If in your neighborhood you’ve seen the sign “Vote like our democracy depends on it—because it does”, then you’ve seen a League of Women Voters (LWV) election sign paid for and put up by an LWV member....

I was a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris earned her official nomination for the presidency. Here are the enduring memories I came away with...

Donald Trump is like the Wizard of Oz from the classic 1939 film. The Wizard rules Oz using elaborate tricks and lies. Near the end of the film the truth is revealed, and we see a flawed, ordinary man trying to convince people “to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” in order to keep his deception of many years a secret.

On the first Wednesday in August, on a picture-perfect Wisconsin day, all roads led to Eau Claire. I was among the thousands of people from all over Wisconsin, Minnesota, and surrounding states who traveled to see Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. 

Lines were long and security to get into the rally was understandably tight, but the feelings of joy, excitement, and community among those gathered was unmistakable and undeniable. The crowd was made up of people of all ages – I saw parents with young children, older people who navigated the rally with the aid of their walkers, Baby Boomers, Millennials, and so many young people. 

Walz took the stage amidst a roaring Midwest welcome – everyone was on their feet, cheering. He galvanized the crowd when referring to the attack on reproductive rights, and used what has become one of his catchphrases, “Mind your own damn business.”  

As he introduced Vice President Harris and she took the stage, the roar of approval from the crowd was deafening. At one point during her speech some people started chanting, “Lock Him Up,” but she  immediately asked for them to stop, saying, “We’ll let the courts handle that.” She instead focused on the fight for freedoms: access to health care; protecting Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security; freedom from book bans; freedom to choose whom to love; and freedom regarding reproductive health.

Together, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz brought a feeling of energy and optimism as they focused on moving forward rather than moving backward. “We’re not going back” was the rallying cry echoed by both the candidates and the crowd.

From now through the November 5 election, please do whatever you can to help elect these “joyful warriors” to lead America to a better future for all of us.

Donald Trump’s fingerprints are all over Project 2025, a right-wing plan to reshape America.  While it was being developed, Trump called the Heritage Foundation a “great group,” and promised they would produce “detailed plans for exactly what our movement will do.” With the help of 140 members of Trump’s administration they did so.

Part of their detailed plan would eliminate the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Head Start, Title 1, and end free school lunches. Many students currently qualify for Individual Education Plans, which provide additional support and modified curriculum to help them succeed. Perhaps children in your family were helped by IDEA.  Not anymore if Trump is elected and has his way.

Head Start has served 40 million families since it began. In addition to helping children be more ready to start school, Head Start graduates are significantly more likely to finish high school and attend college, and are far less likely to become teenage parents or involved in the criminal justice system.

Title 1 funding goes to districts with a large percentage of low-income students. Currently 65% of the schools in Pierce and St. Croix County and 77% of those in Polk and Dunn Counties receive Title 1 funds. 

Where would the funds from these successful programs go?  Project 2025 would steer them to voucher schools, which are not required to accept students currently being served by these programs.

Conservatives also call Project 2025 “a “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” The fact that Trump and his supporters promise to attack educational services and funding for America’s most vulnerable children is disturbing. The mandate for reasonable voters is to support candidates for every office who promise to help America’s children in difficult circumstances rather than promising to harm them.  

In 1964, as part of a series of progressive reforms, President Johnson signed a food security law that we know today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

SNAP provides benefits to low-income households to supplement their grocery budgets so they can afford nutritious food. Thirteen percent of Wisconsin’s residents now are enrolled in the program, and 86 percent of the food benefits go to households that include a child, disabled, or elderly person.

SNAP is good for our local economies, as well as for our hungry neighbors. Every dollar invested in SNAP food benefits produces at least $1.50 in economic benefits. 

But the authors of Project 2025, which include 140 former members of the Trump administration, considered expanding SNAP benefits during Covid “a dramatic overreach”.  And now they want to take away food benefits through work requirements that will not reduce unemployment, but just are a backdoor way to push vulnerable Wisconsinites out of the SNAP program.

Voters should wonder why the far-right authors of Project 2025 want to end the economic benefits of SNAP while also harming Americans who legitimately need SNAP food benefits to help them survive.

This November, reject Project 2025 and the candidates who would implement it.

Some people are spreading misinformation—based on mistaken beliefs and fears—about Title IX regulations that took effect on August 1, 2024.

Instead, let’s base our discussions about the new Title IX regulations and their application in our Hudson School District on factually and legally accurate information, including that:

Our US Constitution does not yet guarantee equal rights to women and girls, because the Equal Rights Amendment has not yet been adopted; that’s why we need the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. 

Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. The Biden administration has promulgated Title IX regulations that define the term "on the basis of sex" as prohibiting “discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” 

This definition was established by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) four years ago—in an opinion written by conservative Justice Neil M. Gorsuch who was appointed by former President Trump—when SCOTUS ruled it was illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s prohibition of job discrimination on the basis of sex to fire employees or not hire them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County).

The new Title IX regulations do not apply to school sports and athletic competitions. Those issues will be considered in separate federal regulations, sometime later.

Unless stayed by a court, the new Title IX regulations are legally binding and enforceable. 

On August 16, 2024, SCOTUS refused to lift the lower court orders that have blocked the new Title IX regulations in 26 states, but Wisconsin is not one of those states; that vote was 5 to 4, with Justice Gorsuch joining the dissent by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson.

The new Title IX regulations remain in effect in states that did not challenge them, including in Wisconsin.

Public comments at our Hudson School Board meetings should be informed by accurate understandings of these facts and law. 

Why Selling Off the Health Center is a Mistake

Family values are strong here in Wisconsin, and most folks would agree that we take care of our aging parents.  Not only is it a nice thing to do, but we have a moral obligation to help our seniors.

So why is the St. Croix County board of supervisors even considering selling off the Health Center Campus in New Richmond? And it isn’t just happening here; other Wisconsin county boards are also looking at privatizing their county nursing homes. It’s going on in Sauk, Portage and Lincoln counties to name a few.  

Our county nursing home has been operating in the black since its second year, and construction loan payments are subsidized by the county budget. About 3 cents of every $1 of County property tax revenue pays down the $15 million balance on the $21 million 20-year loan.

Selling it to the highest bidder would still leave millions owed, and there’s no guarantee that a for-profit, private operator would continue to serve Medicaid or reduced-pay residents. Good luck getting into another facility, as there are only 362 skilled nursing beds in our county.

Attend the August 27, 5 p.m, meeting of the County Board, and make a public comment. Our Health Center Campus has higher value to us than any sale price. It doesn’t make financial sense nor is it the morally right thing to do.  Let’s show up and let our supervisors know that their budgets are moral documents—they reveal our values and priorities.

Multiiple organizations in Wisconsin are recommending a NO vote to the consiitutional amendments on the August 13th ballot.

Judicial impartiality

Chair message for June issue of News You Can Use.

A message of hope to my granddaughters

Meet our new organizer, Camden Hargrove.

Hear Bud’s story and call for volunteers, “Not a democrat but still volunteering.”

Governor Tony Evers has taken bold steps to address the Climate Crisis

President Joe Biden and the Democrats have taken historical steps to address the Climate Crisis.

Help a friend, relative, neighbor or yourself by calling, texting or chatting 988.

May is mental health awareness month. Take a quiz and learn more about mental health.

Hudson Rotary sponsors flag program to help area nonprofits and get flags into your yard.