On June 8, 2025, Union Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC) in Green Bay celebrated the completion of an 18.06-kilowatt solar installation that will supply approximately 20 percent of the church’s electricity needs—an inspiring example of how faith, sustainability, and community intersect. Over 100 church members gathered to admire the 42 panels shining on the rooftop of their historic church building—a physical embodiment of the congregation’s commitment to caring for the planet and their community.
A Vision Realized: The Solar Dedication Ceremony
The solar dedication event was a heartfelt celebration of values in motion. Leading the dedication ceremony was Rev. Bridget Flad Daniels, who reminded the congregation of the project’s vision first set into motion three years earlier.
“Three years ago, we dared to dream boldly,” Daniels said. “We launched a capital campaign not just to improve our building, but to align it with our values—to care for creation, to walk more gently on this sacred earth, and to shine God’s light in a new way. Today, we stand in the light of that vision realized. This solar installation is more than an energy solution— it is a testimony of faith, justice, and community. It is the fruit of commitment, generosity, and love.”
In collaboration with Eland Electric, the congregation took great care in planning and installing the solar array on their historic church. Given its age and location in a designated historic neighborhood, the project required thorough research and congregational approval to ensure alignment with preservation standards and congregational values. With guidance and support from several partners, including the West Side Moravian Church, whose own solar installation provided both precedent and inspiration. Union UCC ensured that every aspect of the project aligned with their values and the integrity of their historic building.
This investment is part of a broader commitment to sustainability. Over the years, the church has upgraded to energy-efficient LED lighting and modernized its boiler system. The solar project adds a powerful new dimension to their efforts, reducing reliance on coal-fired power from the local utility while also delivering long-term energy cost savings.
Powered by Partnership: Funding the Vision
A project of this scale and ambition was made possible through community support and strategic funding. The church’s Capital Campaign earmarked $31,000 for the project, but thanks to grants and tax credits, the actual costs will likely come in under budget. Key funding sources included:
And most critically, direct pay tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act—estimated at $14,820
Historically, nonprofit organizations like Union UCC were excluded from federal clean energy tax credits because they don’t pay taxes. The Inflation Reduction Act’s direct pay provision now allows tax-exempt entities to receive tax credits as refundable payments, effectively putting cash in hand to support renewable energy investments.
For Union UCC, direct pay was instrumental in bridging the financial gap between vision and reality. This tax provision allowed the church to take meaningful climate action without sacrificing resources needed for their core programs. This policy shift represents a new era for nonprofits across the country, offering a long-overdue opportunity to invest in renewable energy. However, recent federal budget reconciliation efforts threaten the clean energy tax credits and direct pay provision that made Union UCC’s renewable energy project possible.
Lighting the Way Forward
The rooftop solar array is a reflection of Union UCC’s commitment to living its values. As they reduce their carbon footprint, the church also strengthens its capacity to serve the community. Savings on energy costs will be reinvested in operations, youth programs, and outreach efforts that uplift those in need.
“We may even see our electric meter run backwards on clear, low-usage summer days… In our small way, by reducing our reliance on coal, we are being better stewards of the precious earth God gave us,” Union UCC member Achim Seifert said.
From the rooftop panels catching sunlight to the warm words spoken at the dedication, this project is a testament to the power of collective vision, favorable clean energy policy, and aligned values. It shows what’s possible when a community dares to dream—and follows through with action grounded in stewardship and faith.
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s $114.2 billion budget passed the Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday night on a 19-14 vote with support from five Democrats while Senate President Mary Felzkowski voted against the bill.
(The Center Square) – The new Wisconsin biennial budget, if passed, would fund 12.5 new assistant district attorney positions for Milwaukee County, provide funds for the county's state highway patrol and allow the county to appropriate 100% of its traffic…
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin's proposed biennial budget, if passed, includes a deal to repurpose $172 million in earned interest from unspent COVID-19 relief funds originally controlled by Gov. Tony Evers.
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed into law bills that would require a nuclear power siting study for the state and the creation of nuclear power summit.
When I think of my neighboring state to the north, Wisconsin, I generally reflect on how much I despise the Green Bay Packers. However, more recently, I’ve been watching in abject horror as the Badger State becomes yet another victim…
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Supreme Court overturned the state’s 1849 abortion law with a Wednesday ruling, stating that legislation since then should supersede and replace the law in a 4-3 decision.
(The Center Square) – Most U.S. voters oppose having data centers built in their community and even more oppose the data centers if tax incentives are awarded to have them built, according to a poll released Wednesday morning by Libertas…
Millions of nondisabled working-age adults have enrolled in Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act expanded eligibility in 2014.
Medicaid is health insurance for low-income people.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that in 2024, average monthly Medicaid enrollment included 34 million nonelderly, nondisabled adults – 15 million made eligible by Obamacare.
Two smaller estimates used U.S. Census survey data.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said there were 27 million nondisabled working-age (age 19-64) Medicaid recipients in 2024.
That’s similar to the 26 million for 2023 estimated by the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF. That figure includes people who are temporarily disabled.
KFF said 44% worked full time and 20% part time, many for small companies, and aren’t eligible for health insurance.
Medicaid costs nearly $900 billion annually, two-thirds from the federal government, one-third from the states.
Forty states, excluding Wisconsin, adopted the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. Congress is considering President Donald Trump’s proposal adding work requirements for Medicaid.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Spending cuts proposed in President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would not be the largest ever, according to nonpartisan analysts.
The largest-cut claim was made by Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, who represents part of southeastern Wisconsin, ahead of the House vote. His office cited a $1.7 trillion claim made by the Trump administration.
The House-passed version of the bill nominally would have cut $1.6 trillion in spending over 10 years.
But the bill’s net decreases were $1.2 trillion, after taking spending increases into account, and $680 billion after additional interest payments on the debt.
The heaviest spending reductions don’t begin until around 2031, increasing the chances that they could be changed by future legislation.
A $1.7 trillion net cut would be second to a 2011 law that decreased spending by $2 trillion and would be the third-largest cut as a percentage of gross domestic product, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
As we continue to report on Wisconsin’s readiness for potential measles outbreaks, we have spoken to several people who have shared their memories of having measles before a vaccines were widely available. We’d love to hear from more of you.
Before the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Americans faced measles infections each year. The advent of vaccination eliminated the disease in the United States by 2000. But outbreaks have returned to some U.S. communities as trust in vaccines wanes in many communities.
We’re following whether measles will return to Wisconsin, which has some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates for children.
If you have a story to share, whether it’s your own experience with measles or your observations of what it was like at the time, please take a moment to fill out this short form. Your submissions will shape the direction of our reporting and will not be shared publicly. But we may follow up with those who indicate they are comfortable with us doing so.
Thanks to those who have already shared their perspectives and questions.
Here are the stories your feedback has inspired so far:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.
The ruling came as no surprise given that liberal justices control the court. One of them went so far as to promise to uphold abortion rights during her campaign two years ago, and they blasted the ban during oral arguments in November.
Ban outlawed destroying ‘an unborn child’
The statute Wisconsin legislators adopted in 1849, widely interpreted as a near-total ban on abortions, made it a felony for anyone other than the mother or a doctor in a medical emergency to destroy “an unborn child.”
The ban was in effect until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never officially repealed it, however, and conservatives argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe reactivated it.
Ruling: Post-Roe laws effectively replaced ban
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit that year arguing that abortion restrictions enacted by Republican legislators during the nearly half-century that Roe was in effect trumped the ban. Kaul specifically cited a 1985 law that essentially permits abortions until viability. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.
Lawmakers also enacted abortion restrictions under Roe requiring women to undergo ultrasounds, wait 24 hours before having the procedure and provide written consent and receive abortion-inducing drugs only from doctors during an in-person visit.
“That comprehensive legislation so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was clearly meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion,” Justice Rebeca Dallet wrote for the majority.
Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, a Republican, defended the ban in court, arguing that it can coexist with the newer abortion restrictions.
Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in 2023 that the 1849 ban outlaws feticide — which she defined as the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent — but not consensual abortions. Abortions have been available in the state since that ruling, but the state Supreme Court decision gives providers and patients more certainty that abortions will remain legal in Wisconsin.
Urmanski had asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Schlipper’s ruling without waiting for a decision from a lower appellate court.
Liberal justices signaled repeal was imminent
The liberal justices all but telegraphed how they would rule. Justice Janet Protasiewicz stated on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights. During oral arguments, Dallet declared that the ban was authored by white men who held all the power in the 19th century. Justice Jill Karofsky likened the ban to a “death warrant” for women and children who need medical care.
A solid majority of Wisconsin voters in the 2024 election, 62%, said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP VoteCast. About one-third said abortion should be illegal in most cases, and only 5% said it should be illegal in all cases.
In a dissent, Justice Annette Ziegler called the ruling “a jaw-dropping exercise of judicial will.” She said the liberal justices caved in to their Democratic constituencies.
“Put bluntly, our court has no business usurping the role of the legislature, inventing legal theories on the fly in order to make four justices’ personal preference the law,” Ziegler said.
Urmanski’s attorney, Andrew Phillips, didn’t respond to an email. Kaul told reporters during a news conference that the ruling is a “major victory” for reproductive rights.
Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, called the ruling “deeply disappointing.” She said that the liberals failed to point to any statute that explicitly repealed the 1849 ban.
“To assert that a repeal is implied is to legislate from the bench,” she said.
Court dismisses constitutional challenge
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin asked the Supreme Court in February 2024 to decide whether the ban was constitutional. The court dismissed that case with no explanation Wednesday.
Michelle Velasquez, chief strategy officer for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said Wednesday’s ruling creates stability for abortion providers and patients, but she was disappointed the justices dismissed the constitutional challenge. She hinted that the organization might look next to challenge the state’s remaining abortion restrictions.
Kaul said he has no plans to challenge the remaining restrictions, saying the Legislature should instead revisit abortion policy.
Democratic-backed Susan Crawford defeated conservative Brad Schimel for an open seat on the court in April, ensuring liberals will maintain their 4-3 edge until at least 2028. Crawford has not been sworn in yet and was not part of Wednesday’s ruling.
Abortion fight figures to play in 2026 court race
Abortion figures to be a key issue again next spring in another race for a state Supreme Court seat. Chris Taylor, a state appellate judge who served as Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s policy director before a stint as a Democratic legislator, is challenging conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley.
Taylor’s campaign sent out an email Wednesday calling the ruling a “huge victory” and asking for donations. She issued a statement calling the decision the correct one and blasting Bradley’s dissent as “an unhinged political rant.”
Bradley wrote that the four liberal justices fancy themselves “super legislators” and committed “an affront to democracy.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
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Jess D’Souza, a small-time pig farmer in Klevenville, is challenged to sustain her livelihood in the wake of a sudden federal funding cut.
After years of taking no salary, she had hoped 2025 would be the first year she turned a profit, aided by Wisconsin’s participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchase Assistance program, designed to support underserved farmers and bolster local food systems. But the Trump administration abruptly rescinded the program, upending Jess’ plans.
As she contends with the government’s broken promise and weighs whether to raise or sell her newest piglets, Jess seeks to build a more resilient food system independent from political whims.
Two piglets jostled in the barnyard as Jess D’Souza stepped outside. Neither youngster seemed to be winning their morning game of tug-of-war over an empty feed bag.
Jess approached the chicken coop. She swung open the weathered door. The flood of fowl scampered up a hill to a cluster of empty food bowls.
Groans resembling bassoons and didgeridoos leakedfrom the hog house as groggy pigs stirred. Jess often greets them in a singsong as she completes chores.
Hi Mama! Hi babies!
She asks if she can get them some hay. Or perhaps something to drink? The swine respond with raspy snorts and spine-rattling squeals.
Jess unfurled the hose from the water pump as pigs trudged outdoors into their muddy pen.
“Is everybody thirsty? Are you all thirsty? Is that what’s going on?”
That morning, Jess slipped a Wisconsin Farmers Union beanie over her dark brown hair and stepped into comfy gray Dovetail overalls — “Workwear for Women by Women.” The spring wind was still crisp. Bare tree branches swayed across the 80-acre farm.
She filled a plastic bucket, then heaved the water over a board fence into a trough.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, pours water for pigs at Wonderfarm during her morning chores, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. She knows she shouldn’t view her pigs like pets, but she coos at them when she works. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Growing up, the Chicago native never imagined a career rearing dozens of Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs in Klevenville, Wisconsin — an agricultural enclave surrounded by creeping neighborhoods of the state’s capital and surrounding communities.
She can watch the precociously curious creatures from her bedroom window much of the year. Their skin is pale, dotted with splotchy ink stains. Floppy ears shade their eyes from the sun like an old-time bank teller’s visor.
Jess spends her days tending to the swine, hoisting 40-pound organic feed bags across her shoulder and under an arm. Some pigs lumber after her, seeking scratches, belly rubs and lunch. Juveniles dart through gaps in the electric netting she uses to cordon off the barnyard, woods and pastures up a nearby hill.
She knows she shouldn’t view her pigs like pet dogs, but she coos at them when she works. Right until the last minute.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, installs new electric fencing as she prepares to move her pigs, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. (Photos by Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess hadn’t anticipated politics would so dramatically affect her farm.
Last year, Jess doubled the size of her pig herd, believing the government’s agriculture department, the USDA, would honor a $5.5 million grant it awarded to Wisconsin.
Under the Biden administration, the agency gave states money for two years to run the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, or LFPA, which helped underserved farmers invest in local food systems and grow their businesses.
In Wisconsin, the state, Indigenous tribes and several farming groups developed a host of projects that enabled producers to deliver goods like plump tomatoes and crisp emerald spinach to food pantries, schools and community organizations across all 72 counties.
The Trump administration gutted the program in March, just as farmers started placing seed orders. For her part, Jess must anticipate the size of her pork harvests 18 months in advance. She banked on program funding as guaranteed income.
This was supposed to be the year Jess, 40, broke a profit after a decade of toiling. She has never paid herself.
Jess chuckles as she admits she worries too much. She’s an optimist at heart but mulls over questions that lack ready-made answers: How will she support herself following her recent divorce? How are her son and daughter faring during their tumultuous teens? How will she keep the piglets from being squished by the adults?
Now, if she can’t find buyers for the four tons of pork she expects to produce, will she even be able to keep farming?
The world, she thinks, feels like it’s on fire.
A piglet nurses at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
***
In childhood, Jess, the elder sibling, strove to meet her parents’ expectations. School was her top priority. Academic achievement would lead to a good job, material comfort and happiness. She realized only as an adult that her rejection of this progression reflected a difference in values, not a personal deficiency.
She almost taught high school mathematics after college, but didn’t like forcing lukewarm students to learn.
Jess D’Souza, who raises Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., looks out the window of her home on April 8, 2025. She doubled the size of her pig herd last year, believing the federal government would honor a $5.5 million grant it awarded to Wisconsin. But it didn’t. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess moved in 2005 to Verona, Wisconsin, where she planted fruit trees and vegetable gardens in her suburban yards. But a yard can only produce so much. She wanted chickens and ducks and perennial produce.
Jess can’t pinpoint a precise moment when she decided to farm pigs.
She attended workshops where farmers raved about Gloucestershires. The mamas attentively care for their offspring. Jess wouldn’t have to fret that the docile creatures would eat her own kids. Pigs also are the source of her favorite meats, and the breed tastes delicious. Her housemate wanted to harvest one.
It took almost 3 ½ years to name the farm after Jess and her then-husband located and purchased the property in 2016.
She hiked it during a showing and discovered a creek and giant pile of sand in the woods that for her children could become the best sandbox ever.
What did the place encapsulate, she mused.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., pets Candy, a female breeding pig, while installing new fencing as she prepares to move her pigs on April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
She chronicled life on “Yet to be Named Community Farm” across social media: Photographs of piglets wrestling in straw piles next to lip-smacking pork entrees.
Also, lessons learned.
“I like to tell people I’m a recovering perfectionist, and farming is playing a large part in that recovery,” Jess posted to Facebook. She can’t develop the perfect plan in the face of unpredictability. Farmers must embrace risk. Maybe predators will infiltrate the hen house, the ends of a fence don’t quite align or a mama will crush her litter.
On the farm, life and death meet.
Some days, Jess can only keep the dust out of her eyes and her wounds bandaged.
Years later, the creatures living on the land still insist she take a moment to pause.
Jess once encountered a transparent monarch chrysalis. She inspected the incubating butterfly’s wings, noticing each tiny gold dot.
The farm instills a sense of wonderment.
When the idea for a name emerged, she knew.
Wonderfarm.
***
In March, a thunderstorm crashed overhead, and Jess couldn’t sleep. Clicking through her inbox at 5 a.m., she had more than five times her usual emails to sift through.
The daily stream of news from Washington grew unbearable. Murmurings that LFPA might be cancelled had been building.
President Donald Trump’s administration wasted no time throttling the civil service since he took office in January. Billionaire Elon Musk headed a newly created Department of Government Efficiency that scoured offices and grants purportedly seeking to unearth waste and fraud.
The executive branch froze payments, dissolved contracts and shuttered programs. Supporters cheered a Republican president who promised to finally drain the swamp. Detractors saw democracy and the rule of law cracking under hammer blows.
Wonderfarm’s silo stands above the farm on April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
But agriculture generally gleans support from both sides of the aisle, Jess thought. Although lawmakers disagree over who may claim to be a “real” farmer versus a mere hobbyist, surely the feds wouldn’t can the program.
Like the lightning overhead, the news shocked.
LFPA “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” government officials declared in terse letters sent to states and tribes.
Its termination left Jess and hundreds of producers and recipients in a lurch. The cut coincided with ballooning demand at food banks and pantries while congressional Republicans pushed legislation to shrink food assistance programs.
LFPA is a relic of a bygone era, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in May.
She smiled as she touted the administration’s achievements and defended agency reductions before congressional appropriations subcommittees.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., pressed the secretary, asking if the department will reinstate “critical” food assistance programs. One in five Wisconsin children and one in 10 adults — often elderly, disabled or employed but struggling — are unable to or uncertain how they will obtain enough nutritious food.
“Those were COVID-era programs,” Rollins said, shaking her head. “They were never meant to go forever and ever.”
But LFPA also strengthened local food infrastructure, which withered on the vine as a few giant companies — reaching from fields to grocery aisles — came to dominate America’s agricultural sector.
The pandemic illustrated what happens when the country’s food system grinds to a halt. Who knows when the next wave will strike?
***
Nearly 300 Wisconsin producers participated in LFPA over two years. A buyer told Jess their organization could purchase up to $12,000 of pork each month — almost as much as Jess previously earned in a year.
Wisconsin’s $8 million award was among the tiniest of drops in the USDA’s billion-dollar budget. The agency’s decision seemed illogically punitive.
Only a few months earlier, Biden’s agriculture department encouraged marginalized farmers and fishers to participate so underserved communities could obtain healthy and “culturally relevant” foods like okra, bok choy and Thai chilis.
Then the Trump administration cast diversity, equity and inclusion programs as “woke” poison.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., looks through stored meat in her basement after finishing the morning chores on April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Cutting LFPA also clashes with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative and his calls to ban ultra-processed foods. Farmers and distributors wondered what goods pantries would use to stock shelves instead of fresh produce. Boxed macaroni?
The aftershocks of the canceled award spread through Wisconsin’s local food distribution networks. Trucks had been rented, staff hired and hub-and-spoke routes mapped in preparation for three more years of government-backed deliveries.
For a president who touts the art of the deal, pulling the plug on an investment that neared self-sufficiency is just bad business, said Tara Turner-Roberts, manager of the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers accused the Trump administration of abandoning farmers, and Attorney General Josh Kaul recently joined 20 others suing to block grant rescissions.
Meanwhile, participants asked the agriculture department and Congress to reinstate the program. Should that fail, they implored Wisconsin legislators to fill the gap and continue to seek local solutions.
Jess is too.
***
Jess alternately texted on her cellphone and scanned a swarm of protesters who gathered across the Wisconsin State Capitol’s lawn.
She had agreed to speak before hundreds, potentially thousands, of people and was searching for an organizer.
Madison’s “Hands off!” rally reflected national unrest that ignited during the first 75 days of Trump’s term. In early April, a coalition of advocates and civil rights groups organized more than 1,300 events across every state.
Jess D’Souza, a farmer raising heritage pigs at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., delivers a speech on April 5, 2025, at the “Hands off!” protest in downtown Madison. She is one of nearly 300 Wisconsin growers who over two years participated in the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, which the Trump administration canceled. (Bennet Goldstein / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess pulled out a USDA-branded reusable sandwich bag, which she had loaded with boiled potatoes to snack on. She and her new girlfriend joined the masses and advanced down State Street to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
A hoarse woman wearing a T-shirt covered in peace patches and a tie-dye bandana directed the marchers. She led them in a menagerie of greatest protest hits during the 30-minute walk past shops, restaurants and mixed-use high-rises.
“Money for jobs and education, not for war and corporations!” her metallic voice crackled through a megaphone.
Trump’s administration had maligned so many communities, creating a coherent rallying cry seemed impossible. The chant leader hurriedly checked her cellphone for the next jingle in a dizzying display of outrage.
“The people, united, will never be defeated!”
“Say it loud! Say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!”
Jess leaned into her girlfriend, linking arms as they walked.
They ran into a friend with violet hair. Jess grinned sheepishly, trying not to think about the speech.
“You’ll be fine,” her friend said.
The chant captain bellowed.
“Hands off everything!”
A black police cruiser flashed its emergency lights as the walk continued under overcast skies.
An hour later, Jess stood atop a cement terrace, awed by the sea of chatter, laughter and shouts that swamped the plaza.
A friend took her photo. Jess swayed to the chant of “Defund ICE!” A protester walked past, carrying a sign bearing the silhouette of Trump locking lips with Russian President Vladmir Putin.
Someone passed Jess a microphone. The crowd shouted to the heavens that “trans lives matter!”A cowbell clanged.
She grinned.
“I don’t want to slow us down,” Jess began.
She described her dilemma as the crowd listened politely. The government broke its commitments. She struggles to pay bills between unpredictable sales. Some farm chores require four working hands.
Jess only has two.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, installs new fencing as she prepares to move her pigs, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. This was supposed to be the year Jess broke a profit after a decade of toiling. But cuts to a federal program jeopardize those plans. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
“LFPA kind of gave me hope that I’d be able to keep doing the thing that I love,” she said.
Bystanders booed as she recounted the night of the fateful email. Jess chuckled and rocked on her foot, glad to see friends in the audience.
“The structures around us are crumbling,” she said, shrugging. “So let’s stop leaning on them. Let’s stop feeding them. Let’s grow a resilient community.”
The crowd whooped.
***
It’s hard for Jess to stomach meat on harvest days.
Naming an animal and later slaughtering it necessitates learning how to grieve. Jess had years to practice.
The meat processor’s truck rumbled up the farm driveway at 7 a.m. in late April.
Jess spent the previous week sorting her herd, selecting the six largest non-breeding swine. She ushered them to either side of a fence that bisected the barnyard.
It took roughly 30 minutes for the two butchers to transform a pig into pork on Jess’ farm. The transfiguration occurred somewhere between the barnyard, the metal cutting table and the cooler where the halved carcasses dangle from hooks inside the mobile slaughter unit.
Mitch Bryant of Natural Harvest butchering uses an electrical stunner on a pig on April 29, 2025 — harvest day at Jess D’Souza’s Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis. Electricity causes the animal to seize and pass out before butchers cut into it. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
The butchers unpacked their gear in the gentle morning glow. Jess carried a plastic tray of eggs, squash shavings and mango peels to the pen.
The snack helps lure anxious pigs during the harvest. It’s also a final gift for the one they are about to give.
The butchers employed an electrical stunner that resembles a pair of barbecue tongs. A coiled cord connects the contraption to a battery that releases an electric current.
When pressed to a pig’s head, the animal seizes and passes out. The butchers cut its chest before it awakens.
An hour into the harvest, Jess guided more swine from a trailer, where a cluster slept the previous night, along with a seventh little pig that wasn’t headed to the block.
A male began to urinate atop a dead female — possibly mating behavior. Jess smacked his butt to shoo him away. She regretted it.
He bolted across the yard, grunting and sidestepping whenever Jess approached.
“Just leave him for the next round,” one of the butchers said.
Shaun Coffey of Natural Harvest butchering works at Jess D’Souza’s pig farm in the unincorporated community of Klevenville, Wis., on April 29, 2025. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
Jess remembers her first on-farm slaughter years ago when a female spooked and tore through the woods. Jess kept her as a breeder.
The agitated male disappeared behind the red barn. He sniffed the air as he peeked around the corner.
The standoff lasted another hour. One of the butchers returned with a 20-gauge shotgun. He unslung it from his shoulder, then walked behind the building.
Jess turned away. She covered her ears. A rooster crowed.
The crack split the air.
The other worker hauled the pig across the barnyard, leaving a glossy wake in the dirt.
Jess crossed the pen, shoulders deflated, and stepped over the dividing fence to feed the others.
A 6-month-old trotted over to her. Jess squatted on her haunches and extended a gloved hand.
“Are you playing?” she asked. “Is that what is happening?”
Farmer Jess D’Souza greets a pig at Wonderfarm in the unincorporated community of Klevenville, Wis., on April 29, 2025 — a harvest day. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
***
The May harvest never happened.
Nearly all the females were pregnant, even though they aren’t designated breeders. Jess will postpone the slaughter day for now.
She needs to decide whether to raise her spring piglets or sell them. It all depends on how quickly she can move product, but she’s leaning toward keeping them.
The pork from April’s butchering is on ice as she works her way down a list of potential buyers. She still serves people in need by selling a portion to a Madison nonprofit that distributes Farms to Families “resilience boxes.”
Jess marks the days she collects her meat from the processor. She defrosts, say, a pack of brats and heats them up for dinner.
She celebrates her pigs.
Jess and her farming peers are planning for a world with less federal assistance.
One idea: They would staff shifts at the still-under-construction Madison Public Market, where fresh food would remain on site 40 hours a week. No more schlepping meat from cold storage to a pop-up vendor stand.
She dreams of a wholesale market where buyers place large orders. One day maybe. No government whims or purse strings.
Like seeds that sprout after a prairie burn, some institutions will survive the flames, she thinks. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be the ones in Washington.
Those that remain will grow anew.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., retrieves a bale of hay for one of her “mama pigs” during morning chores, April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
This story is part of a partnership with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in partnership with Report for America and funded by the Walton Family Foundation.
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If Congress's budget had become law first, Wisconsin could have lost out on more than $1 billion in federal funds to help the state pay for its BadgerCare medical assistance program and help hospitals offset losses from treating low-income patients.
Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve a state budget late Wednesday night that spends more than $111 billion over the next two years, cuts more than 300 state jobs and increases funding for the child care industry and the Universities of Wisconsin system. It also cuts taxes by about $1.4 billion.
A new elective course between the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and the state’s only bilingual memory clinic will help give upcoming medical students hands-on experience with memory care in the Latino community.
A new discovery along the Menominee River calls into question what archaeologists thought they knew about the scale of Indigenous agriculture before the arrival of European settlers.
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