Higher Educational Aids Board offers scholarships with narrow racial categories
The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court against the Higher Educational Aids Board, a state agency responsible for administering the Minority Undergraduate Retention Program, for violating the Wisconsin Constitution by discriminating based on race and national origin. WILL represents five Wisconsin taxpayers who object to the state of Wisconsin administering this race-based scholarship program.
The Quotes: WILL Deputy Counsel,
Dan Lennington, said, “The state of Wisconsin is engaged in race discrimination, pure and simple. Many students are denied scholarships based on their race or where their family comes from. This program violates the state Constitution and basic notions of equality and fairness.”
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is helping Wisconsin taxpayers, including a biracial couple, sue the state over its “Minority Grant Program” because it turns out the college scholarship only applies to certain minorities in violation of the state Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court on Thursday afternoon, contends that the Higher Educational Aids Board, the state agency that administers the Minority Undergraduate Retention Program, discriminates on the basis of race and national origin in how it distributes the scholarship and is thus unconstitutional.
“The state of Wisconsin is engaged in race discrimination, pure and simple,” said Dan Lennington, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. “Many students are denied scholarships based on their race or where their family comes from. This program violates the state Constitution and basic notions of equality and fairness.”
Tuscaloosa’s District 7 City Council winner has been pardoned of all past felony convictions – state and federal – and his attorney said he is now ready to take office.
But whether he can now depends on the ruling by a Circuit Court judge, who later this month is set to consider a court challenge to Cassius Lanier’s legal ability to seek and hold office.
Lanier defeated District 7 Councilor Sonya McKinstry by 28 votes – 752-724 – in the city’s March 2 municipal general election that saw 17% of the district s voters cast ballots.
Less than a week later, the two-term incumbent filed a legal challenge to the election and asked a judge to set aside the outcome and declare her the winner because of Lanier’s prior felony convictions.
Business group, DNR agree not to release PFAS tests for now
April 7, 2021 GMT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Wisconsin environmental regulators have reached an agreement with the state’s largest business group and won’t release results of water sampling for unregulated PFAS chemicals until the courts decide whether state law allows for testing of the manmade compounds.
The agreement between the Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce means water sampling from industrial and municipal treatment plants for the so-called “forever chemicals” can continue, but the results will not be released to the public.
The agreement filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court Tuesday, replaces a judge’s temporary restraining order issued last week in a lawsuit brought by WMC which wanted to block the DNR from testing for PFAS, a class of chemicals that have been shown to cause cancer and other illnesses.