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.
Category: Fact briefs
Wisconsin Watch is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.
Read more about how Wisconsin Watch checks claims for the fact briefs, and contact us at factbriefs@wisconsinwatch.org
Posted inFact briefs
Did the US maternal mortality rate double in the past two decades?
No. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the U.S. maternal mortality rate has increased over the past two decades.
Posted inFact briefs
Did a leading poll indicate that an anti-establishment former sheriff is the most popular US Senate candidate among Wisconsin Republicans?
Yes. Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who describes himself as “outside (the RNC’s) establishment circle,” ranked first among four potential Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.
Posted inFact briefs
Did pausing student loan repayments cost $5 billion per month?
Yes. Summarizing an analysis by the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Education Next reported, “The pause of collections on loans, interest, and defaults costs $5 billion per month” — the same amount the U.S. Education Department said was saved by about 40 million student loan borrowers.
Posted inFact briefs
Did a poll show that less than half of Americans have ‘no doubts’ about the existence of God?
Yes. Just under 50% of Americans said they have “no doubts” about the existence of God, according to the 2022 General Social Survey released May 15, 2023.
Posted inFact briefs
Has President Joe Biden only nominated five white men for federal judgeships as of June 2023?
No. As of June 2, 2023, President Joe Biden had nominated 127 people to federal judgeships, including 13 white men, that were confirmed by the Senate.
Posted inFact briefs
Is there proof that skeletons of giants were found in Wisconsin in 1912?
No. There is no evidence of skeletons of giants ever being found in Wisconsin, interim state archaeologist Amy Rosebrough told Wisconsin Watch.
Posted inFact briefs
Do visiting professional baseball players pay Wisconsin income taxes on the money they earn playing at the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium?
Yes. Wisconsin taxes professional baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer athletes who don’t live in Wisconsin for the income they receive when their team plays in Wisconsin.
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
Have taxpayers paid $600 million toward the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium?
Yes. A 0.1% sales tax in Milwaukee County and its adjoining counties raised $609 million over 24 years for construction of a new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.
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
Will 2025 be the first time Green Bay, Wisconsin hosts the NFL draft?
Yes. The National Football League announced on May 22, 2023, that Green Bay would host the 2025 draft in and around Lambeau Field.