(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s measles outbreak continues to grow.

The state’s Department of Health Services said more people in southwest Wisconsin have tested positive for the measles.

“The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is reporting a significant increase in measles cases associated with the outbreak in Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette Counties – from 42 reported on Tuesday to 92 reported [on Friday]. This increase reflects ongoing transmission among people connected to previously identified cases,” DHS said in a statement.

Wisconsin is not alone in seeing measles cases this year.

The CDC said, as of Sunday, there were 2,903 confirmed cases in 47 states and Washington, D.C.

Most of those cases, 1,351, are among young people between the ages of 5 and 19 years old. The CDC said 94% of measles cases are in people who are not vaccinated.

Wisconsin's public health managers are not saying who is sick in the state, or where the measles outbreak began. DHS, however, said it continues to investigate the outbreak.

"While the increase in cases is significant, it does not necessarily indicate an increase in exposure risk to the broader public," DHS added. " Federal, state, and local public health agencies continue to investigate cases of measles to identify and notify close contacts, identify potential public exposure locations and will notify the public of possible exposure locations if needed."

DHS said all people in Wisconsin should update their vaccination status and is promoting its Measles Information Page that you can find here.

Following attempted missile attacks from Iran targeting a U.S. military base in Jordan, President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate.

The Islamic Republic launched several missiles targeting an American base in Jordan overnight after the U.S. reportedly targeted rocket launchers along the Strait of Hormuz. It has been reported that most of the missiles were intercepted.

In response, the president told Fox News Monday that Iran would be “hit hard” for the attack.

In a Truth Social post, Trump declared, “Iran is officially a failed nation. It is dead.”

In a separate post, the president posted what appears to be an AI-generated video showing Iran’s Kharg Island “being blown to smithereens” following Iran’s latest round of attacks.

The president added that Iran is dealing with 300% inflation and is unable to pay its military and police.

Videos circulating on social media claiming to be taken inside Iran show miles-long lines for gas, as the U.S. continues to enforce a full naval blockade on Iranian ports. The Trump administration claims the blockade is costing the Islamic Republic between $400 million and $500 million in economic losses a day, coupled with intense sanctions meant to squeeze the country financially.

The latest rounds come on the same day as the Pentagon announced a seven-year agreement with General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin to “accelerate” missile production.

The agreement would “triple” the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement and “quadruple” the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense programs.

The overnight attacks come days after U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces had “successfully cleared sea mines” in the Strait of Hormuz, within the international shipping lanes that “were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

The Pentagon says it has spent nearly $40 billion on military operations in Iran, though many independent analyses estimate the true amount is at least double.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Elections Commission plans to send a letter thanking the Milwaukee Elections Commission for its promised release of documents by this Friday related to an error at Milwaukee Central Count on the night of the recent primary.

On Friday, the MEC acknowledged that a team led by its deputy director mistakenly selected and downloaded an audit log instead of election results on five of nine tabulators at its central count facility on the state’s primary election night, leading to a delay in reporting unofficial results.

The WEC had planned to vote at its Monday meeting to approve a letter asking the MEC to release documents but the MEC preemptively sent a promise to release those documents.

The WEC plans to review the Milwaukee documents and see if further action is necessary. Those documents will include an audit log that will show if any action was taken on the machines between the first download of data and second download.

“I know I’m not supposed to make bets on voting but I bet anybody $100 that there will be a major problem with the November ’26 election at central count,” Commissioner Robert Spindell said during Monday’s meeting.

Commission Vice Chair Mark Thomsen, however, said that the hour delay in results on election night was simply a delay and he believes that all votes were counted, unlike an issue in Madison where nearly 200 ballots were not counted in the 2024 presidential election.

“The city has answered every question and it’s transparent and it’s there,” Thomsen said.

He added that he believes the WEC should not “unfairly attack people who have a very tough job.”

He was against the WEC sending its originally planned letter, saying that the MEC already had responded and that "crosses a line into witch hunting from investigation."

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin lawmakers plan to take their first hard look at the state’s food stamp program in more than a decade.

The legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee authorized an audit of the FoodShare program.

"The biggest thing I'd look at is that the federal requirements have changed, and the state is in a position where there's close to a $300 million risk if we don't look at and have in place the things we need to do to comply with the [Big Beautiful Bill]," Audit Committee co-chair Rep. Bob Wittke, R-Caledonia, said at Tuesday's hearing.

President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill sets new requirements that punish states if error rates are too high. Any state with an over-payment or under-payment rate more than 6% will be fined by the federal government.

Wisconsin's Department of Health Services, which runs FoodShare in the state, said Wisconsin's error rate was 5.72% for fiscal year 2025.

"We collectively should be very proud of our state administration of FoodShare," DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson told lawmakers Tuesday.

But it's not just errors. Lawmakers say Wisconsin last audited its FoodShare program in 2012.

"What I was seeing towards the end of my practice was the act of [a SNAP recipient] paying [a] drug addict, for instance, a dollar amount to go shop for them, or the drug addict going in and buying a bunch of meat and then selling it on the street. What are the mechanisms you use to stop that?" Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillet, said during the hearing.

Wimberg also pressed DHS managers for a plan to deal with FoodShare abuse.

"For the bad actor who is going to do those methods to basically get money by allowing other people to get food, what do you have that stops that sort of behavior?"

There are nearly 700,000 people in Wisconsin who are enrolled in FoodShare, though that number could drop.

The Big Beautiful Bill requires people who are not parents, elderly, or who have developmental disabilities to work 20 hours a week, go to school, or enroll in a job training program to continue receiving benefits.

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin lawmaker is raising concerns that one of nine members of Gov. Tony Evers’ commutations board has a conflict of interest as his work colleagues advocate for applicants being considered by the board.

Restorative Justice Director Jonathan Scharrer is one of nine members of the board that heard the arguments of 12 applicants on Friday. Scharrer’s colleagues are advocating for four of the 12 applicants, but he only recused himself from one of the four applicants, according the state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.

Wangaard published the names of the 809 felons requesting commutations through Evers’ board.

A commutation shortens the sentence of an inmate. Applicants must have at least a year remaining and have served half of the full incarceration term or 20 years of a life sentence.

Those imprisoned for sexual assault, physical abuse of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, trafficking of a child, incest and soliciting a child for prostitution are not eligible for commutation.

“It is a rigged system!” Wanggaard said in a statement. “Board members are considering applications their close colleagues are urging. The supposed “consideration” of releasing killers early seems like a guarantee now.”

Wanggard said he has received 1,800 pages of documents from the governor’s office in a partial response to an Open Records Request related to application materials for those seeking commutations.

“As we combed through the documents, we realized the Law School’s Remington Center wrote a letter in support of 4 of the 12 applicants,” Wanggaard said. “Jonathan Sharrer is listed on the Remington Center’s letterhead. He is also a member of Governor Evers’ Commutation Board. If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.”

Wanggaard’s office said the senator is still seeking the records of the remaining 797 applicants.