By Peter Cameron, For Wisconsin Watch One officer was accused by a supervisor of snoozing in his squad car while on duty. Another had multiple drunken run-ins with police, including after bar fights. A third repeatedly sent lewd photos to a female officer. All of them were fired or forced out. And all of them […]
Author Archives: Peter Cameron
Posted inLocal news, Police and fire
Total police officers, academy graduates in WI at 10-year low
BY PETER CAMERON, THE BADGER PROJECT The number of law enforcement officers in the state and the number of law enforcement academy graduates here have fallen to their lowest points in at least a decade, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Wisconsin has about 13,600 law enforcement officers at the moment. That’s […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
Wisconsin state legislators wrote themselves a ‘bizarre’ loophole in the Open Records Law
BY PETER CAMERON, THE BADGER PROJECT If the city of Oshkosh’s streets superintendent gets an email from a citizen complaining about an uneven sidewalk in front of his house, by law that public employee has to hold onto that record should anyone want to see it. State Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) But if a state […]
Posted inCORONAVIRUS
As semester ends in Wisconsin, COVID-19 fears shrink — while concerns of academic slide grow
By Peter Cameron For Wisconsin Watch One family reported driving to the community library parking lot, sitting there for hours each day so their children could use the wifi to do homework in the car. Another student reported having to do the same thing in the parking lot of the local McDonald’s. “I’m gaining weight,” […]
Posted inElections, Government, Local news, Politics
TWO MILLION DOLLAR CHECKS: This Year, Out-of-State Liberals Dominated Donations to Wisconsin Political Parties
The ex-wife of a Silicon Valley super-investor. The governor of Illinois. George Soros. Out-of-state millionaires and billionaires are pouring money into the two major Wisconsin political parties in 2020. Huge donations from outside the state are becoming the norm in Wisconsin, where legal changes have allowed for ever-increasing political donations in recent years. Following the […]
Posted inElections, Government, Local news, Politics
The Election is Over. Wisconsin Turns to Redistricting.
The veto is intact. Now that the election is over, it’s time to move on to the next political fight in Wisconsin. The results from that will last longer than a Joe Biden presidency. Like every state in the union, Wisconsin must redraw its political districts. Many experts consider the Dairy State’s to be among […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
Policing in Wisconsin: ‘Room for improvement,’ but could be a lot worse
More than a month after the death of George Floyd led to protests across the country, calls to reform police have reached the decibel levels of a thunderbolt. State Democrats have released several bills they say will improve policing in Wisconsin. So have some from the GOP. But with the election less than four months […]
Posted inCity Hall, Government, Local news
Following National Trend, City of Racine Spends Heavily on Policing
After George Floyd, a black man, died at the hands of a white Minneapolis Police Officer on Memorial Day, protests and calls to defund, demilitarize, reform, and even abolish the police have swelled across the country. Floyd’s death “shocked the conscience of the nation,” Racine Police Chief Art Howell said in a letter to the […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
SIX OUT OF SEVEN: Wisconsin Supreme Court has highest percentage of female high court justices in the U.S.
Six of Wisconsin’s seven Supreme Court justices will soon be women again, once more giving the state the highest ratio of female high court judges in the country, an investigation by The Badger Project found. Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky’s victory this week over Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly by an unofficial margin of […]
Posted inElections, Government, Local news
For the Wisconsin left, if only — Election Thoughts
BY PETER CAMERON Today could have gone a lot differently if the left-leaning candidate had won election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year. Liberals are trying again this year, but the loss last year could make a win this year much harder. Unlike every other state scheduled to hold an election after March 17, […]
Posted inElections, Government, Local news
Could adding competition to elections break the gridlock in Wisconsin, and beyond?
If you’re a fan of The Simpsons, you remember the classic Halloween episode from 1996 in which aliens take over the bodies of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in the middle of the presidential campaign. “It’s a two-party system. You have to vote for one of us.” “It’s a two-party system. You have to vote for one […]
Posted inElections, Government, Local news, Politics
Redistricting in Wisconsin: Where we’re at
By Peter Cameron The state of Wisconsin is gerrymandered. In one of the most-evenly divided states in the country, none of the 2018 elections for the state’s seven U.S. congressional seats were decided by less than double figures. That’s equivalent to electoral blowouts in every district, no matter which party won. State Republicans may disagree with […]
