At a April 27, 2019 rally in Green Bay before 10,000 boisterous supporters, President Donald Trump blazed his way through a typical barrage of claims and statistics in a stump speech that stretched well over an hour.

After calling Wisconsin — a key state in his 2016 general election victory — a "special place," he threw out two rapid fire claims on the state’s poverty and unemployment levels. We’ll tackle the first of those here.

"The poverty rate for Wisconsin families has reached the lowest rate in 22 years," Trump said, a pronouncement greeted by cheers from the Resch Center crowd.

His claim is very precise — Wisconsin, families, 22 years.

Read more: https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2019/apr/30/donald-trump/trump-says-wisconsin-poverty-rate-lowest-22-years-/?fbclid=IwAR2dE2pa2Qn3zj-hJL_rwhrKZY48dR_IaPY_4_NViCyW3LGDP7hWucYYSsc

The Milwaukee area is now the headquarters of a new company with $8 billion in revenue and 16,000 employees worldwide: Clarios.

The new company, based in Glendale, was created by Johnson Controls International plc’s sale of its automotive battery business for $13.2 billion.

The business was bought by Brookfield Business Partners L.P., a publicly traded limited partnership, and a group of institutional investors, including Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which manages public pension plans in Quebec.

Clarios, which employs 500 people in the Milwaukee area, immediately becomes one of the state’s largest companies based on revenue.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2019/05/01/johnson-controls-automotive-battery-business-now-new-company/3638011002/

A Foxconn executive and his wife in the process of purchasing a home paid more than a quarter-million dollars to a man posing as a representative of a Racine title company, according to court records.

Alan S. Yeung, Foxconn director of U.S. strategic initiatives, and his wife, Stella F. Chan, thought they had wired $260,146.93 to Landmark Title of Racine Inc., according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

The couple had been communicating via email with someone they thought was a representative of the firm when they wired the payment on Feb. 7 at the Wells Fargo Bank branch at 100 E. Wisconsin Ave., according to the affidavit.

It wasn't until after the transaction was complete that the couple learned the emails had not been coming from the title company but instead someone posing as a representative using a similar-looking email address, according to the document.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2019/05/01/foxconn-executive-wife-pay-quarter-million-dollars-home-purchase-scam/3643163002/

MADISON — Wisconsin Republicans open to a possible compromise with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Medicaid expansion are looking at ways to accept the federal funding while not appearing to cave in on the issue, even as GOP leaders remain steadfastly opposed.

Evers is also publicly refusing to bend from his full expansion proposal, despite its near-certain demise in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Chatter about finding a compromise is giving a thin thread of hope to those who have pushed for years to take the money and use it for a host of health-care initiatives.

“I honestly think we have to take it,” Republican Sen. Luther Olsen, of Ripon, said of the Evers Medicaid expansion proposal. “Whether we do or not, I don’t know. We need to look with an open mind at what it does for the state of Wisconsin.”

Evers ran in support of taking the money that his predecessor, Republican Gov. Scott Walker, steadfastly refused to accept.

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-republicans-seek-compromise-on-medicaid-expansion/article_d8a12311-8597-5bbe-8d82-277fd8da4374.html

MADISON — Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says it is "blasphemy" and "horrific" for President Donald Trump to say that doctors in the state want to execute babies.

Evers made the comment Tuesday in reaction to a statement Trump made over the weekend during a rally in Green Bay. Trump said it was "shocking" that Evers planned to veto a "born alive" abortion bill that requires doctors to keep babies alive following a failed abortion.

Trump said doctors and mothers "determine whether they will execute the baby."

Evers says "To say that doctors in the state of Wisconsin are executing babies is just a blasphemy."

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/evers-calls-trump-s-comments-on-abortion-bill-blasphemy/article_26b7cc4a-bb43-5f55-9b3b-14e7d3cf5b75.html

Dem Tip McGuire says he’s hoping to see the same teamwork that helped fuel his victory in the 64th AD present when he officially is seated in the Assembly.

McGuire’s won handedly over Republican Mark Stalker to succeed former state Rep. Peter Barca in the seat.

A WisPolitics.com tally of unofficial results from Kenosha and Racine counties show McGuire won 62 percent of the vote to Stalker’s nearly 38 percent.

McGuire, addressing attendees at his election night party in Kenosha, thanked his supporters and volunteers, saying no campaign “is a solo enterprise.”

Read more: https://www.wispolitics.com/2019/dem-mcguire-wins-special-election-in-64th-ad/

Edgewood College offered buyouts to more than three dozen faculty members earlier this academic year in response to a decline in student enrollment.

The college will cut about 30 full-time positions, or about 5% of its 600-person employee base, at the end of the spring semester. It also plans to increase its student-to-instructor ratio from 9:1 to 15:1 over the next several years by eliminating about 10% of course sections offered.

The changes will encompass one of the largest shifts the small Dominican university has experienced in decades.

Edgewood College President Scott Flanagan said it's the first time he can recall faculty members being offered a buyout since he arrived on campus in the late 1990s, a time of rapid expansion for colleges across the country.

Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/edgewood-college-offered-buyouts-cutting-about-full-time-positions/article_693b3dd7-1dbe-5101-a4cf-e10816fbf3e3.html

Immigrants and their supporters converged Wednesday on the Capitol to rally for Gov. Tony Evers' proposal that would make driver's licenses available to people who are living in the country illegally.

Many at the rally carried signs that read "Driver's Licenses for All" and called on Republican legislative leaders to reach a compromise with Evers and pass his proposal. The event, part of the annual nationwide May 1 day of action, attracted 4,000 to the Capitol, based on an updated estimate from Madison police.

If approved, Wisconsin would join 12 other states that currently provide driver's licenses to immigrants living in the country illegally.

"We are standing and marching today with our families, friends, co-workers and people we don't even know to demand driver's licenses for people in Wisconsin and across this country," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of the rally's organizer, Voces de la Frontera.

Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/immigrants-backers-rally-for-driver-s-licenses-in-wisconsin/article_ef1e4cb2-baee-52ce-8577-09a98225ea73.html

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday restored 82 appointees of former Gov. Scott Walker who were confirmed during a lame-duck legislative session, handing a victory to Republicans and defeat to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

The 4-3 order affects 15 of the appointees Evers had not reappointed after a lower court said it was legal for him to essentially fire them. Evers argued the appointees were invalidated after a lower court ruled that the entire lame-duck session, where Republicans took powers away from Evers and the incoming Democratic attorney general, was unconstitutional. Days later, an appeals court put that ruling on hold, creating more confusion about the status of the 15 people Evers did not reappoint.

The underlying legal case over the validity of the lame-duck session continues. The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on that for May 15.

Evers’ spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, predicted the governor would prevail.

Read more: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-restores-all-scott-walker-appointees/article_7937bbd9-4285-5123-89f5-65919673e297.html

A freshman state representative from Chicago is facing a driving under the influence charge in Springfield after he was allegedly found asleep behind the wheel of his Land Rover on March 29 about a block from the Illinois Capitol.

Rep. Kambium Buckner, a South Side Democrat, pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday in Sangamon County Circuit Court.

Springfield police were called to assist Illinois secretary of state police in the early morning hours of March 29 after Buckner was found sitting in his vehicle through several cycles of a traffic light, and didn’t drive on even after the secretary of state police officer honked his horn, according to a report filed with the Sangamon County sheriff’s office.

Buckner, 33, failed a field sobriety test and refused a blood alcohol test at the scene and after being brought to the county jail, according to the report. He was released on bond shortly after being booked into the jail.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-state-rep-kambium-buckner-dui-20190501-story.html