A marker for a segment of Enbridge Line 6 in northern Wisconsin. A leak in the line in Jefferson County is now under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. (Photo | Frank Zufall)

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is investigating a major leak from a pipeline managed by the Canadian oil giant Enbridge. Last weekend environmental groups sounded the alarm after learning that Enbridge’s Line 6 pipeline had spilled the equivalent of 1,650 barrels — more than  69,000 gallons — of crude oil  in the town of Oakland in Jefferson County. 

The DNR issued a statement saying that a report of a two-gallon spill was sent to the state agency on Nov. 11. Notifications were sent by Enbridge to the DNR, the National Response Center (NRC), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The DNR then visited the site on Nov. 11 and 12, with additional follow-up on Dec. 6, according to the agency. On Nov. 14, the spill quantity was updated to 126 gallons (or 2-3 barrels). On Dec. 13, Enbridge again revised the spill estimation to 1,650 barrels (or 69,300 gallons) of crude oil. 

“Under Wisconsin law, entities that cause environmental contamination are responsible for reporting and remediating the contamination,” the DNR states. “Enbridge is providing weekly updates to the DNR regarding the investigation and cleanup process. As investigation and cleanup is an iterative process, the DNR continues to evaluate appropriate next steps, including any potential enforcement actions such as a corrective action order.”

Using the GPS coordinates from the accident report and Google Maps, Wisconsin Examiner found that the spill occurred near a roadway running through a grassy, wooded area. The spill occurred near a waterway that flows into Lake Ripley, close to  a grouping of nature preserves and campgrounds. The accident report noted that the pipeline’s leak detection systems did not notify anyone of the leak. 

The Line 6 leak occurred during the same week that environmental and tribal groups filed new legal challenges against Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 pipeline reroute. Opponents of Line 5 are concerned  that the pipeline, which currently runs through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation, will still present environmental hazards even if it is  rerouted around tribal lands. The Bad River Band argues that the pipeline poses a risk to the health of the Bad River, which the tribe relies on for food, medicine, and important cultural practices. Environmental groups echo those concerns, and feel state and federal agencies have failed to adequately evaluate the environmental risks posed by  Enbridge Line 5. 

A sign protesting Enbridge Line 5 in Michigan. (Laina G. Stebbins | Michigan Advance)

“The land does not belong to us, it is borrowed by us from our children’s children” said Robert Blanchard, chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. “We harvest our wild rice from the waters, we hunt from the land, fish from the lake, streams, and rivers to feed our families and gather the medicines to heal our relatives.” 

The Bad River Band cites this relationship with the land in its fight against the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, which has operated in trespass on the Bad River Band’s reservation for years. Now, the Band and its allies are challenging the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decision to grant permits that the Canadian oil company Enbridge will need to construct a re-route of the pipeline. The new route no longer trespasses on the reservation, it will still run through the Bad River watershed. The tribe and a coalition of state environmental groups say a spill in that area could be devastating.

Last Thursday, Midwest Environmental Advocates, 350 Wisconsin, the Sierra Club of Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin filed a petition for a contested case hearing with the DNR, challenging DNR permitting for Line 5. Shortly after filing the challenge, Midwest Environmental Advocates received a report of a 69,000-gallon oil spill in Jefferson County.

According to an accident report shared with Wisconsin Examiner, the spill originated from Enbridge’s Line 6 pipeline. Some 1,650 barrels of crude oil are estimated to have leaked from the pipeline, with 42 gallons to a barrel. When plugged into Google Maps, GPS data in the accident report point to a roadway running through a grassy, wooded area. The map shows that the spill occurred near a waterway that flows into Lake Ripley, not far from a group of nature preserves and campgrounds. Although the pipeline segment had a leak detection system, the accident report states that this didn’t alert anyone to the leak, which was first noticed on Nov. 11 by an Enbridge technician.

Line 6 is one of four pipeliness that run from Superior, Wisconsin, to Illinois. It carries crude oil from Superior to Lockport, Illinois.

Tony Wilkin Gibart, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, said in a statement that the Line 6 spill highlights the dangers of Line 5. “Consider that in the very same week that DNR issued permits for Line 5 based on its conclusion that the risk for a spill would be ‘low,’ DNR was investigating a significant oil leak on another Enbridge pipeline in Wisconsin,” said Gibart. “DNR’s reasoning for approving Line 5 defies common sense.”

In November, the DNR decided to issue wetland and waterway permits to Enbridge as a step towards moving the pipeline off the Bad River reservation. The DNR highlighted that the wetland permits would include over 200 conditions which Enbridge would need to honor, and which would keep the company in compliance with Wisconsin’s wetland and waterway standards. Both the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would need to approve the permits before construction of the reroute could begin. 

“Many of our people will feel the effects if we lose these resources,” said Blanchard. “In my view, the DNR failed our children when it gave Enbridge the permits to build this reroute. They failed to consider the company’s multiple disasters in Minnesota and in Michigan, which are still being cleaned up. They failed to consider our tribe, our water quality, and the natural resources of the entire Bad River watershed. As a tribal chairman and an elder, it’s my responsibility to protect the generations still to come. That’s why we are fighting this reroute in court.”

The Band is represented by EarthJustice in a lawsuit filed against the DNR which, like the petition filed last week by the environmental groups, accuses the state agency of producing an inadequate final Environmental Impact Statement on the reroute which violates the Wisconsin Environmental Protection Act. 

Blanchard highlighted his tribe’s reliance on wild rice fields growing along the Bad River and Lake Superior, as well as natural medicines, wild game, and the land itself which are crucial to the Bad River Band’s cultural practices and way of life. Every year the tribe holds an annual wild rice harvest, and Bad River Band members hunt and gather from the land all year. 

“If something was to happen during that time, or when that pipeline is in place, you know, it’s really going to affect a lot of things that we do here, and the way that we do things here on the reservation as far as our way of life,” Blanchard warned. 

Currently the Line 5 pipeline crosses the Bad River inside the boundaries of the reservation. If the reroute goes through,  Enbridge would construct 41 miles of new pipeline to cross the river outside of reservation land. The reroute would still place the natural resources the tribe relies on in danger if an oil spill or leak were to occur. 

Stefanie Tsosie, senior staff attorney at Earthjustice, also warned that constructing new pipeline damages natural formations and resources which are often irreplaceable. “Once construction starts they can’t undo the damage,” Tsosie said in a statement. “Enbridge has a terrible track record for pipeline construction and operation. And this place — this watershed and this territory — is not another place they can just plow through.” 

Opponents to the pipeline point to a history of ecological disasters due to spillage from Enbridge pipelines. In 2010, millions of gallons of crude oil contaminated the Kalamazoo River, creating a crisis which took years to address. Over the past 50 years, Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline has spilled over 1 million gallons in dozens of different incidents. 

Today, an area known as the “meander” is also creating concern for the Bad River Band. “The river is changing course, and it does that throughout the way it runs,” said Blanchard. At the meander where the pipeline crosses,  he added, “If we have high water events, flooding, harsh winter with a lot of ice build up, and all that breaks loose in the spring, then we get this high water that very well could take that pipeline out, and cause a spill.”

The tribe is monitoring the situation regularly, but this does little to ease their anxieties. The meander is “quite difficult to get to,” said Blanchard, and it’s also just one area of concern along the pipeline’s route. “A few years back, we had an exposed pipeline coming down one of the sidehills up there,” said Blanchard. “There was quite a ways where the pipeline was exposed and just kind of hanging in mid-air, which could have been disastrous if it wasn’t found and something done about it.”

If Line 5 were rerouted, it would still go through other wetlands and habitats outside the reservation. “These are some of the most treasured areas in Wisconsin,” said Brett Korte, an attorney with Clean Wisconsin. “When we think of the beauty of our state, our precious freshwater resources, the places we must protect, these areas are at the top of the list.” 

In a statement, Korte added, “This push from Canadian oil giant Enbridge is getting national attention because what it’s proposing to do here in Wisconsin is dangerous.”

This report was updated with additional information about Line 6.

Kerrie Hirte, the mother of Cilivea Thyrion, looks over autopsy reports sent by the medical examiner. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

On a recent chilly November evening, Kerrie Hirte confronted a piece of mail she’d both anticipated and dreaded. Sitting at her kitchen table, beneath a picture of her late daughter Cilivea Thyrion, 20, Hirte examined the contents of an orange envelope from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. Inside were unredacted autopsy reports, with details that raised new questions about her daughter’s death in the Milwaukee County Jail nearly two years ago. 

Hirte invited the Wisconsin Examiner to her Green Bay home to accompany her when she first viewed the unredacted autopsy reports. They show that correctional officers were aware that Thyrion, who died after eating pieces of an adult diaper while on suicide watch, had a previous history of eating the very item she was given the day she died. In autopsy protocol records, the medical examiner also noted evidence of blunt force injuries to Thyrion, including injuries to her head, lower extremities, liver, and ribs. 

The reports described the scene of Thyrion’s death on Dec. 16, 2022. By then, Thyrion had been in the jail just two days short of 10 months. Thyrion was arrested by the Wauwatosa Police Department in February, after getting in a fight at her residence and charged with felony suffocation/strangulation and misdemeanor battery. Thyrion died before she was sentenced for the charges. 

According to the records later mailed to Hirte, medical examiner investigators found Thyrion “lying on a bare metal slate” with her arm “resting on a green mattress pad on the floor.” The green mattress was one of the only items in the cell besides a toilet, sink, a paperback book and intercom. Thyrion had been housed in the jail’s Special Needs Unit, where she’d been on suicide watch since Dec. 11. “It is unknown at this time what [led] to her needing this type of cell and supervision,” the medical examiner’s investigation report states.

On the morning of Dec. 16, Thyrion pushed the assistance button inside her cell to call guards for help. When correctional officers arrived, they saw Thyrion gesturing towards her neck. After gathering other correctional staff, they called 911 as it was apparent that the 20-year-old was suffocating. The medical examiner’s report states that correctional officers performed a Heimlich maneuver to help Thyrion clear whatever she was choking on. The report states that correctional officers called 911 three times, but Thyrion was unconscious by the time medics arrived. 

An investigation by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department found that Thyrion had ingested an adult diaper, which correctional officers gave her while she was on suicide watch. Although why the diaper was provided is redacted in Waukesha’s reports, interviews with correctional officers strongly imply that it was to help Thyrion deal with her menstrual cycle. In a letter stating that no charges would be filed for Thyrion’s death, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office wrote that the guards tried unsuccessfully to find underwear made specifically to limit self-harm risks, but could only find an adult diaper. The district attorney’s letter states that “they wanted to meet a basic need for Ms. Thyrion and did not consider that the diaper could be used in a way to self-harm.”

What correctional officers knew about Thryion’s self-harm risks is woven in and out of the redactions in the Waukesha sheriff’s investigation. One interview of a correctional officer noted that the guard “was aware of Thyrion’s history and had conversations with her about [redacted]”, and that the guard was “very sad about the situation because nobody thought that Thryion would hurt herself by [redacted] and they were just trying to make her ‘feel like a woman.’” 

Yet, the medical examiner’s scene report states that “according to Correctional Officers (CO) and jail staff, [Cilivea] had a history of trying to swallow inedible objections (sic) including plastic forks and diapers. She was seen trying to swallow unspecified objects today around 1030 hours and it is believed that she was unsuccessful at actually swallowing anything.” After reading that section of the report Hirte wondered why her daughter would be given a diaper if jail staff were aware of the risk. “They make it sound like they just gave her diapers all the time,” Hirte told Wisconsin Examiner. 

After reading a portion of the reports stating that Thyrion had no next of kin, but that detectives were aware that she’d called an unknown female, Hirte began to weep. While Thyrion was incarcerated, Hirte recalled talking to jail health care staff “several times about Cilivea.” She told Wisconsin Examiner that her daughter had signed “a release of information so that I could find out what was happening to her in there. And when you’re reading that [the medical examiner reports] it makes it sound like they had no idea who she was talking to. When they know darn well it was me.”

According to the medical examiner report, jail staff “stated they were not aware of any triggers, upcoming court proceedings, or recent events that would make Cilivea want [to] harm herself today or for any of the past self harm attempts.” 

Hirte wonders if jail staff knew that Thyrion had swallowed plastic forks and diapers before, and if so,  “why would you give her anything then?”

In late 2023, among Thyrion’s belongings released to Hirte by the jail was a handwritten note from Thyrion requesting to see a nurse. “I think I need a med adjustment,” Thyrion wrote. Electronic messages Thyrion sent jail staff throughout her incarceration also show that she regularly communicated her needs, without many results. The messages were obtained by Wisconsin Examiner through open records requests. 

In late March 2022, Thyrion messaged jail staff asking to be moved to another part of the facility because activity going on in her pod was “mentally upsetting.” The following month in April, Thyrion wrote complaints about jail staff mocking her with “fat jokes” and being rude. In June, Thyrion was denied access to the gym, and made multiple requests for a Bible and hygiene products. 

Redactions in the messages obscure crucial details about Thryion’s needs. Anything related to Thyrion’s mental health history, including the word “suicide” is redacted in most reports. “I have not been [getting] my [redacted] and I don’t know why. I really need it. I have been getting really bad [redacted],” she wrote on June 29, 2022. In August, she reported being verbally threatened by a correctional officer, and asked why she wasn’t getting her mail. When she asked to speak with friendlier and familiar jail staffer, Thyrion was denied. “I promise to be better,” Thyrion wrote in the electronic messages. “I Just need to talk to her please she’s a good friend she’s great to talk to please she was in cell four please I’m sorry.” 

On Dec. 2, 2022, court records show that Thyrion’s sentencing had been scheduled for January 2023. In her last message sent on Dec. 12 to jail staff, just four days before her death on Dec. 16, Thyrion reported that jail staff had used her cell’s intercom system to call her fat, pathetic, and that “no one in my family should have raised an inmate” and that “it all started because I threw up my food and she said that maybe if I stopped eating everything I would not be throwing up.”

Records from the Milwaukee County Jail showing correspondences between Cilivea Thyrion and jail staff during her time at the jail, obtained through open records requests.

Thyrion’s messages to jail staff about harassment and neglect, her note asking for “a med adjustment,” the medical examiner’s note that correctional staff knew about her history of ingesting objects like diapers (seemingly at odds with the district attorney’s letter mentioning that jail staff didn’t consider the diaper to be a self-harm risk), and their subsequent decision to furnish an ordinary diaper rather than one designed to prevent self-harm, raise serious questions about the lack of accountability in her case. Hirte feels what happened to her daughter was intentional, “because they gave her something and then walked away.” 

With many crucial details about Thyrion’s medical history at the jail hidden behind black inked redactions, these various pieces form a picture of what her life inside the jail was like. Normally, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office does not release autopsy protocols. As Thyrion’s mother, however, Hirte was sent an unredacted copy which was also reviewed by Wisconsin Examiner. The report notes “blunt force injury” including an abrasion to Thyrion’s head, fractures to four ribs, and contusions or abrasions to her abdomen, liver, left hand, and “lower extremities and the bottom of the right foot.” Instead of food, plastic fragments were found in Thyrion’s stomach, and “a crumpled piece of cloth fabric” in her large intestine. 

“To me,” Hirte told Wisconsin Examiner,  “it’s like, should she have been in the hospital if she had that towel in her large intestines?” A few days after viewing the autopsy reports, Hirte traveled from Green Bay to Milwaukee, to speak before a Milwaukee County committee reviewing an audit of the Milwaukee County Jail. The audit revealed “systemic issues ranging from dangerous suicide watch practices and a mental health challenge to critical staffing shortages and occupant overcrowding.” 

Auditors noticed “unsafe restraining of occupants” on suicide watch, including being handcuffed to benches for hours at a time. Although the jail places an average of 36 people in suicide watch on a weekly basis, mental health assessments were inconsistent. While auditors were visiting the jail, staff realized that someone on suicide watch had not been logged on a white board. “This discrepancy highlights a critical breakdown in communication and procedure,” the auditors wrote. There was also a backlog of 51 people awaiting competency evaluations. Despite there being a high number of pre-trial jail occupants taking psychotropic drugs, suggesting “a significant mental health burden within the jail” according to the audit, medications are distributed in bulk stock, meaning they’re not individually prescribed or even properly labeled with instructions on how to take the drugs. 

The auditors also found a lack of supervision and clear duties for correctional staff in the jail’s restrictive housing units, and found that the jail’s suicide prevention policies — while complying with Department of Corrections (DOC) regulations — lacked “specificity and clarity.” The auditors warned that “this vagueness hinders consistent and effective implementation of critical procedures, particularly those related to suicide watch.” Throughout the audior’s visit, the auditors recommended that the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office and its contracted jail health care provider Wellpath emphasis suicide prevention training and address staffing shortages, lack of supervison, and the various nonfunctioning light fixtures, graffiti, and damaged windows which create an unfavorable atmosphere within the jail.

Thyrion’s death came as part of a string of six deaths within the jail over a 14-month period. During the audit committee hearing on Dec. 2, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball said that after each death, the office does a review to see what could be done better. As a result, Ball said before a committee of county supervisors, there hasn’t been a suicide at the jail since January 2023. “We’re putting things in place that is helping,” said Ball. “One death is one too many.” 

After the sheriff spoke, the floor was opened up for public comment. “From what I see from this audit shows all my concerns,” said Hirte. “It shows more. There’s stuff I didn’t even know that I now know. And I hope it opens everybody’s eyes as to why I came back here to fight for my 20-year-old daughter. The only daughter I have died, who died in the Milwaukee County Jail, they say while she was on suicide watch. This basically says how unequipped they were to handle her.” 

In November, days before the jail audit report was sent to Milwaukee County Audit Committee officials, the jail’s contracted health care provider Wellpath filed for bankruptcy.  The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office declined to comment, and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office also did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. 

Students gather outside the meeting Thursday of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. (Photo | CodePink)

On Thursday protesters disrupted a meeting of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, holding signs and chanting slogans including “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest,” and “Free, free Palestine!” Numerous groups participated in the demonstration including CODEPINK, UW-Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine, Wisconsin for Palestine, Wisconsin Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) UW-Madison, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Wisconsin, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)-UWM. 

Protesters gathered both inside and outside the room where the Board held its meeting. With chanting and speeches the protesters interrupted the meeting with one demonstrator at one point saying that protesters “will not be allowing” the Board to conduct business during the meeting, followed by loud chants from the group as officers flowed into the room to begin arrests. Activists say that 19 people were arrested during the demonstration. 

According to a CODEPINK press release, the demonstration stemmed from questions student activists sent the Board of Regents about the University of Wisconsin’s response after students joined a wave of encampment protests on college campuses. Students pitched tents on the grounds of college campuses nationwide last spring calling for institutions to sever their ties with the government of Israel. With U.S. support, Israel launched retaliatory strikes into the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 Israeli civilians and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage. Since then the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed over 44,000 Palestinians, with a United Nations Special Committee recently finding the IDF’s warfare tactics are “consistent with genocide”. Both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes in the ongoing conflict. 

University of Wisconsin students involved in protests against the war in Gaza say they continue to face hands-on law enforcement responses. Arrests during demonstrations and threats of academic punishment targeting student activists are increasing tensions with school administration, activists say, after negotiations in May quelled the college encampment protests. 

UW students have demanded that the university divest from Israel, and disclose all of the investments made in the country to date. At UW-Madison, campus police and Dane County Sheriffs broke up the encampments last spring, arresting 34 people in May. Injuries were reported both among people in and around the encampments, and among law enforcement. No arrests were ever made at the UW-Milwaukee encampments, though police monitored the protests closely.  

By May, administrators at both UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee reached separate agreements with students to end the encampment protests. In September, CODEPINK said in its press release, the Board of Regents met with student activists, who had questions about the university’s handling of the encampment protests. Activists say that the Board deferred responsibility for the protest responses to university administration, prompting the demonstration on Thursday morning. 

The Board of Regents did not respond to a request for comment on the protests Thursday. Relaying a statement to Wisconsin Examiner on behalf of the protest group, a spokesperson for CODEPINK’s branch in Madison said that the Board’s use of police against student activists “reflects a troubling disregard for dialogue or transparency.” The spokesperson added that “instead of engaging in a one-minute statement from peaceful protesters, they chose to shut off the recording and summon a heavy police presence. This response escalated to harassment by university police and arbitrary arrests of individuals who were peacefully exercising their right to participate in a public meeting.”

CODEPINK questioned why the Board won’t engage with student activists, and said that the Board is responsible for “a significant portion of the UW-Madison endowment money” and should explain how it can use that money to support Israel when the Board’s own guidelines prohibit it from knowingly providing gifts, grants, etc, to “any company, corporation or subsidiary, or affiliate” that practices or condones discrimination against particular groups. 

“The police’s use of force against peaceful protestors underscores a disturbing trend of prioritizing secrecy over public trust,” reads CODEPINK’s emailed statement to Wisconsin Examiner. “Transparency and accountability should not be met with violence, especially in spaces meant to serve the public and promote education.”

Such sentiments aren’t exclusive to UW-Madison. In late October, UW-Milwaukee student members of SDS-UWM held a press conference claiming to have faced continued intimidation by campus police. UW-Milwaukee student Robby Knapp recounted being awoken to someone banging on his door one June night at 2:30 a.m. Initially, he thought that the police car parked outside was from the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), but the officers were actually from UW-Milwaukee. They’d driven over 20 minutes from campus to Knapp’s home in Milwaukee’s Washington Heights neighborhood. Addressing him by name, they asked about an alleged vandalism incident near campus. Knapp said he didn’t know anything about it, stepped outside, and was immediately arrested. 

Knapp told Wisconsin Examiner that the officers took him back “the long way,” taking side streets instead of the freeway. When they got to the campus, “they photographed me, booked me, the whole nine yards with that,” Knapp said in the October press conference. “They gave me a letter saying the DA [District Attorney] might give you a call, which I haven’t gotten a call from the DA since that night.” Knapp was never taken to the county jail, but was released after an hour, he recalled. 

After Knapp was taken in, officers visited the homes of SDS members Audari Tamayo and Kayla Patterson. “They went to my house at least twice,” said Tamayo. “And we found this out through the police report that they went to my house twice, but I didn’t open the door. They needed to get to the third floor, they needed to get through three different hallways.” Tamayo said that after the officers failed to get into the apartment, “they started calling me repeatedly saying that I had to come down for an interview or else.” 

A spokesperson for UW-Milwaukee was unable to comment on any aspect Knapp’s arrest due to federal laws protecting student records. The spokesperson also said that UW-Milwaukee cannot comment on the ongoing investigation related to the alleged vandalism incident, nor comment on what exactly the vandalism was. “SDS recognition as a UWM student organization is suspended due to student organization misconduct, and only officially recognized student organizations are permitted to use UWM’s name in their organization’s name,” spokeswoman Angelica Duria said. 

A Milwaukee PD spokesperson told Wisconsin Examiner that the department is, “aware that Students for a Democratic Society UWM have engaged in protest activity in Milwaukee. We monitored the tent city situation at UWM to ensure there was no impact to emergency services in the City of Milwaukee. We do not have requests from UWM to conduct any investigations related to the group. We do share when we are aware of a planned protest for the sake of public safety.”

SDS says that its members have also faced academic sanctions, directly related to their protests. Besides Knapp, whom SDS says is facing academic sanctions due to protest activity, Patricia Fish is also facing sanctions due to an occupation protest in February. Additionally, both Patterson and Tamayo were unable to enroll in time for the fall 2024 semester after holds were placed on their student accounts. 

The stress has  affected Knapp’s academic performance. “Since then I’ve been behind … I have to kind of  go to school, and go to class every day understanding that  any work, any midterms, any quizzes, any papers, any exams, any credit, as soon as that suspension becomes effective, then all of that is out the window,” said Knapp. “I have about four courses left until I graduate. I was going to take two this semester, and two that semester. So not only is my education up in the air, but my ability to graduate is now up in the air … It’s the energy, it’s the money, it’s the time, it’s the effort that I’ve put into getting this close to graduating and just this semester in general after having to deal with them holding me back to be able to take these classes in the first place.”

Duria said that “no student is subject to the misconduct process based on considerations other than their own behavior.” Duria said that the Dean of Students Office assesses “reports it receives to determine whether there are potential nonacademic misconduct violations.” Duria went on to say in a statement to Wisconsin Examiner that “UWM has communicated protest guidelines and behavior expectations in several previous emails sent to faculty, staff and students. UWM has also updated its free speech website to make behavior expectations and expressive activity policies easily visible. Protests and expressive activity must abide by state law and university policy and UWM will take appropriate action to enforce the law, and its policies and codes of conduct.”

Patterson feels negotiations between students and the administration were mainly “to save face,” and to also learn more about student activist groups in preparation for more crackdowns. She told Wisconsin Examiner, “It’s very heavy monitoring. They’re going both at the organizational level, and the individual level, in order to crack down.” 

This article has been edited to correct the last name of Robby Knapp, not “Napp”. 

The Milwaukee Police Administration Building downtown. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Back in July, a lot happened while the Republican National Convention (RNC) was going on in downtown Milwaukee. Donald Trump accepted his party’s presidential nomination. Local residents protested the RNC. Out-of-state police killed an unhoused man in King Park, and the convention brought so much traffic to the gay and bisexual dating app Grindr that it crashed. Those events and more were probably followed by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) using a new tool to scan, scrape and search online activity. 

In April, the MPD announced that it was seeking an open source intelligence tool ahead of the RNC. Basically, anything which can be openly seen and accessed online counts as open source intelligence. Using the tool, the MPD planned to augment its online monitoring capabilities. What would have taken hours just a few years ago could be reduced to minutes. By the end of May, MPD had settled on an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered software called Babel Street. The contract for Babel Street, which was not to exceed $43,673.50, was awarded on May 23.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) document, compiled by the Pewaukee-based technology brokerage company Abaxent, provides details on Babel Street. The document was obtained by Wisconsin Examiner through open records requests. Utilized by the U.S. Armed Forces, intelligence agencies and the federal government, Babel Street “empowers users to extend their search to the farthest corners of the globe, netting data beyond the traditional scope of [publicly available information] in a safe and secure environment,” the RFP document states. “It opens the door to enriched and standardized [publicly available information] data from over 220 countries.”

Not only can Babel Street search online content in over 200 languages, it also employs “sentiment scoring” in over 50 languages. A Babel Street glossary of terms webpage states that sentiment analysis involves determining “if a given text is expressing a positive, negative sentiment or no particular sentiment (neutral).” The RFP document also claims that Babel Street’s use of AI “accelerates investigations and uncovers connections.”  

An MPD spokesperson echoed that point, saying in an emailed statement to Wisconsin Examiner that the software has “increased the speed of investigations.” The spokesperson said that Babel Street is used by MPD’s Fusion Division. Social media investigations are a staple for Milwaukee’s Fusion Center, composed of both MPD’s Fusion Division and the Southeastern Threat Analysis Center (STAC). Originally created for homeland security, the Fusion Center serves a variety of roles today — whether that’s operating the city’s Shotspotter gunshot surveillance system, monitoring a camera network spanning Milwaukee County, conducting ballistic tests, accessing phones seized by officers, or processing information from cell towers. 

Within the Fusion Center, analysts assigned to the Virtual Investigations Unit monitor social media, investigating not only people but entire social ecosystems. Babel Street “pinpoints key online influencers, allowing investigators to explore networks from a powerful starting point,” the RFP document states. “Rapidly exposing and unlocking their web of relationships delivers crucial information in a matter of minutes.” All of that data then gets plugged into sophisticated visualizations such as maps, algorithmic scores, or graphs. “Visualized mapping unearths influencers who have the greatest impacts on organizations, senior leaders, and world events,” the document explains. “Advanced algorithms score and prioritize critical online entities to measure this influence, bringing to the forefront obscure identities that make up their network.” 

Babel Street can track the growth of online influence emanating from a person or group of interest to police. Investigators can also set real-time updates alerting them to new developments online, as well as “persistent” monitoring. “A persistent Document Search on an identified threat actor continuously monitors filtered topics the actor is publicly engaging in,” according to the RFP document. “By establishing a persistent collection via user-built filters/queries, users can not only increase their data access and insight, but they can also automate the rate aspects of analysis.”

Records from the City of Milwaukee Purchasing Division, obtained through open records requests.

Babel Street draws on a wealth of online information to gather intelligence for police. An aspect of the software known as “Synthesis” allows MPD “to understand the profile of key influencers based on attributes, such as person/organization, location, occupation, interests, areas of influence, and communication style, which are automatically tagged for millions of accounts using an AI model, while still giving the City the option of manual tagging.” Babel Street also allows MPD to pair keyword searches with geo-fencing, thus alerting the department to posts within a specific geographic area. MPD’s new open source intelligence tool also enables data to be extracted from the dark web — parts of the internet which are not indexed in search engines and require specialized internet browsers to locate.

The ability of law enforcement to map online connections between people worried privacy advocates leading up to the RNC. In early April, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warned that using an open source intelligence tool, MPD could more effectively track and profile people who were exercising their constitutional rights. David Maass, director for investigations at the EFF, told Wisconsin Examiner that open source intelligence tools “are designed to produce ‘results’ even if there’s no evidence of a nefarious plot.” 

Many police reform activists in Milwaukee also remember the protests of 2020, when police departments heavily relied on social media to surveil protesters. All of that information, however, takes time to collect and sift, especially when a department may only have so many analysts on hand. “No longer are analysts manually checking multiple data sources to identify changes,” according to  the RFP document, “as Babel Street Insights persistently and automatically collects, ingests, and alerts users when new information is available, dramatically increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of each analyst.” 

All of that information, however, also needs to be vetted to ensure that it’s accurate. “Intelligence often requires vetting in order to determine whether it is reliable or not,” MPD’s spokesperson wrote in an email statement. “Additional investigation would be required with all intelligence.”

MPD said that it does not track Babel Street’s involvement in investigations, either during the RNC or after. There is also no standard operating procedure governing the software’s use by MPD, a spokesperson told Wisconsin Examiner. “This software is utilized to investigate crimes or to assist with mitigating threats to pre-planned large-scale events,” wrote the spokesperson in a statement. No decisions have been made yet about renewing the MPD’s one-year contract for Babel Street. 

A billboard promoting Enbridge Inc. (Susan Demas | Michigan Advance)

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has decided that it will issue an individual wetland and waterway permit to the Canadian oil and gas company Enbridge, as the company seeks to relocate its Line 5 pipeline. Permits will also be issued to the company for stormwater site construction and pollution discharge elimination systems. The state agency’s decision is the latest development in the contested operation of Line 5 in Wisconsin. 

A DNR press release states that the wetland permit authorizes specific construction-related activities that may impact waterways and wetlands. The permit contains “more than 200 conditions to ensure compliance with state’s wetlands and waterways standards,” according to the DNR. The construction permits for stormwater sites also involve “specific plans for erosion control and water quality protection.”

Both the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must approve the permits before the project can proceed. Enbridge may need to also obtain other permits involving  groundwater, burning and incidental takes of species listed as threatened or endangered. Enbridge will also need to apply for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to discharge dredge or fill material to waterways, which is required under the Clean Water Act. The DNR has issued a water quality certification “that serves as a determination that the project as proposed will meet State of Wisconsin water quality standards.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will also have to consider Wisconsin’s water quality certification as part of the permitting process. 

The announcement earned praise from the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, a union with  a membership of over 40,000. Emily Pritzkow, the union’s executive director, issued a statement saying the decision “reflects an intentional and balanced approach to addressing the state’s energy infrastructure needs while ensuring responsible environmental stewardship.” Calling the relocation of Line 5 “a win for Wisconsin workers, Wisconsin families, and the Wisconsin economy,” Pritzkow said the reroute “ensures operation with the highest safety standards by incorporating cutting-edge technology and construction practices.” Pritzkow added, “together, we can advance Wisconsin’s infrastructure needs while protecting the natural resources that make our state exceptional.”

Plans to reroute  Line 5 have been debated for years. In 2019, when the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed a federal lawsuit to remove the pipeline from the tribe’s reservation, a judge determined that the company had trespassed on the Bad River Band’s land, and ordered the pipeline to be removed within three years. Although the decision was a victory for the Bad River Band, the tribe argues that Line 5’s rerouted path still crosses the Bad River watershed, and thus still poses a threat to the tribe’s natural resources. 

In late August, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received over 150,000 public comments opposing the continued operation of Line 5. Nearly a month later, the DNR released a final environmental impact statement on the reroute plan, which itself was a step necessary for Enbridge to receive the permits it needed to relocate the pipeline. 

Opponents to the decades-old crude oil pipeline were displeased by the DNR’s decision to issue permits to Enbridge. “I’m angry that the DNR has signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” said Bad River Band chairman Robert Blanchard in a statement. “We will continue sounding the alarm to prevent yet another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”

Stefanie Tsosie, who is helping represent the Bad River Band as senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement that the DNR “chose to serve Enbridge’s interests at the cost of the Bad River Band’s treaty rights and the state’s future clean water supply.” Tsosie added, “it’s sad that they are willing to gamble the region’s irreplaceable wetlands, the wild rice beds, and even Lake Superior to secure Enbridge’s cash flow.” 

Clean Wisconsin is considering legal challenges against the permit issuances. “Wisconsin law makes it clear that projects causing harm to our waters must meet a high bar to move forward,” said Clean Wisconsin attorney Evan Feinauer. “Given the enormous impacts that construction of this pipeline would cause, we are skeptical that the proposed project meets these legal standards.” Opponents of the pipeline also point out  that constructing the reroute would involve clearing trees, digging trenches, filling wetlands, and other activities which could disturb vulnerable ecosystems in northern Wisconsin. 

“We will evaluate what actions are needed to protect our state,” said Feinauer. 

Protesters march in Milwaukee after the 2024 presidential election. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

“Our strategy is year-round civic organizing,” Amanda Avalos, executive director of Leaders Igniting  Transformation (LIT) told Wisconsin Examiner, following the Nov. 5 election won by President-elect Donald Trump. LIT canvassers knocked on more than 665,000 doors ahead of Election Day, and the Milwaukee-based group plans to keep up its civic engagement work in the years ahead. “This doesn’t stop us,” Avalos said of the election results. “And if anything, this is fueling.”

LIT, a grassroots nonprofit and nonpartisan group led by youth of color, focuses on building political power for young people through strategic civic engagement. From canvassing neighborhoods and knocking on doors, to advocating for policy change or even preparing young people to run for office, recent years have seen the organization make a name for itself. 

It isn’t that LIT’s staff didn’t feel the waves of fear, anger, and despair many community members experienced after Trump’s victory Tuesday. Those emotions were familiar to LIT organizers. “This is not the first time that we’ve been under a Trump administration,” said Avalos. “And we know the direct negative impact that he has on the communities that we work with. And that’s young Black and brown people in the state of Wisconsin.” 

LIT plans to counteract that impact by staying organized and motivated. From advocacy efforts to leadership development, sustained organizing is LIT’s mission, said Avalos, explaining that the group is dedicated to “growing our base year-round in between election seasons — not just during election season, but for moments like these…where we need to mobilize and act.” 

LIT is already preparing for another big election on April 1, when voters in Wisconsin cast ballots in the state Supreme Court race.

Meanwhile, Avalos says, organizers need to take time to rest, process, grieve, regroup and find community. “That’s what it’s going to take to get through more moments like this,” Avalos told Wisconsin Examiner. “That’s what it took last time, and we continue to hold onto each other and continue to move fiercely with our plan, with our advocacy, with all the ways that young people are leading all across the state.”

The day after Trump’s election victory, Black Americans across the country received racist text messages telling them to be prepared to be collected and sent to the nearest plantation for cotton picking. Women have also reported being increasingly harassed online since Trump’s reelection and a far-right social media meme has gone viral, trolling women on social media with the slogan  “your body, my choice.”

The election was particularly divisive for young people. While Harris attracted many young women voters of color, Trump attracted more young men. Some young activists also expressed dissatisfaction at both major political parties. On Nov. 6, protesters gathered in Milwaukee’s Red Arrow Park to protest the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and express their frustration over the sense that they were ignored by the Democratic Party. The protest was led by groups including Students for a Democratic Society UWM, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee. Speakers encouraged protesters to find an organization to join and get involved.

Avalos agrees  that young people feel ignored. “More than ever young people are frustrated,” she said. “The lack of social-economic progress, not being heard at the local decision-making levels — local government, state government and federal government. … There’s a lot of disillusionment, disappointment, frustration, completely valid.” Avalos has heard young people express their sense of powerlessness on issues including the war in Gaza, climate change, the cost of living, housing, tuition and gun violence, as elected officials have failed to remedy those concerns. “Those issues continue to be a priority, and we’re not at the point where we see that reflected in policy and law,” she said. 

Avalos told Wisconsin Examiner that LIT will be back at the doors soon, engaging with communities and asking them what they want to to see from their elected leaders. Avalos stressed that connecting the issues that affect people’s families and communities to voting helps impress on people why it’s important to show up at the ballot box. LIT will focus on getting more citizens engaged in school board meetings, common council meeting and public hearings in the state Legislature. 

As people process the fallout from the November election, Avalos said she hopes that people will  support one another and remember what motivates them. “At the end of the day, it’s not because of anything more than we love each other,” she said of LIT’s continuing work, “and we need know that we all deserve better.” 

Utility companies are spending billions building out transmission and distribution lines around the country, leading some to call for an independent monitor to protect customers. Photo by Robert Zullo.

The Sierra Club released a statement Friday criticizing recent residential rate increases for We Energies approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC). Increases of 13-14% were approved by the commission on Nov. 7, after We Energies proposed a 19% increase. The Sierra Club claims in a press release that the rate increase rewards the utility provider for “bad decisions, such as past investments in fossil fuels.” The environmental advocacy organization is calling on the PSC to scrutinize We Energies’ plans for a $2 million methane gas plant, which the Sierra Club fears will raise the costs even more. 

“We are disappointed in this decision, but we’re not going to stop fighting to put people first. We appreciate the Commission scrutinizing We Energies’ claims about the needs for this increase. We Energies’ poor investment in fossil fuels have put us in this place. Going forward, we hope to see the Commission continue to investigate We Energies’ claims about the needs of its customers. This will be more critical than ever as the Commission rules on decisions about new gas facilities that could result in stranded assets, hurting our communities even more,” said Cassie Steiner, Senior Campaign Coordinator of Sierra Club – Wisconsin. “For so many people, higher utility bills mean greater financial strain for everyday needs– from affording rent or their mortgage, to being able to put food on the table for their family. People shouldn’t have to choose between affording groceries and keeping the lights on.”

In its press release, the Sierra Club states that We Energies makes more than double the revenue of the next largest utility in Wisconsin, and has one of the highest electricity rates in the Midwest. According to the Citizens Utility Board, the costs paid by We Energies customers have more than doubled over the past 20 years, at a faster rate than inflation. 

Emily Park, co-executive director of 350 Wisconsin, expressed deep disappointment at the PSC’s decision. “This decision will hurt people already struggling to pay for everyday needs for their families, like putting food on the table, affording basic health care, and keeping their homes at a livable temperature,” said Park. “At a time when so many communities are facing uncertainties about their futures, the people of Wisconsin deserve to know that their public agencies are looking out for them, not the corporations.”

In a statement to Wisconsin Examiner, We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said, “We appreciate the commission’s vote in support of our investments to reduce customer outages, build clean energy and critical infrastructure needed to support jobs and economic growth in Wisconsin, and meet [Environmental Protection Agency] rules.” Conway added that “our typical customer bills are below the national average and in line with customers across the Midwest. That will remain true in the coming years. Any customer concerned about their energy bill should contact us right away to discuss energy assistance and bill payment plans.”

The UW-Madison Police Department. (Corey Coyle photo)

University of Wisconsin-Madison campus police made a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday regarding racist text messages being sent to students. “UWPD is aware of reports that Black UW-Madison students have received racist text messages as part of a nationwide wave of messages that began on Thursday,” the department posted.

Racist text messages were sent to Black Americans across the country following Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. Many of the text messages told  recipients they had been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation, and that they should be prepared to be collected by a van to be taken there.. The texts were sent to people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, Virginia, and elsewhere.

The police department post said the department  is “committed to the safety of the UW-Madison campus and community, and we take all reports seriously.” The department has encouraged anyone who feels unsafe or threatened to call (608) 264-2677. The department said callers should dial 911 in an emergency. 

Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez addresses news media on election night. On Friday, the commission delayed certification canvassing until Monday after receiving a suspicious package. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

The Milwaukee Elections Commission put off certifying election results Friday after receiving a suspicious package that the commission said was later determined not to be hazardous.

Commission staff reported the package, a bubble-wrapped envelope wet with an unknown liquid that arrived at the commission’s City Hall office Friday morning.  The Milwaukee Fire Department responded to the report, sending a  hazardous materials team

According to a statement released by the elections commission, the envelope “emitted an unusual odor.” The statement said that firefighters were contacted “out of caution” and that, “after thorough testing, all results were clear, and [Milwaukee Fire Department] confirmed the area was safe.”

The Wisconsin Examiner contacted the Milwaukee Police Department for more information and was referred to the Milwaukee Fire Department, who said to contact the mayor’s office. The city’s spokesman, Jeff Flemming, could not be reached, but the mayor’s office referred the inquiry to the elections commission. 

The commission statement said the body rescheduled its certification of the election to Nov. 11, at 8 a.m. 

“Once certified by the City of Milwaukee Board of Election Commissioners, the results will be transferred to the county and continue through the process to the state,” said the commission’s statement. 

First responders gave the all clear to the commission to accept the curing of provisional ballots until 4 p.m. Friday.

The Wisconsin Election Commission website has details on the certification process. 

A portion of a racist text message received by several people across the country. (Wisconsin Examiner photo illustration)

Along with people in other communities across the nation, some Wisconsinites woke up Thursday morning to racist text messages ordering them to report to “the nearest plantation.” The texts came less than 48 hours after former President Donald Trump won the presidential race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Lydia, a mother in Milwaukee who didn’t want her last name published, received the text just before 2:30 a.m. She saw it two hours later, when she woke up about 4:30 a.m. The message addressed her by name. 

“You have been selected to pick cutton [sic] at the nearest plantation,” the message reads. “Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S.”

After seeing the text, Lydia posted the text online and searched to see if they had appeared elsewhere. “The crazy thing about it is they spelled cotton wrong,” she told Wisconsin Examiner with a chuckle. Still, she found the text message startling and chilling. 

“I mean obviously, I knew the election was on the fence,” she said. “So, to have this happen right after the president is elected…” 

Lydia said that she understood “where we were at with everything, like I kind of knew it could go this way.” After receiving the text message, however, “slowly I felt violated, felt fearful because it’s like a lot of supporters are really, you know, wanting to go back to that…To that 1800’s vibe…I was very concerned.” The text made her, and others in her community, feel threatened and disgusted, she said. 

Similar text messages have been reported in Alabama, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and elsewhere. Although not word-for-word copies, the text messages all say that the recipient has been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation, that a van — sometimes brown, sometimes white — driven by “our executive slaves” will be picking recipients up to take them to a plantation where they will be searched. 

All the text messages appear to assign the recipient to a different “plantation group” organized by letters. Some of the texts end with “sincerely, the Trump Administration.”

Wisconsin Examiner attempted to contact two of the numbers sending out the texts. One was no longer in service, and another led to a generic voicemail box.

Lydia said the text reminded her of the rally Trump held at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Oct. 27, nine days before Election Day. There, comedian Tony Hedgecliff called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” said that Puerto Ricans “love making babies” and made remarks involving Black people and watermelon before a crowd of laughing Trump supporters.

Trump, who will take office Jan. 20, 2025,  has continued to rail against immigration from across the southern border and has branded “left wing lunatics” as “the enemy within.” The rally was compared to a Nazi rally held in 1939 in Madison Square Garden. 

“There’s just certain things you just don’t say,” said Lydia. “It doesn’t feel safe being Black in America. But now that he is president, it’s really out there. And people are really concerned, and people are really scared.”

People enter a voting precinct to vote in the Michigan primary election at Trombly School Aug. 7, 2018, in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano | Getty Images)

In Kenosha, the local Democratic Party office has received calls about residents who put up yard signs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris receiving letters, warning of reprisal and biblical hell fire if they don’t vote for former President Donald Trump.  

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, said that people have been reporting the letters to the Kenosha Police Department. “There’s a couple different versions of it, but most people I know have gotten both of them,” Hawkins told Wisconsin Examiner. 

One of the letters, images of which were shared with Wisconsin Examiner, opens with the line, “We see that you have Democrat signs on your property.” The letter asks, “are you not aware that when you die that you will be held accountable before almighty God for voting for an open border that allows millions of illegal immigrants to freely enter, many of which are felons and evil people that have been doing deadly harm and will continue to do so [?]” The letter goes on to warn that voters will be held accountable by God “for voting for communism to take over America,” ending that “we don’t want anyone going to horrible hell, but you are on a fast path to it.” 

After receiving multiple reports about the letters, Hawkins said that the Kenosha County Democratic Party decided to make a social media post, to ensure that people knew that they weren’t alone. The letters are typed and unsigned. “We know that the people who are putting these letters in mailboxes really believe the topics or the issues that are in the letters, and they’re probably doing it because they are fearful,” said Hawkins. “We know that it’s a bigger organization that’s fomenting this kind of fear, and playing to people’s anxieties and worries.” 

Hawkins feels that the letters are “twisting the platform of Democrats who are on the ballot in a way that is, you know, pretty vile and false.” Hawkins has also received reports of Democratic yard and barn signs being slashed, defaced, driven over, or stolen. “And let’s be clear, I have heard and seen none of that happening with the large political signs belonging to Republican Party candidates,” said Hawkins. “So this is just an attempt to silence people, and make people fearful.”

Still, hundreds of people turned out for recent canvassing days held by the Kenosha County Democratic Party. Nancy Locante, a volunteer with the Kenosha County Democratic Party, received one of the letters, mailed to her with no return address. “America is at a crossroads,” one of the letters she received stated. The letter described “transgender ideology infecting our children’s schools,” high grocery bills, immigration, and persecution of “Christian values.” The letter urged Locante to vote for “biblical truths.” Locante said, “that’s quite a bit of intimidation, but of course they don’t have the guts to put their names on it. It can be a little unsettling knowing that they are watching you. But it’s unfortunate that these people’s beliefs are so misguided.” Locante hasn’t been deterred. “I’m walking around with all my buttons and merch on,” she said. 

Locante plans to continue helping the Kenosha County Democratic Party canvass neighborhoods ahead of Nov. 5. 

In Milwaukee, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) have knocked on over 600,000 doors urging people to get out and vote. LIT’s organizers said they have received reports of identical letters in communities between Milwaukee and Kenosha. 

In early October, the Milwaukee suburban city of Wauwatosa experienced a string of sign vandalism, which targeted Democratic-endorsed yard signs. From Wauwatosa’s southeastern corner near 55th street and Wisconsin, all the way up to the northwestern corner of 81st street and Meinecke avenue, signs were defaced with red spray paint. The Republican Party of Milwaukee County denounced the vandalism in Wauwatosa, and said those responsible should be held accountable. In September, red spray paint was used to deface Democratic signs in Madison. 

Both presidential campaigns continue to focus heavily on Wisconsin. Harris and Trump held competing rallies in Milwaukee Friday night ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.

Cortaisha Thompson knocks on doors on Milwaukee's southside. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

A strong, warm fall wind accompanied Cortaisha Thompson as she walked through a south-side Milwaukee neighborhood. “I like to be out talking in the community just like, interacting with people,” the 26-year-old told Wisconsin Examiner. About 20 canvassers from Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT), including Thompson, have spent months knocking on doors throughout Milwaukee ensuring voters have what they need in the election on Tuesday, Nov. 5.  

Calmly walking up a staircase leading to a front door, Thompson knocked and waited. After about 30 seconds without an answer, she left a piece of voter education literature in the door and moved on. At the next house a woman answered the door, saying that she planned to vote on Election Day, but that she didn’t know that early voting was an option. Early in-person voting at polling places in Milwaukee began on Oct. 22 and will run until Nov. 3. 

Whether anyone answers the door when she knocks is a toss up, Thompson said. In some neighborhoods, doors stay shut the majority of the time. Sometimes it depends on the time of day and whether most people are at school or work. Thompson, who lives closer to Racine, has also noticed how different neighborhoods in Milwaukee have different vibes. On the South Side, canvassing walks can be quieter. When Thompson canvassed the North Side, she encountered more residents willing to talk about their political views. 

“I feel like I get more contacts and more energized people that’s willing to open the door and actually talk,” said Thompson said of North Side neighborhoods. Since LIT’s goal is simply voter education and not candidate endorsement, Thompson doesn’t try to  convince people to vote one way or another. Especially in Milwaukee, one of America’s most segregated cities, Thompson sees how people can feel pigeon-holed. “They feel like they have to vote for Trump, or they have to vote for Kamala,” said Thompson. “I just tell them like, we’re not here to tell you who to vote for or anything. We just want to make sure you get out to vote, and get your opinion out there.”

Signs for both former President Donald Trump and Vice  President Kamala Harris sprinkled the diverse neighborhood. Some homes were adorned with colorful decorations. As Thompson approached a couple of doors, where no one answered, she noticed local police association stickers. She said she enjoyed her time in Milwaukee, and even is considering moving to the city.

Each day she canvassed a different neighborhood or part of town. When Thompson canvassed in wealthier neighborhoods with residents “in those super big houses,” people often reacted with hostility to LIT, she said, “cussing at us and stuff like that.” On the South Side she felt more welcome. 

Periodically, Thompson would stop to check her phone to see what house is next on the list. Every canvasser is expected to knock on 175 doors a day. A couple months ago, the daily metric shot up to 275, which limited the amount of time canvassers could spend at each door. LIT has a goal to knock on 650,000 doors before election day, and has already reached more than  620,000. 

Thompson sees “a big mix of support” for different candidates neighborhood by neighborhood. “I haven’t gotten that yet, an area that’s strictly for her, or strictly with him,” said Thompson. A Marquette University poll released on Wednesday shows Harris and  Trump in a virtual dead heat, 50% to -49% among likely voters. 

Similarly, the race between Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde showed Baldwin leading 51% to 49%, a big drop from the seven-point lead Baldwin held in September. 

Many voters Thompson has encountered also seem squarely focused on the presidential election. There’s also the Republican-backed constitutional amendments on the ballot this year, which LIT is also informing voters of. “There’s people that say they don’t even go out and vote for no election if it’s not the presidential one,” said Thompson. LIT heard the same thing from voters  when knocking on doors for school referendums, mayoral races, and other elections. “None of it.” 

That attitude can change, though, when voters are asked about issues instead of about candidates. Thompson recalled speaking to a woman about health care access. “Her daughter got into a car accident and was in a coma and all type of stuff and they didn’t have the money to pay for her treatment,” said Thompson. “And then she started crying talking to me about it so I was like, kind of sad about it…There’s really people out here affected by not having that type of stuff. Majorly affected.” Reproductive rights was another recurring issue Thompson has heard while canvassing. Shortly after telling the story Thompson walked into a local convenience store for some water. When the store manager  he realized Thompson was out canvassing voters, he offered the water for free. 

Prior to getting involved in LIT, Thompson said she never paid much attention to politics. Older relatives of hers, however, were politically active and pushed her to get involved. When she did, and then started working with LIT, her whole perspective changed. “They bring a lot of stuff to your attention to make you realize, like, your vote really matters, and it really counts,” said Thompson. “Especially in times like this where it’s like if it don’t go the way you want it to go, you don’t know how it’s going to go afterward.”

This article has been edited to update the numbers of doors knocked by LIT, and to correct a misspelled name. 

Tents around King Park in Milwaukee. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Milwaukee County Supv. Shawn Rolland is calling on board supervisors to support allocating more funds to help people living unhoused. The additional $500,000 in Housing Division funding would come from an amendment to the 2025 county budget, and help unhoused residents to find stable shelter and resources. 

The call comes during  Homeless Awareness Week, which ends Nov. 2. Rolland noted that the county has relied on pandemic-era funds to help underserved residents find stable housing. “If there are insufficient Flexible Housing Pool funds, the Housing Division will not have the tools they need to help,” Rolland said in a statement. “With rent and mortgage costs up by 31% and 43% respectively, many people are facing severe housing insecurity, including some who are homeless for the first time in their lives.” Currently, unlike some other cities nationwide, Milwaukee has no “safe camping” initiatives, which designate areas where unhoused people can camp for the time being. 

Both county and nonprofit outreach teams have encountered growing numbers of people living outside who’ve never been unhoused before. Recently, that trend reached a fever pitch after local and state authorities closed Park & Ride lots due to safety concerns, stemming from the growing communities of people living in the lots. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation reported  that between July 1 and September 30 of this year, there were 275 calls for service to the lots, including for assaults, thefts and overdoses. 

The outreach group Street Angels reports that over a two year period, the number of unhoused people they serve has increased by 120%. In July, during the Republican National Convention, out-of-state police killed a man living unhoused in Milwaukee’s King Park neighborhood. The proposed amendment would carry no tax levy impact, according to county records. The amendment would specifically focus on people living unhoused who have “exigent housing needs.”

“For those recently forced to leave local park-and-ride lots, this means contemplating living in the woods, under bridges, or other precarious places,” Rolland  stated. “This situation is a tragedy, and we must act to prevent it.” The county supervisor fears that although Milwaukee has made “significant investments ‘up the funnel’ to prevent homelessness in the future,” the current framework of the 2025 budget lacks “support for those in immediate crisis.” 

Supvs. Jack Eckblad, Juan Miguel Martinez, Sky Z. Capriolo, Felesia Martin, Caronline Gomez-Tom and Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones signed on as amendment cosponsors. Recently, the county board approved $250,000 to fund a right to counsel program for tenants facing eviction, in an effort to help curb some of the housing crisis.

Unhoused people in Milwaukee pitched tents in King Park this summer. Advocates who work with the homeless population say that a decision to close two Park & Ride lots in Milwaukee has made things more difficult for people who don't have housing,. (Isiah Holmes | Wisconsin Examiner)

Seeing people living out of their vehicles in Milwaukee’s Park & Ride lots at Holt and College Avenues wasn’t unusual for Eva Welch. As co-founder and executive director of the homeless outreach group Street Angels, she had watched for nearly a decade as the Park & Rides grew into their own unique communities. 

Welch was dismayed to hear that officials would be closing the Park & Rides. Driving the Street Angels  outreach bus packed with all manner of supplies, the team traveled throughout Milwaukee. Among their stops were four Park & Rides, where commuters park their vehicles and board public transit. Over the years, more and more people living in tents or out of their vehicles – functional or otherwise – chose to remain in the lots. 

“Holt Avenue Park & Ride has actually been a stop on our route through the entire nine, almost 10 years that we’ve been in existence,” Welch told Wisconsin Examiner. She called the lots on Holt and College avenues the “largest by far” in terms of how many unhoused Milwaukeeans lived there. “The majority of the folks there either had some kind of camper, or a vehicle, but there was still several – more than several – people between the two Park & Rides living in tents on the grounds of the Park & Rides in the grassy areas.” 

Park & Ride residents had created a modest form of shelter and community, she said. “There’s actually a group of folks that were removed from the Holt Park & Ride that are trying to move around as a group,” said Welch. “And unfortunately, it’s unsuccessful for them. Everywhere they’ve gone, they’ve been told to move within 12 hours. And they’re pretty adamant about staying together because they’ve somewhat become a family.”

That group is made up of about  15-20 people, Welch said. On Oct. 14, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that two Milwaukee County Park & Rides would be closed, along with another partial closure, “due to declining safety conditions.” Over a year, more than 80 people have been removed from the lots and have found housing through the county’s housing services. The press release stated that despite those efforts, more unhoused Milwaukeeans continued to find the lots. 

“We’re seeing a lot of individuals who are experiencing homelessness, sometimes, for the first time,” said Eric Collins-Dyke, deputy administrator for Milwaukee County Housing Services. Different factors also seem to be leading people to the lots. “Some of it is dealing with past trauma and the complexities that accompany that, and also we’ve seen more from an economic standpoint, individuals who work and they either lost their employment for rent, or are currently working and getting income, but aren’t making enough to afford rent.”

Collins-Dyke said this trend is spreading “pretty rapidly” and not just at the Park & Rides. “It sort of made us look at having to be more robust in the preventional space.” Generally, many of the people living in the Park & Ride lots are from the Milwaukee area. “Almost across the board, from the area,” Collins-Dyke said, adding  that more older adults are appearing unhoused in Milwaukee County. Nevertheless, age ranges in the encampments can vary from people in their early 20s up to elders in their 70s. 

DOT’s press release stressed that camping near highways or “adjacent right-of-ways” is illegal under state law. Unlike some metro regions nationwide, Milwaukee has no “safe camping” initiatives, which designate areas for unhoused people to camp.

The DOT stated that between July 1 and September 30 of this year, there were 275 calls for service to the lots, an increase of nearly 42%. Those incidents ranged from reports of assaults, theft, and overdoses. 

“Public safety is first and foremost,” WisDOT Assistant Deputy Secretary Joel Nilsestuen said. “Park & ride lots are not safe or suitable places for anyone to live. We’ve worked closely with our partners to connect individuals with available resources and relocate them to safer situations. We do not take this action lightly, but we recognize the importance of doing what’s right for the safety of the people in the park & rides, the traveling public and nearby communities.”

“We are concerned for the safety of those choosing to live in these lots, as well as for the safety of the surrounding community,” Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan said. “The reported incidents happening inside of these encampments and nearby neighborhoods are unacceptable. We are dedicated to protecting the public, and in doing so, we must do what’s necessary to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Some wonder if these acts are actually working in the long run. Welch said that the Park & Ride residents had been sent notices warning of closures before, but authorities never followed through. “Typically what would happen is the news would pick it up, and the notices would be rescinded,” said Welch. “So for many of them, they didn’t believe that this was going to happen.” Many Park & Ride residents were on edge, said Welch. Then fences went up, police patrols came through,  and other indications it was time  to leave appeared. “It’s been quite an experience for the folks that were staying there,” said Welch. “They were having difficulties getting their stuff out, they couldn’t get back in to get their stuff once they went back out.” 

With winter coming, immediate housing and shelter space is limited. Among local officials, reactions to the Park & Ride closures were split. County Supervisors Caroline Gomez-Tom and Jack EckBlad released a joint statement saying the DOT’s response “fails to address the underlying issues contributing to homelessness in our community.” The supervisors called for affordable housing, robust tenant protections, and support for people facing housing instability. Earlier this month, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced $4 million in affordable housing focused on Milwaukee and Oak Creek.

On a nightly basis, Street Angels encounters around 300 people living on the street, tucked away in wooded areas, or camping in Park & Rides. In September 2022, the group was encountering 223 people living unhoused. By September of this year, the number had increased to 488, that’s a 120% increase over a two-year period. Welch told Wisconsin Examiner, “We’ve never served so many people in vehicles…We’ve seen people in really nice vehicles sometimes, where they’re choosing their car payment over their rent because they can’t afford both and still eat.” 

Outreach groups, whether attached to the county or on their own, are also struggling to keep up. Street Angels has no form of permanent funding, Welch said. “Every year what we raise is what’s getting us by the next year,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. Nevertheless, the group is adding new programs, and providing more meals ahead of the winter. 

Collins-Dyke said that the county will work with nonprofits and the city to support warming rooms and increase its own presence. “I think this year, the coordination among teams within the system will be more important than ever.”

Members of the Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union (MATU) join other Milwaukee residents in a protest calling for a freeze to rents and evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved $250,000 to fund the Legal Aid Society’s Right to Counsel Program. Under this program, eligible residents facing eviction proceedings will receive free legal representation. Tenants and families with young children will be prioritized in the new program. 

“There is a broad, positive, progressive coalition of stakeholders who support this program,” said Sup. Jack Eckblad, author of the amendment which will help fund the program. Calls to establish such a program have grown since 2020, when eviction filings sored to new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Milwaukee County eviction filings rose by 26 that year.

An initial pilot program launched in late 2021 received  more than $3 million in funding. Under the program, tenants who arrived to eviction proceedings were more frequently represented by  lawyers, with the incidence of representation rising  from 2-3% to 6-16%. Evictions were prevented in 76% of cases, and eviction records were sealed in 72% of cases. The majority of those filings, a report evaluating the pilot program found, were made in majority Black census tracts, and 78% of the program’s clients were Black women. 

Housing advocates said that the program needed to expand to have greater impact. They also objected to input from landlords during the process of  crafting new programs to help tenants in Milwaukee. 

During the summer, outreach groups reported seeing more individuals living unhoused on the streets and  in cars. In July, after an unhoused man was killed by out-of-state police during the Republican National Convention, the outreach group Street Angels reported serving up to 300 people per night. Funding for the Right to Counsel Program comes as Wisconsin’s largest braces for  winter.

The proposed site of the Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC), (Photo courtesy of Jenny Van Sickle)

A proposed $700 million methane gas plant in Superior hit a new road bump, with the plant’s owners now moving to withdraw requests for an air permit for the facility. If the withdrawal is approved and finalized by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), then the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC) would be required to go through an entirely new permitting and review process. 

The development has forced companies with a stake in NTEC’s construction to re-evaluate the project. “Due to the extended timeline of the federal permit process, the Nemadji Trail Energy Center partners have requested that the [Wisconsin DNR] revoke the facility’s air permit,” said Dairyland Power Cooperative spokesperson Katie Thomson. “This is a timing issue. The window of time to construct and commission the facility allowed in the air permit is no longer achievable. Therefore, NTEC has requested the [Wisconsin DNR] revoke the project’s air permit; the project partners will determine when to re-apply based on project planning and permitting.”

Thomson added that NTEC’s owners will continue to work to ensure the project is in compliance with environmental regulations. “Recently, NTEC received its 15th regulatory agency approval, with a positive Federal Consistency Certification from the [Wisconsin Department of Administration]. We look forward to continuing to work in good faith as the approval process continues.”

Since NTEC’s owners are withdrawing their air permit application, a hearing with public testimony scheduled for Dec. 2 will likely be canceled. Ron Binzley, a permitting manager in the DNR’s Bureau of Air Management, said that processing such a request “would not take long, a matter of days at most.” Binzley said in an email to Wisconsin Examiner that if NTEC’s construction permit were also revoked, then the gas plant would not be able to break ground without first submitting a new construction permit application, and receiving that permit from the DNR. 

In a correspondence to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) shared with Wisconsin Examiner, City of Superior Councilwoman Jenny Van Sickle criticized how NTEC’s owners pursued for the gas plant. Van Sickle wrote that NTEC’s developers “have repeatedly failed to disclose accurate timelines, expirations, and ignored regulators warnings; the Applicants cannot claim their filings are entered in good faith; the scope of their issues are vast and vary across local, state, and Tribal governments and are at odds with federal compliance.” She went on to write, “NTEC’s developers have failed to act where matters were easily within their control, and their overwhelming regulatory problems cannot be addressed by a single or concrete remedy. For example, the developers have not secured site control, an acid rain permit, nor federal approvals, funding, or permits.”

While NTEC’s supporters point to the plant as a way to generate energy-industry jobs, its opponents point to a diverse array of problems with the proposed facility. The plant would be constructed along a bend of the Nemadji River, 300 feet from the shoreline. That portion of the river is host to wetlands and floodplain forests, with the river itself flowing from Lake Superior. The potentially affected habitats are degraded and the Nemadji River has been listed as impaired. The DNR and city of Superior have worked to restore shoreline dunes, nesting habitats, waterways, and wild rice fields. 

The rice fields particularly are important to Indigenous culture in the region, and sacred ancestral sites are located near where NTEC would operate. Tribal communities, including the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, known in their own language as the Gaa-Miskwaabikaang, said some U.S.  government entities which reviewed NTEC local impact “failed to meaningfully engage” with the tribe. Additionally, as a methane gas plant, NTEC’s operation is viewed by environmentalists as  out of touch with climate policies laid out by Gov. Tony Evers. 

The plant’s fate will be in limbo until its owners decide whether to pursue new permits. NTEC’s spokesperson said that the project partners “will determine next steps based on project planning and permitting.”

One of the images on the "Blackest Bus In America" which visited the MATC downtown campus. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

One by one, students at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) downtown campus lined up to register to vote on Friday. Parked on the street beside them loomed the aptly named  “Blackest Bus In America”, sporting images of protesters holding signs reading “Black Voters Matter,” the name of a national voter rights organization. MATC was just one of the bus stops on the group’s  “We Fight Back” voter registration tour. 

“We really want to turn out the vote on or before election day,” said Alethea Bonello, an organizer with Black Voters Matter. “And in order to do that, we have to engage with the community. So the bus is just icing on the cake. But the hard work that our local partners have put in, they’ve been doing canvassing, phone backing, they’ve been going door to door, and they’re just really talking with the community about the importance of voting, as well as turning out to vote as well.” 

Bonello said that the MATC event was geared specifically towards young people. Along with registering to vote, people were provided information on the candidates, and were offered tacos and music.

The bus stayed over the weekend, working with local organizations like Souls to the Polls canvassing communities. On Sunday, the campaign visited local churches in Milwaukee. 

In both the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and  the U.S. Senate faceoff between Democratic Sen.Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde, polls are showing tight races in Wisconsin. 

For Bonello, a lot is riding on the election. “I’m from Atlanta, Georgia,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. “What’s important is allowing people the ability and freedom to vote. We are dealing with voter suppression and oppression. We are dealing with voter misinformation and disinformation,” she said. Her group aims  “to be truthful about people, giving them the facts — straight, no chaser — and to be able to allow and empower them to make their own decision.”

“We’re not telling people who to vote for,” she added, “but we’re encouraging them to exercise their right to vote.”