Free Republic

MILWAUKEE — Foxconn Technology Group is casting a wide net to find the 13,000 workers it eventually expects to hire at its new North American manufacturing plant, partnering with universities and technical schools and even tapping into transitioning members of the military. Foxconn’s next generation of liquid crystal display technology that will be produced in southeastern Wisconsin, the first LCD panel glass fabrication plant in the United States, will be used in a wide range of devices and systems, including televisions, monitors, electronic notebooks and self-driving cars. The Taiwanese company plans to invest $10 billion to construct a 20-million-square-foot campus,...

Republican state Sen. Leah Vukmir trails Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin by just two points according to a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday. Baldwin leads Vukmir 49-47 percent among likely voters, but among registered voters, Baldwin is ahead by eight points. Vukmir defeated businessman Kevin Nicholson in the Republican primary election on Aug. 14. Before her victory, 66 percent of voters said they didn't know enough about her to have an opinion. That's down to 48 percent now. Among those registered voters who do have an opinion, 25 percent view Vukmir favorably, while 26 percent vie

Mitt Romney (R) said the "last 24 hours" have confirmed his "faith" in the U.S. justice system after President Trump's former campaign chairman was convicted on eight felony counts while his former personal lawyer pleaded guilty to various counts including campaign finance law violations. "The events of the last 24 hours confirm that conduct by highly-placed individuals was both dishonorable and illegal," Romney, who is running for the Senate in Utah, wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. "Also confirmed is my faith in our justice system and my conviction that we are a nation committed to the rule of law."...

MILWAUKEE — A new Marquette Law School Poll of Wisconsin voters finds a tight race for governor following last week’s statewide primary elections. Among likely voters (that is, those who say they are certain to vote), incumbent Republican Scott Walker receives 46 percent, Democrat Tony Evers receives 46 percent and Libertarian Phil Anderson 6 percent. Only 2 percent say they lack a preference or do not lean to a candidate. Among likely voters in the race for the Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in November, 49 percent support the incumbent, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, and 47 percent support Republican...

Dane County officials declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning after rain overnight Monday broke a state record for heaviest amount to fall in a 24-hour period, according to Dane County Emergency Management. The National Weather Service estimates that as much as 13 inches of rain has fallen in parts of western Dane County on Monday and Tuesday. The official state record for rainfall in a 24-hour period is 11.72 inches of rain, which occurred northeast of Mellen in northern Wisconsin on June 24, 1946. The National Weather Service has received numerous reports of rainfall from western Dane County that...

... “In 2016, a lot of us assumed we knew what would happen in Michigan and Wisconsin,” Salvanto told The Post. “It was a great lesson for us pollsters: Even if you think you know what will happen, poll it if you can.” Blame it on the Blue Wall. Since 1992, in six consecutive presidential elections, a solid block of 18 states had voted for the Democrat every single time. They would have given Clinton 239 electoral votes — 89 percent of the way to victory — if she had held on to them all.Few bothered to ask those states’...

Congratulations to Leah Vukmir of Wisconsin on your great win last night. You beat a very tough and good competitor and will make a fantastic Senator after winning in November against someone who has done very little. You have my complete and total Endorsement! 8:54 AM - 15 Aug 2018

Primaries in four states Tuesday — Minnesota, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Vermont — set up competitive governor’s, Senate and House races across the country this November. But even before then, these primaries identified some clear winners and losers that reinforced trends we’ve been seeing all year. Here they are: Winners Trump: At least in Republican primary politics, Tuesday once again proved he’s the king. Republican politicians on the ballot Tuesday who dissed him in 2016 raced to undo that, and those who didn’t do it convincingly enough lost their primaries. In Minnesota’s competitive governor’s race, Republican voters nominated a relative outsider,...

The fire that nobody seems to know about.

Prosecutors charged West last month. According to the complaint, several people whose names appear on West's nomination petition told a detective they never signed. Two even said the printed name next to their bogus signatures were not spelled correctly.

SUPERIOR, Wis. ― It was a little early for a drink, but that wasn’t going to stop Mahlon Mitchell. It was a Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Superior, a port city of 30,000 in Wisconsin’s far northwest corner. Mitchell, the leader of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin and a Democratic candidate for governor, had just finished touring the city with fellow firefighters and was about to kick off an economic roundtable with other union members. But first, he was perusing the beer list at Thirsty Pagan Brewing. Why? “I can run faster and jump higher than the other candidates,” he...

To say that the landscape for public sector health insurance has changed since Act 10 would be an understatement. Since the landmark bill’s passage, Wisconsin school districts have saved more than $3.2 billion in benefits costs. Seven years after the passage of Act 10, school districts have saved $3.2 billion on benefits costs. If the previous trend had continued, districts would be paying almost 60 percent more today. Districts found savings by opening up bidding to new insurers for the first time in years, while others increased required employee contributions towards insurance plans. Overall, since 2011, districts have largely moved...

Joe Biden is leading the Democratic field in some early polls asking voters about the party’s prospective presidential candidates in 2020. But in his old stomping grounds in the U.S. Senate, there are plenty of skeptics who point to the former vice president’s age, his support for the Iraq War and his two failed presidential bids as reasons to doubt he would be successful. “It’s hard to see someone [winning] who voted for the Iraq war. People are looking to turn the page,” one senior Democratic aide said. A second senior Democratic aide said “polls show that voters want someone...

A Wisconsin man lost his limbs after an infection he thought was a bad case of the flu. Greg Manteufel, 48, went to the emergency room with what he thought was the flu, but tests revealed he was suffering from an infection caused by bacteria in the saliva of dogs. While in the hospital, Manteufel's blood pressure dropped and the circulation to his limbs rapidly decreased, causing his legs to just "die," doctors said. It's situation Manteufel's wife, Dawn Manteufel, still does not understand.

-One format of radio show that is common around the nation is classifieds, the garage sale, yard sale, trash and treasure, or other nomenclature used to describe similar shows. The shows have callers offer items for sale, along with a telephone number for contact. In deep blue, Madison, Wisconsin, I was listening to the local conservative talk radio station. I was pleased to see the show accepted individual callers who had guns for sale.A local radio station in Yuma has a similar show. But firearms are specifically excluded from the items that are allowed to be advertised for sale...

Republican pollster Ashlee Rich Stephenson on Tuesday said it was "fools gold" to write off Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) in his reelection bid, despite multiple polls showing him trailing his Democratic opponent. "I would certainly never count Governor Scott Walker out by any stretch of the imagination. What he went through in 2010 was a real — survive with the recall. I think it just fools gold to say otherwise," Stephenson told Hill.TV's Joe Concha on "What America's Thinking." Walker won first a statewide recall vote and then his run for a second term, but two polls in the...

MILWAUKEE, WI — The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office issued multiple criminal charges against Jonathan Copeland Jr. in connection with the death of Officer Michael Michalski. Copeland faces the following charges: First degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon Attempt first degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon Possession of a firearm by a felon A criminal complaint filed against Copeland says officers were in the area near 28th and Wright on July 25 because Copeland had an “open arrest warrant” for felony drug crimes, as well as a warrant for absconding from Department of Corrections supervision. Copeland...

The Trump administration has approved a plan in Wisconsin allowing the state to shore up its Obamacare market. The plan is expected to lower premiums in 2019 by an average of 3.5 percent. Without it, premiums would rise by 11 percent in 2019, even after seeing hikes of 44 percent for 2018. “People in the individual market saw their premiums go up by 44 percent on average last year, and some saw much larger increases – that’s unsustainable and unacceptable,” said Republican Gov. Scott Walker, an Obamacare opponent. “Thankfully, the federal government is giving us the flexibility to implement a...

Billionaire conservative businessman Charles Koch’s political network is freezing out Republicans that it believes have violated its fiscally conservative principles, and is, at least for now, only supporting four Senate GOP candidates in the fall. The Koch network is backing GOP Senate candidates in Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee and Florida, signaling it will be selective in where it engages as Republicans seek to retain or grow their narrow 51-49 majority. At a Monday presentation to about 500 of the network’s top donors at a five-star resort in the Rocky Mountains, Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips made an example out of...

When the Trump administration announced a plan last week to overhaul the Endangered Species Act, the frantic reactions were illustrated with pictures of humpback whales and baby bald eagles. But a much better way to understand what Republicans have in mind is to consider Wisconsin’s wolf problem. Paul and Judy Canik raise bighorn and hair sheep near the small town of Butternut. Their herd has grown to about 400, each sheep worth around $1,500. Guarding the prized flock are nine Spanish mastiffs, worth $2,500 apiece. While checking on their animals two years ago, the Caniks found that 17 pregnant ewes...