In the News

By Lucy McCalmont  Rep. Elijah Cummings, along with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, sent a letter Monday to President Barack Obama, urging the administration to pursue changes to local law enforcement structure to “prevent more Fergusons,” including a federal czar to oversee local law enforcement. “The administration must quickly establish… Read more »

  By Mike Lillis A long list of civil rights leaders and black Democrats on Monday urged President Obama to make policy changes aimed at improving relations between local law enforcement and racial minorities. In a letter to the president, the lawmakers and activists said this month's shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman in Ferguson,… Read more »

  By Katie Delong MILWAUKEE (WITI) — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Susan Hedman has announced a $1 million “Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund” grant to clean up contaminated properties in Milwaukee to prepare the sites for reuse. Hedman was joined by U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and Mayor Tom Barrett for the announcement at a… Read more »

 Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) wavered over late-night host Stephen Colbert’s multiple offers to face him on his popular series, “Better Know a District.” The Wisconsin lawmaker penned this poem as motivation to take on the funnyman on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” (JulieAnn McKellogg / The Washington Post) To watch this video online,… Read more »

  By Gilman Halsted Week's Gun-Related Deaths Brings Total To 61 So Far This Year With five more people falling victim to gun-related deaths in Wisconsin this week, federal legislators and community leaders are gathering for a weekend forum in Milwaukee to seek solutions for the violence. The five people who died from gunshot wounds did so in Milwaukee,… Read more »

  By Steve Dzubay  WASHINGTON D.C. -- House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Janesville says he wants to reform federal programs for the poor without a net reduction in spending, but at least one Wisconsin Democrat doesn't buy it. Milwaukee Representative Gwen Moore said the block grants Ryan's talking about are a "proxy for the chopping block."… Read more »

  By Craig Gilbert  Washington — While citing some areas of common ground, Democrats reacted with general skepticism to the anti-poverty agenda unveiled by House budget chairman Paul Ryan of Janesville on Thursday. One big reason: their deep disdain for the House budgets Ryan has crafted in recent years, which they view as punitive toward the… Read more »

 By Nicole Duran   The four Democratic members of the Wisconsin delegation are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to challenge Wisconsin's voter identification law in light of his recent comments that the Justice Department might intervene in the case.  "We thank you for your commitment to preserving the right to vote for all Americans, and we ask… Read more »

  By Gwen Ifill  MILWAUKEE — The people who came out to see Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., at his town hall meeting in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls this past weekend were angry and resentful. The immigration crisis, they worried, is threatening their way of life. “Who were these people trying to sneak into the country, and why wasn’t the… Read more »

 By Rob Capriccioso   For those clamoring for the president to appoint a tribal economic development council, the wheel doesn’t have to be reinvented, say tribal advocates—and he wouldn’t have to use an executive order to do so, either. There has been a law on the books since 2000, the Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Act, which would… Read more »