(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Assembly Republican leadership is asking Gov. Tony Evers to rescind a memo from the Department of Administration asking state employees not to answer questions from a federal agent, give access to systems or information and to call the state Office of Legal Counsel.

“Today, we ask that you rescind this guidance to avoid future conflicts between state and federal authorities, to assist our brave men and women in law enforcement, and to ensure the Trump administration’s goal of deporting violent illegal immigrants is given the full assistance of the state of Wisconsin,” the Republican letter said.

It was signed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Majority Leader Tyler August and, in total, 41 Republicans from the Assembly.

The letter cites the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly assisting Eduardo Flores-Ruiz to avoid being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside of a Milwaukee County courtroom.

“It’s our understanding that your administration has issued guidance to state officials to impede the work of federal authorities,” the Republican letter said. “The guidance directs state officials to, among other things, not answer questions, not give access to files, and not give consent to enter non-public areas, even when presented with a lawful warrant.”

Earlier this week, Vos called the memo a scare tactic from Democrats aimed at scaring state employees about ICE agents.

“As the Trump administration continues its efforts to deport thousands of non-citizens who entered our country illegally during the Biden administration, our caucus believes it is imperative that our laws reflect the need for local law enforcement to comply with these efforts,” the letter said.

(The Center Square) – North Carolina needs a statewide policy regulating the use of student cellphones in public schools, a top state educator said Tuesday.

Two bills are pending in the Legislature. Cell Phone-Free Education, known also as House Bill 87, requires school boards to “adopt a cellphone-free education policy to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cellphones during instructional time.”

It allows exceptions if a teacher authorizes the use for educational purposes, if a cell phone is required for a students’ individualized education program or for the student’s health care.

Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices, known also as Senate Bill 55, contains similar language.

In North Carolina and nationally, there is a “wide disparity” in how school districts handle cellphone use in the classroom, Michael Maher, chief accountability of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, told The Center Square.

“There is emerging evidence on the negative impact of not only on instruction but on student long-term outcomes on mental health,” Maher said.

Social media in particular is “highly addictive,” Maher said.

“If there is a way for us to help remove that, it would absolutely help instructional practice,” said Maher, a former high school teacher. “Student performance is actually tied to student attention. Phones are attention grabbing. You have this device that is drawing their attention.”

A classroom ban would likely require teachers to collect cellphones in the morning as class begins and return them at the end of the school day, said Maher.

“There are pouches and other types of solutions to store student devices,” he said. “The teacher would just make that part of their daily routine.”

Collecting student cellphones early in the day before instruction begins might be easier for teachers than having to constantly be on the lookout for students secretly using them throughout the day in the classrooms, Maher said.

“We already ask teachers to do too much,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to them.”

It is important to provide adequate funding for school districts to pay for storage devices, Maher added.

The North Carolina School Board Association has not taken a position on the two pending bills, spokesman Ben Christoph told The Center Square.

Cell Phone-Free Education passed 114-3 in the House of Representatives and is in the Rules Committee of the Senate. Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices passed 41-1 in the Senate and is in the Rules Committee of the House.

(The Center Square) – American taxpayers are divided on federal spending and whether significant cuts should be made, but the vast majority support increasing or maintaining current funding levels for entitlement programs such as Medicaid and for national defense.

The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted April 15-18 by Noble Predictive Insights, surveyed 1,187 Democrats; 1,089 Republicans; and 251 non-leaning Independents. The poll has a +/- 2.0% margin of error.

The majority of Americans do not want the U.S. government to increase spending on its tax collection efforts, foreign aid or DEI programs.

Of the 2,527 poll respondents, only 19% of voters back boosting funds for the Internal Revenue Service and 30% support a decrease. 

Similarly, only 16% support increased funding to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign aid, while 39% want to cut spending on foreign aid.

USAID has come under fire for its funding of contraception, LGBTQ+ activism, electric vehicles, armed terrorist groups, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives around the world. The Department of State effectively assumed control of USAID’s functions after the Trump administration slashed more than 80% of the agency’s contracts. 

In general, DEI remains a fraught topic among voters, with 35% of poll respondents favoring decreasing government spending on DEI initiatives across all agencies. But 23% – mostly fueled by responses from Democrats and Independents – favor an increase, while 31% are content to keep DEI spending as is.

Medicare and Medicaid programs remain the “third rail” of American politics, with 85% of respondents supporting increasing or maintaining federal funding for the entitlement programs. Only 8% support a funding decrease, and 7% are undecided.

The U.S. military enjoys similar support, with 42% of voters supporting a funding increase and 38% content to keep military funding at current levels. Twelve percent want the roughly $850 billion budget to shrink, an unlikely scenario as Trump wants to boost defense spending to $1 trillion annually. 

Voters also approve of boosting resources for those who served in the military, with 51% backing a funding increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs and 33% supporting current funding levels. Only 7% prefer a decrease and 9% are unsure.

Some targets of Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, including the Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), remain relatively popular with Americans.

Compared to 24% of voters who support funding cuts, 69% of voters support increasing or maintaining federal funding for the Department of Education, which Trump effectively dismantled in March via executive order. 

The Trump administration also announced in March it will cut roughly 2,400 CDC employees and recently leaked budget plans that outline future restructuring and funding cuts. But 32% of voters polled support increasing federal spending on the CDC and 42% prefer maintaining funding levels, with 17% backing a funding cut.

The poll shows that while cutting wasteful government spending is “something Americans conceptually support,” DOGE should be “careful about the particulars,” David Byler, head of research at Noble Predictive Insights, told The Center Square.

“If it’s something where there’s an obvious government function going on, it’s a little bit harder to get the decrease there,” Byler said.

Highlighting Byler’s point, roughly 80% of voters back current or increased government spending on both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. 

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll is one of only six national tracking polls in the United States.