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NEWS

State lawmakers could force Milwaukee Public Schools to have at least 25 Milwaukee police officers stationed in its buildings under a provision tucked into a sweeping bill that could increase funding for local governments.

The district had cut its last contracts with Milwaukee police in summer 2020, as racial justice protests landed outside MPS offices. School board members have stood by that decision, but lawmakers could go over their heads.

While previous attempts by lawmakers to require school districts to hire police officers have been subject to veto by the governor, this one could be harder for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to block if he wants to pass the whole bundle of proposals in the same bill. Evers would not be allowed to use his partial-veto power on this bill if it lands on his desk, according to Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Director Richard Champagne.

The bill, released by state Assembly leaders Tuesday, could still change as it moves through the Legislature. It includes a range of other measures, including allowing the city of Milwaukee to levy a sales tax if approved by referendum.

Under the bill, Milwaukee Public Schools would be required to have at least 25 “school resource officers” by Jan. 1, 2024. The officers would need to be present at schools during the school day and additionally available for other events at schools outside of normal hours “as needed.” School resource officers are police officers assigned to work full time at schools.

MPS is the only school district that would face this requirement under the bill.

Also under the bill, MPS could be required to help pay for the officers, depending on what is agreed upon between MPS and city officials.

The bill also requires MPS and other high schools to collect data about incidents of disorderly conduct and certain crimes on school property and school transportation. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, MPS would be required to consider those statistics in determining where to place the 25 police officers.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin’s local governments would see at least a 10% increase in funding under a widely anticipated, wide-ranging Republican plan released Tuesday that would also bar local health officers from mandating business closures that last more than 14 days and require voter approval in Milwaukee city and county to raise the sales tax.

The package, crafted by Republicans with input from local governments including Milwaukee, would increase funding known as shared revenue to cities, counties, towns and villages by $227 million. But Democrats have been skeptical about numerous provisions in the proposal, including requiring Milwaukee to get voter approval to raise the sales tax to pay for its underfunded pension system.

The package comes in response to years of lobbying from local government leaders who say stagnant funding from the state has not kept up with costs in their communities to pay for pension liabilities, emergency services, road repairs and other needs. The additional $227 million envisioned in the bill could only be spent on police and fire protection, emergency medical services, emergency response communications, public works and transportation.

Once approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature, it would then go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who had no immediate reaction to the bill.

Evers did tell WTMJ-TV in an interview Monday that after meeting with Republican leaders, he had not “signed off on anything.”

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said on WISN-TV on Sunday that he hoped Evers would not veto the bill. Vos touted it as “the single largest investment in local governments in the history of Wisconsin.”

—Wisconsin AP

More than 17 months following the alleged incident, 15-year-old Khalil Perry is expected to stand trial in the sexual assault case involving an 87-year-old Waukesha woman.

Witnesses are expected to include the police officers who became involved after the woman first reported the incident on Nov. 30, 2021, near the Waukesha Public Library.

The woman, who is not identified in public court records, told police that Perry pulled a knife on her as she was returning books in the library’s outdoor book-return machine, commandeered her vehicle, drove her to a nearby parking lot, sexually assaulted her, took her wallet and phone, and then drove off in her car that afternoon. He was arrested later that day after police spotted him while he was driving the woman’s vehicle near Mindiola Park.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on Tuesday called a House Republican bill to cut spending and raise the country’s debt ceiling “eminently reasonable” as he and other Senate conservatives planned to push their conference to get behind the measure that has little future in their chamber.

Johnson and a number of his allies, including GOP U.S. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, will urge their Senate Republican colleagues to present a “united front” of support for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt limit measure, the Oshkosh Republican’s office said. They planned to hold a press conference Wednesday.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

While Tucker Carlson has received many offers since his departure from Fox News, he received one from entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David that could be hard to walk away from.

During “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Bet-David of ValuetainmentTV announced a $100 million deal plus equity stake in the company, a board seat, position as president of Valuetainment, and his own podcast and any other shows, documentaries, or movies on issues he cares about. The company would also offer to cover production costs.

“That’s amazing!” Kelly reacted.

“I truly believe we need a media company to fight the fight that we have today in America and worldwide,” he said, explaining his background “as a guy that’s an immigrant from Iran…and then I lived in Germany in the refugee camp for a couple years, then I came to the states and [joined the U.S. Army], and I’ve been blessed through the system of capitalism to make good money.”

Acknowledging his company may not be the biggest out there, he touted its values as something that could draw Carlson in.

—Townhall

The man accused of killing five of his neighbors with an AR-15 rifle in their Texas home was arrested Tuesday, after a tip led authorities to a house less than 20 miles from where the crimes took place, officials said.

The arrest of Francisco Oropesa, 38, in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas, marked the end of a massive manhunt that was in its fourth day Tuesday.

A tip called into an FBI line at 5:15 p.m. led to Oropesa’s arrest at 6:30 p.m., Jimmy Paul, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston field office, said at a news conference.

Oropesa is accused of killing five people, including a 9-year-old boy, in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday night after a member of the family asked him to stop firing his rifle because an infant was trying to sleep, officials have said.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers called Oropesa a coward.

“He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry,” he said Tuesday.

—NBC News

New vehicle sale prices fell below MSRP in March for the first time in nearly two years as supply chain issues continue to ease up, but cars and trucks are still far from cheap.

The average price paid for a new vehicle was $48,008 in March, according to Kelley Blue Book, a drop of $550 from the prior month.

“We’ve been anticipating transaction price declines, as inventory has been steadily improving and choice has expanded. More vehicles on dealer lots — and on their competitors’ lots — means dealers simply don’t have the pricing power they did six months ago,” said Rebecca Rydzewski, Cox Automotive research manager of economic and industry insights.

Prices are expected to continue their downward trend, but are unlikely to reach the $37,736 average they were at in March 2020 anytime soon, if ever again.

—FOX News

A school district in Michigan has banned all backpacks from school buildings, in response to growing safety concerns.

Flint Community Schools announced that backpacks would be banned and the ban would be in place for the rest of the school year. The new policy went into effect on Monday.

“We are doing all that we can to create a safe and secure environment for our scholars, families, teachers and staff,” Superintendent Kevin Jones wrote in a letter posted on the school district’s website.

Jones cited growing threatening behavior happening across the country, including weapons being brought to schools, as the reason for the backpack ban.

“Backpacks make it easier for students to hide weapons, which can be disassembled and harder to identify or hidden in pockets, inside books, or under other items,” he said.

Students are allowed to store personal items like wallets, keys, hygiene products and phones in small purses, bring lunchboxes or place their gym clothes in clear plastic bags, all of which will be subject to searches.

If a student brings a backpack to school, parents or guardians must pick it up from the school, according to Jones.

—ABC News

Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk tweeted a question to his 2.1 million followers:

“Brands are bending over backwards to let customers to ‘opt out’ of Mother’s Day. Can we opt out of Pride Month spam too?”

Despite the recent media attention, advertising to customers that they can opt-out of Mother’s Day advertising isn’t exactly new. For example, Hustler Marketing magazine recommended the practice in 2021 and PRNEWS followed suit in 2022.

The anti-Mother’s Day marketing campaign has not hurt Mother’s Day, however.

Research by the National Retail Federation shows that, since 2009, the percentage of adults celebrating the holiday has held steady at around 84%, while the average expenditure on Mother’s Day has more than doubled.

—CNS News

Eileen Saki, known for her role as bar owner Rosie in “M*A*S*H,” died on Monday in Los Angeles after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 79.

Saki’s rep confirmed her death to Variety. The actor was featured on nine episodes of “M*A*S*H,” the television series based on the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that cared for patients during the Korean War. The TV series aired from 1972 to 1983.

Saki played the role of Rosie, the local bar owner of “Rosie’s Bar.” She was the third actor to take over the role and the longest to do so.

—NBC News

OPINION

The Writers Guild of America announced they went on strike beginning (Tuesday) morning and the strike is already improving American society as all of the late night propaganda shows have shut down.

Following the announcement of the strike, Deadline reported numerous late night propaganda shows such as The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, Late Night, and The Daily Show will shut down.

As these shows will no longer be producing new shows, Deadline notes they “are all expected to pivot to re-runs.”

Other programs expected to be affected by the strike are Saturday Night Live, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver albeit the report notes “final decisions on those shows are expected to come later in the week.”

These shows going off the air will be a boon for American society as millions of people every night will no longer be subjecting themselves to blatant propaganda.

And that is indeed what these shows are. The writers of these shows even admitted to it albeit they described them as “liberal circle jerks” instead. Megh Wright at Vulture published a number of anonymous comments from writers on the various late night shows back in 2021.

One writer told her the shows “felt like a ‘liberal circle jerk.’” This anonymous writer went on to detail, “It seems to be a loose rule that late-night writers are more progressive than hosts, showrunners, and executive producers. Writers get compensated extremely well, but they’re still way more likely to actually know people who are hurting than the same circle of mostly white multimillionaire showrunners and producers who float among the same five shows. When you’ve been crazy rich for over a decade, and so have a lot of your friends, it’s difficult for a lot of these hosts to have any conception of what people are hungry for in the real world.”

The writer continued, “We’re applauding late-night hosts for using their platforms and multimillion-dollar salaries to sob about the state of our nation every other night. Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert are probably the worst offenders here. The latter is sometimes crying on TV about things nobody else is even that upset about. Trump’s first speech from the White House after Election Night was, predictably, full of lies and fascist propaganda. Colbert wore all black in mourning and stood up to deliver the monologue for the first time since March. Just in case anyone watching had recently suffered a blow to the head and couldn’t detect that symbolism, he made sure to explain, through tears, why he was doing it.”

The writer went on to assert, “It’s not that I don’t think his tears were sincere. It’s that they were wasted on something so stupid, and they’re the only ones he chose to broadcast. Where were those tears for George Floyd and every Black American murdered or injured during the Black Lives Matter protests? Where were those tears for the quarter million Americans who have died of COVID? And above all, why would anyone want tears from a comedy show in the first place? Have all of our brains collectively broken this badly? Much of late night devolved into this Aaron Sorkin–ified liberal circle jerk. It’s not productive, it’s not impressive, and it’s definitely not comedy.”

—Bounding Into Comics

New York City Mayor Eric Adams pivoted to a standard default position for Democrats when he criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for bussing illegal aliens to sanctuary cities. Adams claimed Abbott is racist for choosing “black-run” cities to receive busloads of illegal aliens from Texas detention centers. What weak sauce.

Governor Abbott, a Republican, has been perfectly clear in why he is choosing the cities he is choosing. They are all sanctuary cities. The mayors of the cities have all declared their cities as such so Governor Abbott is taking them at their word. What better place to send illegal aliens than to a city where the mayor claims they will be welcomed?

“This weekend, we learned that Governor Abbott is once again deciding to play politics with people’s lives by resuming the busing of asylum seekers to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C.,” the black Democratic mayor wrote in a press release.

“Not only is this behavior morally bankrupt and devoid of any concern for the well-being of asylum seekers, but it is also impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities run by Black mayors.

“Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-run cities.”

To fact-check the mayor, Governor Abbott never stopped sending buses of illegal aliens to sanctuary cities as Adams claims. So, he isn’t ramping up his program again. It never ended. And, Abbott denies sending buses to Denver and Los Angeles. If Mayor Adams wants to lodge a vile complaint such as racism behind an executive decision, he should at least have his facts straight. As usual, Adams goes off half-cocked and puts the blame for his city’s problems on everyone but himself. Shame on him.

—Karen Townsend, HotAir

We are in a battle for the heart and soul of America. And in this battle to define our country, we all need courage. Here’s a story that I hope will encourage you.

Twelve year-old Liam Morrison was recently kicked out of his gym class at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Why? Because he had the courage to wear a shirt stating an undeniable scientific fact. The shirt read: “There are only two genders.”

Liam was told that his shirt was making some students feel “unsafe.” He was ordered to change his shirt. Liam stood his ground, and was sent home.

But Liam didn’t give up. He had the courage to address the school board a couple of weeks ago. He said:

“I was told my shirt was targeting a protected class. Who is this protected class? Are their feelings more important than my rights? I don’t complain when I see Pride flags and diversity posters hung throughout the school. Do you know why? Because others have a right to their beliefs, just as I do.”

Kudos to Liam Morrison for having the courage to stand up for his rights and for the truth! I pray his courage is contagious.

Now, here’s my challenge to parents and pastors: Are we going to let our children lead us?

Or are we going to protect our children by fighting back with every ounce of courage and strength we have against the leftist insanity that’s sweeping America?

—Gary Bauer

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 75 years ago today in 1945, the first broadcast of the “CBS Evening News” aired—the longest-running network news show in U.S. history. It originally ran as a 15-minute broadcast each weeknight anchored by Douglas Edwards, and it was the first scheduled network TV news program to use an on-camera anchor. 14 years later, reporter Walter Cronkite took the helm of the news desk where he stayed for nearly two decades.