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Yesterday — 22 January 2025Wisconsin Watch

As extremists move into the mainstream, reporting on them is more important than ever

Crowd of people and a "MAKE AMERICA GREAT ONCE AGAIN" sign
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Phoebe Petrovic is a Wisconsin Watch investigative reporter and a fellow in ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Her reporting on extremism was also funded by the Poynter Institute. She will be discussing extremism reporting at a live Zoom event on Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. Register here. 

On the day of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the violent, far-right street gang known as the Proud Boys marched down the streets of Washington, D.C. Hours later, the new president pardoned or commuted the sentences of their leaders and some 1,500 others for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, struck salutes on stage that neo-Nazis online celebrated (and Musk later downplayed). And in a nod to the Christian nationalists who boosted his campaign, Trump declared the United States would only recognize two sexes, despite science finding it’s not so simple.

It’s clear, today, that extremism reporting matters more than ever. But even just a couple of years ago, I struggled to get pitches accepted on the influence of extremist figures. Once accepted, though, one story turned into a series, each unraveling the thread of increased Christian nationalist influences on politics and, particularly, elections. 

I spent the first six months of 2024 investigating Matthew Trewhella, a militant pastor known in the 1990s for his anti-abortion activism.



Trewhella had a reputation for public stunts that raised eyebrows and generated letters to the editor. He had urged an audience to buy their children rifles for Christmas. He even defended the murder of abortion providers. Surely, someone with that record would be a political pariah today, right? But the investigation found that Trewhella’s manifesto of open defiance has influenced Republicans across the country, at all levels of government.

Like others on the Christian right, Trewhella has called for defying the separation between church and state, arguing that officials must answer to God’s law first and the Constitution second. School board members, county officials, state legislators, congresspeople, even former members of Trump’s Cabinet, we found, had praised “the doctrine of the lesser magistrates,” which Trewhella claimed gave them biblical permission to disobey or defy any law, policy or court opinion. For his part, Trewhella dismissed the extremism label, telling me only those with “mundane, self-absorbed lives” would consider someone like him an extremist.

In that first story, I reported on a conservative activist who had used the doctrine as the basis of a nationwide tour, in which he said elections officials should refuse to certify equipment and results on the basis of debunked conspiracy theories. I recounted how a state senator marshaled the doctrine when urging electors to refuse certification. And I discussed the idea’s embrace by some members of the constitutional sheriffs movement, who were also stating their intent to investigate elections.

Reporting that first story, narrowly focused on one person and his impact, revealed the larger theme that would become the subject of the series: the Christian right’s influence on elections. 



It was a defining feature of the 2024 presidential election, one Trump acknowledged during his inaugural address when he claimed: “I was saved by God to make America great again.” 

The stories reported for Faith in Power, for the most part, took one small aspect of it at a time. We looked for gaps in the national conversation and dug into what we found, building on previous work as we went along. I had read dozens of stories about the potential intervention of poll watchers, for example, but few on poll workers. Yet soon after discovering one self-described Christian nationalist recruiting poll workers, I noticed more, and further reporting revealed a pattern.

What made this worth an investigation was not their Christianity, as one critic claimed, but rather their regurgitation of election conspiracies, disdain for the separation of church and state, and stated goal of helping Trump win office. It was the combination of prophecy and proclamations — that Trump had a divine mandate to become president — and the way they used that to enlist support from hundreds or thousands of people on the ground.

To report these stories, to get the theology and context right, required extensive reading. We decided, in the end, to try to help memorialize what we learned and transform it into a more permanent resource for readers in a “guide” to Christian nationalism. It’s not a traditional investigative piece, but rather a meta-report that helps orient the public, helping to explain how we got to the point where the investigations we broke about poll workers or sheriffs claiming a divine right to disobey the government was even possible.



As the new administration takes office, I’m reflecting on the political trends of the last decade. First, media rushed to cover the “Alt-Right.” Then, the coverage seemed to subside. But the movement didn’t disappear — its ideas just became integrated into the larger political right. Same, too, with conspiracy theories about elections being rigged. Once Trump won, the skepticism about elections seemed to vanish overnight. A focus on “extremism” may go the same way. As those who attempted a violent insurrection get pardoned and walk free, extremism has moved from the margins to the mainstream and taken power. It’s up to journalists to draw the public’s attention to what they do with that power.

As extremists move into the mainstream, reporting on them is more important than ever is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Study finds winter days on the Great Lakes growing shorter due to climate change

22 January 2025 at 12:00
Ice on a lake
Reading Time: 3 minutes

A new study builds on previous research that shows winters on the Great Lakes are growing shorter due to climate change.

The Great Lakes have been losing an average of 14 days of winter conditions each decade since 1995 due to warming air temperatures, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters.

The study’s lead author, Eric Anderson, an environmental engineering professor with the Colorado School of Mines, said researchers arrived at their findings by examining ice conditions and surface water temperatures.

“We do see that winter time — whether you think about it in terms of ice or think about in terms of really cold water temperatures — we’re just seeing less days where those conditions exist,” Anderson said.

Research has already found the Great Lakes are losing ice cover at a rate of about 5 percent each decade for a total loss of 25 percent between 1973 and 2023. Those changes are occurring as the region has seen among the greatest increases in average winter temperatures over the past 50 years.

The study builds on that research by focusing on changes in water temperatures during the winter months. Anderson noted only Lake Erie typically sees heavy ice cover each winter, whereas the other Great Lakes often see areas of open water.

Winter is typically a blind spot for researchers due to difficulties in obtaining measurements when there’s less ice cover on the lakes. For the study, they relied largely on satellite data, as well as several monitoring stations, to examine how mixing of the lakes from top to bottom may be changing during the winter. Typically, the lakes tend to mix in the fall and spring when temperatures are the same at the top and bottom.

Winter days on the Great Lakes are being lost to spring and fall

During the summer, the surface of the lakes is warmer and the bottom is colder. In the winter, the opposite is true.

The study’s co-author, Craig Stow, said the reason for that is the maximum density of water is 4 degrees Celsius or about 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Stow, who is a scientist with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, said researchers found there’s been an increase in the number of spring and fall days in the lakes.

“The winter days are being lost to those spring and fall times where the temperatures are essentially the same from the very top to the very bottom,” Stow said.

Stow said that means the lakes are staying warmer in the fall and warming up earlier in the spring.

Winter days on the lakes were defined as days with ice cover or having surface temperatures of less than 2 degrees Celsius. The loss of winter days was found over nearly the entire area of lakes Superior, Huron and Erie. In lakes Michigan and Ontario, the loss of winter days was primarily along the shorelines and bays.

Ice on a lake
Ice on Lake Superior near Bayfield, Wis., on Feb. 11, 2023. (Danielle Kaeding / WPR)

“We saw decreases in ice cover in areas where you tend to see large amounts of ice, so Green Bay and up near Beaver Island and Straits of Mackinac,” Anderson said. “We didn’t see big decreases in ice for the rest of the lake, so you didn’t have a lot of coastal ice loss along the eastern side of Wisconsin or down near Chicago.”

However, researchers did see a loss of colder temperatures in open waters around the southern shoreline of Lake Michigan, shifting to more days that had temperatures like spring or fall.

Lake Superior didn’t lose as many ice days as lakes Huron or Erie because it doesn’t see as much ice cover in the middle of the lake. 

“It was losing some number of days with coastal ice, particularly along the Wisconsin shoreline of Superior in the western end there,” Anderson said.

Even so, he said the lake experienced a big shift to temperatures closer to what one might expect in the spring and fall out in open waters.

Anderson and Stow said the changes could have implications for the Great Lakes in terms of extended periods when algal blooms may occur, the duration of shipping seasons, effects on the food web and the $7 billion fishing industry.

“We looked at a couple decades here of  change that we see you’re losing a half a month of what we used to think about being the winter,” Anderson said. “That’s really important for the chemistry of the lake. It could be important for the biology of the lake.”

Researchers say questions remain about whether the loss of winter days may stay the same or accelerate, which is one of the things they hope to examine in the future.

This story was originally published by WPR.

Study finds winter days on the Great Lakes growing shorter due to climate change is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

New federal law addresses climate extremes and flooding along Mississippi River

Mississippi River
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Flood control along the Mississippi River is a central piece of a newly passed federal law — work that advocates believe is critical as the river basin sees more frequent and severe extreme weather events due to climate change

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is passed by Congress every two years. It gives authority to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to undertake projects and studies to improve the nation’s water resources. 

Signed into law Jan. 4, this year’s package includes studies on increased flooding in the upper basin, flood mitigation measures throughout the river system, ecological restoration, and a $6 billion floodwall in Louisiana. 

The Mississippi River is managed in large part by the Army Corps, so it often features prominently in the bill, with a dual aim of making the river more suitable for shipping and restoring environmental degradation from flooding, nutrient pollution and climate change. 

Kirsten Wallace, executive director of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, called this year’s WRDA “a pretty special one.” She said it contained wins for many of the diverse stakeholders along the river, including shippers, environmental advocates, riverfront communities and federal and state agencies — who don’t always agree. 

Advocates lauded the law’s emphasis on nature-based solutions. In a press release, Stephanie Bailenson, policy team lead for The Nature Conservancy, said, “Since 2016, Congress has directed the corps to consider natural and nature-based solutions alongside or instead of traditional infrastructure. This latest act continues that trend.”

But all of these projects are only promised because funding doesn’t come until later, when Congress appropriates it. Many projects authorized in previous versions of the law are still unfunded, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Here’s what will affect the river in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024: 

Study of flood risk on the upper Mississippi River

The law authorizes a large-scale study of flooding on the Upper Mississippi River System, which includes the Mississippi River from its headwaters to where it meets the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois, as well as the Illinois River and portions of some smaller tributaries.

The upper river has seen two major floods in the last few years: one in 2022 and one in 2019, which lasted for months and caused billions of dollars in damage

The study’s chief goal: figuring out how to reduce flood risk across the entire river system, instead of relying on municipalities to try to solve flooding problems themselves, which can sometimes have impacts downstream. North of St. Louis, for example, levees constrain the river to protect communities and valuable farmland from flooding — and some levee districts have raised those levees higher, safeguarding themselves but effectively pushing floodwaters faster downstream. 

“This plan allows more of a comprehensive way for levee districts to improve what they currently have … in a way that doesn’t put them in a position to be adversarial or just impose risk somewhere else,” Wallace said. 

She said the study will be a challenge, but that levee districts are eager for solutions as flood risks and heavier rainfall increase

Once the study receives funding, it will be led by the Army Corps’ St. Louis District, Wallace said. It’ll solicit input from cities, towns and ports along the river, recreators, the shipping industry and federal environmental agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Flood projects for cities from the headwaters to the delta 

Cities and towns along the river could get help for the localized effects of flooding too, thanks to several projects authorized by the law. Upstream, that includes La Crosse, Wisconsin, which will enter into an agreement with the Army Corps to study the role of the city’s levees, which were constructed around the river’s record flood in 1965

“We have to have an eye on maintaining what we’ve got and looking toward the future and whatever conditions the river might undergo to be prepared as best we can,” said Matthew Gallager, the city’s director of engineering and public works. “Because obviously, nature is going to win.” 

Downriver, Louisiana secured the largest project authorization within the law. To protect communities in St. Tammany Parish, a county north of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, plans to build a $5.9 billion levee and floodwall system totaling 18.5 miles in length to protect over 26,000 structures, most of which are family homes. 

Aerial view of four ships on a river
Freight ships make their way north along the lower Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on June 7, 2024. (Tegan Wendland / Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, with aerial support provided by SouthWings)

The St. Tammany Flood Risk Management Project is slated to receive $3.7 billion in federal funding. The other 35% will come from non-federal sponsors, such as the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). 

“By authorizing the St. Tammany project for construction, Congress recognizes again the national importance of Louisiana and that CPRA can work with the federal government to execute a multi-billion coastal protection project successfully,” said CPRA Chairman Gordy Dove.

The law also authorizes a federal study of the Lake Pontchartrain Storm Surge Reduction Project, a component of Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan meant to protect nine parishes bordering the lake. The Army Corps will investigate whether the proposed project to reduce flood risk is in the federal interest. 

Other approved flood control projects will be funded along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries, including the Ouachita River in Louisiana. Several counties in Mississippi will also receive funding to improve environmental infrastructure, such as water and wastewater systems. 

Near Memphis, the bill authorizes the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Ecosystem Restoration project, which covers a 39-mile stretch of the lower Mississippi River. The project aims to manage flood risks while also restoring and sustaining the health, productivity and biological diversity of the flyway. 

In New Orleans, a study was authorized to investigate ecosystem restoration and water supply issues, such as the mitigation of future saltwater wedges that threaten drinking water and wetlands at the very end of the Mississippi River. 

More support for the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program 

The law also increases the amount of money Congress can give to the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program, which funds habitat restoration activities and scientific research on the upper river. 

Congress increased the money it can direct to the research part of the program by $10 million, bringing the total the program can get to $100 million annually. 

Aerial view of highway bridge over a river
Interstate 80 passes over the Mississippi River in an aerial photo taken from the east on Sept. 18, 2023. (Nick Rohlman / The Gazette, with aerial support provided by SouthWings)

The funding boost “really is a recognition of the value of the science … the understanding that has improved about how the system is functioning over the last three decades,” said Marshall Plumley, the Army Corps’ regional manager for the program. 

If given extra funding, Plumley said program staff want to use it to better understand the effects of the increased amount of water that has flowed through the river in recent years. That increase, partly attributed to wetter conditions due to climate change, is changing the river’s floodplain habitats, including forests and backwater areas. 

A change to how new water infrastructure gets funded

The Mississippi River functions as a water superhighway, transporting around $500 million tons of goods each year. Infrastructure to keep shipping running smoothly is costly, and one adjustment in WRDA 2024 is aimed at shifting the burden of those costs. 

Taxpayers have been funding inland waterway infrastructure for nearly two centuries, but in 1978 Congress established the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, which requires the private shipping industry to pitch in. 

Today, the trust fund’s coffers are filled by a 29-cent per gallon diesel tax on commercial operators that use the Mississippi River and other inland waterways, adding up to about $125 million per year in recent years. New construction — like wider, more modern locks and dams on the upper river — is paid for through a public-private partnership: the private dollars in the fund, and federal dollars allocated by Congress. 

Until recently, the private dollars covered 35% of new construction costs, and federal dollars covered 65%. The new WRDA adjusts that to 25% and 75%, respectively. 

Advocates for the shipping industry have long believed taxpayers should have a bigger hand in funding construction because it’s not just shippers who benefit from an efficient river. 

The balance in the trust fund “always limits” construction that can happen in a given year, said Jen Armstrong, director of government relations for the Waterways Council. 

“We can’t afford to have projects take three decades or two decades to complete,” Armstrong said, “because we have other locks that are deteriorating.” 

Armstrong said she believes shifting more of the cost to the federal government will accelerate those projects. 

Not everyone supports the cost share change, however, including American Rivers, which has opposed the creation of new locks on the upper Mississippi in favor of helping the river revert to more natural processes. 

Kelsey Cruickshank, the group’s director of policy and government relations, called it “a disappointing development that continues to give short shrift to the incredible ecosystem of the world’s third-largest freshwater river system.”

This story is a product of 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. Wisconsin Watch is a member of the network. Sign up for our newsletter to get our news straight to your inbox.

New federal law addresses climate extremes and flooding along Mississippi River is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Before yesterdayWisconsin Watch

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service seeks managing editor

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, an award-winning, hyperlocal nonprofit newsroom that covers Black and brown communities in Milwaukee, seeks a managing editor to take NNS to new heights in journalism and community engagement. This is a key role in a 14-year-old newsroom, and NNS is looking for someone who is both a champion of excellent journalism and a champion of the people who produce the excellent work. NNS seeks someone with top-notch leadership skills and impeccable news judgment. Applicants must be committed to collaboration, appreciate diversity and inclusion and have a passion for coaching a talented newsroom while juggling multiple projects.

This person reports directly to the executive director and must be comfortable working with community residents, students, emerging journalists and seasoned veterans to create stories that resonate with readers who often are neglected, underrepresented or misrepresented by other media outlets.

NNS staffers don’t parachute into communities and then leave: They are embedded in neighborhoods and remain invested in the lives of readers.

NNS believes we can transform through the power of fact-based multimedia reporting and is looking for the person who can bring out the best in NNS’s staff and can help Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service become required reading for all those interested in Milwaukee’s Black and brown communities.

In this role, you will:

  •  Edit stories, graphics and visuals to ensure they meet the high standards of NNS for accuracy, clarity and newsworthiness.
  • Supervise reporters, photographers, interns and community volunteers.
  • Lead editorial meetings; coach and collaborate with reporters to identify and prioritize key topics, stories and impactful cross-newsroom special projects.
  • Assist in managing the newsroom, working collaboratively to craft strategies that further the organization’s mission, including production of efficient and timely content.
  • Work closely with NNS’s community engagement team, which includes News414, a community-centered engagement initiative that uses text messages, social media, events and other tools to listen to and then provide critical information to underserved audiences.
  • In collaboration with the executive director, help provide strategic direction and vision for the editorial team in alignment with the organization’s mission and goals.
  • In collaboration with the audience engagement manager, develop and execute content strategies that are revelatory, engaging and support the nonprofit mission, with the goal of getting stories to a wider audience.
  • Spur and expand collaboration efforts with media partners, with the goal of getting stories to a wider audience.
  • Coordinate regular training sessions to elevate the skills of staff.
  • Represent NNS at community events to build and maintain relationships with readers and supporters to ensure NNS stays embedded and connected in the communities it serves.
  • Collaborate with the business team to support grant applications and donor relations, as needed.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is looking for someone who is committed to serving readers, has excellent interpersonal communication skills, is good at multitasking, is attentive to detail (but can see the forest from the trees) and endorses NNS’s mission to paint a complete portrait of our neighbors by intentionally celebrating the ordinary people who do extraordinary things; connecting readers to the resources they need to navigate their lives; serving as a ferocious watchdog on their behalf; and giving them a platform to voice their opinions on issues.

Required skills:

  • 7+ years of journalism experience, with experience managing direct reports.
  • Outstanding editing, coaching, organizational and communication skills.
  • Demonstrated ability to multitask and consistently work on deadlines.
  • Experience in WordPress or similar content management systems.
  • Self-starting, initiative-taking attitude.
  • Demonstrated experience collaborating across and outside of an organization.
  • Curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge are an essential part of who you are.
  • Copy editing experience, with expertise in SEO headlines and knowledge of AP style.

Bonus skills:

  • Has experience setting strategic priorities and vision, including content, that advance organizational mission.
  • Fluent in Spanish.

The ideal candidate is: 

  • Experienced: You have at least seven years in journalism and four years of managerial experience, ideally managing a team of reporters. 
  •  Resourceful: You know what you don’t know and how to get your questions answered without an abundance of hand-holding.
  • Unflappable and flexible: You can pivot when you need to and know how to keep the trains running.
  • Patient: With a good sense of humor. We like to laugh in our newsroom.
  • Enthusiastic: You bring a can-do attitude to work.
  • Milwaukee-loving: You possess a working knowledge of (or eagerness to immerse yourself in) the character, people, relationships and ways of Milwaukee.
  • Curious: You are eager to learn about the topics and  issues important to the communities we serve. You stay current on Milwaukee happenings and national news topics related to our coverage areas.
  • Mission-focused: You frame work through the lens of the most vulnerable, with a focus on serving communities that have been or are underserved.
  • A lifelong learner: You realize you don’t know everything and are willing to experiment and fill your own knowledge gaps.
  • Organized: You know how to prioritize and balance multiple projects simultaneously.
  • Possess a start-up mentality: We are building the newsroom of the future in real time. We need folks committed to experimentation, innovation, improvisation and adaptation who are not afraid to get their fingernails dirty as they do the work.
  • Is a good human being: We want someone who champions good journalism and the people who do it and the people we serve. If you don’t know how to collaborate, ours is not the newsroom for you.

We know that there will be great candidates who might not check all these boxes or who hold important skills we haven’t listed. Don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Location: The managing editor should be located in the Milwaukee area.  

Salary and benefits: The salary range is $63,500-$80,000. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. NNS offers competitive benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by Feb. 7, 2025.

To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume, a cover letter explaining why you are the best candidate for this job and answer a brief question in the application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Executive Director Ron Smith at rsmith@milwaukeenns.org.

About NNS

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (https://milwaukeenns.org/), often referred to as NNS, is an ambitious, collaborative and pioneering journalism venture that for 14 years has delivered fact-based reporting to communities of color in Milwaukee. Housed in the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, NNS is a division of Wisconsin Watch, a statewide newsroom that focuses on explanatory and accountability reporting.

NNS and Wisconsin Watch merged in 2024 with different but complementary missions that work together to super-serve Wisconsin residents. NNS’s hyperlocal journalism reports on the complex issues facing communities of color. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Watch has a history of accountability journalism, regularly cited by policymakers and government officials. While we frequently collaborate, all editorial decisions are made by the Milwaukee staff.

We approach journalism by integrating ourselves into the community and listening to needs. This process informs what and how we report on issues. For example, in response to growing concerns about the toll of gun violence on Milwaukee residents, NNS added a gun violence solutions reporter. This has helped NNS and Wisconsin Watch reporters consider how gun violence affects urban and rural communities differently and explore how we can improve systems to create safer communities.

Milwaukee NNS’s editorial vision

To provide reader-centered reporting that: 

  • Celebrates the ordinary people who do extraordinary things in the city to balance out the overemphasis of trauma and drama as well as doom and gloom in communities of  color.
  • Educates the community about resources that are available to help them navigate life.
  • Illuminates through watchdog reporting and explanatory journalism significant issues of interest for and in our communities.
  • Innovates through the use of technology such as texting, videos, audio, etc., that elevates our storytelling to engage and meet residents where they are.

Catch our momentum

NNS is proud to be known nationally and cherished locally.

Supported by Milwaukee’s generous philanthropic community and by individual donors, NNS was one of 28 news organizations serving communities of color to receive capacity-building funding from the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy and a $1.4 million shared grant with the Wisconsin Watch from the American Journalism Project.  In addition, we have employed journalists through Report for America since 2020.

We are entering 2025 with momentum as our executive director, who’s edited several Pulitzer Prize-winning stories, has been inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club’s Media Hall of Fame; NNS Basic Needs Reporter PrincessSafiya Byers winning the Loeb Award, which is considered the Pulitzer for business journalism, for her collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on “Milwaukee’s Hidden Landlords”; and NNS being selected in the inaugural cohort of newsrooms to receive funding from Press Forward.

Our newsroom is one of the most racially diverse newsrooms in the city, with 80% of the staff being people of color.

We want to give Milwaukee the newsroom it deserves while also giving the people on our staff the workplace THEY deserve as well.

Salary

$63,500 – $80,000 per year

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service seeks managing editor is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Republicans and Democrats agree on postpartum Medicaid expansion — Robin Vos says it’s unlikely

Man stands and talks at left in an ornate room full of people who are seated.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

The fate of postpartum Medicaid expansion, a bipartisan effort in the state Legislature, yet again falls in the hands of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who said Tuesday that it’s “unlikely” his chamber will get to vote on it.

Congress previously gave states a permanent option to accept federal funds for 12-month extensions of postpartum Medicaid coverage. Wisconsin and Arkansas are now the only two states that have turned down the federal extension. Wisconsin’s coverage currently lasts 60 days after birth, far shorter than what health experts recommend

Extending the coverage has emerged as a way for states to fight maternal mortality rates. Though pregnancy-related deaths are rare,  a third of them in Wisconsin occur beyond the 60-day coverage window, according to the Department of Health Services. 

Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, on Tuesday reintroduced a bill that would expand coverage to 12 months. The legislation mirrors the extensions that have been introduced in previous sessions, yet have failed to pass the Legislature. That same day, Vos, R-Rochester, said a vote on the 12-month extension would be “unlikely.” 

“Our caucus has taken a position that expanding welfare is not a wise idea for anyone involved,” Vos told reporters. 

Republican lawmakers previously agreed to a three-month coverage period. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ 2021-23 state budget proposal asked for a 12-month extension, but Republican lawmakers on the powerful Joint Finance Committee amended it to instead require DHS to request federal approval to extend postpartum Medicaid eligibility to 90 days instead of the 60 mandated by federal law. 

Vos accused the Evers administration of not applying for the 90-day extension the Legislature already granted, which isn’t true — something Vos acknowledged in response to a follow-up question to his office. DHS submitted the application for the extension, but the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last year said it would not approve a waiver request for coverage shorter than one year. 

“I’m glad that I was wrong and it has been submitted,” Vos responded. “The waiver request should be resubmitted to the Trump administration.”

“Going from the 60 to 90 days is pretty negligible,” said Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, chair of the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care.  

During the last legislative session, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a bipartisan bill in a 32-1 vote that would have extended postpartum coverage to 12 months. The lone opponent was Duey Stroebel, who lost his re-election bid in November. In total, 73 lawmakers cosponsored the bill — over half of the state Legislature. The bill authored by Snyder this session is currently circulating for cosponsors. 

Interest groups from both sides of the aisle came out in support of the previous legislation, including Pro-Life Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Kids Forward.

“It made sense to me because if I am pro-life and I don’t want people to abort their babies, why would I not do everything I could to support those mothers to have the babies,” former Republican Rep. Donna Rozar, who authored the bill last session, told Wisconsin Watch. 

But despite bipartisan support, the Assembly never scheduled it for a hearing before adjourning for the rest of the session in February last year. 

Rozar said she and other lawmakers couldn’t get Vos on board. “He dug his heel in, there was no doubt about it,” she said.

Moses put the bill on the agenda for a hearing. But in addition to Vos blocking it, the committee was jammed near the end of the session and didn’t have time to schedule it, he said. 

“There’s 132 people in this building. I don’t think we should legislate by one,” Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said of Vos. “It’s up to his caucus to elect a different speaker or change his mind. So his members have to put enough pressure on him to get it done.” 

‘There’s 132 people in this building. I don’t think we should legislate by one.’

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk

Without Vos’ approval, Moses said it’s not likely that lawmakers will secure a 12-month extension, but he’s hopeful that an extension of at least six or nine months can be agreed to in this year’s state budget, despite the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ indication that anything less than 12 months would not be approved. Moses is willing to schedule a hearing for the upcoming bill, but if Vos remains opposed, it may not get referred to him, he said. 

“When it comes to the budget, if there’s something that we want that would be attractive to negotiate this out with, I think that’s a possibility,” Moses said. 

A fiscal estimate last session estimated the bill expansion would cost $21.4 million per year, including $8.4 million in state taxpayer funds with the rest coming from federal taxpayers. It would increase monthly Medicaid enrollment by 5,290 members. Felzkowski, who sponsored the Senate version, said it’s an extension for those who are already covered rather than an expansion that puts more people on Medicaid. She also said it’s good for taxpayers. 

“The reason states have done this — blue states, red states, purple states — is it’s a return on investment for the taxpayers and it makes sense to do it,” Felzkowski told Wisconsin Watch. “We see the number of complications that happen in that first year, and those complications, by not being covered, cost money — cost a lot of money.” 

Wisconsin’s 306% Medicaid income eligibility limit for the 60 days of postpartum coverage is one of the highest in the country — something Vos has pointed to. 

“When you make a choice to have a child, which I’m glad that people do, it’s not the taxpayers’ responsibility to pay for the delivery of that child,” Vos said in 2023. “We do it for people who are in poverty. We’ve made the decision to go to 300%, that’s the law. But to now say beyond 60 days, we’re going to give you free coverage, no copayment, no deductible, until a year out, absolutely not.”

A 2021 version of the bill failed to get a floor vote in both the Senate and the Assembly, yet had only one lobbying group registered against it.

That group was Opportunity Solutions Project, the lobbying arm of the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability. The conservative advocacy group did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s requests for comment. FGA has a track record of lobbying against Medicaid expansion and other bills in Wisconsin. 

“I think it’s a little premature to have any discussions about the Medicaid budget right now. We have a brand new administration coming into D.C.,” Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, said in a Tuesday press conference with Vos. “I think the Trump administration is actually going to put some common sense into some of these programs federally.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Republicans and Democrats agree on postpartum Medicaid expansion — Robin Vos says it’s unlikely is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Democrats pledge support to immigrants as new administration takes office

20 January 2025 at 12:00
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Donald Trump returned to the White House on Monday afternoon, focusing on so-called “America First” policies.

Among Trump’s top priorities is a pledge to deport millions of people living in the United States without legal status. Trump’s team has prepared a stack of executive orders to sign in short order, with a heavy emphasis on immigration policy.

But some leaders in in Democratic Wisconsin communities say they won’t play ball with the federal government when it comes to residents living in the United States without legal status.

“Dane County will continue to be strong, we will continue to be compassionate, and we will support one another,” Dane County Executive Melissa Agard told reporters last week, adding that county agencies will continue to deliver services to all residents.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne agreed, saying “no matter who you are or where you come from, my office is committed to helping make Dane County a safe and welcoming place for all.”

“Increased fear of mass deportation has already inhibited some members of our most vulnerable populations from reporting their victimization to law enforcement,” he added. “This reality perpetuates a cycle of violence and criminality that have a chilling effect on our entire community.”

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office will also continue its current practices, spokesperson Elise Schaffer told reporters. For example, the office does not provide “proactive communication” to federal immigration authorities nor does it inform U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if deputies encounter someone without legal status while working in the field or if they’ve taken them into custody.

In Milwaukee, Mayor Cavalier Johnson “wants all residents, irrespective of immigration status, to be appropriately respected,” his spokesperson, Jeff Fleming, told Wisconsin Watch. “The mayor has expressed his opposition to the rhetoric and hostility directed toward immigrants.”

ICE is seeking to move its current Milwaukee facility from downtown to the city’s northwest side, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reported last week, but has so far been met with significant community pushback.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman did not directly respond to questions from Wisconsin Watch. Instead, a spokesperson pointed to the department’s standard operating procedures relating to immigration enforcement.

“Enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws is the responsibility of the federal government,” the policy states. “Accordingly, the Milwaukee Police Department does not unilaterally undertake immigration-related investigations and does not routinely inquire into the immigration status of persons encountered during police operations.”

“A person’s right to file a police report, participate in police-community activities, or otherwise benefit from police services is not contingent upon their immigration status,” it continues, while noting the department may cooperate with federal authorities in certain special cases.

Police officers in the city of Green Bay are also not in the business of keeping tabs on someone’s immigration status, Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis told Wisconsin Watch in an interview.

“There aren’t very many situations where someone’s immigration status is really relevant to any of the work that we’re doing,” Davis said, adding: “My priority is the safety and the well-being of whoever happens to be in the city of Green Bay at any given time.”

The exact number of people living in Wisconsin without legal status is hard to determine, Wisconsin Watch reported last week, but some groups, like the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, have estimated there to be about 70,000 such people in the state. 

Workers without legal status are particularly critical to the state’s dairy industry, according to a 2023 UW-Madison School for Workers survey. “More than 10,000 undocumented” workers perform around 70% of the labor on Wisconsin’s dairy farms, the report found, and without them “the whole dairy industry would collapse overnight,” the researchers concluded.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Wisconsin Democrats pledge support to immigrants as new administration takes office is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin’s voter ID ballot question: Here’s what you need to know

17 January 2025 at 21:10
Vote sign with American flag image
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Wisconsin has long had a photo ID requirement for voting on its books — one of the strictest in the nation. This year, voters will decide whether to make it harder to weaken that requirement.

The April 1 ballot contains a proposal that would enshrine the photo ID requirement in the state’s constitution. Republican lawmakers backed the proposed constitutional amendment in an effort to prevent the ID policy, passed in 2011, from being gutted in court. 

Approval of the amendment wouldn’t affect the current ID requirement, experts say; rather, it would prevent or at least complicate future efforts to undo it.

The ballot question coming before voters on April 1 will ask whether the Wisconsin Constitution should be amended to “require that voters present valid photographic identification verifying their identity in order to vote in any election, subject to exceptions which may be established by law.”

The amendment would state, in part: “No qualified elector may cast a ballot in any election unless the elector presents valid photographic identification that verifies the elector’s identity.”

Voters can vote “yes” if they want the proposal in the constitution and “no” if they don’t. Whichever way the amendment goes, Wisconsin would continue to have a photo ID requirement for voting because it’s already state law. 

The amendment appears likely to pass. Most constitutional amendment proposals in Wisconsin pass when they come before voters, and 74% of Wisconsin residents polled in 2021 supported the photo ID requirement. The Assembly and the Senate both passed the amendment proposal in January on party line votes, with Republicans in favor and Democrats against.

Making the policy a constitutional requirement, and not just a state law, makes it far less likely that a court could strike it down, said Bree Grossi Wilde, executive director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. It also means a future Legislature can’t remove the requirement by simply repealing the statute, she said, though it would allow lawmakers to modify the requirement to some extent by creating exceptions.

It’s unclear how far those exceptions could go before they would effectively “gut the requirement” in violation of the constitution, Wilde said. Some states, for example, allow people without photo IDs to cast a ballot if they sign a legal statement affirming their identity. 

“Maybe there is still wiggle room on the part of the Legislature to provide relief from the requirement in certain circumstances,” she said. “Whether you could say, ‘If you don’t have an ID, you don’t have to provide it,’ that might be too far. A court might not protect that.”

What’s the history behind photo IDs for voting?

The law that the amendment would enshrine was enacted in 2011 but faced court challenges that limited its implementation for several years. Republican proponents said it would make elections more secure by protecting against voter impersonation, something that research has shown is rare. Opponents of the law filed lawsuits alleging that the policy made it too hard to vote. 

Its first use in a presidential election was in 2016, and the requirement has remained in place ever since. 

The law requires voters to present their photo ID when they vote. If they can’t show ID, they can cast a provisional ballot and would have to present their photo ID afterward to have that ballot count.. Acceptable photo IDs include  driver’s licenses, military IDs, IDs issued by federally recognized Native American tribes, U.S. passports, some university IDs, free voting IDs issued by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and some other types.

Wisconsin is among nine states that have “strict photo ID” laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In these states, voters must have a photo ID when they vote, or have to vote via provisional ballot and then provide photo ID later — either to poll workers on Election Day or to the local election clerk within days of the election — for their ballots to count. Other states either have strict non-photo ID laws, less stringent ID requirements or no ID requirement at all.

Researchers have found that Wisconsin’s law had a disenfranchising effect.

In the 2016 presidential election, an estimated 4,000 to 11,000 eligible people in Dane and Milwaukee counties didn’t vote mainly because they lacked an eligible photo ID, a study concluded, based on survey responses from nearly 300 registered nonvoters. The study, by then-University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer, estimated that for 8,000 to 17,000 people in those heavily Democratic counties, lack of photo ID was one of many reasons they didn’t vote.

People who were Black, who earned lower incomes and who had less formal education were less likely to have eligible photo IDs, the study states. 

Republicans widely criticized the study over its sample size and methodology. Republicans have also criticized Democrats for simultaneously arguing that photo IDs are too hard for some people to get while also saying, in their effort to encourage voting, that free voter IDs are easy to get.

The IDs are indeed free, but getting to a Division of Motor Vehicles office to obtain one isn’t, said Lauren Kunis, CEO and executive director of VoteRiders, which helps voters obtain the identification they need to vote.

“Convenience matters when we’re talking about voting,” she said. “Some of us think about voting all day, every day, and we’ll make it a priority to get your ducks in a row and get everything you need well in advance of any deadlines. But that is not the case for the average eligible voter in the United States, and we need to design policies and systems that think about that voter.”

The law’s specifications about which IDs are acceptable make it more complicated, said Jake Spence, VoteRiders’ Wisconsin coordinator. 

For example, standard IDs issued by some big state universities, including UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, aren’t suitable for voting. The state’s strict criteria for student ID used for voting requires including the date the card was issued, the student’s signature and an expiration date no later than two years after its issuance. The standard student IDs issued at those universities don’t meet those requirements, though students can ask for compliant IDs.

Across Wisconsin, Kunis said, VoteRiders staff and volunteers have encountered not only people who couldn’t vote because they didn’t have an appropriate ID but also people who had appropriate IDs but didn’t vote because they were confused by the law, sometimes unaware that their ID met the requirements.

What should I know about the proposed amendment?

Republican proponents say they want to put the law in the constitution to keep the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court from striking down the photo ID requirement, especially if liberal candidate Susan Crawford, who argued against the ID rule in court, wins a seat on the high court in April’s election.

“I cannot say for certain how (the) Wisconsin Supreme Court would rule on voter ID laws, but I’m also not willing to risk the Wisconsin Supreme Court, unburdened by precedent and the Wisconsin Constitution, declaring voter ID laws unconstitutional,” Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard said at a hearing on the proposal.

Democratic legislators and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ardently opposed the proposed amendment, saying it has a disenfranchising effect. 

“This is about voter suppression,” said Rep. Christine Sinicki, a Milwaukee Democrat, adding that there were people in her neighborhood who can’t get a photo ID to vote. 

The measure passed nonetheless in the GOP-majority Legislature. Evers doesn’t have the power to veto constitutional amendment proposals, which must pass two successive legislatures before they can appear on the ballot.

Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Wisconsin’s free newsletter here.

Wisconsin’s voter ID ballot question: Here’s what you need to know is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Does the US use crash test dummies that represent average-size women?

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No.

Dummies used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in vehicle crash testing roughly represent typical-size adult males, but only small-size adult females.

The adult dummies represent males who are 5-foot-9 and 160-171 pounds and females who are 4-foot-11 and 97-108 pounds. An average female is 5-foot-4 and weighs 171 pounds while an average male is 5-foot-9 and weighs 200 pounds, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In March 2023, the federal Government Accountability Office recommended NHTSA address discrepancies in testing of females, and people who are older or heavier. It noted that in crashes, females are at greater risk of death and certain injuries than males.

NHTSA responded saying it is developing more representative dummies.

Congress took no action on legislation introduced in May 2024 to modernize the testing.

The issue was mentioned during the recent U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Republican Sean Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman, to be transportation secretary.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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Does the US use crash test dummies that represent average-size women? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to release voter records sought by conservative activist

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Rebecca Bradley, Brian Hagedorn and Janet Protasiewicz
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday rejected an attempt by a conservative activist to obtain guardianship records in an effort to find ineligible voters, but the case could return.

The court did not rule on the merits of the case, instead saying in its 5-2 decision that a lower appeals court did not follow proper procedure when it issued a ruling saying the records should be released.

Here’s what to know:

Conservative activist brought the case

The case tested the line between protecting personal privacy rights and ensuring that ineligible people can’t vote.

Former travel agent Ron Heuer and a group he leads, the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, allege that the number of ineligible voters doesn’t match the count on Wisconsin’s voter registration list. Heuer asked the state Supreme Court to rule that counties must release records filed when a judge determines that someone isn’t competent to vote so that those names can be compared to the voter registration list.

Justices lean on technicality to reject the case

The justices said the District II appeals court, based in Waukesha, was wrong to overturn a Walworth County Circuit Court ruling denying access to the records. In a nearly identical lawsuit, the District IV appeals court, based in Madison, had denied access to the records saying they were not subject to disclosure under the state public records law.

Justice Janet Protasiewicz, writing for the majority, said that the District II appeals court could have sent the case to the Supreme Court, explaining why the other appeals court ruling was incorrect.

If it follows the proper procedure for doing that, the case could end up right back before the Supreme Court again. In the meantime, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals court for further action.

All four liberal justices were joined by conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn in the majority. He said the different branches of the appeals court must be unified in their actions.

Chief Justice Annette Ziegler and Justice Rebecca Bradley, both conservatives, dissented, saying the court “leaves unresolved issues of great importance to voters, election officials, and people from whom courts have removed the right to vote due to incompetency.”

Sam Hall, the attorney for Walworth County, praised the ruling.

“We all agree that election integrity is fundamental and our citizens must have confidence in our elective process, while also respecting the dignity of those individuals subject to guardianship orders,” he said.

A court has the power to remove the right to vote from a person under a guardianship order if the person is determined to be unable to understand “the objective of the election process.”

The attorney for Heuer did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Case was one of several targeting 2020 election

The case was an attempt by those who questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential race to cast doubt on the integrity of elections in the presidential swing state. Heuer and the WVA filed lawsuits in 13 Wisconsin counties in 2022 seeking guardianship records.

The District II appeals court in 2023 overturned a circuit court ruling dismissing the case and found that the records are public. It ordered Walworth County to release them with birthdates and case numbers redacted.

Heuer and the WVA have pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election in a failed attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin. Heuer was hired as an investigator in the discredited 2020 election probe led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman that found no evidence of fraud or abuse that would have changed the election results.

The WVA also filed two unsuccessful lawsuits that sought to overturn Biden’s win in Wisconsin.

Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 after losing in 2020

Biden defeated Donald Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, a result that has withstood independent and partisan audits and reviews, as well as lawsuits and the recounts Trump requested. Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 by about 29,000 votes.

There are no pending lawsuits challenging the results of the 2024 election or calls to investigate the outcome.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to release voter records sought by conservative activist is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Milwaukee leaders voice opposition to ICE facility on city’s northwest side

Woman talks at a podium with microphones, surrounded by other people outside a brick building.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Milwaukee Alderwoman Larresa Taylor said at a news conference Wednesday that she is confident of two things: that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to move its Milwaukee-based facility to the northwest side of the city and that she is going to fight any such move. 

“We are a district that has tremendous potential, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to accept any and everything, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we’re going to allow someone to just come into our district without warning or without knowledge,” she said.

She is not alone in her opposition.

Many officials and activists stood in solidarity with Taylor, including other alderpeople, Milwaukee County Board supervisors, community organizers, business improvement district representatives and state lawmakers.

“People are scared. Kids are scared. This is the time to push back hard,” said Milwaukee Common Council President José Pérez at the news conference. “Whether here or somewhere else in the city, my role as council president is to assure that the laws are followed, and those laws are to protect our families, our most vulnerable.”

What might happen? 

The current building ICE is using downtown as a processing center is being sold, said Taylor, who said her office received a request on Dec. 9 regarding the modification of a building at 11925 W. Lake Park Drive on Milwaukee’s northwest side.

These modifications include a sally port, a type of secured entryway and a chain link fence with privacy slats.

Taylor said that these modifications are consistent with the use of the building as an ICE processing center, where ICE could transport and temporarily hold people.

Nuts and bolts

As far as zoning goes, the West Lake Park Drive location is designated as planned development, rather than traditional zoning.

With traditional zoning, there are clearly delineated uses, but, with planned development, “Everything done gets either approved or denied by the (city of Milwaukee) Department of City Development,’ said Tyler Hamelink, plan examiner from the city of Milwaukee’s Permit and Development Center. 

Taylor said that her office is “definitely in communication with the Department of City Development.”

“That is where our information is coming from,” she added.

Taylor also is planning to meet with the owner of the building to discuss possibilities.

What happens next?

Pérez said that options to fight back include “legal appeal or by the screaming of our voices.”

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Juan Miguel Martínez announced the formation of a coalition to oppose an ICE facility at this District 9 location.

The coalition is currently solidifying support and mulling its options, said Eddie Cullen, spokesperson for the county board.

“The mayor has not publicly opined about a plan to replace the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility currently located at Broadway and Knapp Street,” said Jeff Fleming, spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “The contact the city has had about the proposed northwest side location has come only from private sector building owners.”

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Milwaukee leaders voice opposition to ICE facility on city’s northwest side is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Supreme Court scrutinizes ‘conversion therapy’ ban, separation of powers

Supreme Court
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday over whether a Republican-controlled legislative committee’s rejection of a state agency rule that would ban the practice of “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ people was unconstitutional.

The challenge comes amid the national battle over LGBTQ+ rights. It is also part of a broader effort by the Democratic governor, who has vetoed Republican bills targeting transgender high school athletes, to rein in the power of the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Here are things to know about the case:

What is ‘conversion therapy’?

So-called “conversion therapy” is the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations.

The practice has been banned in 20 states and in more than a dozen communities across Wisconsin. Since April 2024, the Wisconsin professional licensing board for therapists, counselors and social workers has labeled “conversion therapy” as unprofessional conduct.

Advocates seeking to ban the practice want to forbid mental health professionals in the state from counseling clients with the goal of changing their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Fair Wisconsin, the only statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization, has heard about “conversion therapy” happening across the state, said the group’s executive director, Abigail Swetz.

However, accurate data about how often it is happening is hard to come by, she said. There would be some data if the ban is enacted and the state is able to take action against licensed practitioners, but that wouldn’t include attempts at “conversion therapy” made by religious institutions, Swetz said.

What is happening in Wisconsin?

The provision barring “conversion therapy” in Wisconsin has been blocked twice by the Legislature’s powerful Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules — a Republican-controlled panel in charge of approving state agency regulations.

The case before the liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court will determine whether the ban survives. The court will also determine if that legislative committee has been overreaching its authority in blocking a variety of other state regulations during Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration.

The lawsuit brought by Evers targets two votes by the joint committee. One deals with the Department of Safety and Professional Services’ “conversion therapy” ban. The other vote blocked an update to the state’s commercial building standards.

Republicans who supported suspending the “conversion therapy” ban have insisted the issue isn’t the policy itself, but whether the licensing board had the authority to take the action it did.

Evers has been trying since 2020 to get the ban enacted, but the Legislature has stopped it from going into effect.

Justices question how far legislative power goes

Liberal Justice Jill Karofsky focused on the “conversion therapy” rule, calling the practice “beyond horrific.”

“There are real lives that are at risk here,” she said. “This is hurting people.”

Other justices focused on whether the Legislature or the governor has the power to issue administrative rules.

The Legislature’s attorney Misha Tseytlin said decades of precedent are on his side, including a 1992 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling upholding the Legislature’s right to suspend state agency rules. Overturning that ruling would be deeply disruptive, he argued.

Evers, in arguing that the ruling should be overturned, said in court filings that by blocking the rule, the legislative committee is taking over powers that the state constitution assigns to the governor. The 1992 ruling conflicts with the constitution and has “proved unworkable,” Evers said.

Conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley said the state constitution clearly gives the power to the Legislature.

“Nowhere do I see that the people ever consented to be governed by an administrative state instead of their representatives in the Legislature,” she said.

The issue goes beyond ‘conversion therapy’

The “conversion therapy” ban is one of several rules that have been blocked by the legislative committee. Others pertain to environmental regulations, vaccine requirements and public health protections.

Evers argues in the lawsuit that the panel has effectively been exercising an unconstitutional “legislative veto.”

The court sided with Evers in one issue brought in the lawsuit, ruling 6-1 in July that another legislative committee was illegally preventing the state Department of Natural Resources from spending money on a land stewardship program.

The issue related to state regulations was broken out and heard Thursday.

The court, controlled 4-3 by liberal justices, will issue a written ruling in the coming months.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Wisconsin Supreme Court scrutinizes ‘conversion therapy’ ban, separation of powers is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Criminal justice advocates express high hopes for Milwaukee County’s new district attorney

Man in light blue shirt and dark blue tie sits at table in room.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Newly elected Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern has made it a priority to listen to residents on the north and south sides of Milwaukee.

“What I have heard loudly and clearly is everyone wants to feel safe, and everyone wants that safety in their daily lives, and they want that for their children,” Lovern said.

With nearly 30 years of experience as a prosecutor, he’s recognized for his collaborative approach to systemic issues.

Lovern focuses on collaborations outside his office, in part, because he believes these collaborations are necessary to sustainably reduce violence and increase public safety in Milwaukee. 

“I just feel like we need to better connect into one another and develop our own system of public safety – one that is really framed up as community development, economic development, educational development and the public safety comes with that,” he said.

Among Milwaukee’s large network of criminal justice advocates, many say they feel heard by Lovern. 

“Kent has always been thoughtful and responsive to me,” said Emilio De Torre, executive director of Milwaukee Turners, which advocates for various criminal justice initiatives as well as those impacted by the criminal justice system.

Working together

“We can’t unring the bell of a crime, right? If somebody commits a crime, like myself, they need to be prosecuted,” said Adam Procell, who coordinates the monthly resource fair Home to Stay, for formerly incarcerated individuals reentering society. “But after that time period, when somebody gets out, he (Lovern) also understands that if we don’t provide the person with an opportunity to lead an optimal lifestyle, they’re going to have to prosecute them again for another crime.”

For Lovern, people reentering have a unique ability to lead others away from crime. 

“People returning back to communities, looking to be proactive members of their community, looking for ways to help mentor young people and help instruct young people about the pitfalls and the mistakes they made – that’s a very powerful group,” he said.

Milwaukee County has the largest population of people on parole, probation or extended supervision in the state. At the end of October, nearly 13,000 people were under supervision, state correctional data show.

“On the whole, I have heard more interest in reentry across the board … than I have heard at any time in my career,” Lovern said.

Causes of crime

Lovern’s support of reentry is consistent with an overall preventive approach to crime.

He cites the relationship between drug addiction and crime as a good example.

“We’ve had a strong approach to this for some time because right after John (Chisholm) was elected, 18 years ago, we created an early intervention unit, and that was immediately designed to offer opportunities for people to work through a criminal charge … and we’ve seen a lot of success with that.”

WISDOM, a statewide faith-based organization, wants Lovern to expand on this philosophy.

“There’s a lot of room for certainly expanding treatment alternatives to incarceration for people living with mental illness and with addiction issues, and there are many opportunities to divert more people from the system. I’m definitely optimistic that those types of programs will continue and will expand,” said Mark Rice, coordinator of WISDOM’s Wisconsin Transformational Justice Campaign.

Lovern is proud of Milwaukee’s mental health courts, which address cases involving mental health concerns, including assessments of competence and insanity pleas.

An intermediate goal the DA’s office is close to achieving, he said, is increasing the number of cases handled in these courts to 30 cases on an ongoing basis, compared to 10 cases previously. 

“Somebody might come first through the police department or to the DA’s office, and we may be saying, ‘Look, this person isn’t really committing criminal behavior – the bigger concern here is the mental health piece,’” said Lovern.

Current crime and safety risks

Recent data from the Milwaukee Police Department show notable declines since 2023 in violent crimes, especially homicides and non-fatal shootings, and a reduction in most property crimes. 

But certain violent crimes have increased since 2022, including robberies and carjackings.

“There’s no question that there is additional work that needs to be done to drive down the level of violent crime we see in this community,” Lovern said.

The problem, he added, is not evenly spread throughout the city.

quarter of Milwaukee County homicides since 2023 occurred in only two ZIP codes.

“Everyone’s concerned about crime everywhere, but we know where the concentrations of violent crime exist,” said Lovern, adding that many residents in these neighborhoods tell him that “a strong response” to crime is needed and that these “neighborhoods need to be valued.”

Limits of the office

Rice, of WISDOM, does not want fairness and justice to be lost, however.  

“We still in Wisconsin incarcerate Black people at one of the highest rates in the nation,” he said. “There’s a lot of discretion up front when plea bargains are reached in terms of who gets diverted from the system and who goes in.” 

Rice and others also worry about the systemic limitations of the DA’s office to address such problems.

“Jobs like the DA’s office, mayor’s office, police chief tend to be very difficult, with unforeseen pressures and inherent flaws in how they’ve been systemized over the years,” said De Torre, of Milwaukee Turners. “The real test is how a person acts and what they do within a flawed system.”

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Criminal justice advocates express high hopes for Milwaukee County’s new district attorney is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In Wisconsin, do you need more proof of ID to vote than to buy a gun?

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Yes.

Wisconsin requires proof of identification to vote. 

Republicans in the Legislature put a referendum on the April 1 ballot to add the requirement to the state constitution. State Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said the amendment makes it “harder to vote” than to buy a gun.

In Wisconsin, federally licensed gun dealers are required to do background checks on gun purchasers, but other sellers, such as individuals selling privately or at gun shows, are not.

According to a 2015 national survey of gun owners, 22% who made their most recent purchase within two years said they did so without a background check; the figure was 57% among gun owners in states such as Wisconsin that didn’t regulate private gun sales.

It’s the latest national survey, said Johns Hopkins University gun policy expert Daniel Webster.

On voter ID, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study estimated Wisconsin’s law prevented 4,000-11,000 Milwaukee and Dane county residents from voting in the 2016 presidential election.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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In Wisconsin, do you need more proof of ID to vote than to buy a gun? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A new Trump presidency raises questions for immigrants. Here’s what we know.

A woman talks into a bullhorn next to a sign that says “DEFEND AND EXPAND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS”
Reading Time: 4 minutes

During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to use executive orders to implement stricter immigration policies, saying that he would “carry out the largest deportation operation of criminals in American history.”

Now with less than a week before Trump’s inauguration, members of Milwaukee’s immigrant community are bracing for the next four years.

“People are taking the (future) administration at their word,”  said Alexandra Guevara, communications director for Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant advocacy organization in Milwaukee.

Guevara said her organization has been fielding phone calls from worried residents.

Here are answers to five key immigration-related questions.

1. Who may be affected?

Unauthorized immigrants can be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and may be subject to deportation proceedings.  

Unauthorized immigrants include those who enter the U.S. illegally, overstay a visa or violate terms of admission.

It is unclear how stricter immigration policies will affect those with short-term protections, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protective Status.

“But I think the writing is on the wall for those” protections, said Marc Christopher, managing attorney and owner of Christopher & De León Law Office, a law firm based in South Milwaukee that practices immigration law.

Trump’s first administration expanded the use of expedited removal, which allows deportation of an unauthorized individual without appearing before an immigration judge.

Many advocates worry that this expansion will happen again, making people who are unable to prove at least two years of continuous physical presence in the country eligible for expedited removal, said Cain Oulahan, attorney with Oulahan Immigration Law.   

Because of the general confusion and shifting political landscape, Guevara worries that there will be an increased risk of racial profiling.

2. What can be expected from local enforcement?

ICE relies on local law enforcement to help carry out its duties, but the level of cooperation with ICE varies greatly depending on the area.

Milwaukee Police Department policy states it does not routinely inquire about immigration status during operations, emphasizing that most immigration violations are civil, not criminal.

However, Christopher thinks it is likely the Trump administration will begin to put more pressure on cities to comply with ICE.

The policy of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department does not completely shut the door on cooperating with ICE in certain scenarios where someone is detained for committing a crime and is also suspected of being an unauthorized immigrant.

On a practical basis, though, the nature of the crime in this scenario is likely to make a difference, said Ruby De León, staff attorney at Voces.

“It doesn’t seem like day-to-day traffic stops – I don’t believe they would prioritize contacting ICE over these incidents.”

NNS reached out to ICE for comment about its priorities and plans for Milwaukee but did not receive a response. 

3. What rights do people have?

Advocates stress that constitutional protections apply regardless of citizenship status, including the right to remain silent, the right to talk to a lawyer and protection from illegal search and seizure.

If law enforcement asks people to show immigration documentation, they have the right to remain silent or refuse to answer questions.

Law enforcement must have reasonable suspicion of unauthorized presence in the country to demand proof of immigration status, said R. Timothy Muth, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.

At the same time, if people are not citizens but have documentation that permits them to stay in the country – such as a green card – they are required to keep that documentation with them, Muth said.

If a person is approached at home, a warrant for deportation allows officers to enter a home only if it is signed by a judge.

“And you should ask to see it,” Muth said. “You ask them to slip it under the door or show it to you at your window. You have a right to see the warrant and look at the signature line.”

With potential immigration violations, people have the right to speak to an attorney. But unlike with criminal arrests, the government does not have to provide the lawyer, De León said.

Additionally, individuals with a legitimate fear of persecution or torture in their home country have a right to seek asylum or asylum-type protection, Oulahan said.

4. What should be avoided if approached by law enforcement?

Voces and the ACLU advise against signing documents without a lawyer, running away or lying.

Running away and lying can be separate criminal acts, Muth said.

If people suspect their rights are being violated, such as being unlawfully searched, then they should not physically intervene, Muth added. They should instead document what they can and clearly state that they do not consent.  

Voces and the ACLU also suggest taking photos or videos of agents, noting names and badge numbers.

5. What tangible steps can people take now?

Voces offers workshops to educate people about their rights.

Advocates recommend ensuring documentation is current, applying for passports for U.S.-born children and pursuing citizenship or legal status if eligible, perhaps through an employer or family member.

A city of Milwaukee municipal ID can serve as a form of identification for city residents who cannot get state identification.

Muth recommends carrying documentation showing continuous presence in the country for more than two years, such as a lease agreement, pay stubs or utility bill in a person’s name.

Voces also suggests completing power-of-attorney forms to plan for potential family separation.

Resources

Organizations like Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration ServicesInternational Institute of Wisconsin and UMOS offer free or low-cost legal assistance regarding immigration and citizenship.

Voces deems the following attorneys trustworthy: Abduli Immigration LawChristopher & De León Law OfficeLayde & ParraMaria I. Lopez Immigration LawOulahan Immigration Law; and Soberalski Immigration Law.

Immigration Advocates Network provides a list of resources.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center provides a downloadable card listing people’s rights and protections.

We’re here to help

Do you have questions we can help get answered? Send an email to dblake@milwaukeenns.org.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

A new Trump presidency raises questions for immigrants. Here’s what we know. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Legislature puts photo ID requirement on ballot for voter approval

Blue and white voting booths
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Wisconsin’s photo ID requirement for voting would be elevated from a state law to a constitutional amendment under a proposal approved Tuesday in the Republican-controlled Assembly with no support from Democrats.

The proposed constitutional amendment will appear on the April 1 ballot for voter consideration. It would need to be approved by voters before the constitution would be amended. Even if voters reject it, the voter ID requirement that has been in state law since 2011 will remain in place.

Republicans, citing Wisconsin polls that showed broad support for voter ID requirements, hailed the measure as a way to bolster election security and protect the law from being overturned in court.

But Democrats said photo ID requirements are often enforced unfairly, making it more difficult for people of color, people with disabilities and poor people to vote. Democrats argued that lawmakers should focus instead on other issues such as gun control, clean water, affordable housing, and expanding access to child care.

If voters agree to place the photo ID requirement in the constitution, it would make it more difficult for a future Legislature controlled by Democrats to change a law they’ve long opposed. Any constitutional amendment must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions and by a statewide vote of the people.

Wisconsin is one of nine states where voters must present a photo ID to cast a ballot, and its requirement is the strictest in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-six states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some sort of identification at the polls, according to NCSL.

Other states have taken similar steps in recent years to put voter ID requirements in their constitutions, with mixed success. Voters approved it in Mississippi in 2011 and North Carolina voters in 2018, while Minnesota voters rejected it in 2012.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature first passed the state’s voter ID law in 2011. It took effect briefly in 2012, but courts that year put it on hold until 2016 after state and federal courts allowed it to take effect.

The Legislature last session approved the voter ID constitutional amendment for the first time. The measure was the first proposal considered by the Legislature this year. The state Senate passed it last week along a party line vote, with all Republicans in support and Democrats against.

The Assembly on Tuesday gave it the final approval needed, also on a party line vote, sending it to the ballot for voter consideration.

It will be the sixth ballot measure the Legislature has placed on the ballot over the past year. Amending the constitution puts questions before voters and avoids potential vetoes by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Evers this month proposed giving citizens the ability to put measures on the ballot through a referendum process. Evers on Tuesday renewed that call, which Republicans oppose.

“If Republican lawmakers are going to continue ignoring the will of the people and legislating by constitutional amendment, then they should give the people of Wisconsin the power to pass the policies they want to see at the ballot box,” Evers said in a statement.

Lawmakers moved quickly because of a Jan. 21 deadline to get the issue on the April 1 ballot.

Control of the state Supreme Court also hangs in the balance in that April election. The race for an open seat will determine whether liberals maintain control for at least the next three years. The Democratic-backed candidate, Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, was the lead attorney in a 2011 lawsuit challenging the voter ID law.

There are no pending legal challenges to voter ID.

Even if the amendment is approved, lawmakers could still decide what types of photo IDs are acceptable. Voters without a photo ID could still cast a provisional ballot, as they can now. The ballot is counted if the voter returns later with a photo ID.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Wisconsin Legislature puts photo ID requirement on ballot for voter approval is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The end of Facebook fact-checking program means it’s up to all of us to spread the truth

Man in pink long-sleeved shirt holds cellphone at left. Man in suit coat and tie points at right.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement that the social media site will no longer work with third-party fact checkers makes it all the more important for the public to help fact checkers like us at Wisconsin Watch.

More on that in a minute.

Before joining Wisconsin Watch, I worked for PolitiFact. Some of my fact-checking reporting was funded by Zuckerberg’s company, Meta. I spent a lot of time debunking posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Last week, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, Zuckerberg announced he was ending Meta’s fact-checking program

That means less fact-checking of social media by PolitiFact and other independent fact checkers.

Wisconsin Watch wasn’t part of that program, so we’re not directly affected by Zuckerberg’s decision. We can carry on as we have with our fact briefs, which are done in partnership with Gigafact. Our briefs, which answer a question yes or no in 150 words, have been held up as a model.

But the loss of Meta’s program underscores the importance of citizen involvement in fact-checking — whether it’s checking claims made on social media or anywhere at all.

It’s my hope that Zuckerberg’s decision will spur citizens all the more to keep an eye out for surprising and dubious claims — and to bring them to the attention of fact checkers. 

Wisconsin Watch monitors what Wisconsin’s politicians are saying and what other folks are saying about Wisconsin. But we could use your eyes and ears, too.

If you come across a statement that seems off — or is interesting, but you can’t tell whether it’s true or false — please let us know. Including a link to the statement helps, too.

Then post our published briefs to inform the debates happening in your social media channels. 

We do our best to make our fact briefs a trusted source. And we’d appreciate your support.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

The end of Facebook fact-checking program means it’s up to all of us to spread the truth is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Live event: Reporting on extremism in Wisconsin and the nation

15 January 2025 at 12:00
Phoebe Petrovic
Reading Time: 2 minutes
  • On Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m. Central time, Wisconsin Watch will host a free, live Zoom event on the topic of covering political extremism. 
  • The event will feature a conversation between Wisconsin Watch reporter and ProPublica fellow Phoebe Petrovic and state bureau chief Matthew DeFour
  • The link to RSVP is here, and full background details are below. 

Throughout 2024, Wisconsin Watch reporter and ProPublica fellow Phoebe Petrovic produced multiple in-depth investigative pieces on the complex topic of extremism and the increasing influence of the religious right on American political discourse. 

In July, Petrovic reported on the rising influence of militant anti-abortion activist and Wisconsin pastor Matthew Trewhella in the modern Republican Party. While he was a political pariah in the 1990s and 2000s for his extremist views, Trewhella’s teachings have been popping up in debates everywhere from local school boards to state legislatures. 

In October, she showed how Trewhella was one character in a much larger story by tracing the long history of the Christian right’s efforts to influence American politics at every level. That same month, as the November election drew closer, Petrovic produced a number of investigative reports. One involved possible tax and election law violations by Vice President-elect JD Vance’s campaign. The other exposed efforts by right-wing activists to recruit poll workers in swing states.  

How did Petrovic get started reporting on the topic of extremism? She will answer that question and many others in conversation with Wisconsin Watch state bureau chief Matthew DeFour, in a live Zoom event on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m. Central time. 

The event will be a webinar format and will be recorded. Attendees will be emailed a link to the recording following the event, and a selection of clips will be published to our YouTube channel. 

Questions can be submitted ahead of time through the RSVP form and will also be collected during the event. 

While this is a free event, if you can afford to pay it forward by contributing any amount to Wisconsin Watch now, please do. Donations help us keep events free for everyone.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Live event: Reporting on extremism in Wisconsin and the nation is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Coal was on its way out, but surging electricity demand is keeping it alive — costing people and the environment

Two smoke plumes billow into a blue sky at a power plant next to a lake.
Reading Time: 6 minutes

The Victor J. Daniel Jr. coal plant — now the largest electric generator in Mississippi — began pumping out power in 1977. In 2001, it got a second life, when owner Mississippi Power added two new turbines that could run on natural gas. Plant Daniel’s coal furnaces were supposed to shut down in 2027. 

But now, the plant is slated for a third act. Georgia Power won regulatory approval to buy power from that plant through 2028, due to what the utility called “unprecedented” growth in electricity demand

Coal-powered generation of electricity has steadily declined in the United States over the past 15 years, driven out by cheaper fuel sources including natural gas, wind and solar — cutting a main source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. 

In the meantime, however, estimates of U.S. electricity demand in 2029 have increased nearly five-fold from those made just a few years ago, fueled by demand from data centers and other high-energy-using industries.

Many utilities see keeping coal around — including as a backup to intermittent power sources such as wind and solar — as a potential solution. A Floodlight analysis of power plant data shows that owners or operators of more than 30 U.S. coal plants, in states from Wisconsin to West Virginia, plan to delay their retirement, while others are weighing the option. 

That is pushing up utility bills — and slowing progress on cutting dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. 

Between 2015 and 2023, all of those 30-plus plants produced electricity “uneconomically,” adding more than $5 billion in unnecessary costs to customer rates, according to analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a clean energy consultancy. For example, operating Mississippi Power’s Plant Daniel cost customers more than $250 million in excess costs during that time, according to RMI. 

A large facility with two towers is seen in the distance next to water.
Edgewater Generating Station is shown along Lake Michigan in Sheboygan, Wis., in August 2024. The coal-fired plant is among more than 30 across the United States that have delayed a planned closure because of concerns around electricity reliability. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Allowing coal plants to run frequently, even when they are not the cheapest resource, is a fixture of modern electricity markets. Some environmental experts say it’s slowing the development of cleaner resources, while costing customers billions in direct costs and billions more in related health and environmental costs. 

Concerns over those costs may take on new urgency amid the debate over growing electricity demand. Many utilities have said they’re unprepared to meet demand forecasts without keeping fossil fuel plants around longer. 

“​​We really do have growth in demand and forecasts of growth that have not been seen really in the careers of most of the people who are working in the electric power world,” said Michael Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The real question is: Well, how did we get into this situation?”

He added, “Had we had the attention to following through on building the renewables, we would have a fraction of this debate going on.” 

Anxiety around unprecedented load growth began in earnest only a couple of years ago, spurred by large data centers used to fuel artificial intelligence models, cryptocurrency and other energy-intensive industries. The numbers around data center growth have been described as “staggering.” In a December report, the Department of Energy projected that U.S. energy use from data centers could double or even triple by 2028. 

For utilities like Mississippi Power, that may mean longer lifetimes for coal. Mississippi Power declined to respond to specific questions about Plant Daniel, its expectations for load growth, or concerns about its uneconomic dispatch. 

A spokesperson directed Floodlight to its 2024 Integrated Resource Plan, which lays out the utility’s expected mix of generation resources. That plan notes that some fossil units “considered marginally economic” are now in demand to fill gaps in capacity and that the utility anticipates the buildout of several large data centers in its territory.

‘Used and useful?’

Utilities must meet electricity demand 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because demand fluctuates, the United States has more power plants than needed at any one time. For about two-thirds of the electricity used in the United States, market operators, called regional transmission operators or independent system operators, decide which plants to call on based on how much demand they expect. They start with the cheapest plants and move to more expensive plants as demand increases. “You save the expensive ones for when you really need them,” Jacobs explained. 

All plants that run get paid the amount — called the “clearing price” — that it costs to operate the most expensive facility that ends up running. 

For more than a century, coal was the baseload of our generation fleet: the cheapest resource and the one meeting the majority of demand. But as U.S. gas production ballooned, natural gas overtook coal as the cheapest source of electricity generation in 2016. 

Today, new wind and solar plants often beat out coal — and, at times, even gas — on price. As a result, a wave of retirements has hit the U.S. coal fleet. The plants that do remain are being used less and less, and coal now generates less than a fifth of U.S. electricity, down from nearly 45% in 2010

But many holdout plants are still running. 

That’s in part because plants can “self-commit” to run, even if operating them is more expensive than the clearing price. Often, those plants — and the utilities that own them — lose money when they self-commit. But utility regulations mean everyday electricity customers may be the ones picking up the tab. 



In the majority of the United States, utilities are regulated monopolies: Customers must purchase electricity from them. Regulated utilities make money, in part, through a guaranteed “rate of return” on investments in equipment including power plants. Those returns are approved by regulators and paid by customer bills. 

Utilities are required to show their plants are “used and useful” to get approval for including a plant in customer rates. And experts like Michael Goggin, vice president at energy consultancy Grid Strategies, say utilities may be dispatching coal even when it costs customers more to make a plant “look more used and useful than it actually is.” 

In a 2024 report on “uneconomic dispatch” in the Midwest, Grid Strategies showed that 14% of 2023 coal plant starts by regulated utilities were unprofitable. Only 2% of coal starts from merchant plants, which earn fluctuating revenue based on the market, were unprofitable.

Without so-called uneconomic dispatch, customers could have saved more than $3 billion in 2023, according to RMI. In Louisiana, for example, regulators determined that electric utilities Cleco and SWEPCO had overcharged customers by $125 million by continuing to run the now-shuttered Dolet Hills coal-fired plant. 

The consultancy also estimated that coal-related health impacts reached over $20 billion in 2023, for emergency room visits and diseases including lung cancer and cardiac disease that could have been avoided. That’s not to mention the hundreds of millions of tons of climate-damaging carbon dioxide these plants emit per year.

Delaying the clean energy transition?

Goggin argued the practice of making plants look more viable than they are may also keep them around longer, crowding out the transition to cleaner and cheaper energy.

“Having these coal plants in the way, that are pumping out uneconomic megawatt-hours and that are using up transmission capacity — in many cases in prime wind and solar spots — is impeding that,” he said.

Increasing demand may at least temporarily inflate electricity prices and push more coal plants into the black. But it also appears to leave an opening for later retirements. 

All of the plants Floodlight identified with delayed timelines have already been producing power uneconomically for years. “Every year, there are less and less months, and less and less hours where it’s economic to run coal plants, and utilities have been dispatching these coal plants pretty similarly over the last 20 years,” said Gabriella Tosado, a senior associate with RMI’s carbon-free electricity program.

State utility regulators are responsible for ensuring that utilities only pass on prudent costs to their customers. In some places, that’s already happening. The Michigan Public Service Commission rejected $11 million in costs to be passed on to customers due to a utility running more expensive coal plants. In Minnesota and Missouri, regulators have investigated the issue. But Tosado said more regulators should be scrutinizing utility arguments about keeping coal plants online. 

A crane loads coal into a yellow truck next to a mound of coal.
A truck prepares to haul coal at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming, the largest coal mine in the world. Due to cost and environmental concerns, use of coal to generate U.S. electricity has steadily dropped over the past 15 years. But some coal plants scheduled to close are staying open to meet burgeoning energy demands. (Peabody Energy Inc.)

In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, economists from Columbia University, the University of Arizona and Northwestern University showed that the current utility regulatory structure creates “potentially conflicting incentives,” resulting in less than half as much coal power retired as would be shuttered in a scenario designed to minimize cost. 

But minimizing costs within current regulatory constraints is a challenge. The paper’s authors also found that a scenario that minimizes cost could reduce utility profits significantly enough to require external financial support to maintain electrical reliability.

In its report, the Department of Energy suggested connecting data centers to clean energy, rather than fossil fuels, including adding new generation on former coal plant sites. 

And coal plants also don’t necessarily need to retire immediately; utilities may also consider running them during part of the year, when they are truly needed. Some utilities, like Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, have already pursued this route (some utilities are even speeding up coal retirements). 

“It’s been my view that we don’t need to retire and dismantle every power plant that burns fossil fuels. We just need to be extraordinarily shy about burning fuel in them,” said Jacobs, who helped author a 2020 report on uneconomic dispatch. But, he added, “the utility practice of not facing up to competition, not wanting to deal with change, is not a strategy that’s going to work for society or the economy.” 

Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.

Coal was on its way out, but surging electricity demand is keeping it alive — costing people and the environment is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

How many undocumented people live and work in Wisconsin?

Farm field
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In Wisconsin, undocumented immigrant workers contribute significantly to the workforce, performing labor that often goes unseen. But the exact number has proven difficult to determine. 

From outdated and cautious estimates to a lack of monitoring by state agencies, it is difficult to say for certain how many immigrants without legal status work in each industry. Quantifying the undocumented population through surveys and studies is also a challenging task. The U.S. Census doesn’t ask about or estimate the number of undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the U.S. total at 11 million as of 2022.

An estimated 70,000 undocumented immigrants live in Wisconsin, about 47,000 of whom are employed, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.  About two-thirds of those had lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more. But that information is now over five years old.

The top industries that employ undocumented workers in the state are: 

Manufacturing — estimated 11,000 workers. 

Professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management services — estimated 8,000 workers.

Accommodation and food services, arts, entertainment and recreation — estimated 5,000 workers.

Construction — estimated 5,000 workers. 

Agriculture — estimated 5,000 workers.

A 2023 UW-Madison School for Workers survey found that over 10,000 undocumented workers perform around 70% of the labor on Wisconsin’s dairy farms. “Without them, the whole dairy industry would collapse overnight,” the researchers concluded.

This finding sparked a public debate in the wake of stricter immigration policies over the unseen, yet essential work that immigrants without legal status provide to the state’s major dairy and farming industries. 

“Obtaining accurate counts of undocumented populations is inherently challenging due to their non-legal status and potential reluctance to participate in official surveys,” said Alexandra Guevara, spokesperson for Voces de la Frontera, a Wisconsin-based immigrant rights organization. 

To complicate matters, state agencies like the Department of Administration and the Department of Public Instruction don’t keep records of the number of undocumented immigrants and workers in the state. DPI lacks this data because public schools do not ask about immigration status. 

In 2018, undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin paid an estimated $157 million in federal taxes and $101 million in state and local taxes, totaling nearly $258 million, according to the American Immigration Council. That estimate dropped slightly to a total of $240 million in federal, state and local taxes as of 2022. 

Undocumented workers make up a large percentage of the workforce in child care and domestic housework. They tend to make up a smaller portion of health care employees and are mainly employed in roles like housekeeping or janitorial and food service in both nursing homes and hospitals, according to Guevara. 

National estimates suggest that undocumented workers make up between 30% and 50% of the meatpacking workforce, according to the University of Michigan. Guevara said it is probable that Wisconsin, a major hub for meat and cheese production, follows this trend.

Wisconsin Watch readers have submitted questions to our statehouse team, and we’ll answer them in our series, Ask Wisconsin Watch. Have a question about state government? Ask it here.

How many undocumented people live and work in Wisconsin? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear cases on ‘Spills Law’ enforcement, legislative power

13 January 2025 at 12:00
Wisconsin Supreme Court in session in an ornate room
Reading Time: 3 minutes

This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a pair of cases that present two questions at the core of an ongoing struggle between some of the most powerful forces in the state.

In the first, the seven justices will hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that could hamper the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to enforce the state’s “Spills Law.” Enacted in 1978, the law requires people or companies discharging a hazardous substance “to restore the environment to the extent practicable and minimize the harmful effects from the discharge to the air, lands or waters of this state.”

The lawsuit, which the court will hear on Tuesday morning, was filed by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s powerful business lobby, in 2021. It argued that the DNR could not require people to test for so-called “forever chemicals” contamination — and require remediation if they’re present — because the agency hadn’t gone through the formal process of designating the chemicals, known as PFAS, as “hazardous substances.” A circuit court judge and the conservative District 2 Court of Appeals agreed, so the state appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The law enables the DNR to enforce the cleanup of any substance posing a risk due to concentration, quantity and toxicity: In the wrong setting, even spilled milk poses a risk. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a family of man-made chemicals used in nonstick cookware and firefighting foam, have been linked to serious health conditions in humans.

The agency maintains that a court loss would strip its authority to compel polluters to clean up chemicals and provide emergency water under the Spills Law, cutting off residents on PFAS-contaminated French Island who have been receiving water since 2021.

This case is notable for more than just the potential environmental implications. It could also put WMC, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in state politics, at odds with the court’s liberal majority just as a potential majority-shifting court campaign gets underway. 

In 2023, WMC spent $5.6 million on the race boosting conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly in his failed bid against now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz. That figure made it the third biggest spender in the race — behind Protasieicz’s campaign and liberal group A Better Wisconsin Together — with the lobbying group outspending even Kelly’s campaign.

Wisconsin Watch will be keeping tabs on how the court’s liberal justices approach this case. Will they leave the lower court ruling in place? Rule against WMC, but only offer the DNR a narrow victory? Something else? A holding in favor of the DNR could draw the ire of WMC and the state’s business community — just as Wisconsin embarks on six straight springs of Wisconsin Supreme Court elections. Keep in mind that a 2005 environmental case involving lead manufacturers helped spur the modern era of expensive, politicized Wisconsin court races.

The second case, which the justices will hear on Thursday morning, is a continuation of a July 6-1 ruling blocking the Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee from “vetoing” certain conservation projects. In an opinion authored by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, the court declared that the committee’s review of certain projects was a separation of powers violation. 

The court initially only heard one of three issues raised by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the lawsuit. But now, it will consider another: Whether or not the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules has the authority to strike down rules created by state agencies and professional boards. 

JCRAR is a 10-member committee that, under state law, currently has the ability to block administrative rules proposed and promulgated by executive branch agencies. For example, in 2023, the committee voted 6-4 along partisan lines to lift a ban on conversion therapy in Wisconsin. The ban was implemented in 2020 by a state board that supervises licensed therapists, counselors and social workers in Wisconsin. The board deemed conversion therapy to be unprofessional conduct for those professions.

Attorneys representing the governor argued the committee’s ability to throw out rules is unconstitutional, once again arguing it represents legislative overreach and is a separation of powers violation.

The case presents yet another opportunity for the court to play the role of power broker. Will it bless the committee’s current practice? Will it rule in favor of the governor, expanding his policymaking ability while curbing the authority of the Legislature? We’re looking for these answers, while also keeping tabs on whether or not it seems the justices will once again be able to reach consensus, as they did in their 6-1 ruling over the summer.

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Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear cases on ‘Spills Law’ enforcement, legislative power is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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