Image created by The Badger Project using Gemini.

The delivery app company DoorDash reported spending nearly $2 million in the first half of 2025 lobbying the Wisconsin State Legislature, according to mandatory filings with the state, to pass a bill that would ban drivers from being classified as employees, blocking their ability to receive the corresponding benefits.

That’s more than twice as much as the next highest spending lobbying organization, Wisconsin Infrastructure Investment Now, Inc., a Madison-based organization that advocates for the construction, utility, telecommunications, and mining industries. It reported spending nearly $900,000 lobbying in the first half of 2025, and a little more than $1 million total for the year.

DoorDash also reported more lobbying spending than any organization in Wisconsin in the whole year of 2025, at nearly $2.2 million.

“That sounds like an absurd amount,” said state Rep. Mike Bare (D-Verona), a former lobbyist who voted against the driver bill.

And it’s unclear what DoorDash, a publicly traded company, spent all that money doing, because its mandatory report to the state is vague, the company refused to clarify when asked multiple times, and the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, which oversees lobbying, cannot investigate without a formal complaint.

The company’s full-court press appears to have worked, as Republicans in the majority in both houses of the Legislature brought the proposed legislation to a vote, no easy task amongst the plethora of bills being pushed at all times, and then passed it, mostly along partisan lines. But Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, blocked it with his veto in August 2025.

The bill would have more clearly defined the difference between an employee and an independent contractor, and established that drivers for app-based services like DoorDash and Uber are not employees of those companies, eligible to receive benefits like workers’ compensation insurance, minimum wage, and unemployment insurance.

The proposed legislation allows companies like DoorDash and Uber to create and contribute to “portable benefits” accounts for drivers, now classified as independent contractors, to use for things like retirement accounts and medical expenses, though their creation would not be mandatory.

DoorDash argues that the bill allows drivers to maintain their flexibility in deciding when and where they work, while still receiving some benefits.

“While we couldn’t get the Legislature and the Governor to reach an agreement, we were proud to support a policy that is extremely popular with our Dashers (drivers) and has proven to be successful in states where portable benefits were made available,” said DoorDash spokesman Tyler St. Clair in an email to The Badger Project.

The parent company of the food delivery app Instacart, Maplebear, and the ridesharing company Uber also pushed legislators to pass the bill, reporting spending $140,000 and $80,000, respectively, lobbying in Madison in 2025. Other groups supporting the legislation include the Koch Network’s pro-business political organization Americans for Prosperity, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.

The labor union Wisconsin State AFL-CIO was the only organization to report lobbying against the bill.

“It’s a cannon vs. a popgun,” said Mordecai Lee, a UW-Milwaukee political science professor emeritus in an email, noting the difference in funding and resources in the fight to pass the legislation.

But those opposing the bill did hold a major weapon: the governor’s veto pen. Evers said he nixed the bill in its entirety because he objected to its definition of independent contractor status in the absence of guaranteed benefits for workers in the state.

“App-based drivers are a growing segment of Wisconsin’s workforce and changes to independent contractor definitions are a serious endeavor – one that demands substantive conversations among several parties, including with both management and workers, in order to achieve an appropriate and balanced policy that all sides can support,” Evers wrote in his veto message.

His requests for dialogue on this issue were declined by the Republican majority, he said in the message.

Top lobbying spenders in Wisconsin in 2025

‘Not even a cup of coffee’

While the idea of lobbying may conjure the image of a suitcase full of cash handed over to a politician in exchange for a vote, that is illegal in Wisconsin.

In fact, the state has very strict laws regarding the issue. Lobbyists here are not allowed to give anything of monetary value to politicians and government officials, “not even a cup of coffee,” as the expression goes. So the bulk of the reported spending is often paying the salaries of the lobbyists, or hiring contract lobbyists, experts say.

DoorDash reported having a team of five lobbyists, which includes former state Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, a Republican from Waukesha County who served in the Legislature from 2011-2022 and now works for the national government relations firm Michael Best Strategies.

But DoorDash reported only about $40,000 in payments to its lobbyists in 2025, leaving nearly $1.9 million unaccounted for on its filing. DoorDash logged that huge sum under “All Other Lobbying Expenses.” A company spokes person did not respond to messages asking how those funds were spent.

Lobbyists in Wisconsin can make monetary donations to political candidates, but only during the campaign season, which is the few months before the election, and only if the Legislature is not in session. Unlike the average citizen, lobbyists cannot make donations to politicians outside of those dates.

DoorDash’s huge lobbying spending, and the ability of lobbying organizations to make campaign contributions, is an example of an imbalance in our politics, Lee noted.

“Generally, the politician does not pay a counterpart political price for having sided with a corporation (or an industry),” he wrote in his email. “Few voters tell him/her that they are voting against the politician because of one issue. Voters can’t pay attention to a thousand issues.”

“One intensely interested organization can use lobbying and political contributions to overwhelm the other side of the issue, notwithstanding, let’s say, public opinion,” he continued.

There is a solution to the imbalance, Lee said, but implementing it would be extremely difficult in the current political climate.

“Total funding of elections by government with general tax revenues,” he said. “That’s the only constitutionally defensible way to prohibit all other campaign contributions.”

The Badger Project is an independent, reader-supported news nonprofit in Wisconsin.

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

Mitchell Park Domes’ Tropical Dome. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The effort to revitalize the Mitchell Park Domes recently hit some important benchmarks.

On May 13, the State Building Commission approved a $2 million grant for the project, providing a needed contribution to the layered financing for the $133 million project.

Two days later, the Wisconsin Historical Society approved the Domes for listing on the state historic register. And as of the end of March, the project has raised more than $8 million in private donations since launching its fundraising campaign last year.

All are important milestones for the project, which is anticipated to begin construction in 2027.

When the layered financing was planned out years ago, it baked in a contribution from the state. Without the historic designation, the project would not have access to historic preservation tax credits, and hopes for placement on the National Register would be “dead in the water,” said Christa Beall Diefenbach, executive director of the Milwaukee Domes Alliance (MDA). The credits can cover up to 40% of historically sensitive renovation costs.

The MDA, formerly the Friends of the Domes, planned the Domes project alongside Milwaukee County Parks. Part of the deal will see the MDA assume long-term maintenance and operations costs from Parks, a priority for county policymakers struggling with annual budget deficits.

The organization recently filed its first fundraising report with the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. It shows the project has attracted several major gifts, including a $2 million pledge, three $1 million pledges and a $1 million stock transfer. In total, the group has raised approximately $8.2 million.

The report was not supposed to be released until June, but it was included with the meeting materials for the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Finance meeting Thursday.

“Those were the numbers as of March,” Diefenbach said. “We have different numbers to report, and we’ll be doing so in June, but that fundraising is going very well. It’s been an incredible upswell of support from the community.”

The plan is to restore the three Domes one by one. During work on the first Dome, the Show Dome, the plan also calls for turning a greenhouse into an interactive play area for children and families called the Little Sprouts Dome, buildout of a cafe and expansion of the gift shop.

Before construction can begin, MDA must secure all the funding for the first phase of work: approximately $51.6 million. The county has committed $12.5 million, out of $30 million for the total project. The group has fundraising report show it has already raised 48% of the $17.1 million in private gifts it needs. The project also calls for New Market Tax Credit Financing and Historic Preservation Tax Credits.

The recent listing on the state register is an important step toward listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It also unlocks access to state historic preservation tax credits.

MDA is working with a historic preservation consultant, New History, to apply for National Historic Landmark status, which would place the Domes in the same rarefied air as well-known landmarks like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and, more locally, sites like Milwaukee City Hall and the Pabst Theater.

The state historic recognition was “the last stop for a nomination before it goes to the National Park Service to be listed in the National Register,” Shannon Winterhalter, a director with New History, told Urban Milwaukee.

State approval is a good sign the Domes are on their way to the National Register. “I would say it’s pretty rare for a nomination to pass the state and then just be flat-out rejected by the National Park Service for National Register listings,” Winterhalter said.

The Domes are a strong candidate for becoming a National Historic Landmark because of the “innovative and singular” conoidal design and construction by architect Donald Grieb and engineer Charles Whitney, Winterhalter said.

While the approval unlocks funding, Diefenbach said it does something else, too. “It has also really recognized what we all intuitively understood, which is that the Domes are unique in all the world and something to be honored by everyone throughout Wisconsin.”

Rae Friedman (left) and Chlo Baumbach construct a raised garden bed during the Great Milwaukee Victory Garden Blitz. Photo taken April 30, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

For weeks, a towering pile of Blue Ribbon Organics soil in Riverwest slowly dwindled as Chlo Baumbach loaded batch after batch into a trailer, returning hours later with an empty rig and a gaggle of dirt-smudged volunteers.

Baumbach, the volunteer programs coordinator for Victory Garden Initiative (VGI), recently led the organization’s 2026 Garden Blitz, building more than 300 raised beds over three weeks at homes, daycares and places of worship across Milwaukee County.

“This was made possible thanks to the nearly 250 volunteers who showed up for multiple shifts and shared their passion with the community!” Baumbach said in a statement.

Results of the blitz will soon be visible countywide as recipients plant, tend to and harvest crops from their own backyards. The annual project has built more than 7,000 garden beds since its 2009 inception, with the mission of bolstering local food production and increasing access to fresh produce amid widening food deserts.

“With all the grocery stores closing, it’s really important that people have access to food,” said Liv McClain, who volunteered twice with the blitz in 2026. “Maybe a garden isn’t going to feed a family for the whole year, but I think when more people know how to grow food, it’s a good climate resilience strategy for the whole community.”

Accessibility is a key part of the effort. “It can be really challenging to do all this coordination on your own — figuring out where to get your lumber, power tools and a significant amount of soil,” McClain said. “So to have this service where it’s pretty affordable and comes right to your door, I think, takes a big barrier out of something that a lot of people are already excited to do.”

In 2026, the initiative supplied 10 free beds to residents in Harambee, the neighborhood where VGI is headquartered. “We wanted to make a stronger push to connect in our community,” Baumbach said.

Blitz volunteers work roughly four-hour shifts through chilly rain, blazing sun and mild spring temperatures, only pausing for extreme weather, like the April 27 storm whose high winds toppled trees and caused power outages throughout the area.

Though workers often depart with fresh calluses and dirt-caked shoes, many, including Tim McCalister, return year after year.

“It’s a lot of fun, and it’s also really rewarding to see how excited people get about being able to grow their own food,” said McCalister, a three-time volunteer who, with his wife, maintains vegetable and rain gardens at home. “I love hearing what people are going to grow.”

McClain, meanwhile, is struck by the power of food in bringing communities together.

“One resident that we talked to was working on having more of an edible yard,” she recalled. “She has a peach tree that produces about 200 fruits each summer, and she gives them out to neighbors, especially elderly folks who can’t always eat hard foods, so a ripe peach is just a beautiful experience for them. It’s inspiring to see people envision ways to not only feed themselves, but also their families and neighborhoods.”

Marty Brooks speaks at the Baird Center topping off ceremony in 2023. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.,

The board of the Wisconsin Center District will again meet behind closed doors to discuss CEO Marty Brooks, as fallout continues over a controversial $145,000 consultant study. Multiple sources tell Urban Milwaukee the board is actively discussing removing Brooks from his position.

The district’s 17-member board is scheduled to meet May 26 in closed session. And unlike prior meetings that cited personnel-related exemptions to Wisconsin’s open meetings law, the latest notice references consultation with legal counsel regarding litigation strategy, suggesting the possibility of a lawsuit over Brooks’ employment contract.

“The Board may convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(g) to confer with the District’s legal counsel to receive advice concerning legal strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved,” says the meeting notice. “At the conclusion of the closed session, the Board will adjourn the meeting and will not reconvene in open session.”

Multiple sources familiar with the discussions told Urban Milwaukee that the board has been debating Brooks’ future in recent weeks, with much of the discussion now centered on a consultant study Brooks commissioned regarding the future of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Miller High Life Theatre and a potential convention center hotel.

The study, conducted by Hunden Partners at a cost of $145,000, has drawn sharp criticism from board members and theater stakeholders. Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt accused Brooks of predetermining the study’s outcome and misleading stakeholders about the process.

“Marty had a plan of what he wanted prior to the study starting and gave Hunden their marching orders to produce what he asked for,” Witt said earlier this year.

Witt said Brooks privately told him before the study was publicly announced that the Miller High Life Theatre would not be demolished and the arena would. But the final report identified the theater site as the preferred location for a convention center hotel and included a rendering showing the theater replaced by a new development.

Board members also publicly criticized the study during a May 15 meeting before entering closed session.

Downtown Alderman Robert Bauman called the report “a waste of money” and criticized Brooks for authorizing it without a board vote. Board member Grady Crosby said the study was “kind of thrust upon us,” while Marcus Corp. CEO Greg Marcus said, “What I asked for was a strategic plan, not a hotel pitch.”

The May 26 meeting will be the fourth known closed session discussion involving Brooks since January.

Brooks initially became embroiled in controversy after Common Council President José G. Pérez, who serves on the WCD board, filed a police report alleging Brooks pinched his buttocks at a November fundraiser. Brooks denied the allegation.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges, saying prosecutors did not believe they could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

While earlier meeting notices cited personnel and employee performance exemptions under Wisconsin’s open meetings law, the latest notice marks the first time the board has referenced anticipated litigation.

In a brief statement issued Thursday, the district did not directly address Brooks or the substance of the dispute.

“The Board is set to meet in closed session to discuss potential litigation,” said the Wisconsin Center District. “The Wisconsin Center District remains focused on its mission, operations and organizational responsibilities.”

Brooks, 69, has led the Wisconsin Center District since 2018 and oversaw the completion of the district’s $456 million convention center expansion, which opened in 2024.

One of the state’s highest-paid public employees, Brooks received a new three-year contract in 2025 that raised his base salary to $445,000, with additional bonus opportunities and allowances included in the agreement.

The board is expected to adjourn immediately following Tuesday’s closed session meeting without returning to open session.

The remains of a barn damaged by a severe storm remains Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Emerald Grove, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Gov. Tony Evers is asking President Donald Trump to give Wisconsin a disaster declaration related to severe storms and flooding that ripped through the state in April, causing more than $27 million in damages.

In a letter to the president Friday, Evers said the storms caused “widespread destruction” from hail, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding in communities across Wisconsin and the Oneida Nation. He said that left losses “beyond the capacity” of local communities to manage.

“Families have lost their homes, businesses, and livelihoods, and far too many people are facing uncertainty, loss, and grief,” Evers wrote.

Total damage estimates for more than 1,570 residential properties in 19 counties and one tribal nation came in at $9.8 million, while public sector damages in 14 counties and one tribal nation came in at nearly $17.7 million, according to the letter.

Those figures came from joint assessments completed by Wisconsin Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency that are meant to provide a snapshot of the damage caused by the storms.

In a statement, Evers said he visited communities affected by severe weather this spring and saw “the devastation and destruction these storms left behind” as well as “the strength and resilience of Wisconsinites across the state.”

“I’m grateful Wisconsin Emergency Management and FEMA’s work identified and confirmed our need for federal assistance so that we can continue to rebuild homes, restore infrastructure, and aid recovery efforts,” Evers stated. “Federal support is essential to helping communities rebuild and recover, and I’m urging the president to meet this moment with the urgency it requires and ensure affected individuals, families, and businesses receive this critical assistance.”

According to the governor’s office, it is the president’s decision to approve or deny a disaster declaration and there’s not a strict legal timeline for a response to a state’s request.

A flooded residential street is seen with water covering the road and lawns, traffic cones blocking access, and overcast sky in Shiocton, Wis., on April 15, 2026. Joe Schulz/WPR

The governor’s office says the new request for federal support comes after the Trump administration denied a request for federal recovery support for more than $27 million in damages related to severe weather last summer.

According to reporting by Politico, it has been three-times harder for Democrat-led states than Republican-led states to receive disaster funding under the Trump administration.

The governor sent a letter to Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation on April 17, urging them to help ensure the state secures disaster relief following severe weather that month.

“Letters of support from members of Wisconsin’s delegation, direct conversations with Trump Administration officials, and bipartisan public engagement on behalf of our state all matter, and your public and persistent efforts to help advocate for Wisconsin to receive the assistance we need from federal partners, including President Donald J. Trump, will be key to ensuring our state’s request is approved,” Evers wrote. “It would be unfortunate if Wisconsin’s anticipated requests for emergency assistance are once again declined.”

Gov. Evers asks Trump for disaster declaration after spring storms cause $27M in damage was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

1000 E. Locust St. Photo taken Aug. 12, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.

Pepperpot, a Jamaican restaurant and catering company with more than two decades of history in Milwaukee, is planning a new location at 1000 E. Locust St. The move comes after the restaurant’s King Drive location closed.

LaKisha Clemons, owner of Pepperpot414 LLC, would activate the vacant building as a carryout restaurant, according to a license application submitted to the city on Thursday.

A proposed menu for the Locust Street location features entrees such as slow-cooked oxtails, spicy jerk chicken, curry goat and brown stew — all served with beans, rice, cabbage and gravy, along with appetizers and a la carte items including egg rolls, Jamaican beef patties, jerk tacos and jerk nachos.

Clemons has not indicated plans to serve alcohol, but would offer a selection of nonalcoholic beverages like Jamaican sodas.

The small Locust Street storefront has been home to a series of short-lived restaurants in recent years, including Kitchen Kings and Raul’s Taco Shop. Sticky Rice, specializing in Lao and Thai cuisine, was a longer-term tenant, but consolidated operations at its Brady Street location in 2023.

Unlike the building’s previous occupants, Pepperpot will not target late-night crowds. The restaurant’s proposed hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Pepperpot launched as a catering business in 2004 and gained popularity for both traditional Jamaican dishes and modern twists like jerk egg rolls.

Founder Dwight Jackson opened Pepperpot’s flagship location, a takeout-only restaurant, at 4120 W. Capitol Dr. in 2014, and later added a sit-down restaurant at 2215 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in 2022.

Jackson is not listed on the latest application. He remains agent for Pepperpot’s catering arm, based at the Capitol Drive location, and is part-owner of the King Drive restaurant, which is marked permanently closed online.

Pepperpot continues to accept takeout orders on Capitol Drive, according to its Facebook page.

Clemons registered Pepperpot414 LLC last summer and holds a mobile food dealer’s license doing business as Pepper Pot 414. On the application, she noted industry experience as a server, sales associate and food processor, and listed past roles at McDonald’s and a mall cafe.

Neither Clemons nor Jackson did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Vote here sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A federal judge on Thursday dashed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempt to gain access to Wisconsin’s confidential voter data.

U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit the DOJ brought against the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) seeking a complete, unredacted copy of the state’s voter registration records, which include sensitive voter data like Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and voters’ dates of birth.

The government’s case failed because federal law did not support its central claim: that it is entitled to the state’s confidential voter data.

“The court has concluded that Title III does not even apply to the government’s request for Wisconsin’s voter registration list, so there is no way that it could amend its complaint to state a claim for relief,” Peterson wrote. “The government’s complaint will be dismissed with prejudice and without leave to amend.”

The case was brought by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and led by Brittany Bennett, a trial attorney in the division and a former Republican lawyer in prior election challenge cases. In 2024, Bennett filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Georgia Republican Party arguing the state’s voting machines weren’t secure in the run-up to the presidential election.

The federal government claimed it sought the data to investigate whether Wisconsin is complying with federal election laws. The Wisconsin Election Commission and other opponents of the lawsuit argued the federal government was actually on a fishing expedition looking for evidence of non-citizens voting in elections, a claim President Donald Trump has repeatedly made with no evidence.

The DOJ had also sought to involve itself in maintaining Wisconsin’s voter rolls, which federal law leaves to the states. Memos from the DOJ showed the agency sought to flag and remove voter registrations from Wisconsin’s rolls.

Milwaukee County-based Forward Latino joined the lawsuit, expressing concern that the federal government could use state voter datasets as a pretext for disenfranchising Latino voters and identifying citizens for denaturalization. The group pointed out that data included in the DOJ’s request may be incomplete or contradictory. For example, driver’s license registrations, which the DOJ seeks, are not automatically updated after someone attains citizenship.

“This ruling represents an important victory for every American who believes in fair, transparent and lawful elections, and in the fundamental principle that every eligible citizen’s vote deserves to be counted and protected,” said Darryl Morin, Forward Latino president.

It wasn’t just Wisconsin, either. The DOJ was seeking unredacted voter rolls in states across the country and filing lawsuits whenever states rebuffed their demands. Advocacy organizations that joined the lawsuit in Wisconsin, like Common Cause, charged the federal government was seeking to create a national voter database.

“Today’s ruling is a massive victory for voter privacy and a rejection of federal overreach,” Bianca Shaw, Common Cause’s Wisconsin State Director said in a statement Thursday. “The decision ensures voters are protected from an unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation. Our elections remain safe, secure, and in the hands of Wisconsinites where they belong.”

UW Health American Family Children’s Hospital Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

More than 60 advocacy organizations and businesses in Wisconsin are calling on the state’s top children’s hospitals to resume providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The letter, organized by LGBTQ+ civil rights group Fair Wisconsin, states that while gender-affirming care is legal in Wisconsin, it is “more and more difficult to access” due to the decisions of UW Health and Children’s Wisconsin.

The state’s two major children’s hospitals halted the services at the start of the year following efforts by the Trump administration to punish health care systems providing transition-related care, including puberty-blocking medications and hormone therapy.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration in December stating gender-affirming procedures were “neither safe nor effective” treatments and threatening to exclude hospitals that provided the services from federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The agency immediately used the order to open federal investigations into pediatric health systems providing transition-related care, including in Illinois and Minnesota.

But a federal judge in Oregon ruled in April that Kennedy did not have the authority to threaten federal funding with the declaration and barred the agency from enforcing the order against states that filed the legal challenge, including Wisconsin.

Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, said the order should empower Wisconsin hospitals to resume services.

“While I would say that the decision to pause care, even originally, was the wrong decision, the legal landscape has changed,” she said. “There are more protections, and it’s time to restart this care.”

The letter sent Thursday is not the only call for the two hospitals to resume care for transgender youth. The Trans & Gender Diverse Elected Officials Delegation, which includes members of local, state and federal governments, sent their own letter to the health care systems on Tuesday, saying members were “deeply disappointed” with the decision to halt care and calling for the hospitals to reverse their decision.

While Kennedy’s declaration is no longer enforceable, a proposed rule that would prohibit hospitals from receiving Medicaid and Medicare dollars if they provide transition-related care to minors is still moving through the federal rule making process.

Children’s Wisconsin declined WPR’s request for an interview. In a statement, hospital leadership said providers “are not currently providing gender-affirming pharmacologic care” due to “ongoing legal and regulatory uncertainty” that affects health care systems across the country.

“We know this issue matters deeply to many in our community, especially the patients and families we serve. Supporting the well-being of every child remains at the center of everything we do,” the statement said.

UW Health also declined WPR’s interview request. In their statement, the hospital stated that the decision to pause medication therapies for youth “was not made lightly” and recognized the impact on patients and their families.

“While we continue to believe this is evidence-based care, threats from those federal actions are not fully resolved,” the statement said. “Therefore, the current risk is too great to resume this care.”

Swetz acknowledged the proposed rule could end up forcing hospitals to again halt gender-affirming care for minors. But she said it was the hospitals’ decisions to respond to Kennedy’s initial declaration that pulled them into the legal back-and-forth.

“I would say, ‘Let’s go forth,’” Swetz said. “Let’s add in some more days (of care), because both of these institutions represent some pretty robust access.”

She said the two health systems provide care for a significant portion of the state’s transgender youth.

Since the federal court order, gender-affirming care has restarted or will restart at pediatric hospitals in other states.

Children’s Minnesota announced on April 6 that it had resumed services under its Gender Health program, after previously pausing the prescription of puberty-suppressing medications and hormones to patients under the age of 18.

On Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume providing gender-affirming care after the families of four transgender girls sued the hospitals for violating the state’s antidiscrimination law.

Children’s Wisconsin, UW Health under pressure to resume care for transgender youth was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Construction is underway at the site of Meta’s future data center Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Beaver Dam, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Wisconsin’s labor market has slowed down over the last year, though unemployment has remained near historic lows, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development.

The state’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in April, unchanged from the previous month. Wisconsin also continues to outperform the nation when it comes to both the unemployment rate and labor force participation.

But state data shows Wisconsin had 10,700 more unemployed people in April 2026 than in the same month of 2025.

“The Wisconsin labor market has cooled a bit, along with the national economy,” said Scott Hodek, an economist for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. “Unemployment rates do remain historically low, though it has been slowly trending upwards.”

Wisconsin added around 9,000 non-farm jobs over the month, but it wasn’t enough to offset losses over the past year, according to the report.

The state lost about 12,800 non-farm jobs from April 2025 to April 2026, state data shows.

Hodek said he couldn’t point to a single factor driving the slowdown, but he said Wisconsin was affected by the same challenges facing the national economy.

“We’ve got tariffs and other contributors to higher prices,” he said. “The war in Iran is definitely impacting gas prices as well, and those gas prices are an important business input as well as something that consumers spend a lot on.”

He also said it was hard to know whether the decline in non-farm jobs was due more to worker retirements or layoffs and separations. But he said there hasn’t been a major rise in the unemployment rate associated with the job losses.

Between April 2025 and April 2026, Wisconsin lost 7,800 manufacturing jobs, while gaining 6,500 construction jobs, according to the report.

Hodek said the construction industry did experience a bit of a “blip” in April, losing 400 jobs compared to March.

“That may be interrupting a longer term trend, but I’d hesitate to do anything other than say it’s something to keep an eye on,” he said. “We’ve only seen a couple data points there, and I haven’t seen a lot of other indications so far that the construction trend is slowing as a bright spot for Wisconsin.”

Even though there are signs that the labor market is cooling, Hodek also said the state’s aging population continues contributing to a “worker quantity challenge.”

“Despite everything else that’s going on, the underlying labor challenge still remains demographic as the baby boomers age out of the labor force,” he said.

Hodek also said it’s difficult to know exactly which industries are being most affected by an aging workforce.

“Anytime we see job numbers go down, we have to wonder how much of that impact is related to that,” he said. “We know that there are openings in every industry that are difficult to fill, and a lot of times those are skill mismatches, but there’s also the fact that we have fewer people.”

Wisconsin’s labor market has cooled, but unemployment remains near historic lows was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Claire Woodall prepares to export absentee ballots from a tabulator on election night 2020. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The FBI is looking to question several Milwaukee Police Department officers who were at Central Count, the city’s absentee ballot counting facility, during the November 2020 presidential election.

The 2020 central count was held on an upper floor of the then-vacant office building at 501 W. Michigan St. In addition to more than 100 election workers, the floor was filled with observers and media members. The proceedings were also streamed live online.

The election was overseen by then-Milwaukee Election Commission Director Claire Woodall, who was escorted by officers to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to deliver the city’s results in the early morning hours.

Conspiracy theories swirled because Woodall and the officers left the building, then had to phone an election worker to retrieve a forgotten flash drive from one of the tabulators. An officer and election worker delivered the flash drive to the courthouse.

“I believe it is important to document that the flash drive was never left unattended and that the staff had remained in the room throughout the process,” Woodall wrote in a 2020 letter to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. “The incident bears no impact on the validity of the results.”

All the paper ballots were recounted in the ensuing recount.

Despite the city repeatedly reporting the number of absentee ballots it had, conspiracy theories emerged, including from Donald Trump, because the totals are reported all at once late in the evening. Under Wisconsin law, absentee ballots cannot be processed until polls open on election day. There was a record number of absentee ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, Mayor Cavalier Johnson issued an open letter to Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, asking him to stop spreading doubt about the election and inviting him to tour the city’s election operations. Tiffany’s campaign did not respond.

FBI officials already attempted to visit the home of Michelle Hawley, who was the deputy Milwaukee County election director at the time of the 2020 election.

Matt Smith of WISN first reported the news of the MPD interviews.

There is no known evidence of tampering or wrongdoing in the 2020 election in Wisconsin. A full recount was conducted in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which expanded Biden’s margin of victory. Several lawsuits from the Trump campaign were dismissed. A legislative audit turned up no wrongdoing, nor did a state-funded investigation, initiated by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

And there go Milwaukee’s ballots pic.twitter.com/F2ioHyqFKx

— Jeramey Jannene (@compujeramey) November 4, 2020

Prior video got clipped, here is the full thing pic.twitter.com/eedMppcIkP

— Jeramey Jannene (@compujeramey) November 4, 2020

A failing ceiling at a Highgrove Holdings property. Photo by Sophie Bolich.

The City of Milwaukee’s attempt to improve conditions at more than 200 properties owned by an out-of-state landlord has hit a series of legal speed humps.

A separate lawsuit from U.S. Bank could end up spurring action before the city’s case is heard.

In March, City Attorney Evan Goyke filed two lawsuits against Highgrove Holdings, alleging that a cluster of 138 properties it owns are in various states of disrepair and are a public nuisance. The city is seeking to have a receiver appointed within 60 days to manage the properties if California-based Highgrove cannot fix them.

But almost two months in, the case has barely started.

In April, Milwaukee-based F Street Group, led by Scott Lurie, and Brighton Asset Management, a Florida firm that includes former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry as an investor and strategic adviser, requested to be added as defendants because F Street, with backing from Brighton, has issued more than $4 million in mortgages for 104 of the properties. Both Brighton and F Street are “hard money” lenders, providing short-term capital at higher interest rates with loans secured by tangible assets.

The city also moved to consolidate its two lawsuits, which were divided because of Highgrove’s ownership structure, into a single case.

On Thursday, it secured approval to add even more defendants. It added Fox Point-based Mach1 Lending, Oshkosh-based Fox Cities Management, Kansas City-based Lambda Nine, and California investors Minghua Payne, Sean Gallagher, Sara Gallagher and Steven Straley. Each party has an investment in a Highgrove property that is secured by at least one property.

With no objections from Highgrove’s legal counsel, law firm Barton Cerjak, or F Street and Brighton’s, Judge Thomas McAdams approved the amended complaint adding the defendants. The city must now formally serve them.

While that happens, David Tomblin, Highgrove president and founder, and Albert Barton III, the CEO, have filed their objections to the case.

They allege they’re in the process of raising $30 million to retire existing debt and recapitalize their effort, and that a receiver would only harm those efforts.

Their investment strategy, they argue, was hampered by inflation. In a filing, Tomblin said “higher costs for both materials and labor, including as a lingering result of COVID-19 and a period of unusually high inflation, tripled our rehabilitation costs.”

The Highgrove filing says Tomblin and Barton haven’t been paid by the affiliated companies since May 2024 and investors haven’t been paid since January 2022.

Highgrove, according to the filing, has prioritized fixing the most dangerous code violations issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services despite its limited resources.

McAdams has yet to rule on the matter, and likely never will.

He is retiring, and the case could soon be rotated through a series of judges.

Retired Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Bill Brash, now a reserve jurist, is expected to inherit the case. “That Judge Brash is a great guy. I’m sure that he will be fine,” said McAdams Thursday. But he joked he’s going to have to let Brash know not to schedule an early dinner. To keep the case moving, the next hearing is being scheduled for June 30 at 4 p.m. It was, according to the parties and the court, the earliest available date for a status conference.

Judicial rotation will occur in August, and the case could be shifted again.

Highgrove’s problems haven’t gone without notice by tenants and the public. Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin, which launched a campaign against the company in March, alleges 40% of Highgrove’s properties are vacant. A series of tenants testified about the alleged poor conditions of the properties in March.

Across its entire portfolio, Highgrove, according to the lawsuit, owes several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid taxes.

The city has, through McAdams, secured approval to inspect the interior of the subject properties to more thoroughly assess their condition.

Highgrove’s properties are clustered on the city’s north side.

A separate foreclosure suit awaits

Even before the city could file suit, U.S. Bank had initiated a foreclosure case.

That case was paused in April to allow Highgrove to attempt to raise money to resolve the $6.8 million case covering several dozen properties.

But, according to court records, Highgrove and U.S. Bank have agreed that should Highgrove not raise funding by May 29, a receiver would be appointed to oversee the subject properties.

But unlike the city’s attempt to obtain a receiver, the foreclosure-related receivership would only include an officer appointed to manage the properties and collect rents. The properties could not be disposed of or transferred.

A hearing is scheduled for June 10 in that case.

The city previously filed to intervene in the foreclosure case.

Kite Runner

Thanks to the upcoming three-day weekend courtesy of Memorial Day, you should have plenty of time to check out events around Milwaukee over the next few days. Milwaukee Record’s Morgan Park Picnic returns, bringing live music, food, beer and more to the small park. The IKEA Family Kite Festival will fill the sky over Lake Michigan with hundreds of kites, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will take listeners on a journey through the history of American music.

May 22-24 “America the Beautiful: Patriotic Pops”

Celebrate America’s 250th birthday with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at America the Beautiful: Patriotic Pops. The concert experience will take listeners on a journey through the evolution of American music, touching on gospel, the blues, ragtime and more. Guests can expect to hear tracks like “America the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner,” and the May 23 and 24 performances will be recorded for future broadcast by Milwaukee PBS. The performance will take place at the Bradley Symphony Center. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s website.

May 23: Morgan Park Picnic

Milwaukee Record is putting on its second annual Morgan Park Picnic, an outdoor celebration of live music, food, beer and more. The event will kick off with a Punk Rock Yoga class courtesy of Healium followed by performances by Red Quean, Emmitt James & The Stankface Trio, dak duBois & the flavour brigade and Social Cig. Third Space Brewing and Anodyne will be serving beverages, and vendors such as Not Bad Food and Pallino Burger will satisfy your hunger. Morgan Park Picnic is free to attend and will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

May 23-24: Milwaukee Asian Restaurant Week

Restaurants in Milwaukee are celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month this week by offering specials through Saturday. Check out Ni Burmese in Bay View for $10 off when ordering $50 or more, or Sap Sap at Zocolo Food Park or 3rd Street Market Hall for a free egg roll with each order of brisket fried rice. For a comprehensive list of Asian restaurants and the specials they are offering, check out Elevasian’s website.

May 23: Fellow Kinsman Album Release Show

Self-described “land-locked surf-rock” group Fellow Kinsman is celebrating the release of its new album Break Room with two shows at Cactus Club. The early show, which will kick off at 5:30 p.m., will see the band performing alongside Ellie Jackson while the later show, which will kick off at 9 p.m., will feature Josh Evert. Check out the new album by visiting Fellow Kinsman’s Bandcamp page and then purchase tickets via the Cactus Club website.

May 23-24: IKEA Family Kite Festival

A flock of colorful kites will fill the sky over Veteran’s Park as part of the IKEA Family Kite Festival. This free two-day event will kick off each day with the grand launch of 600 kites followed by professional demonstrations, kite flying lessons, giant kite flying and more. Guests are encouraged to bring their own kites, but can also purchase kites on site from Gift of Wings. A variety of food vendors will also be present. The IKEA Family Kite Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

May 24: Sopra Mare

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 kick off with a performance by Fusion Flamenco. During the concert, the museum and gardens will be free to access. Villa Terrace will also offer complimentary coffee and encourages guests to bring their own coffee, if preferred. Sopra Mare will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Data center. (CC0)

Data centers are a hot topic in communities all over the state as tech companies look to site these energy-intensive projects in places with abundant fresh water, like Wisconsin.

And data centers are literally hot, too. Many of the data centers being proposed now are “hyperscale,” meaning they are more than five times bigger than traditional data centers. These massive storage and data processing facilities require large amounts of water to cool them down.

A recent Marquette poll found that 70 percent of Wisconsinites across party lines believe the costs of large data centers outweigh the benefits — and “water impacts were cited most often as the reason,” said Tressie Kamp, assistant director of the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

But how much water do data centers actually use? And what is their environmental impact?

Kamp and her fellow researchers at the center have been tackling these questions. They recently published their findings in a paper titled “The Hidden Environmental Costs of Data Centers and AI.” They also reviewed data center projects across the country and used their findings to create a legislative model with recommendations for policymakers.

“These large-scale facilities have the potential — if we don’t all act quickly and oversee water impacts, energy impacts — to put an unchecked strain on shared natural resources, even for water-abundant areas like the Great Lakes,” Kamp said.

Kamp joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to discuss the water usage of AI data centers, why the numbers can be hard to come by, and what she and her fellow researchers are recommending for state and local governments to consider when a data center proposal comes to town.

The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Kate Archer Kent: Traditional data centers have been around since at least the 1990s, storing and processing the data that powers the internet. What is different about this new influx of proposed AI data centers, especially in their environmental impact?

Tressie Kamp: If you think of our smaller neighborhood data centers — that, as you said, have been around for some time now and we may not even have realized it — that could be akin to a laptop that you’ve left sitting on your desk. When we’re talking about “hyperscale” or, as we call it, “AI data centers,” it really is just that — it’s an issue of scale.

The scale and the type of equipment that’s in the building is really very reflective of the technology demands that are coming from outside the building, from all of us and technologies like AI and crypto that are really driving this much higher-scale infrastructure at these data center facilities.

It’s important not to forget the other aspects of resource use as well, including land. One reason that people are noticing things more is simply because the facilities are … bigger and simply more visible and noticeable, taking up more land than some of these smaller facilities that have been around for much longer.

KAK: In 2023, U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water directly, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — and that’s not counting indirect consumption from electricity. Can you put that number into context for us?

TK: That estimate from 2023 represents the best numbers that we’re aware of, but it really is important to keep calling for increased research into this. Three years later, we know, especially based on the evolving nature of this industry and all of our AI use, that it’s important to keep asking for updated numbers.

The 17 billion, like you said, is direct, and that’s just for cooling. The indirect number … is 211 billion gallons. So, if you’re looking at a pie chart … that 211 billion gallons is by far the biggest piece of the pie.

KAK: What does that mean to “consume” that amount of water — does that mean the water goes away?

TK: A data center “consumes” water when it is not returned to the immediate area where it was taken from or withdrawn … because that water is either evaporated during the cooling of those hot, thirsty data centers, or in generating electricity for that facility, which we just discussed is the bigger part of that pie.

KAK: You and your colleagues at the Center for Water Policy have looked into what you call the “hidden costs” of AI data centers. What are these hidden costs?

TK: “Hidden” can mean simply not transparent or not fully transparent yet. It can mean that it’s really hard still to get numbers to understand concretely how much water, electricity and other resources these facilities are using.

“Hidden,” first, is a lack of transparency. And then, moving on from that, “hidden” can also mean other things, such as a debate that focuses, for example, just on direct water use versus really talking more transparently and holistically about the indirect and direct water that’s necessary to run these facilities.

KAK: Can you explain a little more about this lack of transparency?

TK: Like so many of the most pressing environmental issues that we’re all dealing with together, it’s really important not to point fingers but to say that the problem and the solution can come both from the industry and from all of us as consumers.

Because AI data centers are a relatively new industry in our country, their designs and the way that they operate can be considered or have been alleged to be more confidential, or sometimes even considered trade secrets.

Our research has focused on the reporting requirements and the permitting requirements, and … it is very difficult under the existing regulatory scheme to get numbers about the resource demands and resource use at any particular data center facility from one place in a way that’s effective and simple. It really requires outreach and digging in a multifaceted way that can be difficult even for an academic research center.

The data center in Mount Pleasant, Wis., on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Angela Major/WPR

KAK: Let’s dig further into this legislative model you and your colleagues at the Center for Water Policy recently published. What are you recommending that lawmakers and local governments consider as more data centers are coming onto the map here in Wisconsin?

TK: We really boiled it down to five goals. … The first is improving comprehensive planning. The second is increased transparency and public disclosure. The third goal — and really a reason behind some of the polling that we’re seeing and the outcry that we’re seeing — is to protect ratepayers from bearing increased utility costs. The fourth goal is to establish energy and water efficiency prerequisites for AI data centers as conditions for permit approval, or for these tax exemptions that we’re hearing more about in the media. Last but not least is to increase funding for water management and conservation.

Within each of those, there’s a suite or a menu of different options that can reflect the different political realities, in not just Wisconsin communities but beyond. And I do think it’s telling that three of those goals relate to protecting the public and relate simply to public transparency. By the time we get to goal four and five, we are talking about environmental impacts, water use, energy use. But we’re starting with the base or the foundation of our conversation being around the public right to know and protecting all of us as taxpayers.

KAK: There are laws surrounding Great Lakes governance. How is the data center debate shaped by the Great Lakes Compact, a legally binding agreement between eight states that includes Wisconsin?

TK: The Great Lakes Compact is going to be a really important starting point for this discussion, and the compact was part of the center’s analysis and research.

Especially in Wisconsin and Virginia, where we did specific case studies, we are looking at data centers that are hooking into existing infrastructure. They’re getting their water from utilities. They’re getting their power from power plants that either exist or are going to be constructed. As a result, these facilities are not direct permit holders and they are not reporting directly under the compact.

Ultimately, at least as regulation stands today, it is very difficult to use the Great Lakes Compact to understand the resource needs of one particular data center or even data centers in one particular region or state. There’s just not data down to a minute enough detail for us to understand, based on Great Lakes Compact reporting requirements, how much water these facilities need.

KAK: Microsoft has talked about planning a pilot for a “closed-loop system” with “zero water evaporation” in its data center in Mount Pleasant. What do we know about how this works? And does it put less pressure on local water resources?

TK: In relative terms, this is a new technology. The facilities in Wisconsin that are going to use closed loop, these are really at the forefront of this industry in terms of using closed loop at such a high scale. So, the first answer is really that we won’t know how comprehensive of a solution closed loop can be until we start to get data from these facilities operating at the full scale that they plan to operate at.

It’s also really important to note that closed loop addresses those direct water numbers — so, the direct water that’s necessary for cooling. Even closed-loop facilities need power to run, and that power is the biggest part of the pie that we talked about that’s necessary for these facilities to run.

So, closed loop? Absolutely, let’s keep talking about that as part of the debate and see if these facilities can help us push technology to help us make AI more sustainable. But we have to be talking about the energy side of this as well. We have to be looking at the bigger numbers — the indirect water consumption, the electricity needed for these facilities — and figure out what the tool is going to be to make that energy part of the pie more sustainable.

KAK: Some lawmakers and business leaders in Wisconsin say that data centers will be a big economic boon and they want to offer tax incentives to tech companies to draw them here. In your legislative recommendations, how do you balance those economic considerations with the environmental ones?

TK: Part of the legislative model that the Center for Water Policy released did, in fact, focus on some of those economic considerations. If economic benefit to a community is the starting point of the discussion — protecting the community, benefiting the community where data centers locate — let’s follow through on that commitment.

It’s really important, too, to look at the analysis beyond one phase of these data centers. So, are we talking about jobs that are necessary to construct these facilities? That may happen over a time frame of months or years, depending on what part of the construction you’re talking about. How long-term are these facilities going to benefit communities from a job perspective and from a tax perspective?

We need more examples of communities entering into community benefit agreements with members of the data center industry and seeing the general public protected from rate increases, for example, before we can say that a productive and positive relationship can exist.

How much water do AI data centers really use? Wisconsin researchers look for answers. was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Water stored in a closet near Margie Walker and Jim Boisen’s kitchen in their French Island home Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. Angela Major/WPR

Some policy experts say Wisconsin’s drinking water standards for PFAS could be vulnerable to a legal challenge after the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to roll back limits for some chemicals.

On Monday, the EPA proposed a rule that would maintain limits for the two most widely studied PFAS chemicals but drop standards for four others. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the Biden administration “cut corners and failed to follow the law” when it set the first-ever drinking water standards for PFAS.

Gov. Tony Evers criticized the move.

“These actions by the Trump administration are reckless and a huge step backward in our efforts to keep folks healthy and safe,” Evers posted on X.

EPA first proposed rolling back PFAS standards last year amid lawsuits brought by water utilities and chemical companies, saying they wouldn’t survive a legal challenge. But the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources forged ahead with regulations that align with the Biden-era limits this year, citing fears the state may lose its authority to regulate the chemicals if they weren’t adopted.

Dave Strifling, director of Marquette Law School’s Water Law & Policy Initiative, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that state and federal law dictates Wisconsin’s rules may be no less stringent than federal requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Strifling said the state’s regulations “might be a little more susceptible to challenge than they were before the federal rollbacks occurred, but there’s a lot of uncertainty here.”

The state could face a challenge from water utilities or chemical companies arguing there’s not enough time to comply with the state regulations, Strifling said. The DNR’s argument that its limits had to align with Biden-era standards may no longer carry water if the EPA’s proposed rollback is successful.

A DNR spokesperson said the agency is evaluating next steps.

Marinette resident Doug Oitzinger stands over a ditch flowing into Green Bay where water samples have shown PFOS levels as high as 2,000 parts per trillion before it’s treated. Danielle Kaeding/WPR

Wisconsin residents facing PFAS contamination objected to the rollback, including Marinette resident Doug Oitzinger with the nonprofit group Save Our Water. Oitzinger said environmental advocates are already challenging the legality of the move, citing an anti-backsliding provision under the Safe Drinking Water Act that prevents weakening of standards.

“These are toxic substances that we should not be having in our drinking water, and certainly should not be flowing out into the environment,” Oitzinger said.

Steph Tai, an environmental law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, questioned whether any legal challenge to the state’s regulations would be successful. Tai noted the Wisconsin Supreme Court previously sided with the DNR on a separate PFAS challenge.

“I think (EPA’s rollback) could make it more vulnerable to challenge, but again, there’s a much more regulation-friendly Supreme Court, so it’s little up in the air,” Tai said.

Along with its proposal, the EPA announced nearly $1 billion in new funding to address PFAS, including $15 million for Wisconsin. Evers also signed bills that allow spending $133 million in a PFAS trust fund to address the chemicals.

Federal regulators are defending standards for PFOA and PFOS that are set at 4 parts per trillion, but they’re stripping limits for PFNA, PFHxS, GenX and PFBS. Wisconsin approved standards for all six substances earlier this year.

With the rollback, Strifling told WPR the state’s limits could also face problems under a 2017 law known as the REINS Act that triggers legislative approval of regulations that cost more than $10 million in any two-year period. The DNR’s economic impact analysis of its rule said the proposed PFAS limits would cost the state nothing beyond what’s federally required.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby, is among groups that argued the DNR failed to follow the law when the agency didn’t include state costs. Adam Jordahl, WMC’s director of environmental and energy policy, said they’d like to see the DNR revise state limits to match the EPA’s proposal.

“Otherwise, at a minimum, I do think if the department is going to press ahead with going more strict than the EPA, then the department does need to, I think, revisit the economic impact analysis,” Jordahl said.

The DNR estimated water utilities and businesses would have to spend $26.6 million to meet the Biden-era standards in the first year. The agency estimated 96 water systems may have to spend an estimated $12.6 million to address PFAS levels above those limits.

However, the agency said only four water systems would be affected by proposed limits for the four substances that EPA is weakening. Wisconsin’s PFAS standards are set to take effect on July 1.

Wisconsin PFAS limits may face legal challenge after EPA’s proposed rollback was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Rendering of new Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport International Terminal.

Construction of a new international terminal at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport recently received a funding boost from the federal government.

Milwaukee Mitchell is currently redeveloping Concourse E to serve as the new international terminal. It will replace the existing terminal, built in 1975, that sits separate from the rest of the airport. Construction is anticipated to finish in 2027.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently awarded the project $8 million through the Airport Terminals Program (ATP), bringing total federal support to $21.5 million. The project was also awarded two federal Airport Terminal Program grants totaling $13.5 million.

“Securing this grant is an important step forward for the Concourse E project and for the future of MKE,” Airport Director Brian Dranzik said in a statement. “This investment allows us to modernize our facilities, improve the passenger experience, and support the long-term growth of air service in Milwaukee.”

The project is expected to cost approximately $92.5 million. The airport largely finances infrastructure projects through bonds, which are repaid with revenue from the major air carriers that use the facility.

“Our local airports are vital hubs that connect businesses and visitors throughout the Badger State,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said in a statement Tuesday. “As our communities grow, our airports need to be ready to handle increased traffic and keep travelers safe. I was proud to support these investments so our airports can grow and serve our communities, businesses, and visitors for years to come.”

The new terminal was designed by Alliance, a Minneapolis-based architecture firm, and construction is being led by Findorff. The new terminal will have a capacity of 400 passengers and two gates.

Planning for the new terminal began in 2015. The airport initially planned to begin construction in 2020, budgeting $55 million for the project that year. But it was put on hold by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent inflation raised costs.

The existing terminal is only able to handle arrivals and is undersized for a modern airport terminal. Modern planes used for long international flights have a greater passenger capacity than the terminal.

“The new international terminal is vital for the future of our regional economy,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “By making this project a reality, I am proud we are creating jobs, opening a new front door for visitors into our community, and providing major benefits to Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin for years to come.”

New Terminal Renderings

Concourse E

12►

Cafe space at 1100 S. 5th St. Photo taken May 25, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

A new operator is slated to take over the cafe portion of Arts @ Large, restoring food and beverage service to the gallery’s Walker’s Point headquarters.

Mary Ramirez, a seasoned festival vendor, plans to open Maria’s Cafe at 1100 S. 5th St., offering coffee and espresso drinks, teas, matcha, and a limited food menu.

The former tenant, Green Baked Goods, closed its storefront in April but continues online and at local markets. Maria’s Cafe would fill the vacant 300-square-foot space as a counter-service operation, also featuring on-site dining and catering.

A proposed menu includes hot and iced espresso, lattes, cappuccinos, mochas and café de olla — a Mexican coffee drink brewed with cinnamon, cloves and piloncillo. Chamomile, cinnamon and green teas would also be available, alongside matcha lattes in flavors such as strawberry, mango and pineapple.

Food options range from light bites — pastries, fruit and yogurt parfaits — to more filling options like wraps, quesadillas and breakfast sandwiches. Despite serving hot food, the café has no hood, making it unable to produce fried items.

Maria’s Cafe could also play a role in Arts @ Large events, with a range of catering options including appetizers, baked goods, sandwich platters, charcuterie and beverage carts stocked with coffee, lemonade, bubble tea, dirty sodas or shaved ice.

Founded in 2001, the nonprofit Arts @ Large aims to increase access to the arts through education and community programming. The organization oversees artist residencies, hosts hands-on activations and runs the Walker’s Point center, which features a rotating on-site gallery with works from local artists, artist-in-residence programs and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students.

An Arts @ Large affiliate owns the building. In February, AAl Community Center LLC applied for liquor, food dealer’s and public entertainment licenses, though a floor plan excludes the proposed cafe space.

Pending city approval, Maria’s Cafe plans to open Tuesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Ramirez did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Avenue and 3rd Street Market Hall. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A new business specializing in Korean barbeque is poised to join the lineup at 3rd Street Market Hall. But instead of filling an existing vendor stall, it would occupy a much larger space in the building.

That’s according to construction documents submitted to the city on Thursday, which outline plans to renovate a portion of the food hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., as a home for Gogihaus Korean BBQ.

The space, once home to Applebee’s, has since transitioned into an event venue, the Starlight Room, under 3rd Street Market Hall management. Soon, it could change gears again, dishing up Korean barbecue favorites such as beef bulgogi, pork belly and gochujang chicken.

Sawfish General Contracting and RINKA are leading construction and design for the project. The future restaurant’s operator is not named in the submitted documents.

Gogihaus Korean BBQ will require city approval prior to opening.

A representative of 3rd Street Market declined to comment on the proposal. A second representative, along with Omar Shaikh, a partner at the food hall, did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The proposed business joins a wave of proposed and newly opened Asian restaurants — both inside the food hall and across the city. Num Pang, a Cambodian sandwich shop, debuted at the market in April. Other recent additions to Milwaukee’s dining scene include ZX Sushi, 1033 Omakase, Ni Burmese, Khan Aseya and Saigon Baguette. Soonja’s Seoul Pocha, a Korean pub and restaurant, is expected to open at  839 W. National Ave. later this year.

Hilton Milwaukee Hotel. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Projects big and small, and those behind them, will be honored for their role in preserving Milwaukee’s built environment at a ceremony Thursday evening.

The Historic Preservation Commission‘s 2026 Cream of the Cream City Awards will honor five projects. A ceremony is scheduled to be held at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave.

Winners include the $42 million renovation of the Hilton Milwaukee, an Art Deco-style hotel, and the Allen Building, a two-story commercial building newly constructed as part of an affordable housing development.

The ceremony follows the 2026 Mayor’s Design Awards ceremony, held Wednesday evening. Only one project, the Allen Building, secured awards from both programs.

The commission, at its May 4 meeting, selected the winners from a field of eight nominees.

“The awards recognize projects large and small, which have preserved the rich history of Milwaukee found in its varied architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries. The recipients of these awards have added value to their neighborhoods and Milwaukee by preserving the unique design and character of historically designated properties,” says the commission’s website.

The commissioners are Alderman Robert Bauman, Patti Keating Kahn, Matt Jarosz, Sally Peltz, Ann Pieper Eisenbrown, Jordan Morales and Nicholas Hans Robinson. Morales is the current chair. The commission is staffed by senior planners Tim Askin and Andrew Stern. The body meets monthly and is responsible for administering the city’s preservation process, which includes approving or denying exterior modifications to protected properties and voting on new designations.

The awards program dates back to 1993, though it wasn’t held from 2018 through 2023, and a handful of other years were skipped.

Winners

Hilton Milwaukee – 509 W. Wisconsin Ave. – Commercial Rehabilitation

The $42 million project included renovation of the common spaces and 554 guest rooms in the hotel, constructed in 1928. The hotel is owned by Marcus Corp. Design was led by Eppstein Uhen Architects.- Read more

Category: Commercial Rehabilitation

Monarch Lounge. Photo courtesy of Marcus Hotels & Resorts .

Theo Lery Duplexes –  2902-2904 W. State St. and 1017-1019 N 29th. St.

SNSHN, a property management and investment firm, acquired and renovate two duplexes. Led by AJ Cihla, the firm purchased the side-by-side duplexes in 2023 and led a substantial renovation effort after the properties were subject to several code violations and rent withholding.

Category: Category: Residential Property (1-4 Family)

SHSHN Cream of the Cream City nomination image. Slide from Historic Preservation Commission.

Prairie Springs on Park – 1420 E. Park Pl.

The Urban Ecology Center‘s new event venue was crafted from a renovated Cream City brick building on the edge of the Rotary Arboteum. Design on the project was led by TKWA. – Read more

Category: Preservation Advocacy

Prairie Springs on Park, 1420 E. Park Pl. Photo courtesy of Two Birds Event Group.

Church of the Gesu – 1145 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Located on the Marquette University, the church, formally part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, undertook a $10 million renovation of its signature structure, originally constructed in 1894 to the designs of Henry C. Koch. Groth Design Group served as the architect of record.

Category: Religious Property

Church of the Gesu Cream of the Cream City award nomination. Slide from Historic Preservation Commission.

Allen Building – 1940-1948 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.

The two-story infill building was constructed as part of a 17-site affordable housing development known as Bronzeville Estates. Named for Maures Development Group leader Melissa Allen, the project filled vacant lots in a historic commercial corridor. The building was designed by Engberg Anderson. – Read more

Category: Sensitive Infill

Allen Building. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Third Space Brewing Company. Photo by Dave Reid.

“You have your home, you have your work, but everyone needs a third space,” says Third Space Brewing co-founder Andy Gehl.

A “third space” is the place where you feel comfortable and welcome, where you can go to have a good time and get away from it all. That’s where Third Space Brewing comes in. The Menomonee Valley brewery is spacious and welcoming and has anywhere from 10 to 25 beers available in its taproom. From its Happy Place Midwest Pale Ale to Upward Spiral IPA and Marquette Golden Ale and more, the brewery strives to create high-quality, flavorful and well-balanced craft beers for each and every palate.

What, you haven’t tried it yet? Well, here’s the perfect chance to do so.

Urban Milwaukee members are invited to join us at Third Space Brewing on Thursday, May. 21, starting at 5:30 p.m. An RSVP is required because space is limited. (just a few tickets remain).

Members are allowed to bring one guest, but must request an additional ticket when reserving their spot. Third Space Brewing will hold a beer tasting and a brewery tour of the production facility.

Third Space Brewing is located in a historic factory on the corner of W. St. Paul Ave. and N. 16th St. at 1505 W. St. Paul Ave. For more information on Third Space Brewing, including what’s on tap and where to buy its beer around town, visit its website.

The event is meant to reward Urban Milwaukee’s loyal members and create an easy way for our staff and writers and readers to get together for tasty beers and convivial conversation about matters both urban and not.

Here’s the rundown: arrive at 5:30 p.m., enjoy a beer tasting at 6 p.m., then take a tour and have fun.

We’d love to have a locally-made craft beer with you.

RSVP today.

Not a Member, But Still Want to Come?

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

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

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

We’d love to have you join us. Simply sign-up to become a member for just $9/month or $99 per year and you will immediately be able to reserve your Beer Bash tickets.

Gov. Tony Evers learns about the Sources of Strength program during a school visit Monday, May 11, 2026, in Barneveld, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

A failed deal on tax relief and school funding would have left Wisconsin in the red by billions of dollars, according to a memo released Wednesday by the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office.

The proposal died dramatically in the Senate last week, after a coalition of Democrats and a few Republicans voted against it, voicing concerns it would cost too much.

The deal brokered by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders came with an estimated price tag of $1.8 billion. That money would have been spent on direct checks sent to most income taxpayers, general school aid, increased special education reimbursement and ending the state income tax on overtime and tipped wages.

According to an analysis prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, that proposal, combined with preexisting expenditures from the state budget and legislation passed over the last year-and-a-half, would have caused the state to spend an additional $3.5 billion over four years.

The analysis found — assuming no other changes in revenue or spending — that would leave the state with a $2.95 billion deficit.

“I think the simplest way to put it is, it would have put the next budget into a tougher position, a genuinely tougher position,” said Jason Stein, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum. “Would it be manageable? I mean, in the end, everything can be managed. But could it be easily managed? Not necessarily.”

During debate over the failed deal, critics of the bill from both sides of the aisle pointed to the possibility of unknown costs coming down the pipeline. Democrats in particular pointed to the war in Iran, which is contributing to soaring gas prices and rising costs.

Republican members of the Wisconsin State Assembly stand together before a special session Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

In a statement to WisPolitics, Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, whose caucus sunk the deal, said the Fiscal Bureau’s analysis justifies her members’ concerns.

Meanwhile, Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who co-chairs the Legislature’s budget writing committee and supported the deal, said the analysis doesn’t account for historical norms in increased tax revenue, which he said would have offset the cost.

Separate analysis shows ongoing budget challenge

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau also prepared a separate memo for lawmakers that sums up the status of the budget as it stands right now — without the tax and school funding deal.

Only accounting for the cost of every bill passed in the last legislative session — which began on Jan. 1, 2025 and wrapped up in March — the analysis found Wisconsin will spend more than it takes in by just over $580 million.

“We can spend more than we take in for a while, but not forever,” said Stein.

Because the state is currently sitting on a projected surplus, it would still end the next budget with a positive balance of $525 million, according to the Fiscal Bureau.

Like the other analysis, this one did not take into account potential changes to state revenue or expenditures.

A variety of factors can contribute to fluctuations in state finances, according to Stein. Tax revenue, demand for social services, Medicaid enrollment and public school enrollment always change, shifting the state’s ledger book between what it takes in, and how much it spends.

Failed surplus deal would have sent Wisconsin budget into the red, analysis finds was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Hospital waiting area. (Public Domain)

Everyone deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare, but right now that’s not a reality for far too many Wisconsinites – an issue made worse by the recent actions by the Trump administration.

As Congress debated massive cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare support in Washington, D.C. last year to “pay for” huge tax giveaways to mega-corporations and billionaires, there was not nearly enough attention paid to the threat that ordinary Wisconsinites would lose access to health care.

Those cuts went through in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Act – a terribly dishonest name for a bill – which included $1 trillion less for healthcare supports over the next ten years. Now, before those cuts have even been fully implemented, Wisconsin residents are already losing access to healthcare.

In February, two mental health clinics serving residents in Elm Grove and Milwaukee closed their doors for good. Owned by Optum Health, these clinics are among the dozens that Optum has closed across the country since Republican lawmakers forced through these healthcare cuts and sent them to President Trump’s desk for signature.

Optum is likely making financial decisions based on the fact that the federal government is the largest payer of mental health care in the country. I am concerned that with that $1 trillion cut looming, they see the writing on the wall and are getting out.

These two clinics abruptly closing their doors is bad enough, but a new report from Protect Our Care (a national health care advocacy organization) reveals that these facility closings are only the most recent harsh reality. Where does that leave Wisconsinites? How will they access care?

In the context of those massive giveaways to mega-corporations and big business, people are rightly furious. Here’s just one example of what that looks like. In 2024, Amazon had a federal tax obligation of around $9 billion. Because of OBBB, they owed just $1.2 billion for tax year 2025. Not because their business took a downturn—their profits actually increased by 45% –but because Republican lawmakers in Congress chose a handout for them and claimed it was paid for by slashing healthcare.

Access to care and the cost of care are the two most important components of healthcare for all of us. The trend line on each of these is going in the wrong direction. Healthcare costs are going up, and access is going down. That is a potentially deadly combination for families.

No one would argue that our healthcare system was good enough before these cuts, but choices made by Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have made the problem far worse. I have heard from constituents who are facing hundreds or thousands of dollars in increased healthcare premiums, or loss of coverage altogether, and that is because Republican lawmakers chose to make Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans more expensive. They chose to put providers in difficult situations, and they pushed us into this moment.

Those choices will also force state lawmakers like my colleagues and I to make increasingly difficult decisions in the years to come. A new analysis from KFF projects that Wisconsin’s share of the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts will result in a $7 billion shortfall for the state over the next five budgets. We may see less access and higher costs, but the need for healthcare will not go away.

No one should be forced to choose between paying for food, rent, childcare, and healthcare, but that’s the position Republican lawmakers have put many Wisconsinites in. That’s why I have introduced several bills to reduce healthcare costs and improve access to quality care.

I co-authored a bill to provide a BadgerCare Public Option, which would allow any Wisconsinite to purchase health coverage through BadgerCare regardless of income. I also authored the Mental Healthcare is Healthcare bill package, which includes several proposals to make mental health care more affordable and accessible by requiring health insurance coverage of mental health visits, investing in the mental health workforce, and supporting school mental health services. Republican legislators at the State Capitol chose not to give any of these bills a hearing or a vote before wrapping up the legislative session early this year. But I’m not giving up.

Choices made in D.C. and Madison affect all of us. So what are we going to do? Are we going to make our voices heard and use them to call for prioritizing healthcare over massive tax giveaways to big businesses?

I am going to use my voice and continue to fight so that everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare. In Wisconsin, we are committed to moving forward, and I am committed to moving forward together.

We are worth fighting for.

Wisconsin State Representative Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa)

Composer Omar Thomas steps outside to greet attendees who weren’t able to enter the church due to capacity limitations Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church filled with sound, celebration and optimism Wednesday night when current and former Watertown band students and community members took the stage to play “A Mother of A Revolution!”

Composer Omar Thomas, who traveled to Wisconsin to be part of the event, stood before the musicians to conduct the instrumental composition that’s inspired controversy in the community.

Thomas said he has spent the last decade “throwing pebbles” into a chasm he hopes will inspire people to tell their own stories.

“It’s the commons that we’re telling that fill in the gaps of humanity,” he said before conducing the piece. “We start to learn about one another, we start to see all the ways in which we intersect. And then all of our differences become places of fascination, rather than points of view.”

The Watertown High School Band practiced the music for five months.

But last week, the Watertown School Board banned “A Mother of A Revolution!” from the high school spring concert, saying it violated the district’s controversial issues policy.

Instead, the band substituted Robert Jager’s “Esprit de Corps” on Monday night.

On Wednesday, Watertown clarinet player Kacie Tripp said she feels lucky to get to perform the music she has worked so hard on, and to have Thomas there to lead.

“Honestly, I’m really happy to be a part of this,” Tripp said. “All of our hard work paid off in the end.”

At the church on Wednesday, hundreds of people showed up for the performance, lining up around the block to get into the church. An overflow crowd listened outside under windows. And online, more than 3,000 people joined to watch the performance on a livestream.

People listen as “A Mother of A Revolution!” Is performed Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wis. The church was at capacity, so attendees listened outside. Angela Major/WPR

Before the performance, Thomas went outside to greet the people who couldn’t get inside.

“It’s my honor to be here today,” he told the group. “Thank you for pulling up outside. It’s kind of chilly, but it means more than I can express. And you’re setting an example for people all over the country.”

Kent Jacobson, a retired Watertown middle and elementary school principal, was one of the community members who attended the performance. He said he worked for more than 25 years to teach children to accept every one and to be kind.

“That is what we taught for all those years. And then to have this happen just didn’t make any sense to me,” Jacobson said. “I feel like a lot of hard work has taken a step back, and I’m hoping we can take a step forward tonight.”

“A Mother of A Revolution!” begins with intense bassoons and oboes before exploding into a faster tempo.

Thomas, a self-described “super nerd,” said he wanted to write a superhero theme that transitioned into a giant disco.

In the program notes, Thomas wrote: “This piece is a celebration of the bravery of trans women, and in particular, Marsha ‘Pay it No Mind’ Johnson. … Existing as a trans woman, especially a trans woman of color and daring to live authentically, creating a space for oneself in a transphobic world is one of the bravest acts I can imagine.”

Johnson was a central figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement and was involved in the Stonewall Uprising.

Thomas’s dedication to Johnson is why the Watertown School Board voted 7-1 to ban the music, calling it a “celebration of violence.”

In a statement, the school board later said its responsibility is to provide students with a “values-neutral” education.

Thomas, an award-winning composer and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, travelled to Wisconsin to conduct the piece Wednesday at the invitation of people in the community who were upset by the ban.

People enter the church to listen to students perform “A Mother of A Revolution!” on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

David Morstad organized the event at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church. He said he takes issue with the phrases the school board has used to defend their decision.

“The action by the school board is anything but values-neutral,” Morstad said Wednesday on “WPR’s Wisconsin Today.” “It’s just driven by a separate set of values. I’m not sure that in any educational environment you can ever achieve anything that’s values-neutral.”

At the church, Morstad told the crowd no Watertown school staff members were involved in organizing the event, and no school supplies, equipment or instruments were used at the performance. He said the sheet music the musicians used was donated by Thomas.

One of the people who helped put together the event was Sauk Prairie School District’s band director Matthew Koscinski.

On Wednesday night, Koscinski said labeling a musical tribute to human dignity as indoctrination is a “hollow tactic born of fear.”

“They forgot one fundamental truth: you cannot extinguish light by closing your eyes,” Koscinski said.

A group from Madison sits together around a phone as they watch the performance on live stream Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church Pastor Carina Schiltz told “Wisconsin Today” the congregation is openly welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ people.

“There’s been an outpouring of gratitude and excitement and joy,”  Schiltz said.  “And we hope that this evening is one of connection and community and appreciating the musicality of this piece and the hard work that the performers and musicians have done to prepare for this evening’s performance.”

Morstad said there is one thing he does agree with the school board on: music is powerful.

“I think they saw that in a very negative way,” he told “Wisconsin Today.” “I don’t see it that way. Music will have its own way of reaching in and touching individuals, and I’ve heard recordings of the piece a number of times. It moves me every time.”

After the performance, Thomas thrust his fist into the air and jumped up and down, cheering along with the crowd that was on their feet for the musicians.

‘A Mother of A Revolution!’ composer conducts piece in Watertown was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

A new suicide prevention sign posted along Milwaukee’s lakefront. Photo taken Nov. 13, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

New data from Milwaukee County highlights how rates of suicide have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milwaukee County, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation partnered on the study comparing demographic information from suicide deaths before and after March of 2020.

Preliminary data from the report does not show a notable change in the overall rate of suicide going back to 2002, according to Dr. Ben Weston, Chief Health Policy Advisor for Milwaukee County.

He said the total number of deaths in a given year has ebbed and flowed over time, from a low of 87 suicide deaths in 2002 to a peak of 156 deaths in 2017.

But the demographics of people who have died of suicide have shifted.

Since the pandemic, a larger percent of suicide deaths are happening among people age 65 and older. Nineteen percent of suicides in the county since March 2020 have been in older adults, compared to around 12 percent in the nearly two decades before — a 54 percent relative increase.

There was also a 42 percent relative increase in suicide deaths among Black residents. The population made up 14 percent of deaths prior to the pandemic, but has since made up nearly 20 percent of deaths.

“These findings matter because they help us to better understand where prevention efforts need to evolve,” Weston said. “I think they also reinforce that suicide prevention doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach.”

He said the COVID-19 pandemic caused new sources of stress, from increased isolation to economic pressures like job losses and a higher cost of living.

But Weston said other factors pre-date 2020 and have simply gotten worse over time, including a lack of access to affordable health care and the continued epidemic of loneliness that’s been identified nationwide.

These pressures are taking a toll on residents across the state, said Leah Rolando, Suicide and Drug Harm Prevention Specialist with Safe Communities in Dane County. She said they have also seen more older adults dying from suicide, and she said the increasing cost of health care and insurance is playing a role.

“In the data that we get on suicide deaths in Dane County, we’ll see health conditions listed as a risk factor, or chronic pain listed as a risk factor,” she said.

While her group focuses on providing resources to people in crisis, she said ensuring state residents have their basic needs met before they are struggling is critical to curbing future suicide deaths.

“I think we can do both, and just try to connect people more in a world that’s increasingly disconnected,” she said.

In Milwaukee County, Weston said officials are also hoping to better understand trends in suicide attempts by studying data collected by emergency medical services.

He said the study authors will use artificial intelligence to sort through the 150,000 EMS calls in the county each year to identify cases of suicide attempts and highlight trends that could inform future prevention efforts.

Milwaukee study highlights post-COVID shift in suicide deaths was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Photo from PianoArts.

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” goes the old joke. Music teachers love to remind their students of the punchline: “Practice, practice, practice.”

For serious music students hoping to turn pro, the route to the concert hall often includes both hours in the practice room and entry into competitions. Competitions help to build a musician’s résumé, provide performance and feedback opportunities, and, for winners, award cash prizes that help underwrite the cost of a conservatory education.

Since 1999, Milwaukee’s PianoArts organization has held piano competitions to identify, showcase and guide young pianists at a turning point in their artistic lives. The 2026 edition, May 27-June 2, brings eight competitors to the city for a week of public performances before three distinguished judges. Audiences will enjoy performances by extraordinarily talented young pianists and, perhaps, hear an up-and-coming star at the birth of a career.

Welcoming pianists ages 17-22 from any country who are studying piano in North America, the 2026 PianoArts competition began with a preliminary video round. Over several days, jurors evaluated videos of each entrant’s performance of a full piano concerto and 30 minutes of solo repertoire. The eight contestants jurors advanced to the semifinal round include students at conservatories throughout the U.S., among them pianists from Vietnam, China and Israel.

In Milwaukee, a new group of jurors will hear each semifinalist perform three times: a 45-minute solo recital, a 45-minute duo recital with a string player from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and a half-hour lecture recital featuring the first movement of a piano concerto. Three finalists, chosen by jurors Simone Dinnerstein, Alexander Korsantia, and Marian Hahn, will play a full piano concerto on Tuesday, June 2, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Eddins, at the Bradley Symphony Center. Prizes totaling $35,000 will be awarded that evening.

Professional MSO musicians will work closely with the semifinalists during the competition. String players Dylana Leung, Kyung Ah Oh, Scott Tisdel, Madeleine Kabat and Elliot Lee will rehearse and perform with the contestants for the duo recitals. Collaborating with professionals makes the PianoArts competition especially rewarding for contestants, said PianoArts founder and executive director Sue Medford. Playing sonatas as equal partners with the string players, the contestants “bring their own performance to the soloist’s artistic level,” she said. For the three finalists, “They’ll see familiar faces when they walk on the stage to perform with the Milwaukee Symphony.”

Contestants also will receive coaching to strengthen their verbal communication with audiences. They’ll work with local actor Doug Jarecki to polish comments they make about the music during their concerts.

Bookending the competition are a prelude concert on May 27 by 2024 PianoArts first-place winner Lucas Amory with MSO clarinetist Jay Shankar and a “Concert by the Masters” on June 1. It features juror Dinnerstein, MSO string players Yuka Kadota, Jennifer Startt and Tisdel, recently retired violist Robert Levine, and preliminary round juror Michael Mizrahi. The public is invited to attend both performances.

PianoArts competition concerts are held at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Peck School of the Arts at UW-Milwaukee and Bradley Symphony Center. The full schedule and tickets are available here.

A portion of a lead service line removed from a house on S. 12th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it’s awarding nearly $2.9 billion through a state revolving loan fund to help states find and replace lead pipes, including $94.3 million for Wisconsin.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has proposed a 90 percent cut for state revolving loan funds under the agency’s 2027 budget. The money awarded through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund comes from $15 billion set aside under the bipartisan infrastructure law to speed up replacement of lead service lines.

In a news release, EPA made no mention that the funds came from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021. The agency said the investment is part of the agency’s “unwavering commitment to Making America Healthy Again.”

“The Trump EPA is committed to tackling lead exposure and this $2.9 billion will help protect current and future generations by accelerating local efforts to find and replace toxic lead pipes,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer in the release.

Around half of the funds awarded to Wisconsin, or $46.2 million, will be devoted to water systems in disadvantaged communities as grants or principal forgiveness loans.

“Every lead pipe we remove is a victory for public health in Wisconsin,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel in a statement. “This $94 million through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund will support the nuts-and-bolts work —building complete service line inventories and replacing lead lines from curb to tap.”

The funding provided to Wisconsin is based on the EPA’s survey and assessment of drinking water infrastructure needs among states. As of 2023, the agency projected Wisconsin has more than 343,000 lead service lines based on survey responses. Over the next 20 years, it’s estimated the state will have $11.75 billion in drinking water infrastructure needs including pipe replacement and treatment upgrades.

Lead in paint and dust are the primary source of lead exposure in Wisconsin, but drinking water is another pathway. Almost 5 percent of more than 95,000 kids younger than 6 who were tested had lead poisoning in 2024, according to state data. In Milwaukee, data shows around 20 percent of kids in some areas have lead poisoning.

Research has shown that lead exposure in early childhood can have long-lasting effects that can affect cognitive development and academic achievements later in life.

Earlier this year, the EPA said it would defend a 10-year deadline imposed under the Biden administration for removal of lead pipes for most communities by 2037.  EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said clean, safe drinking water is a top priority under the agency’s “Powering the Great American Comeback” initiative.

However, Republicans and Democrats pushed back against plans to gut the agency’s state revolving loan funds during a U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on May 13. Zeldin defended the agency’s budget and added that some states have not utilized money under the state revolving loan funds.

“We’ve been able to get more money out the door by reallocating state money from states where they weren’t spending the money,” Zeldin told lawmakers. “The other good news is that you have a lot of states where they just don’t have issues with lead service lines, so they were able to return that funding as well.”

On Wednesday, the EPA said it’s redistributing an additional $18.7 million in previously announced funding for lead. Wisconsin is eligible to receive an additional $852,000, but it must apply for the money by the end of September.

EPA announces $94M for Wisconsin to find and replace lead pipes was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Site of Kuumba Juice and Coffee, 274 E. Keefe Ave. Photo taken Jan. 20, 2024, by Sophie Bolich.

Founded on principles of wellness and sustainability, Kuumba Juice and Coffee has implemented several eco-friendly practices during its two-year tenure at 274 E. Keefe Ave., including offering discounts for customers who bring reusable cups, stocking reusable straws, and expanding a food scrap collection program that diverts an additional 1.5 tons of organic material annually.

A new collaboration could help scale those efforts at Kuumba and other food businesses across Milwaukee and Madison.

CET, an environmental nonprofit formerly known as the Center for EcoTechnology, will train partners across the state — including Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office, the Dane County Department of Waste & Renewables, and Sustain Dane — to help restaurants reduce waste, donate surplus food, and improve recycling and food scrap separation, according to a news release.

“Our partners in Milwaukee and Madison are deeply connected to the local food system and understand the challenges restaurants face,” said Ashley Muspratt, president and CEO of CET, in a statement. “This training gives them additional tools to work alongside businesses and identify practical opportunities to prevent wasted food.”

The program, supported by ReFED’s Catalytic Grant Fund, began in 2025 with on-site training sessions involving CET staff, local partners and restaurants. It aims to build localized networks that provide ongoing support for food businesses working to reduce waste.

The impact is already visible at participating businesses. In Madison, Hubbard Avenue Diner uses Too Good To Go to sell surplus meals, preventing about 700 pounds of food waste annually. Another restaurant, Canteen, has expanded its recycling program and now diverts 1.75 tons of recyclable materials each year.

Andi Sciacca, founder of Wisconsin Harvest Network, said the training has led to deeper relationships with Milwaukee-area restaurants while also strengthening the network’s approach to reducing food waste.

“The tools and insights we gained have made our work more effective and more connected,” Sciacca said in a statement. “I’m especially excited to carry this forward through the Wisconsin Harvest Network, expanding access to these resources and building even stronger collaborations across communities.”

As the effort continues, local partners aim to expand outreach through workshops and training sessions, also connecting with additional food businesses to incorporate waste prevention into existing sustainability programs.

Jones Island Reclamation Facility. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

There is a stink arising from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), and it’s not the smell of sewage.

The advocacy group Common Ground is working with more than two dozen anonymous whistleblowers who allege that the sewerage district’s private contractor, the French company Veolia, is purposely running wastewater systems below capacity during rain events, increasing the risk of sewer overflows into Lake Michigan and backups into basements of area homeowners, and forgoing maintenance to save money, instead allowing equipment to run to a point of failure and be replaced by MMSD.

These were serious accusations by former employees of MMSD, led by Steve Jacquart, a longtime city employee and then MMSD intergovernmental relations coordinator, who is seen as a straight shooter and former fan of the sewerage district.

On the other hand, MMSD’s executive director, Kevin Shafer, is highly regarded by officials in town for the job he has done. But Shafer, in this case, has reacted by trying to kill the messenger.

For starters, the MMSD Commission, which oversees the sewerage district, released a statement dumping on Jacquart. It was written by commission chair Corey Zetts, though insiders believe she worked with Shafer on the statement. It complained that Jacquart “knows how to get in touch with me if he seriously believed MMSD infrastructure and our waters and community were at risk throughout the past decade. Working with Common Ground to release this information today feels suspect.”

Next, MMSD hired Emily Gnam, an attorney with Lake Effect HR & Law, to investigate the claims from Common Ground and the whistleblowers they are working with. In a letter to Common Ground, she said she would not disclose their names to MMSD but would collect their names and employment history.

Which felt like an effort to intimidate the whistleblowers. “We do not believe this proposal is a good faith effort to discover and report the full truth to the MMSD Commissioner and the public,” wrote Bob Connolly, founder of Common Ground, in a response to Gnam. “You are on management’s side; on your LinkedIn page, you describe yourself as an expert in ‘management-side employment law.’ You also lack technical expertise in wastewater management.”

So Shafer and MMSD backed off from using that law firm but continued to resist Common Ground’s call for an audit. The district released a statement saying it is “two years into a public procurement effort to hire a company to operate and maintain the District’s infrastructure for a 10-year period,” which is “a time-consuming effort” and “must continue to be a fair process.” Therefore, “MMSD cannot publicly comment on these accusations until after the procurement process is completed.”

But only Veolia and one other company, Jacobs Solutions, based in Dallas, are being considered for the job of running the district’s operation. How can you decide whether to rehire Veolia for another 10 years unless you pursue the allegations about how it has been operating the system?

This response seems all the more suspect given the roster of people pushing to rehire Veolia. They include Ghassan Korban, the former head of Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works, a longtime city insider who was hired as a vice president at Veolia last year. The company also hired former alderman and Common Council president Ashanti Hamilton as a manager and hired former alderman Michael D’Amato to lobby for the contract.

The situation drew the attention of the Milwaukee County Board, with nine members calling for the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau to do an audit of Veolia’s work for the MMSD. “Concerns this severe and systemic require a more robust, third-party audit of Veolia’s management of Milwaukee’s wastewater plants,” their statement declared.

That was Monday, and, in response, MMSD finally agreed to an audit, with Zetts releasing a statement later that day saying the MMSD commission will “initiate an independent, third-party performance audit” that will be “overseen by the MMSD Commission.”

Zetts also apologized for her attack on Jacquart, saying, “I apologize for maybe reacting a little emotionally to a friend coming forward with those allegations, rather than to the commission. But now that we have seen those details, we have initiated steps to begin an independent, third-party performance audit that will be overseen by the commission.”

Alderman Robert Bauman and Common Council President José G. Pérez both emphasized that the audit cannot be controlled by MMSD, meaning the agency run by Shafer, and that the commission must be in charge. But it doesn’t exactly sound like it will operate independently. Zetts and Shafer seem to have been working together on the responses to Common Ground and she has also checked with him on the audit.

As Urban Milwaukee reported, “Zetts told the committee she has discussed the audit” with Shafer and that “there are firms that work in wastewater who could conduct an audit, and the executive director has the budget authority within his office to execute a contract.”

Meanwhile, Zetts insisted the audit must be completed by September, though the current contract with Veolia doesn’t end until Feb. 28, 2028. That’s almost two years from now. Why the rush? Bauman asked.

That’s to give the next operator time to take over and implement everything included in the extensive contract, Zetts explained. But after MMSD’s repeated attempts to resist the audit, it seems like another attempt to limit any potential findings.

Not so, says Jeff Fleming, a spokesperson for Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “They want to get it done in a timely manner,” he told Urban Milwaukee. “MMSD has an interest in getting good and accurate information from Veolia.”

The mayor appoints seven of the 11 members of the MMSD commission and has a lot of power on this issue, but clearly supports both Shafer and the MMSD. “I don’t think they are against an audit,” Fleming says.

Meanwhile, Fleming portrays Common Ground as a publicity-seeking group that “sets itself for a certain goal. Their goal is to not have Veolia get the contract.”

But it is not Common Ground making the accusations against Veolia, but former employees of MMSD.

Common Ground’s prior campaign, to improve the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, uncovered all kinds of problems reported in detail by Urban Milwaukee. But to Fleming, “their only goal was to get rid of Willie Hines, Jr.,” the Housing Authority’s leader, who eventually resigned.

That’s a disturbing view of Common Ground’s work and doesn’t bode well for how seriously the mayor views the potential problems with Veolia’s management of the sewerage district. And the issue doesn’t just affect Milwaukee but also the 28 surrounding suburbs served by MMSD. Relations among the members of MMSD are harmonious these days, but that might just turn sour if a full-fledged, truly independent audit isn’t conducted.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson confers with election director Paulina Gutiérrez during a tour of the 2024 election absentee ballot counting process. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson is standing up for the city’s election officials and processes as U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, continues to question the results.

Tiffany, in response to a question about the election Monday, said “the problem with the 2020 election was the improprieties that happened.”

He also expressed support for the FBI’s newly launched investigation into Wisconsin elections.

Johnson responded that there is no merit to the effort beyond “fantasies and lies.”

“Your recent comments about the 2020 Presidential election strike me as ill-informed, hurtfully based on innuendo, and harmful to America’s democracy,” wrote Johnson in a letter to Tiffany on Tuesday. “Just as Donald Trump won elections in 2016 and 2024, it is unambiguously clear Joe Biden won the 2020 election, here in Wisconsin and across the United States. Highly aggressive challenges, underway for more than five years, have uncovered no substantive irregularities. Inquiries, investigations and lawsuits confirm our elections are conducted with scrupulous fidelity to the law.”

A full recount was conducted in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which expanded Biden’s margin of victory. Several lawsuits from the Trump campaign were dismissed. A legislative audit turned up no wrongdoing, nor did a state-funded investigation, initiated by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

“The current FBI examination in Milwaukee is plainly a weaponization of the justice system. There is no basis for the current investigation beyond fantasies and lies advanced by charlatans,” wrote Johnson.

Johnson included an invitation to Rep. Tiffany to come to Milwaukee to see the city’s processes firsthand.

“I would welcome you to Milwaukee City Hall for an in-depth discussion and tour of our election systems. I invite you to meet with our team so that you can fully appreciate their work,” wrote Johnson.

The Tiffany campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was considering the offer.

The city’s elections are led by Paulina Gutiérrez and overseen by a bipartisan board. The results are transmitted to Milwaukee County.

Tiffany, on Monday, voiced support for the FBI’s investigation, which has included visiting the home of Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County election director. Hawley is an appointee of elected County Clerk George Christenson and was the only deputy in the 2020 election.

“Whatever they’re searching for, the investigation should be allowed to continue and let’s find out what happened there,” said Tiffany. “If there’s improprieties that happened then there should be charges filed. If not, then you let the investigation cease.”

But Johnson said Tiffany is “pandering to dishonesty” and challenged Tiffany to “speak truth to power” to Trump.

“Without the slightest justification, your comments misleadingly cast doubt on our election processes. You undermine voters’ faith that any authentic democracy must maintain. You open the door for future swindlers to illegitimately seize power,” wrote Johnson.

1110 N. Martin Luther King Jr Dr. Photo taken on November 6, 2020 by Mariiana Tzotcheva.

A proposed sports bar in the former Third Street Tavern is moving forward under a new name and revised ownership structure after receiving a key endorsement from the City of Milwaukee.

Nightlife veteran Craig Berry plans to draw on 30 years of industry experience in the new venture, Atrium Sports Lounge, which is set to open later this year at 1110 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.

Berry attended a licenses committee hearing Tuesday for the business, initially proposed last October as GL Sports Eatery. David Hinton, owner of the nearby Loaded Spud restaurant, was originally slated to serve as the bar’s agent and owner, but Berry said he took on a more prominent role in the project “after speaking with neighbors and committee members.”

“I’ve been around a long time and I’ve been doing this a long time,” said Berry, who also leads Mr. B’s Privileged Lounge, Swish Sports Bar & Grill and Legends Cocktail Lounge.

Atrium aims to operate as a sports bar and eatery, emphasizing lunch options that Berry said are limited in the area. The business also plans to host occasional live entertainment, with food served from midday until bar close.

“I pride myself on my food quality, and I’m bringing it downtown,” Berry said.

Several neighboring business owners and nearby residents attended the hearing related to Atrium’s public entertainment premises license application, which includes requests for instrumental musicians, DJs, a jukebox, bands, magic shows, karaoke, poetry readings, comedy shows and hookah.

“We want a restaurant on the street — that place has been empty for over a year,” said Jake Dehne, co-owner of 90s2K Cafe, The Lucky Clover and Red, White and Blue. Dehne expressed “full support” for Atrium, but said DJs are often associated with nightclub operations, particularly when paired with cover charges and dance floors.

He referenced previous establishments that started as restaurants but eventually transitioned into nightclubs.

“Is it going to be a nightclub?” Dehne asked.

“No, it’s not a nightclub,” Berry answered.

Others questioned the business’s parking and security plans, while three attendees spoke in favor of both the tavern and Berry’s track record in Milwaukee nightlife.

“If anybody is going to open up a place, especially in the downtown area, we should let somebody seasoned like Craig Berry [do it],” said Jennifer Garcia, who described him as “committed” and “attentive.”

“He has invested a lot into Milwaukee nightlife,” she said.

Alderman Peter Burgelis moved to approve the license application as amended with additional security measures and Berry as majority stakeholder. The matter now heads to the Milwaukee Common Council for a final vote in early June.

Hinton remains a 20% stakeholder in Urban Life Development Group LLC, though operational control has shifted to Berry, according to attorney Emil Ovbiagele. Hinton will continue to lead Loaded Spud.

Milwaukee City Hall. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

Some members of the Milwaukee Common Council pushed for an independent audit of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) amid public allegations that Veolia, a private water contractor, is mismanaging the district’s wastewater facilities.

They even tried to block the reappointment of MMSD commission members, including the chair of the MMSD board, but later backpedaled following a heated discussion in a closed-door meeting.

Members of the MMSD Commission were appearing before the Public Works Committee seeking reappointment to the sewerage district’s oversight body, a reappointment that members of the committee initially moved to hold until action was taken to investigate the public claims against Veolia and MMSD.

MMSD Commission Chair Corey Zetts and other commissioners, including Common Council members Mark Chambers, Jr. and Milele A. Coggs, state Rep. Kalan Haywood II and Julia Taylor, former president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, are all up for reappointment. A majority of commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. All are paid a $10,000 annual stipend.

Ald. Robert Bauman made the motion to hold consideration of their reappointments in light of the allegations from Common Ground and more than two dozen whistleblowers, including two who have come forward publicly. It is alleged that Veolia is mismanaging the sewerage systems to save money, letting equipment fall into disrepair to increase profits on replacements and running the facilities under capacity during heavy rainfall, increasing the risk of sewer overflows and basement backups.

“I think it’s important that there is an independent review, and even more important, that it appears to be independent to the court of public opinion,” Bauman said.

Common Ground is calling for an independent, third-party performance audit of the operations and conditions at the sewerage district’s two wastewater facilities: Jones Island and South Shore.

Veolia has held the contract to operate the MMSD facilities since 2008. The sewerage district is in the middle of a public procurement process for the next 10-year contract, which would begin in 2028 and is valued at about $700 million. The contract is scheduled to be awarded in September. Veolia is up against Jacobs Solutions, a Dallas-based engineering services company.

On Monday, Milwaukee County Supervisors released a statement calling for an audit by the state’s Legislative Audit Bureau. Later, Zetts announced her intention to push for an independent audit overseen by the MMSD Commission. Common Ground responded, saying MMSD had already violated public trust with its initial response to their campaign, which included attacking the credibility of the first whistleblower Steve Jacquart. The group is backing a call for an audit by the state Legislative Audit Bureau.

“I apologize for maybe reacting a little emotionally to a friend coming forward with those allegations, rather than to the commission,” Zetts said. “But now that we have seen those details, we have initiated steps to begin an independent, third-party performance audit that will be overseen by the commission.” 

The allegations against the sewerage district are serious issues, including flooding and the release of raw sewage into waterways, that have directly affected the local community in recent years, Bauman said.

Council President José Pérez echoed Bauman, saying the audit needed to be free from even the appearance of MMSD influence.

“In the end, if MMSD is overseeing this audit, it isn’t an independent audit,” Pérez said. “It has to be completely removed from MMSD in order to put everyone’s kind of fears or questions or doubt, to put them to rest, it has to be completely independent.”

Pérez, who served on the MMSD Commission in the past, also said it was unlikely an audit could be completed before the scheduled contract approval in September.

Zetts told the committee she has discussed the audit with MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer. There are firms that work in wastewater who could conduct an audit, and the executive director has the budget authority within his office to execute a contract.

“The audit should be paid for by MMSD,” Zetts said. “It will need to be paid, but overseen by the commission, which is an independent body.”

Perez asked whether the Legislative Audit Bureau could conduct an audit. Zetts replied that MMSD wants an audit completed before September. An audit by the state Legislative Audit Bureau is “unreasonable right now, when we have a timeline,” Chambers said.

“What’s the magic of September? Is there a contract expiration date here?” Bauman asked.

Finalizing a contract in September will give the next operator time to take over and implement everything included in the extensive contract, Zetts said.

In response to questions from Ald. Alex Brower, Zetts conceded the commission could delay approval of a new contract, “but at this point we’re still feeling optimistic about being able to make an informed decision by September.”

The current contract expires in February 2028.

The committee voted to hold consideration of the commissioners’ reappointments. But then, due to issues with the virtual meeting technology, the committee took a recess. Coggs then pulled Bauman into a side room with Pérez and Chambers, and a heated discussion ensued. When they exited the room and the meeting resumed, Bauman moved to reconsider the appointments one by one.

The committee approved all five, but not without some protest. Bauman objected to the reappointment of the three commissioners who are not members of the Common Council: Haywood, Taylor and Zetts.

DeForest Village Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in DeForest, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

It’s official: Fluoride will once again be added to DeForest’s water supply.

That’s after trustees voted 4-2 Tuesday to reintroduce that mineral, as recommended by numerous dental and public health associations.

The board’s vote follows an April 7 election, which saw the ouster of Taysheedra Allen, a former trustee who previously voted against fluoridation.

The engineering firm Vierbicher estimates it could cost $327,000 for DeForest to add fluoride to the water that’s pumped through four village wells. That estimate includes the cost of improvements recommended by state officials for the village’s water infrastructure.

At least some of those costs could be covered by a Wisconsin Department of Health Services grant.

It could be several months before fluoridated water is flowing through DeForest pipes, and village officials have elected to pursue a phased approach. They expect it will take between four to six months to bring fluoride to at least one of the wells. Some of the other wells will take longer, however, and it could be as long as 14 months before fluoridated water is being pumped through all four of the wells.

Many communities in the U.S. add fluoride to their water as a way to strengthen teeth and prevent cavities. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously heralded water fluoridation as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

But false claims about negative health effects from fluoridated water have been spreading for decades.

In February of last year, DeForest trustees voted 4-3 to stop adding fluoride to the village’s water. Since then, the village board has seen a series of shake-ups. One anti-fluoride trustee was ousted in a September recall election, and another anti-fluoride board member resigned for personal reasons.

Even after DeForest’s pro-fluoride board president stepped down earlier this spring because of health issues, fluoride supporters thought they had enough votes for a re-fluoridation resolution to pass.

That resolution failed in March, however, when Trustee Jan Steffenhagen-Hahn flipped sides and voted against re-fluoridation. In 2025, Steffenhagen-Hahn had voted to keep fluoride in the water, so her more recent vote came as a surprise to some.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Steffenhagen-Hahn acknowledged how contentious the topic of fluoride has been.

“I haven’t ever known it to be this awful, and I’ve been here most of my 60 years,” Steffenhagen-Hahn said of the atmosphere in DeForest.

She said villagers must find a way heal, no matter the outcome of the latest vote.

“I just hope that we can finally all remember that we are neighbors,” she said.

Located just north of Madison, DeForest is home to some 13,000 people. Marc Storch is one of those residents.

He said DeForest voters have made their opinion on fluoride clear through the recall election that Storch helped organize in September as well as through the regular election in April.

“When people say we need a referendum (on fluoride), I’d say we already had several referendums,” Storch said.

During last month’s contest, pro-fluoride candidates Colleen Little, Alicia Williams and Melanie Bartholf were elected after getting between 27 and 34 percent of the vote each.

Allen, the only anti-fluoride candidate on that ballot, lost with less than 13 percent of the vote.

DeForest’s board is down to six trustees instead of seven after Jane Cahill Wolfgram, the former board president, stepped down. A vacant seat on the board still needs to be filled.

Fluoride is coming back to DeForest’s water after months of political shake-ups was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

A village of Wrightstown resident speaks out at a listening session the village hosted on May 19 about data centers. Joe Schulz/WPR

While local leaders in the northeast Wisconsin village of Wrightstown say they haven’t received a formal development proposal, some local residents are making their feelings known in advance — they don’t want a data center in town.

Residents spoke out Tuesday during the second of four planned community discussions on data centers at Wrightstown Village Hall.

The village has said the listening sessions are meant to give residents a chance to ask questions and voice concerns as a data center development company has been searching for potential sites in the region.

“There is no proposal in front of us,” said Village Board President Dean Erickson. “I can guarantee you that we’ll take this into consideration, but, like everything, I will not make a choice until we have a proposal in front of us.”

But emails released as part of an open records request show Wrightstown officials began communicating with Cloverleaf Infrastructure about a possible project as early as January 2026.

Cloverleaf has expressed interest in developing a hyperscale data center project in northeast Wisconsin. The company previously helped a controversial data center in Port Washington get off the ground.

The company has given Wrightstown agreements and documents from Port Washington as a template for annexation, zoning and pre-development agreements.

In a March email, Aaron Bilyeu, chief development officer for Cloverleaf Infrastructure, told Village Administrator Travis Coenen that a northeast Wisconsin project would be similar in scale to the first phase of the data center under construction in Port Washington.

In a Jan. 12 email, Travis Armistead, project development manager for Cloverleaf, told Coenen the company had “a few leads” that could “hopefully land us close to the Village of Wrightstown’s border.”

Coenen emailed Armistead on Jan. 23 referencing a pair of other communities the developer had looked at for potential data center sites.

“We will strategize on a better plan for Wrightstown as I see both Greenleaf and Kewaunee have not gone well,” Coenen wrote.

Coenen did not respond to an interview request ahead of Tuesday’s listening session.

The Village of Wrightstown hosted a community listening session about data centers on Tuesday, May 19. Joe Schulz/WPR

Bilyeu told WPR that the company is aware that the village is conducting the community meetings.

“Cloverleaf is continuing to look for opportunities to develop data centers in Northeast Wisconsin,” he said in an email. “We have had preliminary conversations with several communities, including the Village of Wrightstown.”

At the listening session, Chris Smith, an attorney hired by the village, said the meetings with the community would help shape the village board’s decision-making process if a formal proposal comes forward.

“If this group that is interested in this area comes forward and says, ‘We want to rezone property or we want to annex property,’ we want to be able to tell the village board what we’ve heard at these sessions,” he said.

But residents who spoke at the meeting largely opposed the project. Some raised environmental concerns related to data centers, while others expressed opposition because they worried that such a development could lead to a loss of farmland.

Wrightstown resident Roland Schmidt said he’s “vehemently opposed” to a data center in the community. He felt there isn’t enough information showing that a data center would benefit residents.

Chris Smith, an attorney hired by the village of Wrightstown, left, speaks to residents during a community listening session about data centers on May 19. Joe Schulz/WPR

“Farmland will never go back to farmland. Period,” he said. “I live in this community because I love the farmland. I love to turkey hunt. I love to deer hunt. I love to duck hunt. I love to goose hunt. I love to walk into nature.”

Marinette resident Andi Rich spoke out at the meeting because she doesn’t want to see a data center in northeast Wisconsin. Rich said she had transparency concerns about the village’s handling of a possible project and the emails between the village and Cloverleaf.

“The stories that we’re hearing from other communities about how it was just bulldozed over them — and everything was already in place, and they didn’t have time to stop it — I think that they were absolutely trying to do that here,” she said.

Village Board Trustee Sue Byers, who declined an interview, said at the meeting that a developer was looking at land in the neighboring town of Wrightstown.

She said the village was in contact with Cloverleaf to look at what other municipalities hosting data centers had done to regulate them at the local level.

“The village wanted to know, how best can we write our ordinances to protect us as best we can? What information do we need to be looking at to tighten up our regulation?” Byers said. “If it fails here, it could go to the town of Wrightstown, and the town of Wrightstown could have less restrictive zoning ordinances.”

The village board’s agenda for a meeting Tuesday night included an item related to emails the village has received regarding data centers.

Residents speak out against possible data center in northeast Wisconsin’s village of Wrightstown was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

The federal courthouse for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison. John K. Wilson/WPR

A lawsuit challenging the authority of county sheriffs to work with federal immigration authorities is headed back to state court.

The case was filed last year by the ACLU of Wisconsin on behalf of the immigrants’ rights group Voces de la Frontera. It challenges what are known as immigration detainers, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, asks local jails to hold someone for up to 48 hours.

Detainers give immigration agents more time to pick someone up if that person is suspected of being in the country illegally. But the ACLU argues they don’t give jails the legal authority to keep holding someone after that person was supposed to be let out.

The ACLU filed its case as an original action petition with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, an expedited process that bypasses lower courts. The Wisconsin Supreme Court granted the petition in December, meaning justices agreed to hear the case.

Attorneys for sheriffs in Walworth, Brown, Marathon, Kenosha and Sauk counties tried to get the case moved to federal court, initiating that process in late December.

But in an order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled that the process to move the case from state to federal court was initiated too late under state law. He said state law requires that step within 30 days.

“Because respondents waited to file their notice of removal some 103 days after service of the petition … and only after learning that the Wisconsin Supreme Court found the petition’s merits worthy of consideration — respondents’ notice of removal was untimely, and this case must be remanded to that court,” Conley wrote.

In an interview with WPR, Tim Muth, an attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said the “detour” into federal court delayed the process of getting a ruling on this issue.

“And dozens, if not hundreds, of persons have been held on detainers in Wisconsin jails in that timeframe,” Muth said. “We hope for a speedy resolution of this case going forward.”

Liberals have a 4-3 majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. That will expand to 5-2 when Justice-elect Chris Taylor begins her term in August.

Federal judge sends immigration case back to Wisconsin Supreme Court was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor, has long been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump’s debunked election conspiracy theories. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

As the long tail of the 2020 presidential election continues to reverberate through Wisconsin politics, a bipartisan pair of former elected officials sought to deliver a message of trust Tuesday in how the state counts votes and runs elections.

Meanwhile, the official Republican nominee for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, has been ramping up his campaign refusing to admit President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, including in Wisconsin.

Former Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appeared at Viterbo University in La Crosse Tuesday as representatives of the Democracy Defense Project, a bipartisan multi-state initiative to build trust in the country’s election systems.

“The 2020 election has been litigated and relitigated and relitigated over and over again, and nothing has changed,” Barrett said.

A day earlier, fresh off winning the GOP endorsement at the party’s weekend convention, Tiffany was asked at a campaign stop in Elm Grove Monday if Biden won the 2020 election. He replied that “the problem with the 2020 election was the improprieties that happened.”

It was one of multiple appearances in which Tiffany declined to directly engage the outcome of the 2020 race.

Trump’s endorsement of Tiffany earlier this year helped clear out the Republican primary field for the three-term congressman.

Tiffany was also one of the Wisconsin congressional delegation’s most ardent election deniers following Trump’s 2020 loss — which was affirmed by several reviews, recounts, investigations, audits and lawsuits in the years since.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Tiffany voted against certifying election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania and told reporters at the time that he would have voted to not accept Wisconsin’s results as well. He also supported a lawsuit from the state of Texas that sought to overturn the election results of Wisconsin and three other states.

The effort from right-wing congressional Republicans to reject the electoral votes for Biden from swing states was one of the mechanisms that led directly to the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day.

In the days following the Jan. 6 attack, Tiffany appeared at a closed door rally with other right-wing figures who called for “war.” 

Tiffany’s comments come as the Trump administration has increased its effort to use the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to relitigate the 2020 election. Swing states across the country have seen increased scrutiny surrounding previously debunked 2020 allegations and in recent weeks the FBI has begun digging into Wisconsin’s election administration — including questioning Milwaukee election workers.

On Monday, Tiffany supported the FBI’s work.

“Whatever they’re searching for, the investigation should be allowed to continue and let’s find out what happened there,” Tiffany told reporters. “If there’s improprieties that happened then there should be charges filed. If not, then you let the investigation cease.”

Republican J.D. Van Hollen, former Wisconsin attorney general, and Democrat Tom Barrett, former mayor of Milwaukee, represent the bipartisan Democracy Defense Project, which seeks to combat election conspiracy theories. (Screenshot/YouTube)

In La Crosse on Tuesday, Van Hollen and Barrett both lamented the FBI sticking its nose into an issue that’s already been closed. Barrett called the investigation a “fishing expedition” while Van Hollen criticized the waste of FBI time.

“There are a lot of better uses for our FBI resources right now, so I don’t think that that is a great use of our resources,” Van Hollen said.

The former attorney general also said the agency’s investigation didn’t concern him.

“I don’t think the FBI is going to turn out and fabricate something, and if they, for some reason, uncovered something that we hadn’t known in the past, by all means, we want to make sure to enforce our laws as well, to make sure that people have confidence in our election system,” Van Hollen said. “So, is it something that I think is necessary? No. Do I think we should be concerned? Not necessarily.”

The Democracy Defense Project continues previous work done by state and local election officials across Wisconsin who have sought to respond to election conspiracy theories with basic facts about the state’s election system.

During their visit to La Crosse, Barrett and Van Hollen highlighted Wisconsin’s decentralized election system in which local clerks across the state do the brunt of the work to administer the state’s elections and noted that those local officials are broadly trusted by their communities.

“The general public believes very strongly in the folks in this room and other people who are running their local elections,” Van Hollen said, citing polling data from the project. “They believe you’re doing a good job, they recognize that you’re doing a nonpartisan job, a very important job.”

Polling shows that a majority of voters “have great respect for the people who are working the polls at a local level — yet they don’t necessarily have a belief that we have election integrity, which seems to me to be a bit of an oxymoron,” Van Hollen added.

Lack of information is a primary culprit, he said.

Many people are “just not informed as to the way our elections are run, and when we have so much misinformation out there,” Van Hollen said.

While calling it a problem involving Democrats as well as Republicans, he acknowledged Republicans have been a bigger contributor to the problem.

“It comes from both political parties of late, certainly a lot more from my party,” Van Hollen said, “which has probably given rise to everybody’s desire to finally step forward and try to inform the public a little more.”

2020 election misinformation continues to ripple through Wisconsin politics was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

City Attorney Tearman Spencer speaks at an Oct. 7, 2021 press conference. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Less than two weeks before he is due to stand trial for his role in an alleged “shaky” real estate transaction, former City Attorney Tearman Spencer has been charged with felony bail jumping.

Spencer, according to a newly filed criminal complaint, left a voicemail with a witness in the upcoming case. In his message, Spencer is alleged to have made a “veiled bribe” by offering to direct estate business to the witness, a probate attorney he had previously been ordered not to contact.

It’s the latest twist in a case that was discovered while investigating the first felony case Spencer faces: a 2024 felony misconduct in office charge for allegedly using city resources for personal benefit in the storage of his car collection.

Spencer’s attorney, William F. Sulton, previously told Urban Milwaukee he believed Spencer was charged with the real estate transaction felony only because he refused a plea deal in the misconduct in office case.

On Wednesday Sulton said Spencer would fight the latest charge. “We deny and dispute any allegations that any crime was committed,” he told Urban Milwaukee.

In the real estate transaction case, prosecutors allege Spencer and real estate agent Kennard Wragg bought a home from an estate for $8,000, made repairs, paid back taxes and tried to sell it for almost $250,000.

During a final status conference held May 5 before the upcoming trial, the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office executed a search warrant to seize Spencer’s phone as he left the courtroom.

Spencer is alleged to have said, “Did you see what I called her for, what I gave to her?” during the interaction. The complaint alleges it was an admission of guilt.

The complaint says the prosecution conducted an interview with the witness, probate attorney Bettie Rodgers, on May 11. A transcript of the voicemail is included in the complaint, as is the allegation that Spencer called her twice.

The probate case is scheduled to be heard in Waukesha County starting June 1 because Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Lena Taylor, who was a practicing attorney at the time of the transaction, is being called as a witness in the case.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Jorge Fragoso previously issued a no-contact order for Spencer regarding Taylor and Rogers.

The real estate transaction case, and now the bail jumping case, are precursors to the 2024 misconduct case, which has yet to go to trial.

The latest charge carries a maximum imprisonment term of six years and a fine of up to $10,000.

Spencer is due to appear on May 28 before Judge Fragoso on the bail jumping charge.

All three cases are being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicolas J. Heitman.

Data center. (CC0)

Milwaukee could soon pass explicit regulations on where, when and how data centers could be developed in the city.

A new zoning framework, led by Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, is ready for Common Council review.

Inspired by the massive, multibillion-dollar developments springing up in suburban communities and the controversial approval processes that accompanied them, the city’s legislation would define what a data center is, create a tiered framework for where they can and can’t be built, and establish requirements on how they must be designed and operated.

Dimitrijevic said her goal was to create more opportunities for public input. She first revealed she was working on the idea in a December interview, but said the nine-page legislative framework was approved only recently by the City Attorney’s Office for council review.

She said her proposal is not in response to a controversial April proposal to add a small data center to the rear of a former Walmart store as part of a larger redevelopment plan in the Midtown Center. Nor would it apply because that proposal was already submitted.

Under the alderwoman’s proposal, data centers would be permitted only in areas zoned for industrial use.

Proposals of 20,000 square feet or less would be permitted by right, meaning no legislative review would be required, if they use a closed-loop cooling system and comply with existing noise standards.

Proposals ranging from 20,001 to 60,000 square feet would require Board of Zoning Appeals (BOZA) review and an associated hearing to grant a special-use approval. A professional engineer would need to submit a report that includes statistics on energy usage, a noise analysis, and a written statement that describes how the facility would benefit the community.

Dimitrijevic said she wanted the benefit statement included to encourage developers to consider how facilities could aid the community, such as sharing excess capacity from geothermal heating and cooling systems with other properties.

Proposals over 60,000 square feet would be prohibited in the zoning code. A proposal exceeding that limit could be developed only with a site-specific zoning change that requires Common Council approval and City Plan Commission review. Hearings, as part of the zoning change process, are required before each body in that process.

“Really, the goal of this is to insert, if you look at each tier, extra layers of governmental checks,” said Dimitrijevic. At each level, she said, there are “more opportunities to be involved and voice your opinion.”

Under the proposed ordinance, data centers could be developed without legislative or BOZA approval if they are accessory uses supporting an on-site permitted use. The accessory-use language would allow large companies to build data centers within their office buildings.

Unlike a 2023 vape shop moratorium that preceded a zoning framework, City Attorney Evan Goyke recommended the council proceed straight to a zoning framework, based on case law changes.

While the suburban developments often include buildings with square footage in the millions, Dimitrijevic believes smaller data center development is likely to come to the city, where power and water infrastructure is already in place.

A shift to repurposing existing buildings or urban land is already being discussed nationally as a cost-effective growth strategy.

“I’m going to be really honest: My district could be attractive because it’s right by the water,” said the Bay View alderwoman in December. The Harbor District and the port are partially located in her district.

Forest County Potawatomi has long operated a 46,000-square-foot data center on the city’s west side, and several smaller legacy centers exist, but a shift to energy-intensive AI computing has driven demand for larger facilities from companies commonly described as “hyperscalers.”

Dimitrijevic describes the zoning proposal as “the beginning of a conversation,” and says she expects the policy, if adopted, to be amended in the future as the fast-moving industry evolves.

The proposal is co-sponsored by council members Alex Brower, Russell W. Stamper, II and DiAndre Jackson.

She thanked employees of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Department of City Development, Department of Neighborhood Services and City Attorney’s Office for their work in crafting the proposal.

What is a data center, legally speaking?

One of the key issues, and something that came up in the Midtown Center proposal, is defining a data center. The city’s zoning code currently does not include a definition.

A new definition would be created as follows:

DATA CENTER means a facility, other than a transmission tower, used primarily to operate, maintain, or provide access to computer and network facilities for the transmission of voice, data, text, internet, sound, or full-motion-picture video between network termination points, together with accessory uses and facilities such as offices, air handlers, power generators, generator fuel storage, water cooling and storage facilities, and utility infrastructure that supports sustained operation of the data center.

Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center, 1230 W. Cherry St. Photo taken June 13, 2025, by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley seems to be looking to make peace with the Mental Health Board.

After concerns were raised about its abrupt dismissal of a top administrator, the Crowley administration is inviting board members to help evaluate 19 candidates interviewing for the job.

In March, the administration forced Mike Lappen, the long-serving administrator of Behavioral Health Services, out of his job. He had served in the role since 2016 and is well regarded by members of the board and other professionals in the field of health and human services.

The administration maintains that Lappen resigned. Lappen told Urban Milwaukee he was told to resign or be fired, and offered no explanation. The administration has similarly offered no explanation to the Mental Health Board or elected county supervisors, instead saying it cannot discuss personnel matters.

The abrupt dismissal did not go over well with some members of the Mental Health Board, and when they expressed concern at a meeting in April, Crowley’s chief of staff, Mary Jo Meyers, suggested they should resign if they can’t “continue to support the vision and mission of Milwaukee County and represent the duties that you’re here for on behalf of the county exec.”

During a meeting of the Mental Health Board’s Executive Committee Monday, Department of Health and Human Services Director Shakita LaGrant-McClain told the board she was open to having one member sit on each of the two hiring panels that would interview candidates.

Board Chair Kathy Bottoni, who pushed for greater transparency from the administration after Lappen’s dismissal, said she had spoken with Crowley and “he absolutely values each and every one of us.”

One board member, Joy Tapper, said she thought it would be better if two board members were allowed to sit on the hiring panels. LaGrant-McClain responded, saying she thought an agreement for one board member had already been reached after a private meeting with Bottoni. “You and I agreed that one was fine, so that would have been helpful to know,” she said.

Bottoni responded, saying it was just a conversation over coffee and that she is only one member of the board and does not speak for the body. “I don’t think what we’re asking is unreasonable at this point,” Bottoni said.

The board was created in 2014 through state legislation as part of a sweeping reform of the county’s mental health system. It oversees system policy and the annual budget.

Ultimately, LaGrant-McClain agreed to include two members on each of the panels. Board approval is required for confirmation of a final candidate. Including members at the beginning of the hiring process gives the board real input, as opposed to a “perfunctory” final approval, Tapper said.

Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) is investigating drug smuggling at the county-run prison, the Community Reintegration Center (CRC).

It began following a recent routine camera review, according to Deputy Superintendent Shayla Fenceroy. A correctional officer captain at the CRC “observed what she characterized as suspicious behavior by some residents in one of our dormitories,” Fenceroy said while briefing the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Judiciary and General Services on Tuesday.

A search of the dormitory turned up narcotics, as well as a tip that CRC staff were the ones smuggling the drugs into the facility. Four unidentified staffers are now on suspension and are being criminally investigated by the sheriff’s office. A spokesperson for the sheriff confirmed an investigation is underway.

“At this time we do not know what level of involvement, if any at all, these staff members may have had,” Fenceroy said. 

The CRC is a post-conviction facility that holds people who have been sentenced to shorter periods of confinement, typically a year or less. It is under the authority of the County Executive David Crowley, not the sheriff, and managed day-to-day Superintendent Chantell Jewell. The institution responded to the narcotics bust and the allegations against staff members by locking down the entire facility and launching a comprehensive sweep with drug-sniffing dogs.

Drug smuggling inside a correctional facility is a constant challenge in Milwaukee and across the nation. The Milwaukee County Jail has struggled with drugs being smuggled in.

The drugs can enter the facilities in several ways. Sometimes they are brought in by people incarcerated there, and correctional staff miss the contraband during intake. Otherwise, the drugs are brought in by facility staff or people visiting the facility.

The sheriff’s office has been struggling to catch synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, which can be liquefied and soaked into a sheet of paper, as Urban Milwaukee previously reported.

The rate of substance abuse disorders among incarcerated individuals is very high. In the U.S., substance abuse among individuals who have been arrested or incarcerated is far higher than among the rest of the population. Recognizing the challenge of drug use among this population, the county offers a substance-abuse treatment program, including medication-assisted treatment, for people incarcerated at the CRC.

After the latest incident, the CRC is increasing unannounced searches and reducing the amount of time individual staff are given various assignments, Fenceroy told supervisors. The facility had already ordered a body scanner, which is expected to arrive within the next couple of weeks, she said.

“Our intent is to send a clear message that certain behaviors will not be tolerated within our facility,” she said.

Jessica Coburn, an assistant professor at the UW-Madison School of Nursing, draws up COVID-19 vaccines while volunteering at the clinic in Jefferson County on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. Angela Major/WPR

Just weeks after changes to federal student loan policy officially reclassified nursing and other programs as no longer “professional” degrees, Wisconsin has joined two dozen other states in suing the Trump administration over the policy.

Under President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Congress redefined what constitutes a professional degree and placed lower borrowing caps on nonprofessional graduate programs.

In the multistate lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland on Tuesday, a coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors said that the Department of Education imposed further restrictions on the congressional limits. The lawsuit argues that that goes beyond the agency’s authority.

Through the rulemaking process, the education department determined that nursing, physician assistant and physical therapy students, among others, were graduate students who could take out $20,500 per year.

That’s down from $50,000 per year, available to students in designated professional programs, like dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, theology and veterinary medicine.

In a statement announcing Wisconsin’s participation in the case, Attorney General Josh Kaul argued that these changes could worsen existing shortages of health care workers, by making those degrees less financially accessible for many students.

“We should be supporting the development of the health-care workforce,” said Kaul. “But this rule would make it harder for some to be able to pay for certain degree programs, including those for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.”

The lawsuit also argues that public universities that offer such training will also suffer from the loss of revenue, potentially leading to fewer admissions into these programs.

The changes under the signature Trump law, passed last summer, reflected an argument from conservatives that unpaid student loans contribute to skyrocketing tuition costs.

“The consensus language agreed upon by the negotiators today will help drive a sea change in higher education by holding universities accountable for outcomes and putting significant downward pressure on the cost of tuition,” said Nicholas Kent, the undersecretary of education, when the rule was negotiated.

At the time of its negotiation, health care experts in Wisconsin sounded the alarm over existing staffing challenges across the state. It was officially promulgated on May 1.

Prior to the changes, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development predicted that the state would be short between 12,000 and 19,000 nurses by 2040.

Alongside Wisconsin, the lawsuit was signed onto by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin joins lawsuit after nursing degrees redefined as not ‘professional’ was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Mr. Baseball mural. Photo taken May 19, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

A 100-foot mural rising on a downtown Milwaukee building is already hinting at its subject: a blue-and-gold banner, a wired microphone, and a blank face that will soon belong to Bob Uecker.

The former professional catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster — also known as Mr. Baseball — is the centerpiece of a public artwork celebrating his legacy. Uecker, who died in January 2025 at age 90, will be depicted in his role as a play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, a position he held for 54 seasons.

“I think what Bob Uecker means to Milwaukee is super important,” said muralist Mauricio Ramirez. “What better way to honor him than a 100-foot mural to really match his boldness, attitude, and style?”

Wintrust Financial Center’s ownership group, Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District No. 21, and Visit Milwaukee commissioned the mural, which is being painted on the north side of the Wintrust building at 731 N. Jackson St. The project is expected to be completed by early June.

Ramirez is calling the mural “Mr. Baseball,” honoring Uecker’s nickname while playing up his contributions to Milwaukee’s Major League Baseball team. “I kind of leaned into that and used it to inform me on the design,” the muralist said, pointing to early line work meant to evoke American Family Field‘s retractable roof structure.

The mural is still in its earliest stages, as a crew from LaBrant & Associates does canvas work on the wall, creating a backdrop for Ramirez to apply the roughly 150 colors featured in his design.

LaBrant Pikalek, fourth-generation owner of LaBrant & Associates, shared his excitement to work with a “national elite muralist” like Ramirez.

“This is really great for Milwaukee, and it’s great for the Uecker family,” he said.

Ramirez, also behind the 53-foot mural of Giannis Antetokounmpo at 600 E. Wisconsin Ave., began work on “Mr. Baseball” in mid-May. He hopes to begin applying color later this week.

When the piece is finished, project organizers plan to host a tailgate-themed ribbon-cutting celebration.

“Bob loved Milwaukee and greatly appreciated the connection he had with the city,” said Bob Uecker Jr. in a statement. “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.”

The in-progress mural will join 13 others painted by Ramirez in downtown Milwaukee, including 10 utility box murals painted in a geometric style along Wisconsin Avenue and the “Heart and Sol” mural on the Community Advocates building at 728 N. James Lovell St.

American Players Theatre is located on 110 acres just outside of Spring Green, Wis. From June through November, APT produces nine world-class productions in a rotating repertory across two stages. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre

American Players Theatre in Spring Green is receiving a Tony Award.

The theater company, now in its 47th season, was named the recipient of the 2026 Regional Theatre Tony Award Tuesday. Along with the recognition, the theater will receive a $25,000 grant.

In announcing the award, Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, and Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League, called American Players a “one-of-a-kind institution, delivering world-class theater presentations to the Midwest.”

The Tonys recognize achievements in Broadway theater but include an annual regional theater award. Tuesday’s award is the first for a Wisconsin theater company in the six decades the committee has been singling out regional theaters.

In a statement, APT’s Artistic Director Brenda DeVita and Managing Director Sara Young said they were “honored and overwhelmed” to receive the award.

“This award is for the whole APT community: the artists, artisans and staff who work so hard to bring stories to life on our Hill, who believe their work is special and that it matters — because it does matter,” they wrote. “This award is also for our extraordinary audience, who come back year after year, sharing this theater with friends and family, because it is their theater.”

Founded nearly 50 years ago, American Players produces “timeless, challenging, poetic texts, with Shakespeare at the center, to the broadest audience possible,” according to the company.

American Players’ location is unique. Based in Spring Green, a community of just over 1,500 residents about 40 miles west of Madison, the organization has two theaters — an outdoor amphitheater with 1,075 seats and a smaller, indoor space with 200 seats. In its nine-play season each year, the company attracts nearly 100,000 people.

The theater company began in the District of Columbia in 1977 with founders Charles Bright, Randall Duk Kim and Anne Occhiogrosso. They settled on Spring Green as a permanent home after looking at 43 sites, according to the theater website.

Their first performance in Wisconsin was a production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 1980.

“They have succeeded in their mission of illuminating the shared human experience through timeless classics, and in doing so, have broadened the theatre-going audience in their community and beyond,” Hitchens and Laks wrote in announcing the award.

The company’s 47th season will begin June 6, again with Shakespeare on the stage — this time, “As You Like It.”

They’ll receive their Tony the following day at the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 7.

American Players Theatre in Spring Green receives Tony Award was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman speaks during a press conference Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at Waunakee Community High School in Waunakee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

The search for the next president of the Universities of Wisconsin is underway — and the head of the group that governs the system told WPR that the state’s demographic changes and the rise of artificial intelligence are top issues.

Earlier this month, Board of Regents President Amy Bogost appointed a 25-person search committee to find the next president of the UW system. She expects the board to select a new president later this year.

The board also named UW-Superior Chancellor Renée Wachter as interim president of the Universities of Wisconsin.

This comes after former president Jay Rothman was fired by unanimous vote in early April. Rothman stated that he was given no reason for his termination. Regents disputed that claim, with two regents telling the legislature that there were “substantial” reasons for his firing and that Rothman was aware ahead of time.

Two regents were compelled to testify in front of legislators in the state Senate several days after the firing amidst backlash from Republican lawmakers over transparency concerns.

Bogost defended how the board communicated to the public in an interview with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Universities of Wisconsin Regent President Amy Bogost appears in a headshot. Courtesy of the Universities of Wisconsin

“This is a highly sensitive issue, and the message was sent out that it was a unanimous decision of the board, and we are looking forward to moving forward,” Bogost said.

The next president will have to coordinate with the state’s political and business leaders on behalf of the state’s 13 university campuses.

“They are extremely important to the state. They are the economic engine of the state. They bring in billions of dollars,” Bogost told WPR. “The president oversees the 13 universities and works with the board to make sure that we have the highest quality product out there.”

Bogost told WPR about what issues are top of mind for board members.

The following interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

Rob Ferrett: Your board named UW Superior Chancellor Renée Wachter as interim president of the Universities of Wisconsin. Why hire her for the position?

Amy Bogost: It was very, very important to the board to place someone in that role that understands the universities and understands people of the universities — the students, the staff and faculty and everyone, including our stakeholders.

She is the longest serving chancellor in the system. She is extremely knowledgeable about the institutions. She is very well respected among her colleagues, as well as the people in the state, legislators and people here at the system. And we’re really excited. We’re really focused on the future, and really looking forward to her stepping into the role.

RF: People might look at that and say, “UW Superior is an important institution here, but it’s a campus of less than 3,000 students. The system serves 165,000 students. This is just a very different scale of a job.” 

AB: That’s right, her campus is small but very mighty, but her knowledge of this system and the universities and the campus — and how well respected she is — is going to bring so much focus and depth for transforming the future of the system … as I said, she’s extremely well respected by every constituency that I’ve spoken to. So, we’re excited for her to start.

RF: Former President Rothman wrote in an opinion piece from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he thought there needed to be some changes to the Board of Regents. One concern he wrote was that he felt the Board of Regents and the President weren’t always speaking with one voice. Is there something to that? Is there a need for more message discipline from the Board of Regents?

AB: I think there is a difference of opinions, and I think that’s healthy as we move forward. We are a board of 18 people … we have all sorts of different backgrounds, but in the end we understand our fiduciary duty to the universities and the people of the state. We work very well together.

RF: The president of the Universities of Wisconsin has to have a good working relationship with both the state legislature and the governor, in large part because these are the agencies that control the university budget. But listeners may worry that a leader of the university might roll over and be bullied by the legislature for differences of opinion. What are you looking for in that relationship?

AB: It’s important for the new leader to understand the politics of the state, no matter what those politics are. It is also important to understand higher education and what is necessary for our campuses and the people on those campuses. I think it’s imperative that we know that we have to be transparent with the state and the people of the state. So it’s a balance, right? It’s a balance that our mission is to higher education, but it’s also we have a duty to be transparent and collaborative with the state and the state budget, the governor and the legislature. And whoever the new leader is has to understand that balance and serve the mission and make sure that’s at the forefront of every dialogue they have with the legislature going forward.

RF: A challenge facing higher education all over the country — demographic changes. Fewer people are being born, fewer are going to college. How do you see the system navigating that — particularly smaller campuses?

AB: I think that we have a real opportunity here. It’s been said that over 800,000 people … do not have a degree. There are veterans, there are people who are older that want to have finished their degree. We would love to take this opportunity to get even more people into our universities.

It is an opportunity to really give these people a boost up, whether they have a job now and they want to improve their status, the universities welcome them. We’re trying to become more nimble to bring more people in. We’re excited for the opportunity, because I think we can grow the universities.

RF: Fellow Regent Tim Nixon told lawmakers that artificial intelligence is an issue they want to see the Universities of Wisconsin president set guidelines on. What do you see as the role of the system president in helping the individual campuses navigate this changing AI landscape?

AB: AI, right now, is critical. It’s a pretty important time for us in education. Now more than ever, the president can assist in bringing in more students, because what’s needed is more critical thinkers for AI. We must be graduating people that have critical thinking skills to understand what AI is and how to bring the best out everywhere in the state with AI.

So as far as guidelines, I think it’s important that we understand it is changing rapidly. For us to have a set policy in AI right now, it wouldn’t work. It would be irresponsible because things are changing so quickly. Of course, there are guardrails that the state has instituted and is instituting. We are looking at this constantly to look at the change and what we can do to best support our universities. That’s what the new president will have to do as well.

Head of Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents defends Rothman firing, talks next system president was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

6565 N. 60th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Sellars Absorbent Materials, the maker of Bravo, Clean Task and Mayfair cleaning products, continues to expand its footprint across Milwaukee.

For the second year in a row, the company is adding a new plant to its roster.

According to an occupancy permit request, the company is working to open a new facility at 6900 N. Teutonia Ave. The three-acre property includes a 32,928-square-foot building, constructed in 1961. It will be used, according to the pending permit, for “manufacturing, heavy.”

Sellars’ other locations include its headquarters and manufacturing plant at 6565 N. 60th St., a second manufacturing plant at 6540 N. Industrial Rd., a distribution center at 7701 W. Calumet Rd., a warehouse at 5800 W. Hope Ave. and a manufacturing plant at 5400 W. Good Hope Rd.

The $15 million Good Hope Road facility opened in 2025. At the time, the company reported having about 220 employees.

Founded in 1985, Sellars manufactures products to clean up industrial spills. Its growth has also cleaned up retail leftovers. The Calumet Road and Hope Avenue facilities are former big-box stores.

The Teutonia Avenue facility was last occupied by Holming Fan & Fabrication. After the business closed, the building’s contents were to be sold at auction in December 2025 but, according to an auction website, were instead sold in a bulk transaction.

A limited liability company registered to Bill Sellars, a co-owner of the family-owned materials company, owned the property from 2020 through June 2025. Then it was sold to a limited liability company affiliated with real estate broker Patrick Gallagher for $700,000.

Sellars Absorbent did not respond to a request for comment.

Tracy Cole (right) stands with her family and attorneys outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee in a 2025 photo. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

It’s been over six years since Tracy Cole learned that her 17-year-old son Alvin had become the third person killed by Joseph Mensah, at that time a Wauwatosa police officer. Alvin’s death in February 2020 was followed a few months later by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers, fueling months of protests and clashes with the Wauwatosa Police Department, followed by years of litigation in court.

The Cole family is finalizing a confidential settlement over Alvin’s killing, and his mother has been reflecting on her personal journey to find solace amidst grief. The settlement, coming after two hung juries and as a third trial neared, will not come out of Mensah’s pocket despite what his attorneys implied during the trials, the Cole family’s lawyers told the Wisconsin Examiner.

“We haven’t had time to grieve yet but it’s coming along,” Tracy Cole told the Examiner in an exclusive interview. The settlement, she said, brings some “closure to my family.”

Alvin Cole was killed in February 2020 after a foot chase at Wauwatosa’s Mayfair Mall. The teen and his friends left the mall after being involved in a noisy quarrel, during which witnesses told police that a handgun had been displayed. The group ran as officers intercepted them outside the mall, with Mensah arriving in an unmarked squad car without first announcing his presence on the police radio.

As Cole ran away from officers and mall security a single gunshot rang out and Cole fell to the ground, having shot himself in the forearm. Mensah shot at Cole five times shortly thereafter, while Cole was on his hands and knees listening to officers yell contradictory commands, “Drop the gun” and “Don’t move!”

Mensah told police investigators that Cole pointed a gun at him while he was on the ground. Further testimony gathered by the Cole family’s attorney’s, however, found that a security guard and Wauwatosa officer who were closest to Cole when he was shot asserted that neither the teen nor the gun had moved at all before Mensah fired. The only Wauwatosa officer who also said that Cole pointed a gun — Evan Olson — contradicted Mensah by saying that the gun had been pointed in a completely different direction, towards Olson and away from Mensah.

The contradictions led to a federal civil lawsuit over Cole’s death that went to trial twice. Testimony at those trials revealed that Mensah and Olson were good friends on and off the job and had violated protocols requiring officers to be separated after a shooting. They got into a squad car alone together and turned off their dash cameras and audio equipment before driving back to the police department. According to trial testimony, they did not share those facts with police investigators. Both trials ended in hung juries, leaving jurors unable to decide unanimously whether Mensah’s killing of Alvin Cole was excessive.

Detective Joseph Mensah (right) sits before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety in 2025 pushing for a bill to protect police officers from John Doe investigations after fatal shootings. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Tracy said that she still remembers those trials, and what it was like to see Mensah for the first time.

“It’s like I could finally see a person instead of a name,” she said. “It never changed anything of how I feel about him.”

She also recalled other officers taking the stand as she sat with her husband and remaining children “listening to the different testimonies, just listening to the videos.” Images of Alvin’s body were also briefly shown, something that Tracy said “I’ll never forget.”

The two trials were tense at times, as attorneys battled over what evidence could be shown or attempted to discredit each other’s witnesses while bolstering their own. At various points, U.S. Marshals stood sentry or increased their presence, which confused both the Cole family’s attorneys and U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman. Several Wauwatosa officers also arrived to watch the proceedings in the gallery, dressed in full uniform, sitting around Mensah’s wife, who is a disgraced Milwaukee officer, or chatting with the pair in the hallways. The Cole’s attorneys argued that the presence of fully uniformed Wauwatosa officers could influence the jury, and that the officers were expressing a sort of solidarity with Mensah, which the Cole family was prohibited from doing for Alvin.

Nevertheless, the two hung juries were encouraging for Alvin’s mother. “It was somebody in the jury [who] basically believed that my son was never a threat,” said Tracy. “It was somebody listening.”

Although Alvin’s father was allowed to testify freely in the first trial, Tracy was not allowed to testify. The effort to keep her testimony out of the court record stuck out to Tracy and her attorneys, especially after her testimony was limited during a separate trial in 2023, when Wauwatosa PD stood accused of spying on and surveilling the Cole family and protesters who supported them in 2020.

Protesters gather to march in Wauwatosa alongside the families of Antonio Gonzales, Jay Anderson Jr., and Alvin Cole in 2020, all killed by officer Joseph Mensah. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

“I would basically had said how my son was,” she told the Examiner. “The events that I had with the Wauwatosa Police Department, what they did to me as a mother, that should never had happened.”

After the Cole family began protesting in 2020, Wauwatosa PD put them, their attorneys, a Wisconsin Examiner reporter, and dozens of supporters on what they called a “target list” on at least one occasion. The list was shared with numerous local, state, and federal agencies. Wauwatosa officers also violently arrested Tracy and her daughters, one of whom claimed to have been stripped searched at a jail and questioned by the FBI.

Tracy would have testified to all of this if asked, she said, “but they didn’t want a mother’s testimony,” because it would’ve been emotionally impactful to the jury. “But my husband, he was able to speak on my son’s behalf.”

Tracy feels that the protests, held for over 400 days after George Floyd’s death by a group that called itself The People’s Revolution, changed Wauwatosa for the better.

“We changed laws,” she told the Examiner. Wauwatosa PD adopted body cameras in 2021 after the protests, one of the protesters’ key demands. The department refused to adopt body cameras previously, even after Mensah killed three people over five years. Two of those were less than a year apart, when Mensah was still a rookie, and all the incidents were troubled by a lack of good video. The Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office declined to charge Mensah with any of the killings. The first jury in the Cole family’s case stated that a lack of good video was a main reason they couldn’t agree on a verdict.

Family members of Alvin Cole join protesters in 2020 in Wauwatosa, WI. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

No other fatal police shootings occurred in Wauwatosa during Mensah’s time at the department, and the Cole family’s attorneys say that they’re unable to find other examples of fatal police shootings in Wauwatosa besides Mensah’s, no matter how far back they look.

The protesters also pushed for a ban on no knock warrants, and for Mensah and longtime Police Chief Barry Weber to be removed. Mensah resigned in late 2020 followed by Weber, who retired after leading the department for over 30 years as local media covered how Weber’s department had targeted anyone who was seen as anti-police.

Finding forgiveness

Memories of those days are still with Tracy, regardless of how much Wauwatosa officials claim their community has moved on. Fighting back was something she had to do, she said, even though it took a lot out of her. She also needed to learn to forgive Mensah, she said.

“At the end of the day, I had to learn to forgive him, for what he did to my son,” she told the Examiner. “It took a process to learn to forgive him. I can’t hold a grudge, because that would take a whole part of me. I had to learn to forgive him.” Mensah left law enforcement in 2025 after a stint at the Waukesha County Sheriffs Office, following his time at Wauwatosa PD.

Alvin’s death was tragic and painful for the Cole family, yet it also brought them together.

“It made us stronger, it made us united as one,” said Tracy Cole. She’s had to learn again how to trust law enforcement after her experience with not just Mensah, but with Wauwatosa PD and the suburb as a whole.

Yet, her experience of being surveilled remains with their family. Tracy watches her every move now. “I never had to, but now I’m very particular where I go, who I be around, who I talk to.”

Since Alvin’s death, more families have been touched by police-related violence and killings in Milwaukee County.

“I would tell people that’s going through what I went through to never give up,” said Tracy. “Never give up. …the Devil wanted me to give up but I didn’t. Don’t give up. Keep fighting for your child.”

Exclusive: Mother reflects on years spent fighting for justice after Alvin Cole killing was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Image from Danceworks.

For Urban Milwaukee members, we have a limited number of free tickets available for the latest show by Danceworks Performance MKE: Terra Papagalli.

Danceworks Performance MKE joins forces with Early Music Now and Aperi Animam, under the music direction of guest Brazilian conductor Sergio Dias, for a collaboration unlike any other.

Terra Papagalli features rarely heard and, in many cases, never-before-performed Baroque music from colonial Brazil, bringing vibrant, long-silent music to life through an evening of world premiere dance works.

This full-length concert features original choreography by artistic director Christal Wagner alongside DPMKE’s four artistic coordinators: Katelyn Altmann, Cuauhtli Ramírez Castro, Ashley Ray Garcia and Zoe Mei Glise. Together, these artists respond to Brazil’s Baroque soundscape with bold, contemporary movement, taking an avian-inspired approach to the musical repertoire.

Terra Papagalli runs from May 29-30, 2026.

Urban Milwaukee members may reserve up to two tickets, worth $30 per ticket, while supplies last.

• Members can visit the product page to reserve ticket(s), while supplies last, for the Friday, May 29 performance at 7:30 p.m. at the Zelazo Center’s Helen Bader Concert Hall, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd., in Milwaukee.

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

Not a Member, But Still Want To Go?

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

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

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

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

Elevated Acre, an event venue run by Crops on Top. Photo taken May 8, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

With a name like Crops on Top, growth is non-negotiable.

The plant-filled venue, known as Elevated Acre, includes a 16-seat dining table and lounge area with room for up to 49 guests. It was a natural evolution for Lichosik, a lifelong chef who launched Crops on Top with his brother, Jamie, in 2021.

What started as a sustainable food project has evolved into a weekly garden market and local vendor for nearby restaurants. Lichosik also uses his homegrown ingredients for seasonal dinners held at the farm itself.

“The idea was to see what we could do locally for the neighborhood, and that kind of rolled into using some of the food for events, and that rolled into this,” he said, noting that Jamie, along with building owner Steve Mathison, was behind the venue’s design.

While Lichosik plans to continue hosting outdoor dinners in the warmer months, Elevated Acre will allow him to hold events year-round. He’ll also welcome reservations for private parties and is open to collaborating with hosts for food service ranging from buffet-style to multicourse meals.

“At this point in my life and career, it definitely feels good to find a balance of producing, making and feeding the people,” he said. “As I see it, this would be every chef’s dream, just to have that latitude.”

The farm’s current harvest includes arugula, salad mix, tatsoi, rhubarb, microgreens, oyster mushrooms, radishes and asparagus, along with honey from on-site beehives, while beets, carrots, fennel, tomatoes, peppers and more are soon to come.

“There’s dinners where your whole menu can be vegetables,” said Lichosik, who taps Stefano’s Slo Food Market for locally raised meats.

Produce from Crops on Top will be available for sale or incorporated in upcoming meals at the farm, including a June 26 pairing dinner organized in partnership with Amorphic Beer and a July 24 garden party.

To purchase tickets or view a schedule of upcoming events, visit the Crops on Top website. Rental inquiries for Elevated Acre can be submitted to cropsontopfarm@gmail.com.

Photos

Wisconsin Highway 175. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A yearslong, multimillion-dollar effort to examine the future of the Stadium Freeway has ended and now needs to be followed by an even longer and more expensive study of the same roadway.

And once a final option is selected, construction of a freeway-to-boulevard conversion would cost more than $120 million. Under the fastest pathway, construction could start in five years.

Those are key takeaways from a newly released final report examining future options for a 1.8-mile segment of Wisconsin Highway 175 that runs from Interstate 94 and the Stadium Interchange north to W. Lisbon Avenue.

City, county and state officials announced the study to great fanfare in 2022. Constructed in 1962, the six-lane freeway is part of a largely unbuilt network of ring roads that was to encircle the region.

“It’s a grade-separated freeway that poses many challenges. It disconnects many neighborhoods. It limits connectivity for people traveling by transit, by bike, on foot; it’s overbuilt for the traffic that it carries, and some of that land could be put to better use,” Monica Wauck Smith, a Department of City Development planner, told the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee on March 20.

The project team, consisting of consulting firm GRAEF, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), and city and county staff, ultimately evaluated 27 options before narrowing the field to four. A series of public meetings was held, the last in April 2025, to refine the options.

“This was basically to gather feedback, understand community priorities, work with the county and city and come up with viable alternatives that could be forwarded into a future study,” Doug Cain, WisDOT project manager, told the zoning committee.

Next would come a three-year, $10 million to $14 million environmental planning project to determine a preferred alternative, then final engineering and construction funding.

“This is 20 years, 30 years down the road,” said Ald. Robert Bauman, who favors a boulevard replacement. He criticized WisDOT for executing a conceptual study in advance of a federally required National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study that would mandate consideration of all options and amount to restarting the process.

Cain said the state hopes to reuse some of the work from the study. “Our goal was to have a robust community outreach,” he said.

Wauck Smith said it was a “successful collaboration” between the city, county and state.

Cain said there was clear support for slower speeds and safety improvements for all roadway users.

Rebuilding the freeway as is, which would cost up to $126 million, received the least support. Three boulevard alternatives, which would convert between 0.2 and 1.3 miles of the freeway to a boulevard at a cost of $123 million to $227 million, received the most support. Those options would also yield between 20 and 37 acres of land for development or public space.

Public support, said Cain, favored at-grade intersections from W. Vliet Street to W. Lisbon Avenue. That stretch, which would encompass the south end of Washington Park to the north, is covered by two of the three boulevard alternatives.

Community respondents, said Cain, showed clear support for any development to match the neighborhood character of the neighboring Washington Park, Martin Drive, Uptown and Washington Heights neighborhoods.

“This is, for me, an amazing opportunity for District 10 because it allows an opportunity for us to talk about housing. If we were able to figure out how to move this forward, this would be the largest piece of landmass in District 10,” said Ald. Sharlen P. Moore, whose district includes the southern half of the corridor. “I am really excited that we are having these conversations now.”

Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who represents the area surrounding the north end of the freeway, wasn’t explicit in what he wants to happen. “I use it all the time; you made it sound like a pretty bad hindrance. I didn’t look at it like that,” he said after Wauck Smith summarized the roadway’s impact on surrounding neighborhoods.

Ald. Peter Burgelis, who used to represent the area on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, said the report would be “invaluable” going forward. “That said, to have a very extensive report like this ready to go, we can’t just put it on a shelf,” Burgelis said.

He said WisDOT should be looking to use savings from choosing a Stadium Interchange reconstruction option that was $90 million less expensive than the most costly option for the $1.7 billion I-94 East-West project.

The WisDOT representatives didn’t present that as an option but did confirm that any option would work with the reconstructed Stadium Interchange.

Ald. DiAndre Jackson, whose district is just north of the freeway terminus, asked why there was no study of adding a streetcar or monorail line from W. Lisbon Avenue to American Family Field.

“The transit options were driven by [the Milwaukee County Transit System]’s input,” said Andre Ost, a project consultant from GRAEF. The final report says MCTS has indicated an interest in establishing a north-south route along a boulevard, as it would address a gap in its network.

A reconfiguration could also open up more access to Wick Playfield, Doyne Park and Washington Park, each of which directly borders the freeway. Burgelis said the project partners should be looking at incremental options to improve those connections now, rather than waiting, but Cain said the state did not want to do something that would block future reconstruction options.

State officials gave a similar presentation to the county board in January.

The Common Council took no action on the plan. The city could update its comprehensive plan to identify a preferred reconstruction strategy.

The final report, completed by GRAEF, was recently posted on the state’s project website. It is dated October 2025.

North of Wisconsin Avenue, the Stadium Freeway sees 72,900 vehicles per day according to 2025 WisDOT data. The traffic volume falls to 58,200 vehicles per day north of W. Vliet Street. The parallel Interstate 41 and Interstate 43 corridors each see in excess of 150,000 vehicles per day. The Hoan Bridge, part of Interstate 794, sees 44,800 vehicles per day.

Project Alternatives