It’s Abraham Lincoln’s birthday!
We pull you away from the traditional President’s Day Month mattress sales (how did that become a thing anyway) to bring you today’s Key Reads. And yes, we realize the combo Washington-Lincoln celebration is next week, but you can’t limit your bedding needs to just seven days.
If you watched “The Big Game” last night you witnessed a mediocre first half but an exciting ending. But, be honest, you also thought to yourself the Packers could have won it had they made it past San Francisco last month.
Hope Springs eternal…
Benjamin Yount at the Center Square reports how a judge has put a stop to game playing by bureaucrats at the state Department of Public Instruction. DPI staff will no longer be able to hinder school choice applications over minor, technical miscues.
Judge strikes down Wisconsin ‘perfection’ policy for school choice applications
For example, one father signed his application as Chuck, when his legal name is Charles. DPI also rejected applications when parents wrote their address as N. Prairie as opposed to North Prairie, or County HGW as opposed to County Highway.
The Center Square
WLUK has a recap of the political news that dropped Friday afternoon. Northeast Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher is not running again, after four terms in the house. Here is the latest, including who is making moves to replace him.
Rep. Mike Gallagher is not running for re-election in 2024
Gallagher serves as Chairman of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, as Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation, and on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
According to his office, Gallagher is the youngest member of Congress to chair a committee in the modern era.
Before his tenure in office and time in the private sector, Gallagher served seven years of active duty in the U.S. Marines Corp, which included two deployments in Iraq.
WLUK
Four years after the government shut down the economy and our schools, and Wisconsin students still have not returned to pre-pandemic scores, despite billions in additional funding. WPR has details.
Between 2019 and 2022, achievement in Wisconsin fell by 37 percent of a grade equivalent in math and 28 percent in reading, according to the report.
Between 2022 and 2023, math achievement across the state increased by 22 percent, but most districts remain far below 2019 levels.
WPR
We round out the key reads with more news of note from around the state…
Badgers lose fourth straight game – ESPN
Wisconsin landowners want to create a community solar farm, Wisconsin law and big utilities are blocking the way – Journal Sentinel
Chippewa Valley clinic files court action to keep HSHS hospitals open until July – WPR
That should get you all set to start your week.
