WPR's music hosts give us a glimpse into the songs and artists that first sparked their musical interests.
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The city of La Crosse is suing three fire truck manufacturers — including two headquartered in Wisconsin — in federal court, accusing them of unlawfully coordinating to limit the supply of trucks and raise prices.
The post La Crosse sues fire truck manufacturers, says they coordinated to raise prices, limit supply appeared first on WPR.
Research out of UW-Eau Claire finds that well-designed skate parks bring economic and social benefits to local communities.
The post Wisconsin’s skateboarding economist researches the value of local skate parks appeared first on WPR.
Following repeated spring election losses to Democrats, and facing a future without President Donald Trump boosting base turnout at the top of presidential tickets, the Republican Party of Wisconsin must increase its out-of-state fundraising, an internal review recommends.
The post After disappointing spring, Wisconsin GOP reconsiders fundraising, messaging strategy appeared first on WPR.
A religious artifact once deeply revered by Superior’s Jewish community and thought to have been lost decades ago is being reclaimed after resurfacing in a secondhand shop.
The post ‘Aiders of the Lost Ark’: Campaign saves a historic Wisconsin synagogue artifact appeared first on WPR.
At a recent press conference at Milwaukee City Hall, community advocates and officials called the decline in overdose deaths a hopeful sign, but said the fight is not over.
The post Milwaukee County overdose deaths down 30 percent, officials say appeared first on WPR.
An audit has confirmed the state’s fish and wildlife account is seeing a shortfall in revenues without budgetary transfers to make the account whole.
The post State audit confirms shortfall in revenues in fish and wildlife account in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.
A researcher surveys wild rice on the Pine River. (Wisconsin SEA Grant)
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that this year’s wild rice crop yield in northern Wisconsin is low, continuing a pattern of lower yields over recent years. Wild rice crops have been affected by heavy rainfall and powerful storms this year, contributing to an 18% decline in the wild rice crop compared to last year.
“The 2025 season has brought a mix of conditions, including several notable storm systems,” said Kathy Smith, Ganawandang manoomin (which means she who takes care of wild rice), with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. “A fast-moving windstorm in mid-June produced widespread wind damage and heavy rainfall across the upper Midwest. In late June, some areas saw 6-7 inches of rain in a short period, contributing to temporary high-water levels on seepage lakes.”
Using satellite-facilitated remote sensing technology, the commission was able to determine the 18% decline in the wild rice crop. A DNR press release notes that these technologies do not provide insights into local wild rice production, bed densities, or seed production. Early scouting reports help fill in the gaps, showing a “mixed bag of production,” the agency stated, “with some top-producing lakes seeing declines in the crop from last year, while others appear to be rebounding.”
Wild rice harvesting is open to all Wisconsin residents with a wild rice harvester license. The crop provides nutritious, naturally grown food to people across the upper Midwest. Wild rice also holds an important cultural place for indigenous tribal communities. Around late August through mid-September, the rice reaches maturity. Jason Fleener, a DNR wetland habitat specialist, stresses that it’s important to wait to harvest the rice until it falls with relatively gentle strokes or knocks from ricing sticks. If no rice falls, then it’s best to wait a few more days before attempting to harvest.
Harvesting immature beds can negatively affect the overall harvest, as well as the long-term sustainability of the rice. Besides climate effects, human activity such as boating (which creates waves that uproot growing rice plants) can also harm the crop.
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Police respond at Annunciation School after a man killed two children and injured several others Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025 in Minneapolis. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed by a shooter who opened fire outside Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis, where students at the Catholic school were gathered Wednesday for Mass to celebrate the beginning of the school year.
Another 17 people were injured — 14 children and three parishioners in their 80s — and are being treated at area hospitals. One adult and six children were in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, according to Hennepin Healthcare.
Annunciation Principal Matt DeBoer said teachers acted within seconds of gunfire erupting to shelter children under pews.
“It could have been significantly worse without their heroic action,” DeBoer said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We lost two angels today. Please continue to pray for those still receiving care. We can’t change the past, but we can do something about the future.”
The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, barricaded the door of the church with a wood board and shot dozens of rounds through the window using a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
“The coward that shot these victims took his own life in the rear of the church,” O’Hara said.
Outside the school after the shooting, parents were picking up their children, who wore the green polos that are the school uniform.
Susan Ruff, a neighbor whose children attended the school at Annunciation and has a grandson currently enrolled, said she saw the shooting from her window.
She witnessed a man dressed in black, wearing a helmet, with a long gun, shooting at the church from the outside. She heard 25 or 30 gun shots. “It sounded like someone was dropping a dumpster. That loud bang. But I kept hearing it, so I thought, that’s not a dumpster.” Her grandson was unhurt in the shooting.
Westman purchased the weapons legally and did not have a criminal record, O’Hara said. He said law enforcement were not seeking other suspects.
Court records show a Mary Westman, who retired from Annunciation Catholic School in 2021 according to a now-deleted Facebook post, requested a name change for her child from Robert to Robin in 2019 saying “minor identifies as female.” O’Hara said he could not confirm the suspect’s connection to the school or that the suspect changed their name.
O’Hara said investigators believe Westman is behind videos scheduled to post on YouTube on Wednesday morning, which have since been taken down. One video opens with a four-page handwritten screed that begins, “I don’t expect forgiveness … I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.”
It also showed an arsenal of guns and ammunition with writing on them reading “Where Is Your God?” and “Suck On This!” Other writings, some in Russian, target President Donald Trump and wish death upon Jewish people.
Numerous law enforcement agencies were on the scene including the FBI, ATF and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
O’Hara said law enforcement are executing four search warrants, one at the church and three others at residences in the metro area connected to the suspect where firearms are being recovered.
“We are all working tirelessly to uncover the full scope of what happened, to try and identify a motive, why it happened, and whether there are any other further details,” O’Hara said.
Neighbors and former students said they were shaken by the shooting in the typically quiet southwestern Minneapolis neighborhood.
Jack Friedman, 25, went to the school and lives in the area. He said, “You never think that it’s going to happen at the school you went to, but then you start thinking how naïve to believe that. Because it happens everywhere.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, speaking at a news conference outside the school, called for action — not just thoughts and prayers, which has become a rote response to mass shootings.
“Don’t just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” he said. “These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.”
Vigils are planned Wednesday night for the victims. Annunciation Church announced a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. in the Holy Angels Gym. Anti-gun violence group Moms Demand Action announced a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. at Minneapolis Lynnhurst Park.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.
Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 25, 2025 in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t appear inclined to leave her post, despite the Trump administration announcing Wednesday that she’s no longer running one of the country’s top public health agencies.
Attorneys for Susan Monarez, who received Senate confirmation in late July, posted that she hasn’t been fired or resigned, but didn’t announce whether they plan to sue the administration.
“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” wrote Mark S. Zaid and Abbe David Lowell. “For that, she has been targeted. Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign.”
The statement from Monarez’s attorneys came just hours after the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, wrote on social media that she was no longer running the agency.
“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the post stated. “We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at@CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”
The Washington Post first reported the news.
The U.S. Senate voted along party lines to confirm Monarez as CDC director in late July, giving her just weeks in one of the nation’s top public health roles.
Monarez’s last post on social media from her official account was on Aug. 22, marking the death of a police officer after a gunman opened fire at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.
“A large group of CDC employees and I attended today’s memorial for Officer David Rose, whose Tour of Duty ended on August 8 when he responded to shots fired,” Monarez wrote. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, courage, and service to the community that will never be forgotten.”
The dispute over Monarez’s position as CDC director appeared to potentially mark the beginning of a wave of resignations from other public health officials, including Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre C. Daskalakis.
“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” Daskalakis wrote in a lengthy social media post. “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”
Monarez was President Donald Trump’s second choice for CDC director. He originally selected former Florida U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to run the CDC shortly after he secured election to the Oval Office in November. But the White House pulled Weldon’s nomination in March, after it appeared he couldn’t secure the votes needed for confirmation.
Later that month, Trump announced his plans to nominate Monarez in a social media post.
“Dr. Monarez brings decades of experience championing Innovation, Transparency, and strong Public Health Systems,” Trump wrote. “She has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and PostDoctoral training in Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
“As an incredible mother and dedicated public servant, Dr. Monarez understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future. Americans have lost confidence in the CDC due to political bias and disastrous mismanagement. Dr. Monarez will work closely with our GREAT Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr. Together, they will prioritize Accountability, High Standards, and Disease Prevention to finally address the Chronic Disease Epidemic and, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”
Monarez testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in June as part of her confirmation process. The committee voted 12-11 in July to send her nomination to the Senate floor, where Republicans approved her to the post later that month.
Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said during the committee’s markup that he believed Monarez would put science first and help to restore public trust in the agency.
“The United States needs a CDC director who makes decisions rooted in science, a leader who will reform the agency and work to restore public trust in health institutions,” Cassidy said at the time. “With decades of proven experience as a public health official, Dr. Monarez is ready to take on this challenge.”
The river flowing through Wauwatosa's Hart Park overflowing with flood water. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
On Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers formally requested a presidential disaster declaration from President Donald Trump to direct federal assistance to parts of Wisconsin still dealing with the aftermath of unprecedented rainfall and flooding earlier this month. The request for additional support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Individual Assistance Program includes Milwaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, as well as support from FEMA’s Public Assistance Program for Door, Grant, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties.
The move comes following joint preliminary damage assessments conducted by FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management in Milwaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties, which found over 1,500 residential structures which were either destroyed or sustained major damage, racking up an estimated price tag of over $33 million. Many people lost homes, personal property or were displaced after the historic, 1,000-year storm, which dumped a summer’s worth of rain in a single day. Scientists have long warned that climate change would lead to more intense rainfall and flooding events in Wisconsin.
Local officials have been on the ground surveying flood damage across neighborhoods. “Having been on the ground to see firsthand some of the areas that have been hit hardest by the disastrous storms and flash floods that have affected folks across our state, it’s clear it’s going to take a significant amount of time and resources to recover,” Evers said in a statement. “My administration and I have been working diligently to respond and support clean-up efforts, but it’s clear more help is needed to support the people of Wisconsin and ensure we can rebuild.”
Evers is calling on Trump to “do the right thing and make the appropriate presidential disaster declaration in coordination with the preliminary damage assessment — and quickly and without delay.” The governor added that, “folks and families whose homes, businesses, schools, and community centers were severely damaged by this severe weather event are counting on this relief.”
WEM Administrator Greg Engle applauded “the swift and collaborative effort for these assessments” as “a powerful demonstration of unity between counties, the state of Wisconsin, and FEMA to get help to those in crisis after this historical flooding event…The speed and precision in which this was accomplished speaks volumes. When different agencies come together, the road to recovery reaches the people who need it faster.”
Initial damage reports collected by the state suggest that over $43 million in public sector damage occurred across six Wisconsin counties. Residents with damaged property are encouraged to save all receipts for damage repair, and to continue calling 211 to make an official record, which will also help support the case for federal support. FEMA’s ability to provide assistance to Wisconsin has been up in the air as the Trump administration threatens agency cuts . Recently, several FEMA employees were placed on administrative leave just a day after signing a public letter accusing the Trump administration of politicized firings and “uninformed cost-cutting” at the agency.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley also announced that preliminary assessments were completed by FEMA on Aug. 22, and that Wisconsin had likely surpassed the threshold to be eligible for federal support. Crowley said that residents “have shown incredible resilience in the face of this disaster,” adding that the completion of FEMA’s assessment is “an important milestone, but it’s just one step in the process toward federal assistance.” Crowley said in a statement that “we will continue to stand with our communities, fight for the resources families need, and keep residents informed every step of the way….This collaboration helps us respond to disasters with both speed and compassion.”
An emergency shelter in Milwaukee established at Marshall High School will close Wednesday due to the start of the school year. Individuals who were housed at the shelter will be moved to the Milwaukee Environmental Sciences Academy (6600 W Melvina St, Milwaukee, WI, 53216). People displaced from their homes are encouraged to call the American Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS for shelter assistance. Volunteers for clean up operations and to help staff the emergency shelters are also still needed.
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U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (center) and tribal leaders speak to the media after a public safety roundtable on Aug. 14, 2024, in Wagner, South Dakota. With Rounds, from left, are Cheyenne River Chairman Ryman LeBeau, Lower Brule Chairman Clyde Estes, Sisseton Wahpeton Secretary Curtis Bissonette, Wayne Boyd of Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Yankton Chairman Robert Flying Hawk, Oglala President Frank Star Comes out and Crow Creek Chairman Peter Lengkeek. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
WASHINGTON — Tribal radio stations that are supposed to receive millions to fill the hole created when Congress eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting haven’t heard anything from the Trump administration about when it will send the money or how much in grants they’ll receive.
Unlike most government spending deals, the handshake agreement South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds negotiated with the White House budget director in exchange for Rounds’ vote on the rescissions bill wasn’t placed in the legislation, so it never became law.
Instead, Rounds is trusting the Trump administration to move $9.4 million in funding from an undisclosed account to more than two dozen tribal radio stations in rural areas of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin that receive community service grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
But neither Rounds’ office, the Office of Management and Budget, nor the Bureau of Indian Affairs responded to emails from States Newsroom asking when the grants would be sent to those radio stations and whether the funding levels would be equal to what they currently receive.
Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, a network of more than 60 broadcast stations that’s headquartered in Arizona, said she’s written to Rounds and the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the handshake deal reached in July but hasn’t heard back.
“I can’t place my expectations on something that hasn’t been concretely shared with the stations,” Taylor said. “And so all I can say is that our expectations are to raise money for the stations to make sure that they have operational dollars for FY 2026, and that’s exactly where we’re placing our focus.”
Taylor pointed out that Rounds’ informal deal with White House budget director Russ Vought doesn’t cover all of the tribal stations in the network and will only last for one year, leaving questions about long-term budgeting.
An Interior Department spokesperson wrote in an email after this story originally published that “Indian Affairs has received a list of 37 stations and is working to distribute about $9.4 million in funding to support them.
“We know how important these stations are for public safety and are moving quickly to get the money out. Before we can set a timeline, we need to coordinate with the stations, tribes and other partners to ensure the funds are delivered efficiently and meet the needs of Indian Country. We will share updates when we have more to share publicly.”
The spokesperson did not provide a list of those stations or information on how the department plans to divvy up the funding.
Dave Patty, general manager at KIYU-FM in Galena, Alaska, said he isn’t planning to receive any federal funding during the upcoming fiscal year, in part because he hasn’t heard anything from the administration. The 2026 federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
“Well, I certainly can’t budget anything that I don’t know is coming, so I’m definitely not planning for it now,” he said.
President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers’ decision to eliminate all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because of their belief of left-leaning bias at National Public Radio wasn’t the right way to address those frustrations, Patty said.
“The narrative was definitely centered around NPR and that was definitely wrong because NPR aren’t the ones in trouble,” he said. “NPR is well funded from philanthropists all over the country, and as a mothership, NPR is not going anywhere. It’s the little stations like us that are going to go away because, for instance, about 60% of our budget came from the CPB grant.”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced in early August it will shutter most of its operations by the end of September, with some staff working through January.
NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service have made no such announcements, but local stations throughout the country have announced budget cuts since Congress approved the bill rescinding $1.1 billion in funding it previously approved for CPB. That money was supposed to cover costs during fiscal 2026 and 2027.
Karl Habeck, general manager at WOJB in Hayward, Wisconsin, said he’s only heard “gossip” and “rumors” about how exactly the handshake agreement will work in practice but is concerned that someone may challenge the Trump administration’s authority to move money around since it wasn’t in the bill and never became law.
“What gives them the right to take these funds that were allocated for environmental projects and send them towards Native American radio stations?” Habeck said.
Typically, the administration would need sign-off from appropriators in Congress before moving large sums of money from one account to another.
Officials haven’t said publicly where exactly they plan on taking the money from and it’s unclear if the Trump administration is trying to create a new account for grants to rural tribal radio stations out of thin air, without an actual appropriation from Congress.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chairwoman of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, and Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, ranking member on the panel, didn’t immediately respond to a request for details.
Habeck said he expects WOJB will be okay financially for the next year, but that he and many others don’t know what the future will hold after that.
“It’s going to be hard,” Habeck said. “I guess people don’t understand. You know, they try to compare us to commercial radio and it’s two different things.”
Local broadcasting stations, he said, have fewer employees and are often a nexus for their communities, providing information about everything from lost dogs to emergency alerts to high school sports updates.
“That doesn’t happen everywhere. It’d be a shame to lose that,” Habeck said. “I think we’re an integral part of the community and people have come to rely on us and appreciate that. And I’m talking everybody. I don’t care what their political stance is. “
Sue Matter, station manager at KWSO in Warm Springs, Oregon, said she reached out to one of her home-state senators, Ron Wyden, who contacted Rounds’ office to ask how the funding would be allocated and when. But Wyden was unable to share any concrete information.
Matter also spoke with someone she knows at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who was similarly unable to provide information about how the agreement will actually work.
“I’m just assuming there’s not anything,” Matter said, adding she’s now focusing on securing a grant from the bridge fund that’s supposed to help the more at-risk public broadcasting stations.
Tribal stations, she said, often have substantially different missions than commercial stations, focusing on language and cultural programs as well as preserving their traditional life.
“That’s endangered,” Matter said. “We won’t let anything stop us. But it’s sad that for whatever reason this funding has been taken away.”
“I fear for my life on campus now, going to class each day with the knowledge that, at any moment, my lecture hall might become the site of a shooting, my classmates the victims shown on television, my parents the ones receiving frantic texts of ‘I love you,’” said Nessa Bleill, founder and president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of Students Demand Action. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Democratic lawmakers want to align gun laws for Wisconsin colleges and universities with those in place for K-12 schools by prohibiting concealed carry on campuses.
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Rep. Brienne Brown (D-Whitewater) said during a press conference Wednesday that the bill would help protect students at a time when schools continue to be targets of gun violence.
“We know that responsible gun safety measures, when they’re implemented in states — they do work. They reduce the incidence of firearm injury and death,” Roys said. “But we have a patchwork across the country. Until more states and the federal government step forward to enact gun safety measures, we are still going to make a public policy choice that allows an unprecedented amount of gun violence in this country.”
The bill would ban possession of a firearm on public and private college campuses even with a permit. If someone violated the prohibition, they would be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
State law currently prohibits people from carrying a gun in a building owned by the state, but this does not apply to someone with a license to carry a concealed weapon.
Wisconsin’s concealed carry law does not permit people to be armed in certain buildings owned by the state including police stations, prisons, courthouses and schools, and if someone violates this, they are guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. This doesn’t currently include college or university buildings.
Colleges do have the option, under state law, to post notice on a building to prevent someone from entering with a firearm. In this case, a person, even with a license, would be guilty of trespassing and is subject to a Class B forfeiture, which is a forfeiture not to exceed $1,000.
While there is not a state statute prohibiting concealed carry on campuses, University of Wisconsin system policy does prohibit people from carrying, possessing or using any dangerous weapon on university property and in university buildings and facilities, including dorms.
The bill has a slim number of exceptions including for a law enforcement officer, for military personnel in the line of duty and for someone who possesses the firearm for use in a program approved by the university or college, such as if the school has a shooting range.
Lawmakers made the announcement just a few hours after reports of a shooting four-and-a-half hours away from the Wisconsin State Capitol at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Students, who attend the Catholic school, had gathered for mass to celebrate the start of the school year. Two children are dead and 17 others, including 14 children, were injured.
Brown, who represents UW-Whitewater, said she had just heard the news out of Minneapolis.
“I’m pretty frustrated,” said Brown, who was tearing up. She said she has been constantly asked by students, staff and faculty what can be done about gun violence at universities, adding that they can’t handle the issue on their own.
“This is a generation that has grown up with school lockdown drills. We have absorbed images of children dying at the hands of armed shooters,” Brown said. “We have witnessed adults doing nothing about it or weakening the laws that were already in place… School should not be another place where they can be victimized by gun violence. As the mother of teens who will soon be off to college, we need to do better.”
According to a CNN review of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been 44 school shootings in the U.S. this year, as of August 27. Of those, 22 were on college campuses.
Wisconsin Democrats’ proposal also comes amid about a dozen college campuses across several states, including Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, facing disruptions this week due to hoax calls reporting school shooters. UW-Madison received an unsubstantiated call about an active shooter on Monday. According to WPR, the call was determined to be false quickly, so the campus did not activate its campus emergency alert system.
Nessa Bleill, founder and president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of Students Demand Action and a survivor of a mass shooting at a parade in Illinois in 2022, said she has feared for her life at school since kindergarten.
“I fear for my life on campus now, going to class each day with the knowledge that, at any moment, my lecture hall might become the site of a shooting, my classmates the victims shown on television, my parents the ones receiving frantic texts of ‘I love you,’” Bleill said. “This fear lives in the mind of every American student… We deserve better than this violent reality and the fear it causes…. There is a solution to this fear — ensuring that no kid has any reason to be scared for their life at school — that solution, however, takes action from students like me and especially action from lawmakers.”
Roys said the legislation could also help reduce incidents of suicides among students.
“One-third of college students have contemplated suicide within the past year,” Roys said. “As we know that suicide by gun is the most lethal form that it can take. With access to a gun, 90% of suicides are completed… but if you do not have access to a gun, only 4% of suicide attempts are completed. This is an important, life-saving measure.”
Support from Republican lawmakers, who hold the majority in the Assembly and Senate, will be necessary for the bill to advance.
Roys said the bill will be circulating for cosponsorship, but seemed to doubt Republicans would support the proposal.
“Republicans have been pretty reticent to sign on to gun safety regulation,” Roys said, adding that gun control measures are supported by an array of voters.
The bill authors noted in a press release that Republicans have not signed on to other proposals Democrats have introduced this legislative session. Some of those bills include one requiring a 48-hour waiting period to purchase a gun, one prohibiting undetectable firearms, one requiring gun owners to store their firearms in a safe if they live with a child and one prohibiting the sale of firearms without a background check and going through a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill to create a sales tax exemption for gun safes to encourage more gun owners to purchase them and another bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom as a way to address school shootings.
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Cows at a Dunn County dairy farm. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
A Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that the state Department of Natural Resources has the authority to require that factory farms obtain water pollution permits, affirming a previous Calumet County court decision.
Two groups representing Wisconsin’s factory farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, filed the lawsuit in 2023, arguing that the state did not have the authority to require permits under the DNR’s Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) program. The program requires any entity that discharges pollution into the state’s waterways to obtain a permit.
The lobbying groups, Venture Dairy Cooperative and the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance, are themselves led by factory farm operators who have been cited by the DNR for contaminating the state’s water through manure spills. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby, has also been involved in the lawsuit.
State law requires an application for a WPDES permit must be made within 90 days of becoming a factory farm or expanding. The permits last for five years before they must be renewed. CAFOs — factory farms with more than 1,000 “animal units,” which is equivalent to about 700 milking cows — are also required to submit plans to the DNR for how they intend to manage the manure created on the farm.
Over the last two decades, the number of CAFOs operating in Wisconsin has more than doubled, creating an increasing amount of manure that sits in lagoons, gets spread onto fields and potentially runs off into local waterways.
If a manure spill occurs, the permit requires the owner to notify the agency and is responsible for the cleanup. The permits also need to be reapproved whenever an operation is planning to expand and every permit application is subject to a public comment period.
A manure spill can cause harmful substances such as nitrates, E. coli and phosphorus to enter the state’s ground and surface waters — potentially making drinking water dangerous to consume and causing fish to die.
Four years ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the DNR had the authority to use the WPDES permits to impose conditions on factory farms as a way to control their environmental effects. In recent years, WMC has filed several lawsuits seeking to weaken the DNR’s authority and undermine its ability to regulate water pollution across the state.
The lawsuit argued that having to comply with the “time-consuming, costly process” of obtaining a permit that imposes “substantial costs and regulatory burdens” on the farms, is against the law because of two previous federal court decisions in 2005 and 2011 about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s own permit requirements for polluters.
On Wednesday, the District II Court of Appeals, which covers 12 counties in southeastern Wisconsin, found that the DNR does have the authority to create the rules the dairy groups challenged.
“The challenged rules do not exceed the DNR’s statutory authority and do not conflict with state law,” the three judge panel, controlled by a conservative majority, wrote.
After the decision, advocates for the environment and smaller farms said it would help the state protect water quality.
“This decision is a win for every rural community that depends on clean water,” Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden said in a statement. “Family farmers understand that stewardship of the land and water is key to long-term success. Ensuring that large livestock operations follow commonsense permitting rules protects our shared resources and the future of farming in Wisconsin.”
“These large operations can produce as much waste as a small city, and the state must be able to monitor and control how, where, and in what quantities manure is stored and spread on the landscape,” said Clean Wisconsin attorney Evan Feinauer. “That’s why for nearly 40 years, the DNR has required large CAFOs to have permits to limit this dangerous pollution. Allowing large dairies to sidestep oversight would have been catastrophic for water protection in our state.”
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A couple hundred people rallied Aug. 25 in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside the the George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention facility is located in Baltimore. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
WASHINGTON — Maryland federal Judge Paula Xinis barred the Trump administration Wednesday from re-deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was unlawfully removed earlier this year, until she makes a decision in an evidentiary hearing set for October.
Separately, Abrego Garcia filed a claim for asylum, a longshot bid to gain legal status as the Trump administration aims to expel him to Uganda after unlawfully deporting him to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March. Xinis has no jurisdiction over the asylum case, which will be handled by an immigration judge.
Xinis said at a Wednesday hearing that she would issue a temporary restraining order blocking immigration authorities from removing Abrego Garcia until she issues a decision following a hearing scheduled for Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court of Maryland.
That hearing is on Abrego Garcia’s habeas corpus claim challenging his detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials this week.
Xinis said she would rule on the claim within 30 days of the early October hearing.
Immigration officials took Abrego Garcia into custody Monday when he appeared for an in-person interview at Baltimore’s ICE field office. He is currently detained at an ICE facility in Virginia, his attorneys said.
Xinis said she would include in her temporary restraining order that Abrego Garcia must be detained within 200 miles of the district courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia are also challenging the administration’s efforts to expel Abrego Garcia to the East African nation of Uganda and are pushing for a credible fear interview, in an effort to stop his removal to a country where he could face harm.
Immigrants who are deported to a country that is not their home, known as a third country, are allowed to challenge their removal if they believe they will experience harm in that country.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said during Wednesday’s hearing that he expects the credible fear process to take two weeks.
Ensign said that while the Department of Justice objects to Xinis’ temporary restraining order, the federal government is “committed” to keeping Abrego Garcia in the United States until she makes her decision on the habeas corpus claim.
Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador despite deportation protections granted in 2019, was brought back to the U.S. in June to face criminal charges lodged against him by the Department of Justice in May amid several court orders, including from the Supreme Court, that required the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
His case has brought a spotlight to President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Abrego Garcia has detailed the physical and psychological torture he experienced at the El Salvador megaprison.
Last week, attorneys for Abrego Garcia in his criminal case in Nashville, Tennessee, said in court filings that the Trump administration is trying to force Abrego Garcia to plead guilty to human smuggling charges by promising to remove him to Costa Rica if he does so, and threatening to deport him to Uganda if he refuses.
Costa Rica’s government has stated it will grant Abrego Garcia refugee status.
Abrego Garcia’s attorney in his Maryland case, Simon Y. Sandoval-Moshenberg, said Abrego Garcia is willing to be removed to Costa Rica but will not plead guilty to the charges in Tennessee.
Those charges stem from a traffic stop in 2022 in which Abrego Garcia was in a car with several people. No charges were filed at the time.
The Department of Justice has alleged that Abrego Garcia took part in a long-running conspiracy to smuggle immigrants without legal status across the United States. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Trump and other top officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have accused Abrego Garcia of being a MS-13 gang leader, but no allegations have been proven in court.
Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. without legal authorization from his home country of El Salvador in 2011 at the age of 16. He applied for asylum in 2019, but authorities denied the claim because he did not apply for asylum within his first year in the U.S., which is the legal deadline for such claims.
Instead, an immigration judge gave him deportation protections, known as a withholding in place, because it was likely he would face gang violence if returned to his home country of El Salvador.
Federal immigration officials at the time didn’t object to the deportation protections and declined to find a third country of removal that would accept him and where he would not experience harm.
The updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2026-2027 school year will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The updated form to apply for federal student aid will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told congressional leaders in a letter this week.
The department began testing in early August for the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — to address any bugs or technical issues before opening it up to everyone in the fall.
The agency signaled earlier this year that the form would open up to the general public by Oct. 1, the typical opening date for the annual form that’s now congressionally mandated.
The department noted that for the 2026-27 FAFSA, 2,435 forms were started, 1,372 were submitted and 1,347 had been processed, as of Monday.
McMahon’s letter to lawmakers on Tuesday followed the botched rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, which faced several highly publicized hiccups during then-President Joe Biden’s administration’s attempts to implement a makeover after Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020.
The rollout of the following 2025-26 form, still under the Biden administration, took a staggered approach that included several rounds of testing and gradually increased the number of people able to complete the form.
Though that form debuted earlier than the 2024-25 application, the full rollout still came nearly two months later than the usual Oct. 1 date.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, our team has prioritized technical competence and expertise, which has led to the earliest testing launch of the FAFSA form in history,” McMahon said in a statement Wednesday.
“The Biden Administration failed the FAFSA rollout two years ago, leaving millions of American students and families without clear answers or a path forward in their educational journey,” she said. “Congress gave us a mandate to improve the form and deliver it on time for students, families, and institutions of higher education — and I am proud to certify that the form will launch on time this fall.”
McMahon’s letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and Workforce follows a law signed by Biden last December that ensures the FAFSA rolls out by Oct. 1 each year.
The law also requires the Education secretary to notify Congress by Sept. 1 annually on whether the department will meet that Oct. 1 deadline.
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) moderated a Tuesday panel with medical students and health care professionals on restrictions to abortion and the effects on care. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Following a recent state Supreme Court decision that upheld legal abortion in Wisconsin, medical students and health care professionals say Wisconsin laws and the Trump administration attacks on reproductive health still make care inaccessible for many patients and that physicians still face significant challenges in providing care.
In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled invalid an 1849 criminal law that had halted abortion care in the state for over a year following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that revived previously unenforceable abortion bans on the books in many states. In its 4-3 decision, the Court found the law had effectively been repealed by other laws passed after it.
During a Tuesday panel discussion hosted by the advocacy organization Free & Just, Dr. Abigail Cutler, a practicing OB/GYN at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, said the decision provided a “reason to celebrate” but ultimately it brought the state “back to a pretty low bar.”
“We have just a slew of abortion restrictions on the books that pre-dated Dobbs that make it really, really difficult to access care if you’re a patient and to provide care if you’re a provider,” Cutler said, adding that the decision also doesn’t prohibit the state Legislature from potentially passing an abortion ban in the future. “Our right to access abortion in our state and to provide it freely is not protected.”
Some Wisconsin laws restricting abortion include a 22-week ban, a requirement that patients have two, in-person visits with a physician, a mandatory ultrasound, a prohibition on telehealth abortion care and a parental consent requirement for minors seeking an abortion. Wisconsin, in line with federal law, prohibits its state Medicaid program from covering abortions except in limited circumstances.
Amy Williamson, associate director of the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity, a research initiative at UW-Madison, said the state law prohibiting telehealth related to abortion isn’t based in science.
“There’s plenty of studies that indicate that abortions can be provided safely and effectively through telehealth, whether it’s the consultation you could do by telehealth, or you can provide a medication abortion by telehealth,” Williamson said. “If we were able to change that, we know that we could expand access to care in the state, like with other health care services.”
Cutler said the “most insidious restriction” to her is the restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion care.
“If you cannot pay for the care that you need, then you’re not going to get the care. You’re going to choose to provide food for your kids, you’re going to choose to keep going to your job and not taking time off from work,” Cutler said.
In addition to state restrictions, the Trump administration has been targeting abortion care on a federal level.
Trump’s recent megabill approved this summer included a provision to prohibit Planned Parenthood from accessing Medicaid payments.
The Hyde Amendment has long banned the use of federal dollars to pay for abortion care, but the new provision went further by banning federal support for nonprofit facilities that provide abortions using separate funds. The provision has been challenged in court, though a federal judge recently ruled in favor of the administration.
Williamson called Planned Parenthood a “really critical part of the economic safety net,” noting that about one in five women of reproductive age who are on Medicaid get their care at Planned Parenthood.
Williamson said that given the array of services, cuts would also mean further consequences.
“This leads to a decrease in contraceptive use, an increase of undesired pregnancies, undetected and untreated STIs and less opportunities to identify cancer early,” Williamson said. “We can be doing better. It’s not rocket science.”
“When Planned Parenthood is targeted, it is because they provide abortions,” Cutler added. “In the state of Wisconsin, they are also one of the largest providers of non-abortion care, preventative and reproductive health services to so many people in our state … so that’s really concerning, and it’s why a lot of people are referring to that bill as a backdoor abortion ban.”
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), who moderated the panel, said abortion bans “do not stop abortion… but what they do do is they kill women, and they make all of us vulnerable to not receiving the medical care that we need.” She said it’s important to continue conversations about changes that need to be made, though state-level bills to protect access may be in limbo under split government.
Roys and her Democratic colleagues introduced a bill earlier this year that would repeal many of the abortion restrictions on Wisconsin’s books.
“I think these bills are unlikely to advance until we have elections and new leadership in the Capitol,” Roys said during the panel.
Republicans currently hold majorities in the Assembly and Senate in Wisconsin, though control will be up for grabs in the 2026 elections. The governor’s office is also an open race with the retirement of Gov. Tony Evers.
Roys told the Examiner after the panel that she is “very likely” to enter the 2026 race for governor and she thinks reproductive health could be one motivating issue for voters come next year.
“In a time when reproductive freedom is threatened, people want someone who is a champion and not mealymouthed. This is a popular issue, and it’s a really important economic issue,” Roys said.
Roys said Democrats are also planning to introduce several other reproductive health bills this fall. Those include one to help with infertility coverage, one to ensure young people have access to “medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive information to help them make healthy choices throughout their lives, especially with respect to sexuality and reproduction” and one to help protect people from being prosecuted for certain outcomes in pregnancy.
“We have seen pregnancy criminalization around the country — people being arrested, jailed, prosecuted for having miscarriages,” Roys said, adding that it is personal to her as someone who has had a miscarriage. “This is a known and intended outcome of abortion bans is for our pregnancies, our periods to be policed.”
The panel also discussed how restrictions in Wisconsin are affecting the state’s health care workforce.
Cutler spoke about research she worked on that focused on 21 OB-GYNs working under the 1849 law, which had an exception for the life of the mother, before there was a final decision invalidating that felony abortion ban.
“It was really alarming because participant after participant described how difficult it was to interpret this vague, ambiguous law into their medical practice,” Cutler said. “As a result, there were wide, wide variations in the kind of care being provided to patients presenting with the exact same problem.”
According to a CORE brief, some OB-GYNs had contemplated leaving the state due to restrictions, though most expressed a commitment to staying in Wisconsin in part because they felt responsible for their community.
Cutler said the data is mixed when it comes to the specific effects of restrictions on the workforce, but pointed to recent research from University of Illinois-Champaign that found that targeted regulations of abortion providers are associated with significant decreases in the density of OB-GYNs.
“This study suggests that these providers are just retiring. They’re stopping practice all together, not even leaving the states where they’re restricted,” Cutler said. “That’s also a problem because you’re diminishing the workforce.”
Cutler said the restrictions in Wisconsin are also at the top of mind for medical students
“What are the restrictions in Wisconsin? Am I going to be able to get abortion training in Wisconsin?” Cutler said she’s asked. “It’s difficult to reassure people of the stability of the landscape when so much feels uncertain and again tied to political whims and election outcomes that are not completely within our control.
Cutler noted that there has been a decrease in residency applications at the UW OB/GYN residency program since the Dobbs decision in 2022. According to a CORE brief on the OB-GYN workforce, Wisconsin witnessed an 8% drop in applications for OB/GYN residency training programs in 2023 and a 10% drop in 2024.
Morgan Homme, a member of Medical Students for Choice UW-Madison, said she constantly thinks about whether she wants to do her residency and practice in Wisconsin.
“It’s a hard choice and a hard thing, you have to grapple with,” Homme said. “I grew up here, and all my family is here, and I do like it. I do love the state, but if they’re not going to allow me to practice the way that I want, the full scope of care, then why would I limit myself to that and limit my training?”
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