Tuesday, February 11, 2025
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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

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What Did Mayor Cavalier Johnson Know? ‘It Ran Through the Family That He Shot Me,’ Shooting Victim Says

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Asked whether he believes it’s true that Cavalier Johnson didn’t know his brother was wanted for a shooting, the victim, Eddie Knox, expressed doubt, telling Wisconsin Right Now that the news quickly “ran through the family.”

The home at 2313 N. 41st St., where Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s brother was arrested for shooting a man named Eddie Knox in the head after two months on the run from police, has a “Cavalier Johnson” for mayor sign planted prominently in its front yard. It’s the first thing you notice on this hardscrabble corner of Milwaukee, a residential neighborhood of sprawling, weathered duplexes with gated doors and menacing guard dogs, across the street from a liquor store.

Mayor cavalier johnsonWe set out on a mission to gather as many facts as we could about the questions: What did Johnson know and when?

A neighbor described for us how the mayor’s mother, Denise Hardwick-Townsend, also called Denise Townsend, showed up at the scene when Allen Addison was arrested on March 29, and made a scene of her own, “screaming” from across the street, as a police SWAT team surrounded the home because Johnson’s brother wouldn’t come out for hours. Yet Johnson wants the public to believe he didn’t figure out his brother was arrested or had been wanted since January, until the next day, when he saw a post on social media. His spokesman won’t say which post.

Police sources confirmed Johnson’s mother showed up; they claim that Hardwick-Townsend mentioned her son was the mayor to police swarming the scene; the neighbor could not confirm that but didn’t hear everything that was said. Johnson’s spokesman did not respond to a question asking about it. The neighbor did hear Hardwick-Townsend yelling at Addison, who is her son and Johnson’s half-brother, to come out; the neighbor launched into a fiery defense of Johnson, saying she believes the media are “painting a negative picture” of Johnson because he’s black; he’s not responsible for his grown brother, she said.

To be sure, Johnson is not responsible for what his grown brother did during the shooting, and his life story, making it out of one of the state’s toughest zip codes, 53206, for a life of community service, is inspiring.

What the acting mayor is responsible for, however, is his own honesty and transparency when it comes to the difficult situation: A felon brother allegedly committing a serious drive-by shooting while the mayor campaigns for office by suddenly shifting to a tough-on-crime persona, emphasizing public safety. What did Johnson know, and when did he know it, during the two months his brother was on the lam, and what did he do with the information he had? Those things are relevant, but the media seem incredibly uninterested in digging into them. If Johnson did know about the warrant and shooting investigation, one certainly would have expected him to do everything in his power to bring his brother in.

Rank-and-file officers are suspicious that the Milwaukee Police Department, helmed by a Johnson ally who owes his job in part to Johnson’s support, did everything in its power to keep the story of Addison’s arrest quiet before Tuesday’s election, when Johnson will face former Ald. Bob Donovan, who has criticized his public safety record. It didn’t work, if so. Word, however, eventually leaked out to Wisconsin Right Now through sources.

A Two-Hour Standoff

Johnson wants the public to believe that he did not know, until the next day, that his brother was involved in a two-hour standoff with the police agency he helps fund with his mother screaming on a city street nearby.

Seven to eight officers initially showed up in unmarked vehicles and a K-9 shortly after 3 p.m. on March 29, 2022, looking like members of a special team, the neighbor said; they knocked for two hours before finally getting Addison out of the house, which Wisconsin Right Now has discovered has ties to the Cavalier Johnson family. “They banged on that door for a couple hours,” she said (the woman did not want her name printed.) Police used loudspeakers and had a large SWAT vehicle, she said. (We asked Johnson’s spokesman, Jeff Fleming, if he was concerned about the claims that Johnson’s mother brought up his title and name at the scene; he did not respond.) We learned from sources that police eventually obtained a search warrant for the residence. “She was definitely loud and screaming,” the neighbor told Wisconsin Right Now of the brothers’ mom.

On social media, Denise Townsend has posted a series of pro-BLM, anti-police comments. We’ve learned that the house has ties to a now-deceased close relative of Denise, Chevy Johnson, and Addison. Her daughter referred to the man as her uncle.

In short, it was quite a commotion; a big police operation.

Despite all of this uproar, the acting mayor of the city, who controls the funding for the Milwaukee Police Department and appoints the commissioners who select the chief, insisted in a statement given through Fleming that it took until Wednesday for word to trickle out to him, although he won’t say exactly where he saw the post. Certainly, it wasn’t in the media; the story did not break until Friday morning on WRN, where it was quickly picked up by the other major Milwaukee news outlets.

“The mayor had no knowledge of the shooting, the warrant, or the arrest before a social media post on Wednesday,” Johnson’s spokesman, Jeff Fleming, told Wisconsin Right Now, not answering a question that queried about which one.

“The only caveat I will add is that his office did receive the same notification all news media received on January 4th regarding the three different shootings that afternoon. There were no details beyond the age and sex of the victim and the statement that police were looking for an unknown suspect. The Mayor had no information from his mother or anyone else about this prior to the arrest.”

Johnson has demonstrated a pattern of misleading voters in campaign ads about his record relating to funding Milwaukee police. He has a long history of comments and votes seeking to slash the police budget, implying police are racists who kill and maim black people, opposing mandatory minimums, such as those for violent felons who carry guns, and the like, but has remade himself at election time into a supposed pro-public safety candidate (see a round-up of his record on public safety here).

If he’s not being honest about when he last saw his brother and when he knew he was wanted or learned of the arrest, it would raise a host of serious questions. The mayor’s spokesman paints him as clueless about the fact that, for two months, the Milwaukee Police Department was searching for his brother for allegedly shooting a man multiple times, including in the head, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. But if he’s telling the truth, it raises another question: Why didn’t MPD ask Johnson to help them find his brother? Why didn’t they release the suspect information to TV and other media when Addison was charged in January to help find him? Why didn’t they ask him to help them get Addison out of the house safely on March 29?

MPD won’t say whether the agency told Johnson it was looking for his brother. If the agency did not do so, it raises questions about how hard police were looking for the brother of the man who pushed the appointment of its chief.

These are all serious questions the media seem uninterested in exploring.

Is it plausible that the mayor learned about all of this hullabaloo through social media AFTER it all went down, as he claims? Or is the mayor lying? That’s up for you to decide, although, if he’s telling the truth, one certainly can’t accuse him of having his finger firmly on the pulse of the city or family.

We asked a series of other questions, including, “Has mayor Johnson had any contact with his brother in any way since the warrants were issued in January – and when and in what way and for what?”

Fleming wrote at one point, “I’m unlikely to have a chance to speak with the Mayor on this in the near term.” He added, “Actually, he just texted me – the last time he saw his brother was last November around Thanksgiving.”


The Victim: “It Spread Through the Family’

The man who was shot, allegedly by Addison, believes the news that Addison was wanted for the crime “spread through the family,” referring to Cavalier Johnson’s family. Johnson and Addison share a mother and multiple half-siblings.

Eddie Knox, who did home improvement work but can’t anymore because of his wounds, told Wisconsin Right Now in an exclusive interview that he told the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office in January 2022 that he’d learned Addison might be staying at the home of Cavalier’s mom on Wright St.

We tracked down Knox through the address listed in the criminal complaint, which gives his name as only “E.K.” We knocked on the window, and he came out, willing to talk. He said that no one, not even police, told him that Addison was arrested for shooting him; that he learned from TV news. Not a single other journalist attempted to talk to him.

Eddie knox mayor cavalier johnson
Eddie knox

He described the extensive injuries he sustained in the shooting; the criminal complaint describes how a man police say was Addison, already a felon child abuser, pulled up in a truck and opened fire without provocation at Knox, shooting him multiple times as he sat in a vehicle.

“I had to have my arm rebuilt,” he said. “They had to put a rod from here down to here with plates and screws and everything.” Standing right by the spot where he was shot in January, Knox said he suffered two broken shoulders. He was shot in the head, he said, revealing a dent where the bullet entered.

Eddie knox
Eddie knox gunshot scars to head and neck

Knox said that he went to get some dog food, and pulled up on his street, when the shooter “pulled up along the side of me and called my name and started shooting.”

He says that he knew “it was Allen” because he had known the 37-year-old man since he was 18. “My son chased him down and got the license plate,” he said, adding that he picked Addison out of a photo lineup. However, the criminal complaint does not contain those details; it says that Knox could not identify Addison for sure because the windows were tinted, and that his son chased him, but it doesn’t mention him getting a license plate. It does say that police found casings in Addison’s truck and that a neighbor identified him as the driver right after the shooting. The complaint says the motive is tied up in Knox preventing Addison from beating up Addison’s girlfriend in a previous incident.

Knox said Addison also had a problem with his son because his son dated the mother of Addison’s children. Knox dates her sister.

Knox said he’s baffled how he survived the shooting, as were hospital personnel.

“I don’t know why he shot me,” he said.

He believes the police did a good job investigating, saying, “They have so many shootings a day now. They can’t really just focus on one shooting.”

Knox said police immediately tried to track Addison down because he was the suspect from day one.

“I don’t think they should have come down on the mayor like that, it’s not his fault. You can’t control your family. It’s a grown man,” said Knox.

But he believes multiple members of the family knew quickly that Addison was wanted for the shooting.

“Two weeks out of the hospital, I heard he (Addison) was by his mother’s house. I told the district attorney, the district attorney…sent the cops over there to investigate,” he said.

Allen addison jr cavalier johnson's brother
The brothers. Addison and johnson are on right.

Does he believe Johnson is telling the truth when he says he didn’t know his brother was wanted until seeing it on social media after his March 29 arrest?

“I can’t accept that part because if the mother knew her son was wanted, I think it would spread through the family,” Knox said. “I assume she (the mother) did know because the police came there to investigate. That’s the address they had. I am quite sure they made a few attempts going back to that house. I am quite sure she knew, and I am quite sure it was through the family because the kids knew.”

Asked which kids he meant, he said the three teenage children of Addison. “They talk to my kids. They’re all related. They just talked between each other and said that he was wanted. Ever since the day it happened. The kids knew who shot me. They was here and, they found out who shot me. It ran through the family that he shot me.”

Knox laughed and rolled his eyes when asked about Johnson’s denial.

About the mother, he said, “Yeah, c’mon, she gotta know. C’mon. If she told anyone, I don’t know.” Of Johnson, he repeated, “I think he probably did know.” But he can’t say for sure.

He noted, “If he’s acting mayor, I’m quite sure he knows what goes on at the police department.”


Family bonds

Mayor cavalier johnson

Social media posts show that Johnson is close to his mother and brother. His mother has posted photos with her son, the mayor, and a photo of Johnson with Addison. One of the only posts visible on Addison’s Facebook page is a birthday shout-out to Johnson in November 2021. “Happy Birthday Brother,” Addison wrote, along with a photo of him with Cavalier and another person. “…your (sic) the one I look up too (sic) Lil bro. Love you unconditionally…” Johnson replied, “Thanks, bro. Love you…”

Mayor cavalier johnson

Johnson has posted glowing tributes to his mom on Facebook, writing, “How did a friendly, mild mannered boy make it up from 53206, off to college, and commit to public service? Discipline instilled in him by his momma.”

The Milwaukee Police Department is run by a Johnson ally, Chief Jeffrey Norman. Johnson, then-Common Council president, pushed his appointment as chief. The pair holds press conferences together, recently touting the thousands of municipal tickets cops were writing to combat reckless driving (they didn’t mentioned that 7,200 were lost in the system).

We asked MPD:

1, Did police tell Cavalier Johnson or anyone in the mayor’s office about the arrest? When?

2, Did they seek his help in locating his brother during the last two months when he was wanted on serious felony warrants? Why or why not?

3, Did police tell Cavalier Johnson or anyone in the mayor’s office that his brother was wanted on a warrant? When?

4, How did police locate Addison, and where was he arrested?

We received this response from a MPD spokesman: “MPD will not discuss investigative steps about any case whether it involves an elected official or a member of our community. Ultimately, MPD respects and appreciates all the sources that provide information that lead to successful apprehension and prosecution of offenders. We do not discuss which particular source shared information for the safety of that individual. You are welcome to submit an open records request to obtain records at [email protected]. You can also direct questions to Mayor Johnson’s Office that may pertain to him.”

We submitted an open records request to both MPD and the mayor’s office. They are pending.

Norman’s silence isn’t doing much to dispel concerns about MPD’s transparency on this matter. Even cops who are usually in the know came up short on knowledge of the Addison arrest, although word filtered through the ranks of retired officers eventually. Multiple jail sources told us an assistant chief demanded that Addison be released from the city lockup and sent to the county jail, where he was quickly arraigned, bail set at $25,000. They described this as unusual. The police blotter shows that Addison was arrested on March 29; the county jail booking database says he was in that facility by March 31, when word finally spread. Wisconsin Right Now was first to break the story of Addison’s arrest, doing so on Friday, April 1. Within hours all of the local media had joined in.

Thus, one would think Norman’s MPD would be bending over backwards to be transparent about the arrest and investigation into the brother of his political ally.

The MPD has done the opposite, releasing only vague statements. The department would not even release the address where Addison was arrested. We were told to check the police blotter and waited two hours at district one before receiving it. That’s how we learned the address of the arrest was 2313 N. 41st St.

But whose house is that?


A Tie to the Johnson Clan

We found ties between that address and Johnson’s family circle. His family is complicated, to be sure; he has nine siblings. At least some, including Addison, are half-siblings. He has four brothers with the same mother, Denise Hardwick-Townsend.

A check of online records shows that a Marvin C. Hardwick once lived there. City records show the house is owned by a woman named Cassandra Patterson.

Mayor cavalier johnson

Johnson’s mother, Denise Hardwick-Townsend, has two other sons with the last name Hardwick, Forrest and Blake (the latter is also a felon). An elderly woman who answered the door said Denise “don’t live here,” that Marvin Hardwick “is deceased,” and became extremely angry and slammed the door when we asked about Addison and Cavalier Johnson. “We’re not going to do that,” she said.

A man named Dennis Hardwick wrote on Facebook, “Kicking it with family! Man I love having a twin sister Denise Hardwick-Townsend.” That indicates that Denise’s maiden name is Hardwick.

The neighbor wouldn’t provide the family members’ names, but said she did not believe that Addison, Johnson, or their mother were frequent visitors or had lived there. She did not know the Johnson link until the story hit the news.

To be sure, Marvin C. Hardwick died in February 2021.

His Facebook page is still active. Three years ago, the sister of Johnson and Addison wrote on Hardwick’s comment thread, “Uncle Bear living your best life.” Marvin was Facebook friends with Allen Addison, his two Hardwick surnamed brothers, Denise Townsend (also known as Denise Hardwick-Townsend), and….Acting Mayor Cavalier “Chevy” Johnson. A tribute post to Marvin by a relative tagged Johnson, his mom, and Addison.

Mayor cavalier johnson

A truck in the backyard of the home contained a similar logo to a lawn service, Trimmers Landscaping LLC. Addison posed for a selfie in front of a truck with that logo on Facebook. That company’s registered agent is out of Appleton, according to Wisconsin state records.

Mayor cavalier johnson

Fleming also released this statement on behalf of Johnson:

“The Mayor has been direct and upfront about his siblings. He has frequently noted he has one brother who is a warden at a state prison, and another brother who has been an inmate in that prison.

He has also stated his belief in accountability — to the community and to the criminal justice system — for those who break the law.

Cavalier Johnson brings a background and perspective to the Mayor’s Office unlike any other mayor in recent history. His experiences provide valuable insight as he addresses the serious challenges Milwaukee faces.

To your questions, the Mayor tells me he was not aware of the arrest warrant for his brother until recent days. As to his perception of police, he stands solidly behind has statement that the police play an important role in reducing crime and making Milwaukee safer.”

Trump to Stop U.S. Production of Pennies

President Donald Trump said late Sunday that he has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.

Pennies famously cost more than a penny to produce, putting them in the crosshairs of Trump and DOGE’s government efficiency push.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," Trump wrote on TruthSocial, his social media site. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.

Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump added.

DOGE posted on X last month critical of the penny’s cost, hinting at its fate.

"The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023," DOGE wrote on X. "The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts."

According to the U.S. Mint’s latest report, the cost of all coins is on the rise. From the Mint’s 2024 report:

"FY 2024 unit costs increased for all circulating denominations compared to last year. The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent, the nickel’s unit cost increased by 19.4 percent, the dime’s unit cost increased by 8.7 percent, and the quarter-dollar’s unit cost increased by 26.2 percent. The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year."

Lake Sturgeon Protection

Wisconsin Lawmakers Want State Exempt From Any Lake Sturgeon Protection

(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin lawmakers have filed legislation to protect sturgeon spearing in the state.

The bill would exempt Wisconsin from any listing of lake sturgeon under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The group, including Republican Congressmen Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher filed what they called the Sturgeon Protected and Exempt from Absurd Regulations Act.

Reps. Tony Wied, Grothman and Tom Tiffany introduced the legislation on Friday.

The bill is in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducting a status assessment of lake sturgeon after the group was sued by an animal rights group in 2018 attempting to have lake sturgeon listed as threatened.

“Sturgeon-spearing is crucial to maintaining Wisconsin’s lake sturgeon population which is why we must take proactive steps to ensure that we are exempt from any action to list the lake sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act,” Tiffany said about the bill. “Wisconsin is a global leader in sturgeon management, and the SPEAR Act will protect this unique and long-standing tradition for years to come.”

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-118hr7037ih

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it will not add the lake sturgeon to the endangered species list last year.

A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in December 2023 pointing out the impact a listing could have on Wisconsin and how the state has worked to manage the lake sturgeon population.

The letter was signed by Gallagher and Grothman along with Sens. Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Reps. Bryan Steil, Tiffany, Scott Fitzgerald and Derrick Van Orden.

“Wisconsin does not list lake sturgeon endangered nor threatened in state waters, and has in place a sturgeon program considered a world model for effective management and recovery, and as such should be exempt from any Federal ESA listing of the species”, said Dr. Ron Bruch, former Chief of Fisheries and Leader of the statewide Sturgeon Management Team for the WI Department of Natural Resources.

dpi wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans Call for Transparency, Fairness in School Referendums

(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin legislators are pushing for more transparency in the school referendum process in the state.

The proposal comes after 169 out of 241 school ballot referenda in 2024 elections were approved by voters at a cost of $4.4 billion to taxpayers.

Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, and Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, proposed bills that would require local governments and school boards to include information on the ballot about how much the difference in taxes would for a median-valued home in the community resulting from the referendum.

“Referendums are opportunities for voters to make important decisions about how their tax dollars should be spent,” Allen said. “Good decision making requires transparency in the information provided to voters.”

A second bill would protect school districts from losing state funding when other districts go to referendum.

“It was a shock to many to learn that the massive school referendum passed in Milwaukee would take away vital state funding from over 300 other school districts,” Allen said. “It’s only fair that large referendums in one district should not negatively affect other school districts.”

A Legislative Fiscal Bureau report last year analyzed by Badger Institute showed that a $252 million Milwaukee referendum would cost Madison, Waukesha and Racine $2 million a year in state funding while Appleton and West Bend would lose more than $1 million each year.

The impact is due to tax base equalization, which means that “a school district's property tax rate does not depend on the property tax base of the district, but rather on the level of expenditures.”

The bill states that any school referendum of over $50 million dollars should be paid for by the district that votes for the referendum instead of taking away money from shared school funding.

Tammy Baldwin Supports Transgender Children Surgeries

Trump Order Forces Many Medical Providers to End Transgender Procedures on Children

Late last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting “transgender” procedures on youth, including puberty blockers and surgeries such as mastectomies and penile reconstruction. In response, many medical providers including some of the top in the nation for performing them have announced they will comply with the EO.

The EO states that “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”

Last year, nonprofit Do No Harm unveiled a database reporting that between 2019-2023, there were 13,000 gender reassignment procedures performed throughout the nation on minors; those procedures included both surgeries and prescriptions. Among the top states in the nation for those procedures was Ohio, which has since enacted legislation banning such procedures.

The Center Square reached out to more than two dozen medical providers throughout the country based on data provided by Do No Harm regarding their total billing, prescriptions, and surgeries performed, asking them how they planned to respond to Trump’s EO.

Among those to announce they were suspending all procedures was Seattle-based UW Medicine, which stated in an email that it was “committed to supporting the clinical care needs and well-being of all our patients, as well as complying with state and federal law. We are currently in compliance and are also continuing to provide our full spectrum of services.”

Seattle Children’s Hospital ranked among the top in the nation for puberty blocker prescriptions; though it did not respond to request for comment, there have been reports that it has suspended those services, and its webpage for gender affirmation surgery has since been removed.

MultiCare Mary Bridge Children's Hospital located in Tacoma wrote in an email that while it does not perform gender-affirming surgeries, “we are aware of the executive order that calls for an end to gender-affirming medical treatments for children and adolescents under 19 and are continuing to monitor the situation. Executive orders are directives to federal agencies on how they will operate. Much of what’s been issued has not yet become rules for us to evaluate.”

D.C.-based Children’s National Hospital released a statement that it will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy, noting that prior to the EO it did not perform gender affirming surgeries.

Coolie Dickinson Hospital based out of Massachusetts wrote in an email that it “is reviewing to see what, if any, actual impact the executive orders might have and would follow up, if there is any impact. In the meantime, the care we provide to our community continues as normal at this time.”

University of Michigan Health stated that its “teams are assessing the potential impact of this executive order on our healthcare services and the communities we serve. Our priority remains delivering high-quality, accessible care to our patients while ensuring compliance with the law."

Another medical provider to cease gender transition services for anyone under 19 is VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia, which wrote in a statement that it was “in response to an Executive Order issued by the White House on January 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on January 30, 2025. Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care and all other health care needs.”

UCSF’s Gender Affirming Care in San Francisco has also ended services for patients under 19, a policy also adopted by Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York simply wrote in an email that “we will keep you posted once we have an update on this matter.”

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia both said they were reviewing their services.

Several hospitals and hospital systems who performed these procedures on minors did not respond to The Center Square's requests for comment on the executive order. The Center Square will continue to seek clarification on whether they plan to comply with the order.

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Bill Would Limit Which Flags Can Fly at Wisconsin Government Buildings

(The Center Square) – A new Wisconsin bill would limit government-sponsored divisions from flying certain flags.

The bill prevents flags other than the U.S. flag, Wisconsin flag, local flags and U.S. armed forces and POW/MIA flags from being flown or hung outside any state or local institution.

The bill was introduced by a group of Republicans including Rep. Jerry L. O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, Dave Murphy, R- Greenville, Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, Joy Goeben, R-Hobart and State Sens. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, and Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee.

The bill points to particular flags that have led to divisiveness including those of political movements or social causes, such as MAGA, pride, heterosexual, CSA, Second Amendment rights, BLM, ALL Lives Matter, Antifa, Pro-Life, Pro-Choice and others.

The bill doesn’t prohibit any private citizens or Native American tribes from flying any flags.

“Government should not be in the business of choosing sides, or even giving the appearance of choosing sides,” said Feyen. “This bill simply ensures that the first impression of all government buildings and institutions is neutral, offering equal treatment to all Wisconsinites.”

The lawmakers said that they were asked to act on the divisiveness by Wisconsin residents.

“Flags on government buildings are not supposed to be divisive and should not support one ideology over another,” said Sen. Tomczyk, “When the governor uses flags flown over the State Capitol and other taxpayer-funded buildings to divide the people of Wisconsin, it is shameful and frankly, embarrassing. It is time to end this nonsense.”

Illegal Border Crossings Buses Carrying Migrants Northern Border Illegal Border Crossers Immigration Parole Illegal Immigrant Convicts Biden’s Immigration Policies

Republican Bill Would Block Illegal Immigrants From Receiving Tax Breaks

Immigrants residing illegally within the U.S. could no longer receive child tax credits or tax breaks for low income earners if the Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act becomes law.

Reintroduced by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., the legislation would require both parents and children to have Social Security numbers that are valid for employment in order to claim the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., has introduced a companion bill in the House.

The U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation estimates Hyde-Smith's legislation could save nearly $28 billion over ten years.

“I welcome President [Donald] Trump’s intent to target wasteful spending and enforce immigration laws,” Hyde-Smith said Tuesday. “The environment is certainly friendlier now to adopt legislation that saves billions of dollars and ensures that only U.S citizens and persons authorized to work can benefit from the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.”

While the CTC and EITC should only go to those with SSNs valid for employment, certain loopholes allow some people who do not meet the requirements to receive the federal benefits. The bill would close those loopholes.

Only weeks into Trump’s second presidency, Republicans and the Commander in Chief have already implemented or introduced other anti-illegal immigration measures, including reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy and authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to round up and deport migrants residing in the U.S.

The Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act is also part of Republicans’ federal cost-cutting efforts to finance the extension of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $4.6 trillion over the next ten years.

“I will work to ensure that [the] Safeguarding American Workers’ Benefits Act is considered as part of the debate to extend and improve on the Trump tax cuts that expire this year,” Hyde-Smith said.

Riley Gaines

Nearly 80% of Americans Don’t Want Men Playing in Women’s Sports

Surveying nearly an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, a poll taken by the New York Times and polling company Ipsos showed that the majority of Americans do not want transgender-identifying men in women’s sports.

Of those surveyed, 79% answered that men “should not” compete in women’s sports when posed with the following question: “thinking about transgender female athletes – meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female – do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women's sports?”

This number has increased from a 2023 The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll that reported 67% of American voters were collectively against men playing in women’s sports.

When the 2025 New York Times-Ipsos poll is broken up along political divides, 94% of Republicans, 67% of Democrats, and 64% of Independents or “something else” answered that men should not be in women’s sports.

The highest bracket that believes men should be allowed to play in women’s sports are Democrats, equaling 31%.

The results of this poll came just before President Trump declared there are only two sexes in America, male and female. The survey was taken from Jan. 2 to 11.

When reached for comment, Ipsos vice president for public affairs Mallory Newall repeated the question posed to respondents and said “we cannot speculate on what people meant or interpreted beyond the wording of the question.”

Ipsos is a global market research and polling company, according to its description in the poll document.

Men in women’s sports has become an issue in recent years, with high school girls such as Payton McNabb getting injured by a male competitor on a volleyball team and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines becoming an activist defending women's-only sports after placing second to a transgender female swimming competitor.

The Independent Women’s Forum senior legal advisor Beth Parlato told The Center Square that “without female-only athletics, the safety of girls and women is endangered, and men will dominate the playing field, which unfairly takes away awards, opportunities, scholarships and roster spots.”

The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) is a nonprofit women’s organization “dedicated to developing and advancing policies” that “enhance people’s freedom, opportunities, and well-being,” according to its website. IWF has taken a staunch stance against men competing in women’s sports.

“Males and females possess unique and immutable biological differences,” Parlato said. “With respect to sports, males have biological athletic advantages over females, as the average male is stronger, bigger and faster.

“Furthermore, allowing males in female-only spaces is an invasion of a women’s right to privacy and threatens women’s safety and well-being,” Parlato said.

“Defining sex-based terms in law and policy is essential to protect women’s sports and spaces,” Parlato said.

Trump’s executive order on two sexes provides “needed clarity to preserve the legal existence of women as distinct from men,” Parlato said. “Protect women’s sports bills at both the federal and state levels must be codified into law to ensure equal athletic opportunities for women and girls."

The NYT-Ipsos survey was “of the American general population” aged 18 and up, interviewing a total of 2,128 people; 1,022 of those polled were Republican/Lean Republican, 1,025 were Democrat/Lean Democrat, and 81 were Independent or “something else.”

In a vein similar to transgender-identifying men playing in women’s sports, the poll showed that the majority of Americans are not for sex changes in minors, either.

Respondents were asked “thinking about medications used for transgender care, do you think doctors should be able to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs or hormone therapy to minors between the ages of 10 and 18?”

A total of 71% of Americans do not think anyone under 18 should have access to such drugs or therapy.

Shortly after this poll, Trump signed an executive order “restricting transgender drugs and surgeries for minors,” The Center Square previously reported.

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