February 3, 2026 News Update
Empower Voters, Defend Democracy
The League shall not support or oppose any political party or candidate. | Welcome to 2026! We've got a lot of work ahead.
This is an exciting year with three elections ahead! Mark your calendars and make a commitment to vote in every election this year. Your participation makes all the difference. Make sure your friends vote too!
________________________________
April 7 - Spring Election
August 11 - Partisan Primary
November 3 - General Election
| Presented by Sparta Free Library
"The Librarians"
A Documentary | ‘The Librarians’ Film Screening/Discussion
Join the library at Sparta Cinema 6 to view a screening of The Librarians (ticket price applies). Afterward, librarians will hold space for a discussion of the issues presented in the film. Film starts at 4:45pm.
Film description: In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQia+ stories–triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work–the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale. https://thelibrariansfilm.com/ | Meet & Greet
February 5, 2026
Java Vino - 4:30 to 6:30 pm | La Crosse Cares
An Appeal for a Community Need
Hmoob Cultural and Community Agency | HCCC is working to secure funding to provide rice and essential items to support our most vulnerable community members during this difficult time. Please consider supporting or sharing this message.
Thank you for standing with our community. 💙 | La Crosse Healthcare Townhall
February 4, 2026
Black River Beach Community Center | Join Aron Newberry for a Healthcare Town Hall. We'll share healthcare stories and discuss how we can fight for affordable, accessible care for all. It's a great chance to connect with neighbors who care about fixing our broken healthcare system.
I look forward to seeing you all there!
- Aron Newberry, Driftless Region Organizer
Black River Beach Neighborhood Center-La Crosse
1433 Rose St.
Wednesday, February 4
6:00-7:30 PM
| February 11 , 2026
6:30 pm - 8 pm
Webinar - sign up below |  | With the dramatic increase of AI applications, cloud services, and crypto-mining, data centers are proliferating across the country (and world), and Wisconsin is not immune. Data centers promise to be a boon to local economies, including employment opportunities and large increases in local tax revenues. And yet there are questions. What we do know from locations that now have data centers is that there are a number of concerns that should be addressed sooner rather than later. The questions include whether there will be long-term employment opportunities vs near-term construction jobs, demand on local water resources and the impact on local electrical capacity. Local revenues are also questionable at this point since current locations with data centers have not recouped the promised resources. In addition to these questions, there are additional concerns that have been pushed into the background like noise and light pollution, increased electrical bills, ecological degradation.
In a recent WPR article [3], which is one of several over the past 6 months or so, it was noted that concerned citizens were raising the alarm and criticizing the non-disclosure agreement over a proposed $1.6B data center in Menomonie for which the City Council has already annexed and rezoned around 300 acres of farmland. The city estimates that the data center would use about 75,000 gallons of water per day. Data centers typically feature non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that may obscure energy and water designs and usage. In a recent report [4], it was noted that “Researchers in Virginia found that at least 80% of local governments that approved or were considering data center projects had signed NDAs with the companies involved.” This means that a lot of negotiations and information are out of local community hands.
Registration is required for this webinar presentation, a collaborative event of increased interest.
| Would you like to register people to vote?
Our Voter Services will hold a training
February 16, 2026 | The Voter Services Team will host an in-person training session.
2:00 - 4:00 PM
Monday, February 16
1838 Sunset Lane, La Crosse.
Cia Siab, Inc. has graciously offered their event space.
The training will include
- Online registration at MyVote.WI.gov
- Paper registration
- Discussion of our unique populations including the three colleges and those experiencing homelessness.
- Q&A session as time permits
This is open to any interested league member whether or not you are on the Voter Services Team.Information presented will assist with League voter registration tabling events, DMV work, and deciding
whether to become an election worker or election observer.
Now is the time to build our capacity to be the trusted source of voter information for our community.
Space is limited so please register by Thursday, February 12th by emailing Jane Powell,
Voter Services Team Co-chair at jloupowe@gmail.com | February Book Club
February 23, 2026 | Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side and understood more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.
But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis and revolutionize modern communication...if anyone would listen to her.
A novel based on the true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication.
| AAUW International Women's Day
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | Save the Date!
La Crosse County Board Candidate Open House
March 14, 2026 | Saturday, March 14, 2026
Cleary Alumni & Friends Center
UWL - 615 East Avenue N
Parking available at the event center.
Plan to join us for one of the sessions below.
Morning session - 9:30 to 11:30 am - Districts 1-15
Afternoon session - 1:00 to 3:00 pm - Districts 16-30
These sessions will provide a nonpartisan hosted event to foster civil conversation and community connection. It will also provide a recording option so voters are able to view candidate introductions at their convenience.
Partners providing viewing online of the recordings:
League of Women Voters of the La Crosse Area - lwvlacrosse.org
La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce - lacrossechamber.com
La Crosse Area Development Corporation - ladcolax.com
| March Book Club
March 30, 2026 |  | Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.
In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.
In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.
~ Goodreads
For more information contact:
Maureen Kinney
kinneymaureen6@gmail.com
| LWV La Crosse Vote411 Team
Join our volunteer team! Vote411 (www.vote411,org) is committed to ensuring voters have the information they need to successfully participate in every election. LWV La Crosse publishes non-partisan voter information for La Crosse County for local elections such as country . city council, municipal and town boards, and school boards.
Vote411 volunteers commit a few hours in mid-February to personally email contact and invite about ten local candidates to participate in our local Vote411 election guide. Volunteers receive candidate contact information and messaging materials. Contact Deb Lutjen and Ina Felsheim if you would like more information or would like to join our team. Vote411@lwvlacrosse.org.
To see all our teams follow this link | Observer Corps and League Lens | Read news from local sources. Find the latest League Lens here. Our observer corps continues to provide important information about government in action. Our page can be found at the link below. Be more engaged in how our local communities work.
| April 2026 Election
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Interview with Maria Lazar February 4 |  | Interview with candidate Chris Taylor was held December 6, 2025.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJeU1WjBUSU
Interview with candidate Maria Lazar
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
This event will be in the Harvey Hall Theater, UW Stout campus, 721 Third Street East, Menomonie, WI 54751.
Candidate Chris Taylor is currently Judge of the WI Court of Appeals for District IV, based in Madison.
Maria Lazar is Judge of the WI Court of Appeals for District II, based in Waukesha.
If other candidates emerge for the open position on the WI Supreme Court, we'll invite them to interview as well.
Event co-sponsors are the Menard Center for the Study of Institutions and Innovation at UW-Stout, Community Conversations of Northwest Wisconsin, and League of Women Voters-St. Croix Valley Chapter.
Livestream by Eye on Dunn County, an online community news website: Maria Lazar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGD4t6HuDEA
Questions are welcome at morlockjan@gmail.com.
Clicking on the link above for Maria Lazar will enable you to set a reminder to watch on the day if you wish to. | Make a Difference.
Let Your Voice Be Heard. |
Unite and Rise 8.5
League of Women Voters Wisconsin
| Help the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin monitor Wisconsin's elections. We are seeking volunteers to be trained as Election Observers and placed in polling places in specific areas around the state. You don't need to be a League member to volunteer for this -- although we'd love to have you join us!
For the 2026 elections we are focusing the Election Observation Program on:
to be sure there is no disenfranchisement
to monitor the voter experience - including registration and showing ID
to monitor the absentee ballot counting process
to track any problems that can be fixed in future elections
Currently Recruiting Election Observers for the April 7th Election. Sign up by March 16th to volunteer. Join us!
Let’s celebrate the freedom to vote in 2026!
|  |  | | All links to other websites are provided for the public convenience only. LWVLA exercises no control of the information or opinions contained on such sites. Provision of these links on the LWVLA site does not indicate an endorsement of their contents by LWVLA . | Empower voters. Defend democracy.
| Help Spread the Word
Like, Follow, and Share Our Content on Social Media: | Contact Us:
website: lwvlacrosse.org
email: lwvlawi@gmail.com
PO Box 363
La Crosse, WI 54601
| |