Monday, Dec. 26
Urban Milwaukee reports that the state Department of Natural Resources has quietly scrubbed language from its website stating the scientific consensus that human activities are the primary cause of climate change. Now, the website says the cause is up for debate (it isn’t).
Wednesday, Dec. 28
A state Department of Transportation study shows that implementing tolls on Wisconsin’s interstate highways could generate $372 million a year after covering operating costs. Tolls could be the answer to Wisconsin’s transportation funding woes, but it would require a change to state and federal law.
Thursday, Dec. 29
A private plane carrying six people crashes into Lake Erie near Cleveland. The passengers, including 19-year-old UW-Madison student Megan Casey, are presumed dead.
Friday, Dec. 30
The state Group Insurance Board votes 7-2 to reconsider a decision to allow coverage of gender identity services — including hormone treatments, gender reassignment surgery and counseling — for transgender state employees. The coverage could disappear if certain legal developments occur.
Tuesday, Jan. 3
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack swears in the largest GOP majority in the State Assembly since Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) pledges to run a tight ship.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein holds a rally in Madison to announce the launch of a new voter advocacy effort in the state, but only a handful of people show up to the news conference — many of them reporters.
