File photo by Dave Reid.

Members of the Milwaukee Reading Coalition say the Department of Public Instruction promised to help fund an initiative to train teachers in early literacy, but has reneged and the project is now in jeopardy.

Fewer than 10 percent of children in kindergarten through third grade attending both private and public schools in Milwaukee are meeting reading targets.

In May 2025, Milwaukee Public Schools, charter schools, private schools, philanthropic and business groups came together to create the Reading Coalition.

The group wanted to raise an undisclosed amount of private and public money to do three things: train early education teachers and principals in Milwaukee on the science of reading, pay for the training materials, and give a $1,500 stipend to educators who completed the training.

Long-time education activist Howard Fuller has been leading the charge.

He says DPI has repeatedly indicated there was a pathway to support the work through literacy grant funding. Based on those assurances, the coalition secured private donations and recruited an executive leader, Fuller said.

But DPI has abruptly changed course, Fuller said.

“We got rolled, gaslighted, whatever term you want to use,” Fuller said.

DPI spokesperson Chris Bucher says improving literacy outcomes and closing achievement gaps for all Wisconsin students, especially in Milwaukee, remains a top priority for the agency.

“We have consistently engaged with the Milwaukee Reading Coalition and communicated about funding delays and timelines, reimbursement requirements under Act 20, and the steps that must occur before any work with outside entities can move forward,” Bucher said. “Additionally, any programs that expand Act 20 require a detailed implementation plan and approval that includes a legislative process. (Milwaukee Reading Coalition) is explicitly aware of all these challenges.”

In 2023, a bipartisan law was passed known as Act 20, requiring schools to teach the science of reading.

Act 20 mandates changes to early literacy education in public schools for students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. It requires schools to use approved curriculum, provides professional development to teachers in science of reading and tests students on their ability.

As part of the bill, the legislature budgeted $50 million to fund initiatives it required. But the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee withheld the money as part of a dispute with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, leading to a lengthy legal battle. Last June, the committee released $9 million of the funds to pay for reading coaches.

DPI announced in April that literacy coaches will be placed in 50 public and four private schools over the next two years beginning next school year.

Fuller says in Milwaukee, where most kids can’t read and most of the teachers have never been trained to teach reading, they have to start with the basics.

That is where the Reading Coalition came in.

Fuller said the Reading Coalition drafted a bill last session to ensure funding from DPI. According to Fuller, DPI told the group a legislative bill wasn’t necessary so the bill never came forward.

But over the last several months, when the money wasn’t coming from DPI, the group continued to question the state.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who is part of the Milwaukee Reading Coalition, sent State Superintendent Jill Underly a letter on May 18 asking for her support and investment. 

Underly responded May 26, saying DPI’s responsibility is to award funds “in the way the legislature mandated to support the requirements of Act 20.” Underly continued, “The Legislature did not authorize the DPI, or any of its partners to forward fund a program like the Milwaukee Reading Commission is describing.”

Fuller says that response is a contradiction to what the group was told when it wanted to draft a bill to the legislature.

“This is DPI finding a way not to help Black children in the city of Milwaukee,” Fuller said during an interview with WPR on Monday.

Underly recently appointed Milwaukee educator Kaylee Jackson to head the state Office of Literacy.

Fuller says the Milwaukee Reading Coalition had offered Jackson its executive director job, but could not hire her because it did not have funding from DPI.

In her May 26 letter, Underly told Mayor Johnson DPI would continue to monitor how reimbursements are proceeding.

“While we continue to reimburse schools, there is nothing standing in the way of the Milwaukee  Reading Commission partnering with schools to support Act 20 implementation,” she wrote. “That includes finding creative solutions to provide support to private schools that requested to be exempted from Act 20 during its development and are subsequently not eligible for many of the reimbursement programs.”

But Fuller is not holding his breath. “Although we have this absolute disagreement right now, we are on pause,” Fuller said. “I guess we wait to formally hear back from DPI. There is nothing that has happened so far that will give me an, ‘Oh yeah, we can work this out still.’”

Milwaukee education leaders frustrated with DPI over funding for reading initiative was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

David Tomblin. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The California-based head of Highgrove Holdings, the large landlord being sued by the City of Milwaukee for the alleged poor condition of its hundreds of properties, has kept a low profile since the case became front-page news in late March.

Then he walked into Milwaukee City Hall Monday afternoon.

Highgrove President David Tomblin walked intentionally into Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin‘s pre-meeting rally in the rotunda.

Just two months ago, Common Ground members stood side by side in front of a dilapidated Highgrove property to announce their campaign against the landlord, alongside the city’s lawsuit.

On Monday, Tomblin stood near the center of the crowd as lead organizer Kevin Solomon fired up several dozen people in the rotunda.

Then he went with the crowd up to the third floor for the Steering & Rules Committee meeting, where the Common Council was to discuss nuisance landlords.

After the Milwaukee Police Department announced it was changing its practices to ensure nuisance properties with three or more complaints wouldn’t go unprosecuted, Solomon told the press it was a “big victory.”

But with Tomblin standing nearby, Urban Milwaukee asked Solomon whether the two sides were now aligned.

“We’re not,” said Solomon quickly.

Then Tomblin entered the press scrum, standing in front of the cameras.

“It’s unfortunate. We tried. We used to send reports to Mr. Solomon on different things,” said Tomblin. “I was sick for one meeting. We were never able to get together.”

But Solomon said that Tomblin had not responded for more than a year.

“Do you have nuisance properties?” asked a reporter.

“We have [Department of Neighborhood Services] nuisance properties,” said Tomblin, trying to draw a distinction on an issue where Common Ground has spotlighted multiple tenants living in dilapidated homes owned by Highgrove. “But the reason we have so many empty properties when we buy is because we kick people out.”

An earlier canvass by Common Ground of Highgrove’s more than 200 properties yielded an estimate that about 40% of the properties are vacant. Highgrove is currently attempting to raise $30 million to recapitalize while a foreclosure case is pending on 87 of its properties.

“You’re being sued by the City of Milwaukee for having issues at your own properties that you’re not addressing,” said a reporter.

“Well, we are addressing them,” said Tomblin. “At the proper time we will be doing press conferences and so forth, and we will be addressing all those issues.”

“How long does it take you to fix a collapsed ceiling where tenants are living in dilapidated properties?” asked another reporter.

“We did that,” said Tomblin.

“No. You didn’t,” said Solomon, who suggested he would call a tenant with a collapsed ceiling.

Tomblin insisted he had proof.

“Why does it take you being sued by the city to address the problems your tenants are experiencing?” asked a reporter.

“We didn’t need to be sued by the city,” said Tomblin.

“Why are you here today?” asked a reporter.

“This is a public hearing,” said Tomblin.

“Mr. Tomblin, we’re happy to meet with you at any time. The invitation has been open for a year and you haven’t responded,” said Solomon.

“I have,” said Tomblin.

“And you said no. You canceled,” said Solomon.

“I don’t want to embarrass Common Ground. I don’t want to embarrass the city attorney,” said Tomblin. “I don’t want to embarrass…”

“I think the tenants are feeling embarrassed themselves having to live in dilapidated properties,” said a reporter.

Tomblin said 85% of his tenants had signed a declaration that they liked his properties.

“That you had a paid staff member going door to door asking them to sign under duress,” said Solomon.

Tomblin, after a four-minute back-and-forth, walked back into the meeting room, where he remained for the duration of the meeting.

“It’s political. It shows that our pressure is clearly getting under his skin,” said Solomon of Tomblin’s surprise appearance.

David Tomblin stands with Common Ground. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Site of future Star Bar, 2011 E. Ivanhoe Pl. Photo taken June 30, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

A prominent East Side building could soon be home to Star Bar, an astrology-themed lounge aiming to bolster neighborhood nightlife with cocktails, dancing, and a touch of celestial superstition.

The proposed business, led by New Land Enterprises, would occupy a 698-square-foot space at 2011 E. Ivanhoe Pl., joining existing tenants, including Poppy Bakery and Shanghai, a speakeasy-inspired cocktail bar.

Unlike Shanghai, which has a long, narrow layout with a hidden entrance off Black Cat Alley, Star Bar would have a more open footprint facing Ivanhoe Plaza. Floor plans show an L-shaped bar lined with stools, along with banquettes and tables arranged around a dance floor and DJ booth. The business would also feature a 167-square-foot sidewalk patio with several two-top tables for outdoor seating.

New Land, which owns the property, is working with Korb Architecture on the buildout, according to a license application.

Tim Gokhman and Ann Shuk, New Land’s managing director and human resources director, are the project’s co-owners. Gina Gruenewald, special projects administrator for New Land, is the bar’s registered agent.

Gokhman and Shuk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Emily Chirillo, director of hospitality operations for New Land, declined to share additional details until a later date.

“It’s true — Star Bar is coming…but we’re not ready to pull back the curtain quite yet,” Chirillo told Urban Milwaukee in a text message. “I promise the reveal will be worth the wait.”

Star Bar has requested permission to host DJs and instrumental musicians. The business anticipates about 95% of revenue will come from alcohol sales, with the remainder coming from entertainment and food.

While the application does not include a beverage menu, a sample list of bar snacks includes frozen pizza, cookies, popcorn, trail mix, olives, nuts and chips with dip.

Star Bar would be the latest addition to the East Side building at 2238 N. Farwell Ave., which formerly housed Crossroads Collective. A new restaurant and cafe, Nadi Plates, is planned for the food hall space but has pushed back its opening several times and remains under construction.

New Land recently completed an expansion of Shanghai, which now seats 45 guests, including parties of up to eight.

Construction at Star Bar is expected to continue through at least mid-June, and the business’s liquor license is pending city approval. Proposed operating hours have not yet been finalized, though ownership has indicated plans to remain open until bar closing times in Milwaukee.

500-506 E. Burleigh St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The City of Milwaukee is moving to demolish two attached commercial buildings on a key intersection linking the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods. The buildings, 500-506 E. Burleigh St., have drawn the ire of neighboring institutions for their poor condition. From the sidewalk, bricks can be observed falling off the facade, and at least one hole can be seen in the roof. According to complaints submitted to the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), the front steps have also become a gathering place for loiterers.

While problems mounted, so did tax debt.

Longtime property owner John Bagrowski accumulated more than $250,000 in unpaid tax debt, an amount that ultimately exceeded the assessed value of the property.

But because of possible environmental contamination, the city placed the buildings on its Do Not Acquire list. Despite having the legal authority to foreclose on the properties, the city did not because of the potential legal liability of cleaning the properties.

That changed in December, when the city seized the 0.16-acre property via tax foreclosure.

City ownership has not ended the problems. The property, according to DNS records, has been subject to five complaints or code violations in 2026 and nine in 2025.

“People sleep on the steps and use the corner as a toilet then sit at the bus stop and drink all day swearing and yelling there are 3 families and 2 school/daycares on this block and kids have to see that everyday,” said a 2024 complaint.

A raze order was issued the same year, though buildings with an open order can be rehabilitated and demolition can often be delayed several years in favor of more severe cases.

The STRONG Milwaukee Center, a day treatment center for children with behavioral or mental health issues, is located immediately to the east at 510 E. Burleigh St. Several other tenants, including the J.K. Lee Youth Martial Arts program, lease space in the building, which was previously home to the Holton Youth and Family Center. Child care center Lil Dinks Bubbles Academy is on the eastern end of the block.

Mario Costantini, who co-founded and philanthropically supported the Holton Youth and Family Center and whose business La Lune Collection is located down the street, previously told TMJ4 that the complex has been a problem for at least 20 years.

Other steps have been taken in an attempt to reduce the issues. The bus shelter cited in the complaint, used by the Milwaukee County Transit System Route 66, was removed.

The situation has now deteriorated to the point that the city plans to demolish the 7,907-square-foot complex.

The city will pay Firebird Construction $89,900 to level the complex. Firebird, as revealed in a bid opening Monday morning, was the lowest qualified bidder. Two companies bid on the project.

History

The oldest of the two buildings was constructed in 1906, according to assessment records.

The complex is best known for its two glass tenants: Burleigh Glass and Schneiders-Vetter Glass Co.

Bagrowski operated Burleigh Glass in the property. Schneiders-Vetter Glass Co. operated for multiple decades in the eastern building.

Don and Lolita Schneiders of Menomonee Falls sold the property to Bagrowski in 2005. Lolita was a Republican state representative and former member of the UW Board of Regents.

The western building was formerly a Spic and Span dry cleaner, a common source of environmental contamination. Historic newspaper records indicate the business operated in the building from the 1960s until at least the 1980s.

Prior to its use as a dry cleaner, it was a drugstore, which classified ads indicate lasted until 1966. During its drugstore period, it was known as Romanik Pharmacy. In the 1940s, it was home to True Art Beauty School.

Photos

Sophie Bolich contributed to this report

2686-2690 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. and 2721 S. Howell Ave. Photos by Sophie Bolich and Jeramey Jannene.

Amid a pre-summer wave of bar and restaurant openings, two existing businesses are planning formal celebrations to mark their arrival in Bay View.

Jasher’s Organic Tea House, 2690 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., will host a three-day grand opening from June 11 through 13, while nearby Brew-Jas Coffee House will welcome guests for an all-day celebration at its new location, 2721 S. Howell Ave., on June 20.

At Jasher’s, married couple Jack and Rumi DeDecker have been behind the counter since November 2025, serving an all-organic lineup of nearly two dozen teas, hot cocoa, pour-over coffee and an assortment of snacks. The menu spans herbal and caffeinated loose-leaf teas — available hot or iced — alongside ceremonial matcha and traditional masala chai made with black Assam tea, fresh ginger, whole spices and jaggery.

Jasher’s grand opening will kick off Thursday with a loyalty card launch and a ceramic teapot set giveaway. Friday’s programming includes a tea-tasting competition at 7 p.m., with prizes for the top three participants. On Saturday, musicians Braden Higgs and Priscilla Joy will perform from 1 to 3 p.m. The final day will also feature giveaways of tea boxes and gift cards.

Free samples will be available each day of the grand opening. The cafe will also debut a new line of iced teas, and its pet-friendly patio will be open throughout the event.

The cafe’s hours of operation are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Brew-Jas Coffee House

Elsewhere in Bay View, Brew-Jas owners Marissa Lopez and John Reed are winding down their soft-opening phase in preparation for the cafe’s official launch.

It’s the couple’s second such event in two years, following the October 2024 opening of Brew-Jas’ flagship at 3062 S. 13th St.

“What started as a dream has grown into a second space built for community, connection, culture, and of course, great coffee,” the owners shared in an online post.

Like its sister location, the new Brew-Jas features local art, a full range of coffee, espresso and tea drinks and a selection of snacks. The spacious Bay View cafe offers plentiful seating and a back lounge area designed for longer stays.

The grand opening, beginning at 10 a.m., will include local vendors, coffee and opportunities for community connection.

The cafe’s regular hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Jones Island Reclamation Facility. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) Commission voted Monday to approve an audit of the district’s private wastewater operator.

The audit comes less than six weeks after the community organization Common Ground launched a public campaign calling for an audit of Veolia Water Milwaukee, alleging the contractor is mismanaging the sewerage district’s two wastewater treatment facilities, Jones Island and South Shore,

Common Ground is working with more than two dozen whistleblowers, two of whom have come forward publicly. The group charges that Veolia is mismanaging and failing to maintain equipment at the plants, leading them to run under capacity and contributing to the risk of sewer overflows and basement backups.

The audit, brought forward by MMSD Commission Chair Corey Zetts, will be conducted by a third-party contractor and overseen by an independent advisory committee made up of members without connections to MMSD or Veolia.

When the allegations were made public, MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer pushed back against Common Ground and the whistleblowers, and said more information was needed before an audit could occur. The sewerage district is in the final stages of a public bidding process. Veolia, which has operated the plants since 2008, is competing for the $700 million contract against Jacobs Solutions, a Dallas-based engineering services company.

Common Ground has demanded that an audit be conducted without involvement from MMSD staff and that the results be publicly released before a new contract is finalized. MMSD is planning to select a new contractor in September.

The MMSD Commission is an oversight body for the sewerage district. A majority of commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. All are paid a $10,000 annual stipend. Commission Chair Zetts drafted the audit proposal after initially criticizing the Common Ground campaign.

Local elected officials on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the Milwaukee Common Council added their voices to the call for an audit.

The commission unanimously approved the audit Monday. Immediately afterward, the commission went into closed session to discuss the likelihood of litigation related to the audit, the procurement process, and Veolia’s operations.

The MMSD Commission will direct the scope of the audit through an independent advisory committee made up of experts in water policy and engineering and local community members, Zetts said during the meeting Monday. MMSD Commissioner Jeff Stone, a consultant with Kapur & Associates and a former state representative, is Zetts’ choice to act as the liaison between the commission and the advisory committee.

The names of advisory committee members have not been released. Zetts said members will be drawn from across the state to ensure no one has any ties to MMSD or Veolia.

“We know some community members have been told or have heard that MMSD or its operator may be part of the reason for flooding in their community or their backups,” Zetts said. “We really want to make sure that this whole process is technically rigorous, future thinking, and also accessible and meaningful.”

Veolia has previously stated it would cooperate with the audit. “If MMSD wishes to pursue an audit with clear parameters and objectives, we will cooperate as a good partner and professional operator,” Senior Vice President of External Communications Adam Lisberg told Urban Milwaukee.

Common Ground has said it will support the audit if it is truly independent and if it protects workers who come forward to share their experience with the alleged problems at the treatment plants.

After the meeting Monday, Common Ground Founder Bob Connolly said Common Ground should have a representative on the advisory committee. “The reason this audit is taking place is because Common Ground brought it forward,” he said.

The organization would be able to bring information from whistleblowers to auditors and the advisory committee while protecting their identities, Connolly said.

“Common Ground needs to be represented on this thing,” he said. “We don’t have an ax to grind, we can be independent. We didn’t get into this for any reason other than getting to the truth.”

Children at Forever Young childcare center in suburban Green Bay engage in “parachute play.” (Photo courtesy of Cindy Veeser)

In the eight years that Cindy Veeser has operated her childcare center in the Green Bay suburb of Bellevue, Forever Young, she has provided an essential service — but she has also faced almost constant challenges.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago, things got a little easier. Federal pandemic relief funds gave childcare providers like Veeser a new safety net — support and stability that they hadn’t known previously.

In Wisconsin the money went to thousands of providers, including Veeser, through Child Care Counts, a $20 million-a-month childcare stabilization fund that paid providers a monthly stipend.

The money helped childcare centers stay open and increase pay for childcare teachers, all without increasing costs for the parents depending on childcare so they could work.

“Federal stabilization funding prevented system collapse, supporting 5,762 programs, 75,740 educators, and more than 430,000 children, while helping reverse a decade long decline in licensed child care,” the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association states in a report issued in May.

“It made everything possible,” Veeser says of Child Care Counts. “My teachers were getting paid a little bit closer to what they should have been making at that time.”

The money didn’t just go to wages. “There wasn’t one thing that it didn’t help cover,” Veeser says.

At the end of this month, however, providers will lose the last vestige of that support. One year of “bridge” funding from the 2025-27 Wisconsin state budget ends June 30, and childcare providers across Wisconsin are unsure what happens next.

“We’re holding things together the best we can now,” Veeser says. “I just see us falling behind.”

One in four centers could close

More than a year ago one out of four Wisconsin provides told researchers that without Child Care Counts funding they could close down entirely.

More than one in three said they would probably reduce the number of hours they could provide child care. And nearly three out of four said they would have to increase the fees they charge parents.

The survey results were reported in March 2025 by the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. At the time, Wisconsin child care experts were looking ahead to June 2025, when the federal funds that paid for Child Care Counts would run out.

Providers, advocates, Gov. Tony Evers and Democrats in the Legislature had hoped for $480 million in the 2025-27 state budget to continue the stabilization program. What they got was less than 25% of that: $110 million for one year of stabilization funds that ends June 30.

WECA’s May report looked to the 2025 UW survey to forecast what could follow, and solicited new comments from providers.

“I believe that the numbers we reported on, which are the most recent data we have, are going to be much higher in reality,” says Paula Drew, WECA’s director of early care and education policy and research.

“Every provider is talking about the cost of what they’re paying for everything.” in comments submitted to WECA, Drew says. “Many, many, many of them said, ‘I will price parents out and I will likely close,’ or ‘I’m planning on closing because there’s no way I can pay my teachers less.’”

Increased fees and families dropping out

As fees rise, some families drop out of childcare programs. “There’s a huge, growing trend of under-enrollment due to parents not being able to afford the increases that they already have in tuition,” Drew says.

In The Beginning Child Care and Preschool operates centers in Boscobel, Prairie du Chien and Dodgeville, each licensed for 50 children.

“Child Care Counts was a huge difference in our operations,” says director and owner Beth Markut. “We were able to give the staff a minimum of a $2-an-hour raise. We were able to afford new supplies. It was a game changer for us.”

It also helped Markut and her husband, Patrick, open the center in Dodgeville, where they live, in 2023.  “I don’t know if we would have done that if we hadn’t had Child Care Counts, but my guess is probably not,” Markut says.

When Wisconsin cut Child Care Counts payments in half in 2023, In The Beginning increased tuition by 2.5% to 3%, Markut says, and she expects a similar increase after the bridge payments end.

In The Beginning’s increases have been modest compared with those in a state survey, which reported increases for infant care ranging from 11% to 14%, according to WECA.

Nevertheless, Markut says, “I’ve had four families leave our Dodgeville center because it’s cheaper for them just to stay at home” instead of both parents working.

Markut says she’s confident that In The Beginning can keep operating, but she also hopes that lawmakers will come around to the need for ongoing childcare support.

“I don’t think they understand what our profession does through day in and day out,” she says. “If they really understood they would support us, but they don’t. It doesn’t just affect us, it affects the broader economy.”

Shelly Boelter has operated a family child care program in the community of Hager City in northwestern Wisconsin for 23 years.

The family care license is limited to eight children at a time. Boelter built her home with the lower level as childcare space designed into it from the start. “When I was 12, this was what I dreamed of doing,” she says.

Child Care Counts enabled her to take a better wage, cover expenses and put some money away for retirement. That ended when the stabilization stipend was reduced.

To keep going, “I’ll be spending less on things that we could use, to try to just keep it affordable,” Boelter says.

She says she tries to avoid raising rates for families who already have children enrolled, however, because “I don’t want money to be an issue for them to leave.”

As a result, fees vary from one family to another. In the coming months, she expects to raise her rates for new clients, however. “Probably a 25% increase would not be unrealistic,” Boelter says.

She would need even higher increases to fully cover escalating costs, “but families would not be able to afford it,” she says. “I have some families with three children here. They can’t afford that cost for themselves and actually make a living, either.”

‘It’s going to get worse’

With the bridge funding ending and a significant number of programs at risk of  shutting down, advocates say their focus now is on the 2027 state budget, which will be hammered out by  a new governor and a new  state Legislature.

And the childcare economy is likely to become even more precarious.

“The stabilization funding in Wisconsin did some really remarkable things, and it’s really, really sad that we’re just going to see those things roll back,” Drew says.

“There’s a lot of different ways to approach the next budget,” says Ruth Schmidt, WECA executive director — from a new system of direct payments like Child Care Counts to new tax policies or tapping a revenue source, such as legalizing cannabis and then taxing it as a dedicated childcare funding stream.

“The bottom line is, this all is revenue. There’s no way to fix childcare to make it affordable for families, to make it stable within an economy without paying for it,” Schmidt says.

“So, is it going to get worse? We anticipate it’s going to get worse,” she says. “We anticipate it getting significantly worse. And every possible strategy needs money. We can’t just rely on providers to continue to sort of take this on their backs, and it’s not good for them, and it’s not good for kids and families.”

Childcare providers are about to lose a safety net was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Fiserv Headquarters. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

America is running out of superlatives to describe average CEO pay. Call the average pay level astonishing, incredible, call the ever-rising compensation meteoric or stratospheric, and the words seem barely adequate to the job.

The New York Times used to give this splashy annual coverage, with front-page headlines and long, detailed stories on the rise in executive pay. In the last couple of years it’s left the issue to its business columnist Jeff Sommer, and his column Sunday wasn’t even the lead headline in the business section. Is the newspaper suffering from corporate greed exhaustion?

Back in the late 1970s it was front-page news in America when Chrysler executive Lee Iacocca earned $1 million. In 2025 the highest-paid CEO, Elon Musk, received $132.3 billion. Yes, that’s for one year. The average worker at the top 100 companies, who is paid $101,322, would fall short of that pay if the employee had begun working at the dawn of human history.

Ah, but that’s just Musk, you say. Yes, his pay is way ahead of most others on the list of top CEOs. But it is a precedent that other CEOs can point to, and clearly having an impact. Dylan Field, CEO of Figma Inc., was second on the list with $864 million in pay, and Shankh S. Mitra, CEO of Welltower Inc., was third with $821 million. These are jaw-dropping numbers, or would be if your jaw hadn’t already hit the floor at the pay for Musk.

The annual roundup of pay was done by Equilar, which reported that median compensation for the top 100 chief executives “surged 35.8% to $39.4 million in 2025, representing a record high in this study’s history.” But nearly every year since 1980 has seen a new record for executive pay.

And as it did in most of the years since 1980, the gap between CEO and average worker pay grew ever wider. The median pay ratio expanded by 36.5% in 2025, with CEOs now earning 475 times more than the average worker, up from 348 the prior year. Meaning the average worker would have needed to start working in 1550, back during the Hapsburg-Ottoman War, to equal the annual pay of the boss.

Ah, but these are just national figures; surely things are not nearly as bad in the unassuming, flyover land of Wisconsin. Alas, no state is an island anymore, as proven by the pay for Michael P. Lyons, CEO of the Milwaukee-based company Fiserv Inc., who received $70.3 million in 2025. This was 798 times the average employee’s pay at the company.

It is also more than three times higher than the $23.8 million paid to Fiserv’s previous CEO, Frank Bisignano, in 2024, which was then the top pay in Wisconsin, as Urban Milwaukee reported. And these astounding payouts to the two CEOs were awarded despite dreadful five-year (-57%) and one-year (-68%) stock earnings for the company.

Sommer’s NYT column notes that Peter Drucker, the influential economist, management guru and Wall Street Journal columnist, used to suggest it felt “about right” when chief executives received up to 10 or 12 times what workers earned. And he said chief executives should voluntarily limit their pay, keeping it no higher than 20 times what the rank-and-file earned. Well, it’s now 475 times higher and there’s no reason to think it won’t keep rising.

As Sommer puts it, “the sky is no longer the limit.” Yet even that description seems understated.

Vote here sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Don Millis, the new chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, says only potential orders from judges in pending cases could change the rules for the next two partisan elections — the Aug. 11 primary and the Nov. 3 general election.

There have been several attempts to make major election changes that did not happen.

President Donald Trump‘s order requiring a photo ID and proof of citizenship to vote has been blocked by federal judges. Absentee ballot drop boxes used by Wisconsin municipalities will still be used. And the Legislature and governor could not agree on allowing local clerks to count absentee ballots before the 8 p.m. closing of polls, despite repeated calls for that simple change to become law.

What changes in election laws did pass the Republican-controlled Legislature and were signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers?

“Not much of substance,” Millis said in an email. The Republican appointee to the six-member commission, elected as its chair last month, has worked with election laws for decades.

New state laws require the circulators of nomination papers to be Wisconsin residents, make it easier for third-party presidential candidates to nominate electors, allow some candidates — including presidential hopefuls — to withdraw from the ballot, and permit judicial candidates to not publicly disclose personal information.

Millis said Trump’s order requiring a photo ID and proof of citizenship to vote, if approved, would have been the greatest change in this year’s elections.

But, Millis added, “There are cases challenging the president’s executive order. While implementing the proof of citizenship would be very challenging on such short notice, based on what we have seen it seems the federal judiciary is likely to [rule] such a change cannot be accomplished via executive order.”

Still, Millis said he worries about the potential of judicial orders resulting from pending court cases.

“The case that has the greatest likelihood to impact voting in August and in November is likely the disability rights case pending in Dane County,” he said. “In that case, the plaintiffs are seeking a court order requiring that the Commission make it possible for disabled persons to receive ballots and cast votes over the internet.”

It would be very difficult — and maybe impossible — to comply with that order, Millis said.

“While Wisconsin has made great strides in making the voting process available to people with disabilities and plaintiffs’ motivations are laudable, Wisconsin law is not set up for internet voting,” Millis said. “The Commission would have no guidance as to how to set up internet voting.”

“Moreover, the Commission lacks the technology to accomplish this in such a short time and to get the necessary approvals from the federal government,” Millis added. “In my opinion, there is no vendor who has the technology that will guarantee voter confidentiality, so if the Commission is ordered to make internet voting available, we would have to develop the capability in-house.”

“The Dane County judge handling this case issued a temporary restraining order in 2024 mandating ballots be emailed to disabled persons,” Millis said. “That temporary restraining order was reversed by the Court of Appeals.”

Now, Millis noted, “The case is before the same judge.”

Another potential court ruling that the Commission and local clerks could have to deal with involves how absentee ballots are treated that arrive after the 8 p.m. election night deadline. Local clerks say the U.S. Postal Service has failed to deliver some absentee ballots by that 8 p.m. deadline and, in the April 7 election, 23 ballots that were to be hand delivered to Madison polling sites also missed that deadline.

Although the Elections Commission ordered the city of Madison to not count those 23 ballots, a Dane County judge ruled that they should be counted. Two pending lawsuits resulted from the city’s error.

“It is possible one of the cases will result in an order directing clerks to count ballots that, under certain circumstances, don’t reach the polling place by 8 p.m. on election night as mandated by state law,” Millis says. He hopes that, if judges set a new standard for how late arriving absentee ballots are treated, that the new rule “will not lead to future litigation.”

Although officials say that letting local clerks start counting absentee ballots before polls close would make results known earlier, especially in Milwaukee County, legislators have refused to make that change.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.

Image courtesy of Laughing Liberally Milwaukee.

For Urban Milwaukee members, we have a limited number of free tickets available for Laughing Liberally Milwaukee’s June 13, 2026 show.

Laughing Liberally Milwaukee is hosted by comedian, cartoonist and satirist Matthew Filipowicz. Matthew’s work has been featured by CNN, NPR, PBS, HBO, BBC, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the Nation, the London Times, Ain’t It Cool News, and the Huffington Post. Matthew also hosts the creatively titled Laughing Liberally Milwaukee Podcast.

Comedians on the June 13th bill include Ton Johnson, Dana Norris, Aaron Chase, Breanne Wilhite, and sketch comedy troupe The Accountants Of Homeland Security.

In addition to some of the finest progressive comedians Milwaukee has to offer, each Laughing Liberally Milwaukee features a special interview with a local activist, journalist, or political figure. The guest on June 13 is Peter Rickman from the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization.

Urban Milwaukee members may reserve up to two tickets, worth $8 per ticket, while supplies last.

Members can visit the product page to reserve ticket(s), while supplies last, for the Saturday, June 13 show at 8 p.m. at ComedySportz Milwaukee, 420 S. 1st St., Milwaukee.

Members must be logged in to claim tickets. Your ticket(s) will be available at will call.

Not a Member, But Still Want To Go?

Urban Milwaukee offers the city’s most robust membership program, with many perks like this one. By becoming a member, not only will you help support Urban Milwaukee’s journalism, but you’ll help us continue to grow our publication, which publishes more than 75 stories and 100 press releases per week.

This event is only one of the great perks of becoming an Urban Milwaukee member. Here are just a few others:

• Completely ad-free content on our website and a configurable email newsletter
• Bypass the paywall and get access to all Urban Milwaukee stories
• Free access to News Bulletins with insider scoops of interest to anyone following the Milwaukee scene.
• A chance to provide the support that assures Urban Milwaukee can continue focusing on smart, substantive news coverage rather than clickbait
• Free tickets to concerts, festivals, and other great events as they become available through our partners
• A 10% discount on all merchandise at Urban Milwaukee: The Store
• The ability to comment on articles
• A faster photo browser

All of this is just $9/month, or $99 per year. Signing up is easy, and you are welcome to cancel at any time. Join us today.

Pano AI cameras are mounted hundreds to thousands of the feet in the air to detect wildfire smoke and hot spots. Photo courtesy of Pano AI

High above tree lines in Wisconsin, artificial intelligence cameras work 24/7 to spot smoke and wildfires.

“We can alert public safety officials and they can take quick action on those fires,” said Greg Bento, Wildfire Command Center manager for Xcel Energy.

He told WPR “Morning Edition” Host Alex Crowe that San Francisco based-company Pano AI reached out to Xcel Energy about its wildfire detection cameras. And last year, the utility company installed eight cameras in Wisconsin. Each can monitor about 70 miles of land.

“These cameras were a tool that did not exist before,” he said. “When we started understanding the capability of what their cameras can do, it became a responsibility as stewards of the public lands that we have right of ways through.”

Since 2022, the average number of wildfires in Wisconsin has increased to more than 1,000 annually, costing more than $1 million. Ahead of the summer wildfire season, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports more than 620 incidents.

Now, Xcel Energy is considering locations for a new camera in Eau Claire County. It’s expected to be in place by  early 2027.

Bento said adding detection cameras to its service area in northwestern Wisconsin is based on fire risk. So far, cameras are installed in Birchwood, Cumberland, Hayward, Luck, Mercer, Spooner, Tomah and Manitowish Waters.

A map of northwestern Wisconsin shows the location of AI-powered cameras detecting wildfires. Map courtesy of Excel Energy

“We share our cameras with local fire departments, the Bureau of Land Management and parks and wildlife agencies,” he said.

Xcel Energy currently operates panoramic cameras in Minnesota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. The utility company is footing the annual bill of $50,000 per camera.

To date, Bento said the cameras have detected hundreds of ignition events in those states. In Wisconsin, local fire departments are already taking advantage of the AI resource.

“Sometimes [fire departments] call us and we will workshop the smoke detections,” he said. “Volunteer fire departments don’t have a lot of those resources.”

Bento said a 12-person team from both Xcel and Pano AI watch the cameras 24/7 to validate all smoke and hotspot alerts. While false reports can happen with AI, he said every notification is reviewed.

DNR resources work to fight spring wildfires in Wisconsin in 2025. Image courtesy of Wisconsin DNR

“AI helps to rule out things like chimney smoke or steam or dust particles,” Bento said.

Bento said he understands the public’s sensitivity to having AI cameras always watching. But he assures people the angle and height of the cameras result in low-resolution images.

“These cameras are very high up, they have very wide angle cameras,” he explained. “A very tight, controlled group of people at the power company can see them. And then we also share all of the camera views with public safety organizations. The resolution is not a concern for me as a landowner.”

“If there is a residential structure that is within the view, it’s immediately pixelated by the camera itself,” he added.

As summer begins, so does the concern over air quality due to Canadian wildfires. Bento said if smoke crosses the border, Wisconsin agencies now have more situational awareness.

“It could potentially obscure some of the view,” he said. “But we make meteorological observations from our cameras to see what clouds are doing to help inform our decision making.”

AI-powered cameras watch for wildfires in Wisconsin  was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Rep. Francesca Hong, third from left, speaks to the audience during the year’s first Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum, Jan. 21, 2026, at The Cooperage in Milwaukee. The candidates are, from left, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Hong, Sen. Kelda Roys, former Wisconsin Economic Development Commission CEO Missy Hughes, former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

The state’s most devoted Democrats are scheduled to gather in Madison this weekend for the party’s annual convention where the seven-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor is likely to take center stage.

Democratic caucus and county party leaders told Wisconsin Watch they are hopeful the convention could be a clarifying moment in the primary campaign on who has enough support to make it to the August primary. None of the main contenders dropped out ahead of last week’s filing deadline, so seven names will appear on the Aug. 11 Democratic primary ballot.

When Democrats convene at the Monona Terrace Convention Center on Saturday, there will be less than 45 days until early voting starts in late July.

“If their message does not ring true to the delegates at the convention, they better listen to the applause because people will be honest with them,” said Susan Chandler, the 1st Congressional District chair and vice chair of the Walworth County Democrats. “Everybody who goes to the convention is a highly engaged Democrat, and for every one of those highly engaged, we all know 10 people who are not. We’re bringing a lot of background to that convention and critically listening to these candidates.”

After Democratic Gov. Tony Evers decided not to run for a third term, seven Democratic candidates submitted the signatures to make the ballot. They include former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary Missy Hughes, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Madison Sen. Kelda Roys.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Republicans have coalesced around U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who received the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s endorsement at their annual convention in May and was endorsed by President Donald Trump in January. Tiffany has just one primary opponent, Andy Manske, a 27-year-old medical service technician.

“We want to know who is best situated to make bold sweeping change here in Wisconsin to provide a better life for Wisconsinites, and who is best situated to beat Tom Tiffany in a head-to-head,” said Brett Timmerman, the chair of the Milwaukee County Democratic Party. “I think that people are going to the convention looking for somebody to stand out in a meaningful way to deliver that message of why they think they are the best person to carry the torch forward.”

The closest comparison to this year’s field is the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary when 10 candidates ran for the opportunity to unseat then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Two dropped out in June before the primary that year.

Evers, who had statewide election experience as the superintendent of public instruction, won the Democratic primary that year with 42% of the vote and later defeated Walker in the general election. Evers didn’t win a majority of primary voters, but his closest opponent only mustered 16.4% of the vote.

A large primary, like the one in 2018, forces candidates to explain why voters should support their campaign, said Martha Laning, who served as the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin during the 2018 election cycle.

At the 2018 state Democratic convention, the candidates all had the opportunity to make a three-minute pitch to party die-hards on what they would do for Wisconsin, Laning said. A spokesperson for the state party said all seven of the Democrats who made the ballot will also have a chance to speak this weekend.

“I think it’s great to put all of the candidates up there and to just let people know what their options are,” Laning said. “Again, any of them will be better than Tom Tiffany, so the more people talking about how they would do things and how they would improve people’s lives in Wisconsin is a good thing for us.”

Negativity and consolidation

It’s been a quiet primary among the slew of Democratic candidates over the last six months, with few events that set the campaigns apart. Hong led the field with 14% in the most recent Marquette University Law School Poll in March. The poll also found that 65% of voters were undecided on who to vote for in the primary.

It’s worth watching if the convention is a place where candidates take negative swipes at each other with the August primary on the horizon, said Anthony Chergosky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“This has been a remarkably chill campaign, and I’m wondering if we’re going to see things heat up a little bit,” Chergosky said.

Hints of discord are emerging in the primary. Hughes last month was the only candidate to publicly support the failed $1.8 billion bipartisan surplus deal negotiated between Evers and Republican legislative leaders. After the deal failed in the Senate, Hughes posted unnamed criticism of “certain self-serving Democratic candidates for governor who would rather boost their own personal political ambitions than serve our kids and taxpayers.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week reported that Hong was sued in May by Capital One for nearly $30,000 in credit card debt, which her campaign said had already been paid. Hong in a video posted on social media said the story showed her “opponents are scrambling.”

“They are scared of what we’ve built, our platform that’s resonating with working class people all across the state who feel left behind, our organizing infrastructure that’s being built stronger every day,” Hong said. “They want to pull me off track and how dare they.”

The convention could also serve as a milestone for consolidation in the race in the coming weeks, Chergosky said. A fractured field means one of the candidates could win with just 30% of the vote, but the math changes if someone drops out, he noted.

For Gloria Hochstein, the chair of the party’s Rural Caucus, the circumstances of a large field of candidates make her wish ranked-choice voting was an option for this primary.

“The problem is that there are some really good people running, and the thoughtful voter is really going to have to decide where his or her vote should be,” Hochstein said.

But the convention could “turn the tide” for some candidates who might drop out if they see they don’t have the statewide reach among the party’s most faithful, she said.

“I think that’s the realization, some of the candidates, I hope they come to sooner rather than later,” Hochstein said.

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marty Brooks at the 2024 opening of the Baird Center. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

After months of meeting in private about the future of Wisconsin Center District CEO Marty Brooks, the organization’s board voted in public Monday morning to fire him.

The reason, according to one board member, was misuse of district credit cards for more than $50,000 in expenses, including political contributions.

In a unanimous vote of those participating, Brooks was terminated for cause. One board member abstained.

Brooks has been embattled for months, first with accusations that he pinched the butt of board member José G. Pérez at a fundraiser late last year and then with board concern over a $145,000 study that Brooks entered into unilaterally, which recommended replacing the Miller High Life Theatre with a convention center hotel.

But according to board member and downtown alderman Robert Bauman, neither of those things led directly to the firing.

“Serious misappropriation of funds involving credit cards,” said Bauman, describing the reason for the firing.

The board spent more than two hours in closed session Monday morning, the fifth time in 2026 it’s met about Brooks in private.

Bauman said the total misuse of funds by Brooks “totals $50,000 to $60,000 — $50,000 at least — and the investigation has not been completed because they’ve only gone as far back as 2023.”

Brooks, 69, was hired to lead the district in 2018. He led the $456 million Baird Center expansion. He is paid a base salary of more than $400,000 on a three-year contract that runs through early 2028.

Bauman said Brooks used district credit cards to make political contributions to Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Council President Pérez and others.

The district is funded by two hotel taxes, a sales tax and a rental car tax.

Pérez abstained from voting on Brooks’ termination but did not respond to an inquiry as to why. Bauman said the alleged pinch didn’t factor into the termination.

Brooks, according to Bauman, also used a district credit card in 2023 to purchase a pair of shoes for himself and another employee. The total cost was more than $2,000. Urban Milwaukee is not naming the employee because the person is not accused of wrongdoing and no longer works for the district.

Brooks was not present at the meeting. He cleaned out his desk last week and was reported to be working from his second home in Florida.

The termination is not immediate. Under the terms of his contract, he is being given 30 days’ notice to contest the move.

But by invoking the for-cause clause, the district stands to save several hundred thousand dollars. If he was terminated for convenience, Brooks would have been owed the remainder of his base salary through January 2028.

Board chair Jim Kanter was appointed interim chief of staff. Kanter and Sen. LaTonya Johnson abstained from voting on the appointment. Kanter is a longtime brewing executive and the current chief commercial officer at Central Standard Craft Distillery.

About an hour after the board vote, Kanter read a brief statement to the media members present and did not take any questions. It confirmed that Brooks was “placed on administrative leave” and said the “major findings” center on misuse of WCD funds, violations of the bylaws and the employee handbook, and misrepresentation to the board. “Most importantly, we want employees, customers, partners and stakeholders to know that the Wisconsin Center District remains focused on its mission and the important role it plays in our community,” he said.

An attorney for Brooks did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Visit Milwaukee, which is funded in part by the WCD, issued a statement an hour after the vote. “We have tremendous confidence in the Wisconsin Center District Board, in Jim Kanter as chief of staff, as well as the WCD leadership team and their staff as they navigate this transition. We also have full confidence in the Wisconsin Center District and Levy teams to continue delivering the exceptional level of service, hospitality, and execution that our convention, meeting, and event clients have come to expect in Milwaukee,” said Visit CEO Peggy Williams-Smith. “Visit Milwaukee’s operations, leadership, and work on behalf of our partners, clients, and community continue as normal, and we remain focused on supporting the success of meetings, conventions, and tourism throughout Milwaukee.”

A private property sign and rope is seen here next to Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Ozaukee County on June 3, 2026. Evan Casey/WPR

Julie Shiff has been walking the trails at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Ozaukee County for over 20 years. The Grafton resident said she goes to the 73-acre park once or twice a week.

She was there with her friend on Wednesday.

“This is our spot,” Shiff said. “This is where we’ve been coming forever.”

But recently, she saw a post on social media about “private property” signs that had gone up on Lake Michigan’s shoreline just past the preserve.

She called that “ridiculous.”

“That lake is for everybody, that shoreline is for everybody,” Shiff said.

The signs and rope fence are to the left of the trail that leads to the beach. One sign reads “private property, no trespassing, violators will be prosecuted.” Another states “Please respect our neighbors by not trespassing and enjoy the over half mile of beach behind you.” There is also a camera and a sign that reads “24 hour video surveillance” just past the rope.

The private property signs are a short walk to the left of the trail that leads to the beach. Evan Casey/WPR

Megan Birkett of Glendale said she comes to the park to walk her dog by the water. But she said they only walk along the portion of the shoreline that is next to the preserve on county-owned land.

“Right when you get down there, it’s like, denied left,” Birkett said. “That really kind of sucks.”

Neighbors complain about garbage, people walking up bluffs

Grafton resident Mark Harris and another neighbor put up the signs and rope fence. Harris lives a few houses down from the preserve.

He grew up in the home and moved back last summer with his family to take care of his mother. That’s when he said he started to have some issues. He complained about dog poop and garbage on the beach, and people climbing up the bluff next to the home.

“If people could just simply walk back and forth, I probably would have had no issue with that,” Harris said. “But people don’t do that, they don’t take care of things the way that they should, so a smaller group ruin it for the larger, greater good.”

Harris said he is one of seven families who live next to the park, just north of the preserve. Susie Rieck moved into a home next to the preserve in 1995. She said her house is around 50 to 75 yards away from the bluff that overlooks Lake Michigan.

She said she’s not bothered by people walking on the beach, as long as they “treat it carefully.” But she said “dozens” of people have walked up the bluff. She’s worried about liability issues if anyone gets hurt.

“People don’t treat it carefully,” Rieck said. “People climb up my bluff all the time.”

Earlier this year, a dispute over beach access near a public park ended up in court. A Shorewood municipal judge ruled against Paul Florsheim after he got a $313 trespassing citation for walking past a public beach along Lake Michigan.

Florsheim has appealed that case to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. He has high hopes that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will take up the appeal, so the state’s highest court can weigh in on the issue.

In the original ruling, the Shorewood judge cited the 1923 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling, Doemel v. Jantz, which found that private property owners have exclusive rights to the area of the shoreline between the ordinary high water mark and the edge of the water.

Harris brought up the same ruling when talking about his signs and rope blocking the beach.

A portion of the shoreline along Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve is seen here on June 3, 2026. Evan Casey/WPR

Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin DNR weigh in

Travis Schroeder, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Waterway and Wetland Field Supervisor for the Southeast region, said the DNR became aware of the signs and rope through their tip line.

“The department is trying to verify that any navigation that happens in the water, or folks keeping their feet wet, is allowed,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder said the ordinary high water mark has not yet been determined at the site. He said the DNR hopes to stake that mark sometime in the next two weeks and he said the department is asking that any portion of the sign or rope that is in the water to be removed.

On its website, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the ordinary high water mark is defined as, “the point on the bank or shore of a waterway up to which the presence and action of the water is so continuous as to leave a distinct mark either by erosion, destruction of terrestrial vegetation or other easily recognized characteristic.”

Schroeder said when the DNR visits a site to determine that mark, they often look for things like vegetation, debris lines and where the water touches the shoreline regularly.

“From there, we put all of those things together, and we flag where the water is on an average time,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder said the DNR is, “committed to working with Mr. Harris.”

“There is a process that if there are structures that were to be placed below the ordinary high (water mark), landowners can apply for that, similar to placing rock on your shoreline or placing out any sort of pier,” Schroeder said, adding that permits and exemptions are available.

Harris said he’s also looking to get clarification as to where the ordinary high water mark is. He said he’s been in touch with the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the DNR.

“And as far as the fencing, it’s going to remain until, by law, we are told that we need to take it down,” Harris said.

In an email, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Marshall Hermann said his office has been in touch with the property owner and with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about the signs.

“The area of the ordinary high-water mark is generally available for public use, including walking along the shoreline,” Hermann said. “Individuals walking along the beach should remain within the area below the ordinary high-water mark and avoid entering private property.”

“Because shoreline conditions can vary, a practical guideline for the public is to remain on the wet sand or in the water when walking along the shoreline,” he added.

Lake Michigan’s waters crash on the beach near Atwater Park and Daniel Domagala’s property, Jan. 8, 2026, in Shorewood, Wis. Joe Timmerman/Wisconsin Watch

Shorewood case could go to the Wisconsin Supreme Court

In Shorewood, Florsheim had walked past a no trespassing sign next to Atwater Beach. He has argued that the part of the beach where he was walking was public land, and he was allowed to be there.

The public trust doctrine protects the public’s rights on navigable waterways in Wisconsin. Florsheim believes that the public trust doctrine protects his right to walk along the shoreline up to the ordinary high water mark.

David Strifling, a law professor and director of Marquette Law School’s Water Law and Policy Initiative, said the state’s highest court could take up the case.

“I would be pretty shocked if this doesn’t go at least as far as the Court of Appeals, and possibly all the way to the (Wisconsin) Supreme Court,” Strifling said.

Similar cases have been decided in Indiana and Michigan, two neighboring states that border Lake Michigan. In those states, Strifling said the public has the right to walk along the beach below the ordinary high water mark.

Rob Lee, a senior staff attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates who is representing Florsheim in his case, said they expect a decision on the appeal in August.

Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve is a 73-acre park. Evan Casey/WPR

Private property signs go up along shoreline past popular nature preserve in Ozaukee County was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Sam (left) and Alyssa Wisneski. Photo courtesy of Sam and Alyssa Wisneski.

There’s a cold front rolling in at Milwaukee Public Market.

Chillwaukee will be putting the pop in pop-up this summer, bringing an array of popsicles and Hawaiian-inspired shaved ice to the market’s patio at 400 N. Water St. on weekends throughout the season.

The bicycle-powered business has been a prominent presence at local markets and festivals since its 2017 launch under founders Collin Wallace and Danielle Dahl, and now continues with Sam and Alyssa Wisneski at the helm; the married couple purchased Chillwaukee in 2023.

Last summer, the Wisneskis expanded the brand with a trailer serving shaved ice. The treats feature housemade syrups and toppings such as fresh fruit, mochi balls and popping boba.

Chillwaukee’s ever-changing list of popsicles includes flavors such as strawberry mango, chocolate-dipped peanut butter banana and blue moon. Gluten-free and vegan options are a regular part of the rotation.

Following its launch at the market this summer — an official date has not yet been announced — Chillwaukee will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For updates and additional information, visit Chillwaukee on Instagram or Facebook.

Third Ward Could Get New Chicken Chain

Char’d, a modern Korean restaurant located in the Historic Third Ward, announced its closure last weekend after just over eight years in business.

In an online post, owners Choonghoon Lee and Lane Kim shared gratitude for customers who “embraced our food, our culture, and our little corner of this city,” while also teasing a new concept proposed for the restaurant space at 222 E. Erie St.

They plan to reopen next month as part of the Korean-style barbecue chain bb.q Chicken. “We’ve been cooking up something new, and we can’t wait to share it,” the owners wrote in the post.

Read the full article

The Return of Milwaukee Dumpling Fest

Empanada, pierogi, shumai, momo — any and all combinations of filling and dough are welcome at Milwaukee Dumpling Fest, which returns June 28 for its fourth year.

ElevAsian and Visit Milwaukee sponsor the annual event, which brings together local chefs to riff on the humble — and highly versatile — dumpling for a chance to win the coveted Golden Gyoza trophy.

“Every culture has a form of dumpling,” ElevAsian said in an online statement. “Whether it’s steamed, fried, boiled or baked — if it’s a delicious filling wrapped in dough, we are celebrating it.”

This year’s festival will take place at a new venue, Prairie Springs on Park, 1420 E. Park Pl., with participants including chef Alex Lyskowicz, Amilinda, The Bartolotta Restaurants, Benson’s Restaurant Group, Chao’s Kitchen, Cute Robot Japanese Kitchen, EsterEv, Lucky Ginger, Mezcla Fusion Revolution, Mosaic Catering, Noble Catering, Phat Dumpling, Saffron, Semolina MKE, Serious Sanji and Sinta.

Read the full article

Milwaukee Restaurants Go Halal For Annual Restaurant Week

On the heels of the major Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, Halal Restaurant Week returns to Milwaukee June 5-14, with 11 participating restaurants offering specials ranging from brunch and brisket to lobster and lamb chops.

Chefs across the area will present their takes on halal dishes, prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary guidelines, throughout the 10-day event.

Best-known restrictions include the prohibition of pork and alcohol; however, halal also informs how permissible meats are slaughtered and processed.

Though it may sound daunting, preparing halal food in a restaurant setting can be as simple as swapping vendors or special-ordering proteins, while being mindful of cross-contamination and missteps, such as using wine to deglaze a pan.

Read the full article

Bay View Piggly Wiggly Unveils Renovation

Piggly Wiggly in Bay View is set to debut a multimillion-dollar renovation this weekend, welcoming shoppers for the first time to its freshly revamped store at 123 W. Oklahoma Ave.

The project, guided by feedback from neighbors and store employees, includes aesthetic updates such as new flooring, paint, signage, aisle markers and displays, along with a revised layout and expanded inventory of products.

“We’ve really been trying to make it a little bit more modern, more relevant and overall a better shopping experience,” said Terry Goins, director of marketing and advertising for Piggly Wiggly Midwest.

Among major changes, the store’s in-house bakery, Panaderia Azteca, now occupies a more prominent space near the main entrance, while the deli and butcher displays have been rebuilt with visual appeal and accessibility in mind.

Read the full article

Southside Bar Eyes New Location

After just over a year of operation in the Forest Home Hills neighborhood, Dulce Diabla Bar is planning a new southside location.

Owner Gilari Cortes Reyna recently applied for an occupancy permit at 1537 S. César E Chávez Dr., a commercial space currently home to Don Julio’s Bar & Club.

The existing business has operated for a decade at the location, most recently under Ruben Medina Perdomo. It has an active license that is set to expire in November, though city records indicate a transfer is pending.

According to the application, Cortes Reyna plans to transform the 1,295-square-foot tavern into a bar, dance club and sit-down restaurant, doing business as Dulce Diabla Bar.

Read the full article

Alderman Complains of ‘Parking Chaos’ at Delivery-Focused Food Hall

This article is available only to Urban Milwaukee members.

Read the full article

Southside Food Truck Suspended Over Parking Violations

This article is available only to Urban Milwaukee members.

Read the full article

Fire Closes Burnham Park Tavern

Lucky’s Ice House Bar & Grill is closed until further notice after a June 1 fire damaged the building at 4238 W. Orchard St.

Owner Thomas Schweiger shared an update on social media Monday afternoon, confirming that nobody was injured in the blaze. “Everyone is safe,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, we will not be opening or shuttling to games until further notice.”

Photos of the scene show emergency vehicles parked along Miller Park Way and Orchard Street while crews worked on the ground and roof to extinguish the fire, which reportedly spread from the building’s basement into its walls and upper floors.

The Burnham Park building sits near the border of Milwaukee and West Milwaukee and has served as a neighborhood watering hole under various names and owners for more than 100 years.

Read the full article

Mexican Food Truck Plans Brick-and-Mortar Restaurant

A new restaurant, La Flamita, is slated to open at 2100 W. Hopkins St., filling a standalone building once home to Pizza House.

It would mark the first permanent location for the business, which has operated for years as a food truck.

Efrain Jimenez Mendoza is behind the proposed restaurant, which would serve Mexican dishes including tortas, tacos al pastor and handmade huaraches, according to a license application.

The menu could also feature chimichangas, birria, gorditas, quesadillas and tacos wrapped in freshly prepared tortillas, alongside snacks such as loaded Dorito nachos. Meat options would include pastor, asada, chorizo, chicken, tripe, tongue, ground beef and cabeza.

Read the full article

New Bars and Restaurants That Opened in May

This article is available only to Urban Milwaukee members.

Read the full article

At Bad Moon Saloon, Comfort Food Gets A Not Bad Upgrade

Bad Moon Saloon has met its match. A new food trailer, Not Bad Foods, is soon to join the rock-‘n’-roll tavern as a resident vendor, offering a menu of comfort food with ingredients that “make it interesting.”

The custom-built trailer made the journey from Texas to Milwaukee. The business is led by Scott Zajork, an industry veteran with years of experience at local standouts including Goodkind, St. Paul Fish Company, DanDan, Snack Boys and The Vanguard, where he spent the past four years overseeing menu development and specials.

Zajork said his previous roles helped him build a network of peers and shape his development in the kitchen.

“A lot of these guys — all the owners and chefs of these restaurants — have been friends of mine for years,” he said. “I was really trying to explore different cuisines and learn new things from different chefs.”

Read the full article

Takeout-Focused Hmong Buffet Planned for Milwaukee

A new restaurant proposed on the Northwest Side would make it easy to grab a heaping plate of roast duck, noodles and spring rolls in just a few minutes.

Sam Vang and his partner, Choua Lor, plan to open Asian H Express at 3902 N. 76th St., bringing new life to the shuttered Jackie’s Cafe space, while continuing their family’s presence in Milwaukee’s dining scene.

The “H” in Asian H Express stands for Hmong, which will represent the majority of dishes at the all-day restaurant, though Thai and Lao cuisine will also be offered.

Vang said the business will emphasize efficiency, offering a broad range of ready-made foods. Customers will select their preferred items, which will be plated, priced by weight — $12.99 per pound, according to Vang — and packaged for carryout. Dine-in service will not be available.

Read the full article

Inside Craft. Photo taken May 27, 2026 by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

If you are looking for an elegant dining room filled with memories of Milwaukee’s past, consider a visit to Craft, located across the street from Fiserv Forum in The Trade hotel. As soon as you enter from West Juneau Avenue, you will see the large square bar with seating on all sides and topped with stunning copper lighting fixtures that had past lives as the tops of brew kettles. In addition to that nod to Milwaukee’s brewing industry, you will see a Harley, a lovely photo of the Hoan Bridge, and a Cream City brick border in the hotel lobby.

“This old-school look refers to anything that has to do with old Milwaukee,” according to our server Bryan Gonzalez. The fresh industrial vibe, he told us, is “old Milwaukee cleaned up.”

The menu is brief, but that suggested quality, not quantity. The D.L.T., a duck sandwich and takeoff on a B.L.T., had a large mound of shredded duck breast packed into grilled buttery brioche bread. It also included bacon, tiny pieces mixed into the duck, which made the sandwich a true B.L.T. plus duck. It was delightful. The accompanying house chips had a subtle seasoning that added interest to the nongreasy, thick, crisp chips. They quickly disappeared.

The chipotle chicken grilled cheese, a mash-up of caramelized onions, shredded chicken and Gruyere, was mixed with chipotle mayo and served in buttery grilled sourdough. You won’t want to count calories when you dive into this sandwich. Every bite oozed with cheese and butter and, of course, chicken.

If you are craving carbs, order the jumbo pretzel with three sauces: beer cheese, grainy mustard and root beer BBQ. The pretzel was warm, easy to pull apart and exactly as advertised: “jumbo.” You could add to the basic pretzel by ordering it stuffed with jalapeno cheddar, cream cheese and bacon, and then dip it in the three sauces.

For the Craft smash burger, an array of choices awaited a decision. My companion chose a “smashable”: sauteed onions, cheddar cheese, Craft sauce, lettuce, tomato and Usinger’s bacon. The bacon was thick and crisp, and the smash burger, made with chuck, brisket and short rib, had the appropriate lacy fringe surrounding a medium-well burger. The Craft sauce was spicy. You can order a double or a triple for an additional $2 charge for each quarter-pound burger.

The Trade salad had multiple parts that came together to make a tasty, healthy bowl filled with bacon, grated cheddar, black olives, red onion, chopped romaine and multiple herb croutons. It was dressed with a light red wine vinegar, just enough to coat everything in the bowl.

The Third Space beer cheese soup made with aged cheddar was thick and filled with bacon. I wanted to dip everything in it — the pretzel, the croutons and even the edges of the smash burger. It was that good.

On the lunch menu, there were two more “handhelds”: a crispy chicken sandwich and a Trade club wrap with turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and Craft sauce. Also on the lunch menu were shaved Brussels sprouts and kale salad and the Craft Caesar salad. Because this is Wisconsin, you can also order Weyauwega Star Dairy cheese curds and wings with Sprecher BBQ sauce.

Because Craft is located across the street from Fiserv Forum in the Deer District, it’s an ideal venue for a pre- or post-meal when attending an event at the Forum. Our lunches were tasty, and the old Milwaukee ambiance was delightful.

On the Menu

Photo Gallery

The Rundown

• Location: 420 W. Juneau Ave.
• Phone: 414-644-5470
• Hours: Breakfast: 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Mon-Fri, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sat-Sun; Lunch: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mon-Sun; Dinner: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mon-Thu, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fri-Sun
• Website: https://thetradehotel.com/dining/craft/

Veteran’s Park Lagoon. Photo taken by Graham Kilmer, 2024.

Milwaukee County Parks is looking into ways to improve the water quality and the experience of the Veterans Park Lagoon, and it wants the public’s help.

The 14-acre lagoon, which sits in Veterans Park near the park’s boundary with N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, is frequently plagued by toxic blooms of algae and cyanobacteria. Parks wants to fix this and sees an opportunity to make improvements to the area surrounding the lagoon while it undertakes a future water quality project.

Parks received funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to conduct a feasibility study to identify solutions to the water quality problems. The department is working with engineering consultants from SmithGroup and plans to use the feasibility study process to also gather input on potential new recreational amenities and infrastructure for the area. The department is holding public meetings and circulating a survey to help guide planning efforts for the lagoon.

Conceptually, Parks is considering how exactly the lagoon will look in the future and wants to know what residents would prefer. Should it be a wide-open area, or naturalized and made to resemble a wetland? Should there be a thick growth of shade trees or a prairie-like meadow surrounding the lagoon? Would park visitors like to see an engineered hard surface around the lagoon, such as a pier jutting out into the lagoon, or a more natural shoreline? These are some of the questions the department is seeking feedback on.

The lagoon is actually older than the park it’s named for, according to a 2022 water study. The shoreline in that area was expanded in 1907 when landfill from nearby construction projects was deposited, leaving a coastal bay that was connected to the lakefront that would eventually become the lagoon. The connection to the lake kept the water moving and the lagoon clean enough to swim in, and it became a popular swimming destination. But by the early 1950s, the opening was only three feet across, and in the 1960s it was closed off as the county filled in 100 acres that eventually became Veterans Park.

Once closed, the stagnant water became a breeding ground for the toxic blooms, which have not been helped by the stormwater connections that dump dirty water into the lagoon. The largest is a stormwater pipe that empties runoff from N. Prospect Avenue, according to the water study. 

The primary goal of the study is to identify solutions for the poor water conditions. The Parks Department will need additional funding to implement them.

Veteran’s Park is the latest lagoon to receive attention in the parks system. The department is also working to stabilize the shorelines of the lagoons in Mitchell Park and Kosciuszko Park.

1. Harold’s Chicken Comes to Milwaukee

Illinois-based chicken chain with nearly 50 locations in U.S. coming to northwest side.

Apr 16th, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

2. Funding Approved For 709 New Affordable Apartments in Milwaukee

Eight projects in town win state tax credits, from Downtown to the central city.

Jun 3rd, 2026 by Jeramey Jannene

3. Southside Bar Eyes New Location

Dulce Diabla plans bar, dance club and sit-down dining for building in Muskego Way neighborhood.

Jun 4th, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

4. The Return of Milwaukee Dumpling Fest

More than a dozen chefs and restaurants set to participate in fourth annual fest.

Jun 5th, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

5. Why Some Wisconsin Churches Are Quietly Filling Up Again

Pastors point to rising anxiety, a hunger for hope and simple hospitality as key to recent, modest gains in attendance.

May 30th, 2026 by Mackenzie Krumme

6. MKE County: Whitefish Bay Affordable Housing Development Opens to Huge Demand

Seventeen unit building inundated with more than 350 applications.

May 31st, 2026 by Graham Kilmer

7. Bay View Piggly Wiggly Unveils Renovation

Multimillion-dollar project includes aesthetic updates, revised layout and expanded inventory.

Jun 4th, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

8. Now Serving: Shorewood Cafe Will Summer in Bay View

Plus: Barbecue, Asian buffet and a possible downtown beer garden

May 31st, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

9. Mexican Food Truck Plans Brick-and-Mortar Restaurant

La Flamita owner buys location to open restaurant.

Jun 2nd, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

10. See Selected Plan To Replace Vacant Building, Park

Housing and entertainment proposal now heads to the Common Council for final approval.

Jun 1st, 2026 by Jeramey Jannene

Press Releases

Most popular press releases in the past week.

1. Moran’s Pub Announces Team USA Watch/Block Party Series for Summer 2026 World Cup

 

May 30th, 2026 by Moran’s Pub

2. New Report: Donald Trump’s Disastrous Agenda for Wisconsin’s Dairyland

 

Jun 4th, 2026 by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin

3. Milwaukee’s Summerfest Announces Highly Anticipated 2024 Lineup

ILLENIUM to Headline on June 27 at American Family Insurance Amphitheater

Mar 21st, 2024 by Milwaukee World Festival, Inc.

4. Home HazMat Collection Saturday at State Fair Park

(Milwaukee County Residents ONLY)

Jun 3rd, 2026 by Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

5. Gov. Evers Appoints John Florsheim to the Wedc Board of Directors

 

Jun 1st, 2026 by Gov. Tony Evers

6. Fitzgerald and Nunn Introduce TRAIN and BRIDGE Acts to Counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Economic Coercion

Fitzgerald and Nunn Introduce TRAIN and BRIDGE Acts to Counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Economic Coercion

Jun 2nd, 2026 by U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald

7. City of West Allis Announces Summer Concert Series Dates

 

Jun 12th, 2025 by City of West Allis

8. Sen. Kelda Roys Unveils Bold Energy Platform

Plan will lower costs, clean up our air, protect our water, and stand up to big tech, including an executive order to protect communities from data centers

Jun 3rd, 2026 by Kelda Roys

9. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley Provides Update on MCTS Fiscal and Organizational Progress

 

Jun 4th, 2026 by Milwaukee County Department of Transportation

10. American Family Field Homestand Highlights: June 1-4

 

May 31st, 2026 by Milwaukee Brewers

The Couture and US Bank Center. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Think you know what happened in Milwaukee last week? Take Urban Milwaukee’s weekly news quiz.

The quiz is available in our bulletins section for Urban Milwaukee members.

Urban Milwaukee

You’re reading a weekly rundown of all of our short-format ‘bulletins.’ The members-only content allows us to provide additional news and analysis on topics we haven’t written full articles about.

Deer District Farmers Market Launching June 7 [Short Take]

A new farmers market will join the city’s lineup this summer, kicking off its season Sunday, June 7, in Deer District.

The weekly market, managed by Lauryn Wynter Company and supported by Deer District BID #53, will feature more than 80 vendors offering fresh produce, meat, eggs, cheese, baked goods, artisan products and more, according to a news release.

Attendees can also expect a Taste It Tent with food samples and family-friendly activities. Other area markets have recently embraced the concept as a way to introduce new flavors and experiences for market-goers — particularly children.

The Deer District farmers market will be held Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the plaza just east of Fiserv Forum through Oct. 25, though it will remain closed during previously scheduled events on July 19, Aug. 16 and Aug. 23.

SNAP/EBT, WIC and Senior Nutritional Vouchers will be accepted at the market.

Deer District previously hosted a season of the Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market, which relocated to the plaza from The Domes in November 2021. That lasted for just one year, as the market moved to its current location on Capitol Drive in 2022.

– Sophie Bolich, June 5 4:55 pm

Crowley Signs Reckless Driving Towing Ordinance [Reporting Update]

County Executive David Crowley holds up resolution after signing at the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) headquarters. Photo taken May 3, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed off on an ordinance Wednesday giving the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) the authority to tow and impound vehicles when the driver is cited for reckless driving.

The ordinance change mirrors one adopted by the City of Milwaukee. The MCSO has pushed for the new authority, saying it will be an effective tool in addressing reckless driving, including dangerous street takeovers.

The ordinance change was sponsored by Sup. Willie Johnson, Jr. who secured the support of his colleagues on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in May, after the board initially stalled the change in March.

– Graham Kilmer, June 3 12:58 pm

More: Read our past coverage

Crowley Signs Reckless Driving Towing Ordinance [Reporting Update]

County Executive David Crowley holds up resolution after signing at the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) headquarters. Photo taken May 3, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed off on an ordinance Wednesday giving the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) the authority to tow and impound vehicles when the driver is cited for reckless driving.

The ordinance change mirrors one adopted by the City of Milwaukee. The MCSO has pushed for the new authority, saying it will be an effective tool in addressing reckless driving, including dangerous street takeovers.

The ordinance change was sponsored by Sup. Willie Johnson, Jr. who secured the support of his colleagues on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in May, after the board initially stalled the change in March.

– Graham Kilmer, June 3 12:58 pm

More: Read our past coverage

KinetiK Plans Sauna Build-Out [Short Take]

A new wellness amenity could soon be available at Bay View‘s KinetiK apartments, 2160 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

The Hive Wellness & Social, a Milwaukee-based sauna and cold plunge business, plans to build out a first-floor common area with saunas, private showers and office space.

A representative of the company confirmed Tuesday that the project will be public-facing.

New Land Enterprises owns KinetiK. Ascent, another apartment building under the firm, features saunas as an amenity for residents.

– Sophie Bolich, June 2 12:33 pm

President Trump Will Visit Chippewa County Friday [Short Take]

President Donald Trump is coming to Wisconsin.

The White House confirmed that the president will host an event in Chippewa County in northwestern Wisconsin.

It will be Trump’s first visit to the state since the 2024 campaign.

The White House has not released details of the Friday event.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 2 10:51 am

Council Recognizes Five During Pride Month Ceremony [Scene on the Street]

Council members Peter Burgelis and JoCasta Zamarippa (center) present proclamations to Pridefest (Wes Shaver), Courage+, MPD Sergeant Guadalupe Velasquez, Aaron Rice of Feeding America and Milwaukee LGBT Community Center (Ritchie T. Martin, Jr.). Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee Common Council recognized five individuals and organizations as part of its annual Pride Month program.

Led by the Queer Caucus, which consists of council members Peter Burgelis and JoCasta Zamarripa, the ceremony at Milwaukee City Hall preceded Tuesday’s full council meeting.

Organizations recognized include the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, and its leader Ritchie T. Martin, Jr., Courage+, accepted by board president Ashley Krueger-Rook, and Pridefest, Inc., accepted by board president Wes Shaver.

Individuals honored included Milwaukee Police Department Sergeant Guadalupe Velasquez, an openly LGBTQ+ officer who has recently staffed the Licenses Committee and is being promoted, and Aaron Rice, the chief development officer at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 2 9:56 am

Tearman Spencer Trial Delayed [Reporting Update]

Former City Attorney Tearman Spencer‘s compounding criminal cases have continued to push off his actual date with a jury.

Before his first felony case, for misconduct in office, could go to trial, Spencer was charged with additional felonies related to his alleged conduct in a “shaky” private real estate transaction. His attorney, William F. Sulton, said the additional charges resulted from Spencer’s refusal of a plea deal.

A trial on the real estate probate case was to start June 1. But that’s not happening.

The trial was delayed because Waukesha County Judge Ralph Ramirez has a scheduling conflict, first divulged May 29. Additionally, Assistant District Attorney Nicolas J. Heitman was seeking a delay because Spencer has been charged with another felony, this time for contacting a probate attorney with an alleged “veiled bribe.”

Spencer, through his attorney, has maintained his innocence. The probate case is being heard in Waukesha County because all Milwaukee County judges have recused themselves as a result of Lena Taylor, now a judge, being a witness in the case. She was involved in the deal as an attorney for a third party and is not accused of a crime.

A status conference is scheduled for July 17.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 1 11:08 am

More: See our coverage from May 28

Amilinda Dinner Explores ‘Queer Portugal and Spain’ [Short Take]

Later this month, Amilinda will host two guest chefs for a multi-course meal celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride through an Iberian lens.

Pastry chef Nick Hoover and Dana Spandet, owner of Flour Girl & Flame, will join Amilinda operator Gregory León at the restaurant, 315 E. Wisconsin Ave., on June 20 to prepare a dinner that guides attendees through queer Portugal and Spain.

Each chef will prepare two courses for the ticketed dinner, which will center on cuisine from Madrid, Lisbon, Andalucía, Porto, Barcelona and Basque Country.

Tickets, priced at $85 per seat with a drink pairing option available for an additional $45, are available to purchase online (change reservation date to June 20 on OpenTable). The dinner will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

– Sophie Bolich, June 1 10:55 am

Bridget Maniaci. Photo courtesy of Maniaci’s campaign.

The 19th Assembly District is located along the lakefront, including Milwaukee’s East Side and stretching south to eventually include most of Bay View. The two Democrats running in the primary are incumbent Ryan Clancy and challenger Bridget Maniaci. Both are going door to door through the district yet seem to have heard very different views of what constituents are concerned about.

“I keep hearing a lot about potholes, why are there so many potholes?” Maniaci says. “There are real concerns about crime and break-ins. I’m hearing about the cost of living, increases in food and gas.”

What issues is Clancy hearing about from residents? “The big one is fascism,” he says, referring to federal immigration raids and arrests. “People are concerned about their neighbors and loved ones.”

Both say they’ve heard complaints about property taxes. But still, these are two very different portraits of what the district cares about.

Maniaci believes the potholes problem and property tax issue are about state aid and “inequitable” funding to Milwaukee “that we need the Legislature to change.” Clancy’s long list of issue priorities doesn’t mention potholes, but he does address property taxes, proposing to cut the average bill by 44% by taxing the rich.

Clancy styles himself as a socialist who is a member of the Democratic caucus, but is not shy about criticizing party colleagues.

Maniaci says Clancy has “a history of protest votes that come at the expense of his district,” and points to his opposition to Act 12, the 2023 law that gave the city of Milwaukee a new sales tax that raises some $200 million a year and increased state aid to the city by some $22 million. It also allowed a higher county sales tax that has raised an additional $167 million per year and increased state aid by $2 million per year.

“Ryan Clancy voted against these resources in a dereliction of leadership and fiscal management,” Maniaci charges.

Clancy says he is proud of voting against this and that Gov. Tony Evers could have cut “a better deal.”

Clancy’s opposition, along with a style of relating to county board members and state legislators that one lawmaker described as “toxic,” led to an unusual situation in 2024: Democrats recruited a little-known attorney, Jarrod Anderson, to run against Clancy in the primary.

There was nothing secretive about this war against Clancy. Three of the top Democrats and office holders in Milwaukee, Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and county board chair Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell, all supported Clancy’s opponent, while agreeing with Johnson’s statement that Anderson’s “collaborative approach” was very different from Clancy’s style, which “has not resonated well with many colleagues and constituents.”

It was an extraordinary rebuke: going back to the creation of the county executive position in 1960, no one could recall these top three officials all combining to oppose a member of their own party. But Johnson and Crowley had worked more than a year to secure the Act 12 legislation, and badly needed the funding to prevent massive cuts in government services. They were not happy with Clancy’s opposition.

When asked in 2024 about complaints by legislators about his abrasive style, Clancy offered this comment to Urban Milwaukee: “I think I’m making all the right kind of enemies. Politicians whose goal is just to maintain the status quo are challenged by someone like me.”

Clancy pushed this theme in his campaign and successfully portrayed his opponents as supporters of Israel who hated him for supporting the Palestinian cause. He was helped along with that story by Democratic attorney and Wisconsin Elections Commission member Ann Jacobs, who had a public feud with Clancy regarding his views on the Mideast. He won the primary with 54% of the vote.

Today, Clancy dismisses “the vague assertion that I’m difficult to work with,” and two legislators, Rep. Angelina Cruz and Angelito Tenorio, contacted Urban Milwaukee to praise Clancy’s “respectful” approach to colleagues.

Clancy dismissed the past criticism from legislators, saying it’s all because of “my stance on Palestine.” He also contends “it’s the same thing” this year, that any Democratic opposition to him is all coming from pro-Israel opponents.

“That’s categorically false as it relates to my candidacy,” Maniaci says.

Her concerns are strictly local. “The state Legislature drives so much of the issues in Milwaukee,” she notes, and a legislator should be focused on “getting more resources and programs for the city.”

Maniaci actually flirted with running in 2024 and says she was encouraged by the late alderman Jonathan Brostoff, who held the Assembly seat before Clancy.

“Jonathan was a good friend of mine,” Maniaci recalls. “He and I and other young electeds came up in the Obama era of hope and change. He approached me about running for the seat.”

Maniaci is a former Madison alderperson (2009-2013) and a founding state secretary of the Wisconsin Young Democrats (2018-2021) who had moved back to Milwaukee and in 2024 was in the early stages of running a new business, GoodLand Home & Goods, a small home and lifestyle shop on Downer. “It was the wrong time for me,” she says.

The Brostoff family has endorsed Maniaci in the campaign.

This time around, the mayor, county executive and board chair haven’t endorsed any candidate. Maniaci has been endorsed by only two Democratic officials, County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman and County Comptroller Liz Sumner.

Democrats clearly decided the public opposition to Clancy didn’t work. But many in Milwaukee’s all-Democratic legislative delegation would welcome his defeat, Maniaci says. “I’ve had conversations with members, many of whom were excited that I wanted to step up and run.”

One Democratic legislator told Urban Milwaukee that “as a member of our caucus, Clancy doesn’t help us and recruits people to join his socialist caucus and works to defeat members of our caucus [in primary elections]. He’s not a team player, he’s always team Clancy, a party of one.”

Except that he now has three other Democrats in the Legislature who have joined his socialist mini-caucus, including Rep. Francesca Hong, a Democratic candidate for governor. Democrats worry that while they may be able to flip both houses of the Legislature in November, they will have a narrow majority and the Clancy caucus could defeat bills that aren’t far enough to the left. “In a 50-50 state like Wisconsin, we need a budget and legislation that a majority will support,” the Democratic legislator noted.

Maniaci says she doesn’t have much disagreement with Clancy on the issues but says “Ryan has a passion and a heart for noble causes that can come at the expense of his constituents.”

She points to Clancy’s trip to Ireland in September 2025 to give a speech to elected officials to push them to denounce “Israel’s genocide.” This was when his Assembly district was “still recovering” from the massive flooding in August and needed him to stay in Milwaukee to work on this, she contends.

Clancy said he was in Milwaukee for the flood and volunteered to help with the Red Cross. “And there’s no reason you can’t take care of both issues at the same time.”

Clancy can offer a perspective at times that seems pretty removed from the everyday concerns of constituents. When asked what the key issues in this campaign are, he offered three: property taxes, pushing back against federal overreach and “carceral harm reduction” (in prisons). When asked why these are the top three issues, Clancy insists “it’s based on my conversations with people at doors.”

Clancy criticized Maniaci’s time as an alderperson, claiming she was a “conservative.” His proof was that she “tried to give $16 million to a developer. She failed and the developer found a way to develop it anyway.”

Maniaci describes herself as a “lifelong progressive Democrat” and notes the $16 million was a tax incremental financing subsidy, often used in Milwaukee, which is repaid through future growth in property taxes, and was supported by a majority of the common council because it included “a community development agreement and union wages for the project.” Then a new mayor was elected and killed the deal.

Clancy also criticizes Maniaci for vagueness: “She won’t talk much about policy.” Actually, she does have a website with a long and detailed rundown of her stand on the issues, though it lacks the combative tone of Clancy’s list of priorities. It includes, of course, a detailed description of his views on Israel and Palestine.

President Trump listens to U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden as he praises Trump administration ag policy at a forum Friday June 5, 2026 in Chippewa Falls (Screenshot via the Official White House Rapid Response account on X)

President Donald Trump held a roundtable discussion Friday at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls to tout his administration’s efforts to help farmers.

Trump’s visit is his first to Wisconsin during this year’s election season. First to take the stage on Friday were U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany, signaling the importance of the 3rd Congressional District and the Wisconsin gubernatorial contest for Republicans this year.

Despite Trump’s waning approval ratings, Van Orden and Tiffany tied themselves to the president, effusively praising him.

Trump appeared on stage for the roundtable with both congressmen as well as U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, farm owner Ken Custer, Jake Leinenkugel, Olympic speed skater Jordan Stolz and Joe Thomas, a Hall of Fame former NFL player who played for UW-Madison and now owns a western Wisconsin beef farm.

Despite its billing as a roundtable discussion of agriculture policy, Trump spoke for more than 40 minutes straight, at times appearing to read from a script and at others riffing on a number of favorite topics including former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, “Dumbocrats in Congress,” the allegedly “rigged” 2020 presidential election, transgender people, his multi-million dollar D.C. renovation projects and the southern border.

“These are some very sick puppies that I’m looking at that are running for office and on the other side,” Trump said. “I call them the Dumocrats, D-U-M, you take out the B, a lot of people don’t know, dumb has a b, a lot of people don’t know. You take out the b and change the E, you put the you and you have a Dumocrat, but they are, their policy is just outstandingly bad, and it’s really bad for the farmer, because we were having record stuff, and then we had to put out a fire, we had to extinguish a nuclear weapon.”

With six months until November’s midterm elections, many of Trump’s signature policies have directly affected the bottom line of Wisconsin farmers. Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran have greatly increased the cost of essentials such as fertilizer and gas while limiting access to foreign markets for corn and soybeans. In western Wisconsin communities close to where he appeared on Friday, Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota’s Twin Cities extended into the Dairy State, directly striking the undocumented migrant labor the region’s farmers rely on.

“If anybody you hear says that Donald Trump doesn’t care about the farmers, you can look him straight in the eye and tell him that’s a pile of manure, because the man is right back there,” Van Orden said. “We’re going to make sure our farmers don’t have to wring their hands at night because they’re worried about paying bills.”

Trump and other speakers promised that the administration and congressional Republicans are working to ease the burden on American farmers, but offered little in the way of concrete proposals for how fertilizer, seed, gas and equipment will get cheaper or how milk, corn and soybeans will get easier to sell.

“Your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago,” Trump said. “Your fertilizer is down, your energy’s down, your oil, your gas is all coming way down. And frankly, I thought it would go much higher than it did.”

In the days leading up to Friday’s event Democratic politicians and Democratic-aligned groups rolled out a series of tours, roundtables and online events to highlight complaints about administration policies on all manner of things.

“Wisconsin farmers do backbreaking work to produce world-class products that feed the world and drive our rural economies. President Trump came into office promising to support our farmers, but instead has taken every opportunity to jack up their costs, limit their customers, and cut into their margins,” U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) said in a statement. “Between Donald Trump’s trade war, unnecessary war in Iran, and attacks on our health care system, Wisconsin farmers are paying more for everything, and Donald Trump has no solutions to the problems he’s caused. As President Trump visits Wisconsin, he owes our farmers more than lip service – they need real relief from the high costs they are paying.”

Trump appears with Van Orden, Tiffany at Chippewa Falls farm roundtable was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

UW-Milwaukee. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a 2% tuition increase for the 2026-27 academic year and elected Regent Kyle Weatherly to serve as its president this week.

Weatherly to serve as UW Regent president

Weatherly, whose day job is serving as the president of Alta Medical, has been on the Board since May 2020. He is a graduate of UW-Madison. He succeeds Regent Amy Bogost, who served two terms as president starting in June 2024.

“I owe so much of what I have achieved to my family and to the Universities of Wisconsin,” Weatherly said. “As Regent President, my priority will be to help ensure that students in every corner of our state have access to the opportunity, excellence, and upward mobility that public higher education can provide.”

The Board president is responsible for deciding Board committee membership, signing diplomas and contracts issued by the Board as well as speaking on behalf of the Board to the governor and lawmakers. Bogost, alongside Regent Tim Nixon, was recently questioned by Wisconsin Senators over the firing of Jay Rothman, who had served as the system president since 2022, in April.

The Board also elected Regent Ashok Rai to serve as vice president, taking over the role from Weatherly. Rai has served as a regent since May 2021.

Tuition increase

The board announced the proposed increase earlier this week and approved it on a 15-1 vote, with Nixon the only opponent.

The increase will support university operations, including utilities and facility maintenance, employee salaries and benefits and student services. It’s the fourth consecutive year of increases since a 10-year tuition freeze that was lifted in 2023.

Bogost called the increase “a balanced and measured approach to addressing the rising costs” in the UW system.

“It helps preserve affordability for students while ensuring the UWs have the resources needed to maintain the high-quality education they provide,” she said in a statement.

The board had characterized the increase as “modest,” less than the current 3.8% inflation rate and less than last year’s tuition increase of 5%.

“Our universities are facing inflationary increases, an obligation to help fund state-mandated pay increases for our hard-working employees, and other cost pressures,” Weatherly said in a statement. “Our universities have done a great job in recent years managing expenses, but the financial environment remains challenging. We have a fiduciary duty as regents to ensure quality and the long-term success of our universities.”

Before the vote, Nixon said he wouldn’t support the increase due to the “lack of open and honest communication” by Rothman’s administration and the burden that it could mean for students and their families. He noted that state senators knew about the increase before regents were informed.

At an April confirmation meeting when lawmakers questioned Bogost and Nixon about Rothman’s firing, Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton) asked the regents about the proposed tuition increase. Bogost, at the time, said the increase was not set in stone.

“That was disturbing to me,” Nixon said Thursday.

Regents in the past were “expected to rubber stamp proposals without necessary information to public discussions,” he said.

“We’ve increased tuition four years in a row. I personally have not been provided with sufficient information to believe it is again necessary. No matter how reasonable the increase, the burden on students, parents and the public is real,” Nixon said. “It should not be undertaken without a clearly demonstrated need.”

Nixon also said the tuition increase could “cost” the system in the next budget cycle “no matter who is in control.”

Republican lawmakers have criticized the increase, arguing that recent tuition increases and increases in state funding should have been enough to avoid an increase this year. The about $250 million that the system received in the 2025-27 state budget fell well below the amount that Rothman at the time said was necessary to avoid tuition increases.

In a statement after the proposal was announced, Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), who sits on the powerful committee responsible for writing the state budget every two years, said that he and his colleagues “certainly will not forget this betrayal when the regents and UW officials come begging to us for more money during next year’s state budget deliberations. This is simply unacceptable.”

The increase will add $210 to the annual tuition cost for in-state students at UW-Madison, $184 at UW-Milwaukee, and between $147 and $175 at other campuses, according to Board meeting documents.

Students from out of state will see an increase of 4.0% — about $1,700 a year.

The regents also approved a 3.5% increase — about $56 annually — in segregated fees, which help cover student services, activities, programs and facilities. The combined increase in tuition, segregated fees and cost of room and board for in-state students would average 2.5%, or $477 annually. UW-Stout has the highest yearly increase, $666, and UW-Oshkosh the lowest, $296.

“It is easy to say we are only taking a few hundred dollars,” Nixon said. “That is, however, a lot of money for many people when they do not have it, especially with skyrocketing costs of almost everything. We should lean a little in the direction of the students. We inherited these problems. We need to look at creative fixes.”

The combined annual tuition and segregated fees for in-state students at each campus are:

• UW-Eau Claire: $10,268
• UW-Green Bay: $9,133
• UW-La Crosse: $10,563
• UW-Madison: $12,416
• UW-Milwaukee: $11,153
• UW-Oshkosh: $9,180
• UW-Parkside: $8,851
• UW-Platteville: $9,007
• UW-River Falls: $9,448
• UW-Stevens Point: $9,692
• UW-Stout: $10,289
• UW-Superior: $9,477
• UW-Whitewater: $8,984

University of Wisconsin regents elect new president and approve tuition increase was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Amtrak Hiawatha Service train. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Amtrak is expected to release a final service-development plan in June for the Hiawatha West passenger rail line.

It would serve as a critical milestone for a proposal Amtrak views as one of its most promising.

The line would operate as an extension of the existing Hiawatha Service between Chicago and Milwaukee, with service extended to Pewaukee, Watertown and Madison. Two of the seven daily Hiawatha round trips would continue on to the westward extension.

It is one of several passenger rail improvements Amtrak and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) are jointly pursuing, but it is viewed as a key link in expanding passenger rail service in Wisconsin.

According to Arun Rao, senior director of state partnerships and development for Amtrak, the extension is “one of, potentially, the highest performing service expansions we see across the country.”

Rao, speaking at an April 14 webinar, said a planning model suggests the extension would add 260,000 annual trips to the 681,600 trips taken on the Hiawatha in the 2025 fiscal year.

Under a best-case scenario, service would start in 2029. After the initial study, the project partners must complete a National Environmental Policy Act analysis, expected to take one year, secure federal funding, and spend two to three years on final design and construction.

“We would like to do that very expeditiously with our partners,” said Rao, who formerly was the passenger rail director for WisDOT.

The Hiawatha West would build on the momentum from the launch of the Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities Borealis line, which has seen more than 400,000 passengers since its 2024 start, and serve as the first step in a larger plan to extend service to Eau Claire and other western Wisconsin communities.

“This is different from previous efforts on the corridor,” said Rao.

Unlike an $810 million plan from 2010 that would have provided service at up to 110 mph, the latest plan calls for service at up to 79 mph along most of the route.

The cost is currently estimated between $215 million and $275 million, with the June study release expected to include a more definitive estimate. WisDOT is already pursuing a federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program grant. On June 1, the city of Pewaukee approved sending a letter of support. On June 8, the Watertown Plan Commission will consider its own letter of support.

Grants are expected to cover 80% of the project’s capital costs.

Much of the infrastructure work will be focused west of Watertown on state-owned railroad tracks leased to Wisconsin and Southern Railroad.

The 35-mile line is currently approved for service speeds of up to 30 mph. “Our intent is to operate at up to 59 mph,” said Patrick Higgins, senior project manager with Amtrak.

Of the 26 bridges on the line, 11 would need to be replaced. Fifty-two of the 61 grade crossings, where roads cross the line, would need safety improvements. Thirty-five of the crossings will need gates, lights and bells installed, and 17 already with similar equipment would be upgraded. The project partners would also install signage at farm crossings and pursue consolidation of some crossings.

The bridge project upgrades would be designed to support 79 mph service in the future. The service-development plan is expected to identify what is necessary to reach that speed, but the initial plan does not call for an investment at that level.

Track east of Watertown, owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, is already capable of running trains at up to 79 mph but is expected to need a handful of infrastructure projects to allow the passenger trains to operate with slower-moving freight trains. The existing Borealis and Empire Builder trains already use much of the corridor.

An additional trainset would also need to be purchased to start up the operation.

The plan, said Rao, calls for starting with two round trips for fiscal and timing reasons.

“The infrastructure requirements and improvements with two round trips are significantly less than when you go up to three round trips, in particular on the Watertown-to-Madison segment of this corridor; the train operations solutions are much lower cost,” he said. “We want to give the choice to start up service sooner with two round trips.”

Preliminary estimates indicate that the line’s operations would require a $2.5 million operating subsidy in addition to the $5.6 million spent annually on the Hiawatha. Amtrak’s initial review finds that the line would create a $46.3 million annual economic impact and 200 permanent jobs.

Station locations

Amtrak, working with WisDOT, the host railroads and host municipalities, has identified its preferred temporary-station locations.

The locations, which would operate for several years, were chosen based on the track configuration, availability of parking, and connectivity.

The Pewaukee station is to be constructed at Duplainville Road and Marjean Lane in the city of Pewaukee.

“We felt that a site in Pewaukee in particular was a very good fit for what we’re trying to do in the short term,” said Higgins. Proposed stations in Brookfield, Elm Grove and Wauwatosa were ruled out.

The Watertown station would be located on the east side of S. 3rd Street between Hyland Street and the railroad tracks. It would be the same location as the temporary station used in 1998 during Interstate 94 reconstruction.

The Madison station would be located on a city-owned site on Wilson Street, with a permanent station likely to be developed at a different location, said Higgins.

A layover location, with electrical power and a staffing trailer, would also be established in Madison for overnight train storage.

Each of the stations would be fully accessible to people with disabilities.

Service schedule

“The Madison schedule is oriented for someone that wants to go into Chicago for the day,” said Higgins.

The first eastbound train would leave between 6 and 7 a.m., reaching Chicago at 9:30 a.m. The evening return train would be the existing 5 p.m. Hiawatha, arriving in Madison at 8:30 p.m. The other round trip would depart Madison at 5:30 p.m., arriving in Chicago at 9 p.m. The morning Chicago departure would be at 8:30 a.m., reaching Madison at 11:45 a.m.

An Amtrak webpage provides more information on the plan.

Hiawatha West service map. Image from Amtrak presentation.

Tires. (CC0 Public Domain)

Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. Each week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

Tires harm humans too: New research suggests that a mixture of chemicals found in car tires are dangerous to human health. Researchers found exposure to tire chemicals induced rapid cell death in human immune cells. Initial research targeted the chemical 6ppd which is used to prevent rubber cracking in tires and known to kill salmon after runoff events but it had less impact than other chemical mixes. The research suggests that airborne car tire particulates may be more harmful to humans than previously understood. (Yale e360)

Bogota’s soon to be metro: Bogota Colombia recently the location of testing for a new automated metro system. The first segment is expected to be completed in 2028 in a city with 35% modal share of public transit. The city is well known for its implementation of bus rapid transit, but many of the main lines have become crowded and the new metro will be part of a greater transit network that includes buses and trains. Paywall halfway down… (Darío Hidalgo | High Speed)

Waymo half empty: New research using data from the California Public Utilities Commission on robotaxis between August 2023 and December 2025 found that Waymo robotaxis were without passengers 46% of the time. Even considering rider growth due to increased awareness and service levels, deadhead (or zombie) miles remained consistently high. The author suggests that the findings show reticence among the public to accept robotaxis. (Awad Abdelhalim | Transport Findings)

Upzoning and housing supply: A growing body of evidence suggests that upzoning can result in more housing supply but depends on the local context of the regulations as to the full impact. This piece by the Urban Institute summarizes the latest research on the subject related to how much housing gets built, how quickly do policies create change, and the impacts on affordability. (Yipeng Su, Yonah Freemark, Will Curran-Groome | The Urban Institute)

Rise of the managed city: In the Greater Shinagawa Area which is billed as Tokyo’s next business center, JR East company has recently completed a massive development. The space has been designed with the future in mind, especially considering Japan’s aging population. But many newly designed spaces blur the boundary of what is public and private and create questions about a culture of consumption versus a messiness that makes cities great. (Elizabeth Beattie | Japan Times)

Quote of the Week

This fundamentally changes the recommendations that can be responsibly given to planners. Distances to city centres and working places are key. And urban densification cannot be viewed in isolation: one must understand how urban density relates to secondary factors such as connectivity, accessibility and the choice of residential location.

-Pottsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PhD Felix Wagner discussing a new study discussing the importance of reducing emissions by reducing car commuting.

This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re joined by Dabney Sanders, Project Manager of the Greensboro Downtown Greenway. We chat about opening the final section of the Greenway after 25 years of work, the amazing art projects on the route, and lessons for other cities wanting to build greenways.

Want more links to read? Visit The Overhead Wire and signup.

222 E. Erie St. Photo taken June 5, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

Char’d, a modern Korean restaurant located in the Historic Third Ward, announced its closure last weekend after just over eight years in business.

In an online post, owners Choonghoon Lee and Lane Kim shared gratitude for customers who “embraced our food, our culture, and our little corner of this city,” while also teasing a new concept proposed for the restaurant space at 222 E. Erie St.

They plan to reopen next month as part of the Korean-style barbecue chain bb.q Chicken. “We’ve been cooking up something new, and we can’t wait to share it,” the owners wrote in the post.

The Korean chicken chain, whose name stands for “Best of the Best Quality,” was founded more than two decades ago in Seoul and now operates more than 3,500 locations across 57 countries, according to its website. The nearest location is in Waukegan, Illinois.

An online menu highlights Korean fried chicken, which is traditionally double-fried in a starch-based batter to achieve a shatteringly crisp exterior. The bb.q Chicken lineup includes whole chickens, wings and boneless wings in flavors such as honey garlic, spicy galbi, soy-based gang-jeong, and cheesling — a powdery, cheese-based dry rub.

Sides and snacks, categorized as K Food, could include kimchi fried rice, fried dumplings, pickled radish, and ddeok-bokki, a popular street food featuring cylindrical, chewy rice cakes tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce.

Despite the public announcement, Char’d operators declined further comment on the potential new business, with registered agent Jongsoo Kim telling Urban Milwaukee on June 1 that an agreement had not yet been finalized.

Though its Third Ward run has come to an end, Char’d remains influential in the city’s dining scene as the neighborhood’s first Korean restaurant. It was also among a wave of businesses helping to bridge the gap between strictly traditional Korean cuisine and more contemporary interpretations.

Tables at Char’d were often crowded with plates of dumplings, scallion pancake and salty edamame pods for guests to share before digging into entrees like bulgogi, stone pot bibimbap and soft tofu stew. The menu also incorporated non-Korean options such as stir-fried udon and Mongolian beef.

Lee, Kim and their family members have long been active in Milwaukee’s dining scene and are also involved in Maru Korean Bistro, Kanpai Izakaya, Sinabro and the now-closed Merge, which specialized in Korean-style chicken wings.

MCTS Administration building, 1942 N. 17th St. Photo taken July 18, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

Muddled governance and a lack of financial oversight likely contributed to the Milwaukee County Transit System‘s unexpected and controversial $10.9 million budget deficit midway through 2025.

An audit of MCTS by the Office of the Comptroller paints a picture of a transit agency operating with little financial oversight and expansive authority to spend money without approval from elected officials. Mysterious financial reporting and a muddy governance structure have also confused supervision of the system, which had a $151.6 million operating budget in 2025.

In June 2025, MCTS released a statement to the press announcing an unexpected $10.9 million budget deficit for the year and plans to cut service by 20,000 hours. Elected officials were blindsided by the announcement. The Office of the Comptroller announced an audit less than two weeks later.

Emails later obtained by Urban Milwaukee showed top system officials planned to keep the deficit concealed from the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors until the fall budget process, but were forced to report it  when it became too big to close without cuts. MCTS officials pushed a statement out to the media before notifying elected officials, worried the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 998 would notice the service cuts when drivers received their fall schedules.

Since then, there has been significant turnover at the top levels of MCTS and the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT). Both have new leaders in MCTS president and CEO Steve Fuentes and MCDOT director Joe Lamers. On May 16, they signed a letter to the comptroller’s office agreeing to respond to the 15 recommendations in the audit, ranging from financial reporting to compliance with public meeting laws.

“The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) are committed to improving clarity and transparency related to MCTS in coordination with the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors,” Lamers told Urban Milwaukee Friday in an email. “We are already looking into the implementation of recommendations outlined in the comptroller’s report and will work with Milwaukee County departments including, but not limited to, the Office of the Comptroller and Corporation Counsel to provide updates to the board and other stakeholders on progress.”

MCDOT and MCTS are connected through the complicated governance structure of county transit. In 1975, Milwaukee County took possession of the failing Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corporation, a private mass transit system. It contracted with Milwaukee Transport Services Inc. (MTS) to run the system. For nearly four decades, MTS legally operated the system on a contractual basis. Then in 2014, it was legally recognized and transitioned to a quasi-governmental instrumentality of MCDOT, no longer operating the system on a contract basis.

The transition was codified with changes to the bylaws for MTS. The comptroller’s audit found these changes and the lack of legal clarity during the transition in 2014 likely contributed to the muddled financial oversight and the eventual 2025 deficit.

MCTS is overseen by the MTS board. The majority of the board is made up of MCDOT employees, including the director. Also sitting on the board is the president and CEO of MCTS and one Milwaukee County supervisor. The system is also overseen by two county board committees. The Committee on Transportation and Transit has authority over route changes and policy. The Committee on Finance oversees spending.

But under the existing oversight structure, the majority of spending that caused the 2025 deficit did not receive the approval of either the MTS board or the county board. When MCTS needed bailing out, however, it required spending approval from the county board.

“While there are bylaws for the MTS board to follow, the roles of the county board, the MTS board and MCTS are unclear,” the comptroller’s office found. “Due to the unique funding structure for MCTS, it is difficult to analyze its finances, and the majority of drivers for the 2025 deficit fall outside of items approved by either the MTS or county board.”

Spending Without Oversight

Under the current oversight structure, MCTS is able to enter into massive contracts without seeking approval from either the MTS board or the board of supervisors.

For example, in 2024, MCTS switched to a single-source contract for paratransit, the system’s mass transit program for people with disabilities. To do this, it ended up contracting with Transdev, a French multinational transportation corporation. In 2025, the value of the contract was $22.4 million. Other county departments must seek county board approval for any contract worth more than $100,000.

“Based on 2025 costs, the projected seven-year cost of [the Transdev] contract is over $156 million without including escalators,” according to the report.

The Transdev contract has also been a fiasco for MCTS. When the company took over, service quality immediately dropped, and riders have complained of persistently poor service ever since, as Urban Milwaukee has reported. The contract was also one of the primary causes of the 2025 deficit, as Transdev ran $3.4 million over budget.

Financial Reporting a Mystery

MCTS is supposed to provide financial reports to the county’s Office of the Comptroller to ensure the system is managing to its annual budget. During the audit, it became unclear how MCTS has been tracking its finances for the past few years.

“According to interviews with MCDOT and MCTS, there is uncertainty on how the previous MCDOT senior financial manager pulled together the monthly reports for each section of MCDOT,” the report said, and “the previous MCDOT senior financial manager had often entered breakeven fiscal status to the comptroller’s office because there was COVID money to cover the projected deficit.”

Is MCTS Following County Laws?

When the comptroller’s office tried to determine who was responsible for making sure MCTS was following county ordinances, it couldn’t get a clear answer.

Some MCTS officials thought it was MCDOT’s duty, while MCDOT officials thought it was MCTS’s role. When they requested a list of ordinances that MCTS consults to determine it is following local laws, MCTS replied by simply stating it is following “applicable ordinances.”

But the county’s ordinances don’t provide much guidance anyway. Most of the county’s ordinances regarding transit and county authority are either vague or simply cover the county board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit.

What Does the MTS Board Do?

The answer, not very much. Since 2014, the board has only met 17 times. The last time it met for more than 20 minutes was 2020. It was never briefed on the 2025 budget deficit.

The board mostly meets to rubber-stamp administrative items, according to the comptroller’s report. Other boards with oversight of county-owned properties or operations meet far more frequently. One example held up by the comptroller, the Mental Health Board, meets frequently and engages in extensive discussion of matters related to the mental health system.

Looking at other counties and transit agencies, the comptroller’s office struggled to find a direct comparison. “We did not find a transit system with the same management model as MCTS,” the office reported. But it did find other county and transit oversight boards engaged in far more robust financial briefing and oversight.

The understanding among top transit officials has been that the MTS board plays a mostly perfunctory role, meeting infrequently. The county board is viewed as the actual board of directors, despite MCTS failing to loop the board in on major contracts and federal investigations.

The MTS board also has a history of taking action without even meeting. For more than a decade, it has at times reached decisions by voting over email.

MCTS Never Reports Federal or State Investigations

MCTS is regularly reviewed and investigated by state and federal agencies, but the findings or recommendations never make it to the county board or the MTS board.

In December 2025, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found MCTS was showing deficiencies in four areas, including “Financial Management and Capacity” for its inability to fund its existing system. This information never made it to elected officials on the county board. It has been more than 10 years since MCTS reported the findings from an FTA review to the county board.

Tramont Manufacturing at 326 E. Keefe Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Backed by a new owner, Tramont Manufacturing is poised for big growth.

The Harambee-based company is adding a second plant, this time on the city’s far Northwest Side. It will occupy a portion of the former Super Steel plant at 7900 W. Tower Ave.

Tramont, 326 E. Keefe Ave., manufactures components for backup power systems, a market that has rapidly grown with the international buildout of large data centers. The company was founded in 1977 and describes itself as “one of the largest and most experienced manufacturers of UL listed diesel fuel day tanks, sub-base tanks, enclosures and other products for industrial engine-generators.”

In May, New York-based Graycliff Partners announced it was acquiring the company. Tramont Executive Chairman Nand Kunar was said to be retaining “meaningful ownership and involvement going forward” as part of the deal.

“In Graycliff, we found a partner that understands our business and shares our vision for the future. Their operational and strategic expertise will help position Tramont for its next phase of growth,” Kunar said in a statement.

Kunar acquired the business out of receivership in 2014.

“Tramont is a high-quality, differentiated manufacturer operating in an attractive and growing end market,” said Andrew Trigg, Graycliff managing partner, in a statement. “The company plays a critical role in the backup power ecosystem, and we believe it is well positioned to benefit from continued investment in data center infrastructure and grid resiliency. We are excited to partner with Nand and the broader Tramont team.”

The Tramont acquisition is expected to be the first of multiple purchases to come. “Graycliff intends to pursue complementary acquisitions and product expansion opportunities to broaden Tramont’s capabilities and end market exposure,” said a May 12 press release.

According to an occupancy permit, Tramont, which reports having about 200 employees, will add 50 jobs at the northwest-side location.

The new location is to be used for steel tank fabrication. Tramont “will use cutting, forming, welding and painting processes to create steel tanks from raw steel sheets and structural steel profiles.”

The new plant, according to the permit request, is to cover 124,157 square feet of the 432,369-square-foot building. Super Steel relocated to Mequon in 2021.

Its current plant occupies 142,616 square feet, according to city property records. In February, the company applied to construct a 3,000-square-foot addition to the plant. In a related move last November, the Common Council approved selling the company the remnant parcel, 401 E. Nash St., left over from a former railroad line that once bisected the Keefe Avenue property, for $500.

The former Super Steel plant has been owned by California-based Pell Street Properties since 2022.

Correspondence between the city and Pell Street says MDS Fulfillment and Converted Products Inc. currently leases portions of the Super Steel plant. According to a site plan, Tramont would occupy the northwestern portion of the plant.

Just seven years ago, Tramont moved its entire operation within the East Capitol District business park, previously known as Riverworks.

The company was long based at 3701 N. Humboldt Blvd., but sold the property in a leaseback transaction in 2009. It purchased its current home, previously home to Compo Steel Products, in 2019 and relocated to the facility. Its Humboldt Boulevard facility was originally a Johnson Controls plant.

In addition to Tramont, Kunar leads Illinois-based UCA Group. The company, according to its website, has plants in Texas and Tennessee and specializes in “precision manufacturing and assembly.”

Dumplings from Lucky Ginger. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

Empanada, pierogi, shumai, momo — any and all combinations of filling and dough are welcome at Milwaukee Dumpling Fest, which returns June 28 for its fourth year.

ElevAsian and Visit Milwaukee sponsor the annual event, which brings together local chefs to riff on the humble — and highly versatile — dumpling for a chance to win the coveted Golden Gyoza trophy.

“Every culture has a form of dumpling,” ElevAsian said in an online statement. “Whether it’s steamed, fried, boiled or baked — if it’s a delicious filling wrapped in dough, we are celebrating it.”

This year’s festival will take place at a new venue, Prairie Springs on Park, 1420 E. Park Pl., with participants including chef Alex Lyskowicz, Amilinda, The Bartolotta Restaurants, Benson’s Restaurant Group, Chao’s Kitchen, Cute Robot Japanese Kitchen, EsterEv, Lucky Ginger, Mezcla Fusion Revolution, Mosaic Catering, Noble Catering, Phat Dumpling, Saffron, Semolina MKE, Serious Sanji and Sinta.

The lineup represents a broad range of global cuisines, spanning Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, Iberian, Indian, Filipino, Thai, Chinese and Mexican fusion.

The final roster is subject to change. Adam Pawlak will return as emcee.

In addition to downing unlimited dumpling samples, guests can expect all-day giveaways and a marketplace featuring drink and dessert vendors such as Qtie Bakes Cakery, Ube MKE, Sweets By P, Bon Bon Shop and Xevory Bites.

Tickets for Milwaukee Dumpling Fest go on sale Saturday, June 6, at noon. Those hoping to attend may want to set a reminder, as the event has sold out quickly in years past.

General admission tickets are $55 and include entry from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Guests can upgrade to a $70 VIP option for early entry at 11:30 — an extra hour of sampling time — plus a commemorative t-shirt.

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will support efforts to provide Asian American and Pacific Islander educational resources to teachers across Wisconsin, according to ElevAsian.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the event website.

A civil lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died of while he was incarcerated at Waupun Correctional Institution has been settled, the family’s lawyer announced Thursday. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

The family of Donald Maier settled a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for $3.75 million, the plaintiffs’ lawyer announced Thursday.

In 2024, Maier died at the troubled Waupun Correctional Institution of malnutrition and dehydration. Former Waupun warden Randall Hepp and six members of his staff were charged in Maier’s death. Maier had been in the restrictive housing unit, also referred to as solitary confinement. His death was ruled a homicide.

The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation.

“It wasn’t just Don Maier’s death that was a horrific tragedy,” Jeff Scott Olson, attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a press release emailed to the Wisconsin Examiner. “It was the last few days of his life, when his grip on reality drained away to the point that he was unable to communicate his needs, and his life became a living hell.”

Review of camera footage and medical records showed that security staff told a nurse of a concern about Maier not eating food for a couple of days, drinking sewage water and playing in the toilet, and she did not follow the procedure of a hunger strike, according to a criminal complaint filed in 2024.

“Over the course of those days, dozens of people whose job it was to care for Don Maier walked by his cell, and not one of them so much as opened the door to his cell to check on him as he was lying unresponsive on the floor,” Olson said.

The nurse, Jessica Hosfelt, was charged with neglecting an incarcerated person and could receive up to three and a half years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000. A telephone scheduling conference in her case is scheduled for July 2.

Charges in the case against two Waupun employees were dropped, and three others pleaded no contest to lesser charges. Hepp, the former warden, also pleaded no contest and was fined $500.

According to the criminal complaint, Maier’s inability to speak coherently to articulate his medical needs was likely a factor in why he didn’t get needed medical and psychological intervention.

He either “refused or was not provided medication for any of his known medical and psychological issues” during his time in solitary confinement — except for one instance when, the complaint states, it’s not known whether he actually took the medication he was given.

Olson blames Act 10 for staffing problems

The Maier family carried out “extensive investigation” through their lawyers, said Olson, who cast blame on Act 10, passed in 2011 under then-Gov. Scott Walker. The law removed most collective bargaining and union rights from most Wisconsin public employees, including correctional employees.

Olson said investigation into what went wrong at the prison showed that  problems of understaffing and low staff morale in the Wisconsin prison system were directly linked to the changes implemented by Act 10.

Olson blamed inaction by the state Legislature in the 15 years since the law took effect for the deterioration of the correctional system’s physical facilities and working conditions. A “very predictable effect” has been that even as more people are hired to work in the prisons, it’s been impossible to attract enough applicants, he said.

“This has hurt both prison inmates and prison employees, and without serious reform at the legislative level to take the pressure off, tragedies like the death of Don Maier will continue to be inevitable,” Olson said.

Across the department’s adult prisons, the DOC’s most recent report shows a vacancy rate of 14.1% for correctional officers and sergeants. That rate is much higher in some facilities — for example, it’s 26.5% at the Waupun prison and 40.8% at Green Bay Correctional Institution — despite pay raises that took effect in October 2023.

Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy told WBAY last month that while the department tries to avoid forced overtime, it hasn’t eliminated the practice entirely.

“We have a lot of protections in place for folks so they’re not ordered [to work overtime] too much, and we try to observe those as much as we can, we try to observe seniority and things like that,” Hoy said. “But yeah, there is forced overtime that will happen.”

Olson calls for reform

Olson called the death “completely preventable” and said it highlights “the urgent need for prison reform, a focus on humane and respectful treatment for all residents of Wisconsin’s correctional facilities, and accountability within the corrections system.”

The release said the family hopes the case will lead to better treatment of people in prison “so that obvious signs of distress are no longer ignored and that ongoing reforms will be put into place by the State of Wisconsin.”

In February, a judge stayed proceedings in the family’s lawsuit at the request of the family and the DOC while they engaged in mediation, court records show. That mediation ultimately led to the settlement announced Thursday.

Under the settlement agreement that Olson furnished, the state will pay $3.75 million, $2 million of that by June 30 and the remaining $1.75 million by July 31. All claims in the case will be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened.

The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Olson’s press release, Maier’s family expressed appreciation to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office for an “extremely thorough and detailed” investigation into the causes of his death. Asked for comment on the release, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt responded over email.

“I think I will decline [a] statement and let their statement about us stand as is, given this was civil litigation and I’m not sure if there are still other pending litigations,” Schmidt said.

Mother’s lawsuit over Waupun prison death reaches $3.75 million settlement was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

New federal dollars could extend the life of one of Wisconsin’s remaining coal power plants.

The Trump administration plans to spend $425 million to support operations at 13 coal plants in 10 states, arguing the move will help meet rising electricity demand and preserve thousands of jobs tied to the ailing coal industry. The White House will do so by invoking the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law that gives the president broad authority to accelerate American industrial output at times of crisis.

Some of that funding could go to Madison-based utility Alliant Energy, which told Wisconsin Watch that it applied for a $19 million grant to extend the life of coal-powered units it owns at the Columbia Energy Center near Portage in central Wisconsin. The utility previously planned to retire the plant’s coal units before the end of the decade.

President Donald Trump announced the action from the Oval Office Thursday, highlighting  that the coal plants set to benefit are all in states he won during the 2024 election.

“Wisconsin put you over the edge,” U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., interjected, standing among the gaggle of Republican lawmakers and Cabinet officials behind the president.

“Our action will allow these facilities to invest in upgrades that will extend their operational lives for decades into the future, reinforce the reliability of our electrical grid … and keep electricity prices low for the American people,” Trump said, adding that the move may also bolster the nation’s artificial intelligence boom.

The administration will also distribute $200 million in Department of Energy grants to reopen a coal plant in Maryland and build the first new coal plants in the U.S. in over a decade: one in Alaska and another in West Virginia.

The Trump administration has already intervened to block the retirement of coal plants in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere. But the White House did not pair those earlier orders with funding to support ongoing operations, so ratepayers across most of the Midwest — including in Wisconsin — will pick up the bill for those extensions.

Wisconsin’s Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and other Midwestern ratepayer advocacy groups have since filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging federal orders blocking the closure of the Michigan and Indiana plants. The costs of extending aging coal plants’ operations “are adding to an affordability challenge customers are already experiencing in Wisconsin and nearby states,” said CUB Wisconsin Executive Director Tom Content.

Alliant has already pushed back the retirement dates for its coal-powered generators at the Columbia Energy Center and Edgewater Energy Center in Sheboygan. The company initially pledged to shut down the last coal generator at the Columbia plant by 2024; Alliant did not clarify the new expected life span of the plant.

The Edgewater plant is slated to transition to natural gas generation by 2029.

Coal generation accounts for a declining share of Wisconsin’s and the Midwest’s overall energy mix. Natural gas surpassed coal as the state’s primary fuel for generating electricity in 2022.

Wisconsin ratepayers owe at least $1 billion to pay off debts tied to retired coal plants, including We Energies’ now-shuttered Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Kenosha County.

Extending operations at Alliant’s remaining coal plants could reduce the amount ratepayers will still owe when those facilities eventually close.

Wisconsin clean energy advocates reacted with alarm to the White House’s doubling down on coal generation.

“Burning coal in Wisconsin releases a long list of toxic chemicals and heavy metals, both into the air and water,” said Clean Wisconsin spokesperson Amy Barrilleaux. “No one in Wisconsin is asking for more mercury, arsenic, lead or soot. But we will be getting all of it, especially as the Trump administration dismantles pollution safeguards at coal plants, insisting more power is needed for the ‘AI data center revolution.’”

“It’s also important to note that burning coal is one of the most expensive ways to produce energy in Wisconsin — far more expensive than wind and solar farms, which are the cheapest,” she added. “So Wisconsinites will have higher energy costs and will be paying for the health costs, the longer we burn coal in this state.”

Alliant has scaled up investments in renewable energy generation in recent years, buoyed in part by clean energy tax credits extended by the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. The U.S. Department of Energy also agreed to back $3 billion in loans supporting Alliant’s wind generation and battery storage buildouts in the final days of the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has since largely reversed Biden-era tax incentives for renewable energy development. In its 2025 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Alliant noted that the termination of clean energy tax credits could “adversely impact” the company’s finances.

The company did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the status of Department of Energy financing for its wind and battery storage projects.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum argued Thursday that clean energy tax incentives created a false impression of the viability of renewable energy sources. Wind energy developers, he said, “weren’t trying to generate electricity. They’re just trying to generate tax credits.”

“Energy shouldn’t need subsidy,” Trump responded.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on June 5, 2026 to include information from Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Barnes, an avid runner and biker, told the Examiner in an interview that politics is an “endurance sport” and that “sometimes you face setbacks.” He speaks to a bike shop owner in Madison. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

At a forum hosted by the Madison West High School civics club, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes told students that he would be the strongest Democratic candidate for governor because of his previous statewide experience.

“This will be an incredibly competitive race. It already is. The general election is going to show up fast and furious,” Barnes said in April. “I am the only person who has ever competed at that level.”

Barnes was referring to his 2022 U.S. Senate race, which he lost to Sen. Ron Johnson by about one percentage point. Barnes is now seeking Wisconsin’s top executive office and arguing that  nearly winning that Senate seat combined with his statewide experience has uniquely prepared him to take on  U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, Republican candidate for governor endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Barnes entered the race in December and he’ll need to get through a crowded Democratic primary to make it onto the November ballot. It’s unlikely the rest of the Democratic candidates will drop out to clear the field for him as they did in the 2022 Senate race. Other Democratic candidates on the ballot include state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes, former head of Gov. Tony Evers’ Department of Administration Joel Brennan and State Sen. Kelda Roys.

Putting in the work

Barnes, 39, grew up in Milwaukee the child of a public school teacher and an auto worker who was a member of United Auto Workers (UAW) union and worked third shift for decades. He first ran for office at 25, winning a seat in the state Assembly. He served two terms in the Legislature before launching a failed campaign for the state Senate.

“I felt that there weren’t enough people who understood what it meant to be born in our state’s poorest and nation’s most incarcerated ZIP code,” Barnes said of his motivation for seeking political office. He came back in 2018 to run for lieutenant governor, winning a spot on the ticket with Evers in 2018. He served as the state’s first Black lieutenant governor before he challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Barnes, an avid runner and biker, told the Examiner in an interview that politics is an “endurance sport” and that “sometimes you face setbacks” — adding that he faced  setbacks every day in the Assembly and views his loss to Johnson as another setback. There is too much on the line, however, to give up and stop working toward his goals, he said.

“In order for us to truly make Wisconsin the place that it can and should be  — not just to catch up to our Midwest neighbors, but to lead this entire country in terms of progress — I have put in that work. I have put in that fight, and there’s nobody who’s put in their work in the advocacy space,” more than he has, Barnes said. “I see becoming governor as the best opportunity to continue that focus, to continue that work.”

Barnes has made it his campaign motto that he will do things the “Wisconsin Way” instead of the “Washington Way.” He criticizes Trump and his ally Tiffany as being “out of control.”

The Barnes campaign is focused on the rising cost of living for Wisconsin families.

“There is an affordability crisis that affects almost every household in this state, whether it’s healthcare, whether it’s groceries, whether it’s energy bills, or whether it’s housing, and it feels like there’s no sign of things letting up,” Barnes said. He added that voters are looking for leaders who understand those pressures firsthand.

Barnes spoke with the Examiner about two weeks after the failure of a bill negotiated by Wisconsin’s soon-to-retire Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders who are also about to leave office that would have spent down the state’s $2.5 billion projected budget surplus to provide tax cuts to Wisconsinites and additional special education funding to schools. He expressed opposition to the deal, which most legislative Democrats along with a handful of Republicans rejected. He said policymakers need to “be more deliberate about negotiating big tasks.”

An organizer’s mindset

Over the last three years, Barnes has led Power to the Polls Wisconsin, a grassroots voting rights organization dedicated to mobilizing voters, combating voter suppression and advocating for underserved communities of color and working-class families. He also founded Forward Together Wisconsin, a clean energy nonprofit. He brings an organizing mindset to the legislative process.

“People shouldn’t feel like they’re rushed to get legislation passed… I think that there should be more public hearings,” he said, adding, “There’s not a whole lot of public input.”

Barnes said the projected surplus “didn’t just come out of nowhere; it’s because Republicans have withheld investments in our future.” He, like the Democrats who are hoping to win control of at least one chamber of the Legislature in the fall, would like the opportunity to reverse years of Republican budget policy without facing a looming budget deficit, which analysts predicted would result from the tax-cut and school funding deal.

“The answer to most of our problems is simple,” Barnes said.  “It’s just a tax on billionaires, tax the wealthiest, tax large corporations that have every tax advantage at their disposal.”

“Ultimately, if a state like Wisconsin is a place that fully funds our schools, puts more support into higher education, tech schools, and university system, invests in public transportation,” he added,  “that’s how you make the state a much more attractive place.”

Closing tax loopholes

Barnes said he would focus on closing tax loopholes that allow large corporations and wealthy individuals to reduce their tax burden. One example is Wisconsin’s manufacturing and agriculture tax credit, which provides a credit of 7.5% on income from eligible qualified production activities — reducing the effective corporate tax rate on qualifying income from 7.9% to about 0.4%.

Barnes wants to change it so “it benefits our family farmers, not these factory farms, corporate farms” and the “primary benefit also goes to Wisconsin very small businesses versus out-of-state corporations.”

He said he would not seek to raise income taxes on families making $400,000 or less, but those making more should pay more. He didn’t offer specifics, but said that the income tax brackets could change, mentioning Minnesota as an example. Wisconsin’s neighbor’s top income tax rate is currently 9.85%, while Wisconsin’s is 7.65%.

“I’m not saying we’re taxing people into poverty, right? That’s not the case. We’re not taxing people out of the state,” Barnes said. “We’re just looking for a little bit of parity.”

Barnes said that Wisconsin “shouldn’t be left behind anymore.”

Barnes has said he supports increasing state funding so it covers two-thirds of public school costs and has called for repealing Act 10 to restore collective bargaining rights for public employees, including teachers. He also backs increased investment in the University of Wisconsin system and technical colleges, though he has not outlined a specific number.

Barnes, if elected, will need to win support in the Legislature to advance his agenda. He said he is optimistic about Democrats’ chances of winning the majority, but he would be open to negotiating with anyone should he win office.

“I’m willing to play ball,” Barnes said, though that negotiation commitment would not extend to one of his top promises — Medicaid expansion. He has promised to veto any budget that doesn’t include it, even as candidates have argued over whether an expansion would be the best way to address costs in light of federal changes made by the Trump administration.

Barnes said an ultimatum would not inhibit his ability to negotiate with lawmakers because the issue shouldn’t be partisan.

“It is a politicized issue,” Barnes said, noting that Republican-led states including Louisiana have taken the expansion.

Republican lawmakers who hold the majority in the Legislature, have refused to expand Medicaid since 2010. Barnes said during the student forum that he finds it “very hard” to find common ground with Republicans because the party has become “essentially the Republican party of one person” and he doesn’t want to find himself “in a place where I am validating bad behavior.”

Making a comeback

Barnes argues that his gubernatorial candidacy has the support he needs to win, although there was some public skepticism even before he entered the race. He was the subject of a New York Times article comparing his loss to Johnson in 2022 to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in 2024. The Milwaukee Courier, a prominent Black-owned newspaper, urged him in an opinion piece not to enter the race.

Barnes said of the criticism that people have “gotta have something to write about.” Asked whether he needed to build back trust with Wisconsin Democrats ahead of running statewide again, he said he didn’t think it was about that.

“People know how much money was spent against me. People know that I was the most targeted Democrat in the entire country, the target of the largest anti-Democratic candidate super PAC in the country. People know what I was up against and the relationships I built over the course of that race. People know that I was counted out from the very beginning,” Barnes said. “People know how Republican billionaires are willing to spend big, and this is a moment for us to fight back against those corporate interests that have held Wisconsin back, and they’re ready to see this through.”

Barnes’ campaign finance report from December included a mix of donations from Wisconsin-based donors, including those who live in Milwaukee and Madison as well other towns and cities across the state, and many from other states including California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia as well as Washington D.C. Barnes also received a donation from the Long Run PAC, a group he launched to support progressive candidates. He has a goal to raise $50 million over the course of the campaign.

In the first half of the year, Barnes has also received a mix of endorsements from Wisconsin Democrats, including State Reps. Angelina Cruz and Amaad Rivera-Wagner and Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich and from national political players including California Sen. Adam Schiff, and most recently, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, a leading environmental advocacy organization.

Climate change and utility costs

“No one in Wisconsin has done or will do more to tackle the climate crisis while lowering costs for working families than Mandela Barnes,” Jed Ober, managing director of Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, said in a statement.

Barnes has made reducing utility rates one of the key parts of his affordability platform. He says that he’ll seek to freeze rates as governor by appointing commissioners to the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities and approves rates, who will do so. Utility experts have criticized the plan and said its unclear whether he could carry it out, though Barnes said that criticisms of that plan are being levied by “the industry itself.”

Barnes has said he would appoint commissioners who have a “demonstrated commitment” through a “thorough interview process” and they will need to have worked alongside the industry and have a “real deep understanding of how we can actually benefit the public to make sure that the PSC is doing its job to represent the public interest.” He added that he would like to increase staffing at the PSC as well.

Barnes said environmental policy will be a priority. He chaired a climate change task force as lieutenant governor that he noted produced a slate of policy solutions that were later introduced by Democratic lawmakers as a package of 18 bills.

The Senate race as well as his time serving as the state’s second-in-command helped him enter the race with the most name recognition, according to polling by Marquette Law School. On the other hand, Charles Franklin, the Marquette Law School poll director, looked at the track record of five statewide candidates, Republican and Democrat, who lost an election and ran again for statewide office. He found that name identification and previous campaign experience, including established donors, did not significantly improve the percentage of votes they got in the general election in their second statewide campaign. The last successful “second act” was the 1970s, he said.

Barnes is working to convince enough voters that he can overcome the historical pattern and is the best candidate to compete in November. He is reaching people in a variety of ways, including traveling the state to attend forums and county Democratic Party meetings, where he said he’s been glad to reconnect with people across the state whom he hasn’t seen in a while.

Through his @MandelaHQ account on X, Barnes has adopted a rapid-response social media style reminiscent of national campaign-style accounts like @KamalaHQ during the 2024 cycle. The account highlights poll results, including a recent one that showed Barnes winning in a matchup against Tiffany, targets Tiffany with humor and memes — one post featuring Tiffany at a farm joked that “cows can smell DC stink” — while also promoting policy proposals through short videos. In one video on banning AI-driven dynamic pricing and hidden fees, a group of children raise the price of lemonade after Barnes passes by on a run.

Barnes told students that one of the biggest misconceptions about him is that he doesn’t “get to be as funny” as he’d like.

“It’s tough because in politics, if you crack a joke or people aren’t able to translate sarcasm, like the story’s getting written the wrong way,” Barnes said. “I can’t be as funny as I want to be… sometimes my humor is a little dry. It’s not for everybody.”

Editor’s note: The Examiner is running periodic profiles of the contenders in the Aug. 11, 2026 gubernatorial primary as well as the candidates in the general election Nov. 3. 

Barnes leans on statewide experience to make case for Democratic nomination was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Drag performer, social columnist and philanthropist Karen Valentine poses for a photograph. Photo courtesy of Michail Takach

A documentary debuting this Pride month honors eight elders in the Milwaukee LGBTQ+ community, including one of the oldest living out gay men in the city and legends of the local drag scene.

Michail Takach is president of the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project. He told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that one goal of the project is connecting people across generations to decades of local queer trailblazers. It’s also a response to prior tellings of history focusing on shame and pain in the LGBTQ community.

“It created a culture where a lot of people just simply did not talk about their past. The past was a source of embarrassment and for many of our elders, it was also a source of trauma,” Takach said. “There wasn’t the intergenerational transfer of knowledge of history that happens in almost every other community. A lot of LGBTQ people grow up completely disconnected from what came before.”

Karen Valentine is one of the subjects featured in the documentary. She is a social columnist, philanthropist and performer in drag shows in the Milwaukee area for more than 40 years.

She told “Wisconsin Today” she and other drag performers in the 1980s were focused on raising money for HIV and AIDS causes, as well as to support local sports teams and other organizations.

“It really wasn’t a career or a way to really make a living. We all had jobs during the day. We were just flattered that people were happy to see us on the stage,” Valentine said. “I never, for once, took for granted the honor that I was awarded by being able to take to the stage and be applauded to do my little fantasy of what I did when I was a child in my playroom.”

Valentine said she sees her drag persona as a character, not unlike that of Carol Burnett or Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman.

Karen Valentine poses for a photograph. Photo courtesy of Karen Valentine

“They’re somebody we create in a dressing room and we bring to the stage,” Valentine said. “For that hour-or-two-hour show, we give you all a little vacation from reality. We bring you into our little fantasy world, our dreamland, and we could escape into the wonderful world of humor and music, where things can’t hurt us … it’s escapism for me.”

Takach added that drag performing has a history of not just entertainment, but as a form of defiance dating back to the earlier days of America’s underground gay bars.

“They were a place where there weren’t a lot of people who wanted to be seen,” Takach said. “Imagine trying to be a fundraiser in a space where most of your beneficiaries can’t be publicly known.”

Valentine said that drag has evolved to become something of a cottage industry over the four decades that she’s been performing.

“I’m at the twilight of my life and career and I do every once in a while get somebody saying, ‘When are you hanging up the lashes and the Ferragamos?’ And I say, ‘Honestly I don’t know. I guess when they stop asking,’” Valentine said. “I’m very flattered that I’m still included in the run.”

Takach said this project also hopes to address a “generational ageism” in the LGBTQ community, and argued performers like Valentine would have been pushed to the side in the past because of age.

“Ageism is a powerful dividing line, because it tells our elders that there’s no more space for them, that they no longer have purpose or value, or they’re no longer welcome,” he said.

“One of the things we’ve been trying to do with the Beacons project is assert that not only did these elders blaze the trail and carve out these spaces … these are (places) that they’re always going to be welcome, because they built them,” Takach added.

“Beacons of Brew City” premieres at the Oriental Theater on June 16.

New film connects across generations to Milwaukee LGBTQ+ trailblazers was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Jones Island Reclamation Facility. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) is moving toward an audit of the private operator of its wastewater plants after allegations of systemic mismanagement were brought to light by the community organization Common Ground.

Common Ground has repeatedly called for an independent audit since launching a campaign calling for transparency into the operations and oversight of the Jones Island and South Shore facilities. The group is working with more than two dozen whistleblowers.

MMSD and its executive director Kevin Shafer initially responded by hiring Lake Effect HR & Law in early May to investigate the claims from Common Ground and the whistleblowers who have provided information. Common Ground publicly rebuffed the investigation, claiming the group had no expertise in wastewater management and was seeking to ascertain the identities of anonymous whistleblowers.

Now the MMSD Commission, an oversight body largely appointed by the mayor, will vote Monday, June 8, on a proposed audit. Common Ground announced Thursday it is prepared to support the audit, provided it is a good-faith effort and not a political ploy.

MMSD commission chair Corey Zetts, who initially released a statement in late April attacking the Common Ground effort, has since embraced the idea of doing an audit. Now, the commission will consider a resolution by Zetts to initiate an “independent third-party audit of the concerns that have been raised about wastewater operations and maintenance.”

A majority of the MMSD commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. All are paid a $10,000 annual stipend.

The audit is responding to Common Ground’s claims, based on information from whistleblowers, that Veolia Water Milwaukee, the French corporation operating the wastewater treatment plants, is intentionally mismanaging the system to save money, failing to maintain machinery and causing plants to run below capacity during heavy rainfall, thereby increasing the risk of sewer overflows and basement backups.

Veolia has operated the plants since 2008. The company is currently bidding on what would be its third 10-year contract, which would begin in 2028 and is valued at about $700 million. The contract is scheduled to be awarded in September. Veolia is up against Jacobs Solutions, a Dallas-based engineering services company.

Common Ground has now released five conditions the organization believes need to be satisfied for an audit to be viewed as truly independent. If they are met, the organization is prepared to support the audit. In the meantime, it said it will continue to explore an independent audit overseen by the state.

“These conditions will prove whether the MMSD Commission is acting in good faith, or just checking a box politically,” said Bob Connolly, founder of Common Ground. “This audit must not be rushed. We need an independent, comprehensive audit of how Veolia has been managing our tax dollars and treatment plants—or we will not support it.”

The organization is saying the audit must be 1) independent of MMSD management and the executive director’s influence; 2) the findings must be released publicly before a new contract is signed; 3) workers must be able to confidentially and anonymously share information with auditors; 4) the audit must cover all aspects of the operation and maintenance of the wastewater treatment system and MMSD’s oversight of Veolia; and 5) the auditor must have the technical expertise to reliably conduct the review.

Asked whether she thought the commission could ensure independence and a public report before a new contract is awarded, Zetts told Urban Milwaukee, “The commission is committed to ensuring an independent third-party audit is conducted, independent from MMSD staff, and publicly sharing the audit’s results with the community.”

Zetts agreed last month to the idea of an audit after a majority of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors announced their support for this, suggesting the state’s Legislative Audit Bureau could conduct the audit.

Zetts and Shafer had both initially resisted Common Ground’s call for an audit, questioning the reliability of the first whistleblower to step forward, Steve Jacquart. Since then, another whistleblower, Greg Gryskiewicz, has come forward with a detailed report on alleged mismanagement at the facilities.

Reached for comment Thursday, Veolia Senior Vice President of External Communications Adam Lisberg offered this statement to Urban Milwaukee: “As the operator of one of the nation’s largest and most complex wastewater systems, Veolia is subject to continuous, rigorous oversight—from state regulators and federal authorities to ongoing reporting and engagement with Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) staff and its governing Commission. If MMSD wishes to pursue an audit with clear parameters and objectives, we will cooperate as a good partner and professional operator.”

An aerial photo of Tyco’s Fire Training Center in Marinette. Photo courtesy of Johnson Controls International

Gov. Tony Evers announced the state’s first settlement with a Marinette manufacturer of firefighting foam over alleged violations of the state’s spills law for failing to report PFAS contamination.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said it’s one of the most significant environmental resolutions in the state’s history, as well as the largest settlement on a case handled exclusively by the state.

In March 2022, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sued Johnson Controls International, or JCI, and its subsidiary Tyco Fire Products in Marinette County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit alleges Tyco failed to immediately notify the state of PFAS contamination around its fire training facility in the city of Marinette when it was first discovered through sampling in 2013. The company didn’t alert the state about release of the chemicals until four years later.

Under the settlement, Tyco must invest $10 million into the state’s PFAS trust fund to help clean up the chemicals. The company must also provide clean water to residents facing PFAS pollution of private wells, including newer deep wells, for the next 20 years.

“While today is an important victory, we know our work cannot stop,” Evers said in a statement. “For the folks in Marinette, this day has been a long time coming, but we know that for so many families and communities across our state, dealing with PFAS pollution is still a daily reality.”

In April, the governor signed a pair of bills to release around $133 million from the PFAS trust fund to address contamination. Evers noted it’s not the state’s only case against Tyco.

The state has also sued JCI/Tyco and other companies to recover costs from cleaning up PFAS contamination. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court in South Carolina as part of multidistrict litigation involving thousands of cases over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam.

A Tyco spokesperson said it’s pleased to have reached an agreement with the state, saying that doing what is best for its neighbors and environment is a top priority.

“Since 2017, we have invested significantly in long-term solutions including providing deep wells for clean, sustainable drinking water for our neighbors,” a Tyco spokeperson said in a statement. “In addition, our state-of-the-art groundwater extraction and treatment system has already treated hundreds of millions of gallons of water and will continue to return clean, safe water to the environment.”

Under the settlement being filed Thursday, Tyco must establish cleanup goals and continue work to restore the environment in soil, groundwater and surface water. It must also continue monitoring and reporting on groundwater and surface water quality in the area.

In an interview with WPR, Kaul said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will decide how to use the funds with approval from a legislative committee. He said it’s critical those funds should go to clean up contamination in the Marinette area.

“It’s my hope that there will be input from from community members as DNR assesses how it’s moving forward,” Kaul said. “I also hope the funds are allocated quickly because you know this community has waited a long time.”

Residents in Marinette and the town of Peshtigo have struggled for years with PFAS contamination of private wells stemming from Tyco’s facility. Sampling shows 236 of 776 wells tested by Tyco or the DNR have PFAS levels beyond state health advisory levels for groundwater.

Doug Oitzinger, a Marinette resident with the nonprofit group Save Our Water, called the settlement “underwhelming.”

“Maybe our expectations were higher than they should have been, but a $10 million settlement doesn’t seem like a lot of money for all the contamination,” Oitzinger said.

He noted that the settlement doesn’t require any health studies in the area, which Kaul said was not one of the remedies available with the alleged violations.

Under the deal, the DNR will not require Tyco to further investigate or clean up PFAS in an expanded site investigation area around the company’s facility. The company and regulators have long disputed whether Tyco is responsible for contamination there.

Kaul said their goal was to get as widespread and substantial relief as possible. The settlement still has to be approved by a Brown County judge.

From the 1960s until 2017, Tyco and its predecessor Ansul Company had used a type of foam that contained PFAS at its 380-acre fire technology center in Marinette.

Sampling showed levels of PFOA, one of the most widely studied PFAS chemicals, as high as 254,000 parts per trillion in groundwater at the site. That’s tens of thousands of times higher than federal drinking water limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration. President Donald Trump’s EPA is defending those standards for PFOA and PFOS.

Tyco has said it’s already spent more than $100 million to clean up the chemicals and provide residents with a long-term source of safe drinking water.

As of October, Tyco said they either installed or contracted to install deep wells to secure safe water for more than 85 percent of 169 residents living nearby its facility who had contaminated wells.

As of March, more than 450 million gallons have been treated by Tyco’s groundwater extraction system since 2022. The system has significantly reduced PFAS levels discharged to a nearby ditch or creek, but it has not eliminated the chemicals in groundwater.

In 2024, Tyco settled a lawsuit filed by public water systems for $750 million. In 2021, the company also reached a $17.5 million settlement with Peshtigo residents, covering roughly 270 homes in the area facing contamination.

Wisconsin reaches $10M settlement with Tyco, Johnson Controls over PFAS contamination was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Onesto. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

On the heels of the major Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, Halal Restaurant Week returns to Milwaukee June 5-14, with 11 participating restaurants offering specials ranging from brunch and brisket to lobster and lamb chops.

Chefs across the area will present their takes on halal dishes, prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary guidelines, throughout the 10-day event.

Best-known restrictions include the prohibition of pork and alcohol; however, halal also informs how permissible meats are slaughtered and processed.

Though it may sound daunting, preparing halal food in a restaurant setting can be as simple as swapping vendors or special-ordering proteins, while being mindful of cross-contamination and missteps, such as using wine to deglaze a pan.

Featured restaurants in 2026 include Allende Cocina Mexicana, Amilinda, Axolotl Cafe, Momo Mee, Mr. B’s – A Bartolotta Steakhouse – Brookfield, Mr. B’s – A Bartolotta Steakhouse – Mequon, Odd Duck, Onesto, Smoke Shack, Sweet Basil and The Bridgewater Modern Grill.

Hayat Pharmacy and True Dental sponsor the event, and diners from all backgrounds are welcome to participate.

Some participants, like Odd Duck, request that guests specify a halal preference in their reservation notes so servers can highlight standout options, though halal dishes will also be marked on the menu.

Reservations are strongly encouraged where accepted.

Eat Halal Milwaukee, the event organizer, is partnering with MUHSEN, a nonprofit organization serving families and individuals with intellectual, mental and physical disabilities, to offer caregiving services during the first night of Halal Restaurant Week.

On June 5, caregivers can drop off their loved ones with trained volunteers from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 815 W. Layton Ave. for a “Respite Night,” allowing them to venture out to a local restaurant for an evening of halal dining.

Registration is required and can be completed online.

Eat Halal Milwaukee launched the annual event in 2022, driven by the goal to diversify halal dining options throughout the city. Organizers reached out to local restaurants and asked them to consider switching to halal vendors — even for just a short time.

Most requests were met with enthusiasm, and many restaurants have made the switch permanent. A guide to local eateries with year-round halal offerings is available to view online.

Houses on S. Howell Ave. in Bay View. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson is launching a new nonprofit initiative intended to create a citywide network of “trusted messengers” who will distribute information about city government and encourage civic participation among Milwaukee residents.

The effort, called Milwaukee Civic Connection (MCC), is being organized as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit and will rely on community members sharing information with friends, family members and neighbors through what organizers describe as a “relational organizing” model. The initiative is expected to begin its first major outreach campaign during the city’s 2026 budget process.

“Residents are increasingly disconnected from the information, services and institutions meant to support them,” according to a fact sheet describing the initiative. The organization is intended to create “a year-round network of community members trained to connect residents to essential services, deliver trusted information and ensure that City Hall hears directly from the neighborhoods it serves.”

Johnson said the concept grew from frustration that many residents most affected by city decisions often do not participate in traditional public engagement efforts.

“You host a town hall meeting or community meeting about an issue and the people that you need to reach, who would benefit from the information the most, are sometimes not in the room,” Johnson told Urban Milwaukee. “This provides us an opportunity to further reach those folks.”

The initiative will partner with the national nonprofit Empower Project, which provides technology and training for relational organizing campaigns. Participants use a smartphone app to identify people within their existing social networks, conduct conversations and share information. According to MCC materials, the Empower Project trained more than 47,000 participants in 2024 and facilitated outreach to more than 3 million people across 10 states.

Johnson said the network could be used to distribute information about city services, public health initiatives, emergency communications and neighborhood programs. The first campaign is expected to focus on the city’s budget process.

“We’re going to be engaging with folks around the city budget,” Johnson said. “Expanding out from that, we could use it for information around public health information, neighborhood services, emergency communications. The list goes on and on and on around those civic things that we are able to communicate with folks on.”

Under the model, the nonprofit would provide information to volunteer messengers, who would then share it with people in their personal networks. Johnson offered pothole reporting as an example, saying messengers could encourage residents to use city reporting tools rather than simply complain about road conditions.

The organization is being led by a board that includes former Milwaukee Bucks President Peter Feigin, entrepreneur Kyle Weatherly, lobbyist Brian Taffora and Godfrey & Kahn attorney Rebecca Lopez. Feigin is serving as board president.

Johnson emphasized that MCC will not receive city funding and said it is intended to operate as a civic rather than political organization.

“It’s a nonprofit organization,” Johnson said. “There’s clear parameters. It’s not going to be used for other means. Again, this is a civic tool. It’s not a political tool.”

At least initially, Johnson said, it will only focus on communication around city government initiatives.

Questions remain about how large the operation will become and who will finance it. Johnson said fundraising is ongoing and did not provide a budget or identify donors. A spokesperson later said fundraising efforts continue. The spokesperson also said the organization is currently being staffed by volunteers.

According to MCC materials, the nonprofit will be funded through philanthropic gifts and grants from individuals, foundations and civic organizations. The organization says it will operate independently of city government and will not receive direct city funding.

Johnson said he believes the approach can help strengthen trust between residents and government by relying on information shared through existing personal relationships.

“I think people trust their relatives, they trust their friends, they trust those folks first and foremost,” the mayor said. “And so we’re building this as a tool to build more civic trust in our community.”

The organization’s website is live at MilwaukeeCivicConnection.com, and those interested in becoming a messenger can sign up for virtual training.

Austin Commons. Rendering by Eppstien Uhen Architects.

A proposal to develop 100 affordable apartments in Bay View faces an uncertain future and a critical timeline over the next two months.

Austin Commons would be a five-story, 100-unit development. Located just south of E. Lincoln Avenue on S. Austin Street, the complex would have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units and be reserved for households making between 30% and 80% of the area median income.

It is being developed by a partnership of Northernstar Companies, a Milwaukee firm led by Brandon Methu, and Madison-based The Commonwealth Companies.

The $33.4 million project is to be primarily funded by a previously approved award of low-income housing tax credits, which, according to Northernstar, have a July 31 deadline to start construction.

But a proposed $2.1 million city subsidy has been delayed by area Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, potentially imperiling the development.

Dimitrijevic, in an interview with Urban Milwaukee, said she is being “open-minded” and “trying to get to yes,” but she still does not support the project at this time.

“I cannot ignore what really has been some pretty strong, consistent neighborhood questions and concerns,” said the alderwoman.

Dimitrijevic has held two community meetings, with a third planned; the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee (RACM) has held a hearing on the financing plan, and the Board of Zoning Appeals has held a hearing on a two-foot setback variance.

She said she was “surprised” by the July 31 deadline and wished there had been more community input earlier in the process. Dimitrijevic noted she has been an advocate for affordable housing, including supporting the nearly complete, 576-unit The Corliss development. “We’re literally home to the largest affordable development in the state of Wisconsin, which I’m very proud of,” she said.

But the alderwoman adds that a balance needs to be reached to address neighbors’ concerns about Austin Commons.  According to testimony at meetings and written comments submitted to the city, neighbors are primarily concerned with alleged parking and traffic issues.

The issue is slated to come to a head, although it’s not clear exactly when. The proposal is expected to be reviewed by the Common Council before the July 31 deadline. But its passage is far from certain. The funding resolution was introduced to the full council this week without Dimitrijevic’s name as the sponsor.

The development also faces a $750,000 financing gap, according to Dimitrijevic, which will need to be overcome by other sources, including a second possible city subsidy.

Parking at issue

Austin Commons would include 100 interior parking spaces, but several nearby neighbors don’t believe it’s enough.

The development team plans to lease spaces for $100 per month and lower prices if the spaces aren’t used.

“We believe we have more than enough adequate parking,” said Methu on April 16 to the RACM board.

But at least one neighboring business owner isn’t sold.

“Odds are these low-income residents will not buy a parking spot,” said Anders Meyer, co-owner of J.B. Meyer & Sons, 2339 S. Austin St., to the RACM board on April 16. “Parking on the street is always an issue.”

After a community meeting, Dimitrijevic worked with the Department of Public Works to create an additional 100 parking spaces by changing the policy on nearby streets from alternate-side parking to all-day parking on both sides of the street.

Austin Street would also be repaved as part of the development. “It’s one of the worst in my district,” said Dimitrijevic of the street’s condition.

But Dimitrijevic said neighbors are also concerned about the traffic patterns from the new Corliss development, which is not yet complete and is three blocks west, and the Austin Commons development. A third-party traffic study determined there would not be congestion issues, but Dimitrijevic expressed concern that it did not include Corliss traffic.

“This is a tough one that I don’t think I’m going to be able to personally solve,” she said of the congestion concerns.

The street used to have more traffic. The development would replace three homes formerly owned by Klement’s Sausage and is across from the now-vacant sausage factory. But Dimitrijevic said the sausage plant brought a different type of traffic pattern.

A Department of Public Works evaluation did not raise concerns about congestion.

Developer seeks more funding

Methu, according to Dimitrijevic, is pursuing an additional $750,000 to close a remaining funding gap on the proposal.

A resolution is expected to be introduced soon, said the alderwoman, from the city’s Community Development Grants Administration to reallocate a portion of the city’s allocation of federal HOME funds to support the Austin Commons development and three others.

But the alderwoman said she wasn’t sure how much would be proposed.

“Our project is progressing well, and we now have full design documents and construction bids in hand. As you know, costs often remain somewhat fluid as projects move toward closing. We will remain on track to close on July 31, provided the resources we have requested from the city are allocated,” said Methu via email.

Zoning not an issue

The development itself does not need design approval. The site is already zoned RM6, which given the lot size, allows for a building with approximately 120 units and requires only 67 parking spaces.

“The site is zoned for multifamily. That is what drew me to identify this site for development,” said Methu to the RACM board.

Dimitrijevic said a bigger discussion is needed about how the city communicates its zoning and what is possible to residents.

Meyer, the neighboring business owner, opposes the building’s design, even though that component is not up for review. “What we don’t need is more cardboard-type apartment buildings,” he said.

A handful of comments have been submitted in support of the development. “I think this is necessary for Milwaukee,” said one commenter, identified as Velly M, at the April 16 RACM meeting.

“This is one of the hardest neighborhoods to do new housing in,” said RACM Commissioner Montavius Jones. “To see an affordable housing development here is very encouraging.”

“I’m trying to get a compromise and a balance,” said the alderwoman in her interview with Urban Milwaukee.

Proposal could move forward

The Common Council is expected to eventually review the proposed tax incremental financing (TIF) subsidy.

The proposal has been formally introduced, said Dimitrijevic, but it will not be heard at the next Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting on June 16. She said that is because it would not give enough time for a third community meeting, which is planned, but has yet to be announced.

Two more meetings remain before the council’s August recess, and the July 31 deadline.

The TIF subsidy, effectively a property tax rebate, would provide the development team with $2.1 million plus interest over a period of no more than 19 years. The structure, commonly used by the city to support affordable housing developments, repays the developer with increased property tax revenue generated by the development.

Because the project would receive more than $1 million in city funding, the development team would be required to have 40% of the project’s construction work hours completed by unemployed or underemployed city residents and 25% of its contracting, by value, performed by disadvantaged small businesses.

In addition to the city subsidy and possible HOME funding allocation, the development is receiving $200,000 in Section 48 tax credits that are being used to fund green infrastructure improvements and $330,000 in Focus on Energy funding. The state housing trust fund is also putting $2 million into the development. There is a $2.9 million deferred developer fee.

Of the 100 units, 37 would be set aside for those making up to 80% of the area median income, 40 units would be reserved for those making up to 50% and 23 at the 30% level. The tax credits require specific units be set aside at specific income levels with rental rates targeted at 30% of a household’s income.

The building would have 40 one-bedroom, 36 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom units.

Eppstein Uhen Architects is leading the complex’s design.

Renderings

Photos

2024 PrideFest. Photo by Meg Strobel, official PrideFest Photographer.

Happy Pride Month! You know it’s summertime in Milwaukee when there are so many events and festivals happening this weekend that you have difficulties making plans. Well, we’re here to help with some suggestions. Check out Milwaukee PrideFest, which will bring dancing, drag queens, live music and more to the Henry Maier Festival Park grounds. The Rave will feature metal bands from all over the country as part of Milwaukee Metal Fest, and folks can celebrate both Scottish and Puerto Rican traditions at two separate festivals.

June 4-6: Milwaukee PrideFest

Wisconsin’s largest LGBTQIA+ festival returns for another year at the Henry Maier Festival Park, featuring a packed lineup of artists, DJs, drag queens and more. Each day will feature different Skyyline Main Stage headliners, such as the Ru Queens Drag Show and Brian Justin Crum. Get your groove on over at the Dance Pavilion, or head over to the Red Light District and participate in scheduled activities like Kinky Trivia and Karaoke with a Twist. PrideFest will run from 4 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, 3 p.m. to midnight on Friday and noon to midnight on Saturday. For more information, visit the PrideFest website.

June 5-7: Milwaukee Metal Fest

Fans of heavy music should head down to The Rave for a weekend filled with metal bands from all over the country. Each day will feature different headliners such as Killswitch Engage, Ministry, Acid Bath and more. If the three full days of metal simply isn’t enough, check out the pre-party on Thursday, which will feature solo appearances from members of bands like Hatebreed and Sanguisugabogg. Each day will kick off at noon. For a full lineup and to purchase tickets, visit The Rave’s website.

June 6: Milwaukee Highland Games

Milwaukee Highland Games, one of the city’s longest-running ethnic festivals, will bring traditional Scottish music, food and activities to Croatian Park. Guests can watch performances by bagpipe bands and Highland dancers while enjoying traditional eats like haggis and Scotch eggs. There will be an assortment of activities to participate in, such as archery and haggis taco eating contests, and guests can watch sheepdogs show off their skills on the soccer field. For more information, as well as a full schedule, visit the Milwaukee Highland Games website.

June 7: Fiesta Puerto Rico Festival & Parade

El Conquistador Latino Newspaper is celebrating National Puerto Rican Day by hosting the annual Fiesta Puerto Rico Festival & Parade at Humboldt Park. The festival, which aims to honor the spirit, pride and heritage of the Puerto Rican people, will feature traditional music and dance, food, beverages and more. This year’s parade, which will kick off at 11 a.m., will celebrate 250 years of Puerto Rican contributions to the United States, honoring the ways that Puerto Rican people have helped shape the history of this country. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is free to attend.

June 7: Milwaukee Pride Parade

PrideFest isn’t the only major event celebrating Wisconsin’s LGBTQIA+ pride this weekend. The Milwaukee Pride Parade will step off at 2 p.m. at the intersection of 2nd St. and Scott St., will travel north on 2nd St. to Seebooth St., and will last for around two hours. This year’s theme is “Together We Are Pride,” and guests can expect to see plenty of floats, dancers, drag queens and more.

June 7: Cafe Sopra Mare

The Villa Terrace’s Sopra Mare daytime concert series is back, bringing live music performances to the museum’s courtyard. This week’s free concert will feature traditional Brazilian choro group Toco Rio. During the concert, the museum and gardens will be free to access. Villa Terrace will also offer complimentary coffee and encourages guests to bring their own coffee if preferred. Sopra Mare will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

(Illustration by Elena Delzer for Wisconsin Watch)

This story was produced in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Investigative Journalism class taught in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Last month deep red Oklahoma became the 17th state to ban child marriage — the practice of allowing minors, typically 16- and 17-year-olds, to marry with parental consent.

“Oklahoma has a responsibility to protect children and make sure they have the opportunity to reach adulthood before making decisions that will shape the rest of their lives,” Republican state Rep. Nicole Miller said in a press release.

Most states that have banned child marriage to date are led by Democrats. Wisconsin, where Republicans control the Legislature, is not following their lead.

In Wisconsin 16- and 17-year-olds can still be married with written parental permission submitted to a county clerk along with a standard marriage license. Between 2015 and 2024, 297 minors were married in Wisconsin, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Notably, these teenagers can be married not just to other minors, but also to adults. State law also provides an exception to its rules on statutory rape: Sexual relations between an adult and a teenager are not a crime as long as they are married.

“These are marriages between a minor woman and an older man,” said state Rep. Ann Roe, D-Janesville, a co-author of recent legislation to ban the practice. “The behavior outside of marriage would be a felony. … Using this old law that’s still on the books that allows for child marriage is incredibly disturbing and incredibly dangerous for young women.”

In the 2025-26 legislative session, Roe joined Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, in his yearslong campaign to end child marriage in Wisconsin. Each time, the legislation has died in committee. It has never received a public hearing, much less reached a floor vote. Republican leadership has refused to move it, saying the proposed law infringes on the rights of parents to decide what’s best for their children.

Incremental changes

The rules for child marriage in Wisconsin have changed throughout history. The 1849 Wisconsin statutes set the minimum marital age for men at 18, and 15 for women. Men under the age of 21 and women under the age of 18 still needed parental consent. By 1959, the minimum age for women was raised to 16. The law was amended again in 1971 to allow all men 18 or older to marry without parental consent, and women under 18 but at least 16 to marry with parental consent.

A change to the law in 1959 allowed a man under 18 to obtain permission from a judge to be married if it would prevent a child he fathered from being born out of wedlock. That allowance was quickly repealed in 1961.

The distinction between sexes was eliminated in 1975, and no changes have happened since.

In 2018, as the #MeToo movement against powerful, abusive men was gaining momentum, Delaware and New Jersey became the first states to ban child marriage. Fifteen more states have since followed suit, including Minnesota and Michigan. Bans on child marriage have been introduced multiple times since 2019 in Wisconsin.

Numbers decline, but not to zero

Statistics paint a picture of how this practice has declined over time in the state.

According to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 27 minors were married in Wisconsin in 2024: eight 16-year-olds and 19 17-year-olds. That figure represents a steep drop from a peak of 421 child marriages in 1995.

Between 2010 and 2022, the vast majority of minors who married did so with adult spouses. From 2017 through 2019, every single minor who married in Wisconsin did so with an adult.

And from 1995 through 2013 (the last year for which gender data is available) girls made up the overwhelming majority of minors who married. In 2013, 23 16-year-old girls married, compared to just two boys the same age. Among 17-year-olds that year, the ratio was 39 girls to eight boys.

According to advocacy group Unchained At Last, those numbers are consistent with nationwide trends. The vast majority of minors married in the country are girls. Most of those girls married an adult male with the man on average being four years older.

“One of the things we wanted to look at is that, you know, is this young love? Is this two teenagers getting married?” Spreitzer said. “The answer seems to be primarily no. Primarily this is men over the age of 18, marrying girls under the age of 18. So that really heightened the concern.”

The law also includes a surprising twist: You can get married under 18, but you can’t get divorced.

Current law gives some provisions for minors to get an annulment, but there is no explicit statutory right for a married minor to file for divorce. Spreitzer and Roe’s proposed legislation would allow any minors married before their proposal takes effect to get a divorce.

Republicans oppose ban based on parental rights

Spreitzer and Roe’s legislation would prohibit marriage under 18 in all circumstances. More than a dozen states have passed similar outright bans over the years.

The Wisconsin effort was once bipartisan. Republican Reps. Ken Skowronski, R-Franklin, and Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, were co-sponsors of the bill as recently as 2020. That support has since evaporated.

In February 2024, former state Rep. John Macco, R-Ledgeview, sent a 2:59 a.m. reply-all email to fellow legislators linking the child marriage ban with restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors — a conflation that bill authors and advocates rejected.

“If you’re really serious about protecting minors I’ll add an amendment to also protect them from sex altering drugs and surgery and then cosponsor with you,” Macco’s email read.

Wichgers declined to comment on his previous support.

For a bill to pass into law, identical versions must pass the Assembly and Senate. After a bill is introduced, leadership in both chambers refers their respective versions to a relevant committee where it may receive a hearing and vote. If a committee chair never schedules a bill hearing, it can wallow until the legislative session ends.

During the most recent legislative session, the Senate and Assembly child marriage bills sat in committees led by state Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, and state Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston. The bills died without a committee hearing, just like in past sessions.

Kapenga said he sees no reason to act.

“I cannot recall one constituent phone call or interaction where this issue has come up. I don’t have a problem with the current law that allows a 16- and 17-year-old to marry in the state of Wisconsin as long as there is consent from the parent or guardian. Parents know what’s best for their child — not the government,” he said.

Kapenga’s staff confirmed he has not received constituent contacts opposing child marriage, but other Wisconsin legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, have been contacted, according to public records.

Kapenga invoked a broader political philosophy to explain his position. “Frankly, we’ve seen an erosion of parents’ rights over the years by those on the left who believe that it’s the job of government to parent children,” he said. “Given the very low numbers of minors impacted, I do not believe this warrants the passage of this legislation.”

Cathy Myers, a spokesperson for Zonta of Janesville, a women’s advocacy group that worked with Spreitzer on the bill, said the decline in child marriage over time doesn’t justify ignoring the issue.

“We believe this is a pretty easy issue to wrap your head around,” she said. “One child married is one too many.”

Snyder didn’t respond to a request for comment. Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, deferred to Kapenga’s comments. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, did not respond to requests for comment.

Advocates say they hear from supportive Republicans

Spreitzer and Roe said they have heard privately from Republican colleagues who agree with the goal of ending child marriage, but will not say so publicly.

“I think there are many people across the aisle on several different issues, this being one of them …they nod their heads, they look at me, they’re like, ‘We get it, this is an issue,’” Roe said. “And I think when hopefully they feel less obligated to fall into lockstep with their current leadership, I think that offers us an opportunity to have better conversations and figure out how we can work together.”

Spreitzer said he hopes that some of the Republicans who believe in banning child marriage “would start moving that conversation forward within their own party. That’s how we build progress.”

Myers said her organization heard from supportive Republicans during a lobby day at the Capitol this year.

“Several legislators said they didn’t know that children could be married until we met with them,” Myers said. “However, several also said that until they get the green light from their leadership, the bill would not get to the floor and would not become law.”

Child marriage has long-term consequences

Advocates say the consequences for girls are lasting. Roe described a possible trajectory: a teenage girl, newly married to an older man, denied the normal social activities of a 16-year-old and cut off from educational and career opportunities.

“The intentions of that older man are not to establish more freedoms for this young woman,” Roe said. “This is a form of potentially trafficking. This is a form of dominance. That’s just not healthy.”

Studies have linked child marriage among girls to poor mental health outcomes, diminished educational opportunity and higher rates of poverty.

Lauren Papp, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of human development and family studies who studies intimate relationships and family dynamics, said adolescence is the wrong time to make a permanent legal commitment to another person — not because teenagers are incapable, but because they are still becoming who they will be.

Papp disagreed that parental consent provides a safeguard because parents may not be privy to all of the relationship dynamics. She, Roe and Spreitzer all noted there can be an imbalance in power dynamics between a child spouse and an older partner who is legally an adult.

“That is certainly just an extra layer of dependence on others,” she said. “There’s a whole host of ways that the younger person could be disadvantaged.”

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Marty Brooks speaks at the Baird Center topping off ceremony in 2023. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Marty Brooks saga appears to be rapidly coming to an end.

The board of the Wisconsin Center District has scheduled a special meeting for Monday morning to take “action regarding employment status: CEO,” following a closed-session discussion of “district business: legal and personnel.”

The agenda comes just days after Brooks cleared out his office, according to a letter sent to the board by a longtime district employee.

The board has met in closed session four times in 2026 to discuss Brooks, but its agendas have never included an actionable item involving Brooks.

Monday’s agenda is the clearest indication yet that the board intends to terminate Brooks’ status as CEO of the public organization that operates the Baird Center, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theatre.

The agenda follows weeks of mounting speculation regarding Brooks’ future with the district. Multiple sources previously told Urban Milwaukee they expected the matter to be resolved within weeks, with Brooks leaving the organization.

On Wednesday, Urban Milwaukee reported that Brooks had cleared out his office. The revelation came in a letter written by Robin Pitts, the district’s administrative services manager and executive assistant to the president and CEO, who described growing frustration among employees about a lack of communication from district leadership.

“I sit just feet away from our CEO, and I watched him clean out his office without a word he could share with me,” Pitts wrote in the letter.

Pitts said employees have been left to learn about developments through media reports, while morale has suffered amid the uncertainty.

“What we are experiencing is a complete absence of internal communication, while media reports, some appearing to include comments from board members, continue to circulate,” Pitts wrote.

A district spokesperson declined to discuss Brooks’ employment status, saying only that “Marty is still CEO of the Wisconsin Center District.”

Brooks first became embroiled in controversy last year after Common Council President José G. Pérez, who serves on the district board, filed a police report alleging Brooks pinched his buttocks during a November fundraiser. Brooks denied the allegation, and prosecutors declined to file charges.

More recently, public board discussions have focused on Brooks’ handling of a $145,000 consultant study commissioned by the district. The study recommended pursuing a convention center hotel project, but several board members later criticized both the report and the process surrounding it.

Downtown Alderman Robert Bauman called the report “a waste of money.” Northwestern Mutual executive Grady Crosby said the study was “kind of thrust upon us,” while Marcus Corp. CEO Greg Marcus said, “What I asked for was a strategic plan, not a hotel pitch.”

Sources have told Urban Milwaukee that an investigation into the matter uncovered additional concerns that predate Brooks’ May 2025 announcement of the study.

Brooks, 69, has led the Wisconsin Center District since 2018 and oversaw completion of the district’s $456 million Baird Center expansion, which opened in 2024.

His current employment agreement, approved in 2025, provides a base salary that rises to $445,000 annually and includes performance bonuses, a vehicle allowance, a retention award and a market adjustment payment.

The contract could also affect the board’s options. If Brooks is terminated for cause, including dishonesty, misrepresentation or fraud, the district would owe no severance beyond a required notice period. If he is terminated without cause, the contract entitles him to the greater of his base pay for the remainder of his contract – which lasts until early 2028 – or a six-month severance.

Piggly Wiggly at 123 W. Oklahoma Ave. Photo taken June 4, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

Piggly Wiggly in Bay View is set to debut a multimillion-dollar renovation this weekend, welcoming shoppers for the first time to its freshly revamped store at 123 W. Oklahoma Ave.

The project, guided by feedback from neighbors and store employees, includes aesthetic updates such as new flooring, paint, signage, aisle markers and displays, along with a revised layout and expanded inventory of products.

“We’ve really been trying to make it a little bit more modern, more relevant and overall a better shopping experience,” said Terry Goins, director of marketing and advertising for Piggly Wiggly Midwest.

Among major changes, the store’s in-house bakery, Panaderia Azteca, now occupies a more prominent space near the main entrance, while the deli and butcher displays have been rebuilt with visual appeal and accessibility in mind.

“We wanted to make sure people can see the meat — the star of the show,” Goins said, also noting that a portion of the deli is now dedicated to grab-and-go items, so shoppers can access fresh meat and cheese even when the counter is closed.

The store has also expanded its selection of produce, Wisconsin brands, organic items and gluten-free choices based on neighbors’ requests, and has introduced an updated layout with wider aisles, new lighting and a more logical flow between departments.

The building, originally constructed in 1984, was last renovated “at least 20 years ago,” according to Goins, who said Piggly Wiggly has remained open to shoppers for much of the renovation, save for a two-week stretch in early May.

Employees remained on-site during that time to assist with tasks such as moving inventory and shelving while flooring was installed, Goins said.

As of Thursday morning, work was still progressing in sections of the store, including a new break room for workers located in the former bakery space.

Goins remained hopeful crews would wrap up before the official opening on Saturday. “We’re rushing to the finish line,” he said.

The Bay View project follows the April renovation of Piggly Wiggly on Durand Avenue in Racine as the brand works on a broader regional refresh of its portfolio. “We’ll tick them off a couple at a time,” Goins said.

Grand Opening Event

Piggly Wiggly will host a grand opening ribbon-cutting and celebration Saturday, June 6, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., inviting shoppers to tour the refreshed store and mingle with special guests.

That includes Bernie Brewer and Mr. Pig, along with Marquette University men’s basketball players Adrien Stevens and Nigel James Jr., who will participate in a meet-and-greet from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band is set to perform at 9 a.m.

Throughout the day, guests can observe as a professional cheese carver turns a 300-pound wheel of Wisconsin cheddar into the likeness of Mr. Pig. The festivities will also include product sampling, discounts and giveaways for the first 250 attendees.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Goins said. “We’re really trying to drive some traffic to our store and let people see the changes that we’ve made.”

Photos

Vote here sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A total of 333 people filed nomination papers with the Wisconsin Elections Commission to run for office in Wisconsin this fall — the first official act in a campaign season that will see the state elect a new governor and potentially change the balance of power in the state Legislature.

In the races for statewide offices such as the governor’s race, candidates are required to collect at least 2,000 signatures. Candidates for Congress must file at least 1,000 signatures while state Senate candidates must file 400 and Assembly candidates 200.

Any member of the public can challenge the sufficiency of a candidate’s nomination papers. To challenge a candidate, a person must make a verified complaint to WEC by 5 p.m. Thursday. The candidate will get an opportunity to respond, and the commission will meet June 9 to certify or deny ballot access.

The seven major candidates in the Democratic primary for governor all filed enough signatures to ensure ballot access, according to WEC records.

Minocqua Brewing Company owner and political gadfly Kirk Bangstad did not reach the 2,000 signature threshold after listing the wrong date on a number of signature forms — writing the date of the Aug. 11 primary rather than the Nov. 3 general election. Circulators who gathered signatures for Bangstad also omitted information on the forms such as the municipality they live in.

Bangstad, who did not announce his run for governor until early May, will have until Sunday afternoon to file affidavits seeking to fix the errors on the forms.

“Bangstad is NOT DEAD YET,” a post on the Minocqua Brewing Facebook page stated.

Former Democratic state Rep. Brett Hulsey, who has regularly turned up at political events around Madison in recent months to draw media attention and tout his run for governor, did not file any signatures with the commission, records show.

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany filed nearly 4,000 signatures. Tiffany cleared the field of serious contenders after he was endorsed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and President Donald Trump earlier this year. But 27-year-old medical services technician Andy Manske filed 2,040 signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot.

In the race for lieutenant governor, Democrat Sarah Godlewski and Republican Will Martin filed enough signatures. But WEC only counted 1,977 valid signatures from Republican David Varnam.

In the state’s congressional races, the once-crowded Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District to unseat Rep. Bryan Steil will have four candidates: Miguel Aranda, Mitchell Berman, Peter Burgelis and Lorenzo Santos.

Randy Bryce, an ironworker who previously ran for the seat in 2018 and was the first to announce his intention to challenge Steil for 2026, did not file any signatures and announced he was suspending his campaign.

In the 3rd Congressional District, where Democrats are again focusing their attention in an effort to unseat Rep. Derrick Van Orden, Democrats Rebecca Cooke and Emily Berge both filed enough signatures to gain ballot access. Berge was the first candidate in the entire state to file her signatures with WEC. Two independents, Alexander Valiensi Kent and Rustin Provance, also filed to run in the race.

Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore in the Milwaukee area’s 4th Congressional District is set to face a primary challenge from Democratic Socialist Amy Donahue.

Six potential challengers filed to run in the 6th Congressional District, held by Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman. Seven candidates, including three Democrats and four Republicans, filed enough signatures to run in the 7th District to replace Tiffany, and three candidates filed to run in the 8th District Democratic primary to challenge GOP Rep. Tony Wied.

In four races, candidates were given an extension until 5 p.m. Thursday because Tiffany, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, state Rep. Dave Murphy (R-Hortonville) and state Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) did not file declarations of non-candidacy. Murphy is retiring while the other three are running for higher office.

Some high-profile election hopefuls fall short of ballot requirements was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Milwaukee Police Department. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A wellness check gone wrong will result in the City of Milwaukee paying the victim’s family $250,000.

But the amount could have been much higher. The city is “legally culpable,” said City Attorney Evan Goyke in a letter to the council, but is shielded by a state law that limits liability to $250,000.

A Milwaukee Police Department officer was dispatched to respond to a wellness check near W. Lapham and S. 20th streets last September. But the officer did not see Hayley Linville, who the police were called to check on, lying in the alley and ran her over, killing her.

Linville’s estate requested $21.3 million, but state statute 893.82(6) caps liability at $250,000 and does not allow for punitive damages.

An outside investigation by the Waukesha Police Department and Wisconsin State Patrol determined the death was accidental.

The council approved the settlement on a 12-0-3 vote Tuesday.

But at least one member suggested she didn’t think the settlement was fair.

“I believe the estate of Haley Linville deserves more than what was offered,” said Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic on the council floor.

President José G. Pérez abstained from voting on the settlement when it was before Judiciary & Legislation Committee and when it was before the full council. He did not state a reason why. The location of the accident was at the western edge of his aldermanic district.

Ald. Lamont Westmoreland abstained from voting on the file and other items from the Judiciary & Legislation Committee meeting because, despite being a committee member, he was not at the May 26 meeting.

Beyond Dimitrijevic’s brief statement, the measure was never discussed in public.

Linville, 31, was pregnant at the time, according to her sister. She battled homelessness and addiction, but also testified against an individual who trafficked her, resulting in him being sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Linville’s estate was represented by attorney Mark Sisson.

The city is self-insured and will pay for its settlement from its damages and claims fund.

1537 S. César E Chávez Dr.

After just over a year of operation in the Forest Home Hills neighborhood, Dulce Diabla Bar is planning a new southside location.

Owner Gilari Cortes Reyna recently applied for an occupancy permit at 1537 S. César E Chávez Dr., a commercial space currently home to Don Julio’s Bar & Club.

The existing business has operated for a decade at the location, most recently under Ruben Medina Perdomo. It has an active license that is set to expire in November, though city records indicate a transfer is pending.

According to the application, Cortes Reyna plans to transform the 1,295-square-foot tavern into a bar, dance club and sit-down restaurant, doing business as Dulce Diabla Bar.

She did not clarify whether it would be an expansion of the original Dulce Diabla at 1900 W. Lincoln Ave. or a relocation of that business.

Cortes Reyna first launched Dulce Diabla in April 2025, replacing Diamante Negro, which sought a different location better suited to food service.

In her initial proposal, Cortes Reyna cited prior experience working at bars in Mexico, saying she planned to leverage her service background to handle day-to-day operations at Dulce Diabla — Spanish for “Sweet Devil.”

She previously told Urban Milwaukee of intentions to curate a community-focused establishment, and today the bar offers regular events including karaoke, DJs and dancing.

The business also features a full bar program, including beer, liquor and mixed drinks, along with specialty cocktails such as cantaritos (a fruity tequila cocktail), micheladas and piña coladas. The current location is not licensed to serve food.

Dulce Diabla is open on Lincoln Avenue Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., Fridays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to its Facebook page.

Proposed hours of operation for the César E. Chávez Drive location are Wednesdays through Mondays from 6 p.m. to bar close. The new business will require city approval before opening.

Maria de Jesus Ramirez Xolo, registered agent for Don Julio’s LLC, owns the César E. Chávez Drive building, according to city assessment records.

Cortes Reyna did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

A Flock camera outside of Washington Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Controversy over Flock license plate reading cameras has rippled across Wisconsin, causing people to fill public hearings as some regions remove the cameras, and others overhaul auditing and oversight. Activists, elected officials and police departments are navigating disagreements over privacy, safety, freedom and the facts about the surveillance network.

Communities including Dane County, Verona, Monona, Fitchburg, Appleton, Oshkosh and Sturgeon Bay are dropping contracts with the multi-billion company Flock Safety because of heightened awareness and public anxiety over surveillance.

Officers and deputies from three different agencies and three separate counties stand accused of misusing Flock cameras, which compile images of vehicles and their license plates into a database which can be searched by police. When the Examiner reviewed five months of Flock data last year, it contained many thousands of searches conducted by 221 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies.

All three officers are accused of tracking their romantic partners, with officers Josue Ayala of Milwaukee and Cristian Morales of Menasha facing charges for which they have upcoming court appearances. Ayala is scheduled for sentencing in June and Morales has a jury trial in July. Kenosha County Deputy Frank McGrath was not charged for misconduct over his use of Flock to track another deputy he was dating and a John Doe petition seeking charges in the case has been sealed by a judge, according to court records.

“It’s powerful technology,” Heba Mohammad, an organizer with Milwaukee4Palestine — one of the local groups pushing against Flock cameras — told the Examiner.

Milwaukee4Palestine has focused on police surveillance as cameras, automatic license plate readers like Flock, and facial recognition technology and drones came to Milwaukee. “As Palestinians, we know what that is a signal of,” said Mohammad, pointing out that similar surveillance tested on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has been adopted by U.S. law enforcement agencies. “The road to fascism is paved with well-intentioned surveillance technology.”

Milwaukee4Palestine organized to oppose facial recognition technology and then Flock. “We know this is what is next,” said Mohammad. “We’ve seen how surveillance can be used to oppress people.”

A City of Verona Flock camera which has been covered by local officials after the city’s contract with Flock Safety ended. (Photo courtesy of Mayor Luke Diaz).

Although MPD stands by its use of Flock, the department has also been forced to revamp its auditing procedures. Over the last couple of months, the department has limited the number of officers who have access to Flock. James Lewis, risk manager for MPD, told the Wisconsin Examiner that access was restricted to an “as needed basis,” and that requests need to go through the chain of command, creating more of a paper trail when Flock is used.

While some units or bureaus investigating serious crimes had clearer needs for Flock, “in patrol, we wanted to make sure that the officers who had it really had the need to have this software,” said Lewis. MPD is also using audit data to flag “outlier” data that indicate questionable Flock uses, such as an officer searching the same vehicle multiple times over a short period, or not attaching case numbers to searches. MPD shares its Flock network with state partners, but not with federal agencies.

Nevertheless, community members have expressed a lack of confidence and trust in MPD surveillance, especially after the passage of Act 12, which stripped some of the Fire and Police Commission’s oversight powers in exchange for allowing Milwaukee to adopt a sales tax.

“We are of the position that the risks far outweigh the benefits of this technology and again, particularly with a police force like the Milwaukee Police Department that has been granted a lot of impunity through Act 12 [and has] basically no accountability,” said Mohammad. “And they are demonstrating time and time again that they don’t care what the community thinks.”

Lewis said that the department is trying to nail down exactly how Flock affects the community. “I think a lot of what we’ve seen through public comment, through the commissioners’ comments, through news media coverage for this is, ‘Hey this is this big data surveillance network and it’s got a lot of these pitfalls in it,” said Lewis. “But I think the other piece of it that we’re really trying to get our hands on is how is this making police work more efficient? Is it driving public safety outcomes? Are we getting what we want out of it and through audit, we’re trying to tell those stories as well.”

Lewis said MPD is working on answering some of those questions, especially the question of whether there is a return on investment in terms of public safety. “If there is outlier data generated, I want to know not just compliance or not, but also what did the city get out of this? Is it a safer place because of this?” Lewis said that MPD has chosen to overhaul its auditing practices on its own in a tailor-made fashion, rather than waiting on Flock Safety to develop a fix.

The department highlighted 24 different situations where Flock was used, including felony firearms investigations, parole violations, narcotics trafficking, homicide, material witnesses needed at criminal trials, stolen vehicles, overdose death investigations, sexual assault, shootings and armed robberies. In one of the examples involving theft, MPD specified in an email that “Flock was used to develop patterns of movement in the suspect vehicle” to determine whether it was related to other thefts.

Balancing tracking, privacy, and public safety

The extent to which Flock can track and surveil people has been a source of tension at public meetings. In December, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and Chief Deputy Brian Barkow said that calling Flock a form of tracking is a misrepresentation. They argued that although Flock alerts officers that a vehicle has been sighted, they would still need to go to the area of the alert and search for the vehicle. In other words, Flock doesn’t see everything.

But the technology appears to have greater surveillance capabilities than some departments and even Flock itself have described.

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department has also said that Flock is “not used for general surveillance, traffic enforcement, or monitoring individuals not connected to an investigation.” However, the agency’s Flock data shows that officers entered “surveillance” and “traffic offense” as reasons for searching the camera network.

A Flock camera on the Lac Courte Orielles Reservation in Sawyer County. (Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner)

Oshkosh officials voted to continue a Flock contract only to reverse course the next day, saying that they’d been misled by Flock representatives over the camera’s ability to produce heat maps visualizing where a vehicle has been. At a meeting in April, Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith told local elected officials that because of that “misrepresentation” he could “I can no longer recommend Flock.”

“I think it depends on how it’s used,” Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis told the Examiner. “I think if it’s misused, you can misuse this technology in a way that would allow you to track someone.” Yet, Davis feels that Flock can be an asset when used for legitimate criminal investigations. “I think people sometimes misunderstand how the technology works.”

Davis concedes of Flock use that in some ways, “yeah, that’s kind of tracking someone. But I have a legitimate criminal predicate for doing so.” At the same time, he condemns the use of Flock for personal reasons, like spying on ex-wives or partners. “The government doesn’t get to do that,” said Davis. “That’s unlawful overreach into someone’s life because there’s no legitimate public safety reason for getting access to that data.”

Davis was hired at Green Bay in late 2021, when the city was experiencing a rise in gun violence. After deciding not to adopt gunshot detection tech, the city pivoted to automatic license plate readers.

“At the time Flock was one of very few, if not the only company that had stationary license plate reader technology,” said Davis. “With gun crimes, the faster you can develop a suspect and make an arrest, the better, because there’s a retaliatory cycle that happens.” The department has been able to locate homicide suspects who fled to other states, hit-and-run suspects, and stolen vehicles using Flock.

Davis said that “license plate reader technology has been a game changer for all of us. On the other hand, you still have to take people’s privacy concerns seriously.” He stressed that “anytime you’re collecting that much data about people as they just go about their daily business, you have to be really careful with how that’s used.”

A police officer uses the Flock Safety license plate reader system. Many left-leaning states and cities are trying to protect their residents’ personal information amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, but a growing number of conservative lawmakers also want to curb the use of surveillance technologies. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)

How Flock can be layered with other surveillance technologies also worry community members. In May, officers in Wauwatosa used Flock surveillance and a drone to track a robbery suspect.

The debate reminds Davis of the words of a mentor, that being a police chief is “the great balancing act of municipal government.” He added that, “I think it would be a mistake for us to not take people’s privacy concerns seriously in this conversation.”

As cases of misuse have popped up, the Green Bay Police Department has also tightened its use of Flock. They used their own audit to look for suspicious searches, and didn’t detect any instances of misuse. “We didn’t find any of that in our audit that we did, but it doesn’t hurt to ratchet it down as much as we can,” said Davis. “Because again, I understand, like you’re talking about people’s sensitive information. We have to be responsible with how we use that, and there have to be safeguards in place.”

The department has also restricted which outside agencies can access its Flock network. While there was an initial belief that “the bigger the network, the more valuable the tool,” Davis said that Green Bay PD has “re-thought that over the last few weeks.” Now only agencies in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, eastern Wisconsin from Green Bay to Milwaukee, and the Chicagoland area (including Racine, Kenosha, and Cook counties along with some Chicago suburbs and a small portion of Indiana around the city of Gary) can search within Green Bay’s network.

“We figure that makes more sense to have more of a rationale for why we share data,” said Davis. “Because I don’t have control over how those other agencies manage their employees. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but if they want that information then they can call us and they can explain what they’re working on, and we’ll see if we can help them.”

The Milwaukee Police Administration Building downtown. A surveillance van, or “critical response vehicle” is in the background. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Green Bay PD is also utilizing a drop down menu with pre-designated options for using Flock, rather than allowing officers to type whatever they want. When the Examiner conducted its first analysis of Flock last year, there were several departments which used vague search terms, even just putting a dot or “.” as the reason for searching Flock. When the Examiner brought it to the Waukesha Police Department’s attention, the department said an officer was re-trained and counseled.

Captain Dan Baumann of the Waukesha PD said in an email statement that since then, the department has “strengthened its oversight of Flock Safety by increasing formal audits from twice per year to monthly.” There are also random audits in addition to the mandatory audit, as well as an AI-powered Flock audit assistance tool to flag suspicious searches. The department’s standard operating procedure has also been adjusted. No further instances of vague labeling have arisen, and no discipline has been issued in connection to use of Flock.

Baumann said Flock has assisted investigations such as in a vehicle break-in where leads were limited, and using Flock allowed investigators to identify a suspect’s vehicle and connect it to cases in Dane County. Flock was also used to locate someone involved in a shooting, and who pointed a gun during a road rage incident, Baumann said.

Communities waking up to surveillance risks

While it may be encouraging that departments are changing procedures and upping auditing, advocates still have questions about whether it will be enough. Jon McCray Jones, policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin, hopes that people “don’t miss the forest for the trees” by focusing solely on Flock, when other companies sell similar technology.

“I don’t believe that law enforcement are just acting out of good faith with a lot of these regulatory changes and auditing changes to Flock,” McCray Jones told the Examiner. “I believe that it comes from sustained pressure started at the most local level from people understanding and realizing the dangers associated with all these cameras and automated license plate readers, and specifically Flock, who is the worst company out of all of them so far.”

People fill a Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission meeting protesting Flock and facial recognition technology. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

It all also ties back to a growing mistrust and fear over the federal government. Under President Donald Trump, federal immigration agents have flooded Democratic-led cities across the country, resulting in multiple shootings and deaths in Minnesota earlier this year. The Trump administration has also directed federal agencies to begin investigating left-wing groups it has accused of domestic terrorism.

Mohammad said that the ICE surges really brought surveillance to the forefront when people began to see “ICE agents scanning people’s faces in different cities, and telling them that we have a database and we can recognize your name. Or pulling people’s license plates and figuring out what their names were so that they could harass them directly by name.” She added, “I think this political moment is also a moral and ethical one.”

McCray Jones also said the issue of police surveillance has new urgency as communities are “being targeted and their neighbors being disappeared by the federal government.” ICE and other federal agencies have access to Flock either directly, or through assistance from local and state agencies which have contracts with the company. Public officials, under pressure from voters, are “jumping on board,” McCray Jones said, “and they’re feeling courageous and empowered to take on these surveillance systems.”

Public meetings about surveillance technology in Milwaukee are energized, Mohammad said. “I don’t want to say exciting because I think that really betrays the seriousness of the moment,” she said. “But there is that buzz that often happens when that room is full, or there was a time when they had to open the overflow room.” It’s shown Mohammad that “people care about this stuff and that’s why I think that it’s really incredible that even though the FPC doesn’t really have any teeth to its accountability anymore, we as residents are using as many avenues as are open to us to make our voices heard.”

People fill a Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission meeting protesting Flock and facial recognition technology. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

McCray Jones suggests that people care about Flock because “at its core, it’s one of the easiest surveillance technologies for people to understand.” He believes that people understand that “anyone who drives is impacted by this technology in a way that other surveillance technologies, say like ShotSpotters or Stingray…I think people have a harder time one: knowing how these technologies work but two: viewing themselves as potential victims.”

He added that in several cases, including in Milwaukee, officers who misused the technology were caught by people using websites like HaveIBeenFlocked, not by the department. “So we don’t know how much these systems are being abused,” he said. “And I think elected officials should use these moments of high, intense scrutiny from the community and in the media, and having anecdotal stories of officers doing this right now, to really be courageous and take the lead to fight for more accountability measures before the public forgets about this story, and forgets about the danger that they are under due to law enforcement’s ability to track where you are at all times.”

Mohammad said that she and her allies are not quitting anytime soon. “We understand our position, we understand the risks here,” she told the Examiner. “And so we’re not going to back down. We do not want our communities to be surveilled. And we believe that public safety comes from investments in other areas, not in police surveillance.”

Flock on shaky ground in Wisconsin as communities weigh privacy and safety was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.