MILWAUKEE - With Matt on vacation this week, Robert is the solo host. On this week's episode we dig deeper into the state budget battle with three well positioned guests. First we welcome  Peegy Wirtz-Olsen, the President of WEAC, to discuss the devastating consequences of proposed GOP cuts to public education and why her union and organizing groups such as Citizen Action are calling on the Governor to veto a bad budget.. Next, we are joined by Senator Kelda Roys, a member of the powerful Joint Finance Committee with an inside view of the process, to explain the stakes in this year's budget battle and why Republicans abruptly stopped work on the budget last week. Finally, Senator Chris Larson joins Kelda and Robert to discuss how the combination of the Governor's veto power and the new leverage Senate Democrats have with a divided Republican Senate Caucus to win a better state budget on health care, education, child care, and criminal justice reform.

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http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/childcare-dropoff-s460.pngA quarter of providers across the state said they are likely to close their doors if the Wisconsin State Legislature fails to make critical investments.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/laura/think-for-yourself-2025-s430.pngWelcome to America, where facts are optional, fear is currency, and everyone’s one meme away from a meltdown. I wrote this blog to drag the manipulation machine into the spotlight—where it belongs. If you’ve ever asked, how the hell did we get here?... pull up a chair. You’re not alone.

MADISON—As the Joint Committee on Finance announced the cancellation of today’s meeting, which would have taken up the Department of Children and Families budget, Democratic members and other legislators visited Learning Ladder in Cottage Grove. The child care center closed last year after Republicans removed Child Care Counts from the budget. Lawmakers called for urgent and direct investment in Wisconsin’s child care system, and this is the outcome of inadequate investments into our early childhood education.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/real-estate-for.sale-s5.jpgGov. Evers promotes access to safe, reliable, and affordable housing.

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/laura/trump-parade-2025.pngOn June 14, Donald Trump will throw himself a $45-million military-themed birthday party, paid for by American taxpayers. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when a narcissist uses a government like a mirror, this parade is it.

MADISON - Senator Jamie Wall (D-Green Bay) released the following statement today about the failure of the budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance yesterday night to reimburse Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, and Brown County for public safety costs incurred during the NFL Draft in April. The funding was rejected on a party-line vote.

MILWAUKEE - As the State Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee takes up public education funding, education advocates call for the veto of any budget from the Legislature that does not adequately fund education. Will the Governor listen to his grassroots base, and fight for a budget that meets Wisconsin’s needs, or sign a partisan budget that shortchanges the people of Wisconsin?

We encourage listeners to stop by our table at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention this weekend and pick up a sticker supporting a veto. We invite our listeners to volunteer for a Day of Action Phone Bank next Tuesday, June 17th, 5pm. We will be calling Democratic voters and encouraging them to be transferred to the Governor’s office to leave a message for him. We discuss other upcoming action and events in support winning key priorities in the state budget.

Tammy Baldwin rightly meets with Milwaukee parents and calls out RFK Jr for falsely claiming a federal team in Milwaukee helping with lead problem in schools, when that team was laid off. We review 2 more well attended “Hands Off Medicaid” Town Hall in Rice Lake and St. Croix Falls.

We close with a deeper dive into the current authoritarian moment Trump’s show of military force in LA to suppress largely peaceful protests reveals. We encourage attendance at the peaceful mobilization Saturday at No Kings Events, including 50 in Wisconsin.

Join/Donate to Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

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Volunteer for Day of Action Phone Bank, Tuesday, June 17th, 5pm – 7:30pm

Green Bay, Wis. — Democratic members of the Wisconsin State Legislature from Brown County were present at the Brown County Board of Supervisor’s special meeting last night discussing movement of the coal piles in the 30^th Senate and 89^th Assembly Districts.

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered his weekly radio address celebrating Pride Month in Wisconsin. June is recognized as Pride Month in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. Pride Month originally began as a recognition of and tribute to the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 and has become an annual, month-long celebration and recognition of the LGBTQ community. This year’s Pride Month also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which affirmed the equal right to marriage for same-sex couples in all 50 states in June 2015.

Last week, Gov. Evers signed Executive Order #264, ordering that the Progress Pride Flag be raised over the Wisconsin State Capitol during the month of June, and celebrated the start of Pride Month with the seventh annual Pride Flag Raising over the Wisconsin State Capitol. A video of this year’s Pride Flag raising can be found here.

Gov. Evers ordered the Rainbow Pride Flag to fly over the East Wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol for the first time in state history in 2019. Since then, the Rainbow Pride Flag has flown over the Capitol each year for the month of June until 2022, when Gov. Evers raised the Progress Pride Flag over the State Capitol for the first time. An iteration of the widely recognized Rainbow Pride Flag, the Progress Pride Flag was created to symbolize the inclusion of marginalized communities within the LGBTQ community. The Progress Pride Flag includes additional stripes forming a chevron pattern that represent LGBTQ individuals of color and the transgender community, as well as those who are living with and who have been lost to HIV/AIDS.

The Progress Pride Flag will not disrupt other flags that regularly fly over the State Capitol building. The U.S. flag and Wisconsin state flag will continue flying on the East Wing flagpole above the Progress Pride Flag. The POW-MIA flag will continue flying on the North Wing flagpole as it does every day.

Audio File of Radio Address.

Hey there, folks! Governor Evers here.

I am jazzed to once again kick off Pride Month in Wisconsin and celebrate our incredible LGBTQ+ community.

This year marks our seventh annual Pride celebration, and while we all look forward to Pride Month and raising the Pride Flag above the Capitol every year, this year, we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Wisconsin and in America.

So, today, and this June, we’re celebrating 10 years of visibility, 10 years of love, and 10 years of continued bravery, activism, and advocacy together.

Folks, when the Pride Flag flies above the People’s House, it sends a clear and unequivocal message that Wisconsin recognizes and celebrates LGBTQ Wisconsinites and Americans.

Wisconsin has always led the way in the fight for LGBTQ liberty and equality—and we sure as heck are not going to turn back now.

In this state, we only know one direction to go, and that’s Forward.

So, we will not be silent, we will not be quiet, we will fight—not just to protect the rights and freedoms that so many fought hard to secure, but for all those that are still long overdue.

Every day, but especially this month, we reaffirm our commitment to striving to be a place where every LGBTQ kid, person, and family can be bold in their truth and be safe, treated with dignity and respect, and welcomed without fear of persecution, judgment, or discrimination. Period.

I promised long ago that, as governor, I would always fight to protect LGBTQ Wisconsinites with every tool and every power I have.

I’ll never stop keeping that promise.

So, you know that no matter who you are, what you believe, who you love, or how you express your truest, most authentic self, you are a family here. You belong here. You are welcome home here.

So, thank you, and happy Pride, Wisconsin.