Wednesday, June 17: Democrats’ big plans in Wisconsin, election officials say process could be upended by Trump’s mail-in ballot order, richest 1% hold record-breaking share of country’s wealth, Hannah Dugan’s move for acquittal denied
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The general rule is don’t make changes before a big election because there’s always something you didn’t think about.”
– Carolina Lopez, executive director of the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions, on a proposed Postal Service rule that would create a portal for states to upload voter information to the federal agency before absentee ballots could be mailed to voters
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, who similar to U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany drank from a glass of milk as she took questions, said Senate Democrats are targeting four seats to flip this year — two more than they need to win a majority. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said during a WisPolitics forum Tuesday that legislative Democrats, who are seeking to win majorities for the first time in more than 15 years, will increase school funding and restore a popular land conservation program, but she was noncommittal on some specifics. Baylor Spears reports.
As election officials across the country, including in Wisconsin, steel themselves for the midterm elections in less than five months, President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail threatens to upend their preparations. Jonathan Shorman has the latest.
The richest 1% of Americans held nearly a third of the country’s total wealth at the end of 2025, the largest percentage the Federal Reserve Board has recorded. The latest percentage, 31.9%, is likely the largest since the end of World War II, Tim Henderson of Stateline reports, possibly heralding a return to the extreme wealth inequality of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And it is likely to balloon further as a result of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and other pro-business policies.
A federal judge has denied a request by former Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan to overturn her December conviction for obstructing an immigration proceeding. In a 32-page decision filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman disagreed with Dugan’s attorneys that a recent appeals court decision that immigration enforcement actions are not “proceedings” means her conviction should be overturned. Isiah Holmes reports.
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More from Washington:
ICYMI
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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