Author: Wisconsin Examiner

Congress on June 24 cleared the most comprehensive federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, a bipartisan package that went to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature a day later. In a 65-33 vote, the bill, comprised of eight provisions, passed the U.S. Senate late on June 23. The House on June 24 joined, approving the Senate’s bill 234-193, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats. “We did something exceptional in the Senate,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead negotiator on the gun control legislation, said on Twitter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press...

President Joe Biden called for Congress on June 24 to pass laws protecting abortion rights and for voters to elect pro-rights candidates on “a sad day for the country” after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Biden pledged to fight for policies that protect abortion access, including interstate travel and access to federally approved medications. But he said he has limited power to restore the broad protections in place under the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that the court overturned Jne 24. Biden called on Congress and voters across the country to exercise their...

A school board in southeastern Wisconsin has rejected a book recommended for use in a 10th-grade accelerated English class due in part to concerns that it lacked “balance” regarding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The Curriculum Planning Committee for the Muskego-Norway district, which serves about 5,000 students in Waukesha and Racine counties, had selected When the Emperor Was Divine, a 2002 historical novel by Julie Otsuka based on her own family’s experiences. The book, winner of the American Library Association’s Alex Award and the Asian American Literary Award, tells in varying perspectives the story of...

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right. The decision by five of the Court’s nine justices will allow each state to set its own abortion laws, leading to a patchwork of access throughout the country. The result is expected to be an uptick in the number of women traveling out of state for abortions, as well as unsafe abortions in states where the medical procedure will now be banned or heavily restricted. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote...

In the autumn of 2019, after an Assembly floor session that had already lasted more than seven hours, State Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) gaveled open a special session called by Governor Tony Evers to take up two bills addressing gun violence — then immediately gaveled it out. For Deb Andraca, that was the moment that made up her mind to run for office. Andraca, a substitute teacher from Whitefish Bay and a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, a national group campaigning for stronger gun laws, had been orchestrating meetings between lawmakers and other Moms Demand volunteers. “At that...

There is a reason the Declaration of Independence reads “all men are created equal” and not “all men and women are created equal.” Simply stated, the Founding Founders were all White guys who did not think women were their equals. In fact, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution after that, basically regarded women as their property, at least as far as the law was concerned. It was not until the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women would even win the right to vote. And it was not until the 1965 Supreme Court...