Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs

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Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (Facebook)

Wisconsin Republicans are holding hostage a pay increase for staff at the University of Wisconsin system, in an effort to force them to dismantle diversity programs, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.

"The bipartisan Joint Committee on Employee Relations, which consists of legislative leaders, approved a plan to give state workers who do not work within the UW System a 6% pay increase over two years. The group includes state troopers, prison guards and other staffers," reported Tyler Katzenberger and Molly Beck. "But the committee, co-led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, did not include pay raises for staff on UW System campuses. Vos has vowed not to approve the raises until UW campuses dismantle programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard reacted with outrage to the move.

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"We are denying pay increases for half of our state workforce because of one person's [Vos'] resistance to initiatives to increase inclusion on our campuses," said Agard. "This is a sad moment for our state when the majority party is actively holding our workers hostage because they cannot hand them the ability to focus on equity and diversity in the state of Wisconsin."

This comes shortly after Republicans blocked a huge slate of appointees from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, including a majority of the state environmental board, an elections commissioner, and a medical board chair who supported abortion rights.

Wisconsin's legislature is heavily gerrymandered, with Republicans winning large majorities in both chambers completely disproportionate to the popular vote. The state Supreme Court, which recently saw a liberal majority elected, is likely in the near future to hear a case that could force nonpartisan redistricting in the state.

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White House aide hurls 'vile' slur at podcaster over Karoline Leavitt question: report

A White House aide responded to a request for comment from The Daily Beast by describing one of its podcast hosts with a slur.

In a Friday article about the "vile" slur, The Daily Beast reported that White House Communications Director Steven Cheung lashed out at Joanna Coles, who co-hosts Inside Trump's Head with biographer Michael Wolff. The Daily Beast had reached out to Cheung for a comment on a story about outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

According to The Daily Beast's reporting, Cheung wrote, "Joanna Coles is a r— who has no idea what goes on in the White House." Cheung didn't respond when The Daily Beast reached back out to let him know it would be writing a story about his response.

The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for a comment on a podcast episode hosted by Coles and Executive Editor Hugh Dougherty in which they discussed the departure of Leavitt and other West Wing staffers, including the White House counsel, the deputy national security adviser, and one of Leavitt's deputy press secretaries.

"There's two elements to this story. There's the personal, and there's, I think, if you want to call it the institutional," Dougherty said. "And it's no doubt about the personal here. Karoline Leavitt was not enjoying herself."

Dougherty noted that Leavitt didn't accompany President Donald Trump to Turkey for the NATO summit, which served as the backdrop for the now widely reported decoy plane story. He said Leavitt's absence "raised a few eyebrows with people that she had come back after just a month, and people kind of assumed she would be on this trip."

Explaining the institutional element, Dougherty said, "Look at the timing of this. We are inside the 90-day stretch to the midterms. It's when, once we tick past Labor Day, then really the whole country is going to be focused on what happens on November the 3rd, and we know what's going to happen."

Dougherty explained, "If the polls are right, it's going to be a blue wave that's going to be so unpleasant if you are in the West Wing, if you are Karoline Leavitt, if you are the other people who are leaving."

The Daily Beast noted that Cheung also attacked Coles in April, when she questioned Trump's alleged weight loss. Cheung wrote on X that Coles was "a piece of s—, clearly suffering from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome rotting her pea-sized brain." Coles clapped back by calling out Cheung for using recycled statements.

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Red state Republican sticks fork in campaign and gives GOP days to find new candidate

State Sen. Mike Bousselot, an Ankeny Republican, announced Friday he is ending his campaign for reelection in Senate District 23 as he “pursues a private-sector professional opportunity.”

The Republican Party has until Aug. 19 to nominate another candidate for the 2026 general election ballot. Tony Thompson of Elkhart is the Democratic nominee for the seat. Bousselot will serve until the end of the year when his term ends.

“This is not a decision I make lightly,” Bousselot said in a statement. “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Iowa and humbled by the confidence voters placed in me. It has been a privilege to represent my constituents and participate in the work of the Iowa Legislature.”

Bousselot did not specify the professional opportunity but said in his release he had intended to pursue it while continuing to serve in the Iowa Senate. “It was only recently that he learned the requirements associated with the role would not allow him to do both. The position is entirely outside of politics and does not involve lobbying or advocacy before the Iowa Legislature,” the press release stated.

Bousselot, 43, was first elected to the Iowa House in a September 2021 special election and then served in the Senate beginning in 2023. He previously served as an adviser to Gov. Terry Branstad, including a stint as chief of staff from 2015 to 2017, and then served in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration as director of the Department of Management.

In April 2025, he launched an “exploratory” campaign for governor, but withdrew from the race in November.

Trump's new 'highly unusual' demands add strain to Navy already 'under the gun': report

President Donald Trump is making matters worse for already embattled Navy sailors with his latest demand for steam catapults, per Politico.

According to reporting on Friday, Trump's costly order for aircraft carriers to ditch their electromagnetic catapults for steam-powered systems is "compounding" pressures as the Navy deals with poor conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

"The Navy is really coming under the gun now," a U.S. official told Politico. "We have ships pushing their limits in the Middle East and the Caribbean with no end in sight."

On Friday, Trump brushed off concerns from sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where sailors have reportedly been jumping overboard and attempting suicide. He said that their nine-month deployment has been "not nearly long enough." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth similarly downplayed the concerns, saying, "Some deployments are longer than others."

Trump and Hegseth "both owe these sailors and their families an apology," Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the Senate Democrats' top defense appropriator, told Politico. "If they can't take care of the troops under their watch, they should step aside for leaders who can."

Trump's demand to switch the catapult systems on future aircraft carriers to steam threatens to put the Navy under more financial and logistical strain, as a government report estimated that the new battleships are already expected to cost billions more than anticipated, Politico reported.

The modifications ordered by Trump are "highly unusual and disruptive for the Navy," Todd Harrison, an Air Force veteran and longtime defense budget analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told Politico. "Especially since these are changes the Navy did not request."

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said on Friday that the USS Abraham Lincoln would return to port, but he agreed, "There is no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits," adding, "But they have never broken."

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