the region, where U.S. forces are shooting down Houthi missiles and drones. Houthis have targeted the U.S. forces as well.

The Department of Defense released the names of the servicemembers, “Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga.”

In his statement Sunday, Biden honored the fallen troops.

“These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty,” he said. “Unbending in their commitment to our country – risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism. It is a fight we will not cease.”

President Joe Biden’s support in America’s most Hispanic state has declined dramatically, according to a new poll.

Biden trails former president Donald Trump 57-41 in New Mexico, representing a sharp reversal from his 54-44 victory in 2020, according to the poll, conducted by Public Option Strategies in conjunction with Power the Future, an energy worker advocacy group.

The reversal of fortunes for Biden in New Mexico seems to be driven by dissatisfaction among Hispanic voters. Only 36% of Hispanic poll respondents approve of Biden, compared to 53% in July 2022. Conversely, 63% of Hispanic voters disapprove of Biden, compared to 43% in July 2022, according to the poll. Biden easily beat Trump among New Mexico's Hispanic voters 61% to 38% in the 2020 election.

Biden’s struggles in New Mexico might be reflective of a broader backlash against his performance overall, as evidenced by national polling. Nationally, 58% of voters disapprove of Biden's performance, in contrast to 39% who approve it, according to the poll. National polling data aggregated by FiveThirtyEight affirms these findings, with roughly 39% of Americans approving of Biden's performance.

The Center Square Voters Voice poll of more than 2,500 likely voters conducted in January found similar overall dissatisfaction: 59% of likely voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, while 39% say they approve of the job he is doing.

Seventy-three percent of New Mexico voters rated the state’s economy as “only fair” or “poor.” Twenty-seven percent of respondents agreed that the economy is “good.” Hispanic voters were even more pessimistic, with 80% saying that the economy is “poor” 19% rating the economy as “good.” Only 26% of respondents agree that their personal economic situation has “gotten better.”

Fifty-four percent of New Mexico voters say that the oil and gas industry is “most important” to the well-being of the state’s economy, an industry that the Biden administration has been adversarial towards. And 66% of the state’s voters are opposed to government-backed efforts to move away from oil and gas as an energy source. On Friday, the president, supported by environmental activists, paused the approval of new liquified natural gas exports.

“This poll proves what many outside of Washington, D.C. already know: the constant attack on America’s energy sources leads to higher costs and families know more green mandates aren’t the answer,” Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, said in a statement. “The people of New Mexico know their state receives billions from the oil and natural gas industry, and Joe Biden is doing all he can to stop it. Support for Joe Biden in this deep blue state has evaporated, and that should send shockwaves through the White House.”

New Mexico voters are also wary of the growing push toward electric vehicles, according to the poll. Sixty percent of respondents say they do not want to purchase an electric vehicle and 67% think it will “cost them more in the long run.” The Biden administration has touted its commitment to growing the electric vehicle industry, increasing taxpayer funding to help expand electric vehicle charging stations and announcing a $3.9 billion initiative to improve the country’s electric grid.

Moreover, the poll reveals New Mexico voters rank the economy, crime, illegal immigration, and inflation as their most urgent concerns, issues that national voters rate Biden poorly on.

There were 371,036 foreign nationals reported to have illegally entered the U.S. nationwide in December, the largest number for the month in U.S. history.

There were 302,034 foreign nationals who illegally entered the southwest land border, with the majority, 249,785, being apprehended between ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. By comparison, 73,414 illegal border crossers were apprehended at the southwest border in December 2021.

There were 15,349 foreign nationals apprehended illegally entering at the northern land border last month, the highest for the month in U.S. history, according to the data. By comparison, there were 2,205 apprehensions at the northern border in December 2021.

The data excludes gotaways, those who illegally enter and intentionally evade capture by law enforcement, which CBP doesn’t publicly report. When included, the totals are much higher. From Jan. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2023, there were an estimated 1.7 million gotaways to have illegally entered the U.S., The Center Square exclusively reported. Ultimately, law enforcement officials say they have no idea how many gotaways there are in the U.S., or who or where they are.

The overwhelming majority of illegal border crossers, including gotaways, are single adults, with the majority of them being single military age men, The Center Square has previously reported.

Retired FBI counter intelligence leaders recently sounded the alarm, warning that these unvetted men pose a terrorist threat. They also said President Joe Biden’s border policies have facilitated a “soft invasion” into the U.S. of military-age men coming from terror-linked regions, including China and Russia. “In its modern history the U.S. has never suffered an invasion of the homeland, and, yet, one is unfolding now,” they said.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to soon impeach him for failing to uphold his oath of office, as the House Committee on Homeland Security Committee Chairman has repeatedly argued, Mayorkas is “derelict in his duty” to protect the homeland.

(The Center Square) – Lena Taylor is leaving the Wisconsin Senate to a chorus of kind words.

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday named Taylor as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge.

“Sen. Taylor is a committed public servant who has dedicated her life to pursuing justice for her community and the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said. “I am confident that she will serve the people of Milwaukee County well as a circuit court judge.”

Taylor was first elected to the State Assembly in 2003, and then to the State Senate two years later.

Taylor resigned her Senate seat Friday and will start as a judge Tuesday.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of the 4th Senate and the 18th Assembly Districts, over the course of my 20-year tenure with the Wisconsin State Legislature. It has, also, been a pleasure to work with my colleagues, staff, state employees and the dedicated Capitol employees, that made it possible for me to serve my constituents,” Taylor said in a statement. “As I prepare for the next phase in my journey of public service, I must admit this feels like a full circle moment. I began my career as a public defender and then private practice attorney. Even in running for public office, the goal of justice reform, accountable and responsive systems, has always been my priority.”

Taylor is leaving with high praise, from both her fellow Democrats and Republicans.

“I will miss working with my friend, Sen. Lena Taylor. Although we come from different backgrounds and political philosophies, Lena and I were able to work together more often than not, as we did on improving policing. Never at a loss for (a lot) of words, Lena was a passionate advocate for Milwaukee and her beliefs,” Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said Friday. “Even when we weren’t able to reach an agreement, we were often able to reach an understanding. I look forward to working with her in her new capacity as a member of the judiciary.”

“Sen Taylor is a fierce and effective advocate for the people of Milwaukee and her dedication to her community is unmatched. I am confident that the Senator will diligently fulfill the duties of a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge because of her equitable pursuit of justice and commitment to the truth,” Senate Democratic Leader Diane Hesselbein said in a statement of her own. “It has been an honor to serve with Senator Taylor throughout my time in the State Legislature and I salute this excellent choice by Gov. Evers.”

Taylor’s new job opens a seat in the Wisconsin Senate and opens a spot to run under what will likely be new political maps later this year.

Becoming a judge also means a significant pay raise.

Wisconsin lawmakers make a little more than $57,000 a-year. Taylor will make a little more than $164,000 a-year.

A jury on Friday ordered former President Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to a writer who accused him of him of ruining her reputation by denying he raped her in 1995 or 1996.

The jury awarded $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. That's far more than the $10 million writer E. Jean Carroll had sought.

Carroll sued Trump in 2019 after he denied that he had raped her in 1995 or 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.

Trump had said he never met Carroll. His attorneys argued Carroll had sought fame and attention. Trump said she made up the story to boost sales of her memoir.

Trump said Friday's verdict was a sign the nation's legal system was broken.

"Absolutely ridiculous!," he wrote on Truth Social. "I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!"

In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for $5 million in damages for sexually abusing Carroll and calling her a liar. In that trial, Carroll testified that Trump raped her and then defamed her by calling her a liar in a 2022 post on Truth Social, his social media platform. That jury found Carroll failed to prove that Trump raped her, but proved that Trump sexually assaulted her.

Trump, 77, is leading in the primary race for the GOP nomination to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden.

Carroll's civil case is among the many legal challenges Trump faces as he campaigns. He faces 91 felony charges in four criminal cases.

Trump has said the legal challenges amount to a politically charged witch hunt designed to interfere with his bid to re-take the White House.

The Washington D.C. trial, one of the two federal criminal cases, is set to start March 4. Special Counsel Jack Smith's team of federal prosecutors charged Trump with four federal counts related to contesting the 2020 election and the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The charges include conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one's vote counted, according to the indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

After that is Trump's New York state criminal case, set to start on March 25. In that case, Trump pleaded not guilty in April to 34 felony counts related to charges he paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels through a lawyer before the 2016 presidential election and covered it up as a legal expense before being elected president.

Then comes the scheduled start of the classified documents case in Florida on May 20. In that case, Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 felony counts that allege he kept sensitive military documents, shared them with people who didn't have security clearance, and tried to thwart the government's attempts to get them back.

The final one is Trump's Georgia criminal trial is set for Aug. 4. In that case, Trump stands accused of trying to interfere in the state's 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

Twenty-five Republican governors said Thursday they back Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to defend the state's border with Mexico.

Abbott invoked the invasion clause of the U.S. Constitution on Wednesday and said the federal government broke its compact with the states.

The "Guarantee Clause" of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 4) "promises that the federal government 'shall protect each [State] against invasion." Fifty-one Texas counties have declared an invasion, citing an imminent threat created by transnational criminal organizations bringing in enough fentanyl to kill the entire state's population, and expressing support to defend Texas' sovereignty.

The governors said they support Abbott.

"Because the Biden administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation," the governors said.

The Biden administration sued Texas over the placement of wire barriers at the border in Eagle Pass. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reversed a decision by a lower court that stopped the federal government from removing the wire.

Abbott has ordered the Texas National Guard to continue building the wire barriers.

"We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border," the governors said in a statement. "We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally."

Separately, former President Donald Trump also backed Abbott and the state of Texas' response.

"When I was President, we had the most secure Border in History. Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants into the United States," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Instead of fighting to protect our Country from this onslaught, Biden is, unbelievably, fighting to tie the hands of Governor Abbott and the State of Texas, so that the Invasion continues unchecked. In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion."

Trump and Biden appear to be headed for a rematch of the 2020 election in November.

The governors' statement is signed by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s budget-makers are expecting less money over the next year but say that shouldn’t stop the state from giving taxpayers some of their money back.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released an updated revenue forecast for the state budget that will end in June 2025.

“Based upon our analysis, we project the closing, net general fund balance at the end of this biennium (June 30, 2025) to be $3,152.0 million. This is $439.1 million below the net balance that was projected at the time of enactment of the 2023-25 biennial budget,” the report stated.

Most of that decrease, some $422 million, comes from an expected drop in tax collections.

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, the head of the budget writing Joint Finance Committee said even with the lower estimate, a $3.1 billion surplus is plenty of money to pay for a tax cut for Wisconsinites.

“Earlier this week, Republicans introduced a plan to send over $2 billion to the people of Wisconsin through targeted relief to middle income earners, families, and retirees,” Marklein and Born said in a statement. “Our plan builds on the decade-long practice of returning money to hardworking taxpayers, which has resulted in over $22 billion of savings for Wisconsin individuals, families and businesses. Our budget funded our priorities and met our obligations. Now we must return the excess to taxpayers. These updated revenue estimates show we have the money to do it.”

That proposal would target the tax cut to families who make $150,000 or less.

Marklein and Born said Wisconsin can provide that kind of relief, because of years of Republican budgeting.

“These estimates are consistent with what we expected when we crafted our budget. We created a responsible budget that protects taxpayer resources, while making important investments in our state. A decade of sound fiscal policies have contributed to the continued growth of our state’s economy and state government’s bottom line,” the two added.

In addition to the $3.1 billion surplus, Wisconsin, Marklein and Born said the state has $1.8 billion in its rainy day fund.

(The Center Square) – The president of the University of Wisconsin says young people are not choosing the university’s branch campuses.

President Jay Rothman told a crowd in Milwaukee the demand is simply not there for the UW’s local campuses like it once was.

“We had to accept what was market reality,” Rothman said at an event at the Milwaukee Press Club. “The attendance at those campuses have dropped drastically in the past 10 years, far more than any of our universities. We have to accept consumers aren’t looking at those branch campuses the way they once were.”

Rothman said online options are making things difficult for small, local campuses.

“If you’re in a branch campus, or somewhere hard to reach, online availability has changed the landscape,” Rothman said.

Rothman’s comments came after UW-Green Bay last week said it will end in-person classes at its Marinette campus at the end of the current semester. UW-Milwaukee County ended in-person classes at its Washington County campus, and UW-Oshkosh announced an end to in-person classes at its Fond du Lac campus.

All three campuses have just a few hundred students each this semester.

Rothman said, overall, the entire university system is facing some difficult financial times.

“We are having to make hard choices at some of our campuses including furloughs, buyouts and layoffs,” Rothman said.

He told the Press Club that 10 of the UW’s 13 campuses are all running a deficit this year.

Rothman said he hopes to close those deficits by 2028 but warned it will take more federal money to make that happen.

“We are all focused on the same thing, and that is student success. We have a long way, certainly encountering some headwinds in being successful, but we are going to work through it,” Rothman said.

As the conflict between the federal government and Texas escalates over the state's right to defend its border with Mexico, Gov. Greg Abbott is not backing down as a congressional Democrat called on President Joe Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard.

If the Texas National Guard were federalized solely to usurp Abbott’s constitutional authority to secure the Texas border, Congress should consider whether doing so constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor – an impeachable offense – under the U.S. Constitution, a constitutional law expert told The Center Square.

After Abbott invoked his constitutional authority to defend Texas’ border on Wednesday, saying, “The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” reports surfaced that Biden could federalize the Texas National Guard. This would result in pulling them from the Texas border and breaking the chain of command under Abbott.

Abbott called up several thousand guard members and positioned them at the Texas-Mexico border through his border security mission, Operation Lone Star. After the U.S. Supreme Court this week ruled Border Patrol agents could destroy Texas' concertina wire barriers, Abbott instructed guardsmen to build more.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, said that if Abbott “defies” the Supreme Court’s ruling, Biden “needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now.”

The court ruling only addressed Border Patrol agent activity in Eagle Pass, Texas. It did not direct the governor to stop constructing the barriers or to stop enforcing state law.

Texas National Guard troops operating under Title 32 fall under the command of the Texas governor as their commander in chief. If federalized under Title 10, the Guard falls under the command of the president.

“If the Texas National Guard are federalized under Title 10 for the sole purpose of pulling them off the Texas border and out of the chain of command of the Commander in Chief of the Texas military, after Gov. Abbott invoked his constitutional authority to defend the Texas border, the founders would have envisioned this as a crime and misdemeanor and impeachable offense,” Jonathan Hullihan told The Center Square. Hullihan is a constitutional law and national security law expert, a former active duty Navy JAG, and general counsel of Citizens Defending Freedom.

He was among the first to call for Texas to declare an invasion. So far, 51 counties have declared an invasion, nearly 100 counties have issued disaster declarations and invasion declarations, or both, citing the border crisis.

Hullihan also said that federalizing Texas National Guard troops to usurp Abbott’s authority is a different matter than other reasons used to impeach, or attempt to impeach, former presidents because it directly relates to constitutional authority.

“This is not a phone call to Ukraine,” Hullihan said, referring to the U.S. House’s now discredited impeachment of former President Donald Trump. “This is not like having an affair with a White House intern,” he said, referring to a key fact in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. “This is not like sending your guys to go search for intel in a campaign office,” referring to the Watergate scandal, he told The Center Square.

“Congress should consider if federalizing the Texas National Guard after their Texas commander in chief called them up under constitutional authority for the sole purpose of pulling them out of his chain of command constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor,” Hullihan told The Center Square. “Attempting to violate the authority of the U.S. Constitution could be viewed as an impeachable offense. The founders specifically wrote the U.S. Constitution with safeguards to protect state sovereignty should the federal government fail to protect them.”

Hullihan also reiterated what many Texans have argued: “Congress has failed to act on the border.” After Republican members of Congress held a news conference in Eagle Pass, border residents told The Center Square if Congress continues to use taxpayer dollars to fund policies that facilitate the border crisis, Congress is complicit in creating it and a national security threat.

“The question now is if Congress will defend the U.S. Constitution or not,” Hullihan said. “What’s happening in Texas is above politics and policy. This is about the founding principles of the U.S. Constitution and ensuring the checks and balances put in place will safeguard our constitutional republic and protect the lives, liberty and property of American citizens.

“Fundamentally, the government is charged with ensuring our individual liberty. We cannot allow transnational criminal organizations to operate unimpeded into our open border killing Americans. We have fought wars to defend our border, we must continue to fight today.”

(The Center Square) – The latest report on school choice in Wisconsin again shows choice schools outperform public schools in Milwaukee’s biggest cities and rural areas.

The Apples to Apples report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty compares proficiency rates in math and English language arts in public schools, charter schools and private schools part of Wisconsin’s voucher program.

The report says the idea to put “schools on a level playing field to fairly assess education.”

“Each iteration of Apples to Apples has found that private schools in the choice program and many forms of charter schools outperform their traditional public school peers on a level playing field, and this year is no different,” the report states. “But it is important to emphasize that we report all results, whether favorable to school choice or not.”

Those results show some charter schools have occasionally underperformed compared to public schools.

But as a whole, the Apples to Apples report shows choice schools in Milwaukee significantly out-performed Milwaukee Public Schools.

● Students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program showed proficiency rates in private choice schools 8.6% higher in English/language arts and 6.9% higher in math on average than proficiency rates in traditional public schools in Milwaukee.

● Milwaukee charter schools students showed 6.9% and 6.5% higher proficiency in ELA and math, respectively, than traditional public schools.

Statewide, that gap between choice schools and traditional public schools was “about 3.1% higher in ELA for students participating in school choice statewide than traditional public-school students. For the first time, proficiency was found to be lower in math.”

The report goes on to highlight that the biggest tell-tale sign of an achievement gap is family income, not race. Though Wisconsin schools continue to see a large racial achievement gap.

“Statewide, a school with 100% low-income students would be expected to have proficiency rates 47.3% lower in ELA and 45.2% lower in math compared to a hypothetical school with zero low-income students,” the authors wrote. “For African American students, that gap is 23% in ELA and 26% in math. Hispanic students have an achievement gap of approximately 6.7% in math, but no significant gap was found in ELA.”

Rural schools, the report notes, continue to struggle.

“On average, proficiency in Wisconsin’s rural schools is significantly lower in both ELA and math than urban, suburban, or town schools,” the report states.

There are no quick fixes, according to the Apples to Apples report, but the authors say there’s a chance for Wisconsin students to do better.

“There may be a glimmer of hope for improvement in ELA with the passage of a bipartisan reading bill during the most recent legislative session,” the report adds in its conclusion. “In the coming years, it will be interesting to follow whether the implementation of this bill leads to improvement in reading across the state. In the meantime, educational options like private school choice and charter schools continue to provide an important alternative.”

More chain stores closed in 2023 as a result of high inflationary costs, with the trend continuing in 2024 led by the iconic department store, Macy’s.

In 2023, retail stores, pharmaceutical and fast-food chains continued a trend of previous years: declaring bankruptcy and closing their doors or shutting down some locations to cut costs, citing inflation, higher costs, and profit losses.

Last May, discount retailer Tuesday Morning announced it was closing its doors nationwide after being in business for 49 years. Home goods chain Christmas Tree Shops filed for bankruptcy and liquidated all of its stores as did the largest bridal-store chain in the U.S., David's Bridal, laying off tens of thousands of employees.

Sears, once the largest retailer in the world with more than 700 stores in the U.S., shuttered hundreds of locations. Now, only 12 stores remain open.

New York-based specialty athletic retailer Foot Locker also announced it was closing 400 stores in North America by 2026, after reporting sales, gross margins and net income losses.

Pharmaceutical giants CVS and Walgreens also closed stores as cost-cutting measures. CVS announced it planned to close 900 locations by the end of 2026; with store closures came diluted earnings per share for shareholders. After reporting over $170 million in earnings losses, Walgreens announced it was closing 450 stores to cut costs.

Fast food chains Pizza Hut and Boston Market also closed locations in multiple states, with Boston Market’s failure to pay wages resulting in regulatory action in New Jersey and litigation in Arizona and Massachusetts.

Now, at the beginning of 2024, the iconic department store Macy’s announced it is closing five stores nationwide and laying off 3.5% of its workforce, or 2,350 employees, to cut costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Despite our strong and tangible progress over the last few years, we remain under pressure,” its outgoing CEO Jeff Gennette said in a memo obtained by the Journal.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, inflation and prices for all goods and services soared, initially breaking 40-year record highs. As prices and costs go up, wages have gone down, “placing additional stress on family finances,” The Heritage Foundation’s “Biden Inflation Tracker” notes.

From January 2021 to November 2023, Heritage notes that real disposable income has dropped by 7.5%, home ownership affordability has dropped by over 37%, credit card debt has increased by over 36% and Americans' monthly savings have dropped by over 81%.

Over the same time period, consumer prices increased by more than 17%, gas prices increased by over 50%.

Despite recession predictions, the economy expanded slowly last year. But as a result of the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates, increased congressional spending, and other factors contributing to increased inflation, by late December 2023, the national debt surpassed $34 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. In fiscal year 2023, the administration and congress ran a deficit of at least $1.7 trillion.

Major store closures and ongoing inflationary concerns continue as only 39% of likely U.S. voters recently polled expressed a favorable view of Biden’s job performance as president.

And then there were two – former President Donald Trump and former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley will duke it out in the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday.

Sunday's final polling before the primary by CNN/University of New Hampshire had Trump ahead 50%-39%.

The sampling of 2,348 with margin of error +/-2.8% was taken Tuesday through Friday of last week, ahead of Sunday afternoon's announcement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis he was dropping out and endorsing Trump.

Trump was well ahead in registered Republicans; Haley commanded a lead among the independents.

There are 22 delegates to the Republican National Convention up for grabs, and awarded proportionally. New Hampshire, which picks presidential winners about 80% of the time since the turn of the 20th century, had 10 candidate names on the 2016 primary and Trump bested them with more than 35% of the vote after having run second to Sen. Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucuses.

In November, he was a loser to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Haley has invested heavily in New Hampshire, crisscrossing the state with Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed the former ambassador back in mid-December. During Sununu’s endorsement speech, he predicted the battle would ultimately come down to Trump and Haley.

“This is a race between two people. Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. That’s it … with all due respect to the other candidates,” Sununu told the crowd at a time when the field was more than a half-dozen.

Sununu has urged voters to support Haley, hoping the combined support could be enough to dethrone Trump.

Haley's home state of South Carolina is next in the primary schedule, on the first Saturday in February. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who got engaged Saturday, gave an endorsement to Trump this weekend.

In The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll taken Jan. 2-4, Trump's 61% easily beat challengers Haley (12%), DeSantis (11%) and Vivek Ramaswamy (7%). Ramaswamy dropped out after Iowa.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Republicans are pushing a plan to let voters weigh in on the state’s abortion law.

A group of lawmakers introduced a plan they hope will put a 14-week abortion ban on the spring ballot.

“While I am personally pro-life, I know not everyone is,” Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said, “It’s time we let the people of Wisconsin decide our laws regarding abortion and not leave it up to the whims of a judge.”

Wisconsin currently allows abortions until 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Kitchens said that a 14-week ban would still allow for most abortions.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 93% of abortions in the United States occur in the first trimester. However, many Democrats support abortion up to birth. Rep. Kitchens says that extreme position isn’t shared by most voters,” Kitchens said.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said a vote on a 14-week ban would allow the people of Wisconsin to balance legal abortion with the restrictions that most polls say voters want.

“Out of an abundance of respect for how sensitive this issue is, we would like to hear directly from the voters whether they agree that this is what they want the law to be – striking a balance between protecting life and showing compassion and respect for women who find themselves in difficult situations,” Felzkowski added.

In order to get the 14-week ban on the ballot, Republican lawmakers would have to approve it in both the State Assembly and State Senate. Gov. Tony Evers would then have to sign it before voters would have their say.

Evers has already vowed not to sign the plan.

“If Republicans had their way, they'd ask Wisconsinites to strip themselves of some of the very reproductive freedoms that were only just recently restored,” Evers said on social media on Sunday. “I will not let Wisconsinites go back to the way the way things were a year ago, much less 50 years ago before #Roe. Period.”