Focaccia di recco; a quick salad matching salty pecorino Romano cheese with sweet pears and peppery arugula; rigatoni with sausage and cabbage.
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Pork liver pate; roast sausage with potatoes; braised sweetbreads in mirepoix; braised tongue with lentils.
The post Essential Pépin:Economical Offal appeared first on WPR.
Basic serger skills; adding puffing or textures; serging on ribbon trim.
The post Best of Sewing With Nancy:Ultimate Serger Techniques, Part 1 appeared first on WPR.
Milwaukee PD officers monitor the May Day 2025 march with a Critical Response Vehicle, outfitted as a surveillance van. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
A group of 19 community organizations have joined forces to push for oversight of police surveillance in Milwaukee. Together the groups signed an open letter addressed to the city’s common council, asking it to adopt a Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinance.
The measure would require existing surveillance technologies used by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) to receive a public hearing and be subject to approval by the Milwaukee Common Council. The ordinance would also require the department to produce an annual report of surveillance gear.
“The proliferation of surveillance technology by the Milwaukee Police Department has occurred with virtually no transparency, no opportunities for community input and — without a real opportunity to reject surveillance techs or advocate for critical guardrails — presents significant threats to civil rights and civil liberties that hurts us all but disproportionately impact communities of color, queer communities, people seeking reproductive healthcare, immigrant communities, people fleeing violence, and low-income communities,” the coalition states in its letter.
“While we trust our local elected officials in Milwaukee, in light of the current political climate and the uncertainty surrounding future administrations at both the federal and state levels (both in Wisconsin and in other states), it is critical that our community has a say in if and how invasive surveillance technologies are used, how they are deployed against residents, if and how their data is stored and shared with third parties, and whether spending our limited tax dollars on surveillance technologies is the best way to promote public safety,” the letter adds.
CCOPS ordinances have already passed in 26 cities nationwide, and calls to rein in the flow and development of police surveillance technologies have grown in recent years in Milwaukee. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin began advocating for CCOPS ordinances in the Badger State, prompted by a lack of discussion on the issue and the impending Republican National Convention during the summer of 2024.
As with the 2020 Democratic National Convention four years earlier, the RNC brought with it an influx of new equipment that allowed MPD to augment its surveillance network. Before the DNC the police department upgraded its mobile phone surveillance gear, expanded a camera network capable of using automatic license plate reader technology, and purchased vans equipped with cameras and drones. The RNC likewise opened the door for a new open source intelligence software, growing MPD’s social media surveillance capabilities.
CCOPS Coalition Letter to Common Council
During the summer of 2020, many people who joined protests following the death of George Floyd witnessed these technologies, and reported suspicions that they were being monitored. As time passed, investigations revealed that local police departments monitored social media closely and drew information from confidential databases, with one agency funneling much of what it’d learned into a “target list” of nearly 200 people. The list had been shared with dozens of local, state, and federal agencies from Milwaukee to Kenosha.
Since then more attention has been focused on intelligence units such as the MPD’s fusion center, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s “MATRIX Group”, and on technologies including drones, wiretap devices, gunshot detection sensors like Shotspotter, and spyware. More recently, Milwaukee residents have begun to express concerns about MPD’s plans to acquire facial recognition technology.
The accumulation of these issues spurred the group of 19 community organizations to sign the letter calling for CCOPS. The coalition includes Planned Parenthood, Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC), the ACLU of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), Voces de la Frontera Action, ComForce, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County League of Women Voters and others.
The letter states that “policies are increasingly enacted, and local governments and their surveillance mechanisms will likely be used to target individuals seeking or providing these services. This scenario is particularly alarming given that Black, Brown, Muslim, queer, low-income, and immigrant communities are already disproportionately affected by law enforcement practices.”
The letter suggests the stage is being set to repeat law enforcement spying scandals from the 1960s and ‘70s.
“Without robust oversight, we risk a resurgence of COINTELPRO-like tactics, where surveillance was used to suppress political dissent and target minority groups, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,” the letter states. “At a minimum, people who live, work, visit, or attend school in Milwaukee deserve to know if and how they’re being surveilled and who has access to that surveillance data.”
"Chapter A Day" presents “Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body” by Rebekah Taussig, available for listening in its entirety until May 29.
The post Author Rebekah Taussig’s new book redefines disability — now available for listening on ‘Chapter A Day’ appeared first on WPR.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office seized more than 160 roosters and hens from an alleged cockfighting operation Thursday, according to an animal welfare group.
The post Birds euthanized after being seized from suspected cockfighting operation in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.
How Wisconsin’s K-12 students are learning math is changing. On WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” a panel of math educators discussed the state of mathematics education in Wisconsin.
The post Wisconsin’s fourth and eighth grade students are above average in math appeared first on WPR.
Last week, Milwaukee's City Hall and nearby municipal building were evacuated after what turned out to be a false alarm of a shooting.
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The school has partnered with the Waukesha-based mental health provider Empathia for crisis response support.
The post UW-Platteville providing additional mental health services to students following tragic shooting on campus appeared first on WPR.
Two different employers this month announced facility closures in Oconomowoc and Prairie du Chien, expected to leave 100 workers out of a job.
The post 2 companies announce facility closures in Oconomowoc, Prairie du Chien appeared first on WPR.
An expert on the history of the abortion debate joined WPR's "Wisconsin Today" to discuss her new book on the anti-abortion movement's push for fetal personhood.
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Dermatologist Dr. Apple Bodemer joined WPR's "The Larry Meiller Show" to talk about common summertime skin issues.
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Access Corrections is part of the conglomerate that also runs the state prison system’s glitchy phone technology.
The post Vendor failure means Wisconsin prisoners can’t buy food or other items appeared first on WPR.
If you’ve been watching the news and keeping up, you’ve noticed that fluoride in drinking water has become controversial, writes Dr. Zorba Paster. Why now, since fluoride has been in municipal drinking water for decades?
The post Zorba Paster: The origins of fluoride in our drinking water appeared first on WPR.
In a 5-2 ruling the Wisconsin Supreme Court kept alive a woman's lawsuit against a doctor who had recommended surgery to another doctor that was performed on the woman without her knowledge. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
A patient whose ovaries were removed without her knowledge during colon surgery can sue the doctor who she says recommended the procedure, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday.
In the opinion, five of the Court’s seven justices agreed that lower courts were correct when they refused to dismiss the patient’s lawsuit. With the ruling, the case is sent back to Rock County Circuit Court.
The patient, Melissa Hubbard, was being treated for endometriosis in 2018 by an obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Carol Neuman. During the time, Hubbard also was referred for surgery to remove a section of her colon.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Michael McGauley. During the procedure, Hubbard’s ovaries were removed, but she wasn’t told beforehand that would be part of the operation.
Hubbard initially sued McGauley, but that lawsuit was dismissed. She subsequently sued Neuman, charging that — without telling her — the OB/GYN had suggested to McGauley that he remove Hubbard’s ovaries during the colon surgery.
The lawsuit charges that when Neuman made the recommendation to McGauley, she violated Hubbard’s right to informed consent under Wisconsin law.
Neuman’s lawyers filed a motion in Rock County circuit court to dismiss the lawsuit on saying that, in the context of the surgery, Neuman was not Hubbard’s “treating physician” under the informed consent law.
Neuman’s lawyer argued that because the state law’s informed consent requirement applies to the “treating physician,” Hubbard had no case against Neuman since she did not perform the surgery and she never gave a formal order to the surgeon to remove Hubbard’s ovaries.
The circuit court judge denied the dismissal motion, and the state 4th District Court of Appeals agreed.
With Friday’s opinion, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also denied the motion to dismiss the case.
“We disagree with Dr. Neuman,” Chief Justice Anne Walsh Bradley wrote on behalf of the majority. “The essence of the inquiry is whether Hubbard’s complaint sufficiently alleges that Dr. Neuman was a ‘physician who treat[ed]’ Hubbard, even though she did not actually remove Hubbard’s ovaries herself. We conclude that it does.”
Bradley was joined in the majority by Justices Rebecca Dallet, Brian Hagedorn, Jill Karofsky and Janet Protasiewicz.
According to the opinion, the complaint depicts “Neuman’s intimate involvement with the removal of Hubbard’s ovaries” — first, diagnosing Hubbard with a severe case of endometriosis and then advising her to consider removing her left fallopian tube and ovary.
“Second, after Hubbard agreed to undergo colon surgery, Dr. Neuman allegedly helped plan the surgery with Dr. McGauley,” Walsh Bradley wrote. “The physicians’ pre-surgery discussions and plans included Dr. Neuman’s plan to attend and participate in Hubbard’s surgery and to remove Hubbard’s ovaries herself. Hubbard also alleges that Dr. Neuman recommended to Dr. McGauley that he remove Hubbard’s ovaries.”
Those allegations in the lawsuit are enough to consider Neuman a treating physician in the case, Walsh Bradley wrote.
Justice Annette Ziegler, joined by Justice Rebecca Bradley, disagreed.
“To be a treating physician under [the informed consent statute], the physician needs to either provide the treatment at issue himself or formally order the treatment at issue,” Ziegler wrote, citing the text and history of the law along with “the decisions of courts across the country that have addressed who qualifies as a treating physician.”
While Hubbard never told Neuman she wanted her ovaries removed and never consented to their removal in the surgery, Ziegler wrote, “the complaint never expressly alleges, nor reasonably implies, that Dr. Neuman performed or participated in the surgery or attended the surgery.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
President Donald Trump points during a White House event for the release of Make America Healthy Again commission report on May 22, 2025. Also pictured are, from left, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Make America Healthy Again commission, created earlier this year by President Donald Trump, released its first report Thursday, calling on the administration and lawmakers to improve the well-being of the country’s children.
The 73-page report was published just after Trump and several Cabinet secretaries held an event highlighting their concerns with four areas — nutrition, physical activity, environmental factors and “overmedicalization.”
“Over the next 80 days, the commission will build on its work in this report to develop a road map to bold and transformative public health reforms for our consideration,” Trump said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the report and the administration’s approach to childhood health issues is that “there is no difference between good economic policy, good environmental policy and good public health policy and good industrial policy. We can have all of them.”
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that everyone knows American farming interests need to be at the center of the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, agenda.
“We have the most robust, the safest, the best agriculture system in the world,” Rollins said.
Mainstream farm groups, however, were not happy. “Farmers are identified as ‘critical partners,’ yet were excluded from development of the report, despite many requests for a seat at the table,” American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall wrote in a statement.
The numerous ways that American agriculture and the food people choose to eat have evolved received considerable attention in the report.
“Our agricultural system has historically focused on abundance and affordability. The progress we have made is largely thanks to the hard work of American farmers, ranchers, and food scientists,” it states. “However, the rise of (ultra processed food) has corresponded with a pattern of corporatization and consolidation in our food system. Today’s diet-related chronic disease crisis, demand a closer examination of this pattern and its broader impact.”
The report mentions pesticides numerous times, but doesn’t call for them to be banned outright.
“Some studies have raised concerns about possible links between some of these products and adverse health outcomes, especially in children, but human studies are limited,” the report says. “For example, a selection of research studies on a herbicide (glyphosate) have noted a range of possible health effects, ranging from reproductive and developmental disorders as well as cancers, liver inflammation and metabolic disturbances.”
Kennedy testified during a U.S. Senate committee hearing earlier this week that based on drafts of the report he had seen, “there is not a single word in them that should worry the American farmer.”
His comments came during an exchange with Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who specifically asked him about glyphosate, a commonly used herbicide, that she referred to as “one of the most thoroughly studied products of its kind.”
“We’re talking about more than 1,500 studies and 50-plus years of review by the EPA and other leading global health authorities that have affirmed its safety when used as directed,” Hyde-Smith said. “Have you been able to review thousands of studies and decades of scientific review in a matter of months?”
Kennedy responded during that Tuesday hearing that her “information about the report is just simply wrong.”
The report combines recommendations that have long been supported by research, like exercising regularly and eating a well-balanced diet, with proposals that aren’t fully supported by science.
It notes that “physical activity, encompassing moderate-to-vigorous exercise, aerobic fitness, and reduced sedentary time, is critical for child health and well being.
“However, American youth have seen a steady decline in activity and cardiorespiratory fitness over decades, contributing to rising obesity, diabetes, mental health disorders, and cardiometabolic risks.”
The report calls out children who are unable to get enough sleep and chronic stress as health challenges, in addition to the prevalence of social media.
“The near-ubiquitous presence of social media in the lives of American adolescents, with up to 95% of teens regularly using at least one or more of these platforms—is increasingly correlated with a concerning rise in mental health challenges, particularly among younger users,” the report says. “With the vast majority of teenagers engaging with these platforms, understanding the nuanced consequences and mental health impacts of social media on their developing well-being is of critical public health importance.”
The report didn’t include any mention of gun violence, a leading cause of death in American children and teenagers, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analysis from the nonpartisan health research organization KFF and a report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
“The United States has by far the highest rate of child and teen firearm mortality among peer nations. In no other similarly large, wealthy country are firearms in the top four causes of death for children and teens, let alone the number one cause,” KFF’s analysis states. “U.S. states with the most gun laws have lower rates of child and teen firearm deaths than states with few gun laws. But, even states with the lowest child and teen firearm deaths have rates much higher than what peer countries experience.”
The Johns Hopkins report notes that the gun death rate in children between the ages of 1 and 17 has “increased by 106 percent since 2013 and (has) been the leading cause of death among this group since 2020.”
In 2022, there were 2,526 gun deaths in that age range, for an average of seven a day, according to the report.
The KFF analysis shows other leading causes of childhood death include motor vehicles, cancer, suffocation, congenital anomalies, poisoning and drowning.
Farm groups were dubious about the report’s conclusions.
The American Farm Bureau’s Duvall said it was “deeply troubling for the White House to endorse a report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices, then attempts to celebrate farmers and the critical role they play in producing the safest food supply in the world.”
“The report also expresses a desire to ensure farmers continue to thrive, but undermining confidence in our food system directly contradicts that noble goal,” said Duvall. “The report spotlights outlier studies and presents unproven theories that feed a false narrative and only then does it acknowledge a mountain of evidence about the safety of our food system.”
Iowa Corn Growers Association Chair Jolene Riessen said the “misinformation surrounding crop protection tools is incredibly upsetting because if there’s one thing all farmers have in common, it’s that we care about raising safe, healthy, and affordable food that nourishes families around the world.
“Agriculture is a science, and we have spent years testing and researching pesticides, like glyphosate, to reaffirm that they are a safe and vital tool farmers rely on to feed and fuel the world.”
Others said the report was lacking. Lori Ann Burd, the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health director, wrote in a statement the “report’s acknowledgement of pesticides’ risks to our children’s health is a small step forward,” before rebuking Trump administration officials for not going further.
“The grassroots movement of millions of Americans who trusted Trump with their votes won’t forget that RFK Jr. was cowed by the powerful industrial farming forces determined to make sure there are no U.S. restrictions on harmful pesticides like atrazine, which is banned in 60 nations,” Burd wrote. “Instead of protecting our kids, we use over 70 million pounds of atrazine each year on the corn and sugarcane crops that are making Americans sick. The fight to ban atrazine will continue.”
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed its version of H.R. 1, the reconciliation package, by a slim majority. The bill now moves to the Senate, where we have another opportunity to advocate for and protect clean energy.
Solar and storage are an American success story, supporting thousands of good jobs, millions in energy savings, and a surging manufacturing sector. However, Congress is considering cutting policies that support this success, threatening billions invested in our communities. This includes harsh restrictions on tax credits while gutting others, or quickly phasing them out.
As it stands, the legislation before Congress falls short of the policies necessary to help the U.S. meet its growing energy demand, create jobs, and continue the successful build-out of the solar and storage supply chain here in the U.S.
We invite you to join us in this effort and urge Congress to defend American energy incentives and protect the economic engine that clean energy has created. In the last two years, American solar and storage have surged. In that time, American-made solar module manufacturing has grown six times.
Solar installations can now provide enough homegrown energy to power more than 40 million homes. This expanding industry also means jobs that pay people well. The solar and storage industry already supports over 280,000 good jobs, many of them right here in Wisconsin.
We already know that solar energy is affordable, abundant, and easy to deploy. So, as America works to meet the rising energy demands of AI, data centers, and advanced manufacturing, clean energy and energy storage are critical to keeping energy bills in check and maintaining our economic competitiveness.
This is a critical moment, and we cannot afford to slow our progress now. We need to double down on clean energy for our economy, our communities, and our children.
Tell your representative to protect American solar and energy storage!
The post Action Alert: Tell Legislators Clean Energy Benefits All Americans appeared first on RENEW Wisconsin.
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