Thursday, August 27: Tiffany’s record on the environment, states blunt private equity healthcare deals, judge overturns DNR factory farm permit, Marquette poll gives first look at governor’s race, landmark settlement for social media child safety, Musk avoids election bribery charge, new challenges to Trump on mail voting
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Ideology is a poor substitute for reality. Nature always bats last. You can be as sarcastic and sanctimonious as you want in attacking climate action. You can dismiss it as a hoax and a conspiracy theory, but you’re going to have to reckon with it because it’s real and not going away, it’s actually getting worse. The problem is folks like Tom not only are deniers of that reality but are leaning in on things that are going to make it more destructive.”
– U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), on the environmental policy views of his committee colleague, Tom Tiffany
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is running for Wisconsin governor with a long record of supporting extractive industries such as mining and logging in the Northwoods. (Photos Courtesy of Henry Redman, Baylor Spears, Jay Brittain, Getty Images, Illustration by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
Tom Tiffany has been working to set Wisconsin’s environmental policies since he was first elected to the Assembly in 2010. Henry Redman assesses that long record, from fights to loosen mining regulations during the administration of Gov. Scott Walker to his opposition to the conservation of public land and his current push to paint himself as the most anti-data center candidate on the ticket.
The number of private equity-involved healthcare deals has declined since last year, and the value of those deals in the first half of 2026 is lower than it was for the same time in 2025, according to a new report. Its authors say new state laws is one reason why. Anna Claire Vollers reports for Stateline.
A group of Pierce County residents and a western Wisconsin-based grassroots organization have successfully fought the Department of Natural Resources’ decision to grant a controversial factory farm permission to expand from 1,500 to 6,000 cows. Redman covers the administrative law judge’s decision to send Ridge Breeze Dairy’s permit approval back to the DNR for more groundwater protections.
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More from Washington:
ICYMI
‘The time for tolerance has ended’ | Heather Asiyanbi
Enbridge Line 5 leaks natural gas near Saxon in Iron County | Isiah Holmes
Opponents of the Ridge Breeze Dairy expansion watch the contested case hearing in March against the farm’s permit in Eau Claire. An administrative law judge this week found that the Department of Natural Resources didn't do enough to protect groundwater and sent the permit back to the agency. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
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