Friday, May 22: Push to restore gender-affirming care for youth, affordability crisis hits small business, federal judge blocks Wisconsin voter data grab, embryo preservation lawsuit, Jan 6. fund sends senators for the exits and former Capitol cops to court
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The most important thing for people to understand is that the support for this care is so much broader and deeper than people realize.“
– Abigail Swetz, Fair Wisconsin executive director
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Wisconsinites take part in a city celebration for Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, 2025. Rhodes-Conway is one of more than 90 elected officials who have urged Wisconsin hospitals to resume providing gender-affirming care that they stopped under a threat from the Trump administration. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
A group of more than 60 nonprofits, advocacy organizations and businesses wrote to two Wisconsin health systems Thursday, urging them to resume gender-affirming care for minors that they halted five months ago under threats from the Trump administration. UW Health and Children’s Wisconsin hospital systems say they’re still in legal jeopardy, despite a judge’s ruling that blocked the administration’s order. Erik Gunn has the story.
Small business owners Mel and Mike Ohlinger are seeing the price of everything go up. “Every dollar we earn goes back into supporting our employees, growing our company, and serving our customers,” they write in a commentary. “But right now, small businesses are being squeezed from every direction.”
The Trump administration last summer began its effort to obtain unredacted voter data from dozens of states, including Wisconsin. A federal judge on Thursday denied the department’s request for that data after a coalition of pro-democracy groups intervened. Henry Redman reports on the ruling.
A lawsuit in Utah against seven fertility clinics over the disposal of embryos as part of the in vitro fertilization process is another obstacle religious groups are throwing into the often muddled national IVF landscape, Sofia Resnick of Stateline reports.
U.S. Senate Republicans began booking flights home immediately after a meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to negotiate the chamber passing a $72 billion package to fund immigration enforcement. Ashley Murray and Shauneen Miranda report on the “spirited discussion” the senators had with Blanche over adding restrictions to the $1.776 billion slush fund created to reimburse Jan. 6 rioters for being “victims of lawfare.”
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More from Washington:
ICYMI
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche walks by reporters at the U.S. Capitol on May 21, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
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