Sure a storm is brewing at UWM and the flagship UW-Madison. There’s also gray skies over City Hall in Milwaukee. But the unpredictable storms that are actually weather-related are of paramount concern across the state this week.
Folks in much of Wisconsin need to stay alert.
Wet weather returns with showers and a few strong storms possible Tuesday | WEAU
Soggytastic Tuesday on tap across central Wisconsin|WSAW
An alert day for storm activity Tuesday | WISC
Stronger storms today | We are Green Bay
Two rounds of storms expected | WISN
This move rumbled across the state’s largest city late yesterday and is going to raise more questions than the Mayor has answers.
Milwaukee mayor replaces city’s election commission director | The Center Square
Six months before Election Day, Milwaukee’s mayor has made a change at the top of his city’s elections commission.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Monday announced Paulina Gutiérrez as the new executive director of Milwaukee’s Election Commission.
“Paulina’s integrity and capabilities are ideally suited to this position. She will lead the office at an important juncture when public scrutiny of the work of the department will be extremely high,” Johnson said in a statement. “I have confidence in her, and I will make certain the department has the resources it needs to fulfill its duties.”
Johnson’s statement was silent on the fact Gutiérrez’s promotion means the former head of the commission, Claire Woodall, is being replaced.
The mayor told WISN TV that Woodall was offered a different position at the city, but he added that she apparently doesn’t want that job “as it stands right now.”
Johnson also said the decision to make the change has more to do with the latest cycle of mayoral appointments than anything else.
Woodall has been in charge of the commission since 2020. She was appointed by former Milwaukee Mayor Tim Barrett, and she came under intense scrutiny for how she handled the 2020 election.
Woodall also faced questions after one of her chief deputies, Kimberly Zapata, mailed three fake military ballots to a Republican lawmaker.
Zapata said she mailed the ballots to warn State Rep. Janel Brandtjen about a weakness in Wisconsin’s electoral system. Zapata was convicted in the case, and last week a judge sentenced her to probation and a fine.
Gutiérrez has served as Milwaukee’s deputy director at the elections commission since early 2023. She begins her new position immediately.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel goes out of it’s way to identify whether or not people quoted in this story are Jewish. That’s…odd.
In any event, Madison’s chancellor Jennifer Mnookin looks downright foolish here. She talks about how bad it would look if she allowed the encampments on her campus to remain, in defiance of state law. Save for about an hour last Monday, the tents have been there for eight days now…
The fact that socialist professors support the protests is not news. The only interesting component here is the alternative reality bubble that UW leadership calls home.
Professors confront UW-Madison chancellor over police response to encampment | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“The police intervention was disproportionate, unnecessary and initiated by the unilateral action of university administration,” said Professor Keith Woodward, who spoke on behalf of the geography department.
Mnookin, in her first public remarks since protesters pitched tents April 29, said law enforcement action against the campus community is “the last thing” a chancellor ever wants to do.
“I want to acknowledge how painful it has been for so many of us, including me, to have had the kinds of interactions with our students and some of our faculty this past week that none of us would ever choose,” she said.
Visibly emotional at times, Mnookin, who is Jewish, said she is increasingly concerned about reports of incendiary rhetoric, the potential for violent conflict with outside groups and “the risk of seeing this entire situation spiral out of control.”
…State rules ban camping on campus property unless designated by the chancellor. Mnookin said making an exception for pro-Palestinian protesters would open the door for any and all groups to set up camp on campus…”Those of you who think that I should simply let this encampment stay, I ask you: Imagine that the protesters were there for a cause you did not share, or one to which you were deeply and profoundly opposed?” Mnookin asked.
…Within hours of police tearing down all but a few tents on May 1, protesters responded by pitching even more tents.
The encampment of more than 50 tents has become more organized over the past week. Check in at the “welcome center” and take note of the community guidelines posted on a wall of Memorial Library. Walk through the food tent using the clearly marked entrance and exit signs. Run into a problem? Talk to a designated “safety marshal.”
UW-Madison hasn’t immediately moved to take down the tents a second time, which Mnookin said was because of the significant safety risks to all involved in doing so. Administrators have met with protesters several times over the past week, hoping for a swift resolution.
She’s so surrounded by like-minded peers in the ivory tower that she has no idea how ridiculous she sounds, or how pathetic she looks.
It would be a funny sociological case study if so many tax dollars and the image of the State weren’t being frivolously frittered away.
