Scott Bauer, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Little Chute, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez enters 2026 governor’s race, calls Trump a ‘maniac’

July 25, 2025

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez is the first Democrat to officially enter the race for governor. She launched her candidacy Friday, the day after Gov. Tony Evers decided not to seek a third term. A second Democrat, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, says he is “taking steps” toward running. In her campaign launch video, Rodriguez called President Donald Trump “a maniac.” Several other Democrats are expected to run. On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and manufacturer Bill Berrien have announced their candidacies. This marks the first open governor’s race in Wisconsin since 2010.

FILE - Absentee ballots during a count at the Wisconsin Center, Nov. 8, 2022, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Former Wisconsin clerk who failed to count ballots broke laws, the state’s elections commission says

July 9, 2025

An investigation by Wisconsin’s elections commission has concluded that unlawful actions by Madison’s former city clerk led to nearly 200 absentee ballots going uncounted in the 2024 presidential election. The report released Wednesday accuses Maribeth Witzel-Behl of violating five election laws, including mishandling absentee ballots. Whether she is actually charged with any crimes would be up to the Dane County district attorney. Two bags of uncounted ballots were discovered weeks after the election, but the clerk’s office delayed notifying officials. Witzel-Behl resigned in April. The commission will vote on the report’s findings and recommendations on July 17.

Wisconsin Supreme Court clears the way for a conversion therapy ban to be made permanent

July 8, 2025

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has cleared the way for the state to permanently enact a ban on conversion therapy. The court ruled Tuesday that a Republican-controlled legislative committee’s rejection of a state agency rule that would ban the practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people was unconstitutional. The 4-3 ruling from the liberal-controlled court comes amid the national battle over LGBTQ+ rights. The court’s ruling has a broad impact far beyond the conversion therapy issue. It takes power away from the Legislature to block the enactment of rules that carry the force of law by the governor’s office.

FILE - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Wisconsin budget deal cuts taxes and boosts university funding

July 1, 2025

A budget deal brokered by Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature has cleared a key hurdle just hours after it was made public. The Legislature’s budget committee passed it on Tuesday. The budget cuts income taxes by $1.3 billion and increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut. Democrats credited gains they made due to redistricting that forced Republicans to negotiate. The Legislature is scheduled to start voting on passing the budget on Wednesday. The deadline for a new budget was Monday, but current funding continues until a new spending plan is signed.

FILE - The entrance to the Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers is seen inside the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond, File)

Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to hear challenges to the state’s congressional district boundaries

June 25, 2025

The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court has refused to hear challenges brought by Democrats seeking to throw out the battleground state’s current congressional district boundaries before the 2026 midterms. Democrats asked the court to redraw the maps, which would have put two of the state’s six congressional seats currently held by Republicans into play. But the court on Wednesday, for the second time in as many years, refused to hear the challenges. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight U.S. House seats, but only two of those districts are considered competitive.

Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with Republican Legislature in fight with governor

June 25, 2025

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has handed a victory to the Republican-controlled Legislature in a power struggle with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The court on Wednesday struck down his partial veto of a Republican bill in a case that tested both the limits of his broad veto powers and the Legislature’s ability to exert influence by controlling funding. The court also agreed with the Republican-controlled Legislature and said it can put funding for certain state programs into an emergency fund under the control of its budget committee. Evers had argued such a move was unconstitutional.

Staff search visitors entering the Wisconsin Senate gallery in the state Capitol just days after the killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)

Lawmakers on edge as statehouse security tightens after Minnesota shootings

June 18, 2025

Anxious lawmakers are convening under heightened security in Wisconsin’s state Capitol, one of the most publicly accessible statehouses in the country. The session day Wednesday came less than a week after a legislator in neighboring Minnesota was shot and killed and other lawmakers were targeted. The tension playing out in Wisconsin and other states after the Minnesota killings pits those who want to keep state capitols as open and accessible as possible against those concerned about increasing threats and acts of violence against officeholders. Numerous states took action this week to protect personal information of lawmakers after the targeted shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers.

Wisconsin dairy farmer sues Trump administration claiming discrimination against white farmers

June 16, 2025

A Wisconsin dairy farmer has alleged in a federal lawsuit that the Trump administration is illegally denying financial assistance to white farmers by continuing programs that favor minorities. The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court in Wisconsin on behalf of a white dairy farmer, Adam Faust. The lawsuit alleges that the government continues to implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were instituted under former President Joe Biden. Faust was among several farmers who successfully sued the Biden administration in 2021 for race discrimination in a USDA program.

FILE - Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the federal courthouse after a hearing Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

Trump administration urges court not to dismiss case against Wisconsin judge

June 9, 2025

The Trump administration argues that charges should not be dropped against a Wisconsin judge indicted for allegedly helping a man who is in the country evade U.S. immigration agents seeking to arrest him in her courthouse. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice urged a federal judge pn Monday to reject a motion filed by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan seeking to dismiss the charges against her. Justice Department attorneys say dropping the charges would be “unprecedented” and allow judges to be above the law. A grand jury indicted Dugan on May 13 and she pleaded not guilty ahead of a scheduled July 21 trial.

FILE - Elon Musk speaks at a town hall March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)

Elon Musk’s pullback from politics comes after his last big investment was a flop

May 20, 2025

Wisconsin could go down as billionaire Elon Musk’s last big spend on a political campaign. And it was a flop. Musk, the richest person in the world, said Tuesday that he would be spending less on political campaigns, an announcement that came just seven weeks after the candidate he backed in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race lost by 10 percentage points. Musk’s spending helped make it the most expensive court race in U.S. history. And it came just five months after Musk spent at least $250 million to help President Donald Trump win, reversing losses in Wisconsin and other battleground states four years earlier.

Scott Bauer.