Free Republic

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two University of Wisconsin-Madison employees who were denied insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery. The Wisconsin Group Insurance Board had allowed for the coverage back in July based on a provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), but (reluctantly) agreed to eliminate it at the behest of the state Department of Justice beginning on February 1.

Wisconsin police told Fox News on Tuesday they were fully aware they could be engaged in a suicide-by-cop showdown if they encounter manhunt suspect Joseph Jakubowski, wanted for stealing guns and mailing a 161-page manifesto to President Trump. "I'm confident that if that were the case, we are going to do everything we can to keep our community safe and keep our officers safe," Rock County Sheriff Richard Spoden said on "America's News HQ." "We haven't had anyone get hurt and we certainly don't want him to get hurt."

The FBI and U.S. Marshals have dozens of agents and officers involved in a nation-wide  manhunt for a Wisconsin man who mailed a 160 page threatening manifesto to the White House.   In addition a seriously disturbing video (below) has surfaced showing the man proclaiming he is part of the left-wing “revolution” movement. Joseph Jakubowski has been on the run since Tuesday, when police say he broke into the Armageddon Gun Shop in Janesville, south of Madison, and stole 16 high-caliber rifles and handguns. He is believed to be armed and dangerous, and traveling with a bulletproof vest and helmet, according to authorities. Jakubowski...

In classrooms across the country, students might be scolded for using "ain't" instead of "isn't." But a UW-Madison student is working to erase the stigma against Ebonics, also known as African-American Vernacular English. UW-Madison junior Erika Gallagher conducted research about code switching, also known as code meshing, in which people change their regular speech tendencies to fit into the mold of what is commonly accepted as appropriate. Ebonics is a variety of English that is commonly found in the center of large cities that have been historically populated primarily by black people. It is commonly found in slam poetry,...

Five school districts in south-central Wisconsin put their schools on a soft lockdown Thursday because of information Janesville police received investigating a gun shop break-in and theft of guns Tuesday night. Janesville, Edgerton, Evansville, Fort Atkinson and Milton school districts have ongoing lockdowns, according to the districts. The Rock County Sheriff's Office has identified the suspect in the break-in and the one who allegedly made threats against an unspecified school as Joseph Jakubowski, 32, of Janesville. "Information was received in the very early morning hours Thursday that Jakubowski has been highly agitated recently, regarding a variety of political issues," said...

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court could have a say in rulings on religious freedom, transgender bathrooms in schools, and private property rights, if he is confirmed before April 16. One is regarding whether a Christian school in Missouri is entitled to compete for the same state dollars as nonreligious schools. The outcome could affect so-called Blaine amendments in states across the country. The second case involves property rights in Wisconsin. The third is a transgender bathroom case out of a Virginia high school, and how broadly the federal government may interpret Title IX, a federal law that...

University of Wisconsin-Madison student Erika Gallagher thinks that helping students learn proper English is racist. She’s drawing a national reputation for her research on “code switching,” a practice in which people who grew up using a minority vernacular like Ebonics “change their regular speech tendencies” to sound like the majority.

Fed up with people speeding in your neighborhood? If you live in Menomonie, Wisconsin, there’s a new effort you can be a part of to get drivers to slow down. The Menomonie Police Department recently introduced a new program inviting citizens to help identify speeding vehicles and report them to the police. The program is called “Traffic Tamers.” After completing training with the police department, volunteers can check out radar units to conduct their own speed watches in their neighborhood. The volunteers, called “tamers,” work in pairs. One runs the radar unit to record the speed of the vehicle, while...

Chris Wallace Interview of Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan: "Let's accomplish what the people asked us to do when they sent us to Washington . . . let's find a plan that is consistent with what the American people told us to do when they elected us."

Hidden handguns could be legally carried without a license in Wisconsin under a far-reaching, Republican-backed proposal unveiled Tuesday. The bill would also allow licensed concealed carry permit holders to bring firearms into places where they are currently barred, including school buildings, unless signs are posted prohibiting them. "We're just removing the barrier of the concealed carry permit to give them their constitutional right," said the bill's co-sponsor, Republican Rep. Mary Felzkowski of Irma. She and Sen. Dave Craig, a Republican from Big Bend, began circulating the measure on Tuesday for co-sponsors.

“#NoSnowflakes,” warns an employee recruitment campaign, but the West Salem-based construction company meant no political offense by the message it put on a Third Street billboard, according to its business recruitment manager. The term was first used in pop culture to disparage spoiled, lazy millennials at the turn of the century and in more recent years has been applied generally to political liberals. “We don’t care what politics a person has as long as they show up and work hard all day long,” Greg Brickl said when asked about a politically loaded term that has raised some eyebrows. Brickl said...

If there is an indefensible position on property rights, count on an academic to take it. On March 20 the Supreme Court began to hear oral arguments in Murr v. Wisconsin, a property rights case it agreed to take up in January 2016. The Cato Institute previewed the case on St. Patrick's Day. "Joseph Murr and his siblings own two side-by-side lakeside lots, one with a recreational cabin and the other left vacant as an investment," the Cato Institute release noted. "Due to land-use restrictions, they allege that Wisconsin has 'taken' the vacant lot, which would require the state to...

German candymaker Haribo, famous for its fruit-flavored gummy bears, plans to build its first production facility in the United States and start making confectionery there from 2020. Family-owned Haribo, which employs 7,000 people worldwide at 16 sites in ten countries, said on Thursday it has decided to acquire property in Wisconsin for the factory. Haribo, a model of Germany's successful "Mittelstand" firms which make up the backbone of Europe's largest economy, was founded in 1920. It gave Germany one of its most famous advertising slogans, promising to make kids and adults happy.

Paul Ryan is being mocked on Twitter for toasting with a flat pint of Guinness Naomi O'Leary tweeted the first photo with the 'appalling' pint and said 'Grave missteps by the US' The luncheon has taken place every year since 1983 close to St Patrick's Day The Speaker of the House spoke at the event because of his Irish descent Paul Ryan is being roasted on Twitter for toasting a Friends of Ireland lunch event with a flat pint of Guinness. The Republican Speaker of the House is of Irish descent, but has unknowingly become the joke of St Patrick's...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) paid Hillary Clinton's campaign lawyer $90,000 for crisis control following a Veteran Affairs facility scandal that engulfed the senator and her staff. Baldwin, who was first elected to the Senate in 2012, was the only member of Congress from Wisconsin to receive an official federal government inspector general report warning of the over-prescription of narcotics given to veterans at the Tomah VA facility in her state. The abuses at the facility ultimately led to the death of a Marine.A memo was first circulated in 2009 warning of the dangerous amounts of narcotics prescribed to veterans...

A University of Wisconsin-La Crosse police dispatcher claims she was fired for supporting Donald Trump. In a letter sent Tuesday to the UW System Board of Regents, Kimberly Dearman's lawyer, Lee Fehr of Onalaska, said his client had been fired for political speech in support of President Donald Trump's travel ban. Fehr's letter said the comments were spurred by an email UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow sent to faculty, students and staff rebuking the move by the president. Gow denied Dearman was fired for her politics. "I want to be very clear," Gow said. "We would never let someone go based...

Wisconsin election officials on Tuesday blamed undertrained poll workers and Sen. Bernie Sanders' social media posts for dozens of instances in which 17-year-olds managed to vote in last year's state presidential primary. A commission report found that as many as 70 teenagers in nearly 30 Wisconsin counties voted illegally in the April election. Sanders won the Democratic side of the primary; Ted Cruz won the Republican side. Many states allow 17-year-olds who will be 18 by Election Day to vote in their primaries, but Wisconsin requires voters to be 18 to vote in its.

A La Crosse man admitted throwing roofing nails into driveways of residents who supported Republican candidates after someone stole his lawn sign supporting a Democratic candidate, according to La Crosse police reports. Martin Sellers, 59, of 2126 Hoeschler Drive, told police he “has done some stupid things” during his arrest Sunday for criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct, reports stated. Five homeowners on Lincoln Avenue, Ward Avenue, Elm Street and Springbrook Way for three years reported nails in driveways. One homeowner reported eight incidents. Sellers said he periodically targeted driveways of homes that displayed signs supported Republicans “out of...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A new state report says scores of 17-year-olds voted illegally in nearly 30 Wisconsin counties during last spring's presidential primary. The Wisconsin Elections Commission report examined referrals municipal clerks made to prosecutors following the 2016 spring primary and general elections. The referrals included at least 60 cases of 17-year-olds voting in the April primary in 29 counties. The report doesn't track whether charges were filed. The report notes messages were spreading on social media during the primary season that 17-year-olds were eligible to vote if they turned 18 by the November election. That's not the case...

On Tuesday the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Madison cannot ban handguns for self-defense on city buses. The court voted 5-2 in favor of carrying guns for self-defense on the buses. WKOW explained the source of the case in which the ruling was issued: The Milwaukee-based group ‘Wisconsin Carry’ filed a lawsuit in 2014 challenging Madison Metro Transit’s ban on “weapons of any kind” on city buses. The group claims Madison’s Transit and Parking Commission can’t ban guns on buses under the state’s concealed carry law. Wisconsin Carry President Nik Clark said this is not just a 2nd amendment issue,...