Happy Sunday! 

Here’s a question we’ve been asking for nearly 600 days: Who’s against cleaning up polluted water in Wisconsin? Believe it or not, there’s an actual answer for that. You’ll find it in today’s newsletter.

We also give an overview of how the candidates for state Superintendent of Public Instruction describe a recent change in how we measure student performance in Wisconsin. This really matters because there’s a primary election in just over a week to determine which candidates make it to the April 1 ballot. 

🏖️ Note: We won’t be publishing a politics edition next weekend. Someone (me! It’s me) needs a little R&R before the governor’s budget address on Feb. 18 kicks off the months-long budget debate at the Capitol.

We’ll be back on Feb. 23.

Thank you to everyone who took time to respond to last week’s question about whether Wisconsin should bring back a 48-hour waiting period to buy firearms. Just like the general public, the result was an overwhelming and emphatic “yes.”

🧐 I will add that one of the “no” voters did not base their position on the usual NRA talking points, but on the long drive for rural residents to get to reputable gun dealers in larger cities, pick out what they want to buy, then have to go home and drive all the way back two days later, doubling up time and gas. (I couldn’t help but wonder why that was okay to demand of women needing abortion care, when buying a gun is definitely the more likely decision that’s made in a moment of passion.)

💰 This week, we’ve got a very general state budget question on how to divide up the state’s $4 billion surplus. Some want it all to be “sent back” to Wisconsinites through a tax cut. Others want it all used on vital services.

What do you think your legislators should do with the extra money in the state budget?

A. All of it to tax cuts. Nothing for other services.

B. More than half of it to tax cuts, then use the rest for other needs.

C. Less than half of it to tax cuts—in order to fund other needs.

D. None of it to tax cuts. All of it to other needs.

Hit reply or email me directly at pat@couriernewsroom.com, and we may share it in a future newsletter or on UpNorthNews Radio.

PS: If you’d rather not get this politics-only newsletter going forward, that’s okay. Just click here to unsubscribe to this edition.

(Image via Shutterstock)

🔊My View: Test scores mean a lot less if you have a legislature that is openly hostile to public schools—shortchanging them and moving the goal posts when it comes to attainable standards.

🔊 Listen to my interview with Chris Thiel, legislative specialist for Milwaukee Public Schools, on the topic.

If you like what we’re sharing, we hope you’ll share, too. Let a friend know about us. 

We talk about all of these stories and more every weekday morning on UpNorthNews Radio, 6-8 a.m. on seven Civic Media stations across Wisconsin, and on our YouTube and Facebook pages. 

And, of course, you can stay up to date every day through our social media feed—pick your favorite platform: Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok.

Later this month, Wisconsin will reach a sad milestone for anyone who values clean, safe drinking water in our state: 600 days of legislative Republicans refusing to allocate money to find and remove PFAS, those thousands of different manmade chemical compounds used in various industries and disposed of recklessly. 

To make things clear (unlike some of the contaminated water), Republicans in the Legislature already approved $125 million for cleanup in 2023. Yet they’ve refused to release the money—unhappy that Gov. Tony Evers used his line-item veto to cross out language that provided too many loopholes to corporate polluters. Republicans say they won’t release the money until the loopholes are restored. Evers recently announced new language to protect innocent landowners who didn’t know PFAS were being dumped or spread on their property.

Related: Evers will also try again to set a groundwater standard for PFAS

👉🏼 More Money Held Hostage: Republicans in the Legislature are also sitting on $50 million that was supposed to fund the new literacy standards they passed into law. Just like the frozen funds for PFAS clean-up, GOP lawmakers are unhappy that Evers vetoed language in the bill they passed. In this case, Evers struck language that would’ve allowed the Legislature to micromanage where DPI sends the literacy funds. Watch a video from reporter Salina Heller about how school districts are struggling to keep up with the literacy changes, now that they’re just another unfunded mandate.

👉🏼 Trump’s Medicaid Mess: When President Trump tried to put a freeze on nearly all federal spending (something he cannot do legally), he caused alarm for folks in Wisconsin who benefit from their tax dollars supporting a variety of programs—especially Medicaid funds that provide stable, affordable health insurance known as BadgerCare to almost 1.5 million people in the state. Watch a video from reporter Elisabeth Montemurro to see the concerns expressed by a man whose disabled adult son is a business owner and whose health relies on BadgerCare not being cut.  

🚨 Some of the nation’s Democratic governors got together recently, and in between meetings they shot a video in the style of well-known “Suspect Challenge” TikTok meme—where the person shooting the video follows a “suspect” and offers commentary on a mocking commentary on the suspect’s most notorious behavior, as if it were part of a police drama. You could describe Gov. Evers as being happily guilty about the charges against him.

🚔 Let’s be careful out there — and have a great week!