Aubrey Jannene waves a flag at a passing march band. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Happy 250th birthday America! There’s lots to do this weekend, including parades, firework shows and drone shows. It’s also your last chance to check out this year’s Summerfest lineup, and the Milwaukee County Zoo is offering a reduced admission rate as well as a digital scavenger hunt. You’ve likely been indoors all week trying to stay cool during this heat wave, so treat yourself and get out there this weekend.

June 2-4: Summerfest Weekend Three

This weekend is your last chance to check out Summerfest this year, where the Henry Maier Festival Park is packed full of live music on both free and ticketed stages, entertainment such as skateboarding and bmx demonstrations, vendors and more. Music highlights for the final weekend include Jelly Roll, the Gin Blossoms, Sean Paul and more. Be sure to catch featured local acts like Known Moons, Gold Steps and Wave X Nile, and don’t forget to check the Summerfest website to find out about admission promotions like free admission on July 4 for those who donate three non-perishable food items.

July 3: Milwaukee County Parks Drone Show

Milwaukee County Parks is once again putting on a drone show instead of a traditional fireworks show in support of America’s 250th birthday. This year’s event will feature an expanded lineup of family-friendly activities and will introduce its new pyrotechnic drone technology, which will add safely controlled spark effects to the light show. The show will take place at McKinley Beach and will feature food and beverage vendors. The show is free to attend and will run from 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The drone show will start at 9:20 p.m. For more information, visit the Milwaukee County website.

July 4: America 250: The Power of We

There are many ways to celebrate Independence Day in Milwaukee and many different fireworks shows, parades, celebrations and more to check out. This year’s theme is America 250: The Power of We and will feature celebrations in 12 different parks. Not every park will feature a fireworks show or parade, so it’s worth checking the City of Milwaukee’s website to find out which park will meet your Fourth of July celebratory needs.

July 4: $4 on the 4th

If fireworks and crowds aren’t your thing, here’s another way to celebrate the fourth: Hanging out with the adorable animals at the Milwaukee County Zoo. In celebration of the holiday, the Milwaukee County Zoo is lowering its admission fee down to $4. Guests can participate in the zoo’s Sea to Shining Sea digital scavenger hunt, where participants will learn where in the United States each animal comes from. The Milwaukee County Zoo will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

July 5: Cafe Sopra Mare

If at this point you haven’t had your fill of live music outdoors, the Villa Terrace’s Sopra Mare daytime concert series is back, bringing live music performances to the museum’s courtyard. The free concert series will feature a performance by jazz artist Neal Bardeal. 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 coffees if preferred. Sopra Mare will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

July 5: 414Flea Market

Over 40 unique vendors will set up shop at Zocalo Food Park, where guests can shop vintage clothing, handmade goods, art and more while enjoying bites from the park’s various food trucks. A live DJ will provide ambience, and guests can stop inside to cool off with beverages. 414Flea is free to attend and will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1001-1003 S. 10th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Before the city could complete the demolition of a fire-damaged home, a private property owner began advancing plans for a replacement.

It is an unusual twist for a two-story home that sat as a vacant shell for four years.

According to a pending permit request, Delia Estrada aims to develop a four-unit apartment building at 1001-1003 S. 10th St. even as the city had to step in to demolish the home previously at the site.

A typical outcome for privately owned structures demolished by the city is public ownership via property tax foreclosure. The cost of demolition is added to the property tax bill, and once unpaid for three years, the city can foreclose.

But the last few years have been anything but typical for the home, known as the William F. Dediske Flats, across from Walker Square Park.

In February 2022, it was engulfed in a large fire. A raze order was issued in February 2024.

A repair plan was filed with the city in February 2025 and, according to online permitting records, permits were issued in August after more than $6,000 in fees were paid. But the permits are labeled as being “cancelled by inspector” in October.

In November, the city solicited bids for a private contractor to demolish the structure.

In April, Capilla Architects, applied for a construction permit on the site and submitted paper records to DNS. No fees have been paid for the permit.

Then in May, the city’s selected contractor UJUNKY applied for a raze permit. The demolition was completed in June.

The fire-damaged structure, once a neoclassical-style building, was constructed in 1908. It was designed by Leiser & Holst, a prolific Milwaukee architecture firm. According to a Wisconsin Historical Society report, it was converted to a four-unit building in 1938.

William Rediske, the founder of Interior Woodwork Co. and Wisconsin Lumber and Supply Co., was elected head of the Builders and Traders Exchange five years later. He died in 1950 at the age of 82, earning a Milwaukee Sentinel obituary that labeled him a civic leader.

The property is currently assessed for $53,200, down from $209,300 in 2025.

It has been owned by members of the Estrada family for several years. Dede Properties, the entity paying the property taxes, owns a handful of other properties in Walker’s Point.

The 2025 tax bill has been partially paid, with $3,300 remaining on the $5,800 bill. More than $1,500 of the bill is related to municipal services and DNS charges.

Estrada did not respond to a request for comment.

1001-1003 S. 10th St. in July 2025. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Doctor.

More than a dozen Wisconsin organizations are affected by the Trump administration’s move last week to cut grants for teen pregnancy prevention programs, Wisconsin’s health department confirmed Wednesday.

The programs were expecting to share in almost $1 million per year over the next two years — the remaining period in the five-year grants that were cut off abruptly by the federal government in June.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has administered the Teen Pregnancy Prevention grant program in the Office of Population Affairs through several presidential administrations, notified 53 out of 67 grant recipients on Friday, June 26, that their grants were being canceled, Stateline reported.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services was among the agencies with canceled grants. DHS was just finishing the third year of a five-year grant period.

The DHS grant totaled $1.162 million per year, and the department was expecting a similar amount for the next two fiscal years, 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Britt Cudaback, communications director for Gov. Tony Evers, said Thursday that filing a lawsuit in response to the grant terminations is “a potential option currently under consideration.”

Most of the DHS grant — $986,375 — was distributed as subgrants to local or statewide organizations and agencies. Another $175,530 was set aside for DHS to cover grant administration costs.

“All Wisconsin funding was cancelled,” DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email message Wednesday.

DHS is exploring whether the department can get funding elsewhere to replace the grants the federal government canceled, and DHS is “assessing all avenues possible to ensure the federal government is following all requirements in this funding agreement,” Goodsitt said.

Goodsitt said the DHS teen pregnancy prevention program aimed to reduce unintended pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teenagers. Sexual health data demonstrates a need for those programs, she said.

According to CDC data, the teen birth rate in Wisconsin in 2024 was about 10 per 1,000 girls, with the rate dropping steadily in recent decades from a high of nearly 45 births per 1,000 girls in 1991.

“The overall rate is below the national average, but there are several counties with high rates,” Goodsitt said. “We know the birth rates for Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black teens were more than two times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic White teens.”

Across all racial groups, the STI rate is 1,979 per 100,000, but rates for Black, Native American, and Hispanic youth are especially high, Goodsitt said.

The grants DHS made with the federal money supported programs for teens “in a variety of settings including clinics, schools, community-based organizations, juvenile justice settings, and shelters — with the goal of decreasing unintended youth pregnancy rates, reducing STI rates among Wisconsin adolescents, and increasing the number/percent of youth who feel connected to their community and have access to youth-friendly services and resources,” Goodsitt said.

The 13 grants went to nonprofit education programs, three county public health departments, one public school district, the Department of Public Instruction and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Individual agency grants ranged from $7,500 per year to $130,375 per year.

“They are focused on populations with the highest teen birth rates and highest STI rates,” Goodsitt said. “Along with youth programming, organizations were also focused on family/parent/caregiver programming and engagement.”

From July 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026, the Wisconsin organizations reached 942 youth participants and 17 non-youth participants. “But without this grant funding, these activities will stop,” Goodsitt said.

State health dept. confirms US cuts for pregnancy prevention, seeks other funding was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

An individual rides a scooter on a sidewalk in downtown Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee officials spent more than 90 minutes Thursday debating the safety and regulation of dockless scooters, but stopped short of recommending any major changes.

But that doesn’t mean the discussion is over.

The council could ultimately impose a downtown speed limit, rip up the city’s agreement with Lime and establish a new fine structure.

But most of those things will have to wait.

The Public Safety & Health Committee held a proposal to impose a 5 mph scooter speed limit Downtown and competing proposals to dramatically boost fines for sidewalk riding.

Ald. Robert Bauman introduced the proposals after a June 16 collision in which a scooter rider traveling illegally on a downtown sidewalk struck and seriously injured Dave Wolz, the owner of La Cage nightclub. Wolz, who was leaving Old German Beer Hall, required spinal surgery and suffered other broken bones.

A downtown speed limit

Bauman called sidewalk riding “pretty rampant” and said the city’s existing approach is failing.

“The law is being violated repeatedly. [The Milwaukee Police Department] does not enforce it,” he said.

MPD has issued three citations in 2026 for sidewalk riding. The individual who struck Wolz was charged with a felony because of the severity of the injuries suffered.

Bauman proposed reducing the maximum scooter speed to 5 mph across a large portion of Downtown and the Marquette University campus.

“If you reduce the speed that these vehicles travel everywhere in the downtown area, then you also reduce the speed on sidewalks,” Bauman said. “Given the fact that we can’t stop the problem, I want to mitigate the problem.”

The speed limit is currently 15 mph, though the Department of Public Works (DPW) already uses geofencing to impose lower limits and no-ride zones in certain areas with a high potential for pedestrian conflicts, such as the lakefront.

Bauman acknowledged that the restriction would also slow riders who are legally operating in the street and make scooters less useful as a transportation option.

DPW Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke opposed a blanket 5 mph limit, though he said the department is open to creating additional slow zones.

“To do a blanket 5 mph of Downtown does not provide a full transportation option for our residents,” Kruschke said.

Ald. Mark Chambers Jr., the council’s leading scooter advocate, suggested a compromise of 10 mph throughout Downtown, which Bauman said he would accept. But the committee ultimately held the proposal to allow DPW to conduct an additional review.

Ald. Peter Burgelis warned that limiting scooters to 5 mph could make riding in traffic less safe. Burgelis and Kruschke also cautioned against regulating scooters and bicycles more aggressively than automobiles.

“I do not want to be more punitive to micromobility than we are to cars that are actually out there killing people,” Kruschke said. He noted that nine people have been killed in Milwaukee traffic crashes this year, and hundreds more have been injured.

Kruschke said Milwaukee is ready for micromobility, pointing to about 2.75 million scooter rides during the past two years. The city has installed 20 miles of protected bike lanes, with another 34.5 miles in development.

Bauman reached the opposite conclusion.

“That leads me to a conclusion that maybe Milwaukee is not ready for micromobility because our street infrastructure is not suited for those vehicles,” he said. Bauman endorsed building a network of protected lanes, but suggested scooters should wait until such a network exists.

Mike Amsden, DPW multimodal transportation manager, said observations typically show 70% to 80% of Lime riders using the street instead of the sidewalk. He characterized that as “pretty good, when you think of traffic safety and traffic laws in general,” while acknowledging that the city wants to improve compliance.

“We want to evaluate, observe, do better,” Amsden said.

Frustrations, praise for Lime

Lime representatives did not attend the meeting, drawing criticism from several council members. But Amsden said the company was told by DPW it did not need to appear.

“They have been a good partner over the last couple of years,” he said.

Amsden said Lime is not contractually required to prevent every instance of sidewalk riding. Instead, it must implement specific mitigation measures, including rider education and GPS-based geofencing.

“They are doing that as required by the terms of the contract,” he said.

Bauman was unconvinced. He compared Lime to a monopoly and criticized the company’s ability to collect fines from its own customers for violations.

“It’s almost ludicrous, actually, that we’re incentivizing them to permit sidewalk riding,” he said.

Others expressed surprise that Lime fines its own riders and gets to keep the payments.

Lime is the only dockless scooter company currently operating in Milwaukee. City rules allow two operators, but Spin withdrew from the market this spring. Lime’s current agreement, signed in May 2024, was extended through 2027, DPW officials said.

Bauman said he intends to introduce legislation at the next council meeting to terminate the agreement and negotiate a new contract that would impose penalties payable to the city when a scooter rider fails to comply with safety requirements.

“I don’t know that we want to deal with Lime anymore,” said the downtown alderman.

Ald. Sharlen P. Moore opposes terminating the contract and said the larger transportation-safety issue is dangerous driving.

“I want us to build a city that creates safety whether you’re in a car, whether you’re walking, biking, scooter — you name it,” she said.

Moore also acknowledged that she has ridden scooters on sidewalks because she felt safer there and did not know until recently that doing so was prohibited.

Ald. Larresa Taylor said scooter injuries should not be minimized by comparing them with the greater number of people injured by automobiles.

“Injuries are injuries, and they can be very life-changing,” she said. “We have to do a little better regulation than what we’re doing.”

Taylor said scooters remain a valuable transportation option and said that she looked forward to riding one to Summerfest to avoid paying for parking. But she called for more regulation, including stronger controls to prevent children from riding.

Lime requires riders to be at least 18, though the city does not independently establish a minimum age.

Bauman, as he has suggested in the past, encouraged DPW to work with Johnny Vassallo‘s Blue Duck scooter company. Vassallo, a Milwaukee entrepreneur, acquired the company during the pandemic, but Amsden said he doesn’t believe it is currently operating. DPW officials said they would explore the option as part of examining adding another operator.

Tenfold increase in fines for riders

The fine for riding a scooter or bicycle on a sidewalk is currently a minimum of $10 and a maximum of $20, which Bauman said was “almost laughable” given how few tickets are written.

“If there is no enforcement, you can make the fine $50,000. I’m not sure it makes a difference,” Bauman acknowledged.

His proposal is to raise the fine tenfold, to a $100 minimum and a $200 maximum.

But Burgelis is proposing to take things several steps further.

He would make the minimum $100, but the max $1,000.

Burgelis also would allow the city to fine Lime and any other provider up to $10,000 per instance of noncompliance with city safety guidelines regarding preventing sidewalk riding, georestrictions and other safety measures.

“The only noncompliance mechanism we have is to pull the contract and pull the plug,” Burgelis said of the current regime.

Bauman didn’t object, but suggested an alternative. “I think the preferred course for the operator accountability is to rewrite the contract,” he said.

Burgelis withdrew his proposal while the City Attorney’s Office reviews whether such a system would be legal and enforceable.

Bauman still wants his version passed, but the committee held off acting. Bauman suggested the council could act on July 14.

“I think this is a no-brainer, frankly,” he said.

But at least one council member thinks there could be unintended consequences.

Committee chair Ald. Scott Spiker questioned whether a substantially higher penalty could make officers even less inclined to issue citations.

Scooter use increasing

Scooter use continues to grow. Trips are up 26% year over year.

Revenue from the program, assessed on a per-trip and per-vehicle basis, is funding the city’s ability to build out related infrastructure.

The city collected approximately $728,000 from the program in 2025 and another $391,000 through May 2026.

Lime issued 4,991 fines to Milwaukee riders last year and suspended or banned approximately 450 users. The city does not currently impose a financial penalty on the company for individual instances of sidewalk riding, but does fine the company if it needs to relocate parking scooters.

Vagabond, 1122 N. Edison St. Photo taken on September 22, 2020 by Mariiana Tzotcheva.

Vagabond is entering its final month in business, with plans to close after service on July 18.

The Mexican-inspired restaurant has operated for nearly 12 years at 1122 N. Edison St., serving tacos, sandwiches and small plates in a dining room outfitted with 1970s-era decor.

The ownership group, which also operates The Harp Irish Pub, Trinity Three Irish Pubs and The Brewery, announced the closure in a news release Thursday.

“We are grateful to everyone who has made Vagabond part of their story,” CEO Matt Schmidt said in a statement. “Our team, our guests, our neighbors, and the downtown community have all helped shape what Vagabond became.”

News of the closure follows recent service changes at Vagabond, which reinstated regular lunch hours in April for the first time since 2020. The expanded hours also came with special deals, including two-for-$10 tacos and discounted sides.

Vagabond opened in late 2014, replacing Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant. Chef Ramsés Alvaréz developed the restaurant’s original menu to pair with its eclectic, retro-inspired decor, defined by graffitied walls, a converted Airstream trailer bar, neon lighting and a corner dedicated to Star Wars memorabilia.

The restaurant’s current menu features a wide variety of tacos — spicy pork verde, Korean beef, Sriracha chicken and vegetarian fried cauliflower, to name a few — alongside burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas and an Argentinian steak sandwich. Small plates and appetizers include ceviche, guacamole and cheese curds.

From the bar, Vagabond offers margaritas in several flavors, plus wine and a list of classic and signature cocktails. A dedicated tequila menu highlights more than a dozen options.

Schmidt’s statement did not hint at future plans for the building, which is owned by the Schmidt family. Instead, he shared a continued dedication to the local business scene.

“As we look ahead, we remain excited about future opportunities to grow, evolve, and bring memorable food, drink, and hospitality experiences to more guests throughout the Milwaukee metro area.”

The company’s other businesses, including the downtown venues and Water Street Brewery locations in Oak Creek, Delafield, and Grafton, remain open.

The business is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. and will show World Cup matches scheduled during those hours.

Brittany Caple, right, and her 3-year-old son, Abraham, cool off in the pool Monday, June 20, 2022, at Palmer Park in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

As heat blazes across Wisconsin, a new analysis finds that the state’s hottest month has been growing even hotter due to climate change.

Since 1970, July has warmed by an average of 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit in 94 percent of 243 cities analyzed nationwide, according to the nonprofit group Climate Central. Zack Labe, a climate scientist with the group, said climate change also pushed the mercury higher in Wisconsin cities.

“During the month of July, we’re seeing warming across Wisconsin on the order of about 1 to 3 degrees warmer today than in 1970, but we’re seeing much larger warming during the nighttime,” Labe said.

Milwaukee has seen the most July warming on average, while Wausau warmed the least among Wisconsin cities analyzed by Climate Central.

Milwaukee has warmed 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970. Image courtesy of Climate Central

The findings come as much of Wisconsin has faced extreme heat for days due to a heat dome where a large area of high pressure traps hot air over a region. Climate Central projected 70 percent of the country or about 239 million people will face peak heat Thursday with highs above 90 degrees.

The Milwaukee/Sullivan office of the National Weather Service extended an extreme heat warning through Thursday for parts of east central, south central and southeastern Wisconsin. Southern Wisconsin in particular is likely to see heat indexes over 100 degrees through Thursday with overnight lows higher than 70 degrees.

Wisconsin climate scientists have made similar findings that show counties have seen average summer temperatures warm 1 to 3 degrees since 1950. Nights hotter than 70 degrees have also tripled during that time, according to the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. The number of warm nights has grown from an average of three to eight, said Amanda Latham, a state climate outreach specialist.

“Those really warm nights have become a lot more common in Wisconsin as our climate has gotten warmer and our atmosphere has gotten more humid,” Latham said.

The number of nights hotter than 70 degrees Fahrenheit has tripled since 1950. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office

On Monday, La Crosse tied a record for its warmest overnight low of 81 degrees, which was last reached in 2012. Latham said multiple warm nights in a row can take a toll on the body, limiting people’s ability to cool off and recover from daytime heat.

“Especially if someone doesn’t have air conditioning at home, or they’re an outdoor worker and they’re really exposed to that heat a lot, that really increases the risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke,” Latham said.

Extreme heat is the nation’s deadliest weather hazard. Since Monday, hospitals in Milwaukee County have seen a spike in emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses with 52 visits as of Thursday morning. The state’s summer health hazards dashboard shows a similar spike for Wisconsin as a whole with 183 visits for heat-related illnesses since Sunday, including 110 visits on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Health Department has a map of public places with air conditioning on its website. Milwaukee County Parks also lists dozens of indoor and outdoor pools, splash pads and beaches where people can cool off. In Madison, public health officials have advised that senior and community centers, libraries and malls are good places to stay cool.

Most of the state has seen no change in the number of days with extreme heat, or hotter than 90 degrees Fahrenheit, since 1950. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office

As nights grow hotter, most of Wisconsin hasn’t seen a change in the number of 90-degree days since 1950.

Labe said the Midwest is often nicknamed the “warming hole” due to lacking a trend of higher daytime temperatures during the summer.

“It’s an active area of research, but some people link it to increases in cloud cover and more precipitation that we’ve been seeing during the summertime,” Labe said, noting that helps dampen temperatures on hot days.

But that’s likely to change by mid-century. Wisconsin is slated to see roughly triple the number of extremely hot days, increasing from 9 to 26 days.

In the near future, Wisconsin can expect some relief with lower heat and humidity by the end of the weekend. However, much of the state is expected to remain warmer than normal next week.

New analysis says Wisconsin’s hottest month is growing hotter for some cities was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Conceptual rendering of the new courthouse (right) and the historic courthouse (left) with a new entrace on MacArthur Square.

The price for a new criminal courthouse in Milwaukee just went up, dramatically.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley‘s administration has spent the past few years nudging along planning and design to replace the dilapidated, nearly 100-year-old Safety Building at 821 W. State St. They’ve designed a flexible, modern courthouse focused on safety and ease of access for those working in and interacting with the criminal justice system. There are also facilities specifically designed for problem-solving courts that take a holistic approach to criminal justice, considering an individual’s life circumstances alongside their criminal violations.

For years, administration officials have pegged total project costs somewhere between $450 and $500 million. In the past year, that figure has landed on $490 million.

On Wednesday, the Crowley administration released a statement to Urban Milwaukee saying the project is now estimated to cost $897 million in total.

The new cost estimate covers demolition of the Safety Building and construction of a new courthouse; construction of a new entrance on MacArthur Square to the historic courthouse, 901 N. 9th St.; leased swing space for court operations during construction; a new skyway between the courthouse and the Milwaukee County Jail; and upgrades to the jail, which do not include adding additional jail capacity.

Initially, the Crowley administration lobbied the state for $250 million to support the project. It didn’t secure direct support, but it did receive new funding in the most recent state biennial budget for expressway patrols conducted by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). In 2026, the administration, with approval from the county board, took $15.8 million in property tax funds — offset by the new state funds — out of the MCSO budget and moved it to the courthouse project.

The county is also expected to borrow millions of dollars and pay off the debt by increasing its property tax levy.

Under the previous cost estimate, the increase was expected to translate to approximately $88 a year for a property with a value of $250,000.

The county has already budgeted $38.6 million for planning and design costs. The cash made available by the expressway patrol funding would save local taxpayers $94.8 million during construction, according to the Crowley administration. Once construction is over, if the funding is applied to pay down the debt, it will save taxpayers another $316.4 million.

In total, the county is expecting to borrow $763 million for the new project. An outside spokesperson doing communications for the Crowley administration declined to comment on the estimated interest costs associated with that much debt.

In the statement released Wednesday, the administration did not express support for pausing regular county borrowing for infrastructure and maintenance in Milwaukee County Parks or other county properties during construction. A borrowing moratorium was previously discussed by administration officials and county supervisors.

The time is now; that’s the view of the Crowley administration and partners on the county board and in the circuit court system. Doing nothing is not cost-neutral, in terms of infrastructure or the functioning of the court system, they say.

“We are faced with an urgent need. The Public Safety Building has well surpassed the end of its life. The question in front of us isn’t whether we replace it, but when we will do it and how responsibly we can get it done,” Crowley said in a statement. “At the same time, this structural need presents the rare opportunity to make a generational investment in a safer community, greater accessibility, and more efficient services. Milwaukee County can live out our values and priorities without breaking the bank.”

The Safety Building is considered by court officials an impediment to the smooth, safe operation of the circuit court system. According to county officials, there is inadequate meeting space, leaving attorneys to sometimes hold meetings over hallway trash cans, and there are no separate passageways for defendants, people in custody, victims or family members, which has led to violence and mistrials. The administration estimates it would cost $334 million just to perform all necessary building maintenance and bring the building up to code, which would still leave the operational issues.

“Let me be blunt: Doing nothing isn’t free. This building is going to cost us whether we act or not, and every month we wait, that number climbs and the risk of emergency repairs increases,” Supervisor Steve F. Taylor, chairman of the Committee on Finance, said in a statement. “My job is to protect the people who pay the bills, and that means getting a new courthouse built without dumping the whole tab in the laps of Milwaukee County taxpayers.”

The development team has attempted to value-engineer the project wherever possible. Chief Judge Carl Ashley recently told supervisors during a June 15 meeting of the Committee on Finance that he agreed to fewer courtrooms than he would have preferred, knowing the building is being designed for future flexibility. At that meeting, Aaron Hertzberg, director of the Department of Administration, also told supervisors in June that the county planners have cut $100 million in costs from the project compared to what was initially recommended by design consultants.

Sup. Anne O’Connor encouraged Hertzberg to put effort into communicating the financial cost and the community need of the project to stakeholders. “We are the ones here that are really gonna hear it when the taxes go up,” she said.

Sup. Shawn Rolland, who works in communications for Northwestern Mutual, offered some advice on this front. He said no one in the public wants a new courthouse. “They do want faster wait times. They do want fewer days to clear felony cases. They do want ADA compliance everywhere. They do want more victim support … They do want our capital backlog to be basically halved by a big project like this. They don’t want as many safety incidents.”

Being able to easily explain the project’s impact on these issues would help supervisors communicate the project’s need to residents, he said.

Design is expected to continue into 2028, when demolition of the Safety Building is planned to begin. Construction is expected to last from 2029 to 2032.

Wisconsin Superintendent Jill Underly speaks during a press conference Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, at the Tommy G. Thompson Center in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is being sued for allegedly “hiding public records” related to educator licenses, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a Wisconsin law firm.

The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty says it requested records in August 2025 related to how many educators were denied licenses for failing to complete a DPI-approved educator preparation program that meets specific criteria.

After months of no contact, DPI responded, saying the agency had located 1,381 denied applications but said they would have to review the applications by hand, costing $49.26 per hour at a cost of $34,014, said WILL attorney Lauren Greuel.

“An informed electorate is essential to representative government, which is why Wisconsin law strongly favors public access to government records,” Greuel said. “After months of delay, DPI is attempting to price the public out of that access by imposing tens of thousands of dollars in unlawful fees. Government transparency cannot depend on whether citizens can afford to pay for it.”

DPI spokesperson Alison Parkins said in an email to WPR that the agency could not respond in detail due to pending litigation.

“However, the estimate reflects the time and resources required to produce the requested records, in accordance with Wisconsin’s open records laws,” Parkins said in a statement. “Defending lawsuits from special interest groups such as this requires taxpayer-funded resources that are diverted from our core mission of supporting Wisconsin schools, educators, and students.”

On April 17, DPI general counsel Kyle Olsen emailed WILL that the agency’s licensing system is dated and cumbersome.

Olsen said a DPI employee would need to screenshot each application, as well as download and organize attachments uploaded by applicants.

“Our licensing team estimates it would take 30 minutes per application to retrieve all of the information you are now requesting. That would be a total cost estimate of $34,014,” Olsen wrote.

WILL’s lawsuit asks a judge to compel DPI to immediately release the records regarding denied educator licenses.

Greuel says her law firm currently has five open records requests with DPI and the department should not be afraid to fill them because they are afraid of being sued.

“They can’t pick and choose who to give records to based on the motivation for the open records request,” she said. “Quite frankly, I know, people can disagree with our mission, but we want to help education in Wisconsin be better. That is one of our goals, and that’s part of our motivation for sending these open records requests, and I hope that that’s a goal that we and DPI can agree on.”

Wisconsin law firm sues Department of Public Instruction over public records was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

5518-5520 W. Vliet St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

While moonlighting as a bartender in the tiny Wisconsin village of Rome, Nate Stiemke‘s daytime uniform, a suit and tie, earned him the nickname Fancy.

That moniker will live on as the name of his first business venture, a bar planned for the former Biersal Tavern at 5520 W. Vliet St.

With a target opening date in late summer, Fancy’s hopes to revive the corner building as a neighborhood hangout. “I’m really shooting for that classic corner bar,” Stiemke said, noting plans for a pool table and several TVs. “People in the neighborhood said they wanted a place to sit down and watch the game, and I agree,” he said.

Behind the bar, 16 tap lines will feature a mix of local craft and domestic brews. “High Life on tap is definitely going to be a thing here,” said Stiemke, adding that he’ll also offer a list of “really good quality cocktails.”

Stiemke, whose career also includes bar management and wine sales, stumbled upon the Washington Heights space through a Facebook ad. “I messaged the owners right away,” he said. “As soon as I saw it in person, I was like, ‘I need to be in this place.’”

The building, owned by Andy and Keri Guidinger, has been home to a variety of tavern concepts over the decades, with recent tenants including Wonder Bar and Biersal. Stiemke plans to preserve elements from both, including the extensive renovations completed by former Biersal operator Eric Gutbrod.

“The bar itself is beautiful,” he said, pointing to the tin ceiling, wood-paneled walls and original armrest rail. “You can see all the marks on it from people from way back in the day. I just thought it was awesome that they were able to preserve a bit of the history.”

He’s also considering bringing back Wonder Bar’s free-peanut tradition, but with a cleaner alternative to tossing shells on the floor. “I heard there was a lot of cleanup,” he said. “But I’ll definitely have some sort of peanut-esque something available.”

Stiemke’s own additions will include new seating, a popcorn machine and antique oak booths rescued from another local bar. Updated signage is also in the works.

A license application for Fancy’s is pending before the Milwaukee Common Council. If approved, the proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, with the possibility of earlier openings during neighborhood events.

Stiemke said he’s eager to make his mark on the historic building.

“I love all the history of the place, from it being built by a church to sell potatoes out of during the Great Depression, to being The Four Walls, to the Wonder Bar. That’s definitely something I’d like to keep represented, and hopefully be a big part of the building’s history down the line.”

Francesca Hong, a leading candidate for governor of Wisconsin, appears on a livestream with Hasan Piker on Monday, June 29. Screenshot via YouTube

When state Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, took part in two livestreams on Monday, it was a sign of the times. Leading Twitch and YouTube streamers have greater reach than many traditional media platforms, and appearances with these new-media influencers are an avenue to broader recognition.

The appearances got eyeballs on Hong, and raised money for her gubernatorial campaign, where she’s a leading Democratic contender. But they also drew criticism for associating with streamers who have made comments some have found to be antisemitic and anti-American in the past.

The two streamers that Hong joined on Monday are well-known leftist provocateurs. Michael Beyer, who goes by Mike from PA, has over 100,000 followers on Twitch. Hasan Piker, among the most successful political streamers around, has more than 3 million.

Piker has said America “deserved” the September 11 attacks, a comment he later said was intended to highlight the United States’ foreign policy choices. He also said that reports of sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israelis “don’t matter” to his broader understanding of the conflict.

Beyer has called Jews a “constructed” and “demonic” ethnicity. He later said he was speaking about Zionists, referring to the political ideology that Israel should exist as a self-determined Jewish homeland.

Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said for Hong to stand alongside these men reflects an endorsement of antisemitic ideas. On Wednesday, Jacobs tweeted that Hong was “willing to sell out the Jews of Wisconsin for a few bucks.”

“Why are those people you want to be in conversation with? Is it just for the money? You’re willing to sell out the Jews of Wisconsin so that you can raise money? That’s disturbing,” said Jacobs, who also co-chairs the Jewish Caucus of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, in an interview with WPR.

“I don’t think we should tolerate all forms of opinions,” she added. “I don’t think that we should tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all these other hate groups that are rampant right now on social media.”

In an extensive response to WPR’s questions, a spokesperson for Hong’s campaign condemned antisemitism among “all forms of dehumanization” that “have no place in Wisconsin politics or in the movement we are building.”

“Appearing on a podcast or livestream is not an endorsement of every statement a host has ever made. Fran is willing to go anywhere and talk to anyone about her vision for a better, more compassionate world,” the spokesperson said. “Sometimes that means talking to people who have said pretty nasty things. Speaking with them isn’t an endorsement of those perspectives; it’s a way to reach people who have been isolated from conversations about community, compassion, and the systems of power and control that contribute to the struggles we share.”

Over the course of those two appearances, in which Hong chatted about Milwaukee’s socialist history, handed out merch and ate Korean food, Hong raised about $92,000 for her campaign — $35,000 from the Beyer stream, $57,000 from appearing with Piker. Piker added that he’d fly out to Wisconsin to help Hong campaign for getting over $50,000.

Francesca Hong, a leading candidate for governor of Wisconsin, appears on a livestream with Hasan Piker on Monday, June 29. Screenshot via YouTube

Rival Democrat calls Piker ‘beyond the pale’

Reaching unusual audiences and untapped voters can make a big difference in a crowded primary, where the outcome can be tipped by just a few thousand votes. But other Democrats running for Wisconsin’s highest office have said they’d draw the line at appearing with certain people, including Piker.

“I am open to all reasonable, pragmatic conversations about how to move our state forward, but Hasan Piker’s statements are beyond the pale and I would not appear with him if invited,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley wrote on social media. “This race isn’t about who can generate the most viewers on their livestream by making outrageous and offensive statements.”

Aligning with controversial media figures holds the risk of alienating some voters. But Piker’s star power has benefitted some candidates, especially those on the far left of America’s political spectrum, including ascendant Democratic Socialist candidates. He’s boosted the profile of Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate in Michigan’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, and Adam Hamawy’s Congressional race in New Jersey. Piker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hong’s campaign said that, when deciding which media to appear on, the primary aim is “reaching people who are being ignored by traditional campaigns and having substantive conversations about policy issues.”

“The platforms that are reaching young, working-class, and politically disengaged voters are going to shape this election, whether Democrats participate or not,” Hong’s spokesperson said. “If we refuse to show up, those voters will hear only from the right, from the conspiracy theorists, or from people who do not share our values.”

Asked how she’d vote if Hong eventually secures the Democratic nomination, Jacobs, who is backing Crowley, said she is a “Democrat through and through.”

“We’re going to be in a position of having to really figure out what could be done to assist the party in bringing skeptical Jews back into the fold,” she said.

Dem socialist Hong’s appearance on left-wing livestreams draws cash, condemnations was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Milwaukee Federal Courthouse. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva

Federal prosecutors are suggesting Hannah Dugan be sentenced to more than a year behind bars for obstructing a federal immigration operation in April last year.

“This was a serious offense, and it warrants a correspondingly serious sentence,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed in federal court on July 1.

Prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines suggest a sentence of 15 to 21 months would be appropriate in Dugan’s case. They also pointed to historical sentencing data showing that defendants with similar criminal histories and violations were sentenced to an average of 16 months.

Dugan’s attorneys are suggesting a sentence of time served. They say in a memo that sentencing “need not do worse” to Dugan than the public humiliation and loss of her career she has already suffered. They argue the guidelines suggest a sentence of zero to six months when evaluating the actual conduct, not just the charge she was convicted of.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman has presided over the case. He has set a sentencing hearing for July 8.

Dugan was charged with one count of federal misdemeanor obstruction of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)operation and another count of concealing an individual from arrest. On the count of concealment, she was not convicted.

The charges stemmed from an April 2025 incident at the county courthouse, when agents with ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies went there to arrest an undocumented immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, appearing in Dugan’s courtroom. Dugan spoke to the agents and later let Flores-Ruiz exit her courtroom through a side door. She was convicted on one count of obstruction in December.

Dugan tried twice to have her conviction overturned. Her legal team pushed for a new trial, in part based on the split verdict. Later, they argued new case law out of Virginia had materially altered the government’s case against her. In both instances, Adelman upheld her conviction.

Federal prosecutors said pointed to Dugan’s privileged childhood, her extensive education and history of civic leadership as evidence “that she had no reason to involve herself in criminally obstructive conduct.” As a judge, Dugan “was entrusted with authority and responsibility that few citizens possess,” prosecutors said. “As a lawyer and judge, she had a far better understanding than the average defendant of the type of conduct that constitutes obstruction. As an elected official, she also agreed to be held to a higher standard of ethical conduct.”

Prosecutors argued Adelman needs to promote respect for the law in sentencing Dugan. They said Dugan’s refusal to admit wrongdoing shows she did not have “a momentary lapse in judgment followed by reflection or remorse” and that she has continued to argue her actions were legal.

“To be clear, the government does not seek punishment for the defendant’s exercise of her Constitutional right to trial,” prosecutors wrote. “Rather, the Court simply should consider the defendant’s continued minimization of her conduct and persistent refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing when evaluating the need to promote respect for the law.”

Dugan’s attorneys, asking for a sentence of time served, say she has already suffered the loss of her judicial career; that threats against her have forced her out of her home and she has withdrawn from community and religious events, despite being deeply religious; and that she faces security concerns that will persist regardless of the court’s sentence.

“She, of course, has no prior criminal record; the offense was isolated and unique; and there is no possibility of her repeating it,” Dugan’s attorneys said. “She was handcuffed and shackled during her arrest, photographed publicly by plan, and intentionally shamed from coast to coast by the leadership of the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI. There is no need for further deterrence, either specifically or generally.”

Local community members and current and former judges wrote letters to the court praising Dugan’s selflessness and dedication to public service. Judge Joseph Wall wrote that Dugan has shown “a career-long commitment to the poor and powerless.”

Her attorneys also argue that Dugan’s conduct was not for personal gain, regardless of whether she was correct in her actions.

“Judge Dugan’s attempt to exercise her state law authority was not malicious or self-serving,” her attorneys wrote. “Her effort to protect the state judiciary’s authority and independence was not an attempt at personal or private gain.”

Her attorneys also note the man Dugan sent out of her courtroom was given a sentence of time served for illegally entering the U.S. They also point to the only other similar case in U.S. history, which occurred in 2019 when a Massachusetts judge faced an obstruction charge after letting an immigrant targeted by ICE out of a side door of her courtroom. That judge, Massachusetts District Court Judge Shelley Joseph, had her charges dismissed under a deferred prosecution agreement in 2022.

Conceptual rendering of new Milwaukee County criminal courthouse.

A new Milwaukee County criminal courthouse could nearly double Milwaukee County’s debt, leading to an increase in property taxes.

County Executive David Crowley‘s administration has not publicly released a recommended strategy for financing the massive project, estimated to cost $490 million. To date, the county has budgeted for approximately $54.5 million in cash financing and $436 million in debt, according to a May report by the Office of the Comptroller.

Under state law, the county can borrow to cover infrastructure costs, which it does by issuing debt in the form of municipal bonds. But if the county borrows the remaining $436 million for the project, the county’s overall outstanding debt will nearly double from $484.5 million to $890.4 million, according to the comptroller report. When factoring in the cost of interest on the debt over the life of the bonds, the cost rises from $436 million to $748 million.

The new courthouse would replace the dilapidated, nearly 100-year-old Safety Building at 821 W. State St. It is considered by court officials to be an impediment to the smooth, safe operations of a circuit court system. The historic courthouse at 901 N. 9th Street would remain and receive updates. The county development team is designing a flexible, modern courthouse focused on safety and ease of access for those working in and interacting with the criminal justice system. There are also facilities specifically designed for problem-solving courts that take a holistic approach to criminal justice considering an individual’s life circumstances alongside their criminal violations.

In 2025, the Crowley administration, alongside partners from the courts like Chief Judge Carl Ashley, lobbied for $250 million in funding from the state biennial budget. In the end, the county received only $40 million for expressway patrol funding, which the administration is only passing through the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office budget as a backdoor financing mechanism.

Without state support, the question remains: How will the county finance the courthouse project?

In recent months, county supervisors have heard some ideas from administration officials and the comptroller. They boil down to two general strategies. The first is a temporary moratorium on county infrastructure spending to direct all the county’s available resources toward construction of the courthouse, called a bonding moratorium. The second is simpler: raise property taxes.

Under state law, the county’s authority to raise property taxes is strictly constrained unless it is raising taxes to pay back debt. The county has a statutory debt limit of approximately $5.3 billion. The county is currently exercising only about 8% of the statutory limit, according to a June project report to the county board. Still, as acting deputy chief of staff Jeremy Lucas has noted, the state debt limit isn’t a realistic figure for the county’s potential capacity to borrow. “I would say no one would loan us $5.3 billion,” he told the board’s Committee on Community, Environment and Economic Development on June 15.

If the county bonds for the remaining project costs, the administration estimates property taxes will increase by approximately $88 per year for a home with an equalized value of $250,000, according to reports released to supervisors in June and to the county board.

But that’s based on current costs. “The project costs are still in refinement; they continue to grow,” Aaron Hertzberg, director of the Department of Administrative Services told supervisors during a June 15 Committee on Finance meeting.

The county also has a self-imposed bonding limit, which was approximately $56 million in 2026. This is the limit on borrowing for infrastructure projects across the county — for Milwaukee County Parks, county highways, the Milwaukee County Transit System, the Milwaukee County Zoo and more. In 2026, the county had more than $100 million worth of project requests that did not receive funding, according to a recent report to county supervisors from the Facilities Management Division.

The new courthouse represents the single largest infrastructure project needed in the county, according to the facilities report. But across the county, there is an estimated $1 billion in infrastructure needs over the next five years, including $500 million in Milwaukee County Parks. For this reason, supervisors on the Committee on Finance were taken aback when the idea of a two-year bonding moratorium came up in a report from the comptroller in May.

Sup. Shawn Rolland said it was a “pretty significant” suggestion that the county could stop borrowing for other infrastructure spending for two years. Said Sup. Justin Bielinski: “The idea of taking two years off of bonding altogether for one particular project that doubles our debt service in a year seems to be quite rash.”

The county did it in the past. In 2009, while taking advantage of a federal program that reimbursed interest costs in the wake of the global financial crisis, the county lumped three years (2009-2011) of capital projects into two budgets, then didn’t issue any debt in 2011 or 2012, said Pamela Bryant, director of finance for the comptroller.

Justin Rodriguez, capital projects manager for the comptroller, noted that policymakers could also simply reduce regular bonding, in lieu of an outright moratorium.

At that meeting, Hertzberg cautioned that this was just one piece of a larger analysis of the county’s financing options. When Facilities Management reported to supervisors on deferred maintenance in June, it also reported that a bonding moratorium for other infrastructure needs would significantly worsen the county’s backlog of maintenance, pushing infrastructure to more failures, more emergency fixes, impacts to county services and higher future costs.

The courthouse is also a major contributor to the county’s list of deferred maintenance.

“There’s a cost to inaction,” Hertzberg told the Committee on Finance in June. “If we continue to defer maintenance, it catches up with us at some point and has direct impacts on our operational budget.”

The Crowley administration is expected to release a new cost estimate and a recommendation for financing the project in July.

During the June Committee on Finance meeting, Sup. Anne O’Connor suggested the administration work with community stakeholders to explain the project’s rationale and financial implications.

“We are the ones here that are really gonna hear it when the taxes go up,” she warned.

Update: This story has been updated to clarify that the new courthouse would replace the Safety Building at 821 W. State St., not the historic courthouse at 901 N. 9th Street.

Interior of the Linnwood Water Treatment Plant. Filter beds are in rooms on each side of the hallway. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Two Waukesha County municipalities are in the early stages of requesting access to Lake Michigan water via the City of Milwaukee, which could result in a high-stakes vote by Great Lakes governors.

The City of Pewaukee and the Village of Pewaukee have both retained the engineering firm Strand Associates to study the costs of maintaining their well water supply or switching to Lake Michigan water, with initial reports indicating cost savings from switching to Milwaukee water.

Both communities have seen rapidly rising costs to maintain their well networks amid increasing radium contamination and a looming need to remove PFAS. Radium is a naturally occurring metal, while PFAS is a term for a collection of thousands of synthetic “forever chemicals” that do not break down.

The presence of radium led the neighboring City of Waukesha to embark on a nearly two-decade quest to secure a new water source, a process that ultimately cost the city almost $300 million plus higher rates for residents.

The city and village of Pewaukee, according to an initial analysis, would spend more than $500 million in the next 50 years to join Waukesha in switching to Lake Michigan water. They have already faced drastically rising rates to maintain well water.

Earlier this year, the Village of Pewaukee instituted a rate increase, hiking water rates by almost 70%. It faces $25 million in Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-ordered costs to upgrade or replace its wells.

“The cost has been increasing and is going to continue to increase exponentially,” said Dave Buechl, village public works director, when the village trustees first reviewed the concept on Jan. 20.

For both Pewaukee communities, Strand believes switching to Milwaukee Water Works-supplied water would be less costly, less risky and more environmentally sustainable than continuing to rely on well water.

“Make no mistake, this is a long, pretty involved process,” said Ben Wood, senior project engineer with Strand, to the City of Pewaukee on Dec. 15.

The 16,000-resident city is a linchpin in the deal. Strand’s analysis concluded that over 50 years it would cost $338 million to maintain a groundwater system, $329 million to connect to Waukesha and purchase resold Milwaukee water, $355 million to build a direct connection to Milwaukee, and $382 million to wait 25 years and then build a connection to Waukesha. All costs were discounted to 2025 dollars.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Steve Bierce, Pewaukee mayor, on Dec. 15.

The 8,000-resident village would, according to Strand’s initial analysis, only have a viable lake pathway if the city first connects. Strand believes it would cost the village $224 million to maintain its groundwater supply and $223 million to switch to lake water via the City of Pewaukee’s connection.

“There is no cheap alternative,” said Wood to the village board on Jan. 20.

But no official in either community has publicly told Strand to stop studying the issue.

Wood said both communities must confront the need to continually replace wells and the likelihood future regulations would only increase the cost to treat water.

But much study remains to be done.

“We are not saying and recommending at this point that ‘yes, this is a good idea,'” said Wood on Jan. 20.

Waukesha County municipalities, because a portion of the county lies within the Great Lakes basin, are eligible to request water diversions under the 2008 Great Lakes Compact, a legally binding agreement between the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces.

Wood said 2026 would be used to rule out any “dealbreaker” factors; a diversion request could be submitted to the DNR in 2027, setting up a vote of the regional governors; and construction, if approved, could take place from 2028 through 2030. The DNR, said Wood, already advised Strand to expect the process to take at least five years.

The communities need to iron out whether the neighboring Village of Lisbon, which faces many of the same issues, would be included, how treated water would be returned to the Great Lakes, and how the different connection points would be structured. The initial water return plan envisions using Waukesha’s treatment plant and 23-mile return pipe to send water into the Root River and Great Lakes basin, but Wood said questions remain about capacity.

Will Milwaukee sell?

Getting the water requires a city willing to sell.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, via a spokesperson, hasn’t committed one way or the other.

“This is a well-regulated issue, and the Mayor supports the Great Lakes Compact,” said a spokesperson via email. “Water moving outside the Great Lakes watershed should be rare and based on a very compelling need.”

Mayor Johnson inherited the Waukesha deal, but toasted to its completion in 2023.

The spokesperson said no negotiations have been initiated with the city or Milwaukee Water Works. Wood’s December testimony said no discussion has taken place and the cost estimates for MWW are based on its published water rates.

Unlike the Waukesha diversion process, the City of Milwaukee has substantially more leverage with Pewaukee.

After talks with Milwaukee and Waukesha broke off 16 years ago, Waukesha pursued water from Oak Creek. Milwaukee returned to the table after the diversion was approved in 2016 as the lower-cost option, saving Waukesha $40 million in capital costs. Milwaukee’s status as the lower-cost option is now cemented by Waukesha’s $286 million investment. The pipeline connecting Milwaukee to Waukesha gives Milwaukee a 13-mile head start on any competing Great Lakes community.

Strand, on behalf of the City of Pewaukee, explored the possibility of building a new connection to Milwaukee. But that option, a 10-mile pipe running along W. Lisbon Road from the edge of MWW’s network in Butler, is estimated to cost $355 million, $26 million more than paying Waukesha for Milwaukee water, even though Waukesha would charge a substantial premium on the city’s rate. Waukesha, according to Wood, would request the higher rate to retire debt tied to the Milwaukee connection buildout and to build a new connection with the City of Pewaukee.

The Public Service Commission, the state’s utility oversight board, would ultimately govern the rates. The rate of return, a profit metric, is generally capped at 6%, said Wood. Milwaukee, as of 2023, expected to make a profit of $150,000 to $200,000 annually on the Waukesha deal for more than 6 million gallons of water per day.

According to public documents, the City of Pewaukee uses an estimated 2.8 million gallons per day and the Village of Pewaukee uses between 850,000 and 1.2 million gallons per day on average.

Neither, according to Strand’s presentations, is expected to see substantial growth. And any diversion would include a defined service area to prevent annexation-induced growth.

MWW has excess capacity primarily due to deindustrialization and efficiency improvements. With two plants, it has a rated capacity of more than 385 million gallons per day.

Seventeen communities, including Milwaukee, rely on MWW water.

The city sells water at a wholesale rate to Brown Deer, Butler, Greendale, Menomonee Falls, Mequon, New Berlin, Shorewood, Thiensville, Wauwatosa, Waukesha and West Allis, which resell the water through their own utilities. MWW sells water at retail rates and performs billing for Greenfield, Hales Corners, St. Francis, Franklin and West Milwaukee.

The need for a Great Lakes road show

Even if Milwaukee, the two municipalities and the DNR can come to an agreement, seven other governors get to weigh in.

A diversion to a community outside of the Great Lakes basin requires a unanimous vote of the governors of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The first and only time such a vote occurred was in 2016 for the City of Waukesha. Mayor Shawn Reilly and Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Daniel Duchniak said they literally went on a state-by-state roadshow to make their case for approving the diversion.

Municipalities that are partially in the basin, such as New Berlin, Mount Pleasant and Somers, have been authorized for diversions by the governor.

Photo courtesy of the Fine Arts Quartet.

Throughout its 80-year history, the Fine Arts Quartet has incorporated repertoire ranging well beyond music written for two violins, viola and cello. In May, during the first installment of this year’s annual residency in Milwaukee, the FAQ performed quartet-plus-one pieces written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Violinists Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, violist Gil Sharon and cellist Niklas Schmidt expand upon that theme on July 10 and 12, presenting two free concerts pairing strings and piano. The recitals are organized by Friends of the Fine Arts Quartet.

The FAQ’s July 10 concert spotlights two of the 16 chamber works Johannes Brahms wrote for strings and piano. Susan Key writes for the LA Phil that “each takes advantage of the [piano’s] power, range and contrast with the strings.”

The dark, dramatic C Minor Quartet No. 3 for violin, viola, cello and piano “offers plenty of interpretive temptations,” Key says. Brahms himself suggested it was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1774 novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther.” The hero of the tale, Werther, commits suicide after falling in love with a married woman. Others believe the quartet contains musical references to Brahms’ own unrequited love for a married woman, pianist Clara Schumann. Pianist Gisele Witkowski will join the FAQ for the performance.

The F Minor Quintet for Piano and Strings is something of a hybrid. Brahms first wrote it for string quintet, adding a second cello. Responding to Brahms’ request for feedback, violinist Joseph Joachim didn’t exactly give it two thumbs up. “Every line shows some proof of overpowering strength,” he said. “But what is lacking is, in a word, charm.” Brahms then transcribed the string quintet as a sonata for two pianos. His dear friend Clara Schumann encouraged him to “please, remodel it once more!” Pianist Hermann Levi suggested the piano quintet form; that’s the version FAQ will perform with pianist Fabio Witkowski. “You have turned a monotonous work for two pianos into a thing of great beauty,” Levi wrote to Brahms. Its four movements express heroic tragedy, romance, suspense and smoldering tension.

The July 12 FAQ recital features pianist Alon Goldstein in performance of three concertos by Mozart, in which the string quartet, plus guest string bassist Patricia Weitzel, stand in for a larger chamber orchestra.

Mozart composed the three concertos, Nos. 11, 12 and 13, while living in Vienna. All three, all in major keys, were written as a group for performance at subscription concerts Mozart organized, hoping to gain recognition in that most musical of cities. In a letter to his father, Mozart called the three works “a happy medium between what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the ear and natural, without being vapid.”

Aiming to earn revenue from not only the sale of concert tickets but also the sale of scores, Mozart wrote and advertised the three concertos as being appropriate for playing with a chamber orchestra in the concert hall and at home accompanied by only a “quattro” (a string quartet). The FAQ will play the intimate piano-plus-quattro versions.

Both FAQ concerts take place at the UWM Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. The Friday, July 10 concert begins at 7:30 p.m., with a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. The Sunday, July 12 concert is at 3 p.m., with a pre-talk at 2 p.m. No tickets or reservations are required.

A pickup truck drives through a flooded street in Shiocton, Wis., on April 15, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he had called U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s Republican candidate for governor, to tell him that his administration had approved $22.6 million in “in its Disaster Declaration Request, for Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding.”

But the statement didn’t mention Wisconsin’s sitting governor, Democrat Tony Evers, and it didn’t have any additional information.

Trump made the announcement Wednesday evening on his social media platform Truth Social, stating that he called Tiffany “(who has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Governor!).” The statement also boosted other Republican members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation.

“The wonderful people of Wisconsin are in good hands with Tom, alongside Senator Ron Johnson, and ‘Trump Endorsed’ Congressmen Bryan Steil, Derrick Van Orden, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, and Tony Wied. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

In late May, every Democrat and Republican in Wisconsin’s delegation signed on to a letter urging Trump to approve a disaster declaration for severe April storms that caused an estimated $27 million in damage.

Tiffany, R-Minocqua, responded to the President’s news with a social media post thanking Trump and stating that “when severe weather hit Wisconsin, I called the White House to help secure the federal support our state needs.” U.S. Rep. Wied, R-De Pere, said he is grateful to Trump for approving the state’s assistance request and is glad to see northeast Wisconsin receive the relief it deserves.

“I look forward to seeing these much-needed funds delivered to communities across (the 8th Congressional District) very soon,” said Wied.

Evers: ‘Wisconsinites and I will believe it when we see it’

Evers seemed nonplussed in his own statement posted to social media about Trump’s announcement.

“President Trump and the Trump Administration have declined tens of millions of dollars in Wisconsin disaster relief requests and have been playing politics by withholding emergency FEMA assistance from states across our country that’s supposed to go to helping families and communities rebuild and recover after a disaster—and all while he uses taxpayer dollars to build himself a golden ballroom,” said Evers. “So, Wisconsinites and I will believe it when we see it.”

Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said the governor’s office hasn’t received any formal notification from the Trump administration.

“It’s not at all clear which disaster this is for, which counties will be eligible, or how this supposed funding can be used,” Cudaback said. “We contacted FEMA, and they don’t even have the paperwork.”

When asked by WPR in an email for more details about the type of aid and when it might be arriving, a White House Press account replied “Refer you to the TRUTH,” referencing Trump’s social media post.

Trump says $22.6M in disaster aid is coming to Wisconsin, but Gov. Evers seems skeptical was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Wisconsin Supreme Court. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva.

Two lawsuits currently before the Wisconsin Supreme Court challenge Wisconsin’s eight U.S. House districts. The route these challenges have taken results from provisions of a Republican-backed Wisconsin law enacted in 2011.

Both lawsuits are brought under provisions contained in Act 39, a 2011 law passed with the support of all Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker. Sections 28 and 29 of Act 39 added language to state statutes to create three-judge panels to consider challenges to congressional or state legislative districts.

Under this process, within five days of the filing of a challenge, the clerk of courts for the county where the action is filed must notify the clerk of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Upon receiving this notice, “the supreme court shall appoint a panel of three circuit court judges … to hear the matter” (paragraphs 801.50(4m) and 751.035 of the statutes).

The language added by Act 39 to the statutes places several requirements on the panels. The three judges must be from different circuits. No party may move for substitution of any circuit court judge assigned to a panel. Any appeal from an order or decision issued by a panel can be heard only by the Supreme Court and not by a court of appeals.

These requirements clearly are aimed at suppressing judge-shopping, in which a party files suit in a county that is expected to be supportive.

In 2025, two lawsuits challenging Wisconsin’s congressional districts were brought. The plaintiffs advocated that the Supreme Court use the three-judge process outlined in Act 39. One suit was called Elizabeth Bothfeld v. Wisconsin Elections Commission (“Bothfeld”). The other was Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy (“Wisconsin Business Leaders”).

While both attacked Wisconsin’s congressional maps, they used different grounds for their criticism. The Bothfeld plaintiffs attacked the map as a violation of the separation-of-powers principle. This argument noted that the 2020 map was based on the 2010 map, under the least change principle. But the 2010 map was openly partisan, explicitly designed to favor Republicans.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, by contrast, is meant to be nonpartisan. It should not cede its power to a partisan actor, in this case, the highly partisan 2010 district plan via the ostensibly nonpartisan least-change rule, the suit argued.

The Wisconsin Business Leaders plaintiffs also noted that the congressional district map following the 2020 census was based on the 2010 map. But the 2010 map was designed following extensive discussions with incumbents and aimed at protecting incumbents from competition, resulting in an “anti-competitive gerrymander,” the suit argued.

On Nov. 25, 2025, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order determining that the Wisconsin Business Leaders’ “complaint does constitute ‘an action to challenge the apportionment of any congressional or state legislative district.’” Although not listed, the majority includes Chief Justice Jill Karofsky and Justices Rebecca Dallet, Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford. The decision also lists the three district judges appointed to the panel.

Justice Brian Hagedorn joined the majority with one exception: “the issue is simply whether this court should appoint a three-judge panel … As the court’s order explains, I conclude these statutes apply to this case, and a panel must be appointed. Given the nature of this case and the statute’s implicit call for geographic diversity and neutrality, a randomly-selected panel and venue would be a better way to fulfill the statutory mandate.”

Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley each wrote dissents adamantly criticizing the court’s decision. Ziegler’s dissent makes a policy argument rather than a process argument. Rather than considering the question of whether the three-judge panel is required, it consists of a list of arguments for not changing the court’s previous redistricting decision.

By contrast, Justice Bradley spends the bulk of her dissent on the three-judge panel question, criticizing the majority decision that the law “imposes a mandatory duty” to appoint a three-judge panel (her italics). Yet the language of the law says that the “Supreme Court shall appoint a panel of three circuit court judges,” not may appoint. That sounds pretty mandatory to me.

Ultimately, both three-judge panels ruled against the plaintiffs, essentially for the same reason. To rule for the plaintiffs, they would have to rule against the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, when it had a conservative majority, to accept the 2020 congressional map. In the words of the Bothfeld panel:

In denying the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and granting Intervenor-Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss, this Panel is not endorsing the current congressional map. Rather, we, as circuit court judges, do not have the authority to read into a Wisconsin Supreme Court case an analysis that it does not contain.

As expected, the Wisconsin Business Leaders challenge suffers the same fate:

The Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of our state constitution. When the Court speaks, its words are final unless and until it says otherwise. Because this panel is bound by the Court’s interpretations, it must alternatively dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims for failure to state a cognizable constitutional cause of action.

In other words, only the Supreme Court can overrule the earlier Supreme Court decision.

Both groups of plaintiffs appealed their panels’ decisions to the Supreme Court. A first brief in the Wisconsin Business Leaders case was submitted this week, and response briefs are due July 30. For Bothfeld, the first brief is due July 20. Oral arguments on both cases are scheduled for Sept. 16.

By then it will have been more than a year since the two cases were filed: the Bothfeld case was originally filed in June 2025 and Wisconsin Business Leaders one month later, in July 2025. Finally, the earlier decision to accept or overturn the existing district map will be before a body — the Wisconsin Supreme Court — that is authorized to assess earlier Supreme Court decisions.

Will it decide in favor of redistricting? We’ll see.

Eggs. Pixabay License.

A multi-state investigation found that three of the country’s largest egg producers allegedly worked together for years to artificially increase the price of eggs.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, along with state attorneys general in 16 other states, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with the egg producers this week.

According to the state DOJ, the coalition secured more than 50 million eggs and $3.3 million from the companies through the settlement. The eggs will be provided to food banks and nonprofit organizations across the country at the producers’ expense.

Around two million of those eggs will be given to food banks and community organizations serving Wisconsin, the state DOJ says.

The multi-state coalition’s investigation found that Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman’s Egg Ranch and Versova, which manages Centrum Valley Farms, coordinated to influence a daily price index for eggs. For years, that artificially increased the price of eggs, the state DOJ says.

“Companies must not make goods less affordable by improperly manipulating prices,” state Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “There must be accountability for that kind of conduct.”

Cal-Maine Foods denied wrongdoing in the case, while the other two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

From mid-2022 to early 2025, the egg producers communicated with each other to coordinate bidding activity on a widely used pricing service, according to a complaint filed in a federal court in Iowa.

The complaint details instances of executives for the companies calling and texting each other in an effort to push prices higher.

Under the settlement, the state DOJ says the three companies must end their price coordination, adopt compliance measures and cooperate with oversight by the states.

Kaul told WPR on Tuesday that the investigation was aimed at ensuring there is “fair competition in the marketplace” to address cost of living challenges facing families.

“This was an effort that involved multiple states and the federal government, and we have gotten accountability here,” he said. “There’s both penalties that will be paid as a result of this, but also there are going to be a large number of eggs provided to folks to help, particularly, those who are in need.”

In a statement released this week, Cal-Maine Foods said it believes its conduct was lawful. The company says the communications referenced in the complaint came from “a single former employee” and didn’t affect egg prices.

Sherman Miller, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods, said in a statement the settlement allows the company to “move forward so we can devote our full attention to what matters most: delivering affordable, high-quality eggs.”

Editor’s note: WPR’s Sarah Lehr contributed to this story.

Wisconsin DOJ announces settlement in alleged multi-state scheme to raise egg prices was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Site of future VNLA CAFE, 130 S. Water St. Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2020, by Mariiana Tzotcheva

The former My Yo My, which quietly closed in January, could soon see new life as a cafe and dessert shop.

Operators Mohammad and Wisam Assad plan to open VNLA CAFE in the space at 100 S. Water St., citing the building’s central location and spacious outdoor patio as keys to providing a “daily escape” for customers.

“Our goal is to create a comfortable space where customers can enjoy high-quality drinks and fresh food in a welcoming atmosphere,” Wisam told Urban Milwaukee in an email.

VNLA CAFE‘s menu would center on coffee and espresso drinks, including a selection of specialty lattes. The business also plans to serve refreshers and a limited breakfast menu, along with mini pancakes, made-to-order crepes and a wide array of pastries.

Dairy-free milk alternatives and other allergy-friendly options will be available to accommodate a variety of dietary restrictions and preferences, Wisam said.

With a background in business ownership and management, the Assads said they bring a “strong understanding” of quality, operations and customer experience to the venture. Since taking over the building earlier this year, they’ve moved quickly to secure occupancy and begin work on the 1,140-square-foot commercial space, which adjoins The Waterfront condominium complex.

The finished cafe will offer counter service and limited indoor seating, along with an outdoor patio with space for up to 40 guests and a fire pit. Wisam said he hopes the design creates an atmosphere “that inspires connection, creativity and comfort.”

“We’re truly excited to grow alongside the community and become a place people look forward to returning to,” he added.

VNLA CAFE has not yet announced an opening date, but plans to share its progress on its social media page and website. Wisam said the business will offer “massive discounts” during its soft and grand opening events, along with giveaways and freebies exceeding $1,000 in value.

Once open, VNLA CAFE’s proposed hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

The late-night coffeehouse concept has gained traction amid a wave of new cafes in the area, including Al Wadi Coffee House, Haraz Coffee House and Azal Coffee, which stay open until 11 p.m. or midnight without serving alcohol. The result is a family-friendly “third place” where customers can eat, drink and socialize into the evening outside the typical tavern environment.

But some neighbors oppose VNLA CAFE joining that trend. Emails submitted to the City of Milwaukee show that The Waterfront’s HOA board objects to the business’s proposed late-night hours.

A license application for VNLA CAFE remains pending city approval. The Licenses Committee was scheduled to consider the proposal Tuesday, but members moved to hold the application after Wisam did not appear for his scheduled hearing. Several condominium residents who planned to testify left without speaking after the matter was postponed.

Gallery

A box of Halal groceries from Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin sits on a table waiting to be distributed at Hanan Refugee Relief Group on Dec. 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)

Wisconsin will begin enforcing new federal eligibility restrictions for FoodShare and Medicaid this week, cutting off thousands of refugees, asylees and other legally present immigrants from public benefits they were previously eligible to receive.

The state’s refugee services providers warn that fallback options are already stretched thin.

The Trump administration narrowed eligibility for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income households purchase groceries. The Wisconsin program, called FoodShare, is federally funded but administered by states. The new rules —  which President Donald Trump last July signed into law as part of his “big beautiful” spending bill — exclude many noncitizens previously eligible for the program, including refugees, asylees and victims of human trafficking.

Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS) will begin enforcing the FoodShare eligibility rules on July 1, barring immigrants who fall into one of the now-excluded categories from enrolling in the program or renewing their benefits. The state will implement the Medicaid eligibility restrictions beginning Oct. 1, with some exceptions. DHS estimates roughly 7,200 people will lose access to one or both programs, nearly two-thirds of whom live in greater Milwaukee.

Neighboring states have already begun enforcing the new SNAP restrictions. Illinois, for instance, began barring refugees and asylees without green cards from the program in April. DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt attributed Wisconsin’s slower rollout to the state’s “complex, combined eligibility system” and effort needed to “design and implement” changes.

Refugee services providers spent months bracing for impact, receiving formal notice of the cutoffs at roughly the same time as affected refugees and asylees. To ensure language barriers didn’t leave families in the dark, Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan refugee program director Omar Mohamed said his team is checking in with affected households individually.

Those with green cards will retain access to the programs, but Mohamed noted that a recent barrage of visa restrictions leaves green cards out of reach for many recent arrivals. Refugees can typically apply for green cards a year after settling in the U.S., but the Trump administration in January froze green card processing for anyone from 39 countries — including Myanmar, the largest source of refugees resettled in Wisconsin in recent years. Of the nearly 170 people Lutheran Social Services resettled in Wisconsin between October 2024 and September 2025, only one has secured a green card, Mohamed said.

Ongoing legal battles over the visa restrictions have yet to clear the path to legal permanent residency.

Without access to legal permanent residency, refugees and asylees face what amounts to an  “indefinite ban on the eligibility” for SNAP and Medicaid, said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for refugee services nonprofit World Relief, which has offices in Appleton, Eau Claire and Oshkosh.

Food pantries may be many refugees’ and asylees’ best backup when they lose access to SNAP, but advocates say donated food cannot directly replace lost benefits. Milwaukee food bank Hunger Task Force has seen pantry traffic increase by 50% in the past two years, said public policy and advocacy director Reno Wright.

The nonprofit is helping other food pantries prepare for the cutoff, but those programs are “meant to provide supplemental assistance and not long-term ongoing assistance,” Wright said.

What families should know

Mixed-status households should still apply for benefits for the members of their families who still qualify, Wright added. U.S. citizen children of refugee parents, for instance, will remain eligible for nutrition assistance — albeit only for their own needs, not their parents’.

Children who lose access to FoodShare can turn to Milwaukee’s summer meal program, organized by Hunger Task Force and a coalition of school districts and community organizations. The program provides free meals to children ages 18 and under at more than 100 locations in greater Milwaukee.

Alternatives to Medicaid benefits are even harder to find. Free clinics often operate at capacity, Soerens said, and while refugees may still qualify for emergency medical coverage through Medicaid Emergency Services, the program sets a high bar for eligibility and does not cover preventative care or ongoing treatment for chronic conditions.

While some Milwaukee-area clinics are mulling subscription-based alternatives to Medicaid, Mohamed said many of the families his organization supports can’t fit a health care subscription into their budgets.

For now, Lutheran Social Services and its counterparts elsewhere in Wisconsin will rely on donors and community partners to shore up the assistance they provide to refugees and asylees. That need has grown since the Trump administration largely suspended refugee admissions last January, cutting off funding tied to new arrivals and forcing agencies to lay off staff.

But refugee arrivals haven’t ceased entirely. At least 218 refugees have resettled in Wisconsin since last January, all from South Africa.

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

Milwaukee skyline with The Couture, US Bank Center and Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

A statewide commercial real estate organization with a confusing name has rebranded.

NAIOP Wisconsin is now CREDA Wisconsin, short for Commercial Real Estate Development Association. The change is part of a broader rebranding involving 55 North American chapters and more than 21,000 commercial real estate professionals worldwide.

“For nearly a quarter century, NAIOP Wisconsin has been the voice of commercial real estate development across our state,” said chapter CEO Jim Villa in a statement. “Our members have always represented far more than an acronym — they are the developers, builders, investors and professionals who shape Wisconsin’s built environment.”

Villa said the new name more clearly communicates the organization’s mission to policymakers, industry partners and people entering the commercial real estate profession.

The Wisconsin chapter was established in 2003. Its parent organization, formerly known as NAIOP Corporate and now called CREDA Global, was founded in 1967. It was originally the National Association of Industrial Parks and later the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

Organization leaders said the NAIOP acronym no longer adequately reflected the range of industries and professions represented by the group.

Members work on industrial, office, retail, mixed-use, life sciences and data center developments, among other property types.

“Our members are driving some of the most significant economic and community-building projects in Wisconsin,” said Brad Amundsen, the organization’s 2026 board president and a senior vice president and regional manager for commercial real estate banking at Associated Bank.

Amundsen said the rebranding would strengthen the group’s advocacy and industry partnerships while better representing the breadth of Wisconsin’s commercial real estate development industry.

In addition to hosting industry events and professional development programs, the organization advocates on state legislation and public policy issues affecting commercial real estate. It also supports workforce development and educational initiatives intended to attract and train future industry professionals.

In 2025, it advocated for the Department of City Development to adopt a formal TIF policy. In 2023, Villa was part of a coalition seeking a long-term funding solution for American Family Field.

The organization said its existing events, advocacy efforts, member services and other programs will continue without interruption.

Updated branding and communications are expected to roll out throughout summer 2026. The organization’s new website is credawi.org.

I.C.E. badge. Photo from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Local immigrant advocacy organization Voces de la Frontera released new details Tuesday afternoon on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests that occurred across the Milwaukee region this past weekend, including allegations and video evidence of violent, excessive force by federal agents.

The recent wave of arrests appears to indicate a “targeted ICE surge” in the Milwaukee area, said Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz. Similar to ICE operations in other parts of the country, witnesses report — and video presented by Voces corroborates — that agents are wearing masks while making arrests. They are also conducting traffic stops, swarming vehicles with agents, smashing car windows and dragging people out of their cars.

ICE agents conducted “targeted operations” over the weekend, arresting 39 people, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The spokesperson said many of those arrested have criminal histories.

During a press conference Tuesday, Neumann-Ortiz said her organization has managed to corroborate 26 to 28 community reports of arrests and detentions and that “the overwhelming majority have no criminal record whatsoever.” Alongside descriptions of violent use of force, Neumann-Ortiz said ICE agents are approaching people with their guns drawn.

“We have definitely seen what I would describe as a targeted ICE surge that is targeting working-class families,” Neumann-Ortiz said. “These are good members of our community. So their attitude toward people is dangerous; it is very dangerous how they’re conducting these operations.”

One woman, Estenderly Marte Polanco, was arrested on Saturday, June 27, by ICE. Witnesses who spoke at the Voces press conference said agents smashed the window of Polanco’s vehicle, ripped her out onto the ground, busted her lip, choked her and forced her head between her legs. Urban Milwaukee was unable to find any state or federal court records indicating Polanco has a criminal record. 

Another man, Carlos Suarez, was also stopped over the weekend while driving with his fiancée and her brother. Through a translator, Suarez said they were followed from El Rey grocery store and the agents broke their car window and detained all three. The agents called both Suarez and his fiancée a “dog,” he said. They later let him go after reviewing his work permit. His fiancée is in detention in Kenosha, he said. He still hasn’t been able to find her brother.

A man from Nicaragua, Luis Manuel Valle Gonzalez, was arrested. His sister said he is sick and has trouble with his kidneys, that he has never broken the law and has no criminal record. Neumann-Ortiz said he fled violence in Nicaragua and would be in danger if he is deported there. Through tears, his sister begged for help for her brother to keep him safe in detention and prevent his deportation back to Nicaragua.

Neumann-Ortiz also said her organization found two cases of ICE arresting someone who was recently a victim of a crime and is a part of ongoing legal proceedings.

Another local resident, Jacqlyn Eckstrom, said she came upon what appeared to be an ICE arrest on Greenfield Avenue on Friday. She said she saw vehicles with Illinois plates blocking the road. Agents in vests and masks smashed the window of a car and grabbed a woman. She approached the car after they left and found two children crying in the backseat. “The sister was hugging her brother,” she said.

Local elected officials Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic and Milwaukee County Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez both said they have seen video or heard of ICE breaking local ordinances that ban ICE staging on public property.

Dimitrijevic and Neumann-Ortiz both said ICE agents were spotted staging at a local Milwaukee Police Department district station. This is prohibited by legislation passed by the Milwaukee Common Council as part of an ICE Out package of resolutions that also prohibits law enforcement from wearing masks in Milwaukee. The city policy does allow an exception for undercover operations or special weapons and tactics teams.

“We now have laws in place in Milwaukee that prohibit the use of masks for any law enforcement in our city. We believe that all law enforcement should be identifiable to the public and unmasked at all times, and we are requesting that Milwaukee Police and the Office of the City Attorney take the necessary steps to enforce these laws and to immediately address any observed violations,” members of the Milwaukee Common Council said in a statement Tuesday.

On Monday, a constituent sent Martinez a video of ICE staging in Mitchell Park. In February, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance that would require ICE to seek a permit from Milwaukee County Parks before it can stage on county parkland. Martinez said he went to the park to show the agents the ordinance, but they were gone when he arrived. He has since spoken with Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball about the issue, he said.

“At this point, what we have to do is we have to encourage our community to keep eyes on it,” Martinez said. “Write down incidents, write down everything that’s happening — when, where, how — so we can properly bring forward lawsuits in the future.”

Walter Keller, a Laborers union member, works at a job site. The Wisconsin Laborers District Council is launching a peer support program for workers facing challenges with mental health, stress or substance abuse. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Laborers District Council)

A Wisconsin construction union is launching an organized peer support program for its members who need help with addiction, substance abuse or mental health challenges — only the third program of its kind in the U.S.

The program was announced Wednesday by the Wisconsin Laborers District Council and dubbed LEAN — short for Laborers Escaping Adversity Now.

People in construction say the nature of their jobs can make it hard to face up to serious problems.

Kent Miller, Wisconsin Laborers District Council president and business manager. (WLDC photo)

“There’s this stigma that’s out there,” said Kent Miller, president and business manager of the union’s Wisconsin council. “It’s this physically challenging job, and you think that you’ve got to be tough with everything else, right?”

With LEAN, “we’re trying to break those barriers,” he said, “and make sure our members know that it’s OK to ask for help.”

Three union members have been selected and undergone training to work as the Wisconsin union’s first full-time peer support specialists.

“[They] are card-carrying Laborers that have first-hand experiences with recovery and working in the construction industry and with some of the challenges and stresses that working in the industry poses,” Miller said.

LEAN has established a round-the-clock hotline members can call if they need help, Miller said. The peer support specialists will be making the rounds of job sites and Laborers union halls to introduce themselves and distribute flyers explaining what they can offer.

The Wisconsin council represents 10,000 members of the Laborers International Union of North America — LIUNA. LEAN was started at a LIUNA chapter in Massachusetts, then replicated at the union’s St. Louis branch.

Laborers work in a variety of jobs alongside many other trades — building highways, working on pipelines, in landscaping and in asbestos removal, to name just some.

Some jobs are seasonal, with long layoffs during the offseason that can create financial uncertainty, giving workers the incentive “to get as much hours in as they can during the bulk of the construction season,” Miller said. Those long hours can take workers away from their families.

“Mental health and substance use challenges can affect anyone,” he said. He counts a half-dozen or more suicides among Wisconsin Laborers members in 2025 alone.

Wisconsin union members learned about LEAN at a union conference a couple of years ago. “When we heard about this program, we were just like, we’ve got to move forward with this,” Miller said

In 2024 the union arranged for people involved in the St. Louis program to give a presentation to the union and management trustees who jointly oversee Wisconsin Laborers Health Fund, which manages union members’ medical benefits.

“We as a fund really felt we needed this,” said Matt Marcellis, a management trustee for the Laborers Health Fund.

Marcellis is executive director of the Allied Construction Employers Association, which represents the construction employers who contract with building trades unions, including the Laborers.

“Construction workers — they’re kind of a unique breed,” Marcellis said. “They’re a group of people used to working hard and not accepting a lot of help.”

Since deciding to launch the program in Wisconsin, the union has spent more than a year laying the groundwork.

The logo for the Laborers union new peer support program. (Courtesy Wisconsin Laborers District Council)

LEAN is supported through the union’s health fund. Its costs are covered by a 5-cent-per-hour contribution from each member’s pay that is part of the negotiated pay and benefits in the Laborers contracts.

The Laborers have an Employee Assistance Plan that provides counseling and other help for members. LEAN doesn’t replace those services, Miller said, but offers members a pathway to EAP services or an alternative for help.

Peer support specialists “can help point people in the right direction of the resources that we already have,” Miller said. “But if they’re not comfortable in going that direction yet, just talking with somebody, talking with our peer support specialist, will be a good first step.”

The first three peer specialists live in different parts of Wisconsin, giving the program coverage throughout the state. “Depending on how utilization is, and how the program takes off, if we need to put on another specialist, we will,” Miller said.

Conversations with the peer supporter are confidential and can go at the pace that the member is most comfortable with. “They’re going to give you the information, so people can feel more comfortable about making that informed decision on what that next step looks like,” Miller said.

LEAN has a webpage for union members with a map of Wisconsin’s 72 counties that members can use to find resources available in each, from hospitals and clinics to local 12-step group meetings, Miller said.

The peer support specialists have been visiting the state’s hospitals and clinics and assessing what they offer, so they can more easily refer people to the right providers based on the specific needs a member has when seeking help.

“To get into some of these programs there’s a waiting list, there’s a bunch of challenges, and there’s also concerns about the quality of outcomes,” Miller said. “We want to make sure that, if we’re steering our members to certain hospitals and clinics, that they’re the ones that are providing the best outcomes for our members and their families.”

Wisconsin Laborers union breaks new ground with peer support for troubled members was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

NeuVue groundbreaking. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A new apartment building providing housing for a vulnerable segment of society is poised to rise just across Interstate 43 from Downtown.

The six-story, $16.2 million NeuVue will provide housing to those ages 18 to 24 who are aging out of Neu-Life Community Development‘s youth programming.

The 26-year-old nonprofit will also move into the building at N. 12th and W. Cherry streets.

“NeuVue will help pave the way to self-sufficiency for the young people who will call it home,” said organization founder Joann Harris-Comodore at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site Tuesday afternoon.

“Coming to Neu-Life really saved me,” said JaQuawn Seals, who credited the organization with pulling him away from gangs after he moved to Milwaukee at age 13. He is now a site coordinator for the organization.

The development will include 36 apartments, space for Neu-Life’s culinary school, a production studio, a rooftop courtyard, a two-story gymnasium and underground parking.

“My heart is so full,” said Executive Director Jody Rhodes as she looked out at the crowd, clustered under a large tent to avoid the sun and heat.

“Today is a big day for our family, and not just our family. We’re talking about our Neu-Life family,” said Chanda Harris, Harris-Comodore’s daughter. Harris, the event emcee and the organization’s director of impact, described herself as the program’s first alum and said it has transformed the lives of many other children.

The development was backed by $3.5 million in federal new market tax credits, a $3 million donation from Keith Mardak and Mary Vandenberg, a $1.8 million economic and workforce development grant from the state, $1 million from Herb Kohl Philanthropies and additional contributions from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Burke Foundation, the Green Bay Packers Foundation and the Leising family, which donated a portion of the site.

The city sold a portion of the site to Neu-Life to enable the development. The development is expected to be tax-exempt and will pay $5,000 annually in lieu of taxes as part of the land sale.

“This is the beginning of something that’s going to have a lasting effect,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. He praised the Neu-Life team for addressing housing, workforce and education in a cohesive way. “I want to thank you for your leadership and your unshakable belief in Milwaukee and in the future of Milwaukee, which is represented by our people.”

Ald. Sharlen P. Moore, a former youth organizer, said investing in Milwaukee’s youth is an investment in Milwaukee’s future. She said it was important that the city create places where youth can feel loved and grow. “These are the spaces that we need to build for our young people,” she said.

The proposal also got the full-throated support of area Ald. Russell W. Stamper II at past council meetings; he was unable to attend the groundbreaking. “I love Neu-Life,” said Stamper at one meeting.

A handful of procedural changes are still making their way through the Common Council to vacate alleys that bisect the site. The City Plan Commission endorsed the vacations Monday afternoon.

Engberg Anderson is leading the complex’s design. A 2023 rendering depicts two buildings connected by a unified first floor, with facades that have no right angles and colored window bays with no obvious pattern.

GCS Construction will serve as the general contractor.

After a ceremonial dirt toss, colorful eggs were buried in the dirt for youth in the program to dig for on Wednesday.

The Neu-Life properties included in the development are addressed at 1210 W. Cherry St., 1216-1218 W. Cherry St., 1501 N. 12th St., 1505 N. 12th St. and 1509 N. 12th St. The city-owned property is addressed as 1515 N. 12th St. The properties will be merged into a single parcel.

A duplex on one of the parcels was demolished in 2023 after it was set on fire for a training exercise by the Milwaukee Fire Department. Harris thanked Fire Chief Aaron Lipski, who attended the ceremony, for saving the organization the cost of demolition.

The area around the development has changed substantially since it was first proposed. The Milwaukee County Mental Health Emergency Center is located to the north and now the new Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center, 1230 W. Cherry St., is open to the west. Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services leader Shakita LaGrant-McClain and deputy David Muhammad attended the ceremony. The former Coggs Center, a converted department store to the south at 1220 W. Vliet St., is being redeveloped as affordable housing.

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Rendering

Pre-Construction Photos

U.S. Supreme Court Building. Photo is in the Public Domain.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that political parties can raise and spend as much as they want on campaigns. That will change the campaign finance landscape nationwide — but a little less so in Wisconsin, where state parties have been allowed to transfer unlimited money to campaigns for years.

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative justices said that limiting party spending violates the First Amendment. That overturns a portion of the Federal Election Campaign Act, a 1970s-era law, expanded in the wake of the Watergate scandal, aimed at lessening the risk of electoral corruption.

Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that all political participants should be treated equally.

The ruling “will allow all political parties —including the DNC and RNC and the respective Senate and House campaign committees, as well as other parties and party committees—to participate more freely and compete more fully in the political process, and to coordinate more closely with their candidates,” Kavanaugh wrote.

The ruling also loosens restrictions on coordination between donors and their preferred candidates. Unlike a political action committee, which cannot directly coordinate with a political campaign, political parties can. Plaintiffs in the case successfully argued that limiting the amount that political parties can transfer to their candidates effectively limits their ability to coordinate things like campaign messaging, which constitutes a limit on free expression.

In Wisconsin, state parties have been allowed to raise and spend unlimited money since 2015. That year, then-Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature overhauled state campaign finance law, arguing that — unlike political action committees — state parties are subject to public disclosure. They also said that this would help businesses compete with unions, many of which have powerful political lobbying arms.

Democrats that year argued that the change would lead to widespread corruption. That argument lost, and Wisconsin Republicans successfully lifted the limits on campaign party spending.

That argument was echoed at the U.S. Supreme Court in the leadup to Tuesday’s ruling. In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the ruling opened the door for quid pro quo deals between major donors and elected officials.

“The caps prevent easy circumvention of contribution limits; and so the former, as much as the latter, are needed to avert corrupt deals between candidates and their supporters,” she wrote.

‘Exporting’ the Wisconsin model

At the time that Wisconsin loosened its campaign finance laws, Democrats argued that the change was a naked attempt for Republicans to raise more money. That happened for a time.

But in recent years, it’s been Wisconsin Democrats who have leveraged the state law in their favor, especially during highly expensive judicial races.

When the ideological balance of the court was up for grabs in 2023, the Democratic Party put $10 million towards helping to elect now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz. In 2025, both parties chipped in about $10 million, contributing to what became the most expensive judicial race of all time, with a price tag eclipsing $100 million. Now Justice Susan Crawford, another liberal, prevailed in that contest.

Jeff Mandell, the president of Law Forward, a liberal law firm that filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case, argued that Tuesday’s ruling essentially exports Wisconsin’s model, paving the way for other states to experience similarly massive elections.

“It is essentially taking this Wisconsin model, which I would argue has been really, really unfortunate,” he said. “I don’t think anybody believes that the problem with our judicial elections is that there’s too little money spent, that they’re not seeing enough campaign ads, they’re not getting enough information in the mail.”

“And we’re taking that, and we’re exporting that to everywhere else in the country,” he added.

US Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance mirrors decade-old Wisconsin system was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

A new community information hub along the Beerline Trail will share updates on efforts to restore the Milwaukee River. Photo taken June 25, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

A large-scale cleanup project will soon bring changes to the Milwaukee River Greenway, where crews plan to remove contaminated sediment, restore habitat and reestablish native plant communities across hundreds of acres of publicly accessible land.

As the long-term effort moves forward and restoration activities become more visible, a new information board will keep passersby informed and engaged with the project’s latest developments.

Two nature-themed mosaics, created by Jessica Laub with help from community members, serve as focal points on the double-sided board, which stands west of the Beerline Trail behind Cafe Corazon in Riverwest.

“As a person who uses the river trails regularly, I know that if I walked down there and saw the banks of the river being clear cut, I would be very upset about it,” said Laub, artist in residence for Milwaukee Water Commons. “But sometimes things have to get a little worse in order to get better, right?”

Representatives from Milwaukee Water Commons gathered at the site last week for an official ribbon-cutting, unveiling the mosaics and a series of informational fliers detailing the cost, location and expected results of the cleanup.

“We believe in the power of the arts to capture people’s hearts around water issues,” said Melanie Ariens, creative arts manager for Milwaukee Water Commons.

The mosaics incorporate poetry, geographical features and an assortment of creatures that call the river greenway home. Laub invited community collaboration through a tile-making workshop at the nearby Kuumba Juice and Coffee, where approximately 50 attendees hand-painted a smallmouth bass, wood frog, American beaver and other native wildlife to become part of the installation.

“It was a great turnout,” Laub said. “People spent so much time and care making their tiles, and they turned out so beautifully. I love community art because I can really learn from the people I’m working with and get inspired by them.”

Laub said she considered more than a dozen potential sites for the installation, but moved forward at the current location based on a longtime connection to the neighborhood.

“I’ve lived here since 1998, and I wanted to do something that would go to my own community,” she said. “The Beerline Trail is somewhere that, even when it was a railway, I would go running, and I used to walk my dog right by this spot, actually.”

The project marks the culmination of Laub’s yearlong residency, and has already influenced her outlook on the local ecosystem. She hopes the mosaics will have the same effect on others.

“Since we made this, I have been more conscious of the animal species, fish and birds that are in our area,” Laub said. “It’s my hope that this can serve as a communication tool … and inspire people to be good stewards of the river.”

Project Details

More than two dozen environmental remediation projects are ongoing or upcoming in the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern with the long-term goal to create swimmable beaches, clean up waterways and restore ecosystems across hundreds of acres of protected land near downtown Milwaukee.

The work includes dredging to remove contaminated sediment from the lake and riverbeds, followed by measures to restore and improve habitats for native wildlife.

The Federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s Great Lakes National Program Office, will provide the majority of the project’s funding, with additional collaboration from 25 area organizations through the Waterway Restoration Partnership.

Expected disruptions could include temporary trail and recreational amenity closures, heavy machinery and landscape equipment, tree and invasive species removal, revegetation work, loud noise and temporary visual changes.

While efforts are already progressing locally, on-the-ground work for the Milwaukee River Floodplains Cleanup is likely to begin in 2028, Edwards said. In the meantime, informational boards will be regularly maintained, including with opportunities for public participation and input.

“May this community bulletin board serve as an integral, artful reminder of what the future holds for our ecosystems and our communities,” said Myron Edwards, environmental justice advisor for Milwaukee Water Commons.

For more information on the project, visit the Milwaukee County Parks website.

Photos

Dominique Paul Noth.

Dominique Paul Noth, who served as a theater and movie critic over a 60-year period, including three decades with the Milwaukee Journal and the past 12 years for Urban Milwaukee, died Friday at age 84. He was both a founding member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a Hollywood insider who interviewed major figures in the entertainment industry, including Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Cary Grant, Bob Fosse, Steven Spielberg, Liza Minnelli, Ron Howard and Rita Moreno.

Noth had advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by heart failure, which led to his death.

“Dom Noth was a true original,” said Milwaukee Rep artistic director Mark Clements in a statement. “For decades, he brought a sharp eye and an even sharper pen to Milwaukee theater, believing our city deserved and, in many cases, delivered high-quality theater that rivals New York. He reviewed our very first A Christmas Carol in 1976 and returned to it year after year, just as he did with practically every production we put on. Dom wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers — he believed criticism should be honest, not polite — and that forthrightness defined his work.”

Cary Grant and Dominique Paul Noth.

Noth also wrote about politics and labor issues, and from 2002 to 2013 he was editor-in-chief of The Milwaukee Labor Press, where he also operated as the publication’s field reporter, photographer and layout editor. “Culture was never separate from politics for him,” his daughter Jeannie Gaffigan told Urban Milwaukee. “Theater, film, newspapers, labor, elections and public leadership were all part of the same larger story about how a city understands itself.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, Noth taught film classes at UW-Milwaukee, drawing on his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of classic Hollywood movies, studios and history, and on his interviews and encounters with top film figures. (Speaking as a student who attended some of his lectures and film presentations, the class was informative and terrific fun.) But Noth also was well-versed in foreign films and in the 1970s hosted a Channel 10 series on the films of Ingmar Bergman with guest host Roger Ebert, and the two critics discussed and debated the Swedish auteur’s films.

In the 1970s, the Rep had come of age with its then-new facility in the Todd Wehr Theater while the avant-garde Theatre X was staging provocative shows, and Noth was the city’s top reviewer and champion of both, also writing feature stories about local theaters. “Unlike some, he was not afraid of and was very interested in alternative theater,” recalled actress Flora Coker, a longtime member of Theatre X who later performed for numerous other companies. “The first time he reviewed me I was panned. But I think I learned from that. Dom was a serious critic who always brought such depth to his reviews. He was a treasure for Milwaukee and we were lucky to have him.”

By the 1980s, Noth had risen to the position of arts editor for the Journal and edited and oversaw its growing core of critics, including Tom Strini. “I owe everything to Dom Noth,” Strini told Urban Milwaukee. “In 1982, he hired me as The Journal’s dance critic and critic-at-large, over the objections of higher-ups. He supported many of my wilder story ideas and helped me learn from my mistakes. He was adept at gently improving my career trajectory, most notably by changing my title and duties to music and dance critic — the right call, though I didn’t think so at the time. I grew as a writer, thinker and person because of Dom.”

Dominique Paul Noth. Photo courtesy of Noth’s family.

Born in 1942, Noth was the son of cultured parents who had fled Nazi Germany, first emigrating to France in 1933 and then in 1941 to the United States. His father was a German anti-Nazi author and activist, and later a professor at Marquette University. His mother, who was Jewish, was an opera singer and Holocaust survivor. She was pregnant with Dominique when the couple fled to America.

“Given my family history and when I was born,” Noth once wrote, “I was forced to pay some attention to world events by age 5.”

Noth attended Marquette University, where he was active as a folk singer and became involved with Teatro Maria, Marquette’s influential student theater group, as both an actor and director. After graduating in 1963, Noth worked in New York for Time magazine as a copy boy and later became a stringer, writing background material and copy for other writers, including theater critics. While in New York, he continued performing, appearing in an Off-Broadway production of The Rivals, and working with Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for nonprofit theater.

In 1966, Noth was hired as a copy editor at the Journal and soon began his rise, switching to news and then arts writing. As a theater writer, he traveled to review major theater and film events beyond the city, including New York productions and performances at the Shakespeare festival in Stratford, Ontario, bringing a wider cultural world back to Milwaukee readers.

His reviews of local theaters were not always welcomed. In an incident in 1974 that got a headline in the Journal, Noth was barred from seeing a Skylight Theater show by Clair Richardson, its founder and artistic director, because of “critical reviews in the past,” Noth said he was told. Richardson later relented and Noth was back to reviewing Skylight shows.

Noth began what would be his last position, as a contributing writer reviewing theater and film for Urban Milwaukee, in January 2014 at age 71, and it was immediately clear he hadn’t lost his touch. He reviewed straight plays, musicals and cabaret shows with equal authority and also reviewed the Florentine Opera on occasion, displaying an impressive knowledge of the operatic repertoire. He also did film reviews with particular attention to movies under discussion for Oscar awards. He regularly won awards for best critical review from the statewide Milwaukee Press Club, most recently in April for the 2025 year and his review of The Children at Next Act Theatre.

He reviewed a number of shows directed by Edward Morgan, the former associate artistic director for the Milwaukee Rep who frequently directed shows for Next Act. “He was a fine writer who clearly both loved and respected theater and theater artists, even if he sometimes took us to task, which is, of course, a part of his job,” Morgan said. “It seemed to me that Dom both saw and engaged the larger ideas of the plays and productions he reviewed, that he came to the theater as an educated critic with an open mind and heart.”

“He cared deeply about the craft and about this community,” added Clements, “and his dedication over so many years will be long remembered.”

Here is the obituary for Noth, including details on the celebration of his life.

The family has established the Dominique Paul Noth Memorial Fund to support the arts in Milwaukee and is now accepting donations.

Joel Brennan. Photo courtesy of Brennan’s campaign.

I’ve had the honor to have a long career in public service—as a Congressman, Mayor of Wisconsin’s largest city, United States Ambassador—and along the way I’ve hired and worked with a lot of talented people. I’ve hired Joel Brennan more than once. He worked as a legislative aide in my office when I was in Congress. Then he ran my campaign for governor in 2002, and my campaign for mayor in 2004. After that, he worked with me at the Redevelopment Authority while I was in office.

I’ve watched him operate up close for years, in different jobs, and I can tell you exactly what kind of person he is: the hardest worker in the room, every time, who’d rather get the job done quietly than get credit for it loudly. He’s a workhorse. Not a show horse.

I also know something about running for governor of this state, because I did it myself against Scott Walker in 2010 and again in the recall of Walker in 2012. I ran because I saw the damage Scott Walker was doing to a state that I love. And even though I didn’t win those elections, I learned what a campaign for governor actually demands, and I learned the difference between a candidate who can hold up under that kind of pressure and one who can’t.

Joel can hold up under it. I’ve watched him do it in jobs a lot less visible than this one—jobs where there isn’t a camera in the room. And I’ve also seen his strength and his willingness to stand up to anyone when that is what is needed and demanded. And at a moment in our history when Donald Trump and his enablers in Washington and Wisconsin are threatening our democracy, we need a governor—–Joel Brennan– who will never back down.

After he left city government in 2007, Joel took over Discovery World, the state’s largest science museum. It was carrying real debt and depending almost entirely on one donor to keep the lights on. Joel’s job was to fix that, and it wasn’t easy. He brought in new partners, broadened the base of support, and got the place to where it didn’t need one person’s checkbook to survive. And by the time he was done, Discovery World had paid off its debt and was standing on its own. And his decision to take that job and work so hard to educate thousands of school children who visited every year speaks volumes to Joel’s values and his commitment to always putting kids and their education first.

Governor Evers saw many of the same qualities I did. When he tapped Joel as his top cabinet officer to run the Department of Administration in 2018, he knew that it wasn’t some ceremonial post you hand somebody to keep them busy. DOA runs the actual machinery of state government — the budget, the workforce, the buildings, the contracts, every dollar that comes in and goes out.

It’s the job that makes every other part of government function, even though nobody’s chanting your name for it. And the state’s finances were a mess after eight years of Scott Walker when Joel took it on. He went to work on it the same way he went to work on Discovery World — not flashy, just steady. During his time there, the state built close to a $4 billion surplus and grew the rainy-day fund from around $200 million to almost $2 billion. And when COVID hit, Joel was in the room leading the effort to deliver relief to small businesses, farmers, and families who needed it fast.

I ran this city through the 2008 recession and through COVID. I know the difference between someone who can manage a crisis and someone who just talks about it. Joel jumps in, does the work, and gets things done.

That matters this year more than usual. We’ve got a President right now who’s willing to use his power against the very states he’s supposed to serve, and Wisconsin needs a governor who won’t back down from that fight. On top of that, families everywhere in this state are being squeezed every day with the high costs of gas, health care, housing, you name it. And the Republican running for governor, Congressman Tom Tiffany, has a record that makes things worse, not better. He voted against capping the cost of insulin for seniors on Medicare, and he voted against extending the tax credits that help thousands of Wisconsinites afford health coverage. That’s not somebody who’s going to make life cheaper for people in this state, and it’s not somebody who’s going to stand up to Washington either.

I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve seen plenty of candidates who are good at saying the right things. Joel isn’t trying to be that. He’s the hardest worker I know, and right now, with everything Wisconsin families are up against, that’s exactly what this job calls for.

Bottom line is this: Joel Brennan is running for governor for all the right reasons. Because he knows what it means when the numbers don’t add up for Wisconsin families. He’s one of 11 kids who didn’t grow up with a safety net but worked five jobs to pay his way through college. He’s spent his career fixing problems other people couldn’t or wouldn’t. He’s running because he knows, with the right governor leading our state and with fair maps offering the opportunity for a Democratic majority in the legislature, we have a chance to deliver real change to Wisconsin.

Joel knows that people aren’t looking for miracles. They want a governor with values, intelligence and determination to roll up his sleeves and get things done for the people of the state he loves. That describes my friend, Joel Brennan. That’s why I’m backing him

The primary is August 11th. Take a look at his record. I think you’ll see what I see.

Tom Barrett served as Mayor of Milwaukee from 2004-2021

The Wisconsin Capitol at night. (Isiah Holmes | Wisconsin Examiner)

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the national organization responsible for helping elect Democrats to state legislatures, announced a slate of six Wisconsin Assembly and three Senate districts they plan to provide support for this session.

The new target seats belong to Republican incumbents facing Democratic challengers or are open due to Republican retirements.

“2026 presents a historic opportunity to fundamentally transform the balance of power in Wisconsin and take control of the legislature,” DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement.

The organization consulted with the state Legislature’s Democratic caucuses to identify the races. According to the DLCC, the group will provide support and resources for data, research, polling, paid communication and direct voter contact for target seats. In addition, the organization also provides a direct link for fundraising for individual Democratic candidates who are featured on its website.

A first slate of target seats for the midterms was announced in April, comprised of incumbent Democrats running for another term in office in competitive districts including Reps. Joe Sheehan (D-Sheboygan), Ryan Spaude (D-Ashwaubenon), Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire), Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska) and Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick).

During the 2024 election cycle, the DLCC invested heavily in Wisconsin and six other states.

This year, the organization is hoping to build on that momentum and flip the Senate and Assembly and its first step is identifying target seats. The DLCC has not yet said how much it will spend in upcoming elections.

Democrats currently hold 45 of 99 Assembly seats and 15 of 33 Senate seats, meaning they need to flip at least five Assembly seats and at least two Senate seats to hold majorities next session.

“For over a decade, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature have rigged their way to power and rubber-stamped Trump’s harmful agenda that’s raising costs, but now the tide is turning as Republicans retire in droves and Democrats build undeniable momentum,” Williams said.

There are a total of 27 states and 42 legislative chambers on the DLCC’s target list this year, though Wisconsin has been identified as one of its top priorities, given the potential to win Democratic majorities for the first time in 16 years and the success in the last election cycle when Democrats flipped 14 legislative seats. The success came after new legislative maps were adopted by the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers following a state Supreme Court decision that found the previous voting maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander.

There have been a number of Republican retirements in Wisconsin this year including both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R- Rochester), Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Sens. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), who both represent competitive districts.

Apart from the developments in Wisconsin, the DLCC is looking at Democratic wins in the off-election years as a positive sign for the midterms. According to the DLCC, Republicans failed to flip any state legislative seats in elections since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term in 2024. Since then, Democrats in off-year elections have flipped 30 legislative seats, allowing them to secure a supermajority in New Jersey and flipping 13 seats in Virginia’s state legislative bodies.

Williams said the DLCC would be with Wisconsin candidates “every step of the way until November.”

Wisconsin Assembly races targeted by the DLCC:

• Assembly District 30 where Kevin Knoke, a veteran and educator from Hudson, is challenging incumbent Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls).
• Assembly District 51 where Ben Gruber, a conservation warden in Wisconsin who is member of AFSCME Local 1215, is challenging incumbent Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville).
• Assembly District 53 where Becky Nichols, a former Menasha City Council member, is running for an open seat. Incumbent Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) is retiring and David Daniels is the Republican candidate. Rachael Dowling is running as an independent.
• Assembly District 85 where John Kroll, a Marathon County Board supervisor, is challenging Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston)
• Assembly District 88 where Brandy Tollefson, a De Pere School Board member, is challenging Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere).
• Assembly District 92 where Jeremiah Fredrickson, a fish farmer from Elk Mound, is challenging Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie).

The Wisconsin Senate races targeted by the DLCC:

• Senate District 5 where Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) is running for an open seat against Republican Mike Roberts, a physical therapist from Waukesha.
• Senate District 21 where Trevor Jung, who most recently worked as the transit director for the city of Racine, is running against Republican Jim Croft.
• Senate District 25 where Charly Ray, a small business owner, is running for the seat left open by Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood). There are two Republicans, Angie Sapik and Erik Severson, running for the Republican spot on the ticket in November.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announces 9 Wisconsin Legislature targets was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Firefighters attempt to extinguish a blaze at Lincoln Avenue Elementary School. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

More than 110 firefighters responded to an overnight five-alarm fire at Lincoln Avenue Elementary School, 1817 W. Lincoln Ave.

Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said the department received the first report of the fire at 2:59 a.m. As of 11 a.m., firefighters were still spraying the building from multiple angles.

“Firefighters made extremely aggressive attempts to put out the fire from the inside,” Lipski said at a morning news conference in front of the building. Obstructions within the hallways inhibited the ability to drag hoses, and the firefighters were safely withdrawn. “Fire was coming up from the floor below them.”

He said the building did not have sprinklers and estimated it was a total loss. The roof and floors had collapsed.

“We have absolutely no idea what might have caused this yet,” said Lipski around 5:30 a.m.

In a late-morning news conference, Milwaukee Public Schools Interim Deputy Superintendent Michael Harris said he believed the majority of the district’s buildings lack sprinklers because of their age.

Images and videos circulating on social media show large flames shooting from the roof.

There were no known injuries at the time of the news conference.

Street closures extended several blocks Tuesday morning as a network of fire hydrants, fire engines and trucks were used to bring water to the building.

Joining the Milwaukee Fire Department in battling the blaze were the West Allis, Greendale and Greenfield fire departments.

In a statement, Milwaukee Recreation said the school’s community learning center was being relocated to Hayes Bilingual School, 971 W. Windlake Ave., through at least July 31 because of the fire. Program hours will remain 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“We will work diligently throughout the summer on our plans for school in September and we will keep you updated as often as possible,” said the school in a social media post.

We Energies had to disconnect power for more than 100 nearby customers, according to spokesperson Brendan Conway. Some of the utility’s distribution infrastructure is located close to the school.

According to its 2024-25 state report card, the school had 427 students in grades K4 through fifth grade. It had an 83% Hispanic or Latino student body and earned a three-star grade (62.9, Meets Expectations). Ninety-two percent of the student body was reported to be economically disadvantaged, and 55% were English language learners.

The building was constructed in 1917 in the Late Gothic Revival style and designed by Van Ryn & DeGelleke.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson attended the school for at least one year as a child.

Photos

School Photos

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office is shown, July 29, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)

Federal immigration authorities conducted a wave of arrests in greater Milwaukee over the final weekend in June as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched what it called a “targeted operation” in and around the city.

The operation — likely the largest in Milwaukee since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025 — sent shock waves through the city’s immigrant neighborhoods as residents shared video and photos of alleged ICE enforcement actions in Milwaukee across social media.

Immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera tallied 18 arrests in the metro area within the last week, though Wisconsin Watch and NNS have not yet independently corroborated that total.Details remain scarce, but an attorney representing several of the arrestees says none of his clients have prior convictions in Wisconsin or outstanding removal orders.

Milwaukee immigration attorney Marc Christopher cited three examples from the past weekend: a woman from the Dominican Republic arrested in front of her 7-year-old daughter; twins from Mexico cornered in their driveway on Milwaukee’s South Side; and a Salvadoran man picked up outside the Waukesha County Courthouse after appearing for a traffic ticket.

ICE activity

ICE officers surrounded Estenderly Marte Polanco near South 23rd and Greenfield streets on Milwaukee’s South Side Saturday morning.

The remnants of Estenderly Marte Polanco’s driver-side window remain on the pavement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested the mother from the Dominican Republic in Milwaukee on June 27, 2026. (Courtesy of the family of Estenderly Marte Polanco)

“There were four of them,” said Frankeli, the father of Marte Polanco’s children. Both Marte Polanco and Frankeli are undocumented; he asked NNS to refer to him by his first name alone out of fear that authorities could target him next.

The pair were running errands with their daughter when agents stopped their car, shattered a window and handcuffed Marte Polanco, he said. Wisconsin court records show no prior convictions or citations under Marte Polanco’s name. Frankeli said he heard the ICE agents shout that she had an arrest warrant as they took her away.

“They didn’t give us anything (on paper),” he said. Marte Polanco was in custody at the Waukesha County jail as of Monday, according to Christopher — one of six county detention facilities in Wisconsin that hold ICE detainees.

Christopher’s client from El Salvador was awaiting a hearing in his ongoing immigration court case at the time of his arrest in Waukesha on Saturday. “He hadn’t even missed a court date,” Christopher said. Federal immigration courts do not hear criminal cases, but the Trump administration broke with decades of precedent last year by requiring detention for any immigrant facing an active removal case.

Court records confirm the 32-year-old has no prior criminal convictions in Wisconsin. His traffic ticket — a May citation for driving without a license — is a common infraction for undocumented immigrants barred from obtaining driver’s licenses under Wisconsin law. Wisconsin Watch and NNS have not been able to reach the man to ask permission to use his name. An ICE detainee locator listed him in custody in Greene County, Missouri, as of Monday morning.

Federal authorities informed the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) that they planned to conduct “targeted enforcement for criminal activity in the area,” according to an MPD spokesperson. Both the police department and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office referred questions about the operations to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency.DHS did not respond to questions about the scope of the operation. Instead, a spokesperson offered details about a June 26 traffic stop in which officers “encountered three illegal aliens including some with criminal histories including misappropriating identification to obtain money.”

The arrests prompted advocacy group Forward Latino to issue a community alert on June 27, and other immigrant rights organizations are still gathering details on the weekend’s events.

Videos like this one, whose details Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service have not verified, are circulating in Milwaukee as Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched what it called a “targeted operation” in and around the city. (Screenshot from Noticias Wisconsin video)

“We know how ICE has arrested people for everything from parking tickets to — whatever — in the past,” said Milwaukee Turners Executive Director Emilio De Torre. “I have no confidence that they’re just seeking people that are under lawful deportation orders.”

Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization based on Milwaukee’s South Side, issued alerts on Friday and Monday of confirmed ICE sightings in the city and also Waukesha. The group has been canvassing the South Side sharing information with residents on what to do if they encounter ICE agents.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, also issued a video statement, urging residents to stay cautious and know their rights.

“You are not obligated to answer any questions and should demand to speak to a lawyer before you respond or sign anything,” she said.

Immigration enforcement records through March 2026 released by the nonprofit Deportation Data Project suggest ICE officers arrested at least 1,700 people in Wisconsin between January 2025 and March 2026. Roughly 20% of immigrants arrested in Wisconsin during that period had neither prior convictions nor pending criminal charges, including more than 100 people arrested during check-ins at the DHS field office in downtown Milwaukee.

The tactics on display over the weekend — daylight traffic stops and multiple alleged uses of force — have been rare in Wisconsin up to this point.

Devin Blake and Edgar Mendez of Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service contributed reporting.

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

Airport director Brian Dranzik Unveils new Make-A-Wish Kids Zone branding. Photo taken June 30, 2026, by Graham Kilmer.

The Green Bay Packers announced a multiyear donation Tuesday to support Make-A-Wish Foundation flights out of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

The Make-A-Wish mission is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Packers Give Back, a community outreach initiative, is committing $25,000 a year for three years toward travel costs for Make-A-Wish families traveling through Milwaukee Mitchell. On hand for the announcement Tuesday was the Fletcher family, whose daughter, Delilah, went on a Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World last year.

The Packers and Make-A-Wish have been working together for the past 40 years. Packers home games are a common Make-A-Wish destination for families. Seventy-five percent of Make-A-Wish Wisconsin trips granted each year require airline travel, and the majority fly through Milwaukee Mitchell, said Wendy Cozzens, CEO of Make-A-Wish Wisconsin, during a press conference at the airport.

“We have witnessed firsthand how Wish can be a turning point in someone’s journey, and being part of the wishes makes an incredible impact on our players, our coaches, and our staff,” said Cathy Dvorak, director of community outreach and player alumni relations.

In 2025, the airport opened Make-A-Wish Kids Zones for families traveling with children. The kids zones offer a play space for children two through five. As part of the new Packers partnership, new signage has gone up in the Kids Zones advertising a QR code that travelers can use to donate airline miles to Make-A-Wish families.

“This rebranding is the result of a meaningful partnership between Make-A-Wish Wisconsin and Green Bay Packers Give Back,” said Airport Director Brian Dranzik. “These are spaces that bring comfort, joy and a sense of wonder to children and families traveling through our airport.”

Employees plate samples at Al Hamawi, 1010 W. Layton Ave. Photo taken June 16, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

In a single trip to Al Hamawi, customers can sip a strawberry matcha, crunch on roasted nuts, peruse pickled vegetables, and pluck a handful of colorful chocolates from a wall-to-wall display.

The new southside business is equal parts cafe, candy shop and snack bar, but it’s not a tavern. That was an intentional choice for owner Mahmood Suleiman, who said the venue is designed as a social hub for guests of all ages.

“The whole point of Al Hamawi is that it’s not just a coffee roastery; it’s gathering families and community members to sit and be in a nice, clean, safe spot,” he said. “There are different races, different ages — you can drive out of the parking lot sober and still enjoy yourself.”

Al Hamawi opened in late spring at 1010 W. Layton Ave., replacing the former Kim’s Thai Restaurant and expanding into a neighboring storefront. Suleiman and his team spent months renovating the space, adding tiles from Jordan, furniture from Greece, and “Middle Eastern touches” throughout.

The finished venue includes a cafe and seating area to the left of the entrance, where guests can linger over one of the 140 hot and iced beverages on the menu. Traditional espresso drinks, teas, and specialties such as sticky bun shaken espresso and banana lattes are among Al Hamawi’s extensive offerings.

To the right, a mosaic of sweet and savory snacks lines the long service counter, where staff are happy to hand over samples of duqqa-crusted crackers, candied pecans, and pumpkin seeds. Along the back wall, 75 varieties of chocolate — including mint, hazelnut, and pistachio cream — fill color-coded cubbies. The chocolates and other retail items, from spices to olive oil, are handmade and imported fresh from Jordan, Suleiman said.

Milwaukee’s Al Hamawi is the first location to open in Wisconsin, though the brand dates back more than 80 years to its founding in Jordan in 1942. Suleiman first encountered the business at one of its Illinois locations.

“I loved it, and I would visit at least three times a week,” said Suleiman, who brings entrepreneurial experience from his family’s retail furniture business. When he inquired about franchising, the company was initially unsure.

“It wasn’t their goal,” Suleiman said. But his enthusiasm ultimately won out. He’s now working on an expansion in Dearborn, Michigan, and may eventually pursue a second Milwaukee store.

Ownership remains “very involved” in operations, Suleiman said, noting that representatives from Akram Hasan AlHamawi Sons Company fly out monthly from Jordan to check on store operations and customer satisfaction.

“[They’re] very hospitable and very nice,” he said. “I’m glad to be a part of the team.”

Taking cues from company leadership, Suleiman said he aims to engage the community beyond hosting customers. “Making donations to local charities is something we’re very big on,” he said. “I personally believe that any business working in a community should definitely give back to that community.”

Al Hamawi is open daily from 7 a.m. to midnight. For updates and additional information, follow the business’s social media.

Photos

Amanda Watzka wears her Oconto Falls High School Construction Crew hoodie Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Throughout high school, Amanda Watzka and David Heisel would go on long drives across Oconto County.

Heisel would stroke Watzka’s hand and talk about his family’s wealth. He would let her know he could protect her once they were finally together.

But Watzka and Heisel were not teenage sweethearts — Watzka was a 15-year-old technical education student at Oconto Falls High School, and Heisel was her teacher.

Watzka considered Heisel a mentor, a friend and, in some ways, her boyfriend.

But now that she’s in her 30s and has a daughter of her own, Watzka believes she was groomed by Heisel for years.

When Watzka talks about how the relationship went from grooming to an alleged sexual assault her junior year of high school, her reaction is physical.

Oconto Falls High School alumna Amanda Watzka on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

According to a federal complaint and police reports, in 2012 Heisel sexually assaulted Watzka during a Skills USA competition at Chula Visa Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

“It’s hard to talk about. It’s hard,” Watzka says, rocking back and forth and patting her left arm. “I don’t know that I’ve fully processed that yet. I know what has happened. It is that he did not stop.”

In March 2026, Watzka and two other former students filed a federal complaint against the Oconto Falls School District alleging school officials ignored ongoing grooming and sexual abuse.

The complaint has since grown to include more than a dozen former students, teachers and parents connected to the Oconto Falls School District who allege that for 35 years educators and school board members were aware of sexual misconduct in all forms — whether perpetrated by teachers against students, by students against other students, or by staff against staff — but practiced “deliberate indifference.”

WPR reached out to several attorneys, school officials and members of law enforcement related to the case. But with the exception of the attorney representing the plaintiffs, none would comment.

The complaint is one of the largest cases dealing with student sexual assault in Wisconsin, said Chicago attorney Cass Casper, who is representing the former students.

Since the filing in March, the complaint has been amended three times. It now includes seven plaintiffs and 19 sworn affidavits to support their allegations.

The complaint names 12 staff members as alleged perpetrators going back to the early 1990s. So far, two have been criminally charged.

According to the complaint:

• A student reported a classmate’s sexual assault to a principal and athletic director and was told the school could do nothing and she “had more healing to do.”
• A teacher at school was aware the assistant volleyball coach was sharing a bed with a student. When the athletic director learned about the relationship, he talked to the coach about “boundaries.”
• A student was sexually assaulted by a basketball coach; two fellow coaches knew and privately told them to stop without ever reporting it. One of those coaches was simultaneously having an illegal sexual relationship with another 16-year-old student.

“I’ve never seen facts like this, ever, in my practice,” Casper said. “There are all of these people, staff members, students reporting it. The scope of this suit, and the number of witnesses who have come forward, reflects a severe problem in how the district responds to these situations.”

Downtown Oconto Falls, Wis., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Angela Major/WPR

West Bend attorney Ron Stadler is representing the school district. Stadler did not return requests from WPR for comment.

“Teachers who engage in sexual misconduct should face consequences — the loss of their employment, criminal prosecution and civil liability for the damages they cause,” Sadler’s motion to dismiss says. “In the context of sexual misconduct, a school district is not liable for the bad actor’s conduct.”

Under state law, all school employees are mandated reporters who are legally required to report suspected child abuse or neglect, including sexual abuse.

According to state guidelines, school staff must “learn to recognize manipulation and grooming by adults and peers and to communicate those concerns to appropriate authorities such as school leadership per school policies. In plain language, grooming is a process where a maltreater gains trust, builds rapport and compliance, and ensures secrecy of a child with the intent to be sexually abusive.”

School staff and other mandated reporters who knowingly fail to report abuse can face criminal charges and the loss of professional licenses.

Victims say abuse happened over years

Watzka graduated from Oconto Falls High School in January 2013. But she returned in May 2013 to walk with her class and receive her diploma.

Watzka said she left school early to get away from Heisel, who was in his mid-30s at the time.

Her teacher and alleged sexual abuser was many things to Watzka, who excelled in his class.

Amanda Watzka in 2011. Photo courtesy of Watzka

Throughout high school, Heisel invited Watzka on weekly drives to his job sites, restaurants, his house and his grandmother’s house.

During these trips, Heisel discussed what life would be like with Watzka, who was a teenager. He asked her about her sexual experience, while discussing his marriage and complaining his wife had cheated on him, according to the federal complaint.

Heisel told Watzka he could marry her and take care of all her problems. He sang to her and made romantic comments. He also engraved his initials after Watzka’s name on her tools.

Then in Spring 2012, when Heisel took students to the Dells for the annual Skills Competition, he allegedly escalated his behavior.

According to the complaint, Heisel went into Watzka’s hotel room. She felt threatened and went into the hallway. He followed her into the hotel stairway, where he allegedly accused her of being a tease, partially undressed and forcibly kissed and fondled her.

“Amanda always remembered the facts of what occurred between her and Heisel,” the complaint says. “However, due to her youth, Heisel’s manipulation, and the grooming process, she did not understand until March and April 2025 that Heisel’s conduct was predatory, criminal, and constituted actionable civil wrongs.”

Watzka said she continued to confide in Heisel even after the assault because she felt like he had always been there for her.

Child sexual grooming is a complex and deceptive process that masquerades as trust-building or mentorship, according to the National Children’s Alliance. It is estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys have experienced child sexual abuse.

“The way I look at it is I’ve lived a very hard life,” Watzka said. “From what I’ve experienced and what I’ve reflected on, I don’t think that victims can come forward until they’re safe enough to do so.”

Amanda Watzka stands outside of Oconto Falls High School on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

That safety came last year, once Watzka was married to her second husband and had three children.

In March 2025, Watzka, now 31, sent Heisel a text that was different from any type of contact they had previously had.

“I didn’t realize how incredibly messed up it was until I had my own daughter,” Watzka wrote. “Now that I’ve accepted it for what it is, I’m ready to share it openly so that I can move forward with my life and in hopes to prevent you from doing it to anyone else.”

According to a police report filed in April 2025, Heisel showed his co-workers at Oconto Falls High School the text messages and asked them what he should do.

They told him to get a lawyer.

Heisel did not respond to phone calls and text messages from Wisconsin Public Radio. His attorney, Clarence Duchac III, did not return multiple requests for comment from WPR.

Heisel has never been criminally charged.

The Oconto Falls district did not respond to requests for information on the status of Heisel’s employment.

However, Heisel surrendered his teacher’s license to the Department of Public Instruction on March 31, 20 days after being named in the civil rights complaint against the Oconto Falls School Board.

2 former teachers face criminal legal consequences

While Heisel has never faced criminal charges for Watzka’s allegations, two other educators in Oconto Falls have been charged with sexually assaulting multiple students.

Brooke LaCount and Grace Williams, who are now adults, say they were both groomed and sexually assaulted by Brynn Larsen, a former substitute teacher and volleyball coach.

According to court documents, LaCount was 15 when Brynn Larsen began a sexual relationship with her in 2013. Larsen, who was approximately 24 at the time, started sending LaCount pornographic photographs and then escalated the relationship to sleepovers at her house.

“I did not know what sex between women was and was not interested in sexual activity with women, but I felt obligated to comply because of the power differential between me and Brynn Marie Larsen and because of my youth and inexperience,” LaCount said in court documents.

Brynn’s mother, Dawn Larsen, was a health education teacher at Oconto Falls High School and the head varsity coach for volleyball and softball.

Allegations that Larsen was having an inappropriate relationship with a student were first reported to police in 2014.

In June of that year, Oconto Falls police officer Jamie Kuhn, who also served as a school resource officer, spoke to LaCount after someone reported Larsen appeared to be having inappropriate contact with the girl.

Oconto Falls, Wis., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Angela Major/WPR

According to the federal complaint, the officer questioned her about her relationship with Larsen and told the 15-year-old LaCount she needed to decide whether she would cooperate or they “needed to put her in handcuffs.”

“I was 15 years old. I was terrified,” LaCount said, saying she lied to police to shield Larsen because she was afraid.

Despite police investigating Larsen for child sexual assault in 2014, she continued to be employed at the district.

Grace Williams alleges she was abused by Brynn Larsen four years later.

“An outcome made possible entirely by the Board’s failure to discipline, flag, or report Larsen after she victimized Brooke,” according to the complaint.

As an adult LaCount realized while in therapy the predatory nature of her relationship with Larsen. She went back to the police in 2019.

In 2021, Larsen pleaded no contest to third-degree sexual assault of a student for the assault of LaCount and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Kuhn and Oconto Falls Police Chief Brad Olsen referred all questions to City attorney Craig Kubiak who responded, “The City of Oconto Falls has no comment.”

Another former Oconto Falls teacher, Gayle Gander, was charged with 11 felonies in January including sexual misconduct and child enticement.

Plaintiff Jesse Kasal said he was groomed and sexually abused by Gander beginning in the second semester of his junior year and continuing through his senior year.

Kasal said Gander would remove him from study hall on manufactured pretexts, isolate him in private, lockable spaces within the school, and subject him to escalating sexual misconduct.

Gander is currently out on bond awaiting trial.

Nine other Oconto Falls School District staff members named in the complaint have not been charged, including a physical education teacher who at least four people accuse of sexual misconduct in the civil suit.

Oconto Falls School Board wants complaint dismissed

Oconto Falls is about 35 miles north of Green Bay. The city’s 3,000 residents live in an area that’s just under 3 square miles.

The school district serves about 1,600 students from the city and nine surrounding towns with one high school, one middle school and two elementary schools.

The Oconto Falls School District office Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

The district’s office is located across the street from a church, overlooking the high school football field.

Brianne Carriveau moved to Oconto Falls in 2020 and now runs the Facebook group “Parents of Oconto Falls Schools.”

She said her daughter, a sophomore in the district, has been harassed and inappropriately touched by teachers since middle school. But she said complaints have never been taken seriously by school administrators.

“They silenced the kids. They silence teachers. They basically made it made it almost impossible for anybody to come forward,” Carriveau said.

Carriveau joined the complaint on behalf of her daughter.

“Part of the issue of why this has been going on for so long is the community itself,” Carriveau said. “It’s all interconnected. The police are connected to the school district. And you’ve got wives and spouses and grandchildren and generations all working together. How are we supposed to fight?”

Brianne Carriveau on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

On May 11, the Oconto Falls Board of Education filed a motion to dismiss the suit “not to argue that sexual misconduct is acceptable or ever tolerated,” the motion states. “But because as a matter of law it cannot be financially liable for the acts of reprehensible teachers.”

During an interview in March with WPR, Oconto Falls Superintendent Stuart Russ said the plaintiffs had been making “substantial monetary demands” on the school district since August 2025.

Russ referred all questions for this story to the school district’s attorney, who has not responded to requests for comment.

According to a 2024 report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, sexual misconduct in schools is a prevalent problem that is often ignored.

Researchers found 10 to 17 percent of students experience some form of educator sexual misconduct, but only 6 percent of those students officially report the abuse to authorities.

In Wisconsin, lawmakers are trying to address the issue.

In March, Gov. Tony Evers signed two Republican-sponsored bills related to grooming.

The first establishes a criminal definition of child grooming and imposes strict felony penalties on predators who target minors.

The second requires all schools in Wisconsin to establish clear policies and training governing appropriate communication between staff and students.

‘Not only did they not do something about it, they defended the ones doing the damage’

Over the last several decades, there have been teachers and other adults in Oconto Falls who have tried to call attention to alleged sexual abuse and bullying behavior in the school district.

Tanya Jersey was a special education teacher at the district’s Washington Middle School from 2004 until she resigned in 2015.

Jersey said a male teacher bullied and sexually harassed female teachers but after she reported him to administrators and the school board, he was promoted.

“What I experienced was people being treated unprofessionally, at the very least. And those who had the power and had the authority and responsibility to do something about it, didn’t,” Jersey said. “Not only did they not do something about it, they defended the ones doing the damage.”

But Jersey’s experience goes beyond what happened at work.

She grew up in Oconto Falls.

Now, 10 years after leaving the school district and moving away from the city, Jersey is seeing her own high school experience differently.

“When I was in high school, the two basketball coaches were sleeping with two players that were my friends,” Jersey says. “That was tough to go back to. I had put that away. I had compartmentalized that.”

Those two friends, and the coaches, are named in the civil complaint.

Now, like Amanda Watzka, Jersey is a mom. And she can see more clearly what happened.

“I mean we were kids — we were riding our bikes,” Jersey said. “That’s what really puts it in perspective for me. It’s just such a representation of when you’re that young and unassuming and inexperienced. For an adult male to take advantage of that is one of the cruelest things that could ever be done.”

Amanda Watzka speaks during an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Oconto Falls, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Watzka says people knew Heisel had an inappropriate relationship with her, but said she believes it’s hard for teachers and administrators to speak up because it jeopardizes their own careers.

“If you’re going to blow the whistle on this, you’re going to lose quite a bit of teachers, and you’re also going to draw a lot of negative attention to the school district,” Watzka said. “That’s impossible, right?”

Watzka filed a report with the Oconto Falls Police Department in April 2025, alleging that Heisel began grooming her when she was a sophomore.

She told police he assaulted her in Wisconsin Dells.

At the time she filed the report, Heisel, 46, was at a Skills USA competition in Madison with his current Tech Ed class.

Oconto Falls Police went to the competition and removed Heisel from the event, according to police reports.

Heisel was questioned and retained Duchac as an attorney but was not charged.

According to Oconto Falls police, Adams County has jurisdiction.

Adams County has declined to prosecute the case, citing a statute of limitations, however Wisconsin law for sexual assault of a student by a school staff member gives victims until the age of 45 to file charges.

During a recent meeting in Oconto Falls, Watzka was wearing a black sweatshirt with an Oconto Falls High School Construction Crew logo. On her left arm, her maiden name is sewn on the sleeve.

She says she only started wearing the sweatshirt again since she came forward with her story about her relationship with Heisel.

“I love houses, I love design, I love remodeling and I love drafting,” Watzka said. “Why should one individual who used me and abused me take away what I really do love?”

If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual assault, you can dial 1-800-656-HOPE or text HOPE to 64673. Resources are also available online.

Accusers in Oconto Falls case say school had ‘deliberate indifference’ to abuse for decades  was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

A portion of the General Motors assembly plant site that will be acquired by the city of Janesville for potential redevelopment on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Janesville, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Leaders in Wisconsin communities say they hope new federal grants aimed at cleaning up contamination can pave the way for redevelopment.

“One of the most challenging things for any community is cleaning the mistakes of our past, and that’s what we’re dealing with,” Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza said.

Stevens Point was recently picked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a grant to help clean up troublesome properties where environmental cleanup is a barrier to getting back on the market for redevelopment. It’s part of a brownfield grant.

The EPA awarded roughly $13 million in brownfield grants to sites across Wisconsin, including major cities like Milwaukee and Green Bay. But many of the areas selected are outside of large urban centers — including Stevens Point in central Wisconsin and Kewaskum in the southeastern part of the state.

A brownfield is a property facing challenges in redevelopment because of potential hazardous substances left from previous uses, according to the EPA. Their research estimates there are over 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.

“Almost every time you put a shovel in the ground, you find something that isn’t supposed to be there by today’s standards,” Wiza said. “But 75 years ago nobody thought twice about it.”

And choices made by property owners dozens of years ago are stopping modern development, Wiza said. He said he wishes people would think more about what they put in the ground — because those choices create costs for smaller Wisconsin communities.

One spot in Stevens Point, which the city is actively trying to handle, is a long-vacant former dry cleaners at a defunct mall created in the 1980s.

“It’s almost impossible to find the funding within our own budgets to try and do (the necessary cleanup), which often delays redevelopment to the property, whether it gets turned into a park or another business, or any number of things,” Wiza said.

Stevens Point’s case isn’t unique. Other communities including the city of Brillion in Calumet County have plans for improving local spaces. However, the cost and realities of cleaning the sites can be a hindrance to progress.

“It’s a slow game, this brownfield redevelopment,” said Jason Pausma, economic development director for Calumet County.

Pausma said brownfield sites don’t always mean contamination from oil leaks. It could be a sawmill site that was filled in with trash — bottles, sawdust and metal scraps.

But state and federal grants  are “huge” for taking steps to make them productive community spaces again, he said. Calumet County has been working on fixing multiple brownfield sites for years with EPA grants, and is helping other communities navigate the process.

Stevens Point has a development plan for the area around the old mall including housing, mixed-use developments, streets and a bus stop, Wiza said.

“But in this case, there’s the contamination,” Wiza said. “So the projects are on hold until we can get that cleaned up.”

Stevens Point applied for brownfield grants last year, but wasn’t selected, Wiza said.

“We’ve had deals with the developers that were in the talks, and they went away because of the delay,” Wiza said. “And you’ve got to put yourself in the developer’s shoes too: They want to start making money right away.”

Pausma pointed to Brillion, which received its own separate grant from the EPA focused on the Brillion Iron Works site, which is an old foundry.

“They have started redeveloping that already,” he said. “In fact, there’s a daycare that’s been built on it (and) a new health clinic. There’s multifamily (housing) that’s currently being developed on that too.”

Another project currently underway will help turn a brownfield into a dog park in Chilton, according to Pausma.

Wiza said he hopes the grant will help jumpstart redevelopment plans across Stevens Point. The EPA granted the city’s redevelopment authority over $3 million for cleaning the mall site, and the city received $500,000 for eight brownfield assessments and three cleanup plans.

“I’ve got a map in my office of developable properties, some of them have had what we call Phase 1 assessments, and they’re like, OK, they’re clean. We can start to market this,” he said.

Smaller Wisconsin communities hope federal cleanup grants can jumpstart reuse of local land was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Idle construction site for Neutral Edison. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The unfinished Neutral Edison apartment tower site could soon have a new owner.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn Yamahiro entered a default judgment Monday in favor of general contractor C.D. Smith, advancing the company’s effort to foreclose on the downtown development site and recover more than $11 million in unpaid construction costs.

The ruling sets the stage for the property, 1005 N. Edison St., to be sold through a foreclosure process. The riverfront site contains a partially completed foundation for what was planned as a 31-story, 353-unit apartment tower.

After walking off the job site in September, C.D. Smith filed the lawsuit in March against developer Neutral and its project affiliates. The Fond du Lac-based contractor alleges it performed approximately $13.67 million in work but was paid only $2.37 million, leaving a balance of approximately $11.3 million, not including interest and attorneys’ fees.

Neutral did not file a legally valid response to the complaint within the deadline established under state law, which led Yamahiro to grant C.D. Smith’s request for a default judgment.

Neutral CEO Nate Helbach previously filed a motion arguing that the dispute should be handled outside of court. Helbach cited provisions in the general contract calling for mediation or arbitration before litigation.

But Helbach is not an attorney and cannot represent a limited liability company in court. Yamahiro struck the filing. Neither Helbach nor an attorney representing Neutral appeared at Monday’s hearing.

C.D. Smith’s attorney, Benjamin Prinsen of Kravit, Hovel & Krawczyk, is expected to submit updated documents supporting a monetary judgment and foreclosure order. The filing is expected to account for the resolution of some claims involving subcontractors. The judge must still sign a written foreclosure order before the property can proceed toward a sale.

Should C.D. Smith gain control of the site, the construction company could sell it to another developer or pursue an alternative resolution for the stalled project.

The ruling marks the latest setback for a development that was once billed as a landmark addition to Milwaukee’s skyline.

Neutral began construction in spring 2025 and held a groundbreaking ceremony that June. The approximately $205 million project was promoted as a plan to create the tallest mass timber building in the Western Hemisphere.

But work stopped in September after only a few months. Neutral initially described the shutdown as a temporary pause intended to allow the development team to address inflation, tariffs and other cost pressures.

City officials later said the project was facing a funding gap of approximately $25 million. Its projected cost had reportedly grown to at least $230 million.

C.D. Smith and other contractors removed their equipment in the ensuing months. A partially built foundation and other early improvements remain on the property overlooking the Milwaukee River.

The general contractor filed a construction lien and its foreclosure lawsuit.

The dispute is part of more than $14 million in claims filed by contractors connected to the Edison project. Neutral has also been working through debts and legal claims tied to its Madison development, which was sold for $37 million, approximately half its reported development cost.

Despite the legal and financial problems, city administration officials previously said there could still be a path to developing the Edison property.

Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump told Common Council members in April that Neutral had been speaking with prospective partners and exploring options that could include redesigning the building, bringing in another developer or converting the proposal to workforce housing.

Such a project could target tenants earning up to 100% of the Milwaukee area median income, rather than the luxury market originally envisioned for the tower. The city, as of April 2025, agreed to subsidize workforce housing developments.

The city provided no direct financing for the current Edison project, limiting its leverage over the privately funded development.

Neutral has also fallen behind on property taxes for the site. Ald. Robert Bauman previously suggested the city explore tax foreclosure as a means of gaining control of the property and resolving the contractor liens, though other city officials questioned whether that strategy was practical.

The C.D. Smith foreclosure case could now determine the property’s future before the city’s tax collection process advances that far.

Neutral could attempt to reopen the case, but it would need to retain an attorney and persuade the court to set aside the default judgment.

November 2025 Tower Crane Removal Photos

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The Airport Lounge, 5881 S. Howell Ave. photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Airport Lounge is headed for the hangar.

The strip club at 5881 S. Howell Ave. closed permanently over the weekend after more than four decades in business, marking the occasion with a “final approach”-themed party complete with “sexy ladies, fun vibes, and flowin’ drinks,” according to a Facebook post.

Owners George and Nikolaos Tsitos later shared a brief farewell message on social media, thanking customers for an “incredible” run on the far South Side. “We are filled with nothing but gratitude for 40+ years of business,” they wrote.

The closure ends one of Milwaukee’s longest-running adult entertainment venues and raises questions about the future of the tavern building that has housed Airport Lounge since 1984.

George and Monika Tsitos remain in control of the property, which was placed in a living trust in 2002, according to city assessment records. The 4.2-acre parcel also includes Economy Airport Parking & Shuttle, another Tsitos family business that closed earlier this month.

Coldwell Banker listed the property for sale in October as a “unique redevelopment opportunity” near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, immediately north of the site. It is currently priced at $1.85 million and includes a 7,081-square-foot tavern building, 520 parking spaces and a fenced yard, according to the online listing.

Landmark 1850 Inn, recognized as Milwaukee’s oldest tavern, neighbors the lounge to the south. The business reopened under new ownership in 2024.

George and Nikolaos Tsitos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trent Overhue sits in front of the City Plan Commission while PSL members and data center opponents hold up signs. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

It was heated. It was long. And in the end, it might not have resolved anything.

After six and a half hours of testimony, debate and interruptions, the City Plan Commission voted to hold off authorizing a multilayered development deal that would include affordable housing, a new library, a yet-to-be-determined community tenant, indoor self-storage and a “computer research facility,” or what opponents call a “data center.”

It sets up a high-stakes July 20 plan commission meeting. The affordable housing component, and the deal with it, could fall apart if construction doesn’t start by July 31.

It’s just the last twist in the now four-year odyssey to redevelop the vacant Walmart at the Midtown Center retail complex.

The Walmart, 5825 W. Hope Ave., closed in 2016. Then, in 2023, the City Plan Commission, at the request of area Ald. Mark Chambers Jr. and the Department of City Development, rejected Affordable Family Storage‘s proposal for a self-storage facility. A reformulated plan, with support from Chambers and DCD, returned in 2026 with the city being given a $1 long-term lease for the front 51,000 square feet of the building and Gorman & Co. being given the unused parking lot to develop 200 units of housing. AFS could put its self-storage in the rear of the building.

But AFS proposed adding a computing facility to the rear 19,000 square feet of the 160,000-square-foot building.

May media coverage of the computing facility, whether it was a data center or not and what that would mean compared to large AI-focused facilities, ignited a firestorm of social media activity. A May plan commission hearing was canceled. Three open house meetings were subsequently held, but they encountered substantial organized pushback.

Monday’s meeting was slated to approve or deny the proposal. In the end, it did neither.

DCD Planning Manager Tanya Fonseca spent more than half an hour detailing to the commission the various safeguard conditions DCD was proposing to put into the deal, including engineering reports on sound, water and energy usage, requirements that land be conveyed to the affordable housing developer and that the city have its lease secured to replace the Capitol Library before AFS could proceed with any of its plans.

DCD Commissioner Lafayette Crump said the revised proposal was “unquestionably better” and came with the necessary safeguards to make it valuable to the community.

“There has been a lot of misconception about these edge sites that we develop,” said Trent Overhue, co-owner of AFS.

Overhue, in a prior interview, said the proposal isn’t a data center, but a facility to serve tenants, likely medical research firms with patient privacy concerns, running specialized computing workloads. He called it an “edge site” that fits within the existing power grid. “You’ll never know that we would exist,” he said on June 10.

On Monday, he probably wished he wasn’t there. Speaker after speaker in the public testimony section personally accused him of being an out-of-town millionaire from Missouri focused only on exploiting a majority Black neighborhood.

An affiliate of AFS would own and operate the facility, which he said was similar in square footage to several owned by other operators in the city. It would operate at an IT electrical load of roughly seven megawatts, with a cooling load of about two megawatts, for a total draw of nine to ten megawatts. AFS plans to expand the building’s electrical service from approximately three megawatts to seven to support that capacity. We Energies has the available power, he said.

The AI hyperscale data center campuses — like the Microsoft facility under construction in Mount Pleasant — operate at thousands of megawatts and can exceed a million square feet. The Midtown facility’s IT room would occupy less than 10,000 square feet.

The facility would rely on a closed-loop cooling system that consumes less than five gallons of water per day. Any discharge would be handled by a private operator and not put into the sewer system. Backup generators for the facility would be placed indoors at the city’s request.

Public feedback

Despite Overhue’s insistence on what the facility was and wasn’t, Chambers’ support and the conditions and support from DCD, several dozen speakers spoke in opposition to the project. The testimony reflected the international discord over the proliferation of large data centers and fast-changing nature of the industry.

Chair Stephanie Bloomingdale imposed no time limit on speakers, which resulted in some speakers going on for several minutes even as she asked them to wrap up. Others, politically aligned with the earlier speakers, complained of how long they had to wait to speak. Public testimony lasted more than three hours.

Many of the speakers were affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Members of the party also appeared in large numbers at the open house meetings.

“You can call it whatever you want. It’s still a data center,” said Samantha Doucas.

“They’re trying to sell us a bad deal,” said Joshua Taylor.

Stacey Smiter, a real estate agent and two-time political candidate, said the commission made the right decision in rejecting a deal in 2023 and should do so again.

Many opponents focused their comments on perceived issues with outreach, concerns with AFS making a profit on the deal and alleged negative externalities related to the computing use that Overhue said wouldn’t occur and DCD said would be guarded against by the conditions it was recommending.

“I am disappointed that they thought they could bring you all something without bringing it to the community,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges. McCurtis’s emphatic testimony on the Growing MKE plan in 2024 resulted in that proposal being delayed, and she joked to the commission that she bet they didn’t expect to see her again.

Despite several speakers asking for a moratorium, Chambers said City Attorney Evan Goyke told the council, as Urban Milwaukee previously reported, that it would be unable to impose one because of changes in case law. Additionally, the proposed computing facility would be permitted under the data center regulations pending before the city. Fonseca, the planning manager, said the recommended conditions for the development are more stringent than those in the proposed data center zoning framework.

A handful of neighbors, many of whom appeared virtually, spoke in favor. Jeremy Moore said the proposal wasn’t perfect, but it had a chance to reactivate the struggling shopping center.

A Capitol Drive force field

At multiple points, concerns were raised about an invisible line on W. Capitol Drive. Immediately north of Capitol Drive is Midtown Center and the 2nd aldermanic district. To the south is the 10th district.

Residents to the south, including Steve O’Connell, said they weren’t ever consulted and demanded other infrastructure work first. Chambers, the second district alderman, said he held several town hall meetings about the proposal in recent years with his constituents.

But late in the meeting, 10th District Ald. Sharlen P. Moore arrived to attack the proposal. She said when she was elected in 2024, it was presented to her that it was a “done” deal that the Capitol Library would move from its current home at N. 74th Street and W. Capitol Drive to the new location near N. 60th Street and E. Capitol Drive.

“The communication has been horrible,” she said. “Community was left out.”

Moore said her district would become a “library desert,” and she didn’t want to lose the library.

Chambers noted that the library was moving 14 blocks and would only end up on the other side of Capitol Drive. Crump, a 10th District resident, said that even though the library was moving out of the 10th District, it would actually be closer to his home and many other 10th District homes.

A 2018 request for proposals to build a new mixed-use library resulted in no viable bids. Chambers said keeping it at the current location isn’t viable and cited $100,000 in damage from the April rainstorms.

On what condition could the deal be approved?

After hearing testimony, the commission spent more than an hour asking follow-up questions and considering which conditions could lead to approval, all while McCurtis and other opponents interrupted the commission’s discussions.

Unlike most commission actions, its vote on the Walmart proposal is binding. The issue is not a recommendation to the Common Council but rather a final vote, as it concerns conformity with a previously established development incentive zone.

Chambers recommended they approve the deal. “My responsibility as the alderman is not to make the decision based on the loudest voices in the room,” he said. He said he followed the facts and encouraged the commission to do the same. He also expressed frustration that Overhue added the computing facility to the deal late in the negotiations.

Crump stressed that the July 31 deadline for Gorman & Company to break ground on the housing in the parking lot was real and had been communicated previously, but when it was many months away and not a concern. The commission approved the housing component in April. Gorman would need to seek an extension on its low-income housing tax credit award, the housing component’s key funding source, from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. If granted, the extension would cost the company “tens of thousands of dollars” said Crump. The Austin Commons proposal in Bay View currently faces the same timeline issue.

“We would ask that the project be approved,” said Crump.

Commissioner Willie Smith eventually moved approval with DCD’s list of 12 conditions, plus four more generated by the commissioners. One of the provisions would have tasked DCD or an independent consultant with visiting the nearest AFS computing facility and assessing whether it complied with the conditions DCD recommended be imposed regarding the Milwaukee facility’s environmental impact. Overhue said the closest facility was in Springfield, Missouri and Crump noted that DCD didn’t have a budget for such things and wasn’t sure how to judge success or failure, but he agreed to try.

After substantial debate among Bloomingdale, Smith, Commissioner Allyson Nemec, Overhue and DCD staff, Smith’s motion failed to find a second.

Nemec and Smith tried another motion, but it was voted down.

Eventually, the interruptions from the audience, length of the meeting, heat in the room and difficulty reaching a consensus began to take their toll.

“Is there a library near a data center anywhere else in the world?” asked someone in the audience. “Probably, yes,” responded Crump quietly, but into a hot mic.

After yet another interruption, Bloomingdale briefly gave up and said “Well, I tried.”

Overhue, at one point, interjected to request a vote. “I would rather just take a roll call if you don’t want to do it,” he said. The commission demurred.

Without adding any conditions or direction to the developer or DCD, Tarik Moody moved to hold the matter to a future meeting. Jesus Gonzalez seconded it. The commission unanimously approved the motion.

There is one bright spot for those concerned about another marathon meeting: when the issue returns in July, the commission isn’t legally required to hold another hearing.

Former Walmart

New Walmart interior layout. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Computational research place sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Initial Walmart site plan. Image submitted to CPC by KORB.

Fiserv Forum. Photo taken April 23, 2024 by Dave Reid.

A former Milwaukee Bucks player has been indicted on illegal sports betting charges for allegedly taking payments to swing his performance when he played for the team.

Malik Beasley played for the Bucks during the 2023-2024 season. A federal indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York said Beasley would underperform or overperform on certain statistics during games so that others could place fraudulent bets.

Beasley was named in the indictment with another former NBA player, Edward Davis, and four others for allegedly cashing in on the bets.

“As alleged, the defendants turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation, bribing then-NBA player Malik Beasley to fix his performance in multiple games in order to place fraudulent wagers, enrich themselves and cheat legitimate sportsbooks,” United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

Before a few games during the 2023-2024 season, Beasley would agree with Davis that he would, “underperform, and at times overperform, relative to one or more of his betting statistics in those games,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The other people named in the indictment and others would then place fraudulent bets, “with the intention of profiting off the scheme,” the indictment said.

The indictment said Beasley had “accumulated multi-million dollar gambling losses” during his career in the NBA.

“As further alleged, in return for performance fixing, Beasley received bribes from the co-conspirators, typically by having Beasley’s gambling debts to Davis reduced or paid off,” the statement said.

“These defendants allegedly operated an illegal betting ring in an attempt to unlawfully earn hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle Jr.  said in a statement. “As alleged, Malik Beasley allowed himself to be bought and altered his gametime performance to line pockets of Ed Davis and his other co-conspirators.”

Beasley and the other defendants named in the indictment face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

An attorney for Beasley could not be reached for comment before this story was published.

Former Milwaukee Bucks player faces federal charges for illegal gambling scheme was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

In response to concerns about free speech, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors recently voted to change a county ordinance governing chalk writing in Milwaukee County Parks.

During their meeting on Thursday, supervisors voted to remove chalk writing on county-owned streets and sidewalks from the county’s graffiti ordinance. The sponsor of the resolution, Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, said local political activists were using chalk to write messages during protests against the Israeli war in Gaza and that people who disagreed with them were calling the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office to complain about it.

For the activists, allowing chalking in the parks was a free speech issue, one Martinez supports. But while discussing the issue with colleagues on the board, Martinez also noted that chalk is easily washed away with water and is already used in parks for nonpolitical activities. “Kids draw with chalk to do their hopscotch,” he said. The resolution drafted by Martinez allows “water-soluble chalk on horizontal, publicly owned surfaces exposed to the elements.”

At an earlier meeting of the Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services on June 16, local activists said treating chalk as graffiti would amount to a waste of public resources and an infringement of protected free speech. They also recounted that the sheriff’s office had been called on them while they were writing chalk messages.

“At a time when people are visibly processing grief, anger, and moral urgency about ongoing violence and suffering in the world, respectful public expression is not something to be criminalized because it is inconvenient or uncomfortable,” Ashley Doelger told the committee.

“As others have stated, for years now we have experienced Zionist harassment for exercising our free speech rights and writing pro-Palestine, pro-liberation, antiwar messaging in chalk on a county park pedestrian foot bridge,” said Heba Muhammad, an organizer with Milwaukee 4 Palestine.

At the full board meeting on Thursday, Sup. Sheldon Wasserman, chair of the Committee on Parks and Recreation, expressed support but also said he wondered why pro-Palestinian activists were pushing the change. He claimed the sort of political speech being allowed by the resolution is legal in Israel but not allowed by groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization. He then said the resolution is “pro-American, pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian at the same time.”

Sup. Martinez responded saying the activists are using the chalk to spread messages supporting the Palestinian people, not the organizations Wasserman named.

Sup. Jack Eckblad said he supported the resolution not only for its expansion of allowable speech in county parks but also because “we need to normalize disagreement in this country. We need to normalize dialogue.”

Not everyone supported the idea, though, and not necessarily for political reasons either. Sup. Shawn Rolland asked his colleagues to set aside the “issues of the day” and instead consider “what do we want our county parks to look like?” Rolland noted that once chalk is not considered graffiti in parks it will be protected by the First Amendment, which also protects hate speech and racial slurs.

People come to parks to escape political debates and toxic language, and the chalking ordinance turns the parks into another platform for it, he said.

Corporation Counsel Scott Brown told supervisors Milwaukee County Parks will now have to decide whether to remove something if they receive a complaint about a chalk writing somewhere. Restrictions on First Amendment-protected speech must be content neutral and cannot take one side against another, he explained. He also said the sheriff’s office has not been issuing tickets for chalk graffiti. “My understanding is that it has not been enforced at all in the past decade or so,” he said.

The board voted 13-2 in favor of the ordinance change. Supervisors Rolland and Steve Taylor voted against it. Sup. Felesia Martin, Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones and Deanna Alexander were not present for the meeting.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, left, speaks with Jacci Preuss, a 988 training supervisor for Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin, right, during a tour of the facility on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says the Trump administration isn’t working fast enough to restore an option for LGBTQ+ youth calling into the suicide and crisis prevention hotline.

Baldwin toured a 988 call center in Green Bay on Friday, where she also held a roundtable with crisis hotline staff and local mental health advocates. The tour highlighted rising demand for the service in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Democrat has long championed the 988 hotline, having previously worked on the legislation that created the three-digit phone line.

The previous 10-digit crisis phone number was replaced with a three-digit number nationally in 2022. A new study found that the rate of suicide among 15 to 34 year olds was about 11 percent lower than expected from July 2022 to December 2024, with the sharpest declines in states with a higher volume of answered 988 calls.

“When we launched the 988 hotline four years ago, we saw a very significant increase in outreach to that line,” Baldwin said. “Ever since, we’ve been fighting to make sure that the resources are there to staff these lines, to make sure that phone calls are answered.”

The 988 Wisconsin Lifeline team has more than 100 employees responding to calls, chats, and texts from across the state, said Tana Koss, senior vice president at Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin.

Koss said the lifeline continues to see its call volumes increase. In May, it received more than 10,500 calls, an increase of around 3,000 calls from the same month last year. She said the increase comes from both growing awareness around the 988 number and rising need for services.

“Wisconsin continues to call, chat, and text when they’re in need, which we celebrate,” she said. “We’re really honored to be here when those calls, chats, and texts come in, and the demand has only continued to increase.”

This map shows roughly where the workers behind the 988 Wisconsin Lifeline are located throughout the state. Joe Schulz/WPR

But last summer, the Trump administration stopped offering the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth with a month’s notice. The administration has said the service ended because its funding ran out.

Baldwin said she worked with Democrats and Republicans to write a government funding bill that requires the administration to bring the LGBTQ+ specific option back. That bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump.

During a committee hearing in April, she asked U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he would commit to restoring the LGBTQ+ youth service.

“I do, senator, though I want to say that President Trump has a philosophy that we shouldn’t be dividing people, that we should be being inclusive,” Kennedy replied. “We are working on getting it up now.”

The administration has said it plans to bring the service back by the end of the year.

Pamphlets, cars and wristbands aimed at raising awareness for suicide prevention are see inside the Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin office on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

On Friday, Baldwin said they aren’t moving fast enough.

“Working on it isn’t good enough for somebody in crisis,” she said. “We really have to keep on pushing them, hold their feet to the fire. They are moving, but it’s been painfully slow.”

LGBTQ+ youth “are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers,” according to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention nonprofit for LGBTQ+ young people.

Crystal Dubey, a social worker for Green Bay Area Public Schools, said some students and families she works with have been stressed by changes in federal policy on LGBTQ+ youth.

“With the changes in administration, I haven’t just had students in my office that are fearful,” she said. “I’ve had parents practically on their knees begging me for help: ‘What do I do? How do I protect my child? How do I make them feel safe?’ … Those are real conversations happening all the time.”

Beyond LGBTQ+ issues, mental health advocates from northeast Wisconsin also said they’ve seen a rise in mental health issues related to the cost of living, specifically housing costs, and from loneliness.

Sawyer Hobson, a 988 Lifeline Counselor at Family Services of NEW, left, speaks with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, right, during a roundtable discussion on Friday, June 26, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

Brian Binder, program specialist for the Brown County Aging and Disability Resource Center, said the elderly population that he works with is facing a combination of mental health issues related to both financial hardship and social isolation.

“I could talk for a great length of time about the amount of problems that we’re seeing, whether it be housing … and financial stressors that all lead people to reach out,” he said. “We’re absolutely seeing it with our population, much higher suicide risk for the elderly, and particularly elderly males.”

Koss, with the Wisconsin Lifeline, added that mental health can affect anyone, regardless of demographics.

“Mental health issues and suicidality crosses all demographics,” she said. “You can look at age, race, gender, sexual orientation, every demographic — everything that makes us human — (and) you’ll see mental health issues or suicidality enter the picture.”

US Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushes for faster return of LGBTQ+ option on 988 hotline was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker mural on 731 N. Jackson St. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

Milwaukee will celebrate its new, larger-than-life tribute to Bob Uecker with free beer, brats and a downtown tailgate Tuesday.

The June 30 event will mark the completion of “Mr. Baseball,” an 80-foot-wide, 100-foot-tall mural depicting the longtime Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcaster speaking into a microphone. The mural now overlooks Downtown from the north wall of the Wintrust building, 731 N. Jackson St.

The celebration begins at 11:30 a.m., when organizers will start distributing 500 cans of Miller Lite for a commemorative toast. The beer, which was long advertised in commercials featuring Uecker, is limited to guests of legal drinking age.

Brewers broadcaster Lane Grindle will emcee a noon program featuring Mayor Cavalier Johnson, muralist Mauricio Ramirez, representatives of the Brewers and the organizations that sponsored the project. Members of Uecker’s family are also expected to attend.

The toast is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., followed by Ramirez signing his latest and largest Milwaukee mural.

The tailgate will continue until 2:30 p.m., with 500 free brats, ballpark snacks and bottled water available while supplies last. Entertainment and games will be provided by the Brewers Dance Crew, DJ James, Bernie Brewer, Barrelman and the racing sausages.

The celebration marks the formal completion of the mural, which was painted from mid-May through mid-June.

Ramirez’s design depicts Uecker in the role Milwaukee knew him best: behind the microphone as the Brewers’ radio play-by-play announcer. Uecker held the job for 54 seasons before his death in January 2025 at age 90. A native of Milwaukee, Uecker played as a catcher for the Milwaukee Braves and St. Louis Cardinals before going into broadcasting.

“I think what Bob Uecker means to Milwaukee is super important,” Ramirez told Urban Milwaukee reporter Sophie Bolich as work began. “What better way to honor him than a 100-foot mural to really match his boldness, attitude and style?”

Ramirez titled the mural “Mr. Baseball,” embracing the nickname given to Uecker by television host Johnny Carson. Its blue-and-gold design incorporates approximately 150 colors and line work intended to evoke the retractable roof structure at American Family Field.

“Bob loved Milwaukee and greatly appreciated the connection he had with the city,” Bob Uecker Jr. said in a statement when the project was announced. “The community’s gesture to commemorate that connection is deeply touching. This mural will serve as a reminder of the enduring relationship between the two.”

An affiliate of JE Hoffman Management Company, which owns the mural, commissioned the mural with support from The Westin Milwaukee, We Energies Foundation, Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 and Visit Milwaukee. In the past decade, Milwaukee Downtown has coordinated several murals around downtown.

The work joins more than a dozen other downtown murals painted by Ramirez, including the 53-foot Giannis Antetokounmpo mural at 600 E. Wisconsin Ave., the “Heart and Sol” mural at 728 N. James Lovell St. and 10 geometric utility-box murals along Wisconsin Avenue.

The downtown celebration will serve as a prelude to that evening’s Brewers game. Milwaukee will face the Cincinnati Reds at 6:40 p.m. at American Family Field. Discounted tickets are available using the promotional code 26UECKER.

The 108,214-square-foot, nine-story Wintrust building is anchored by the main Milwaukee office of Wintrust, which previously acquired Town Bank. Bear & Bean cafe is located on the first floor.

Photos

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Interior of Tootsie’s Tea, 2406 W. Clybourn St. Photo taken June 26, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

After years as a market vendor and wholesaler, Tootsie’s Tea is bringing its small-batch blends to a permanent location on the Near West Side.

The business launched its first retail shop at 2406 W. Clybourn St. in mid-June with two separate grand openings: one reserved for elders and people with disabilities and another held the following week for the general public.

The dual debuts are just one way owner Lizz Tsosie Stachura strives to fill everyone’s cup — and not just with tea.

“We wanted to honor those groups by giving them first access,” said Tsosie Stachura, whose tea-making journey began nearly a decade ago at an Arizona farmers market, where she first discovered a coconut-flavored blend that inspired her to start experimenting at home.

The new storefront brings Tootsie’s Tea’s production, retail operations and community programming together in one space. It also expands on the business’s mission of accessibility and community support through partnerships with local artisans and donations to area nonprofits and community programs.

The shop offers dozens of signature tea blends, including those for specific needs such as stress relief, relaxation and digestion. Many feature locally grown and harvested ingredients, including pink cornflower, sage and mint. Small jars of each blend line a display shelf near the entrance, allowing customers to see and smell the teas before making their final selections.

The store also carries canned and bottled beverages from brands like Font Kefir and Dééh Navajo Tea, alongside candles, pottery, soap, artwork and other handmade goods from local artisans.

In addition to using local ingredients, the business emphasizes sustainability through glass packaging and plans to repurpose spilled loose-leaf tea for nonedible uses such as potpourri, Tsosie Stachura said.

Tootsie’s recently hired two graduates from Milwaukee Public Schools‘ School-to-Work Transition Program with plans to continue its partnership through the upcoming school year.

The opening follows more than a year of construction in the shop, which is connected to Mo’s Food Market. Tsosie Stachura and her husband, Mike, completed much of the work themselves, installing dark wood shelving, building out a workshop space and mounting window boxes to fill with fragrant herbs and botanicals.

Tsosie Stachura plans to gradually expand inventory in the coming months, adding new tea accessories and tea-based snacks such as matcha pudding as the shop finds its footing.

Regular hours will be finalized based on customer feedback. For now, Tootsie’s shares its schedule via social media, though Tsosie Stachura said the shop will likely operate 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday once fully established.

For more information, or to shop online, visit the Tootsie’s Tea website.

Photos

Sara Rodriguez and Mandela Barnes.

The story was broken by Drake Bentley, who lists himself as a “political, sports and community reporter for the Milwaukee Courier and WNOV 860 The Voice.”

Bentley reported that Sara Rodriguez, the current lieutenant governor and candidate for governor, “took three donations from the corporate PAC of WEC Energy, the parent company of We Energies, totaling $13,800 between 2020 and 2023.”

“In 2021, she was one of just four Democrats who voted with every single Republican on … a bill to repeal the personal property tax,” the story noted. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed it, warning it could exempt utility personal property from ad valorem taxes and cost Wisconsin “tens of millions in general fund tax revenue, if not more.”

Bentley is an interesting reporter who worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for five years before taking his current job. Was he tipped off by the campaign of presumed front-runner Mandela Barnes?

The story reported that nearly all the money — $12,800 — was given in 2022 and that Rodriguez said she was then running for lieutenant governor and “was directed by the Evers campaign to accept the donation,” but then added that “Mandela Barnes refused those contributions as Evers’ running mate.” Barnes was Rodriguez’s predecessor as lieutenant governor and ran with Evers in 2018. The contrast between the two on We Energies donations has led some to suggest the Barnes campaign shopped the story.

Moreover, Barnes posted a comment on X linking to the story and declaring that “Unlike my opponents, I’ve never been bought by the utilities that are jacking up rates. I don’t take their money and I don’t vote for their tax loopholes.”

This gave an opening for the Journal Sentinel to look like it had an original story, with the headline “Barnes takes aim at Rodriguez for accepting utility PAC donations.” The story also quoted from the Rodriguez campaign defending her (“Campaign contributions have never determined how Lt. Governor Rodriguez has voted.”) and attacking Barnes: “Mandela Barnes walked away from the Evers administration to run for Senate and lose to Ron Johnson. Lt. Governor Rodriguez stepped up to join the Democratic ticket with Governor Evers and win. Now, Barnes is taking the low road and making a false political attack that Governor Evers and Lt. Governor Rodriguez were bought off.”

Next the JS did a story reporting that Barnes “didn’t write” a climate change report he claimed to have “authored” while serving as lieutenant governor. Was this story handed to reporter Molly Beck by the Rodriguez campaign as payback against Barnes? “Not at all,” said Kimberly Kane, spokesperson for Rodriguez, in answer to a question from Urban Milwaukee.

Beck’s story offers no explanation as to why Barnes’ comment about authoring the climate change report — posted on X on April 23 — didn’t get covered until two months later by the newspaper. Which has led Democratic insiders to assume this was opposition research leaked by one of Barnes’ opponents.

I’m not certain how much either story will hurt the two candidates. It’s unlikely Rodriguez would have accepted the $12,800 from a utility without the Evers campaign’s blessing. And while Barnes didn’t author the climate change report, he was heavily involved in the issue: he led the governor’s climate change task force, which over a 10-month period created a 120-page report with 55 recommendations.

But the dustup between the two candidates tells us several things: (1) the gloves are now off in the primary campaign that had so far lacked any drama; (2) Barnes is worried enough about Rodriguez rising in an internal poll she released showing her at 15% versus 26% for Barnes that they’ve begun to go after her; and (3) we’re likely to see more attacks.

As a legislator, Rodriguez represented a district that leaned Republican. That could help her in the general election — and has been cited by her supporters as a strength. But it also means she may have taken votes that could hurt her in a primary campaign that seems to be leaning pretty far left.

Meanwhile, the Barnes campaign has to be careful. A sustained shootout with Rodriguez could work to the favor of other candidates. That includes the surprising campaign of Francesca Hong, whom insiders have assumed had a ceiling, but was up to 22% in that internal poll.

Veteran Democrats will remember the shocking victory of a dark horse candidate for U.S. Senate in 1992: Russ Feingold trounced the onetime favorites, Congressman Jim Moody, and big-spending businessman Joe Checota, who engaged in warring attack ads against each other. Feingold, meanwhile, stayed above the fray and ran humorous ads that won the hearts of Democratic voters. He won nearly 70% of the primary vote and used that surprising momentum to defeat incumbent Republican Bob Kasten.

A classroom at Brookfield Elementary School sits empty while students attend recess on May 22, 2026. Joe Timmerman/Wisconsin Watch

A national program aimed at putting more teachers in classrooms is coming to Wisconsin.

The National Center for Grow Your Own received a $300,000 grant this month from the Ascendium Education Group to expand its teacher apprenticeship program in Wisconsin.

Future educators will be paid and receive hands-on classroom experience working under an experienced teacher while completing the necessary classroom coursework, said David Donaldson, founder of the National Center for Grow Your Own.

This fall, the organization plans to release a competitive grant to Wisconsin universities and school districts to determine who the National Center for Grow Your Own will work with.

The $300,000 will cover about 15 apprentices, depending on how much universities will charge the prospective teachers, Donaldson said.

“You can teach someone math, you can teach someone special ed, you can teach someone history — you can’t teach somebody to have a heart for kids,” Donaldson said. “So that’s what this program is meant to do. For local school districts to be able to identify those individuals who have a heart for kids and remove those financial barriers for them to be able to become a teacher.”

The organization’s goal is to demonstrate the program’s value and in return receive additional philanthropic funding or state funding, Donaldson said.

The National Center for Grow Your Own works in dozens of states and receives money from state education agencies in other parts of the country.

Chris Bucher, spokesperson for Department of Public Instruction, said he is not familiar with the National Center for Grow Your Own. Bucher said DPI is close to launching a special education registered apprenticeship.

Nevada, Tennessee and Missouri have hundreds of people in college apprenticeship programs. In the Midwest, Iowa, Michigan and Indiana are leaders in teacher apprenticeship programs.

Wisconsin piloted a teacher apprenticeship program in 2024 to ease the educator shortage, but the future of the program is uncertain.

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development officials say whether the program continues or grows depends on if school districts get on board and sponsor trainees to join, according to reporting last month from Wisconsin Watch.

School district leaders say cost is a major hurdle.

Eight students are in the current program.

In 2024, a bill passed both chambers that would have formalized teacher apprenticeships by reducing the amount of time teachers spend in college by half.

Teachers would have spent two years in college before spending heir next two years getting paid for student teaching.

Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the bill, saying it interfered with the existing DWD program.

Ben Gagne-Maynard is National Center for Grow Your Own’s chief program officer. He’s based in Madison and said he’s excited to start working with local education partners to expand teacher apprenticeships.

“As a son of a teacher and a former teacher myself, and as someone now based here in Madison, I care a lot about uplifting and sustaining the teaching profession here in Wisconsin,” Gagne-Maynard said.

Gagne-Maynard said the teacher apprenticeship model can be a game changer particularly for rural communities since many rural districts often have to get creative about how they hire and retain new teachers.

“Apprenticeships can create a more structured way for districts to tap into local talent pools, most notably individuals who are often already working in local schools but might face barriers to becoming licensed teachers,” Gagne-Maynard said.

“Many teacher apprentices already have deep ties to their communities, want to become fully-licensed teachers, often possess a real wealth of prior experience already working in school-based support roles, and frequently have children of their own in local schools,” he said.

National teacher apprenticeship program coming to Wisconsin was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Brady Street in 2024. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The City of Milwaukee is taking a big step to get vehicles off of Brady Street.

It’s not pedestrianization, but parking will be prohibited on a portion of E. Brady Street during peak bar hours as city officials and businesses attempt to address loitering, violence and other late-night problems in the popular entertainment district.

Starting this weekend, parking will be prohibited on Brady Street between N. Humboldt Ave. and N. Farwell Ave. from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

The restrictions will remain in effect during a six-week Summer Safety Pilot Program organized by the Brady Street Business Improvement District, the Milwaukee Police Department, area businesses, residents, private security partners and Ald. Alex Brower.

Removing parked vehicles is intended to make it more difficult for people to congregate outside the corridor’s bars and restaurants during the busiest late-night hours. Loitering outside the establishments, particularly around closing time, has become a continuing concern for businesses and nearby residents.

The restrictions are also expected to give police and security personnel a clearer view of the street and more room to respond to problems.

The broader safety initiative was launched last week and is intended to address reckless driving, loud music, loitering, underage drinking, open intoxicants and other disruptive behavior.

“Throughout the six-week pilot, the BID and its partners will monitor community feedback, public safety trends and operational impacts,” Brower said in a statement Monday.

The parking restrictions were added to the initiative following discussions among the participating organizations, according to the alderman. Officials will evaluate whether the overnight ban was effective after the pilot concludes.

Other aspects of the proposal include a greater police and security presence, increased coordination among businesses and residents, enforcement of existing city ordinances, public safety messaging and outreach to businesses.

The new measures follow a series of violent incidents near the Lower East Side commercial district.

Three 27-year-olds were shot shortly before 2 a.m. on June 23 in the 1600 block of N. Van Buren St., just south of E. Brady St. One of the victims later died. Police continue to seek the shooter.

Three days later, a person was critically injured in an early-morning shooting near E. Brady St. and N. Farwell Ave.

The Van Buren Street shooting took place outside of a dense bar cluster found on the east side of the street. The parking restrictions are only targeted at the eastern end of the street.

Brower issued a statement Friday condemning the shootings and calling for state and federal lawmakers to adopt universal background checks, waiting periods and other firearm restrictions.

“The unfortunate reality is that we have a proliferation of guns in our community, and people have become too quick to use them to resolve an argument or dispute,” said the alderman.

The safety pilot was already being developed before the two shootings, but Brower cited the initiative as one of the steps being taken locally to reduce violence and other disruptive behavior.

The District 3 alderman will host a public safety town hall July 15 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Falcon Bowl, 801 E. Clarke St. A second town hall focused on the results of the Brady Street pilot is expected after the six-week program concludes.

The initiative is the latest effort to improve safety along the busy corridor.

In December, the city converted the traffic signals at Brady Street and Humboldt Avenue into flashing red lights, effectively creating a four-way stop. The pilot is intended to reduce speeding and red-light violations while making the intersection safer for pedestrians.

The Department of Public Works is also developing longer-term traffic-calming improvements for Brady Street. Raised crosswalks, speed tables and pinned-on curb bump-outs are under consideration, with construction targeted for later this year.

Those projects are primarily aimed at traffic safety, while the new overnight parking restrictions focus on the crowds and disruptive activity that occur during peak nightlife hours.

“Following the pilot period, a public town hall meeting will be held to gather additional input and evaluate the program’s effectiveness,” Brower said.

Less than a mile to the southwest, city officials are exploring fencing off the Water Street bar district to curtail similar violence associated with loitering.

Andrew Bowden (CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Wisconsinites will face dangerous heat indexes Monday — and the heat will stick around through the holiday weekend.

Temperatures will reach the 90s in the southern two-thirds of the state. Heat indexes on Monday and Tuesday will be as high as 107 degrees, according to the National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan, with even overnight heat index values remaining in the upper 70s.

Severe heat can be deadly. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning through 7 p.m. Tuesday. To reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses, drink plenty of fluids, stay out of the sun and in air conditioning if available. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening.

If working outside, take breaks and stay hydrated. And check on those who might be affected by the heat.

Many cities have designated cooling sites such as libraries for those who need access to air conditioning.

Forecasters expect heat advisories in the north and extreme heat warnings in the south of the state to be extended at least through Tuesday afternoon. Temperatures could hit the 90s each day through at least Thursday. A chance of storms Friday and Saturday may mean a reduction in the extreme heat.

Wisconsin will see hot and humid conditions with potentially dangerous heat index values this week. Source: National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan

Most of Wisconsin faces extreme heat warning as heat index to top 100 was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Dave Reid.

Wisconsin governors don’t get to choose their lieutenant governors. Instead, the winner of the primary for lieutenant governor automatically becomes the running mate of that party’s candidate for governor in the November general election.

That means the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, will have as his running mate the winner of the Aug. 11 Republican primary for lieutenant governor between Will Martin and David Varnam.

On the Democratic side, Sarah Godlewski, secretary of state and former state treasurer, is unopposed and will become the running mate with the winner of the primary for governor.

There’s an old joke: “The lieutenant governor’s job is to wake up each day and check how the governor is feeling.”

That downplays the importance of the office, whose role is outlined in the Wisconsin Constitution: “Upon the governor’s death, resignation or removal from office, the lieutenant governor shall become governor for the balance of the unexpired term. If the governor is absent from this state, impeached, or from mental or physical disease, becomes incapable of performing the duties…the lieutenant governor shall serve as acting governor for the balance of the unexpired term or until the governor returns, the disability ceases or the impeachment is vacated.”

Interesting Capitol dynamics occur between governors and lieutenant governors. Fearing a potential rival, governors and their senior aides closely monitor what issues lieutenant governors can champion, their schedules and who they hire. And if they are not the governor’s preferred candidate, they often get sidelined.

Scott McCallum won the 1986 Republican primary for lieutenant governor with 49% of the vote, beating former Assembly member Patricia Goodrich, who had worked closely for years in the Assembly with Tommy Thompson, who won the first of his four terms as governor that year.

Thompson appointed Goodrich secretary of the state Department of Human Services.

McCallum, who became governor in 2001 when Thompson became secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, and Thompson were not close.

In the 2002 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, Barbara Lawton defeated former state Sen. Kevin Shibilski, the preferred candidate of Jim Doyle, who was elected governor that November. Doyle later named Shibilski secretary of tourism, although he resigned a few months later.

Doyle and Lawton were not close. Doyle let her head the Wisconsin Arts Board, but she was not part of major policy decisions during his eight years in office.

The 2010 Republican primary for lieutenant governor was won by Rebecca Kleefisch, whose 46% of the vote beat Rep. Brett Davis (26%) and Superior Mayor Dave Ross (15%). That November, Republican Scott Walker won the first of his two terms as governor.

Davis was backed for lieutenant governor by many people in Walker’s inner circle, who ridiculed Kleefisch in emails that later became public. But Walker and Kleefisch stayed in their political lanes and generally worked well together. Kleefisch later ran for governor in 2022.

In the 2018 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, Democrat Mandela Barnes beat Kurt Kober by a 2-to-1 margin. Barnes joined the ticket of Democrat Tony Evers, who then won the first of his two terms.

Because Barnes ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, there was no incumbent Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. That allowed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, then a first-term Assembly member, to enter the race; she beat Peng Her, who co-founded the Hmong Institute.

Barnes and Rodriguez are two of the six Democrats running for governor in the Aug. 11 primary.

On the Republican side, this is not the first time Martin and Varnam are running for lieutenant governor. They both lost in 2022 to then-Sen. Roger Roth, who won with 30% of the vote; Martin got 9% and Varnam 5%.

In May, Martin’s campaign said he had been endorsed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “I worked to support Govs. Thompson and Walker and would be honored to help Gov. Tom Tiffany enact his bold vision to move Wisconsin forward. Tom understands what working families, small businesses, farmers and communities across Wisconsin need to thrive. Together, we will fight to make government work for the people again, not the other way around.”

Varnam’s campaign website says he was elected Lancaster mayor in 2016. “Varnam stood up for taxpayers by vetoing a 40% stormwater fee increase, defeating a proposed wheel tax and keeping Lancaster the city with the lowest property taxes in Grant County.”

The exception to the rule that governors can’t pick their lieutenant governors happened in 2001, when McCallum became governor after Thompson’s resignation. McCallum appointed Sen. Margaret Farrow lieutenant governor, but the McCallum-Farrow ticket lost the 2002 election to Doyle and Lawton.

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

Jim Kanter speaks at the 2023 Baird Center topping-off ceremony. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Jim Kanter will be well compensated for his time, however long it should be, as acting head of the Wisconsin Center District.

Kanter, the board chair, was installed as chief of staff on June 8 after the board voted unanimously to terminate CEO Marty Brooks for cause.

After spending more than an hour in closed session Monday morning, the board voted with little public discussion to give Kanter a pay package. He is to be paid $30,000 per month going forward and was given a $21,000 lump sum for his service to date.

The district owns and operates the Baird Center, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theatre. The district is primarily funded by a combination of tourism-related taxes.

Kanter is the chief commercial officer at Central Standard Craft Distillery, which is in the process of opening a multimillion-dollar facility on the Harley-Davidson campus. He was first elected chair of the WCD board in 2018, when he was general manager for Wisconsin for MillerCoors.

Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride and Gerard Randall moved to add the requirement that Kanter work at least 30 hours per week as part of the compensation package, and the motion passed.

“We understand that there is a commitment that the chief of staff will do whatever is necessary with regard to time in order to discharge the duties of the chief of staff and move the center district along,” said acting chair Grady Crosby.

As part of making Kanter a temporary district employee, Crosby, chief sustainability and impact officer at Northwestern Mutual, was made chair of the 17-member board. He presided over the meeting after Kanter called it to order.

Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs abstained from voting on the pay package. The remaining 12 members present, with the exception of Kanter, voted in favor of the pay package.

Kanter was first appointed to the WCD board by then-Gov. Scott Walker and has been reappointed multiple times by the Milwaukee County executive.

Brooks remains in a 30-day notice period during which he may contest his termination. His appeal rights extend into July. He has not commented publicly on the termination and cleaned out his office in advance of the board’s action.

Brooks had a three-year contract that paid him a base salary of $445,000 in the final year, plus several bonuses. Kanter, should he remain for an entire year, would earn $360,000.

WCD issued the following statement several hours after publication: “Today’s actions ensure continuity of leadership and operations during this transition period. The Board approved resolutions appointing Jim Kanter as Chief of Staff and authorizing compensation for that role. The District remains focused on serving its customers, supporting its employees and advancing its mission while the Board continues its work to identify permanent executive leadership.”

Written amendments to the board’s bylaws or to Kanter’s compensation were not immediately available.

A representative of Central Standard did not respond to a request for comment on how Kanter is dividing his work duties.

According to comments by one board member, Brooks was fired for a “serious misappropriation of funds,” including using district funds to make political contributions and to purchase expensive shoes. The district has yet to release the document given to Brooks detailing the reasons for termination.

Anodyne union strike. Photo taken June 27, 2026 by Graham Kilmer.

Anodyne Coffee workers shut down cafes across Milwaukee on Saturday in response to stalled contract negotiations and alleged labor law violations by company owners.

Workers across Anodyne’s four properties walked out of work at 7 a.m. and picketed, calling on owners — a private equity-backed company called FairWave Holdings LLC — to stop making unilateral changes in the workplace and to return to the bargaining table to finish negotiating major items in the contract.

Employees at all four Anodyne locations — Milwaukee Public Market, Wauwatosa (7471 Harwood Ave.), Bay View (2920 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) and the Walker’s Point roastery (224 W. Bruce St.) — organized last year with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union (MASH).

In June last year, they won a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election. By October, ownership, a private equity-backed company called FairWave Holdings LLC, had still not recognized the union and was appealing the results, asking the NLRB to toss the election out.

In April this year, the union said FairWave would still not bargain a contract with them. Instead, the company was cutting wages and workers’ hours, union members said.

Since then, contract negotiations have gotten underway, but FairWave refuses to finish negotiating a handful of “substantial issues,” MASH President Peter Rickman told Urban Milwaukee. Recently, the company began making changes to workplace operations without first negotiating the changes with the union.

“After a union is certified, an employer is prohibited from making unilateral changes that involve or impact mandatory subjects of bargaining, so they have broken the law,” Rickman said. MASH filed unfair labor practice charges against the company on Tuesday with the NLRB.

Saturday is regularly the busiest day of the week for Anodyne. When workers in Bay View shut down the cafe at 7 a.m., vendors and visitors were streaming into the neighborhood for the widely popular South Shore Farmers Market just a few blocks away. On any other Saturday, Anodyne would have been the nearest cup of coffee to the park.

“We wanted to send the strongest message that we could,” said Marie Freres, a barista at the Bay View cafe.

The message from workers is that Anodyne can’t violate labor law and make unilateral changes that affect their jobs and livelihoods without first negotiating with the union — at least not without facing consequences. The changes had affected workers’ job duties, schedules, tipping practices and staffing, Freres said.

“Everything that we proposed in our contract was kind of no longer relevant because they had made these changes to our work duties,” Freres said.

The company responded to the strike Saturday with a statement from CEO Justin Seamonds, who said all cafes would remain closed except for the Public Market, which would operate on reduced hours.

“With just one minute’s notice this morning, MASH informed Anodyne of its intention to strike. We are disappointed by the union’s actions, which came with virtually no notice and even though we have been in constant discussions with union leadership, including eight collective bargaining sessions to date where we were making meaningful progress towards an agreement,” Seamonds said. “We are left to believe that this action is related to the introduction of a new breakfast sandwich at our cafes.”

Rickman called Seamonds’ statement disingenuous. The company was moving from prepackaged sandwiches to handbuilt sandwiches, taking baristas out of their regularly scheduled jobs to make them and affecting their compensation, which is heavily reliant on tips, he said.

“The company’s grumbling about a strike is ironic and rich; they’re the ones who broke the law,” Rickman said. “They’re the ones who denied any entry by the union to address and resolve this. Anodyne workers owe FairWave nothing when it comes to fixing the problems that FairWave created.”

The union has enjoyed strong support from the local community, and members are used to FairWave’s anti-union tactics at this point, Freres said. “It’s been a long process, and they’ve just drawn it out and made it take as long as possible, every step of the way.”

At noon Saturday, Anodyne workers and other labor movement allies had stopped picketing the cafes and MASH offered FairWave an “unconditional return to work,” which meant workers would end the strike without any preconditions, like the signing of a contract or a pay raise.

“It turns out that you can’t run a coffee business with bosses sitting in the air-conditioned offices of a private equity fund in Kansas City; you need baristas to do that, and so we expect that they will accept the unconditional return to work to conclude their unfair labor practice strike today,” Rickman said.

FairWave is owned by a Missouri-based private equity firm called Great Range Capital. Anodyne is just one of a handful of local coffee brands FairWave owns and operates around the country.

Hemimysis anomala or bloody red shrimp. A microphotograph by S. Pothoven, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, December 2006. Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

After the sun goes down, Donn Branstrator and his team get to work.

For the past couple years, they’ve been using nets and setting light traps at several locations in a Lake Superior harbor on a quest to find an invader: the bloody red shrimp. The freshwater shrimp is known for its red pigment and translucent or ivory-yellow appearance.

Branstrator, a biology professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, said the organism that grows up to a half-inch in length tends to come out at night because they’re vulnerable to fish.

“They hide on the bottom within the cracks and crevices of the break wall and bouldered environments during the day,” Branstrator said. “You can go out there during the day and sample all you want, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find them.”

Bloody red shrimp are a type of zooplankton native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia. The invader likely hitched a ride aboard the ballast water of oceangoing vessels. They were first detected 20 years ago in the Great Lakes. But evidence was lacking that they had become established in Lake Superior.

Until now.

Last year, Branstrator and others collected 81 bloody red shrimp in light traps and nets at Wisconsin Point and Montreal Pier in Superior. He said they found enough individuals at various life stages, including pregnant adult females, for them to be confident that a self-sustaining population is living in the lake. Findings from their study were recently published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

“It is there, in perpetuity one would think, if they can continue to grow and reproduce,” Branstrator said.

A researcher is processing a sample from a net used to collect bloody red shrimp in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. Photo by Donn Branstrator/University of Minnesota-Duluth

The findings make Lake Superior the final of the five Great Lakes to see an established population of the invasive species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first detected a single specimen from the Duluth-Superior harbor in 2017.

Researchers found more the following year at Wisconsin Point, and they published a study showing that Great Lakes ships were moving bloody red shrimp and other invaders from the lower lakes to Lake Superior.

Matt TenEyck is director of the Lake Superior Research Institute and co-authored the study with Branstrator. Now that bloody red shrimp are here to stay, he said their effects remain unclear.

“It’s just too soon to tell if and when they will cause problems with our local communities, if they’ll disrupt the food web,” TenEcyk said. “We just won’t know yet.”

As juveniles, Branstrator said bloody red shrimp feed more on algae. As they grow, they eat more zooplankton and could become a potential competitor to small fish. But they could also become a potential new food source for fish.

Research has found that the introduction of bloody red shrimp can cause the collapse of zooplankton abundances in European reservoirs. Even so, Branstrator said there have been no reports of adverse or positive effects since their introduction to the Great Lakes. But swarms of thousands of bloody red shrimp have been found in waters connected to Lake Michigan in Muskegon, Michigan.

“We haven’t seen a single swarm yet in our work,” Branstrator said.

A 6 to 7 millimeter long sample of bloody red shrimp collected by researchers. Photo by Donn Branstrator/University of Minnesota-Duluth

However, both he and TenEyck are concerned about what their establishment could mean for inland lakes.

“What happens if someone picks that up in their bait bucket or their live well and goes to an inland lake?” TenEyck said. “This is the classic example of likely how (other invasive species like) zebra mussels and spiny water fleas have made this slow migration inland. This could be the next concern.”

So far, they haven’t been found in any inland lakes in Wisconsin or Minnesota.

While progress has been made, TenEyck stressed that the spread of invasive species has not stopped and work must continue. He and others have been working on the Great Waters Research Collaborative at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. The project aims to prevent the spread of invasive species through ballast water by testing ballast water treatment systems for ships.

Meanwhile, Branstrator said his team has expanded sampling for bloody red shrimp to other areas of the Duluth-Superior harbor and Two Harbors to find out more about how they’re spreading in Lake Superior.

In Lake Superior, researchers find invasive bloody red shrimp are here to stay was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Beloit residents walk through the rain on their way to vote Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at the Beloit Public Library. Angela Major/WPR

President Donald Trump’s administration had another setback this week in its attempt to get unredacted voter registration data from Wisconsin.

After losing in federal district court last month, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite its lawsuit in order to audit Wisconsin’s voter registration list ahead of the August primary and November general election — demanding sensitive voter data like drivers license information and partial Social Security numbers.

The DOJ’s emergency motion suggested “many” absentee ballots could be sent to “non-citizens” or otherwise “fraudulent” registrants without a federal audit.

The appeals court denied the request on Wednesday.

The DOJ has filed 30 other voter roll lawsuits against states and the District of Columbia, according to an analysis by the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. Of those, nine have been dismissed by federal district court judges.

Trump has repeatedly made false claims about widespread election fraud with absentee voting by mail. The attempt to force states like Wisconsin to produce unredacted voter data coincides with a proposed U.S. Postal Service rule that wouldn’t allow ballots to be mailed unless the voter sending it is on a federally approved list. The rule proposal was blocked by a federal judge on Thursday.

Court filings from the Wisconsin Elections Commission say it provided the DOJ with publicly accessible voter roll data.

But the administration argues the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act require Wisconsin to give its voters’ driver license numbers and the last four digits of social security numbers too.

A brief filed by the Elections Commission pushes back on the DOJ’s argument.

It claims Congress never gave the Justice Department power to regulate state voter rolls under those laws. The commission also argues that Wisconsin is exempt from portions of the Voter Registration Act because it has same-day registration, and that it’s too late for the DOJ to comb voter rolls to “ferret out everyone it thinks should not be voting, and somehow order Wisconsin to remove them” before the elections.

“Even if it were possible to achieve these steps in the time left, the notion that such a chaotic process would serve the interests of Wisconsin voters is absurd,” said the commission’s brief.

Derek Clinger is an attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative. He told WPR the appeals court still has to rule on the merits of the DOJ’s lawsuit.

But Clinger said the Elections Commission’s argument about timing is compelling and has been used by several other states. Clinger said it’s also clear Wisconsin’s same-day registration exempts it from federal voter list maintenance requirements under the National Voter Registration Act.

“So, it just raises this point that the rationale for why the federal government needs this data doesn’t really line up with what the federal law says,” Clinger said.

Clinger noted the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a similar case on Wednesday. It was the highest profile loss for the Trump administration’s attempt to get access to state voter data. Clinger said the 6th Circuit decision isn’t binding on the Wisconsin case, but the 7th Circuit appeals court judges will notice.

“It has a persuasive value,” said Clinger. “So, other courts like the 7th Circuit, will certainly review that decision from the 6th Circuit, and probably give it some weight, but it’s not bound to follow that,” said Clinger.

Trump administration request for speedy resolution of voter roll lawsuit rejected by 7th Circuit was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Henry Meier Festival Park entrance. Photo taken Dec. 7, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

Milwaukee’s usual whirlwind of summer festivals will get a new addition in 2026.

Freshwater Food & Wine Festival is set to take over Henry Maier Festival Park on Sept. 19-20 with cooking demonstrations, restaurant vendors and a Champagne Room designed as a tribute to Miller High Life.

First announced in November 2025, the festival secured city approval earlier this week and later that day unveiled a lineup of celebrity chefs and attractions.

“Freshwater is built like a great music festival—except the headliners are chefs,” Wes Shaver, founder and CEO of the festival, said in a statement.

Milwaukeeans Dan Jacobs and Adam Pawlak are among those headliners, along with Wisconsin native Elena Terry, George Motz, Joe Sasto and Chicago’s Tony Scardino, also known as Professor Pizza.

Each guest brings a distinct background and culinary style to the festival, with plans to share that expertise with attendees through storytelling, competitions and tastings.

Elsewhere on the festival grounds, attendees can expect eats from Restaurant Row, with confirmed participants including DanDan, La Dama Mexican Kitchen and Bar, Carnevor, Lupi & Iris, Aya and Professor Pizza.

A separate attraction, The Flavor Yard, will highlight food trucks, 3rd Street Market Hall vendors and Saz’s Hospitality Group, alongside beverages and desserts from Vendetta Coffee Bar.

Seven wine regions will be represented throughout the grounds, allowing festivalgoers to sample a wide range of reds, whites and bubbles while shopping two on-site markets and stopping at booths such as Pearl & Pop, a seafood and wine bar led by Black Shoe Hospitality, and Berens Backyard Bar, Charlie Berens’ nod to Wisconsin hospitality featuring brandy cocktails and live music.

The two-day festival will end its first day with a five-course dining experience pairing dishes from Pawlak, Sasto, Kyle Knall, Justin Aprahamian and a fifth surprise chef with sommelier-selected wines.

“There’s simply nothing else like it on the lakefront—or anywhere in the country,” Shaver said.

Additional participating restaurants, chefs, food trucks and wine partners will be announced in the coming weeks. Festival tickets will be available for sale online starting July 1.

More Than 130 Sites Offer Summer Meals For Youth

Hunger Task Force representatives and community partners gathered at Franklin Square Playfield on Wednesday to launch the 2026 Milwaukee Summer Meals Collaborative, a countywide effort to ensure children have access to free meals while school is out of session.

The initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides breakfast, lunch and dinner at more than 130 sites across Milwaukee County, including schools, parks, apartment complexes, and community centers.

“One in four kids in Milwaukee lives in poverty, and for local families, eating healthy is harder than it has ever been,” said Matt King, CEO of Hunger Task Force.

King, who took over leadership of the nonprofit in 2024, praised last summer’s efforts, which distributed more than 500,000 meals. This year, partners expect to serve more than 450,000 meals across Milwaukee County.

Read the full article

Bay View’s Chettinadu House Closes

Chettinadu House, once a promising new arrival to Bay View‘s growing restaurant scene, has closed after five months in business.

The Indo-Chinese restaurant encountered financial challenges early in its tenure at 2258 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. and is now facing an eviction lawsuit from Baylawn Properties LLC, according to online court records.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the restaurant remained closed during regular operating hours. Owner Ameen Khan could not be reached for comment by publication time.

Chettinadu House opened in January, replacing Caribbean restaurant Sabor Tropical in a prominent commercial space along the neighborhood’s main commercial strip.

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City Closes Bay View Sports Bar

Bay View sports bar Brown & Gibbs is ceasing operations after the Milwaukee Common Council blocked its license renewal on Tuesday.

The decision followed an earlier recommendation from the Licenses Committee, which cited owner Julio Maldonado’s failure to attend two consecutive license renewal hearings.

“I think we’ve used too much of the community’s time and your time on this,” Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic told committee members during a June 9 hearing, also noting a lack of communication from the business. “If it’s within our purview, I think denial is appropriate.”

Alderman Alex Brower moved for nonrenewal based on a second nonappearance. There were no objections.

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Mother’s Closes in Bay View

This article is available only to Urban Milwaukee members.

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BaoBao Offers Authentic Vietnamese Food

Despite the traffic and the road construction, you can’t miss BaoBao Cuisine when you get close to it on S. 27th Street just south of Layton Ave. That is because BaoBao announces itself with a giant sign on the street side of the restaurant that reads Vietnamese Cuisine. This new restaurant serves authentic Vietnamese food, including a long list of pho choices.

I came twice, and both times one of my companions ordered pho: the seafood pho and the special pho. The special overflowed with beef, a variety that included tenderloin, meatballs, brisket and tendon. The broth had a deep, beefy flavor, and the tender meat had absorbed the nuances of the broth. The tendon, a traditional addition to beef pho, tasted like a beefy rubber band. For the seafood pho, the chef added shrimp, fish balls, fish cakes, squid and scallops. Both bowls came with basil, lime and sprouts. There were 15 varieties of pho on the menu, including oxtail, lobster, chicken, tofu and one in a hot stone.

The stir-fried mixed vegetables were a week’s worth of veggies for one person and included broccoli, carrots, celery, cabbage and sprouts. Each vegetable was crisp, and the steamed rice was just right and delicious on its own. There were a dozen steamed rice dishes, including lobster, Mongolian beef, sweet and sour chicken and Vietnamese curry.

A special for the day, shaken beef tenderloin or nui xao bo luc lac, was predominantly stir-fried beef plus some slices of red and green peppers and onions. A sweet glaze flavored the dish, which also had a serving of steamed rice and a small salad.

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Ostara Initiative founder Erica Garrity, far left, holds a baby while she visits doulas at a prison in Mexico City where babies live with their incarcerated mothers. Photo courtesy of the Ostara Initiative

Earlier this year, a woman incarcerated in a Wisconsin prison gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

“It was beautiful. I did the best I could with what I was given,” said the woman, who spoke to WPR on the condition of anonymity because she could be penalized for speaking to a reporter.

She knew her time with her newborn would be limited. There were two prison guards present at the birth. And in Wisconsin, incarcerated women have only 24 hours with their newborns. When the mothers return to prison or jail, their children can’t come with them.

“I spent the entire time with the baby on my chest — cuddling, holding, changing, feeding my baby,” she said. “(But) I still had the gut-wrenching knowledge that 24 hours wasn’t going to last very long.”

The incarcerated mother featured in this story bonds with her newborn. Photo courtesy of Erica Gerrity

Wisconsin law requires the state to offer programming that permits incarcerated mothers to have physical custody of their infants for their first year of life. But even after a judge last year ordered the state to implement a mother-young child program “forthwith,” the Wisconsin Department of Corrections hasn’t done it. The department said it has no way to accommodate newborn babies at its facilities.

Since returning to prison, the woman said she’s been experiencing feelings of profound grief and loss. She meets each week with a group of other incarcerated mothers and doulas from the Wisconsin Prison Birth Project, an organization whose goal is to advocate for women during their pregnancies, births and postpartum recovery.

“A lot of times it’s really tough to be in a group of women where there’s a whole lot of tragedy and trauma. But I still went,” she said. “It’s the only resource we have here for mothers.”

Doulas provide education, supportive community in prison

“The one thing that prison offers is more free time. Why not use it to acquire more information to make more informed decisions about your body and your baby?” said Erica Gerrity, founder and executive director of the Ostara Initiative, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that leads the Wisconsin Prison Birth Project and similar programs in five states.

During group meetings, the women learn from the doulas about fetal development, warning signs to watch for, what foods to choose from the limited canteen menu to best support their growing baby and other ways mothers can keep themselves and their babies healthy.

After giving birth, the doulas offer the women lactation support, advice for healing from the birth while incarcerated, and information about parenting and bonding with their child while separated.

Gerrity said the goal of the groups is to help participants “really invest in their pregnancies and in their infants, and take an interest in giving their baby the healthiest possible start to life, even though they are incarcerated.”

A doula with the Wisconsin Prison Birth Project helps a new incarcerated mother breastfeed her newborn. Photo courtesy of the Ostara Initiative

Group provides emotional support, advocacy — and memories

Importantly, the doulas prepare the women for a birth experience that is far from traditional.

“What many people don’t know is that incarcerated mothers give birth by themselves and have no one there,” said Shanita Lawrence, a doula with the Wisconsin Prison Birth Project who also gave birth while incarcerated.

In place of loved ones, the doulas provide emotional and physical support. That means coaching mothers on breathing and positioning, communicating with the medical professionals and simply being a comforting presence in the room.

It also means taking photos and keeping a memory of the experience. Because their children are taken away shortly after birth, incarcerated mothers who don’t have doula support often report feeling like it didn’t even happen, Gerrity said.

“We’re able to be a resource in the room that reminds everyone that, in spite of the circumstances, a life is being born here today, and it deserves to be celebrated and honored,” Gerrity said.

In the 24 hours that an incarcerated mother has with her baby, the doula can help facilitate the critical bonding between mother and child that happens immediately after birth. And, they can help support them at the moment of separation when those 24 hours are up.

“I think this is one of the most painful things that a person giving birth could experience is bonding with your child, loving your child, going through the whole process of giving birth, meeting your child for the first time, and then having to say goodbye,” Gerrity said. “(They) don’t have to go through that alone. (We) remind people that they can emotionally survive that, and there’s something on the other side of that.”

When a mother has to return to prison or jail after the separation, the group of doulas and mothers offer one another emotional support. Together, they journal, make art, share stories and even record messages for their children so that they stay present in their lives.

Reflections written by incarcerated mothers participating in the Wisconsin Prison Birth Project. Photo courtesy of the Ostara Initiative

“My love for my child is a good, alive part of me, but this process and this system feels like they are trying to kill me,” wrote one mother in the program. “There is nothing I want but to hold my children (and) to be able to love them. I constantly feel horrible, and I live in emotional pain filled with worry.”

In normal circumstances, the time surrounding pregnancy and birth is fraught with mental health risks. Gerrity said mental health issues are the cause of many postpartum deaths. Incarcerated mothers undergoing profound grief from separation are especially at risk.

“The groups are really powerful in preventing (those deaths) because of that shared community and sense of support,” Gerrity said.

Ostara Initiative envisions alternative ways of preventing separation

Wisconsin Department of Corrections offers mother-young child programs for certain mothers on probation and parole, but not for those who are incarcerated. That’s even after the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin won a lawsuit against the department in February 2025 — and a judge granted their request to reopen the case this year.

A spokesperson for the Department said state legislators had declined to fund such a program and refused to expand the system’s earned release program.

“The practical effect of this is that DOC is required to expand the program to include incarcerated mothers with no additional funding and with no statutory changes that would allow more incarcerated women to take part,” communications director Beth Hardtke wrote in an email to WPR.

The leaders of the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee did not respond to WPR’s request for comment.

The Ostara Initiative has an idea that Gerrity says would help incarcerated mothers and their children in Wisconsin get what they need — one that would also allow the DOC to satisfy its legal obligation.

Ostara wants to build a mother-baby house: a community residential living facility where people from jails, community corrections or the state prison could be sentenced to as an alternative to incarceration. From pregnancy until their baby’s first birthday, they would get comprehensive pre- and postpartum care and education.

Most importantly, young children would bond with their mothers for 364 days longer than they do now.

The idea is based on the federal prison system’s Mothers and Infants Together program, which allows incarcerated women in the last two months of their pregnancy to live in a residential community and stay with their children for three months after birth.

The Ostara Initiative claims housing mothers and their infants at such a facility will be cheaper for the department, accounting for the combined cost of incarceration and foster care for an infant in Wisconsin. They’re hoping to raise $4.5 million to acquire, renovate and launch the Ostara Mother Baby House within 30 miles of Madison.

The Ostara Initiative offered to create such a program in April 2024 at no cost to the state, according to court documents from the ACLU’s most recent lawsuit. The plan did not move forward at that time. Gerrity said in subsequent conversations officials have been open to the idea — but there hasn’t yet been movement.

“Babies only get one beginning to life,” Gerrity said. “It’s this very ripe, powerful moment in terms of investment in human life, and we believe that if we can create an environment where we can do the absolute most with that, we can prevent really expensive long-term risk and adversity.”

The mother featured in this story holds her newborn on her chest. Photo courtesy of Erica Gerrity

‘We don’t want (our children) to pay for our mistakes’

For the new mom interviewed for this story, the doula program has been helpful — but limited in what it can do. Her child is in foster care, but she has no idea where. She’s been pumping breast milk to give to him, but she said Child Protective Services won’t accept it and won’t explain why. Right now, they won’t allow her to visit her baby, and she said her caseworker won’t tell her what she needs to do to earn that right.

She worries that the separation will subject her child to the same experiences that led her to incarceration. Her own first involvement in the justice system was as a minor, when she said she was charged with a felony to keep her from running away from foster care.

Other incarcerated moms also worry about the consequences of separation. One of the letters written by a different mother expressed her fears.

“Incarceration harms our children,” the first-time mother wrote. “We don’t want them to pay for our mistakes.”

Listen to the WPR report

Incarcerated women in Wisconsin are separated from their babies. Doulas want that to change. was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

1. Back in the News: John Menard’s Fortunes Declining

Losing court cases and paying judgments while seeing his wealth decline.

Jun 17th, 2026 by Bruce Murphy

2. City Closes Bay View Sports Bar

Brown & Gibbs is closed after Milwaukee Common Council blocks its license renewal.

Jun 23rd, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

3. ‘Signature’ Condo Tower Planned for Downtown Milwaukee

25-story Zenith would be a bookend to Ascent apartment tower.

Jun 22nd, 2026 by Jeramey Jannene

4. First Major Candidate Drops Out of Wisconsin Governor Race

Missy Hughes suspends campaign, makes endorsement.

Jun 22nd, 2026 by Jeramey Jannene

5. Murphy’s Law: How Tom Tiffany Falsifies History

Stance on Juneteenth Day is part of a pattern of undermining America’s constitution and history.

Jun 22nd, 2026 by Bruce Murphy

6. Mother’s Closes in Bay View

Small plates restaurant led by James Beard-nominated chef calls it quits after just one year.

Jun 23rd, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

7. Bay View’s Chettinadu House Closes

Five months after opening, promising Indo-Chinese restaurant faces eviction.

Jun 24th, 2026 by Sophie Bolich

8. Condo Tower Would Provide Millions For City Services

Development team, city officials express optimism about project.

Jun 25th, 2026 by Jeramey Jannene

9. Op Ed: Former Wisconsin Governor Announces Endorsement

Former Gov. Schreiber says Sara Rodriguez’s life story shows she can win statewide in November.

Jun 25th, 2026 by Martin Schreiber

10. Dining: BaoBao Offers Authentic Vietnamese Food

Large restaurant, long menu, many choices of tea and very good food.

Jun 21st, 2026 by Cari Taylor-Carlson

Press Releases

Most popular press releases in the past week.

1. 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.

2. Fatal Milwaukee Crash: Suspected Drunk Driver Arrested After Collision Kills 47-Year-Old

 

Jun 21st, 2026 by Milwaukee Police Department

3. City of West Allis Announces Independence Day Plans Including Parade, Movie Screening, Concert, and Festival Foods Fireworks

 

Jun 23rd, 2026 by City of West Allis

4. Veteran Meteorologist and Milwaukee Native Lindsey Slater Joins TMJ4’s Storm Team 4

 

Jun 15th, 2026 by TMJ4

5. Baldwin Votes to Pass Biggest Housing Bill in 30 Years

 

Jun 22nd, 2026 by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin

6. Roys Announces Congressional Endorsement

Kelda Roys is a proven fighter who’s been standing up to bullies and billionaires like Trump for 25 years; Roys has been a champion for public education, from early childhood to K12 to higher ed, as well as expanding access to healthcare and protecting abortion rights. She is running for governor to deliver higher wages, lower costs, and more freedom.

Jun 25th, 2026 by Kelda Roys

7. Milwaukee Bucks to Host 2026 Draft Watch Parties at Three Bucks Bar Network Locations

Bucks Watch Parties, presented by Michelob ULTRA, will take place during the First Round tomorrow, June 23

Jun 22nd, 2026 by Milwaukee Bucks

8. Two Charged for Allegedly Defrauding Wisconsin Medicaid in Separate Cases

 

Jun 24th, 2026 by Wisconsin Department of Justice

9. Milwaukee Police Seek Suspects After Fatal Shooting on N Van Buren Street

 

Jun 23rd, 2026 by Milwaukee Police Department

10. Gov. Evers, WisDOT Announce New Effort to Expand Passenger Rail Into Dane, Jefferson, and Waukesha Counties

Evers Administration revives passenger rail effort in Wisconsin, requesting federal support for new project after Walker-era high-speed rail debacle

Jun 25th, 2026 by Gov. Tony Evers

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

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Bloom Alert! The Corpse Flower Has Opened [Reporting Update]

Penelope the corpse flower. Image from the Milwaukee Domes Alliance.

You don’t want to miss the smell. The corpse flower is blooming.

From the Milwaukee Domes Alliance: “We will be open early on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, at 8 a.m. for this event, with last admission at 3 p.m., and doors closing at 4 p.m.

Earlier in the week, MDA released this statement: “Penelope, our corpse flower, is preparing to bloom—and when she does, you’ll have just 24 hours to see her before she closes again. In the wild, corpse flowers bloom only once every 7–10 years, so every opening is a rare, fleeting, can’t-miss event. She last bloomed in June 2024, which makes a return this soon a genuine surprise, and a testament to the talent of our horticultural experts.”

Hot tip: Domes members get priority access, skipping a line that can be very long.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 26 4:57 pm

New Food Truck Policies Introduced [Reporting Update]

Details are still scant, but two food truck regulations have been introduced before the Milwaukee Common Council.

Both come after the council unanimously voted to prohibit food trucks in the downtown regulation zone after 10 p.m. in response to violence around the Water Street bar district.

Judge Jean Kies has granted an injunction on that policy’s implementation while the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is suing the city on behalf of a food truck operator.

Ald. Sharlen P. Moore introduced “n ordinance relating to food truck hours of operation,” but the file is not yet filled with details.

Moore, in an interview on 101.7 The Truth, previously expressed that she didn’t know what she was on voting on with regard to the food truck time restrictions. The city had previously reduced food truck operating hours to 1 a.m. within the downtown zone.

Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs introduced “an ordinance relating to food truck zones,” but it is also filed with title only.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 25 2:51 pm

World Naked Bike Ride Route Revealed [Reporting Update]

Avert your eyes or find a chair to watch. Whichever you prefer, the World Naked Bike Ride Milwaukee has revealed its route for Saturday, June 27.

The ride sets off from Walker’s Point at 4 p.m. You can see the planned route on Google Maps.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 25 9:19 am

More: See our earlier coverage for more on the event

SportClub Reopens Under New Ownership [Reporting Update]

SportClub, dark since early 2026, has reopened at 750 N. Jefferson St.

The bar is now operating under new ownership, led by former manager Henry Meza alongside tavern veterans Drew Deuster and J.J. Kovacovich of Wild Planet Hospitality Group.

The group announced the reopening on social media Wednesday morning, giving fans several hours to make their way downtown before the 2 p.m. kickoff between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar.

Deuster previously told Urban Milwaukee that he and his partners planned to continue operating the business largely as is, with few changes.

Before he joined forces with Wild Planet Hospitality Group, Meza and two other partners, Farhan Arshad and Hassan Khalid, filed license applications to reopen the business as Sports-Club. The trio also planned to reopen the nearby Experts Only and Barrel Burrito Company under a single name: Burrito Donkey. Those plans never materialized.

All three businesses originally operated under Caravan Hospitality Group.

– Sophie Bolich, June 24 4:00 pm

More: Read our past coverage

Bilingual Map Kiosks Installed in McGovern Park [Key Press Releases]

Milwaukee County Parks and the Milwaukee Parks Foundation recently installed four bilingual kiosks around McGovern Park.

The kiosks include a map of the park and highlight potential areas of interest for park patrons, like basketball courts, trails and even an apple orchard.

The kiosks are part of more than $500,00o in improvements at the park funded by Johnson Controls, Milwaukee Parks Foundation and the county parks department. These include a quarter-mile of new trail, removal of invasive buckthorn and new plantings.

– Graham Kilmer, June 24 1:27 pm

Assistant Fire Chief Now Leads Madison-Area Department [Short Take]

A long-time Milwaukee firefighter is now the head of the Verona Fire Department.

David Hensley took his oath of office Monday to lead the Madison suburb’s firefighting effort.

He was most recently assistant chief of emergency medical services, training, education, and wellness for the Milwaukee Fire Department.

Hensley had been with the Milwaukee Fire Department since 1999.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 24 1:03 pm

COVID-19 Fallout Continues to Hamper Milwaukee’s Libraries, Usage Down Dramatically [Short Take]

One of the underappreciated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was on how often you go to the library.

By virtually every way you can measure it, the Milwaukee Public Library has yet to recover from a pandemic-induced temporary shutdown.

In-person visits? Down. Materials circulation? Down. Registration and renewal of library cards? Down.

Totals were already falling before the pandemic, but data from the MPL’s Board of Trustees latest meeting packet highlights a pandemic-triggered acceleration.

A partial recovery has occurred since 2020. But graphs show things leveling out starting in 2024.

As a result, since 2014 library visits, circulation and card renewals/registrations are down about 50%.

Digital inclusion, a measure of the number of unique devices connecting to the library’s wireless networks, is up in recent years, but data only goes back to 2020.

The City of Milwaukee operates the Central Library and 12 branch libraries. It has a $38.1 million budget in 2026.

2014-2025 MPL Visits. Image from MPL.

2014-2025 MPL Circulation. Image from MPL.

2014-2025 MPL Registration/Renewals. Image from MPL.

2020-2025 Digital Inclusion at MPL. Image from MPL.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 23 10:38 am

Stinky Corpse Flower About To Bloom at The Domes [Scene on the Street]

Penelope the corpse flower. Image from the Milwaukee Domes Alliance.

From the Milwaukee Domes Alliance: “Penelope, our corpse flower, is preparing to bloom—and when she does, you’ll have just 24 hours to see her before she closes again. In the wild, corpse flowers bloom only once every 7–10 years, so every opening is a rare, fleeting, can’t-miss event. She last bloomed in June 2024, which makes a return this soon a genuine surprise, and a testament to the talent of our horticultural experts.”

Hot tip: Domes members get priority access, skipping a line that can be very long.

– Jeramey Jannene, June 20 7:12 pm

Photo by TwoScarsUp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The White House is pushing for Congress to approve a bill allowing the year-round sale of gasoline containing higher volumes of ethanol. Wisconsin politicians across the political spectrum have called for the expansion.

E15 biofuel, also known as Unleaded 88, is a gasoline blend that uses 15 percent ethanol as opposed to the 10 percent blend currently sold year-round. The higher-ethanol content fuel has been barred from sale from June through September due to pollution concerns. However, the Environmental Protection Agency under the second Trump administration issued a waiver in March allowing it to be sold through this summer.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s White House made its first formal push to make the year-round sale of E15 permanent.

A wide range of Wisconsin politicians have supported efforts to expand sales of the higher-ethanol blend. Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin are co-sponsors of two different versions of a bill to make year-round sale permanent. Gov. Tony Evers signed an open letter in 2022 calling for the EPA to sell E15 fuel year-round.

Scott Irwin is a professor and agricultural economist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a biofuel policy researcher. He told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that moving to a 15 percent ethanol blend nationwide would lead to a 50 percent increase in the demand for corn used to make ethanol.

“(That) would be jumping at least 2 to 2.5 billion bushels of increased corn demand … our crop is around 16 billion bushels,” Irwin said. “That would be very significant.”

Corn and biofuel advocates have argued that increasing the use of this higher-ethanol fuel blend will ultimately drive down the cost of gasoline at the pump. However, Irwin said that’s an area of significant debate.

“If we take a look at the fuel supply chain, (it is) divided into three parts: the upstream refining level, the midstream logistical and pipeline level, and at the downstream retail gasoline station level. There are significant costs to transition to E15 at each of those points in the supply chain,” Irwin said. “It’s debatable whether in the end it would save drivers a lot of money once we absorb all those costs.”

The House version of the bill to make year-round E15 sales permanent passed after months of debate. Irwin said the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate over one small provision: an exemption for small oil refineries from America’s renewable fuel standards.

“Under the first Trump administration, that was basically used as a backdoor mechanism for cutting the size of the mandates,” Irwin said. “That has become a very contentious issue between the crude oil refining sector and the agricultural biofuels sector.”

Petroleum refiners have argued an increase in ethanol production would threaten to put small refineries out of business. Biofuel producers have argued most small refineries asking for exemptions are part of larger companies that could meet the new standards.

Critics of E15 expansion cite environmental, health concerns

Critics of expanding E15 sales have cited concerns around health and environmental effects.

The environmental group Clean Wisconsin released a statement in February arguing against expanding E15 sales year-round permanently, saying the accompanying increase in corn production would run the risk of contaminating drinking water through increased fertilizer and nitrogen application use. The organization also wrote the move would worsen pollution in the summer, leading to an increase in asthma attacks and respiratory infections.

Jeff Hadachek is an assistant professor and extension specialist in agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said an increase in E15 use could serve as a “double-edged sword” for the environment.

“If we’re making more of our fuels from corn ethanol, that’s less fossil fuels that we are extracting and emitting into the atmosphere,” Hadachek said.

“On the other side of this, cultivating more land also emits carbon into the atmosphere,” Hadachek continued. “Even though we may be reducing a carbon footprint from the pure fuel perspective, we also have to consider the impacts of purely just cultivating more land.”

Hadachek said farming practices have improved over the past few decades, which may serve to mitigate some of the environmental risks. He said the creation of the Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit would give tax breaks to biofuel producers as well, incentivizing farmers to be financially rewarded for growing crops for biofuel production.

Congress debates selling gas with 15 percent ethanol year-round permanently. Would it help Wisconsin farmers? was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

The Natural Resources Board has approved the DNR’s wolf management plan, which does not set a population goal for wolves in Wisconsin. Photo: dalliedee (CC BY)

Wisconsin’s wolf population fell slightly this year, according to estimates from the Department of Natural Resources.

The department has been monitoring the number of wolves in the state since the 1970s by surveying snow-covered roads for tracks and other signs. Since 1995, volunteers have worked with DNR staff on the annual census. This winter, the surveys covered about 17,000 miles of road and tracks.

The estimates also use data from wolves that have been trapped and fitted by DNR staff with GPS collars — there are about 45 wolves with actively monitored collars in the state.

“This is a huge effort that a lot of people, way beyond the DNR, put into,” said Randy Johnson, large carnivore specialist with the DNR. “We’re tracking, like, two-thirds of the state multiple times. A lot of effort goes into the model.”

Lydia Margenau, a wildlife population research scientist with the DNR, presented population estimates Thursday to the agency’s Wolf Advisory Committee. She told the committee the estimated 2026 population is 1,162 wolves in about 321 packs, slightly down from last year’s estimate of 1,225 and the 2024 estimate of 1,311.

Margenau said the 2026 estimate range is from a low of 1,026 wolves to a high of 1,307.

“Overall the population has been stable and nothing drastic to note here,” Margenau said.

Those numbers are in the range DNR research previously found was the state’s biological carrying capacity of 1,242 wolves.

The full annual wolf population report is likely to be released next week.

Wolves were considered extirpated in Wisconsin, with a bounty system paying people to kill them for nearly 100 years. That bounty was lifted in the state in 1957. The species began returning to the state in the 1970s, moving back into the northern forests from neighboring Minnesota.

The population grew relatively steadily until about 2000, and since then estimates have ranged from a high of 1,300 to this year’s low.

Johnson said the survey looks at territory in five management zones covering about two-thirds of the state. The largest number of wolves are in the northern forests, especially in Zone One in the northwest corner of the state.

Johnson said the wolf population may have fallen slightly in the last two years because lower snowfall totals in recent winters have made it tougher for packs to successfully raise pups.

“Mild winters tend to be bad for wolves,” Johnson said. He said mild winters drive up deer populations, but make it tougher for wolves to hunt successfully.

“We expect to see the impacts of a given winter in the following winter’s estimates, so there’s this one-year time lag. I think what we are seeing is some of the impacts from the winters basically two or three years ago playing out now through reduced pup survival, maybe some changes in dispersal. … The populations are complex, but on this big scale it plays out through time.”

He said the population could swing back up, but it’s limited by the availability of habitat and likely will not change drastically.

Following a federal court ruling in 2022, gray wolves are listed as an endangered species in the lower 48 states including Wisconsin.

In December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would remove federal protections for gray wolves nationwide. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the leading Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin, cosponsored the bill.

The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, has not moved forward. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin has also supported delisting.

Wisconsin’s wolf population declines slightly for second consecutive year was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Sold sign. Photo by Dave Reid.

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.

Population decline and the built environment: Countries around the world are experiencing or will soon experience population decline. Blaine Brownell argues that people often talk about many reasons for this but tend to skip over the impact of the built environment. While we design our environments for comfort, economic success, and quality of life, those same designs also impact family formation and the ability to care for them. (Blaine Brownell | Architect Magazine)

Value capture for high speed rail: The California High Speed Rail Authority is looking into creating value capture potential around stations but cities have been wary as they also want the rewards of investment. Now the authority is working on an asset commercialization strategy that would use excess land to develop energy and transmission projects as well as data centers. There are potential drawbacks to this approach but it’s also a good way of looking at all the potential value that might be created through the construction of infrastructure. (Joe Edwards | Newsweek)

Carspreading across the Atlantic: Both Europe and the United States are seeing vehicle sizes increase dramatically with disastrous effects. Since 2009 pedestrian deaths have increased on American roads by 75% and writers at the New York Times suggest that vehicle sizes have led to 400 additional deaths per year. In Europe, researchers also believe that if vehicles aren’t “rightsized” by the year 2040, 400 additional people per year will die from collisions there too. (Keller et al. | New York Times + Ajit Niranjan | The Guardian)

What’s in the ROAD to Housing Act: While the ROAD to Housing Act is sitting on a desk in the White House, Emma Waters shares what’s actually in the legislation including changes to regulations surrounding manufactured housing, greater access to small dollar mortgages, guidelines for permitting single stair buildings, the creation of publicly owned land databases, and best practices for local zoning policy reform. There’s a lot in the bill, but this piece is pretty comprehensive. (Emma Waters | Bipartisan Policy Institute)

Reduced air pollution in London: A study out of Imperial College London has found that nitrogen air pollution mostly from cars in the city has fallen 40% while particulates have fallen 28% since 2019. Deaths from air pollution have also fallen 40%. The areas with the highest concentrations of deaths were outside parts of the city where the ultra low emissions zone existed but has now been extended to. (Gwyn Topham | The Guardian)

Quote of the Day

Anna Halprin organized interactive dance and movement events where environmental conditions and general actions were choreographed, or “scored,” but the final performances were left open-ended and completed through audience participation. Lawrence Halprin applied this notion to his work by designing open spaces as scores—choreographed by purposefully placing architectural elements—with the intention to elicit embodied awareness, giving individuals flexibility in choosing direction and pace as they navigated their way through the city.

–CM Turner in C-Ville Magazine discussing how the Charlottesville pedestrian mall was designed.

This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re joined by Ryan Avent to discuss his new book In Good Faith: How the Nature of Belief Shapes the Fate of Societies. We discuss human evolution and the impact of collective knowledge and culture and the need to create a new story about the future of society. We also discuss grass is greener thinking on infrastructure, the nature of belief without the need for evidence, and the fact that there is no perfect past.

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