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A state bill that would require older drivers to renew their drivers' licenses more often is being circulated for sponsorship.

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Part of the University of Wisconsin budget approved last night would make it harder for the UW student group United Council to collect dues.

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  Crystal Finishing Products has announced plans to expand its business and bring 250 new jobs to the city of Mosinee.

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  Pepin County is considering a ban on frac sand mines and processing centers along a 10-mile stretch of the Mississippi River.

A batch of puppies from Moore, Oklahoma is now in Wisconsin looking for new homes.

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  The Department of Natural Resources is investigating ways to see what endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be Wisconsin waters. 

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A Department of Natural Resources (DNR) committee wants to let hunters and trappers kill a lot more gray wolves this fall.

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Members of both parties approved a budget plan that would freeze tuition at the University of Wisconsin and cut state aid to the university system.

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The Joint Finance Committee voted last night against a plan to exempt the rent-to-own industry from Wisconsin's Consumer Act.

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Wisconsin's transportation fund would be left with just a $5 million balance under a plan approved by the Joint Finance Committee last night.

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The Joint Finance Committee approved a plan last night to make people arrested for alleged felonies and sexual assault subject to DNA sampling.

The Forest County Potawatomi tribe has opened the first Native American-owned large computer data center in Wisconsin. 

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Governor Scott Walker is due to speak near Des Moines, Iowa this evening, in what some call part of a potential 2016 presidential run. 

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  Two Madison philanthropists are giving a $600,000 donation to the Barneveld Public Library to help cover the costs of an expansion project.

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  Some Wisconsin corn growers are still waiting to get into their wet fields to plant their crops.

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The Joint Finance Committee rejected a plan to spend $3 million to track people on domestic violence restraining orders using GPS technology.

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Anglers may need a bigger creel this weekend: The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) increased bag limits on 400 northern lakes.

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  Critics of the rent-to-own industry made a last-minute plea today to kill a plan that would make it exempt from consumer protection laws.

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Governor Scott Walker says the final size of Wisconsin's Stewardship land conservation program may not be set in stone just yet.

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  A new report questions the need for major highway expansions in Wisconsin, having found that previous traffic projections were too high.

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The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) board has approved changes to Wisconsin's endangered species list.

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When U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sat in the House hot seat Wednesday, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc) did his part to turn up the flame.

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The U.S. Forest Service is planning a prescribed burn in part of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Bayfield County this weekend. 

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“We’re Not Broke” is a 2012 documentary by Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce about how American corporations hide profits overseas.

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The legislature's budget committee is scheduled to vote today a plan that would let police collect DNA samples from people when they're arrested.

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  A proposal to dramatically increase the number of walleye stocked in northern Wisconsin lakes is getting good reviews.

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Ministry Health Care has announced plans to lay off hundreds of workers at its hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.

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    Democrats and voucher school opponents say they've collected nearly 17,000 signatures from people opposed to voucher school expansion. 

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Critics of Wisconsin's newly implemented educational standards crowded an informational hearing today at the State Capitol.

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 Wisconsin's Tobacco Quit Line has seen a surge of calls since March, when a national campaign called Tips from Former Smokers started.

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  Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee approved a plan last night making it harder to challenge applications for high capacity wells.

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The Joint Finance Committee approved a plan making it harder for retired public employees to return to work and still draw a pension.

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The Joint Finance Committee approved a budget provision that requires poor people to work part time or undergo job training to get food stamps.

A 65 year-old man who walked across Wisconsin counting bird species has finished his hike.

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  The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says it wants to add more shooting ranges in Wisconsin, as well as renovate others.

A priest from Sheboygan is a founding member of a new group of clergy that's monitoring sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church.

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State workers who smoke would soon have to pay a $50 monthly surcharge under a plan approved by the legislature’s budget committee.

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Republicans on the legislature’s budget committee have approved a plan that would allow for the sale of state-owned property.

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Two state lawmakers from western Wisconsin are asking for 10 additional staff members to monitor air quality at frac sand mines.

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State lawmakers are considering a bill to allow election observers to get closer to voters and poll workers.

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La Crosse’s Oktoberfest celebration will be cut down to four days next year, instead of spanning over two weekends.

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 The Wausau Paper Company has sold its mills in Mosinee and Rhinelander to a private equity firm.

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Recommendations on how many wolves should be killed during this fall's hunting and trapping season could emerge from a committee meeting this Thursday in Wausau.

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The interstate competition for your vacation dollars is taking an uncommon twist. Michigan tourism officials are in Wisconsin, spreading the word about the Wolverine State.

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With Loganville farmer Vernon Hershberger’s trial underway in Sauk County, raw milk advocates say this is a pivotal moment in the raw and local food movement.

A group that says new iron ore legislation leaves them with no choice but to fight a mine with civil disobedience held a training session in Taylor County last weekend. About 70 people showed up.

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  A $200 million backlog in Great Lakes harbor and channel dredging would end with a bill that just passed the U.S. Senate.

The legislature's budget committee is scheduled to vote today on a plan requiring food stamp recipients to undergo job training to receive benefits.

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  A trial is underway in Baraboo, for a Sauk County farmer who’s been selling raw milk through a private buying club.

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A new analysis says Governor Scott Walker's plan to make food stamp recipients perform more job searches would cost the state millions.

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The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says the fish kill on central Wisconsin's Big Eau Pleine reservoir was major, but not as bad as predicted.

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The number of students in Wisconsin receiving free and reduced-price school meals has increased for the ninth straight school year.

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Wisconsin's housing market is strong compared to the same time last year, with both sales and prices higher than where they were.

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Legislators may soon decide the fate of Governor Scott Walker's controversial plan to expand taxpayer-funded school vouchers. The expansion has been a divisive issue, especially in the communities that would be directly impacted.

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People are picking up the pieces after a fire in northern Wisconsin that burned more than 8,100 acres and destroyed 17 homes last week.

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Native American tribal elders from Bad River and Red Cliff held a drum ceremony this weekend calling upon the spirits to offer guidance in their fight against a proposed iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) board has voted to buy land or conservation easements on about 11,000 acres in Wisconsin.

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The legislature's budget committee is scheduled to vote on some hot-button issues this week. 

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   Raw milk supporters from across the country are expected in Baraboo this week for the trial of Vernon Hershberger.

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Wisconsin is being represented in the National Geographic Bee this year by the sister of a boy who took second last year.

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Native and non-native people will join tomorrow at a river downstream from a proposed open-pit iron ore mine in the Penokee Range.

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  Rain across part of Wisconsin today may have put a damper on plans to end this week's Bike to Work Week with one more ride.

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Two Wisconsin congressmen want to help cap how much taxpayers pay to insure farmers.

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A virus is infecting salamanders at the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Baraboo.

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The scene included thanks all around to firefighters at the Germann Lake Fire Command Post in Gordon, Thursday.

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  U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc) says she's trying to help small Wisconsin craft brewers get a federal tax break.

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  A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the federal food stamp program, looks at what participants eat.

Governor Scott Walker's administration released numbers showing that Wisconsin added 32,000 private sector jobs in 2012.

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The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) may want more information on exploration plans from the company that wants to mine the Penokee Range.

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  Governor Scott Walker and Congressman Sean Duffy publicly thanked the people who contained the Germann Road wildfire.

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A program expanding broadband in rural areas will continue to be funded and lawmakers hope more people will have access to high-speed Internet. 

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The Adams city council and the Adams-Friendship Area School Board voted to let an Australian company make Adams its American headquarters.

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Board members of the state jobs agency say the board of directors needs more power. 

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The Walker administration has laid out a plan that would reduce the University of Wisconsin's (UW's) reserves by $136 million, partly through a $94 million dollar cut in state funding.

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Republicans on the legislature's budget committee have approved a plan that would reduce borrowing for Wisconsin's Land Stewardship Program and force the state to sell off thousands of acres it already owns.

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The newly released video of an attack at the Marathon County jail has provoked a strong reaction from a citizens' panel investigating security at the facility. Panel members say the attack appeared to have been coordinated.

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There's more evidence that black flies are making it harder for whooping crane chicks to be hatched in central Wisconsin.

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Emergency management and fire officials faced the worst case scenario on Tuesday as the Germann Road Fire took on a life of its own.

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  Matt Osterman is the producer and director of “Ghost from the Machine,” a science-fiction thriller about a young man who builds a machine that brings the dead back to life. 

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A new Farm Bill is on its way to the full Senate where it will likely pass. 

Labor activists rallied in downtown Milwaukee at this afternoon, topping a day of demonstrations aimed at raising the pay of fast food workers.

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Some residents in Douglas County are starting to check on their properties after the Germann Road Fire burned nearly 9,000 acres.

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The legislature’s budget committee has voted to strip one of the last remaining duties from Wisconsin’s state treasurer.

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The legislature’s budget committee has voted to support Governor Scott Walker’s plan to add new agents to collect delinquent taxes.

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   More than 50 people have evacuated their homes in far northern Wisconsin, fleeing the largest wildfire there in 33 years.

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A new economic impact study of Wisconsin’s frac sand mining industry warns of booms and busts.

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A central Wisconsin man is leading an effort to find a picture of everyone from the state who was killed in the Vietnam War.

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A new study Wisconsin finds that schools with higher poverty have experienced bigger budget cuts than more affluent school districts.

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Tuesday night, the state Senate passed a bill scaling back the power of the Milwaukee County board. Shortly after, the Assembly signed off on the Senate version; the controversial bill goes next to Governor Scott Walker.

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Tenants could be evicted when crimes occur on their property even if they could not have prevented them under a bill poised to pass in the Wisconsin Assembly.

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  Freeze University of Wisconsin (UW) tuition, but give the university system more state tax funds. Those are the messages from a new poll.

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Some of the worst repeat drunk drivers would be required to serve a three-year prison sentence under a bill that passed the Wisconsin Assembly Tuesday.

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UPDATE AT 9:45am: The Department of Natural Resources says the fire has been largely surrounded and was "90 percent contained" this morning.  It has burned about 8,700 acres and is considered the largest forest fire in northern Wisconsin in 33 years.

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A wildfire seemed to explode in a pine barren region of Douglas County Tuesday evening, then did a U-turn that forced the evacuation center to itself evacuate to another area.

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UPDATE AT 9:00 PM: The Douglas County Sheriff has asked for police help from elsewhere in the region to assist with sealing off a perimeter around the fire area.  Also, people in the German Lake area of Barnes Township have been told they must evacuate.

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The Dalai Lama told the Wisconsin state legislature today that a successful life does not come from money or power but from inner value.

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The next presidential election is three and a half years away, but a Wisconsin poll has already looked at some hypothetical match-ups. 

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Governor Scott Walker called the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups for heightened scrutiny a “real threat to our freedoms.”

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A new poll shows Governor Scott Walker's job approval rating at just over 50 percent, though people are unhappy with Walker's job creation record.

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Governor Scott Walker won’t say he’s running for president, even as he prepares for fundraising trips to Iowa, Connecticut and New York City.

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Laundromat owners want the state to update its sales tax code.

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GOP lawmakers are pushing for school vouchers to expand statewide — further than an expansion plan fellow Republican Governor Scott Walker recommends.

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Wisconsin Tea Party members are fuming over revelations that the Internal Revenue Service singled them out for checks about their tax-exempt status.

Pharmaceuticals, cocaine, and a variety of other chemicals are more widespread in Minnesota’s lakes and rivers than previously thought.

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  For more than 30 years, satellites have been checking the water quality of Wisconsin’s lakes. Now, new satellites will take a closer look. 

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Wisconsin’s e-waste recycling program turned three years old earlier this year, and has exceeded 100 million pounds of old electronics.

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The risk of wildfires is increasing across Wisconsin.

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Looking for work at least four times a week would be a criterion for continued unemployment benefits, under a plan approved by GOP lawmakers.

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  Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) are proposing to change the U.S. Constitution.

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A report from the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) highlights the high cost of appliances and furniture sold by rent-to-own stores. 

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  Preliminary work on Wisconsin's first modern streetcar system continues, despite a derailment attempt by suburban Milwaukee Republicans. 

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Health officials in Wisconsin are watching for shortages of a drug used to treat Lyme disease. A shortage in the Twin Cities is causing prices to jump.

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The contents of an almost perfectly preserved nuclear fallout shelter are on display at a museum in Neenah.

Wisconsin law now requires projects that affect wetlands to make up for the loss a few different ways, including one that could help landowners make money. 

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Marathon County's new sheriff is pledging to improve jail security in the wake of an attack that left a corrections officer critically wounded. 

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Prison officials from Armenia are in in Wisconsin this month for a training seminar on how to better process, classify and eventually parole inmates. 

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One of the biggest expenses for a business is employee health care. Recently a group of Madison companies heard about efforts to reduce unneeded care. 

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  Five police officers who died in the line of duty were honored at a ceremony outside the State Capitol today.

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  A National Guard unit charged with developing agriculture in Afghanistan returned home to Madison today after about a four-month deployment overseas.

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Gogebic Taconite, the company that wants to build a massive open pit iron ore mine in the Penokee Range, has applied for a license to explore there. They also say they may file an “intent to mine” with the Department of Natural Resources in the next month or two.

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The legislature's budget committee voted Thursday night to at least temporarily withhold money for Wisconsin's troubled jobs agency.

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Local government employees would not have to live in the cities they serve, under a measure passed by the legislature's budget committee Thursday night.

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Republicans are setting aside money to implement Wisconsin's voter ID law even though it's been struck down by two circuit court judges.

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The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) came under fire again today by the legislature's Joint Audit Committee.

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Rain and snow have kept many farmers out of the fields, but the extra precipitation has served at least one good purpose: The drought is officially over.

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The company that wants to build a massive open pit iron ore mine in the Penokee Range has applied for a permit to explore there.

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The Minnesota House passed a bill legalizing same sex marriage this afternoon, and it’s expected the Senate will pass the bill Monday.

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The Legislative Fiscal Bureau's new revenue estimates give the governor and legislature $500 million more to work with in the new state budget.

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  A provision added to the state budget by Republicans would prohibit Wisconsin communities from banning Big Gulp sodas or other sugary drinks.

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 Immigration reform advocates are looking for some clarification from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc). 

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 Republican lawmakers have added a plan to the proposed budget aimed at killing a proposed streetcar project in the city of Milwaukee.

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Some Assembly Republicans say they will push for an increase in funding for K-12 education.

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   Lawmakers from both parties are supporting a bill to restrict the use of drones because of concerns about privacy.

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Assembly Republicans passed two bills Wednesday that they say will reform the legal system, but critics say they'll burden people injured by asbestos or a doctor's malpractice.

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Internet providers would be allowed to lease space on state radio towers to offer broadband Internet access in rural areas under a plan that passed the Wisconsin Assembly Wednesday.

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This week: “Wild Bill’s Run”, about a group of small-town Minnesota friends who in the 1970s attempt a journey from Minnesota to the North Pole, then eventually to Moscow — on snowmobiles.

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Western Technical College will soon be building three “passive homes”:  buildings with a rare design that significantly reduces the amount of energy use. 

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Some technical colleges and organizations are offering a fast track way to obtain a GED.

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  A lawsuit by seven northern Wisconsin Ojibwe tribes to let them hunt deer at night will go to trial on July 22 in federal court in Madison.

  The legislature passed bills yesterday that limit the ways poor people can use food stamps, including one that would restrict junk-food purchases.