Dear Friends,

Wisconsin workers make a lot of amazing things, and our area makes some of the coolest things in the state. 

It's time again for the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce contest of the Coolest Things made in our state. Two area companies are in the running: Danger Buddies LLC. in Butler, and Hoopmaster in Germantown. You can vote for them and many other cool things made right here in Wisconsin by visiting here.

As always, if you have any concerns or ideas on how to improve our great state, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 608-266-5830 or by email at Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov.

On, Wisconsin!

This school year, students will learn about the Holocaust and other genocides in Wisconsin’s schools. After passing my bill, students are required to be taught about this history at least once during middle school and once during high school. There is no cost to taxpayers for the curriculum.

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin will provide the materials, programming, and professional development necessary to implement this requirement at no additional cost to schools. Over the past few months, HERC has built a comprehensive website that includes over 140 lesson plans (with even more in development) for schools to use free of charge. 

The need is great. Two-thirds of American millennials in a recent survey could not identify Auschwitz. Twenty-two percent of millennials in the poll said they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or are unsure whether they’ve heard of it — twice the percentage of U.S. adults who said the same.  

The need for Holocaust education is greater than ever. As the number of living Holocaust survivors dwindles, this legislation will make sure their eyewitness accounts and stories live on. Please take a moment to see from Holocaust survivor, Eva Zaret says about why this is so important.

It’s my hope this new law will help foster understanding and empathy for different people and cultures. The history and lessons of the Holocaust are being lost. Future generations must be taught what happened to ensure it never happens again.

I am disappointed to learn that the city of Milwaukee is once again planning to cut its police force. Despite a growing crime problem, Milwaukee cut its police force by 120 officers in its last budget and plans to cut even more police in a proposed budget. That's dangerous.

This session, I co-authored Senate Bill 119, which will defund communities that defund the police. Communities that cut their police force will see a drop in state revenue. Leaving citizens unprotected has consequences for law-abiding citizens. There must be some consequences for city officials who defund police.

I also worked to take away many of the excuses communities use when they defund the police, by supporting bills that helped communities recruit and train police officers. I supported three bills to make sure cities can find and keep police.

• Assembly Bill 831 created the 'Pro-Cop Wisconsin Campaign" to recruit and retain officers.
• Assembly Bill 832 provided help to pay for the costs of law enforcement training. 
• Assembly Bill 836 provided $1 million to create a part-time police academy within the technical college system to give officers more options for training and retaining more police in our state.

Unfortunately, everyone one of those bills was vetoed by Governor Evers.

I will always back the blue. We need to stand up for law and order in our communities and make sure the men and women who protect us know they are valued. Instead of defunding the police, communities need to invest in making their cities safer.