Yes. State-planned attempts at urban renewal contributed to the destruction of Bronzeville, a historically African-American community in Milwaukee.
Author Archives: Jacob Alabab-Moser / Wisconsin Watch
Jacob Alabab-Moser joined as Wisconsin Watch’s fact checker in September 2022, as part of the effort by The Gigafact Project in partnership with different state-level news outlets to combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections. Jacob has several years of experience as a fact checker and research assistant at a variety of organizations, including at The Gigafact Project. He holds a BA from Brown University and is pursuing a MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Posted inFact briefs
Did US Rep. Derrick Van Orden confront the staff of a Wisconsin library over a display of LGBTQ+ books?
Yes. Before he was elected to Congress in 2022, Rep. Derrick Van Orden confronted employees at Prairie du Chien Memorial Library over an LGBTQ+ Pride Month display in the children’s section.
Posted inFact briefs
Did more than 92,000 income tax filers leave Wisconsin for other states in 2021?
Yes. An estimated 92,146 income tax-filing individuals left Wisconsin in 2021 for other states.
Posted inFact briefs
Were downtown Madison Starbucks employees required to take down Pride month decor?
Yes. Starbucks district and regional managers asked employees at two branches in downtown Madison to remove decorations celebrating LGTBQ+ pride, according to an employee union and workers.
Posted inFact briefs
Did Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers veto legislation to increase literacy tests?
Yes. In November 2021, Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin vetoed a state Senate bill that would have tripled the number of literacy tests administered to students in kindergarten through second grade.
Posted inFact briefs
Was Wisconsin’s public school spending the third-slowest growing in the nation between 2002 and 2020?
Yes. Wisconsin had the third-slowest increase in PreK-12 education spending per student in the nation between 2002 and 2020, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Posted inFact briefs
Was Wisconsin’s public school spending the third-slowest growing in the nation between 2002 and 2020?
Yes. Wisconsin had the third-slowest increase in PreK-12 education spending per student in the nation between 2002 and 2020, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.Â
Posted inFact briefs
Does Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin vote with Joe Biden’s agenda 95% of the time?
Yes. Sen. Tammy Baldwin voted on legislation in line with President Joe Biden’s position 95.5% of the time during the 117th Congress (2021–22), according to data analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
Posted inFact briefs
Did Wisconsin Republicans block a state sales tax exemption for menstrual products and breastfeeding equipment?
Yes. On May 2, 2023, the Republican-controlled budget committee of the Wisconsin Legislature, the Joint Committee on Finance, voted to exclude the sales tax exemption for menstrual products proposed in Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023-25 budget.
Posted inFact briefs
Do most Wisconsinites support Medicaid expansion, paid parental leave, lead pipe replacement and marijuana legalization?
Yes. Polls in recent years have recorded support from the majority of Wisconsinites for Medicaid expansion, paid leave, lead pipe replacement and marijuana legalization.
Posted inFact briefs
Is Wisconsin’s income tax on the middle class higher than the top individual income tax rate in half the states in the nation?
Yes. Wisconsin’s tax rate is 5.3% for individual taxpayers in the middle tax bracket — higher than the rate in the top tax bracket in 25 states as of January 2023, according to the Tax Foundation.
Posted inFact briefs
Are Black people four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana in Wisconsin?
Yes. Black people in Wisconsin are 4.2 times as likely to face arrest for marijuana possession than white people, according to an American Civil Liberties Union report analyzing 2010-2018 data.