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Articles by Jon Peacock
Wisconsin Budget: Slashing Safety Net Will Weaken Workforce
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva. The COVID pandemic and the recession it caused illustrated the tremendous importance of public benefit programs like BadgerCare, FoodShare, and Unemployment Insurance.
Wisconsin Budget: Charting The Racial Disparities In State’s Prisons
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility. Photo by Jeramey Jannene. Wisconsin’s use of incarceration to lock up a staggering share of its population of color inflicts serious harm on individuals and communities. New figures show that the racial disparities in Wisconsin’s incarceration rates far exceed disparities at the national level, which themselves are stark.
Wisconsin Budget: State’s $1 Billion Tax Cut Leaves Out 49% of Taxpayers
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Cash. (CC0 Creative Commons). Wisconsin lawmakers passed an enormous income tax cut in the 2021-23 state budget that further tilts our tax system in favor of the wealthy. The tax cut almost completely leaves out households with low incomes, and gives white households larger tax cuts than Black or Latinx households.
Wisconsin Budget: TANF Program Serves a Fraction of Poor Families
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Western front of the U.S. Capitol. On August 22 of this year, the law creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) turns 25 years old, and that’s not a cause for celebration. At the national level and here in Wisconsin, TANF is serving only a small fraction of the families who are living in poverty and are eligible for assistance.
TANF at 25: Failing to Meet the Needs of WI Families
On August 22 of this year, the law creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) turns 25 years old, and that’s not a cause for celebration. At the national level and here in Wisconsin, TANF is serving only a small fraction of the families who are living in poverty and are eligible for assistance. The TANF law created a block grant to states that replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC).
Op-Ed: Big Money Is Taking Over the Courts
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Wisconsin Supreme Court. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva. It barely rated a mention in the news when, on June 28, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an order relieving Court of Appeals Chief Judge Lisa Neubauer of her leadership duties. Neubauer ran for the Supreme Court in 2019 with the support of Democrats and progressives, in an election won by a razor-thin margin by conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn.
Op Ed: Scott Walker’s Right, Get Vaccinated Now
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Scott Walker. File photo by Jeramey Jannene. The United States, including Wisconsin, faces a COVID-19 pandemic of the unvaccinated because of highly contagious variants, flatlining vaccinations and few preventive measures. New COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising, almost entirely among the unvaccinated. Arkansas, California, Florida, Missouri, Nevada and Texas are the hotspots.
Op Ed: State Republicans Oppose Federal PFAS Law
Op Ed Just one of state's four GOP House members backs bill regulating 'forever chemicals.' By James Rowen - Jul 26th, 2021 12:16 pm //end headline wrapper ?> Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Photo courtesy of the DNR. Just a month ago Republican state legislators in charge of the state’s budget-writing process eliminated a number of key initiatives aimed at confronting a growing number of PFAS or “forever chemical” contaminations across the state.
Op Ed: Not Too Late to Expand Medicaid
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital–St. Joseph Campus in Milwaukee. File photo by Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch. The proposed expansion of BadgerCare would help thousands of uninsured, low-wage workers and yield huge savings for Wisconsin taxpayers. Despite these facts, Republican legislators once again removed it from the budget bill that was signed by Gov. Tony Evers.
It’s not too late for BadgerCare expansion
Health care costs | Images Money via Flickr CC BY 2.0 The proposed expansion of BadgerCare would help thousands of uninsured, low-wage workers and yield huge savings for Wisconsin taxpayers. Despite these facts, Republican legislators once again removed it from the budget bill that was signed by Gov. Tony Evers. But, this proposal will keep coming back — because it is imperative that we help more Wisconsinites gain access to health care.
Buses & Trains (selections from...)
30.05.2021 - Pressenza New York Image by Alexander Grishin from Pixabay LITERARY by Jon L Peacock About the poet: Jon L Peacock graduated from LIU’s MFA program in 2010, and since then he’s made a career out of his literary and performance arts. Writings across the genres of Jon’s have been published, from poetry to plays, and he owes all of it to Lewis. www.jonLpeacock.com Categories: Culture and Media, North America Tags: Culture and Arts Notebook
Wisconsin Budget: BadgerCare Expansion Too Good to Go Away
Wisconsin Budget Benefits are so massive and popular the ideological opposition will melt away. By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Budget Project - May 9th, 2021 06:32 pm //end headline wrapper ?> Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital–St. Joseph Campus. File photo by Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch.
A Few Weeks of Supplemental Unemployment Assistance Is No Substitute for Congressional Action
Wisconsin has applied for the supplemental federal unemployment benefit recently authorized by executive actions taken by President Trump. Although the $300 per week supplemental payments will briefly provide some financial relief for thousands of Wisconsin families once the new program goes into effect, it will fall far short of the larger and longer-term supplemental assistance that expired in late July.
2021: A Pivotal Year for the Affordable Care Act and Health Care
Download the full report The fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become a prominent issue in the November 2020 elections. Attention to the law has been magnified not only by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Republican Litigation Seeks a Slower Process for Pandemic Planning, Concentrating Power in a Handful of Legislators
Wisconsin Is Second-to-Last State to Adjust Medicaid for the Pandemic On April 20, Wisconsin became the 49th state to get federal approval for adjustments in Medicaid that strengthen the program’s role in combating the Coronavirus pandemic. By contrast, almost four-fifths of states had gotten similar federal authorization by the end of March.
Wisconsin legislative leaders are letting the clock run out on emergency Medicaid funding
Wisconsin faces a deadline of April 16 to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from federal Medicaid funding. Almost all of the other states have already qualified for the funding, and they have typically done so by executive branch action. In Wisconsin, however, legislators and former Gov. Scott Walker severely restricted Gov.
Legislature’s Pandemic Bill Would Erode Rights of Voters
As voters, we have the right to hold our state legislators and our Governor accountable for the choices they make, including decisions about how to balance the state budget. However, the bill that Republican leaders plan to introduce next week in response to the Coronavirus pandemic would seriously erode the power of voters to hold state lawmakers accountable for decisions made in the coming months about how to balance the Wisconsin budget.
Wisconsin Budget: State Faces April 16 Deadline for Medicaid Money
Wisconsin Budget Legislature must amend lame duck law or lose hundreds of millions in federal funds. By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Budget Project - Apr 7th, 2020 04:24 pm //end headline wrapper ?> Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Dave Reid. Wisconsin faces a deadline of April 16 to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from federal Medicaid funding.
Wisconsin Rapidly Approaches Deadline to Qualify for a Large Increase in Medicaid Funding
Lame Duck Law Has Hamstrung the Evers Administration’s Ability to Fight the Pandemic Wisconsin faces a deadline of April 16 to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from federal Medicaid funding. Almost all of the other states have already qualified for the funding, and they have typically done so by executive branch action.
Despite Growing Concerns about Opportunity Zones, Wisconsin Legislators Rush to Pass a Bill Doubling the State Tax Break
As the 2020 legislative session winds down, the Wisconsin Senate is rushing to pass a bill this week (SB 440) that would double a current state tax break for very wealthy investors who reinvest money in “Opportunity Zones.” A new issue brief by the Wisconsin Budget Project explains why the existing tax breaks for the rich are not having the intended effects and why it’s premature to increase those tax breaks.
Wisconsin Budget: Why Foxconn Contract Is In Dispute
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Design for Foxconn’s campus. Photo from the WEDC. For much of this year, Wisconsin officials have been trying to meet with Foxconn and renegotiate the contract that provides for large cash subsidies to be paid to the corporation if it meets certain job and spending targets.
Foxconn Trouble: An overview of what is at stake now in a disputed deal gone wrong from the start
For much of this year, Wisconsin officials have been trying to meet with Foxconn and renegotiate the contract that provides for large cash subsidies to be paid to the corporation if it meets certain job and spending targets.
The Foxconn Contract Dispute: An Overview of What’s at Stake and Why the Deal Is in Trouble
For much of this year, Wisconsin officials have been trying to meet with Foxconn and renegotiate the contract that provides for large cash subsidies to be paid to the corporation if it meets certain job and spending targets.
Preliminary census data for Wisconsin shows state’s poverty level lowest since before Great Recession
New Census data released in September contained mixed news relating to national trends in income, poverty and health insurance coverage across the United States. The new data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) show that there were 38.1 million Americans in poverty in 2018.
Wisconsin’s TANF financial assistance program is failing to help enough people climb out of poverty
The law creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) turned 23 years old on August 22, and it has not improved with age. At the national level and here in Wisconsin, TANF is now serving only a very small fraction of the families who are living in poverty and may be eligible for assistance.
Refusal by Legislators to expand Medicaid budget is costing Wisconsin money and lives
The Medicaid budget approved by the legislature this week will cost state tax taxpayers far more than the budget recommended by the governor, yet will accomplish far less to improve access to health care. Ideological opposition to expanding Medicaid is costing Wisconsin a lot of money. The legislature’s budget reduces total Medicaid spending from all sources by almost $1 billion, compared to the governor’s budget.
Wisconsin Budget: New Tax Credit Skewed to Help Whites
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Homes on Keefe Avenue. Photo taken March 25th, 2019 by Carl Baehr. Most people of color would be blocked from receiving an expanded property tax cut approved by the legislature, with the value of the credit being delivered overwhelmingly to white residents of the state.
Wisconsin Budget: Lame Duck Mistake Reopens Tax Debate
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Tony Evers. Photo by Emily Hamer / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The bill that was rushed through the legislature in early December was designed to narrow the ability of the newly elected governor to influence state policy choices.
Wisconsin Budget: Impact of Earned Income Tax Credit
Wisconsin Budget Proposed hike would benefit working poor in all 72 counties with $7.5 million for Milwaukee County. By Tamarine Cornelius, Wisconsin Budget Project - Jun 7th, 2019 11:22 am Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Cash. (CC0 Creative Commons). Wisconsin’s families should have access to economic opportunity regardless of where they live in the state.
Reducing the Risk: Ideas to improve Foxconn contract so taxpayers actually see a benefit
Governor Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) should sit down with Foxconn and talk about options for making the contract better for all involved. Whether they can and should actually sign a new contract is a much harder question to answer and will depend on the negotiations. A new deal is worth pursuing because it could potentially reduce the risk that Foxconn will drop its plans for a manufacturing facility in Racine County.
Wisconsin Budget: How to Improve the Foxconn Contract
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Design for Foxconn’s campus. Photo from the WEDC. Should Wisconsin seek to renegotiate the deal it made with Foxconn? If so, how should the contract be changed? The answer to the first question is pretty clearly yes; Governor Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) should sit down with Foxconn and talk about options for making the contract better for all involved.
Wisconsin Budget: State Overtime Rule Could Help Workers
Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Dave Reid. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposal to set the salary threshold under which American workers are entitled to overtime pay to about $35,300 a year.
Wisconsin Budget: Tax on Wealthy Helps Other States Grow
Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Share of Income Going to Top 1%. Image from Wisconsin Budget Project. States can raise taxes on millionaires to build revenue for shared priorities without harming economic growth, a new report shows. Eight states and Washington, D.C. have implemented some version of a millionaires’ tax in recent years, raising tax rates on the people who are taking an increasingly large share of all income.
The Week’s Greatest Hits
Free Milwaukee Marathon - 5K Passes - Become a Member - Member Login Show Menu Most popular articles and press releases in the past week By Urban Milwaukee - Mar 3rd, 2019 07:00 am Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Most popular articles in the past week. 1. City Hall: Food Trucks Banned on W. National Ave. Council approves resolution to ban food trucks from S. Layton Blvd. west to city limits. Feb 26th, 2019 by Jeramey Jannene 2.
Wisconsin Budget: 5 Key Problems With Foxconn Contract
Wisconsin policymakers have a vexing challenge this session: what should they do about the Incredible Shrinking Foxconn project? It’s especially a problem for Republican legislators because they not only approved the huge subsidies for Foxconn, but they also passed a bill during the lame duck session that gives themselves control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) for the next couple of years. With that power comes increased responsibility for the difficult Foxconn situation.
Five Key Things to Know about the Foxconn Contract
Wisconsin policymakers have a vexing challenge this session: what should they do about the Incredible Shrinking Foxconn project? It’s especially a problem for Republican legislators because they not only approved the huge subsidies for Foxconn, but they also passed a bill during the lame duck session that gives themselves control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) for the next couple of years. With that power comes increased responsibility for the difficult Foxconn situation.
Wisconsin Budget: Health Care Ruling Exposes Republicans
Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and former President Barack Obama. Official White House. Photo by Pete Souza. New polling helps explain why very few Republican lawmakers have been celebrating publicly after a federal judge issued an opinion declaring that all of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional.
Wisconsin Budget: States Approve Progressive Ballot Measures
Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Marijuana plant. Photo by Jennifer Martin (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Numerous ballot measures came before voters on November 6 th , and progressive policy changes won approval in some very red states.
Wisconsin Budget: Minorities Earn Far Less Than Whites
Thursday, September 27, was Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day, which marks how long a Native American woman has to work into 2018 to bring her 2017-18 earnings to the same amount a white man made in 2017. Native American Women’s Equal Pay day is months later than National Equal Pay Day, which fell on April 10 this year and is the date on which women overall match the earnings of men in 2017.
Wisconsin Budget: Obamacare Critics Offer Weak Alternatives
As the November elections approach, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become a source of worry for a number of politicians who have backed that litigation. Some of those politicians, such as Governor Scott Walker, are trying to counter one of the chief concerns about their opposition to the ACA by pledging that if a judge strikes down the federal law, they will take quick action to protect coverage of pre-existing conditions.
Wisconsin Budget: The 8 Lessons of Foxconn
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn plan. September 18 marked the one-year anniversary of the bill authorizing massive subsidies for a Foxconn plant in southeast Wisconsin. Although we still don’t know many specifics about the plant that will be built and the new jobs that will result, we have learned a lot in the last year, and the current picture is considerably different than what we had been led to believe a year ago.
Wisconsin Budget: Walker Rewards Kimberly-Clark For Layoffs?
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Gov. Scott Walker. Photo from the State of Wisconsin. Wisconsin keeps paying more to profitable corporations to subsidize manufacturing, while demanding less in return. In fact, the Governor’s proposal to subsidize Kimberly-Clark jobs would pay that corporation roughly $7 million per year over the next 15 years—if they agree not to cut jobs by more than 7 percent.
Wisconsin Budget: Online Sales Tax Will Benefit Wealthy
Just a few months from now, Wisconsin will begin collecting an additional $10 million per month from sales taxes on e-commerce, and state officials plan to use that revenue for an income tax cut that will disproportionately benefit wealthy state residents. The 2 percent of Wisconsinites with the highest incomes will get an estimated 21 percent of the planned tax cut.
Wisconsin Budget: Poll Shows Support for Public Education
Wisconsin voters would much rather increase spending on public schools than reduce property taxes, according to a recent poll. Yet Wisconsin lawmakers have taken the state in a different direction by choosing to cut taxes, particularly for the wealthy and well-connected, rather than restore budget cuts made to public schools.
Wisconsin Budget: Census Undercount Could Cut State Medicaid Dollars
State and local governments have many reasons to start taking steps to ensure that the 2020 census is a complete count of their residents. For example, census counts are the basis for allocating more than $800 billion of federal funding each year, and in fiscal year 2015 Wisconsin received more than $9.1 billion from 16 large federal programs that distribute money based on census statistics. Unfortunately, our state may be lagging behind many others in preparing for a complete census count.
Wisconsin Budget: Farm Bill Will Leave Millions of Kids Hungry
Congress is expected to vote sometime this month on a bill that will leave millions of children and families hungry. Passage of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2) would cause an estimated 2 million Americans to lose food stamp benefits and threaten the health and well-being of Wisconsin’s children, families, and communities.
Proposed Farm Bill Will Leave Millions of Kids and Families Hungry
Congress is expected to vote sometime this month on a bill that will leave millions of children and families hungry. Passage of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2) would cause an estimated 2 million Americans to lose food stamp benefits and threaten the health and well-being of Wisconsin’s children, families, and communities.
Wisconsin Budget: State Rainy Day Fund Trails 35 States
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Rainy Day. Photo is in the Public Domain. Wisconsin lawmakers talk a lot about fiscal responsibility, but they have a long history of not following through on their professed interest in sound budget planning. The current legislative session provides another example of why our state is well behind most others in building up reserves and preparing for the next economic downturn.
Trending: The Week’s Hot Topics
Trending The Week’s Hot Topics Most popular articles and press releases in the past week Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email Most popular articles in the past week. Owner of Downer Woods home has a dozen different names and is charged with fraud. Feb 12th, 2018 by Michael Horne Is the police chief or Fire & Police boss guilty of official misconduct? Feb 15th, 2018 by Bruce Murphy State gave huge tax giveaways to manufacturer, but company still laid off workers.
Wisconsin Budget: The Lesson of Kimberly-Clark Layoffs
Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban Milwaukee Gov. Scott Walker speaking at the New North Summit in 2017. Photo from the State of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Valley’s largest employers has announced it is closing two Wisconsin plants and eliminating 600 jobs—but that won’t change its eligibility to claim a state tax credit that nearly eliminates the requirement for manufacturers to pay state income taxes.
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