State News

(Washington, DC)  —  Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson is one of four US Senate Republicans who oppose a quick vote on the Obamacare replacement bill. Johnson and senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee say they’re “open to negotiation and obtaining more information” before it goes to the floor. But the GOP can only have two no votes More >

(Madison, WI)  —  A federal judge says he agrees that the Lincoln Hills state juvenile institution for boys is a “troubled” facility. But James Peterson says he’s not sure if he’ll totally ban the use of pepper spray, restraints, and solitary confinement when he makes a ruling that’s expected Friday. He held a daylong hearing More >

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Firefighters had to rescue a man after his minivan became wedged in a drawbridge in downtown Green Bay. Officials say the van got stuck between one of the opening spans and the fixed roadway on the Walnut Street Bridge early Thursday. The Green Bay Metro Fire Department says the driver More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has voted to move deliberations over rules it operates under behind closed doors. The vote this week came amid hostility that has been present in the court in recent years, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2suC6lN ) reported. The state Supreme Court has always conducted its arguments on More >

JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — Janesville School Board member Cathy Myers has become the third Democrat running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan in 2018. Myers announced her campaign Thursday. The single mother of two teaches English at Hononegah High School in Rockton, Illinois. She says House Speaker Ryan seems to have forgotten his small-town More >

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — The Appleton Police Department’s new method of dealing with job stress has four legs and a lot of fur. Chief Todd Thomas says the main assignment of the latest recruit – a three-month-old Goldendoodle named Blue – is to lift the spirits of his department’s employees. Thomas tells WLUK-TV (http://bit.ly/2sYFgQn ) More >

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (AP) — Police say they’ve arrested a 13-year-old driver who led officers on two chases in Racine County. Officers say they began the first pursuit about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday in Mount Pleasant when the vehicle was spotted with its headlights off. That chase led officers into Racine where the boy ran through More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled state Assembly has passed a bill designed to prohibit people with pre-existing health conditions from being excluded from health insurance coverage. Republicans brought the issue up after midnight on Thursday. It was not scheduled for debate and there was no notice that the Assembly planned to take up the More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge is set to hear evidence in a case seeking to halt the use of solitary confinement, pepper spray and the shackling of inmates at Wisconsin’s troubled youth prisons. The hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge James Peterson comes in a lawsuit filed against the state Department of Corrections More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee jury needed less than two days of deliberations to acquit a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that sparked two nights of violence on the city’s north side. Jurors found Wednesday that Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was not guilty of first-degree More >