TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalPrevented care: The Catholic Church runs one-third of Wisconsin hospitals, putting many reproductive
Prevented care: The Catholic Church runs one-third of Wisconsin hospitals, putting many reproductive procedures off-limitsBy Rikha Sharma Rani and Parker Schorr
When Ascension’s St. Joseph Hospital in Milwaukee announced it would cut back services in 2018, residents of the surrounding Sherman Park area balked.
The predominantly black, low-income neighborhood already faced its share of challenges. Nearly a third of residents in the ZIP code live in poverty, and black infants born there are more than twice as likely to die as white infants. Residents feared that reducing services would exacerbate these disparities, and even pave the way for the hospital to be shuttered completely.
They protested fiercely to keep services in place, and St. Joseph’s parent company, Ascension Wisconsin, eventually put the cuts on hold. St. Joseph Hospital works to maintain the community’s trust and fulfill the unmet social needs of patients, through programs such as Blanket of Love, which educates families about prenatal health, nutrition and exercise.
“It's an anchor institution there,” said Reggie Newson, chief advocacy officer at Ascension Wisconsin.
Read more: https://madison.com/ct/news/local/prevented-care-the-catholic-church-runs-one-third-of-wisconsin/article_444aad29-b692-5547-9f00-87014a5fa39f.html
Madison School District put on notice to change gender identity policy or face lawsuit
By Logan WrogeA conservative legal group is giving the Madison School District 45 days to change a policy the organization says unconstitutionally bars parents from finding out from school staff if their child is transitioning genders or it will sue the district.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, or WILL, sent a letter Wednesday to the district laying out its legal arguments against portions of a "guidance document" for working with transgender and non-binary students, which prohibits staff from revealing to parents if their child is transitioning genders unless the student gives permission.
"Parents have a constitutional right to be involved in significant decisions that affect their child's health and well-being," said Luke Berg, deputy counsel at WILL. "The decision to change gender identity, which should not be a surprise, is both highly controversial and potentially highly consequential, and that's exactly the type of decision that parents need to be involved in."
The "demand letter" from WILL — a type of legal document that typically seeks some resolution before a disagreement goes to court — claims the guidance document violates parental rights protected by due process and religious freedom clauses in both the state and federal constitutions.
Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/madison-school-district-put-on-notice-to-change-gender-identity/article_93a771a6-acc1-5b9d-9c3a-d983e1feb7e7.html
DOJ appeals judge's order to strike 'movers' from voter rolls; LWVWI files federal suit to block
DOJ appeals judge’s order to strike ‘movers’ from voter rolls; LWVWI files federal suit to block purgeThe state Department of Justice is asking the Madison-based 4th District Court of Appeals to issue a decision by Monday on its request to stay an Ozaukee County judge’s order that could deactivate over 200,000 voters.
Meanwhile, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin has filed a new lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent the purge of the state’s voter rolls.
Ozaukee County Judge Paul Malloy yesterday signed a formal order following his oral ruling on Friday requiring the Elections Commission to deactivate registrations for voters who may have moved and failed to respond within 30 days to a state notice double checking their addresses.
But in filings submitted late yesterday afternoon, the DOJ appealed that decision and called on the appellate court to issue a stay of Malloy’s order by Dec. 23.
Read more: https://www.wispolitics.com/2019/doj-appeals-judges-order-to-strike-movers-from-voter-rolls-lwvwi-files-federal-suit-to-block-purge/
Biden leads among Latino Democrats in Texas, California
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads his fellow Democratic presidential contenders among Latinos in California and Texas, as well as Nevada's Clark County, according to a new set of polls released Friday.
The polls conducted by Mason-Dixon and released by Telemundo Station Group, show Biden with the support of 21 percent of California Latino Democrats, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 19 percent support and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) at 9 percent each.
Biden also leads among Latinos in Texas, with 33 percent support, more than double that of second-place Warren, who's at 16 percent. Sanders is in third place with 11 percent support.
The former vice president also leads among Latinos in Nevada's Clark County, the largest in the state with roughly three-fourths of its population. Biden had 23 percent support and was followed by Sanders at 18 percent and Warren with 7 percent.
Read more: https://thehill.com/latino/470564-biden-leads-among-latino-democrats-in-texas-california
Yes, the article is a month old. However, it is important to remind everyone that Biden polls extremely well among Latinos and his support in Texas is so strong that it could conceivably flip the state to Democrats in the general election. None of the other candidates have that level of support.
Wisconsin remains a purple, scrutinized, swing state
The message from this month’s Marquette poll is less than exciting: Registered voters who are polled are generally paying far less attention to the daily drama of politics than all the insiders who expectantly wait for the poll’s results of the Marquette poll every month do.
Wisconsinites, to sum the polling up in brief, are pretty equally divided, politically, independent, mixed on impeachment and don’t feel much different than we did last month. Or the month before that.
None of that makes for very sexy headlines, but there you are. It’s yet it’s where many Wisconsinites seem to be, at according to all the results from the Marquette Law School’s latest poll released last this week. And the results it shows in how closely it mirrors results from the November poll.
The two polls are so similar, in fact, that lead pollster Charles Franklin said as he was preparing this month’s presentation that he had to check his slides and go back and recheck them again because he was concerned a slide was from the previous month.
Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2019/12/15/wisconsin-remains-a-purple-scrutinized-swing-state/
Sean Duffy's former chief of staff sells pot
By Ruth ConniffChief of staff to former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy is now working for a company that produces marijuana products.
Pete Meachum, who worked for Duffy before the Congressman resigned in September, is now senior director for government affairs at the Cronos Group, according to a report in the insider government affairs publication Legistorm.
Cronos Group, Legistorm reports, in its “Caught Our Eye” feature, “bills itself as ‘an innovative global cannabinoid company.’
“The Canada-based group has not disclosed a U.S. lobbying presence at this time,” the report adds.
“Meachum had served as Duffy’s chief since 2013, briefly taking leave from the office to head Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign efforts in Wisconsin. He has also worked for then-Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and for ex-Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.).”
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/sean-duffys-former-chief-of-staff-sells-pot/
Assembly adoption bills pass, despite criticism
Assembly lawmakers advanced eight measures Tuesday to change Wisconsin laws governing adoption and termination of parental rights, but only after rewriting them, in some cases making them substantially different from the Senate versions.
Five of the eight bills approved Tuesday by the Assembly Committee on Family Law have already had a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children and Families, but still await a vote in that committee. The other three bills the Assembly committee passed Tuesday don’t have Senate versions.
Because of amendments made in the Assembly committee, however, one or both houses will have to rewrite the five shared bills if they are to be enacted. With few floor sessions scheduled in the new year, the time to do that is limited.
And despite their passage, the bills themselves got mixed to poor reviews in public hearings earlier this year.
Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2019/12/18/assembly-adoption-bills-pass-despite-criticism/
Anti-sanctuary legislators warn of dangerous 'criminal aliens'
A small group of Latino Wisconsinites, some in suits and ties, some in jeans, and some wearing T-shirts with the logo of the immigrant-rights group Voces de la Frontera, filed into the State Capitol Tuesday, for a hearing on a bill that would make it illegal for cities and towns to refuse to cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).
Before the hearing, Christine Neumann Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, held a press conference, surrounded by community leaders, to denounce the bill as a piece of copycat, national legislation designed to scapegoat immigrants and enrich the private prison industry.
The Republican sponsors of Senate Bill 151 were giving full voice to the dangers posed by undocumented immigrants, as the people who had come to the Capitol with the immigrant-rights group took their seats in the hearing room.
Bill author Sen. Stephen Nass (R-La Grange) told the Senate Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform that if they are not stopped, Madison and Milwaukee will be “releasing criminal illegal aliens back into our communities.”
Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2019/12/18/anti-sanctuary-legislators-warn-of-dangerous-criminal-aliens/
Tony Evers again calls on GOP lawmakers to provide $3.7 million for homeless
By Molly BeckMADISON - Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made a rare move Monday by calling on Republican lawmakers to act on funding he wants to help people who live outdoors during Wisconsin's harsh winters.
But GOP leaders of the Legislature's finance committee rejected Evers' call made in a letter asking the committee to meet Thursday to act on $3.7 million the governor wants set aside annually to pay for housing grants, homeless shelters, services for the homeless and new staff to coordinate the efforts.
"Winter struck hard and early this year, including early and heavy snowfall for much of the state," Evers says in the letter. "The proposal was sent to the Joint Finance Committee in July, specifically to avoid the current situation. The Wisconsinites most vulnerable to the harsh winter are going without the services and assistance they desperately need during the coldest months of the year."
Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and Rep. John Nygren of Marinette in a letter to Evers said legitimate concerns over the funding still exist and that the committee won't be meeting. Darling and Nygren did not say what those concerns are.
Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/16/tony-evers-again-calls-gop-lawmakers-provide-3-7-m-homeless/2665999001/
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Wisconsin taxpayers could pay Foxconn for work done outside of Wisconsin, audit warns for 2nd time
MADISON - The new leader of the state's jobs agency is pledging to withhold state tax credits from technology manufacturing giant Foxconn for employees who don't work in Wisconsin — but a new state audit shows the agency's procedures leave the door open.
For the second time in as many years, the nonpartisan Legislature Audit Bureau is warning the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to change its procedures to ensure taxpayers don't end up paying for work that doesn't benefit the state economy.
Foxconn struck a deal in 2017 with state lawmakers to build a $10 billion LCD panel manufacturing facility in southeastern Wisconsin in exchange for $3 billion in state incentives.
The project — once hailed by President Donald Trump as the "eighth wonder of world" — has since been scaled back, but the state's contract with the company hasn't changed.
Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/17/foxconn-wisconsin-taxpayers-could-pay-work-done-outside-wisconsin/2674915001/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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