Despite arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex, many county officials want residents to know that courthouse services remain available regardless of citizenship status.
Israel Ramón, the Milwaukee County register of deeds, sees access to his office at the courthouse as a fundamental right of every resident in the county.
“I work for 950,000 people,” Ramón said.
What is a register of deeds?
When people think of essential county services, the register of deeds might not come to mind. But Ramón has a way of making his office sound impossible to live without.
If people want to drive a car, prove legal identity, apply for Social Security or access food benefits in Milwaukee County, among other tasks, they need documents maintained by Ramón’s office.
When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, the register of deeds was established as one of a handful of constitutional county offices – positions created by the state constitution and filled by local elections.
Like a sheriff or a judge, people needed a register of deeds to help organize aspects of their daily lives.
It’s the same today, Ramón said.
“Most of the time, people don’t think that my office impacts their lives. But from birth to death and throughout their tenure in the county – my office does it all.”
Ramón’s office issues birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates – documents known as vital records.
His office also records and archives real property documents for Milwaukee County. Real property includes real estate – the physical land and buildings – as well as the legal rights associated with owning, using and transferring it.
Altogether, Ramón said his office maintains an archive of about 12 million documents.
Access to courthouse complex
All residents of Milwaukee County, Ramón argues, deserve access to these records – regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or immigration status.
If, for example, an undocumented mother needs to obtain a birth certificate for her U.S.-born son to enroll him in school, she has the same right to that document as any other parent, according to Ramón.
These arrests also threaten access to the full range of services offered in the complex, said Alan Chavoya, outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression, a community group critical of the immigration policies of the Trump administration.
“People don’t realize that this complex actually houses so many different services,” Chavoya said. “The county supervisors are here. People pay some taxes here. I served jury duty here.”
“A restraining order – you’re supposed to be able to get help here to file one,” he added. “People who might need one but have mixed status probably aren’t going to come here to get one, right?”
ICE at the courthouse
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution on April 24 calling on the county executive, chief judge and sheriff to work together to ensure access to courthouse services.
However, the resolution does not impose any new restrictions on immigration enforcement.
Ramón remains focused on what he can do. He said he will ask anyone not conducting official business in his office to leave, including ICE agents without a judicial warrant.
A judicial warrant allows officers to make arrests in both private and public areas, while administrative warrants – typically used for immigration-related arrests – permit arrests only in public areas.
As a constitutional officer, the register of deeds has authority over how services are provided, in accordance with state and federal laws, said a spokesperson from the Milwaukee County Executive’s Office.
Failing to remove barriers that prevent people from accessing his office, including fear of immigration enforcement, would mean failing to uphold the oath of office he took, Ramón said.
This includes legal documents such as power-of-attorney forms, which people fearing family separation can use to ensure someone else is able to legally care for their children or manage their finances.
But, again, Ramón makes clear that this service is for every resident of the county.
In addition to what he sees as his public duties, he draws on his personal background to underscore his commitment to accessibility.
He told NNS he is a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, the first Latino constitutional officer in Wisconsin and one of the first openly LGBTQ+ ones.
Gesturing to the LGBTQ+, U.S. and Mexican flags displayed on his bookshelf, Ramón said, “That’s who I am.”
For more information
Milwaukee County residents can request records in person, online or by phone, depending on the type of record.
A government watchdog group in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to prohibit billionaire Elon Musk from ever again offering cash payments to voters in the battleground state like he did in this spring’s hotly contested Supreme Court race.
Musk handed out $1 million checks to three Wisconsin voters, including two in person just days before the state’s April 1 Supreme Court election, in an effort to help elect conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Two weeks before the election, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges,” or referred someone to sign it.
It was all part of more than $20 million that Musk and groups he supports spent on the race in an effort to flip majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. More than $100 million was spent by both sides, making it the most expensive court race in U.S. history.
Musk’s preferred candidate lost to Democratic-backed Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points. Her victory cemented the 4-3 liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court until at least 2028.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says that Musk’s actions create “the risk that Wisconsin elections will become an open auction, where votes go to the preferred candidates of the highest bidders and the election outcome is determined by which candidate has a patron willing and able to pay the highest sum to Wisconsin voters.”
The lawsuit says that Musk and two groups he funds violated prohibitions on vote bribery and unauthorized lotteries and says his actions were an unlawful conspiracy and public nuisance. The lawsuit asks the court to order that Musk never offer similar payments to voters again.
A spokesperson for Musk’s America PAC did not immediately return a text message Wednesday seeking comment.
There is another Wisconsin Supreme Court election in April. In November 2026, control of the Legislature and the governor’s office, as well as the state’s eight congressional districts, will be decided.
The latest lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and a pair of voters by the liberal Wisconsin-based Law Forward and the Washington-based Democracy Defenders Fund. It was filed against Musk, his group America PAC that announced the petition and the Musk-funded group United States of America Inc. that made the payments.
The court that Crawford joins in August could ultimately hear the new lawsuit. Crawford would almost certainly be asked to recuse from the case, and if she did, the court would be left with a 3-3 split between conservative and liberal justices.
The current court, also controlled 4-3 by liberals, declined to hear a similar hastily filed lawsuit brought by Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general seeking to block Musk’s handing out of two $1 million checks to voters two days before the election.
Two lower courts rejected that lawsuit before the Supreme Court declined to hear it on procedural grounds.
Musk’s attorneys argued in that case that Musk was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions.
Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the presidential election last year, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.
A federal lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania in April alleges that Musk and his political action committee failed to pay more than $20,000 for getting people to sign that petition in 2024. America PAC on Monday filed a motion to dismiss. That case is pending.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
As they hit the streets, members of 414LIFE, a community and hospital-based violence intervention program, know their efforts could literally mean the difference between life and death.
That theory was put to the test recently when 414LIFE members showed up to diffuse a neighborhood dispute that also involved law enforcement officers on Milwaukee’s North Side. If not for that intervention, Lynn Lewis, executive director of 414LIFE, believes the incident could have ended in tragedy.
“Frontline workers go into situations where emotions are high, where people are riled up and thinking about retaliation,” Lewis said.
As temperature rises, so can violence
Lewis said her 414LIFE team of 15 violence interrupters and outreach workers has hit the streets hard in recent weeks, responding to an uptick in violence.
“There have been about seven shootings and four homicides in the last 72 hours,” Lewis said during a community pop-up recently near Milwaukee Fire Station 5 on the North Side.
Reggie Moore is the director of violence prevention policy and engagement at the Comprehensive Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, which implements the program for the city of Milwaukee.
He said shootings over the past three weeks have kept the 414LIFE team busy.
Many of the shootings, he said, involved interfamily conflict or intimate partner violence. And while the violence typically rises with the temperature, Moore said, it’s the sheer volume of guns on the streets that presents the biggest problem.
“The presence of a firearm increases the risk of arguments or conflicts resulting in serious injuries or death,” he said. “People are losing their lives and freedom over a moment of anger.
“Our team along with our partners have been working around the clock responding to scenes and hospitals to support impacted families and neighborhoods.”
‘Life is bigger than just the hood’
Lewis said the group held several pop-ups recently along with staff from Credible Messengers, a Milwaukee County violence intervention program. One was at Tiefenthaler Park, 2501 W. Galena St., where a shooting occurred after a vigil recently.
“We talk to people in hot spots like that about the need to change up before they end up incarcerated or dead,” Lewis said. “We need to stop the bleeding.”
The interrupters are well versed in the street lifestyle, having lived through the same challenges that people in the community face now.
One message they share, whether it’s with youths or adults, Lewis said, “is that life is bigger than just the hood.”
They talk about goals and share resources such as information on jobs, food and other programs to help the people they serve build social capital and eventually change their attitudes toward gun violence, she said.
“Milwaukee, we need to stop shooting and start healing,” Lewis said.
Community violence intervention programs like 414 LIFE take a public health approach to reducing violence and improving community safety, Moore said.
He said the 414LIFE program, which was inspired by the Blueprint for Peace, is the longest community violence intervention program in Milwaukee.
“Our colleagues at Froedtert Hospital are also feeling the weight of these shootings just as much as our street teams on the front line,” Moore said. “Working in the streets and hospitals, 414LIFE has been engaging with families and others impacted by shootings across the city.”
The 414LIFE community team was involved in 49 conflict mediations in 2024, with nearly 90% being resolved, Moore said during a May 22 presentation on the program to the Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee.
The team spent 1,388 hours on conflict resolution activities and 2,678 hours on behavior and community norm change activities and worked with 25 youths in 2024.
Aside from mediations, team members also have active caseloads of individuals referred to them by hospitals, the Office of Community Wellness and Safety and individuals they’ve met during outreach.
Data from 414LIFE’s April monthly report shows that caseloads have increased recently, from 36 in January to 50 in April. The team has logged more than 1,200 hours so far this year on behavior change and public accompaniment efforts and more than 100 hours on direct violence intervention.
Evidence of the program’s effectiveness, according to Moore, is that last year’s 414LIFE priority neighborhood, Old North Milwaukee, experienced a 31% decrease in homicides and a 6% decrease in nonfatal shootings in 2024, based on data from the Milwaukee Police Department.
So far this year, homicides are down 50% and nonfatal shootings 43% in Old North Milwaukee.
During his presentation to the Public Safety and Health Committee, Moore said each homicide in Milwaukee costs the city more than $2 million in hospital, criminal investigation, incarceration and other costs, while each shooting costs the city over half a million dollars.
Who are 414LIFE members?
While lived experience helps 414LIFE’s street team talk the talk and walk the walk, it’s the extensive training the members receive that gives them the tools to walk into a volatile situation to prevent bloodshed.
Lewis said her team operates under the Cure Violence model, which works to reduce the risk of retaliation, revictimization and other community violence through credible messengers.
To strengthen those skills, each member goes through the Academy for Transformational Change training, which uses a community asset approach to serve neighborhoods most impacted by crime and incarceration.
Members also receive shooting response, Narcan, Stop the Bleed, Mental Health First Aid and other training, she said.
“The team is highly trained,” Lewis said. “They also have passion and grit.”
Challenges for violence interruption programs
While violence interruption efforts continue in Milwaukee, funding cuts, particularly at the federal level, threaten the future of violence prevention programming.
According to a report by the Council on Criminal Justice, the Trump administration has cut federal funding for community safety and violence intervention programming by more than $168 million.
David Muhammad, deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Milwaukee County, addresses a crowd last month. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
“This work is under attack,” said David Muhammad, deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Milwaukee County, during a pop-up event. “We have to fight for the resources we have.”
In addition to 414LIFE and other local community violence intervention programs, a key to help maintain the reduction of violence that Milwaukee has experienced over the past two years is residents, Moore said.
“Peace starts with the people, and we must ensure that firearms are securely stored and not accessible to individuals prohibited from having them,” he said.
Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit newsroom that uses journalism to make the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected, seeks an audience and social media producer to help develop and execute our strategy for “meeting people where they are” – ensuring that our journalism serves audiences who are less engaged with legacy news formats.
The producer will manage the development, design and distribution of multimedia journalism through social media channels and will play a key role in shaping how our newsrooms think about, understand and meet the needs of diverse audiences across Wisconsin. The right candidate will be a strong communicator and a curious, critical observer of the changing media landscape. The producer will be excited by the challenges of “interpreting” news and information into different formats and take an organized and methodical approach to testing assumptions and developing insights.
The producer will collaborate with editorial and business colleagues in Milwaukee, Madison and northeast Wisconsin and must live within commuting distance of one or more of these areas.
Job duties
The audience and social media producer will:
Contribute to our audience growth by developing and executing platform-specific content strategies to reach people who are less engaged with legacy news formats.
Work with the editors of Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service to fully integrate social media into the editorial planning process.
Collaborate with editors, reporters and community ambassadors to plan and execute social media outreach and distribution as part of wider audience development strategies for specific beats and projects.
Collaborate with beat reporters to “interpret” long-form articles and investigations for lower literacy audiences and collaborate with visual journalists to develop original and repackaged reporting for social media audiences and platforms.
Collect, monitor and analyze data from a variety of sources to develop insights about the relevance, resonance and impact of our journalism, and communicate these insights to journalists and editors to help keep editorial priorities aligned with audience needs.
Be curious about how information-seeking behaviors are evolving alongside a constantly changing media landscape – and be ready to bring observations and insights to discussions about our wider editorial and business strategies.
Required qualifications: The ideal candidate will bring a public service mindset and a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies.
More specifically, we’re looking for a multimedia producer who:
Has experience building audiences on social media platforms.
Has excellent communication skills and a keen eye for tone and detail.
Has visual and design skills (e.g., Canva, Flourish and app-based video editors).
Understands how to use data to develop a news product or service.
Can confidently prioritize and manage multiple projects and deadlines.
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.
Salary and benefits: The salary range is $45,000 – $55,000 depending on experience.
Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. Wisconsin Watch 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: For best consideration, apply by June 27.
To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume and answer some brief questions in this application form.
How do you use social media and how has that changed over the past several years?
What does your daily news diet look like and how has that changed over time?
Please provide 2-3 examples of news organizations, independent journalists or influencers who you think are successfully leveraging social media or other non-traditional formats or channels to deliver news and information. Briefly describe why you chose these examples.
If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Cecilia Dobbs, director of audience development, at cdobbs@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. 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.
About Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing nonpartisan journalism that makes the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. We believe that access to local representative news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life. Under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella, we have three independent news divisions: a statewide investigative newsroom, a regional collaboration in northeast Wisconsin called the NEW News Lab and the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS). All three divisions maintain their unique reporting areas and together are positioned to grow and serve our communities with greater efficiency and impact.
NNS was founded in 2011 as a mission-driven newsroom that reports on and celebrates Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods, specifically the city’s Black and Latinx communities. Through NNS’ reporting, website, e-newsletters and News414 texting service, we cover the ordinary people who do extraordinary things, connect readers with resources and serve as a watchdog for our audience. NNS, formerly a part of Marquette University, and Wisconsin Watch have a long history of collaboration. In 2024, NNS moved its administrative home and merged under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella. Together, Wisconsin Watch’s statewide team and NNS’ reporters collaborate to produce statewide investigative stories while highlighting issues impacting communities in Milwaukee.
Snowflakes fell last February as bundled-up women walked into a downtown Green Bay coffee shop. Inside, Third Space Green Bay was celebrating its one-year anniversary as a group that creates a gathering space for local queer, Black and Indigenous residents and other people of color.
Soft rhythm and blues — from SZA to Solange — filled the room as the group’s three co-founders led a Sunday morning clothes-mending and craft event that promised “healing through creativity.”
In launching Third Space, Jasmine Gordon, Ivy McGee and Sarah Titus aim to help people with a range of backgrounds feel at home in a city that’s 70% white and in a state where less than 4% of people identify as LGBTQ+.
The women met at St. Norbert College, a Catholic liberal arts institution in De Pere, just outside of Green Bay. McGee grew up in De Pere, and Titus, a native Minnesotan, moved to Green Bay in 2008. They had worked together for years as librarians at the college when Gordon, a St. Norbert alum, became the library’s community engagement coordinator in 2021. Seeing a gap to fill on campus, the women rolled out library programming that engaged LGBTQ+ students and people of color.
Mulva Library is seen through a gateway Dec. 16, 2024, at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. Before founding the nonprofit Third Space, founders Jasmine Gordon, Ivy McGee and Sarah Titus worked for St. Norbert College together at Mulva Library.
Events like “The Transperience,” an art installation in partnership with the Bay Area Council on Gender Diversity and the Trans Artist Collaborative, and a farmers market featuring more than 40 Black-owned businesses prompted feedback from residents who said they had never felt so seen, loved or cared for.
“We would have people come up to us afterwards expressing, ‘Oh my gosh, I never knew I needed this,’” Titus said.
But St. Norbert’s climate of inclusion changed over the years, the women said. In fall 2024, for instance, the college changed its gender policy, aligning with Catholic church guidelines recognizing only two genders: male and female. While leaders said the college remained committed to supporting people of diverse backgrounds, many students and staff said the change sent a different message.
At the same time, Gordon, McGee and Titus envisioned a larger, independent project to promote inclusion across Green Bay — beyond the confines of campus.
“We saw an opportunity and a responsibility to separate ourselves from the institution and develop something that felt more aligned with our core values, and that was including folks from all different walks of life regardless of who they love or what color their skin is or how they identify,” McGee said.
A young girl picks out craft materials alongside co-founder Jasmine Gordon, right, during a Third Space Green Bay event at The Nightly Buzz in Green Bay, Wis.
Tote bags, T-shirts and stickers are for sale alongside a donation box during a Third Space Green Bay event at The Nightly Buzz on Feb. 16, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis.
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third space” in 1989, with home being someone’s “first place” and work as a “second place.” Third spaces are where people publicly gather informally, such as coffee shops, restaurants, coworking spaces and libraries. Third Space Green Bay seeks to create places for people to “just be,” its founders said.
Its programs are free and “open and welcoming to folks that are on the margins,” McGee said.
Third Space isn’t the only local group serving LGBTQ+ populations. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Pride Center provides resources and holds events. But Third Space is rare in that it also intentionally serves Black and Indigenous residents, alongside other people of color.
“When we were thinking of how we wanted this organization to exist, we were really thinking about it as a coalition,” Titus said, adding that the group is “building and intertwining” multiple communities that are often marginalized locally.
Third Space, which filed to become a nonprofit in April 2024, has hosted more than 10 hours of community programming and raised more than $11,000 in grants and $6,700 in donations.
Earlier this year, Third Space hosted an International Women’s Day pop-up shop that included a poetry writing workshop and a live performance from a local poet.
McGee said joining other women in that space made her feel her organization was “absolutely on the right track” and helped her imagine what it could do with a permanent location.
Paige Berg, left, a Third Space Green Bay board member and trauma-informed art therapist, laughs with Essence Wilks, center, and Taiyana Plummer, whose hands are shown, during a Third Space event at The Nightly Buzz on Feb. 16, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. Third Space hosted the free hands-on crafts workshop at the bar during its off hours. “Seeing this makes me so happy,” Plummer said. “I’ve been looking for community.”
The trio of founders said they are building the scaffolding for Third Space’s future. Until they secure a permanent location in downtown Green Bay, they’ll continue borrowing spaces from like-minded people in the community.
At the February anniversary event, Essence Wilks, a Milwaukee native who recently moved to Green Bay, and Taiyana Plummer, a Green Bay native, learned about Third Space after walking into the coffee shop in search of matcha tea. Plummer said she and Wilks had just been discussing a shortage of inclusive gathering spaces in Green Bay.
“Growing up here, especially when I was younger, it was harder to find people similar to me or spaces where I felt welcomed or heard and seen,” Plummer said. “So seeing this was very nice and made me feel very comfortable and just really excited for what’s moving forward with Third Space.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wisconsin’s budget committee voted unanimously Thursday to increase the bonding authority of the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program and the Clean Water Fund Program by $732 million, which could provide increased assistance to Wisconsin communities for wastewater treatment infrastructure projects.
The vote was the only unanimous decision at the Joint Finance Committee meeting, approved just after Republican lawmakers halted budget negotiations with Gov. Tony Evers Wednesday evening.
The Clean Water Fund Program provides subsidized loans for local governments to plan, design, construct and replace waste or drinking water projects. Demand for the clean water fund program exceeded available funds by almost $90 million in 2025, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Before the vote, JFC co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, addressed the need for water treatment infrastructure across Wisconsin.
“I look at some of the unfunded projects around the state, and I’ve got several in my district, so this is going to be very good for a lot of our local communities when it comes to clean water,” Marklein said.
In a Thursday statement, conservation organizations, including the Wisconsin Conservation Voters, celebrated the JFC’s unanimous decision.
“Every Wisconsinite deserves equitable access to safe, affordable drinking water,” said Peter Burress, government affairs manager. “Increasing the revenue bonding authority of the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program and the Clean Water Fund Program is a smart, substantive way to make progress on this goal.”
Catch up on previous bite-sized reports on the state budget here.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Police agencies across the country have different requirements for surveilling officers on the job. While eight states require police to wear body cameras, all but one of them since the 2020 murder of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, Wisconsin leaves the decision up to individual agencies.
Most agencies in the state use either body cameras or dashboard cameras, according to a 2021 survey conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Of the 436 agencies surveyed, 88% said they used one or the other, and 48% said they used both.
To request the body-worn or dash camera footage from a police shooting in Wisconsin, you must submit what’s known as a “public records request” to the police agency involved in the shooting. Bodycam footage must be maintained for at least 120 days after being recorded and, for serious incidents, until an investigation or case is resolved.
This can be done with a web search for the agency’s name and “public records” or “records request.” Many agencies have a page with a phone number, email and/or mailing address alongside a form to fill out. General open records letter templates and advice are available at websites such as the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
When filling out the form or submitting the written request for a police shooting video, it’s important to be as detailed as possible about the information you are looking to receive. Ask for body-worn camera and/or dash camera audio-video recordings, and write a detailed summary of the shooting in question. Relevant information can include the date, location and time of the shooting, the people involved and any other case knowledge you have.
How quickly an agency fulfills your request depends on whether your record is “simple” or “complex,” or where it is chronologically in the police agency’s record requests log, depending on the records custodian. At many agencies, the more precise you are with your request, the more likely it is to be categorized as “simple” and completed quickly. Wisconsin law only requires that agencies provide or deny records “as soon as practicable and without delay,” but for simple requests the attorney general has suggested it should be no more than 10 days.
Under a 2024 Wisconsin law, police agencies are allowed to require payment before providing video to cover the cost of redacting, pixelating and/or editing it for privacy. Individual requesters must attest that they do not plan to use the footage for financial gain, or face a flat $10,000 fine.
In at least one case, a police agency has threatened to fine a reporter for sharing requested footage with a news publication though ultimately apologized and never went through with it. WFIC President Bill Lueders said he has never heard of a police agency actually levying fines against requesters.
“If push comes to shove, I think (the issue) would probably end up in the courts and maybe (the law) would be struck down. But push has not come to shove,” Lueders said.
Finally, though anyone can request police bodycam footage under the public records law, the state allows police agencies to deny the request if they demonstrate how “harm done to the public interest by disclosure outweighs the right of access to public records.”
Should this occur with your request, you may go to court and ask for the record’s release. Wisconsin law stipulates that you may also request the attorney general or district attorney of the county where the record took place to go to court on your behalf, but Lueders said he could “probably count on one hand” the amount of times this has been done in the past 20 years.
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.
Republican President Donald Trump may have won Wisconsin in November, but Badger State Democrats see a pathway to winning a “trifecta” in state government in 2026.
How they get there will be at the heart of the party’s state convention this upcoming weekend in the Wisconsin Dells.
Winning a trifecta means holding onto the governor’s seat, whether or not Gov. Tony Evers seeks a third term — and winning majorities in the state Assembly and Senate, both of which Republicans have controlled since 2011. Democrats flipped 14 seats in November after the Supreme Court tossed out Republican-tilted legislative maps, and 2026 is shaping up to be an even more favorable year for the party out of power in Washington.
A key step will be choosing a successor to Ben Wikler, who is stepping down after six years as the state party chair. Under Wikler, the party raised $63 million in 2024 — more than any state party, Democratic or Republican, in the country. In April, it helped Dane County Judge Susan Crawford cement a liberal majority on the state Supreme Court race until at least 2028.
The three candidates vying for the two-year term as chair are Devin Remiker, Joe Zepecki and William Garcia.
Remiker served as the party’s executive director under Wikler and has his endorsement. Zepecki is a communications veteran with extensive election campaign experience and big-name endorsements of his own. Garcia is a dark-horse candidate — but with the party using ranked-choice voting for the first time to choose a chair, there’s a new election dynamic. In ranked-choice voting, the votes for the last place candidate are distributed to those voters’ second choice until a candidate gets a majority of the total vote.
Reaching out to Democrats around the state, not just in population centers, and shoring up the party’s reputation are common priorities of the candidates.
“I think fundraising is a really important task,” state Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said about the next chair. “But we are a grassroots party and the reality is, money doesn’t mean much if you’re not on the ground in every community.”
The insider
Remiker, 32, now a senior adviser to the state party, lives in the Reedsburg area, about an hour northwest of Madison. He said the state party needs more focus on rural areas and voters of color, in part to repair its image.
“I think that we have fallen short, and not just the state party, but also the national Democratic Party and how people perceive us,” Remiker said. “I think we have a lot of trust building to do, and that is going to be a major focus of mine, is showing up, not to ask people to vote for us, but just to ask them to keep an open mind and rebuild those relationships of trust that have been damaged.”
At a WisPolitics event last week, Wikler said he’s been making phone calls on behalf of Remiker and described him as the architect of Crawford’s successful Supreme Court strategy of turning the race into a referendum on billionaire and Trump efficiency czar Elon Musk, who heavily backed her conservative opponent.
Remiker described more engagement at events such as festivals and farmers markets, even away from election campaign season, as the way to maintain the momentum from the Supreme Court election.
“People take for granted that if we just show up and start talking about issues, issues that the vast majority of voters agree with us on,” that Democratic candidates will win votes, Remiker said. “But if they don’t trust the messenger, if they think that they can’t trust the Democratic Party to actually deliver or actually focus on these issues, we’re not actually able to break through.”
Remiker also has endorsements from former state Democratic Party chairs Martha Laning, Martha Love and Jeff Neubauer; U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee; state Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein and state Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer.
The communicator
Zepecki, 43, lives in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood and runs his own communications firm. His election campaign experience includes serving as communications director for Mary Burke’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign and Barack Obama’s 2012 Wisconsin presidential campaign.
Zepecki said he wants to “fine-tune” party mobilization and get-out-the-vote efforts.
“I think over the last six years, the approach has become a little too top-down, a little too one-size-fits-all,” he said. “We need to have a system that is flexible enough for local leaders to have a voice in the strategy because they’re the ones doing the work at the local level.”
Zepecki also said the party needs to improve communication to increase trust.
“This is not unique to Wisconsin. The Democratic Party nationally has a brand problem. Our communications and messaging are not landing,” Zepecki said.
“We have to try stuff, we have to innovate,” he added. “It might not all work, but shame on us if we don’t try and we don’t listen to the voters who are telling us they don’t believe us and they’re not hearing enough from us. That’s on us, not on the voters.”
Zepecki’s endorsements include former state party chair Linda Honold; the party chairs in Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha, Marathon and Rock counties; and Tina Pohlman, who is co-chair along with Garcia in La Crosse County.
The dark horse
Garcia, 52, of La Crosse is a Western Technical College instructor. He is party chair for the 3rd Congressional District in western Wisconsin.
Garcia said he’s running because the county parties have been “left behind,” lacking enough resources from the state party on things such as party members, voters and communications.
“Because at the end of the day, commercials are really important, social media is really important, but it’s really the one-on-one in-person contacts that emanate from the county parties that persuade and flip voters,” he said.
Garcia, who lacks big-name endorsements, said his position as a county party leader positions him well in the election.
The state party “does so much really well, this is the blind spot right now, and that’s why I think I’m the best choice to fix it, because I’m the one that’s kind of lived in that blind spot for years,” he said.
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For the people of Green Bay, the long-awaited deal to move century-old coal piles from the riverfront near downtown is a big deal.
How big?
“This is our Louisiana Purchase. This is our purchasing of Alaska,” said state Rep. Dave Steffen, R-Howard. “It doesn’t get any bigger than this. We are not only just witnessing history, we’re part of it today.”
Steffen was one of the Green Bay-area lawmakers of both parties who were on hand Thursday before the Brown County Board of Supervisors approved a deal that will pave the way toward moving the hulking black piles that local officials and residents have hoped to oust for decades.
Thursday’s deal, approved unanimously after a closed session of the county board, sets the general framework for a lease agreement that will allow the coal to be relocated.
The coal sits on land along the Fox River that community leaders see as ripe for redevelopment. A very visible and not-so-pretty symbol of the city’s industrial heritage, it is also a nuisance for some residents who say dust from the piles blows into nearby neighborhoods.
A desire to move the coal piles to someplace less visible has been on the wish list of generations of city leaders.
“It’s literally something that mayors of the city of Green Bay and other community leaders have been working on for upwards of 75 years,” said Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich.
Thursday’s vote means the county will not lose a $15 million federally-funded state grant that was in jeopardy after the county board altered a previous deal in December and negotiations stalled. The county had until Tuesday to come to an agreement and until Friday for the board to approve it, or risk losing the grant.
C. Reiss Co. owns the coal piles. The company has operated the bulk commodities storage facility on Mason Street, located along the the Fox River, since 1900.
Under the deal, C. Reiss and the county will work to finalize a lease agreement for a 16-acre parcel of land at a former power plant site the county is redeveloping for the Port of Green Bay. The company would also lease up to 1.5 acres for a stormwater pond that it would maintain.
But the agreement stipulates that C. Reiss, or other users, may not store coal at the power plant site.
Rather, CEO Keith Hasselhoff said coal would be stored at a site near the power plant, known as the Fox River Terminal. C. Reiss’ parent company currently stores salt and other bulk commodities at the Fox River Terminal.
When the 16-acre parcel is ready, Hasselhoff said C. Reiss plans to move salt from the terminal site to the power plant.
“As that salt at Fox River depletes and opens up more space at Fox River, we’ll be able to land new vessels of coal at Fox River, which then will allow us to deplete the inventories that we have at Mason Street,” Hasselhoff said.
At a press conference before the meeting, Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said moving the coal from downtown “is not going to happen overnight” and could take “a number of years.”
County Board chair Patrick Buckley said the final negotiations came down to the eleventh hour. He said talks were ongoing up through Tuesday night, when all parties came to a consensus. He said the county’s corporation counsel spent Wednesday and Thursday getting the agreement in writing for the board’s approval.
“It’s really a group effort here to get this done,” he said. “A lot of people did not think this was going to get done. … But a lot of hard work went into it.”
The lease for the power plant site still needs to be fully ironed out, but the agreement requires the lease be fully executed by Sept. 15 or the parties could be required to go to arbitration.
According to the conditions approved Thursday, it would run for 60 years with the annual rent set at $350,000 with inflationary increases every five years.
The length of a lease had been one of the biggest sticking points in past agreements. Back in December, C. Reiss had wanted a lease that ran up to 75 years, while the county board wanted a 30-year lease with a 10-year extension option.
Streckenbach acknowledged that the board previously had reservations about a long-term lease. But he said all sides had to make concessions in the negotiation.
“Ultimately, because of what we came to an agreement with and everybody making concessions, the county board felt comfortable going forward with the length that was proposed,” he said.
The agreement also stated that the city of Green Bay would provide up to $2.2 million if the county faces funding shortfalls related to the coal relocation effort.
Genrich said the addition of the city’s financial commitment was “one of the latter changes” that was made to the agreement and was something that he and Council President Brian Johnson had committed to in their discussions with county officials.
“Our priority is Mason Street and (doing) whatever was necessary within reason to make that redevelopment project possible,” he said. “The commitment that we all made to each other in the room was like, ‘We’re going to get this done regardless.’”
Genrich said the full Green Bay City Council will discuss the up to $2.2 million in funding at its meeting on Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department has sent letters to election officials in at least two key swing states, threatening action against the states if they don’t comply with provisions of a 2002 federal election law.
Lawyers from the department’s civil rights division sent letters in recent weeks to both Arizona and Wisconsin. The Arizona letter said that state officials are not properly verifying voters’ identities as dictated by the Help America Vote Act, and it warned of a lawsuit. The Wisconsin letter said the Wisconsin Elections Commission is not properly resolving administrative complaints as required by the same law and threatened to withhold federal election funds over that issue.
The Justice Department recently sued North Carolina also, claiming that the state has not been properly verifying voter identity.
The department issued a press release and publicly released the Wisconsin letter, dated June 4; Votebeat obtained the previously unreported Arizona letter, dated May 20, through a records request.
The letters are an early sign of how President Donald Trump’s administration is scrutinizing state election practices after his March executive order on elections, which called for stricter citizenship checks and revised voting machine standards, among other things. The Justice Department has also dropped or withdrawn from severalvoting rights cases dating from before Trump took office again in January.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, responded in a June 2 letter to the Justice Department that state election officials conduct a complete residency and citizenship check and fully comply with the Help America Vote Act when someone registers to vote.
“Arizona has a long history of adherence to voter registration requirements, both state and federal,” Fontes wrote.
The Wisconsin Elections Commissiondeclined to immediately comment on the letter that it received, which noted that the commission has declined to adjudicate administrative complaints against itself since at least 2022, due in part to a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision.
The letter said the commission’s actions “justify a bar” on future grants to the state from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The DOJ appears to be raising a “legitimate” violation in that case, David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and a former attorney in the voting section of the Justice Department, said after reviewing the letter. But he characterized it as minor and stressed that the agency has limited resources to devote to enforcing voting laws.
The DOJ didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the letters.
How Wisconsin Elections Commission handles conflict of interest
Under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), any state receiving money for elections must also establish an administrative process allowing people to file complaints about alleged violations of the law. If the state determines there’s a HAVA violation, it must provide an appropriate remedy, the law says; if not, it can dismiss the complaint.
In rejecting those complaints, the commission cited a 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion in which Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative, said it would be “nonsensical” for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to adjudicate a complaint against itself. Bradley was joined in her opinion by two other justices, and a fourth justice echoed her in a separate opinion in the case.
Becker said that WEC practice probably doesn’t comply with the federal law, which supersedes state laws, especially for federal elections.
While the election commission said it would be a conflict of interest to adjudicate complaints against itself, Becker said other agencies “do investigations of themselves all the time.”
Because of the WEC’s position, complainants are left “without any recourse,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in the letter. The commission’s actions jeopardize future federal funding, she wrote.
But in at least some cases, the agency has told complainants they can appeal a WEC ruling in court, Rob Yablon, a law professor at UW-Madison, pointed out. Yablon also said it’s unclear whether WEC’s position that it can’t resolve the complaints could itself count as a determination that meets the requirements in HAVA.
Right now, Wisconsin doesn’t stand to lose much in federal funding over the issue. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission allocated about $272,000 in election security grants to Wisconsin in the 2025 fiscal year, money that has yet to come in, according to WEC Chair Ann Jacobs, a Democrat.
“The commission would have to decide to take it. We would have to know the conditions of receiving it,” Jacobs said, adding that she questioned “whether or not the work that would be involved in (administering the grants) would justify the receipt of the money when … it would amount to $147.03 per clerk.”
It would take a majority vote of the commissioners for the WEC to begin adjudicating claims against itself, Jacobs said, but she wouldn’t be in favor of it.
“I think our legal analysis is correct: It’s improper for us to be the adjudicating body on whether or not we did something wrong,” she said. “I think that we can have both statutes, both federal and state law, harmoniously work together. And I think that is, in fact, what’s going on.”
WEC member Don Millis, a Republican, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following the DOJ letter, Republicans in charge of the state’s budget committee delayed a planned session to finalize the election commission’s budget, saying they had to review the Justice Department’s allegations first.
Arizona’s ID number checks are at issue
In both the North Carolina lawsuit and the Arizona letter, the DOJ asserted that the states have failed to require applicants’ driver’s license numbers when they register to vote.
In the letter to Arizona’s secretary of state, Maureen Riordan, senior counsel and acting chief of the voting section of the civil rights division, wrote that HAVA requires the state to request the applicant’s driver’s license number if the applicant has one. If not, a Social Security number is acceptable, she wrote.
The DOJ claims Arizona improperly allows registrants to use either ID number, regardless of whether the applicant has a driver’s license.
The division asked the state to revise the form and retroactively check all applicants who provided only a Social Security number “to identify any non-citizens.”
Fontes in his response explained that since 2005, Arizona has required voters who register to vote in state and local elections to provide evidence of citizenship and has designed its form to meet that requirement as well as HAVA requirements.
When someone applies, an election official completes what the state calls a “HAVA check” using the state’s driver’s license database to check the driver’s license data, as well as to confirm citizenship, he said.
“Our system and processes ensure that if those individuals have MVD credentials, the number of such credential is included in their voter record,” he wrote.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Fifield at jfifield@votebeat.org.
The Trump administration must restore hundreds of millions of dollars in AmeriCorps grant funding and thousands of service workers in about two dozen states, including Wisconsin, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman granted a temporary block on the agency’s cancellation of grants and early discharge of corps members, but only for the states that sued the administration in April.
The federal lawsuit, filed by Democratic state officials across the country, accused President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency of reneging on grants funded through the AmeriCorps State and National program, which was budgeted $557 million in congressionally approved funding this year.
Boardman also said all AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps members that were discharged from their service terms early should be reinstated, if they are willing and able to return.
But Boardman allowed the 30-year-old federal agency for volunteer service to proceed with its reduction in force, denying the states’ request to restore the majority of staff that were put on administrative leave in April. The agency employs more than 500 full-time federal workers and has an operating budget of roughly $1 billion.
AmeriCorps did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
The 30-year-old agency created to facilitate volunteer service across the country oversees several programs that dispatch hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to serve in communities.
It sends roughly 200,000 corps members across the country as part of its service programs. Most corps members get a living stipend during their service and become eligible for funding for future education expenses or to apply for certain student loans.
As part of the AmeriCorps State and National grant program, state volunteer commissions distributed more than $177 million in formula-based distributions, as well as $370 million in competitive grants that supported nearly 35,000 corps members serving at 300 organizations, according to announcements last year.
Notices of grants being terminated were sent late on a Friday in April, explaining “the award no longer effectuates agency priorities” and directing grantees to immediately shut down the projects, according to a copy reviewed by The Associated Press.
The states that sued the administration said those extensive and immediate cancellations did not provide the legally required notice and comment period. They said the result would be severely curtailed services and programs for vulnerable populations since states and organizations could not fill the funding void.
AmeriCorps argued in court filings that a temporary block on the agency’s actions as the lawsuit proceeds would disrupt efforts to comply with Trump’s executive order creating DOGE and to “act as responsible stewards of public funds,” according to court filings.
Despite bipartisan support, AmeriCorps has long been a target of critics who decry bloat, inefficiencies and misuse of funds.
“President Trump has the legal right to restore accountability to the entire Executive Branch,” Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary, previously said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit was filed by officials in Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Washington, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
A Republican-backed bill would make it easier to go to court to challenge the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s rulings on administrative complaints — a shift that could increase the number of election-related lawsuits.
The proposal, Assembly Bill 268, seeks to reverse a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that limited who has the right to appeal such rulings. If passed, it would allow more residents to bring election challenges into the court system, rather than leaving accountability solely in the hands of the commission.
If the bill fails, supporters argue, holding election officials accountable for breaking the law would be difficult or even impossible.
As the law stands now, under the Supreme Court’s interpretation, “unless a person is personally, legally harmed by a WEC decision, the decision is unappealable,” Republican state Sen. Van Wanggaard, the bill author, said at an Assembly elections committee hearing Tuesday.
Complaints to the Wisconsin Elections Commission are frequent
State residents of all political affiliations regularly file complaints with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is the legally required first step for most election-related challenges, unless they are brought by district attorneys or the attorney general.
In one prominent case after the August 2022 election, then-Racine County Republican Chair Kenneth Brown filed an administrative complaint with the commission, accusing Racine of illegally using a mobile voting van for city residents to cast in-person absentee votes. Brown alleged, among other things, that the van was stationed around more Democratic areas of the city, illegally providing an unfair partisan advantage.
The commission rejected Brown’s complaint, finding no probable cause to suspect that the use of the van was illegal. Brown, represented by the conservative legal group Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, appealed. State law allows election officials or complainants “aggrieved” by a commission order to appeal it to circuit court.
Courts disagreed over whether Brown was qualified to sue under that standard. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority ultimately dismissed the case, ruling that Brown had not shown the commission’s decision made it harder for him to vote or harmed him personally.
“Because Brown was not injured by WEC’s decision,” liberal Justice Jill Karofsky wrote in the majority opinion, he “does not have standing to seek judicial review.”
Republicans panned the decision. Liberals were mostly happy with the outcome of the case, but some objected to the court’s legal reasoning on standing and complained that the justices should have addressed the underlying dispute in the case — that is, whether the use of the mobile voting van was legal.
Clerks, meanwhile, largely supported the justices’ interpretation of who has standing to challenge a commission ruling in court. They expressed concern about the Wanggaard bill, which would negate that ruling.
“This concept of legal standing exists because it prevents the courts from becoming overburdened with speculative, ideological or purely political lawsuits,” Green County Clerk Arianna Voegeli, a Democrat, said at the hearing. The bill, Voegeli said, opens the door to politically motivated complaints “aimed at harassing election officials or disrupting election administration.”
Proponents say bill would provide a check on the WEC
Assembly Bill 268 would explicitly allow any complainants to appeal any commission order that doesn’t give them what they’re asking for, “regardless of whether the complainant has suffered an injury to a legally recognized interest.”
Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which registered in favor of the bill, told Votebeat that in voting disputes, courts should decide cases on the underlying legal arguments, rather than focusing on who has the right to sue.
“It’s important that any government actor who’s making decisions (has) some kind of a mechanism in place to review those decisions in every case,” Vebber said.
“Both sides have filed these types of complaints,” he continued, “and I think all of them, regardless of political affiliation, should have their opportunity to have a day in court.”
Courts are already weighing in on an increasing number of voting disputes — including cases on drop boxes, whether voters can spoil their ballots and whether municipalities can forgo accessible voting machines for people with disabilities.
Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson said in a statement that the proposal could lead to more harassment and a “surge in litigation” against clerks since anybody in the state could file a complaint against the clerk, whether or not they were harmed, and then continue to pursue the case in court.
Wanggaard, the bill author, said it’s not his goal to put more pressure on clerks. Clerks weren’t getting flooded with cases before the Supreme Court restricted who could sue over commission complaints, he said.
Rep. Scott Krug, the Republican vice chair of the elections committee, said the bill’s language might be overly broad and suggested changes that would draw some limits on who could challenge a commission ruling in court.
For example, he said, lawmakers could clarify that only people who live in the jurisdiction where the alleged violation occurred could appeal a commission ruling.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
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Health care systems including SSM Health, Aurora Health, UW Health and, most recently, Ascension have removed from their websites language related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The changes have come in the months since President Donald Trump has signed executive orders abolishing federal DEI programs.
UW Health publicly announced changes such as the removal of anti-racism modules titled “Being a leader in anti-racism” and “anti-racism funding” and replacement with modules called “Being a social impact leader” and “Community giving.”
Multiple Wisconsin health care systems have removed diversity, equity and inclusion language or resources from their websites in the wake of President Donald Trump’s federal ban on funding for DEI programming.
The systems include SSM Health, Aurora Health, UW Health and, most recently, Ascension. Froedtert ThedaCare Health has maintained its DEI webpage, though it removed a link to its equal employment opportunity policy in recent months.
Aurora Health, Ascension, Froedtert and SSM Health made the changes quietly, without directly alerting the public. UW Health, however, released an op-ed in Madison 365 April 8 explaining the changes.
“As we enter the next phase of this important work, we are further aligning with our organizational mission under the name of Social Impact and Belonging,” the op-ed said. “This reflects both the evolved nature of the work and our desire that these mission-focused priorities endure despite the current tumultuous political environment.”
The changes occurred in the weeks after President Donald Trump’s executive order abolishing DEI programs from all federally funded institutions and programs.
The executive order, issued Jan. 20, states the “Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.”
In response to attacks on DEI programs by the federal government, some organizations have pushed back, arguing Trump’s actions are a threat to a multiracial democracy. Some institutions are also suing the federal government for its actions, such as threatening to withhold federal grants and funding.
Harvard University has filed a lawsuit, citing First Amendment principles to protect “academic freedom” and “private actors’ speech.”
But while some federally funded institutions are pushing back, others are not.
Different approaches to DEI purge
In the past couple of months, SSM Health removed the word “diversity” from its website, including changing a page titled “Our Commitment to Diversity” to “Our Commitment to Healthy Culture.”
SSM has hospitals located throughout Wisconsin including Ripon, Fond du Lac, Waupun, Baraboo, Janesville, Madison and Monroe.
In changing the webpage, SSM Health also removed an entire section regarding its commitment to fostering a diverse workplace and health care center, including a section that read, “SSM Health makes it a point to work with diverse organizations broadening our reach into the communities we serve to support and promote a more inclusive society.”
At left is the SSM Health website, as seen on March 4, 2025. The title of the page reads: “Our Commitment to Diversity.” At right is the SSM Health website, as seen on April 1, 2025. The title of the page reads: “Our Commitment to Healthy Culture.” Use the slider to scroll between images.
SSM Health also notably replaced the section discussing diversity with comment on SSM Health’s mission as a Catholic ministry. On the updated page, the system discusses its commitment to follow in the footsteps of its founders to ensure “all people have access to the high-quality, compassionate care they need.”
In removing the word “diversity,” SSM replaced the statement “At SSM Health, diversity is an integral part of who we are and a reflection of our mission and values” with “At SSM Health, inclusion is an integral part of who we are and a reflection of our Mission, Vision and Values.”
”Today, our belief that every person was created in the image of God with inherent dignity and value calls us to foster a healthy culture, inviting each person to be the best version of themselves,” SSM Health communications consultant Shari Wrezinski said when asked for comment.
Wrezinski said the organization’s mission has remained the same, and its communications, policies, programs and practices reflect the organization’s mission.
“This has not and will not change,” Wrezinski said. “As such, our website and other communications materials are continually updated as we strive to clearly convey our commitment to a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and respected.”
Despite removing the section on diversity, SSM Health has maintained its equal opportunity section.
Froedtert did the opposite, by maintaining its webpages on diversity, equity and inclusion, but removing its equal opportunity policy document from the pages.
At left is the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin “Diversity and Inclusion” webpage, as seen on March 18, 2025. It shows a link to its “Equal Employment Opportunity” page. At right is Froedtert’s “Diversity and Inclusion” webpage, as seen on March 25, 2025. It is missing the previously included link to its “Equal Employment Opportunity” page. Red circles added by Wisconsin Watch for emphasis.
The equal opportunity document, which can still be found online but was removed from the DEI website, specifically outlines Froedtert’s commitment and policy to maintain equitable and nondiscriminatory recruitment, hiring and human resources practices.
The document outlines two policies specifically: “FH is committed to its affirmative action policies and practices in employment programs to achieve a balanced workforce” and “FH will provide equal opportunity to all individuals, regardless of their race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, military and veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or any other characteristics protected by state or federal law.”
Froedtert did not respond to requests for comment.
The Froedtert system serves patients primarily in the Milwaukee area. Froedtert recently merged with ThedaCare, serving Wisconsin residents in the Fox Valley and Green Bay. In 2020, the system reported receiving tens of millions in federal funding through the CARES Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While removing a link to an equal opportunity document may be a simple change, the Rev. Marilyn Miller, a partner in Leading for Racial Equity LLC, said every small change pushes society further back in achieving full access and equity.
“So it might be a small tweak now, but what does that open the door to later? So, yeah, it’s impactful because any change that’s stepping back from full equity is a problem,” Miller said. “There’s populations that don’t feel any security anymore.”
Aurora Health Care also has removed DEI language in the past couple of months since the executive order.
In 2018, Aurora merged with Advocate Health, a system with more than 26 hospitals throughout the Midwest. Advocate Aurora Health later merged with Atrium Health in 2022, creating the third largest nonprofit in the nation.
Earlier this year, Aurora removed an entire page on diversity, equity and inclusion. The page now redirects to Advocate’s page titled “Access & Opportunity.”
That change cut statements such as: “Our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy is anchored by our purpose to help people live well and to deliver safe, consistent, and equitable health outcomes and experiences for the patients and communities we serve.”
A spokesperson for Aurora Health Care said the organization will continue to “deliver compassionate, high-quality, consistent care for all those we serve.”
“As our newly combined purpose and commitments state, we lift everyone up by ensuring access and opportunity for all,” the spokesperson said. “To provide our patients and communities clear and consistent information that explains our programs, policies and services, we are making various changes to our websites.”
Ascension, one of the largest nonprofit hospital systems in the nation, took down the entire page on diversity, equity and inclusion. The health care system currently operates at over 165 locations in Milwaukee, Racine, Appleton and Fox Valley. The system still has modules on “Identifying & Addressing Barriers to Health” and “Ensuring Health Equity.” Ascension did not respond to a request for a comment.
Making a statement
UW Health removed its page on diversity, equity and inclusion, replacing it with a page titled “social impact and belonging.” In doing so, UW Health removed “anti-racism” from its entire website. It used to be one of the main themes.
UW Health removed the anti-racism modules titled “Being a leader in anti-racism” and “anti-racism funding,” and now in their place are modules called “Being a social impact leader” and “Community giving.”
At left, the UW Health website as seen on Feb. 11, 2025. The site reads “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” which was later changed to “Social Impact and Belonging.” At right, the UW Health website as seen on April 15, 2025. The site reads “Social Impact and Belonging,” which was changed from “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
Chief Social Impact Officer Shiva Bidar-Sielaff and CEO Alan Kaplan addressed the changes in a video, stating social impact and belonging align with their mission, values and strategies as a health care organization.
“At UW Health, social impact refers to the effects health care policies, practices and interventions have on the well-being of individuals and communities, improving health outcomes, access to care and quality of life,” Bidar-Sielaff said. “Belonging is the understanding that you are valued and respected for who you are as an individual.”
The UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, which has faculty who also work for and provide clinical care at UW Health, reported receiving $315 million in federal research funding last year. That total is 37% of all grant funding awarded to UW-Madison. UW Health received roughly $5.1 million in federal grants.
Despite claims by health care centers that missions remain the same, advocacy groups in Wisconsin are raising concerns regarding the impact these changes could have on communities in Wisconsin.
Chris Allen, president and CEO of Diverse & Resilient — an advocacy group focused on health inequities for LGBTQ+ people in Wisconsin — said these quiet language shifts are significant.
“They send a message that commitments to addressing disparities may be weakening, even if that’s not the stated intention,” Allen said.
William Parke Sutherland, government affairs director at Kids Forward, a statewide policy center that advocates for low-income and minority families, said many health care partners feel pressured to preserve funding sources.
In Wisconsin, maternal mortality rates are 2.5 times higher for Black women than white women. Maternal morbidities — or serious birth complications — were the highest among Black women and people enrolled in BadgerCare, the state’s largest Medicaid program. From 2020 to 2022 there were 7.8 stillbirth deaths per 1,000 births among Black babies, compared with 4.5 among white babies.
Disparities in maternal and infant mortality rates could be attributed to stress caused by poverty, lack of access to quality care, or systemic racism, according to health care researchers. If a mother is stressed over a long period of time, that can cause elevated levels of stress hormones, which could increase premature births or low birth weights for infants.
For Black women, midwives have been found to reduce the disparities they otherwise may experience during pregnancy, reducing the risk of maternal mortality or morbidity. Access to midwives is currently covered by Medicaid, so losing federal funding could harm these services.
Regardless of language, “Wisconsin’s racial disparities in health access and outcomes aren’t going away on their own,” Sutherland said in an email.
Removing language that acknowledges DEI efforts will not reduce the health care disparities felt by Wisconsin residents, Sutherland said. Federal funding cuts could also hurt rural families in Wisconsin, specifically those who rely on Medicaid for their health care needs.
“We cannot begin to address these challenges if we’re not willing to acknowledge them,” Sutherland said. “A colorblind approach has not helped in the past.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct a reference to how much federal funding UW Health receives.
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Smoke from Canadian wildfires started making air quality worse in the eastern U.S. on Wednesday as several Midwestern states battled conditions deemed unhealthy by the federal government.
The fires have forced thousands of Canadians to flee their homes and sent smoke as far as Europe.
In the U.S., smoke lingered on the skylines of cities from Kansas City to Minneapolis, and a swath of the region had unhealthy air quality Wednesday, according to an Environmental Protection Agency map.
In Stoughton, Wisconsin, Nature’s Garden Preschool was keeping its kids indoors Wednesday due to the bad air quality, which interferes with the daily routine, said assistant teacher Bailey Pollard. The smoke looked like a coming storm, he said.
The 16 or 17 kids ages 12 weeks to 5 years old would typically be outdoors running or playing with water, balls and slides, but were instead inside doing crafts with Play-Doh or coloring. The situation was unfortunate because kids need to be outside and have fresh air and free play, Pollard said.
“It’s something where we’ve got to take precaution for the kids,” he said. “Nobody wants to stay inside all day.”
Iowa issued a statewide air quality alert through early Thursday, urging residents to limit certain outdoor activities and warning of possible health effects due to the thick smoke. Wisconsin officials made similar suggestions as the smoke drifted southeast across the state.
In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, authorities advised people to shut windows at night, avoid strenuous activity outside and watch for breathing issues.
Parts of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York had areas of moderate air quality concern, and officials advised sensitive people to consider reducing outdoor activity.
Unhealthy conditions persist in Midwest
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an alert for almost the entire state into Wednesday, but the Twin Cities area got the region’s worst of it Tuesday.
Children’s Minnesota, a network of pediatric clinics and hospitals in the Twin Cities area, has seen a “modest increase” increase this week in patients with symptoms that doctors attributee to polluted air, Dr. Chase Shutak said.
Their symptoms have included breathing problems, including asthma and other upper respiratory issues, said Shutak, who stays in close touch with other pediatricians in his role as medical director of the Minneapolis primary care clinic at Children’s.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources warned that air quality in a band from the state’s southwest corner to the northeast could fall into the unhealthy category through Thursday morning. The agency recommended that people — especially those with heart and lung disease — avoid long or intense activities and to take extra breaks during strenuous activity outdoors.
Conditions at ground level are in the red
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow map showed a swath of red for “unhealthy” conditions across Wisconsin and northern Iowa. Northern Michigan was also the site of many unhealthy zones, the agency said. The Air Quality Index was around 160 in many parts of the upper Midwest, indicating unhealthy conditions.
The Air Quality Index — AQI — measures how clean or polluted the air is, focusing on health effects that might be experienced within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air. It is based on ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Particulates are the main issue from the fires.
The index ranges from green, where the air quality is satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk, to maroon, which is considered hazardous. That level comes with health warnings of emergency conditions where everyone is more likely to be affected, according to AirNow.
There were areas of reduced air quality all over the U.S. on Wednesday, with numerous advisories about moderate air quality concerns as far away as Kansas and Georgia.
The air quality was considerably better Wednesday in Minnesota, where only the barest hint of haze obscured the downtown Minneapolis skyline. The city experienced some of the worst air in the country on Tuesday. But the air quality index, which had reached the mid-200 range, or “very unhealthy” on Tuesday, was down to 60, or “moderate,” by Wednesday afternoon.
The Canadian fire situation
Canada is having another bad wildfire season. Most of the smoke reaching the American Midwest has been coming from fires northwest of the provincial capital of Winnipeg in Manitoba.
Canada’s wildfires are so large and intense that the smoke is even reaching Europe, where it is causing hazy skies but isn’t expected to affect surface-air quality, according the European climate service Copernicus.
This story was written by the Associated Press’ Patrick Whittle, in Portland, Maine, and Steve Karnowski, who reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan; and Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Nonpartisan analysts estimate that President Donald Trump’s megabill would add at least $2 trillion to the national debt over 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office’s preliminary estimate says the tax-and-spending bill now in Congress will add $2.3 trillion.
Other estimates are higher: Tax Foundation: $2.56 trillion; University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model: $2.79 trillion; Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: $3.1 trillion, including interest payments.
Some estimates under $2 trillion account for projected economic growth, while other estimates over $5 trillion note some provisions in the bill are temporary and will likely be extended.
The debt, which is the accumulation of annual spending that exceeds revenues, is $36 trillion.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., claimed the bill would add trillions.
Among other things, the bill would make 2017 individual income tax cuts permanent, add work requirements for Medicaid and food assistance, and add funding for defense and more deportations.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Probably the most commonly used — and, in my opinion, abused — exemption in our state’s Open Meetings Law is the one that lets governmental bodies meet behind closed doors “whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.”
The exemption, 19.85(1)(e) in Wisconsin state statutes, is used by all manner of public bodies, from city councils to school boards. It is supposed to be used sparingly, when needed to protect ongoing negotiations. But many bodies use this exemption to conceal everything about a potential deal or development, keeping the public in the dark until it is too late for their input.
Thankfully, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals issued a recent opinion, in a case known as Oitzinger v. City of Marinette, that should significantly curtail such abuses. The court ruled that the city’s attempts to use this exemption on two occasions violated the law.
The first involved an agreement (negotiated for months behind the scenes and presented to the common council for the first and only time in that closed session) that released a PFAS polluter from liability in exchange for a “donation” toward equipment to help address the pollution it caused. The second involved an engineering analysis of methods to provide safe drinking water for people whose well water had been contaminated.
Both closed sessions were illegal, the appeals court ruled, because neither included discussions of negotiation strategies that needed to be kept secret. The court’s ruling does three very important things.
Tom Kamenick is the president and founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.
First, the court held Marinette officials accountable for their illegal behavior. The plaintiff, Douglas Oitzinger, was a city council member who thought his colleagues had abused this exemption. He was willing to stand up to his colleagues, endure their scorn and not give up until he won. (His efforts earned him an award from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council in 2022.)
Second, the case reaffirms an important principle: The law’s exemption protects bargaining tactics, not all discussions about a possible deal. It exists so that government boards don’t have to negotiate at a disadvantage by divulging their strategies, such as the most it is willing to pay to buy a piece of land. But those kinds of discussions are the only thing that is supposed to happen in closed session. Other discussions — particularly debates about the merits of a course of action — need to be held publicly.
Third, the court emphasized that a board’s members need to cast an informed vote to go into closed session. That means it needs to be explained to them — on the record in open session — what kind of information is going to be discussed and why secrecy is necessary. Too often the process for going into a closed session is just a formulaic reading of a vague agenda item and a vote with no explanation or discussion. The court of appeals concluded that more is necessary, not just in this case but whenever this exemption is invoked.
I believe this is the part of the court’s decision that has the most impact. Government board members usually do this work on a part-time basis for little or no pay. They’re frequently happy to follow the lead of full-time government administrators or experienced board members. Administrators or presiding officers now must take the time to explain why they want to go into closed session. That will not only provide more information to the public, it will help board members think about and answer the question of whether secrecy is really necessary.
As an advocate for government openness, my hopes are high. I’ve seen reports from around the state that government attorneys are advising their clients about this case and explaining these requirements. I’m hopeful that abuse of this exemption will significantly decline.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a group dedicated to open government. Tom Kamenick, a council member, is the president and founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.
A widely anticipated list of “ sanctuary jurisdictions” no longer appears on the Department of Homeland Security’s website after receiving widespread criticism for including localities that have actively supported the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
The department last week published the list of the jurisdictions. It said each one would receive formal notification the government deemed them uncooperative with federal immigration enforcement and whether they’re believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes.
The list was published Thursday on the department’s website, but on Sunday there was a “Page Not Found” error message in its place.
The list was part of the Trump administration’s efforts to target communities, states and jurisdictions that it says aren’t doing enough to help its immigration enforcement agenda and the promises the president made to deport more than 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal authorization.
The list is being constantly reviewed and can be changed at any time and will be updated regularly, a DHS senior official said.
“Designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on the evaluation of numerous factors, including self-identification as a Sanctuary Jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens,” the official said in a statement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that there had been anger from some officials about the list. However, she didn’t address why it was removed.
“Some of the cities have pushed back,” Noem said. “They think because they don’t have one law or another on the books that they don’t qualify, but they do qualify. They are giving sanctuary to criminals.”
The list, which was riddled with misspellings, received pushback from officials in communities spanning from urban to rural and blue to red who said the list doesn’t appear to make sense.
In California, the city of Huntington Beach made the list even though it had filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s immigration sanctuary law and passed a resolution this year declaring the community a “non-sanctuary city.”
Jim Davel, administrator for Shawano County, Wisconsin, said the inclusion of his community must have been a clerical error. Davel voted for President Donald Trump as did 67% of Shawano County.
Davel thinks the administration may have confused the county’s vote in 2021 to become a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County” that prohibits gun control measures with it being a safe haven for immigrants. He said the county has approved no immigration sanctuary policies.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
The Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS), the agency responsible for licensing about 200 credentials, including in health care, business and the trades, would face a 31% staff cut starting Oct. 1 under the budget Republicans advanced in committee last week.
The reduction would mean longer wait times for licenses and worse call center customer service, DSPS Communications Director John Beard said.
During Thursday’s Joint Finance Committee meeting, Republicans rejected the agency’s proposal to add 14 full-time call center positions and 10 licensing positions for DSPS to replace the temporary positions funded through federal stimulus set to expire this fall.
DSPS warned lawmakers that without the additional staff, licensing wait times could double from about eight to 16 days and answer rates at the call center could fall below 40%, reaching pre-pandemic lows. In 2018 only a little over half of the calls were answered.
Gov. Tony Evers granted DSPS federal stimulus funding in 2023. At the time, licensees were stuck waiting months at a time to receive their licenses. After DSPS used the stimulus to hire additional, temporary staff, they saw those wait times decline sharply, now averaging about 2-5 days to review application materials.
The agency’s recommendations highlighted the impact additional staff members would have on the agency, including maintaining high answer rates for the agency’s call center and minimizing wait times for licensees.
If the agency were to fall back into a similar backlogging crisis from 2023, DSPS warns it could lead to drastic reductions in licenses issued to Wisconsin workers.
“That’s a staffing shortage in our clinics, in our hospitals, and it’s a problem for us individuals who are depending on these individuals to be licensed as quickly as possible and move onto the floor,” Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, said during the budget committee meeting.
The day before the meeting, the Wisconsin Medical Society and health care providers and institutions sent letters to lawmakers, urging them to vote in favor of the agency’s budget proposal, which Evers included in his budget recommendation.
“If the DSPS request is not approved, we fear a return to increased license processing times, longer call center hold times, and less responsiveness overall,” Wisconsin Medical Society Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer Mark Grapentine wrote. “These types of delays in the past resulted in applicants choosing to practice in other states due to languishing frustrations.”
DSPS said more efficient licensing created $54 million in additional wages for Wisconsin workers in 2023, compared with a projected $2 million annual cost to create the permanent positions.
Wisconsin Watch previously reported on an alcohol and drug counselor from Minnesota who waited 16 months before being told she had to take additional courses through University of Wisconsin-Superior to be eligible.
The DSPS legislative liaison at the time boiled it down to inadequate staffing, reducing the efficiency of the agency.
The Republican-controlled committee approved only five limited term positions for the agency. The JFC co-chairs said in a press release Thursday the committee voted to fund important government services, while limiting spending.
“We provided funding for DSPS call center staff who work to help credential holders and the public navigate licensure platforms. This investment ensures the department can operate effectively and provide these critical services to professionals,” Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said.
Republican lawmakers have previously rejected Evers’ recommendations to add staffing to the agency, even though the funding comes from department licensing fees — not taxpayer dollars. As a result, the agency’s surplus of unspent licensing fees increased from $4.4 million to $47 million, all while its services deteriorated.
In 2021, the committee approved two of the 13 positions Evers recommended. In 2023, the committee granted 18 of the 80 positions Evers requested.
Evers used federal stimulus funding for temporary positions, including adding additional project positions. But the funding for those temporary positions will run out this year.
Beard said by Oct. 1 the call center staff will go from 28 to 11 positions and total staff will go from 58 to 40.
Republicans also voted to transfer $5 million in program revenue — the money collected from the fees paid when applying for, obtaining and maintaining a license — to the general fund, which is expected to have a $4.2 billion surplus at the end of the month.
At the end of the last fiscal year, the DSPS surplus was around $39 million, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Despite having the huge surplus of program revenue — including money accumulated from fees applied to permit and license applications — DSPS can’t use those funds to hire more staff without JFC approval.
“Licensees pay fees so that they can be appropriately regulated, and what we are doing is starving that system and making it harder for every single one of us to access needed professional services,” Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said in support of adding 24 permanent positions using program revenue.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The percentage of Wisconsin schoolchildren not receiving state-mandated vaccinations because of their parents’ personal beliefs is four times higher than it was a generation ago.
That rise in personal conviction waivers has driven a decrease in all immunizations among Wisconsin children ahead of new measles outbreaks hitting the U.S. that are linked to three deaths.
Wisconsin’s measles vaccination rate among kindergartners was the third-lowest in the nation in the 2023-24 school year, behind Idaho and Alaska. (Montana didn’t report data.)
Here’s a look at how we got here.
Vaccine laws in all 50 states
Immunizations are so common that all 50 states have laws requiring them for schoolchildren. Wisconsin was among the first, in 1882.
In the 1950s, the child mortality rate was 4.35%, largely due to childhood diseases. That rate dropped to 0.77% by 2022, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
“Vaccines have brought about one of the largest improvements in public health in human history, making diseases that once caused widespread illness and many deaths, such as measles, mumps, and rubella, rare in the United States,” the agency reported.
For the 2024-25 school year, Wisconsin required seven immunizations (18 doses) for children to enter school. That included shots for measles (MMR), polio and hepatitis B. COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are not included.
Overall, the vast majority of Wisconsin students, 89.2%, met the minimum immunization requirements in the 2023–24 school year, according to the state’s latest annual report.
That’s essentially unchanged from the previous two school years.
But it’s down more than three percentage points from 92.3% in 2017-18.
For highly communicable diseases such as measles, a threshold above 95% is needed to protect most people through “herd immunity.”
More parents refusing to get kids vaccinated
Wisconsin had been a nationalleader in childhood immunizations.
But increasingly, Wisconsin parents are opting out:
For all childhood immunizations, vaccination rates statewide were lower in almost every quarter from 2020 through 2024, in comparison with the average rate in the three years before COVID-19.
Wisconsin was one of the states with the largest drops in the measles vaccination rate for kindergartners between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, and no county had an MMR vaccination rate above 85%, The Economist reported.
By a different measure, the measles vaccination rate for 2-year-olds in 2024 was as low as 44% in Vernon County and under 70% in 14 other counties.
On exemptions, Wisconsin differs from most states
All states have exemptions that allow parents not to have their children vaccinated. Medical and religious reasons are the most common.
In Wisconsin, there’s also a third waiver.
Wisconsin regulations say the Wisconsin Department of Health Services shall provide a waiver for health reasons if a physician certifies that an immunization “is or may be harmful to the health of a student”; or, if the parent of a minor student, or an adult student, submits a signed statement that “declares an objection to immunization on religious or personal conviction grounds.”
That philosophical exemption, based on personal beliefs, exists only in 15states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
“The bottom line is: If you don’t want your child vaccinated, you don’t have to,” said Kia Kjensrud, interim director of Immunize Wisconsin, which supports vaccination organizations.
In 2023-24, 6.1% of Wisconsin students used a waiver.
That includes 5.2% who had a personal conviction waiver — a rate more than four times higher than the 1.2% in 1997-98.
Waiver use has increased because the number of required vaccines and the legal protections given to vaccine manufacturers have “fueled skepticism about vaccine safety and testing rigor,” Wisconsin United for Freedom said in an email. The De Pere-based group works to protect “rights to medical freedom” and promotes vaccine skepticism.
Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, one of the lawmakers who introducedlegislation in 2023 to repeal the personal conviction waiver, said she believes some parents have genuine convictions against vaccinations. But “many of the folks who are choosing this exemption are doing it because of misinformation” claiming that vaccines are dangerous, she said.
Groups that registered to lobby in favor of Subeck’s bill included associations of physicians, nurses and local health departments. Wisconsin Family Action, which works to advance Judeo-Christian values, opposed it. The bill did not pass.
Kjensrud also blamed Wisconsin’s declining immunization rates on misinformation. But she said that rather than legislation, her group wants to improve “messaging the safety, efficacy and lifesaving importance of vaccines, and increasing vaccination rates however we can.”
Bipartisan support for personal exemption
Wisconsin’s modern student immunization law was passed in 1975 with only the medical and religious waivers. In 1980, the Legislature added the personal conviction waiver.
The waiver was included in a broader amendment proposed by 10 Democratic members and 11 Republican members of the Assembly.
The lead sponsor was the late Richard Flintrop, who represented Oshkosh and was known as a child welfare advocate. He also was a former staff member to maverick Democratic U.S. Sen. William Proxmire.
Wisconsin United For Freedom said the recent measles outbreaks “raise valid concerns,” but that “the focus should be on balanced public health strategies that prioritize sanitation, nutrition, and informed choice alongside vaccination, rather than relying solely on mandates.”
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Building an underground tunnel for an aging Enbridge oil pipeline that stretches across a Great Lakes channel could destroy wetlands and harm bat habitats but would eliminate the chances of a boat anchor rupturing the line and causing a catastrophic spill, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday in a long-awaited draft analysis of the proposed project’s environmental impacts.
The analysis moves the corps a step closer to approving the tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. The tunnel was proposed in 2018 at a cost of $500 million but has been bogged down by legal challenges. The corps fast-tracked the project in April after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies in January to identify energy projects for expedited emergency permitting.
A final environmental assessment is expected by autumn, with a permitting decision to follow later this year. The agency initially planned to issue a permitting decision in early 2026.
With that permit in hand, Enbridge would only need permission from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy before it could begin constructing the tunnel. That’s far from a given, though.
Environmentalists have been pressuring the state to deny the permit. Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are trying to win court rulings that would force Enbridge to remove the existing pipeline from the straits for good.
Construction could have major short-term, long-term impacts
The analysis notes that the tunnel would eliminate the risk of a boat anchor rupturing the pipeline and causing a spill in the straits, a key concern for environmentalists. But the construction would have sweeping effects on everything from recreation to wildlife.
Many of the impacts, such as noise, vistas marred by 400-foot (121-meter) cranes, construction lights degrading stargazing opportunities at Headlands International Dark Sky Park and vibrations that would disturb aquatic wildlife would end when the work is completed, the report found.
Other impacts would last longer, including the loss of wetlands and vegetation on both sides of the strait that connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, and the loss of nearly 300 trees that the northern long-eared bat and tricolored bat use to roost. Grading and excavation also could disturb or destroy archaeological sites.
The tunnel-boring machine could cause vibrations that could shift the area’s geology. Soil in the construction area could become contaminated and nearly 200 truck trips daily during the six-year construction period would degrade area roads, the analysis found. Gas mixing with water seeping into the tunnel could result in an explosion, but the analysis notes that Enbridge plans to install fans to properly ventilate the tunnel during excavation.
Enbridge has pledged to comply with all safety standards, replant vegetation where possible and contain erosion, the analysis noted. The company also has said it would try to limit the loudest work to daytime hours as much as possible, and offset harm to wetlands and protected species by buying credits through mitigation banks. That money can then be used to fund restoration in other areas.
“Our goal is to have the smallest possible environmental footprint,” Enbridge officials said in a statement.
The Sierra Club issued a statement Friday saying the tunnel remains “an existential threat.”
“Chances of an oil spill in the Great Lakes — our most valuable freshwater resource — skyrockets if this tunnel is built in the Straits,” the group said. “We can’t drink oil. We can’t fish or swim in oil.”
Julie Goodwin, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law group that opposes the project, said the corps failed to consider the impacts of a spill that could still happen on either side of the straits or stopping the flow of oil through the Great Lakes.
“My key takeaways are the Army corps has put blinders are in service to Enbridge and President Trump’s fossil fuel agenda,” she said.
Tunnel would protect portion of Line 5 running through straits
Enbridge has been using the Line 5 pipeline to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953. Roughly 4 miles of the pipeline runs along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac.
Concerns about the aging pipeline rupturing and causing a potentially disastrous spill in the straits have been building over the last decade. Those fears intensified in 2018 when an anchor damaged the line.
Enbridge contends that the line remains structurally sound, but it struck a deal with then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration in 2018 that calls for the company to replace the straits portion of the line with a new section that would be encased in a protective underground tunnel.
Enbridge and environmentalists spar in court battles
Environmentalists, Native American tribes and Democrats have been fighting in court for years to stop the tunnel and force Enbridge to remove the existing pipeline from the straits. They’ve had little success so far.
A Michigan appellate court in February validated the state Public Service Commission’s permits for the tunnel. Nessel sued in 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Line 5 to run through the straits. That case is still pending. Whitmer revoked the easement in 2020, but Enbridge challenged that decision and a federal appellate court in April ruled that the case can proceed.
Another legal fight over Line 5 in Wisconsin
About 12 miles (19 kilometers) of Line 5 runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation in northern Wisconsin. That tribe sued in 2019 to force Enbridge to remove the line from the reservation, arguing it’s prone to spilling and that easements allowing it to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.
Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile (66-kilometer) reroute around the reservation. The tribe has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state construction permits for the project and has joined several other groups in challenging the permits through the state’s contested case process.
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