The Wild West at MPS

by Mike Nichols

You wonder how many parents of kids at Bradley Tech or some other schools in Milwaukee really know what’s going on there.

In the interest of transparency – and trying to understand why the Milwaukee School Board won’t reverse course and get cops back in and around schools as soon as humanly possible – I want to share what I learned from 130 pages of police reports about just one incident on December 6.

This is the kind of incident that once would have been front-page news. Nowadays, gunshots fired at a school might get a brief mention on TV news – unless somebody dies or a whole bunch of kids get shot and bleed.

Another recent incident at Rufus King High School, one that started with a social media-fueled fight between a couple girls outside the building during a basketball game, made the news because a kid called an uncle who showed up with a gun and shot four or five girls and women between the ages of 15 and 20.



The incident at Bradley didn’t get the attention because nobody got hit.

Read the full column here

Burn After Tweeting

A now deleted tweet from Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton).

Do you agree with Rep. Snodgrass?

Reinstating work requirements for FoodShare recipients



On Tuesday, the Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reform considered the Stronger Workforce Initiative, a bill of packages that, among other things, would encourage able-bodied public benefits recipients to return to the workforce. Badger Institute Visiting Fellow Angela Rachidi submitted testimony in support of Assembly Bill 935, a measure that would reinstate work requirements and time limits for food stamp recipients.

Chairman Krug and members of the Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reform, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony related to Assembly Bill 935 – FoodShare work and FoodShare employment and training requirements and drug testing. I want to make three key points.

First, although Wisconsin’s economy has largely recovered from the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that started in March 2020, employers continue to struggle to find workers, and worker shortages remain a substantial concern for the near term.

Second, state policies that delink public benefit receipt from employment can make worker shortages worse.

Third, Assembly Bill 935 – FoodShare work and FoodShare employment and training requirements and drug testing – will reduce the work disincentives associated with FoodShare and can help address long-term labor force participation problems in Wisconsin.

Read Rachidi’s full testimony here.

From Your Nation’s Capital

America's national debt surpasses $30 trillion for the first time.

That’s $30,000,000,000,000!

The “woke” political movement has invaded Wisconsin and Minnesota's public schools, turning them into ideological battlegrounds and threatening the quality of our children’s education. Our students deserve better. Join the Badger Institute and Center of the American Experiment on February 24th to learn more about how Critical Race Theory advances a leftist, anti-American agenda that radically changes how our children learn about their country. Most important, learn how parents can push back against the politicizing of our schools. The event will highlight examples of CRT in action, the “woke” movement that is transforming our education system, and equip parents with ways to fight back against ideologies that are harming our students.

This is a free event, but please click here to RSVP. Your reservation includes appetizers, beverages and all the materials you need to fight CRT in your community!

Click here to watch

American for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and Matt Crespin, associate director for Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin, joined us on our podcast Free Exchange to discuss the need for dental therapy in Wisconsin.

“It shouldn't surprise us that Adam Smith's idea when you can take different pieces of a job and divide it into different areas, you can be much more effective, cut costs, and get more. It doesn't mean the dentist makes less. He gets to see more people, and the dental therapists get to see and serve more people and get it done." —Grover Norquist

Listen to the audio-only version of this episode here.

• City Journal: No benefit, many costs

• Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty: Six reforms to improve Wisconsin's regulatory environment

• Pew: Why state leaders from both parties are cutting taxes

• KHOU 11: Are your groceries getting smaller? Shrinkflation hitting stores more than ever before

• Education Next: Homeschooling skyrocketed during the pandemic, but what does the future hold?

Our work in advancing free markets, opportunity and prosperity in the Badger State is only made possible by generous donations from our supporters. We never have, and never will, accept government funding. Donate online or email Angela Smith, Director of Development. The Badger Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

A standard bearer of conservative thought in the Badger State, our biannual Diggings magazine takes an in-depth look at policy and cultural issues that affect Wisconsin residents. Click here to read Diggings.