Elected leaders and public health officials in Milwaukee gathered at the Marcia P. Coggs Center for Health & Human Services building to announce that opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin’s most populous county have declined for the fourth straight year in a row. 

According to data provided through the county’s overdose dashboard, there has been a 17.7% decrease in fatal overdoses and a 22.7% decrease in fatal opioid overdoses since 2024. There has been a 42.6% decline since 2022 in all forms of overdose death, with a 54.6% decline in opioid-related overdose deaths specifically.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley praised the use of opioid settlement funds to expand  treatment and harm reduction strategies. The funds originate from lawsuits against the producers and distributors of pain killers that triggered the opioid crisis. The nationwide epidemic of addiction and overdoses is also tied to the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl which began spreading in  the mid-2010s, causing deaths on an unseen scale.

“As we acknowledge the progress we have made, we must also remember those we have lost,” said Crowley. “Their lives matter, and their stories remind us why this work is so critical. I am committed to continuing this work until every person in Milwaukee County has access to the care, support and second chances they deserve.” 

The latest data shows that 387 people in Milwaukee County still lost their lives to an overdose last year. “These are our neighbors, these are our loved ones, these are our family members,” said Crowley, “people who we care about that live in our own communities.” At a press conference Tuesday, Crowley said he has seen family and neighbors struggle with addiction as he grew up. “And I saw firsthand the barriers that they faced when trying to access treatment, but also continue to take those steps towards healing,” said Crowley. “Healing is a lifelong journey. So to me these aren’t just numbers on a dashboard. They’re people, and even one overdose death is one too many.” 

Milwaukee County will receive $111 million over the next 18 years through the opioid settlements. This represents the largest amount recovered by a local government in Wisconsin history, a county press release states. 

“Three years ago, we were losing a life to opioid overdose every 16 hours,” said Chief Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ben Weston, praising the sharp decline in deaths since then.

Weston recalled an April weekend three years ago when there were 16 overdose deaths in Milwaukee County. The scale of the epidemic was “unimaginable” Weston said, and it forced emergency management staff, firefighters, police and community members  to “say enough,” said Weston. 

Over the  last several years Milwaukee County adopted multiple harm reduction strategies. Narcan — the nasal spray used to revive someone from an opioid overdose — has been distributed in vast quantities to emergency responders and average citizens. There are also 27 free-to-use harm reduction vending machines around the county providing narcan, fentanyl testing strips and even gun locks. 

The vending machines were launched through a Department of Health and Human Services program called Harm Reduction MKE. Another program called Pull Up & Pick Up offers residents the opportunity to order free supplies and pick them up at the Coakley Brothers building (400 S. 5th St) on the third Friday every month. Vivent Health Depot has also partnered with Milwaukee County to provide free harm reduction supplies delivered right to people’s homes. 

“We’ve expanded community paramedicine programs and peer support to close the gaps in care and reach people who might never otherwise have entered into the system,” said Weston. “And we’ve partnered with the state using real-time overdose data and predictive learning and modeling to better understand who is at highest risk, and be able to intervene early.” 

Treatment centers have also worked to overcome zoning restrictions and stigma to open in new parts of Milwaukee. Treatment access has also been expanded for people both entering and leaving incarceration, a particularly dangerous time when people are more likely to overdose, Weston said. 

“At the Medical Examiner’s Office, we see firsthand the human toll of this crisis, and while the data shows progress, it also reminds us that this work is far from over,” said Dr. Wieslawa Tlomak, Chief Medical Examiner of Milwaukee County. ”

Tlomak said that it should concern everyone that every third or fourth death in Milwaukee County is due to drug overdose. She noted that usually overdose deaths are caused by multiple drugs. While Narcan can reverse an opioid overdose from fentanyl, there is no equivalent medication to reverse the effects of stimulants like cocaine or meth. “In other words, the landscape of overdose deaths has changed,” said Tlomak. “It is more complex, more unpredictable, and more difficult to treat.”

Tlomak said that of the 387 people who died of fatal drug overdoses last year, 263 involved opioids. 

Jeremey Triblett, Prevention Integration Manager at the Department of Health and Human Services, highlighted the importance of new campaigns in Milwaukee to continue to reduce overdose deaths. One program, dubbed “Better Ways To Cope,” provides residents with strategies to deal with life problems. 

On June 12, recognized as National Harm Reduction Day, the Department of Health and Human Services is inviting residents to participate in the 1,000 Doors Challenge, a neighborhood canvassing project aimed at spreading information and supplies to the people who need it. 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

An ordinance that prohibits local or federal law enforcement officers from wearing face masks, except in dangerously cold weather, passed the Milwaukee Common Council Tuesday. The measure is part of a package the council considered under the heading “ICE Out Milwaukee”. 

CBS 58 reported that there was support for the policy change even from the police union. This comes in response to the recent federal immigration crackdown in Democratic-led cities including Minneapolis and Chicago, where agents dressed in military-style tactical gear and wearing masks made arrests or used force against immigrants, protesters and bystanders. In Minneapolis, two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration agents during confrontations. Agents who shot another man in the leg were later found to have lied about the events leading up to the non-fatal shooting. 

The ICE Out Milwaukee package was pushed by a group of Milwaukee alders after these events raised anxieties among area residents. Ald. Alex Brower told the Wisconsin Examiner that after a huge crowd attended a town hall on immigration, he realized Milwaukeeans wanted to see local government do something, anything, to protect residents from immigration enforcement. 

WISN 12 News reported that the vote on the mask ordinance was delayed last month because of City Attorney Evan Goyke’s concerns that it might not be enforceable. But last week, Goyke sent a letter to the council saying it was legal.

“I do want to thank City Attorney Evan Goyke, who he and his team, worked very hard, very diligently. They were committed to getting to yes, in my opinion,” alder JoCasta Zamarripa told WISN-12.

Alds. Brower, Marina Dimitrijevic, Zamarripa and José Perez, who is the common council president, all supported the measure.  

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Fallout from a weekend attempt by animal rights activists to breach the Ridglan Farms Biomedical Research Facility and rescue beagles bred inside continues. On Tuesday, four of the activists were charged in Dane County with felony burglary. Meanwhile, Ridglan Farms has been cited for filling a trench around its facility with manure — an environmental hazard for which it lacked a permit — in an effort to prevent the activists from entering over the weekend.  Calls for an investigation into the farm and  police use of force  against them continue. 

Wayne Hsiung, Aditya Aswani, Michelle Lunsky, and Dean Wyrzykowski were all charged with felony burglary. Hsiung was noted as among the first people arrested within minutes after arriving at the farm. Although the activists had publicly advertised the rescue — which included hundreds of participants — as  planned for Sunday, the activists hit the farm a day early. Images captured on Saturday showed the air thick with tear gas, and witnesses  reported that rubber bullets and pepper balls had been used. Injuries were also reported, including one man who reportedly lost multiple teeth after being beaten by officers. 

The action Saturday was the second one since March, when activists successfully breached fences and doors at Ridglan and carried over 20 dogs away. Some of the dogs were adopted, while others were intercepted by police and returned to Ridglan. Although the activists were  arrested during the April 18 action, the charges against them stem from the first raid in March. 

Thousands of dogs are kept and bred at Ridglan Farms. The facility has been accused of subjecting beagles to cruel and inhumane conditions by enclosing them in gated cages, not allowing them outside or play time, and removing parts of their bodies or subjecting them to experiments without anesthesia. Ridglan has denied some of the allegations.

Last year, a special prosecutor made a deal with the farm to discontinue its beagle breeding operations by July or face penalties. Animal rights activists, elected officials, and others have called for the dogs to be adopted  before that deadline. 

The plight of the Ridglan beagles has gained national attention. During hearings in Washington D.C. last week, Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. why the National Institutes for Health continue to provide grants to groups that use Ridglan beagles for experiments, Democracy Now reported. 

Pocan highlighted that Ridglan has had 311 code violations, stating that the institute has policies about beagle testing prohibiting animals from being tortured. “And that’s part of what’s happening with this facility,” said Pocan. “So grants are still, in the last month, going to groups that are getting beagles from Ridglan Farms.” Pocan asked Kennedy to look into grants provided to the facility, adding that if Ridglan doesn’t get rid of the beagles then they’ll likely be euthanized. Kennedy said “I believe you but I have a hard time believing that. I need to look into this…Because we’re trying to end…We’ve done more than any administration in history to end animal testing.”

Following the attempted rescue on Saturday, animal rights activists and community members held vigils near the Ridglan property as well as a rally at the Capitol. Activists and supporters also visited the office of Gov. Tony Evers, calling on him and Attorney General Josh Kaul to shut down the facility. 

Meanwhile, Ridglan was cited for constructing or altering a manure storage facility without a permit, Channel3000 reported. Ahead of the weekend, Ridglan erected barriers around its facility to prevent the activists from entering as they had in March. Reports have also circulated describing masked armed men believed to be security guards discouraging people from being nearby, but Ridglan denied those claims. In a statement to Channel3000, Ridglan denied constructing a manure facility, but said  it took “reasonable measures” to protect the facility “from the announced unlawful invasion.” The facility acknowledged that it dug a trench around Ridglan Farms. The trench was filled with manure. 

Two elected members of the Dane County Board of Supervisors have also said they’re initiating the steps needed to begin an independent investigation into the force used by the Dane County Sheriff on activists and protesters Saturday. Sheriff Kalvin Barrett has said that the actions of his deputies was proportionate and appropriate to the situation they faced Saturday.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Advocates and loved ones of Salah Sarsour gathered in Washington D.C. to demand his release from federal immigration detention. Sarsour — a green card holder and lawful permanent resident of Milwaukee and president of the city’s Islamic Society — was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents earlier this month. The federal government accuses Sarsour, who is Palestinian, of lying on his green card application in 1993. 

Sarsour’s son Kareem said that his father is the main caregiver for an elderly member of their family who has dementia. Kareem demanded Sarsour’s release, emphasizing that he is  a father, grandfather and leader in the community. 

Supporters are demanding that Sarsour be released and returned to his family, and that all charges against him be dropped. They also  demanded that the U.S. to stop weaponizing immigration law to target pro-Palestine advocates, and for Congress to investigate the targeting of lawful permanent residents for First Amendment activity. 

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said of Sarsour, “He has spent more than 30 years of his life strengthening those around him. As a Palestinian resident of this country, he has built a huge community. He’s a business owner, a job creator, a leader who is well respected in the inter-faith community, among elected officials, and a diversity of communities fighting in the state of Wisconsin.”

Awad and other supporters of Sarsour say that he’s a political prisoner being persecuted over his opposition of the Israeli government and support for the Palestinian people. “To abduct Salah Sarsour for his politically protected First Amendment activity, upholding justice for the Palestinians and for all people, sends the troubling message that our government is failing to protect basic freedoms that sets America apart from other countries,” said Awad. “We call on this administration to listen to the American people who have been telling them in one form after another to stop the Israelization of U.S. policy, and to serve the American people.” 

Sarsour’s loved ones say that he has long been vocal about Israel and Palestine, having grown up in the West Bank where he was detained for two years by Israeli authorities. Sarsour’s family members say  he was tortured while in custody, a practice which has been documented by humanitarian organizations even in recent years. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement earlier this month that Sarsour had been accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli armed forces.

Sarsour is currently being held in an ICE facility in Indiana. Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid also echoed the First Amendment concerns around Sarsour’s arrest. “What does it even mean?” Irshaid asked. “What does it even mean to be a threat to our foreign policy? Someone who stands up and speaks on behalf of the oppressed. On behalf of a people who were the subject and continue to be the subject of a genocide.” 

Naming other Muslim activists who’ve been arrested or detained by ICE for speaking out for Palestine, Irshaid asked, “what does that mean? Does it mean that America stands for genocide?” Irshaid said that the Trump administration  has openly pursued what it views as political opponents, including high profile people such as former FBI director James Comey, and New York Attorney General Latisha James.

“So America has to reckon with this stuff,” said Irshaid. “It’s no longer about minorities. You could be a white American and be shot in broad daylight and get called a domestic terrorist, as what happened to the two American citizens who were shot by a rogue agency called ICE now,” a reference to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year.

“And you could be abducted from the middle of the street just because you dare to say I disagree with this government, and I disagree with our foreign policy,” Irshaid said. “And you could be targeted just because you dared, at one point, to prosecute Donald Trump based on the laws of the land.” 

Irshaid stressed that it is time for people to realize “that the weaponization of our own government against any minority group, against any people means that it could be weaponized against the entire American people.”

Oussama Jammal, secretary general of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, also said that he feels Sarsour is being detained for political reasons. “This is a free country, we are allowed to speak our minds,” said Jammal. “Otherwise we could be another rogue country of the ones that we see — what do they call it — banana republics. So we demand the immediate release of Mr. Salah Sarsour, and truly hold the American values ahead of any other agenda other than an American agenda.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Clouds of tear gas engulfed the Ridglan Farms Biomedical research facility, as police repelled hundreds of animal rights activists attempting to breach the facility to carry away  thousands of beagles bred and housed inside. The activists gathered at Ridglan in the Dane County village of Blue Mounds on Saturday, a day ahead of the date  they’d publicly announced for the planned rescue action. 

Wayne Hsiung, a lawyer and animal rights activist from California who was one of the lead organizers of the action, was reportedly among the first people arrested. The Dane County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that he was arrested “within minutes” for conspiracy to commit burglary. As the activists attempted to enter the Ridglan facility for the second time in a little over a month, they were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Activists  said some people  were severely beaten by law enforcement. One participant, Nicholas Dickman, lost multiple teeth after officers beat him after Dickman crawled through a hole activists made in the  fence around the facility, according to a press release prepared by the Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs. 

The conflict comes after weeks of escalating tensions around the controversial facility. Ridglan keeps thousands of beagle dogs bred specifically to be used in biomedical research. Ridglan maintains its own research wing, but also sells the dogs to other facilities for use in experiments. Critics of Ridglan have long accused the facility of subjecting the dogs to cruel and inhumane conditions. Last year, a special prosecutor appointed by a Dane County judge found that violations of Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws had occurred at Ridglan. Instead of filing charges, the special prosecutor reached a settlement deal with Ridglan that gave the company until July to shut down its breeding operation. 

Animal rights advocates denounced the decision to let the beagles remain at Ridglan until July. This prompted a first attempted rescue by dozens of activists in March. More than 20 beagles were taken from the facility and  some were adopted. A few of the dogs were intercepted by police and returned to Ridglan. The group forced its way into the buildings housing the dogs, breaching fences and breaking locks. Some of the activists reported that the dogs they pulled from gated enclosures were living in cramped and unsanitary conditions. Although 27 people were arrested, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett didn’t refer charges to the district attorney’s office until last Thursday, after the activists announced their plans to return to try to get more beagles out. Barrett called the activists “outside groups” who used violence to breach the buildings and “stole dogs from the facility.”

On Saturday, at least 25 people were arrested, a coalition spokesperson said in an email statement to the Wisconsin Examiner. Two people have been charged with tresspassing, one with reckless driving, and four with felony burglary. Hsiung reportedly said in a call from jail that “only a deeply corrupt system will use tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful activists saving dogs. We are seeing the worst in humanity today. But in the courage of the rescuers, also the best.” The coalition  said in a statement that Hsiung was questioned by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI refused to comment for this article. 

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media that a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) had been used to warn people that they’d be arrested. The statement said  that hundreds of people attempted to breach the gate, while others “blocked roadways to slow the response of law enforcement and other emergency vehicles.” It also said that one of the activists reckless drove a vehicle around the property before “law enforcement stopped it and arrested the driver.” 

The sheriff’s office also said  that some protesters were peaceful while others ignored warnings and attempted to break into the facility, and that 40mm munitions (tear gas) and pepper balls were used. Dane County deputies were assisted by other law enforcement agencies, though the sheriff’s office  did not name them in its statement. 

Sheriff Barrett said that “it was clear from the beginning that this was not going to be a peaceful protest.” Barrett said the use of force was “appropriate and proportionate to the behaviors observed” and that “resorting to crime, chaos, and violence is not the solution.”

The sheriff’s post included pictures of activists dressed in white biohazard suits, carrying equipment like sledgehammers and power saws to breach the facility. 

Lisa Castagnozzi, a resident of Milwaukee County who participated in the action, told the Examiner that she’d been concerned about Ridglan for at least eight years, ever since she read about the facility’s 311 animal cruelty violations cited by the state, “and yet, they just keep reporting these violations and nothing ever happens.” 

“So everyone — myself included — have tried over eight or nine years now, for me eight, all of the legal channels. You know?” Castagnozzi said. “All the advocacy channels. Going to hearings. Signing petitions. Calling our Congress people. Going to Madison to talk to people at [the state Department of Agriculture and Trade], U.S.D.A., meeting with legislators, being part of Dane4Dogs…I mean literally trying to get any of the four major authorities in Wisconsin to take action. Like we know that there’s cruelty there. Why is no one taking action?”

In frustration, Castagnozzi said she and many others decided to go to Ridglan on Saturday. Originally, the second action was announced for Sunday, and Castagnozzi said that she, like many others, was surprised that the action was moved up a day to Saturday. When they arrived at Ridglan, Castagnozzi said she saw what she thought was smoke in the air as the police fired tear gas and people tried  to get through the gates. Castagnozzi’s team decided to keep their distance, and then people started coming down the hill towards them with injuries. 

One man, she said, “had been pepper-sprayed in the eyes, like brutally. And then from that moment on, for the rest of the day, for me…my team was scattered and there’s so many people and chaos. …  people were shot with rubber bullets. People went to the hospital. Knee injuries. A professor from Sheboygan I know, she was shot in the chest and she had to go to the hospital and make sure it wasn’t a broken rib. A lot of injuries, and tons of people with serious chemical, you know, in the eyes, in the face, in the skin, in their lungs, I mean people were just passing out.”

Castagnozzi also said that she saw people who identified themselves as neighbors and supporters of Ridglan blocking roads with their vehicles and not allowing people to pass. 

On Sunday, sheriff’s deputies were still in the area blocking a road to Ridglan and monitoring passing cars. A planned vigil was not held at the farm. Instead, dozens of activists gathered at the Capitol, saying they would not give up on freeing Ridglan’s beagles.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

On Sunday, more than 2,000 people plan to enter the Ridglan Farms biomedical research facility to free thousands of beagles bred in Dane County under conditions prosecutors last year said violated state animal cruelty laws. Self-described rescuers from across the country have been preparing for Sunday’s non-violent direct action, building on the momentum that started with a smaller rescue last month. 

Wayne Hsiung, an attorney and organizer of the rescues, posted on social media that rescue participants will “use every non-violent means to breach the facility walls and rescue the dogs.” Hsiung continued, “if police illegally attempt to stop us, we will shield one another from their attempts to hurt the dogs, and pressure them to enforce the law and protect the dogs. Nothing will stop us from getting all 2,000 beagles out of cages into the sunlight for the first time.”

In 2024, animal rights groups including Dane4Dogs and the Alliance for Animals filed a court complaint against Ridglan, following years of activism drawing attention to the breeding operation. Ridglan has bred beagles for 60 years to be sold and used in biomedical research, while also maintaining its own research area separate from where the dogs are kept. The controversial but legal experiments are a separate issue from the living conditions of the beagles.

Activists allege that the dogs are being housed inhumanely, had been subjected to the removal of eyelids and vocal cords without anesthesia, and were experiencing deteriorating health as a result. A special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, was appointed after a Dane County judge found that there was probable cause that Ridglan was violating  Wisconsin’s animal cruelty laws. 

Instead of filing criminal charges, Gruenke offered Ridglan a deal that allows the facility to close its breeding operation by July 2026. Gurenke told Fox6 that he didn’t have authority to seize the dogs because the crimes being investigated had occurred in the past. Ridglan has denied the allegations, saying in a statement that “no credible evidence of animal cruelty has ever been presented or substantiated. Nor has any court, agency, or investigator ever made a finding of animal cruelty.”

Ridglan said in a emailed statement to the Examiner that Gruenke’s investigators questioned the credibility of witnesses who distributed claims it said were “misinformation” and “untrue.” Ridglan also said that inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted from May 2014 to January 2026 found “no non-compliant items” besides a dog with an injured paw in 2017, a request for new flooring in the puppy kennel in 2023, and three separate instances of “paperwork” issues in 2023 and 2026. 

Taking matters into their own hands 

Hsiung organized the first rescue attempt on March 15, an action he said “showed the power of open rescue.” Participants carried  22 beagles out of the facility and drove them away. Eight of the dogs were intercepted by police and returned to Ridglan. 

During the rescue, participants Ingrid Andersson and Jennifer Tourkin say they glimpsed what daily life is like for a Ridglan Farms beagle. The most immediate and overpowering impression they had was from the stench emanating from the long shed buildings housing the dogs, Andersson said. The smell reached the rescuers when they were yards away, having just crossed a field freshly covered with manure. 

“That smelled like, wholesome to me,” Andersson, a midwife in Madison, told the Examiner. “That was nothing. When we got to the sheds where the dogs are kept, it was overpowering stench. It was very, very rank. That was the first thing. And then of course there was the sound.” 

Each long shed, which Andersson compared to the sort used by massive Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s), housed about 1,000 dogs, she said. Tourkin, a substitute pre-school teacher and mother from Denver, Colorado, called the sounds echoing from the sheds “profoundly disturbing.” She said, “picture a thousand barking, screaming, suffering beagles running in circles. That’s what it sounded like and I mean…Smells were horrific and it was more than I was prepared for.” Andersson said that the barking and crying must have been yet another stressor for the dogs. “It certainly was for me,” she added. 

As they approached, Tourkin could also hear the sound of the fence being breached. Once the activists got past the fence, it took another 15-20 minutes to actually get into a building. Tourkin was part of a “red team,” or a group willing to get arrested, and was also one of the first people who entered a building that housed dogs. “By the time we came in we could hear alarms, we could hear sirens, so at that point we had to move quickly to save beagles,” she said. 

The activists weren’t hiding from the police, and in fact Hsiung called local law enforcement once they arrived at Ridglan, hoping that officers would assist them in getting the dogs out. While Tourkin and her teammates went inside and retrieved the beagles, Andersson and the others waited outside and helped carry them to vans idling nearby. 

“My own experience in carrying beagles to vans and helping them to freedom was very similar to how I held many laboring mothers in my arms,” said Andersson. “You know, the feeling of a dog melting in my arms really trusting that they were being brought to safety was very clear for me.” Tourkin also said that the dogs “pretty much just melted into our arms.”

Despite Ridglan’s claims that reports of abuse are false, Andersson said she saw dogs with sores on their feet, legs, eyes and ears. Others seemed depressed or shut down. “It was pretty obvious what was going on here, like you didn’t need an expert investigator to tell that these animals were in distress.” She added, “clearly many of them were not used to being held, but there was no resistance.” 

Even wearing biohazard suits, some participants had a difficult time with conditions inside the sheds. Participants said they had difficulty breathing, and the ventilation fans didn’t appear to be working. Enclosures stacked two high and arranged in long rows were filled with dogs inside, some held alone and others in groups. Trays filled with dog droppings rested beneath the enclosures, Andersson said. 

Tourkin recalled carrying one of the beagles to a van as alarms, sirens and a clap of thunder sounded. Tourkin decided on the spot to name the beagle Etta Harriet after her late mother, who would have turned 90 years old this year. “I immediately fell in love with her and looked into her eyes,” said Tourkin. “This beagle puppy just made me think of my mom.” 

As far as Andersson knew, the beagle she carried to the vans made it to safety. Etta Harriet, however, was not so fortunate. She was in a van that was later pulled over by police. Tourkin said that Etta Harriet was one of the eight beagles that were returned to Ridglan. Some of the beagles that made it off the farm have been adopted. Fox6 reported on one of the rescued beagles now named Ivy, who had never seen sunlight since she was born last summer. Instead of a name, Ivy had a code number tattooed inside of her ear. 

Both women said that while law enforcement didn’t assist the rescue as activists hoped, many officers appeared sympathetic to their cause. Andersson said she heard some officers say that they would  be out there if they could. Tourkin, as a member of a red team, said that officers and activists had lengthy and informative conversations. “Many of them didn’t know about the facility until they had arrived there because they were from neighboring communities,” said Tourkin. “And they listened. One of my colleagues saw tears.”

Nevertheless, arrests were made. Jon Frohnmayer, an environmental attorney who answered questions about the arrests, wrote in an email statement to the Examiner on Tuesday that 27 people were arrested during the March action on suspicion of misdemeanor trespass. Most were released hours after booking, while five were kept in jail for more than two days. 

Not everyone was sympathetic. Andersson said that there was at least one person she called a “vigilante” who drove his truck in a “very menacing, threatening way at us,” slashed tires, and confronted activists. Andersson heard that the man may have been an ex-employee. She told the Examiner that he also deserved empathy. 

No charges had been referred to the Dane County district attorney for the March action until Thursday. Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 70 charges against 63 people have now been referred to the district attorney’s office. Barrett said that it’s up to the DA whether those people will be charged. Although Barrett said he empathized with people who care about animals and said people may exercise their First Amendment rights, he also described the March action as a violent break-in by “outside groups” which “stole dogs from the facility.” Barrett said that charges had been referred against activists and someone whom the sheriff described as “a nearby neighbor who tried to intervene with the activists.”

Earlier this month, Congressman Mark Pocan responded to Ridglan Farms, after the company requested Pocan’s assistance in repelling the planned action on Sunday. Pocan encouraged the facility to work directly with law enforcement, adding that confronting animal cruelty is an important issue to the congressman, and that the “documented treatment of beagles on your property is alarming.”

Pocan encouraged Ridglan to promptly comply with the ruling of special prosecutors to discontinue their breeding operations. “In addition to my concerns about the ethical treatment of the beagles on your property, I encourage the prioritization of safe rehoming to every beagle possible,” wrote Pocan. “No dog should lack the decency of a safe and loving environment.”

In a statement to the Examiner, Ridglan Farms said that despite the 2025 settlement, it maintains a federal license to continue research, most of which it says benefits dogs by improving veterinary medicine in rabies, canine parvovirus, heart work, dog allergies, dog arthritis, and other ailments. Ridglan also shared video showing dogs housed in gated kennels, arguing that it shows that the dogs are healthy, happy and living in large social groups.

Sunday’s action will mark an escalation, as thousands of people are expected to attend, compared with the dozens who participated in the first rescue action. Frohnmayer said that the activists’ legal team is prepared. “We are expecting a large turnout for the second rescue and have planned accordingly, with expanded jail support, legal resources and coordination with local groups,” he said. “We are prepared to support everyone who chooses to participate, regardless of the scale.”

Returning to Ridglan to get the remaining 2,000 dogs

Participating in the first rescue attempt at Ridglan was a powerful  experience for both Andersson and Tourkin. “That was the best day of my life,” Andersson told the Examiner. “Next to the birth of my son, that was the best day of my life.” Tourkin said, “I’m proud that I’m in a place in my life where I was able to actually do something tangible in this world where I so frequently feel powerless.” 

“I think that Americans have forgotten what citizen action is like,” Andersson added. “It’s not a march at the Capitol. Direct non-violent action is what you do when your legal system, or your health care system, or whatever it is, is broken.” 

The people who participated in the first direct action included vegans and meat eaters, people as young as 18 and some in their 70s. “The experience was transformational to me,” said Tourkin. “These people are the loveliest, most compassionate humans I’ve had the honor to know. And even if there weren’t going to be another rescue, I consider these people my family.” She added, “These aren’t radicals. I wouldn’t have labeled myself an activist. Now, super proud, because what is an activist? Someone who takes action.”

Wisconsin community members and animal welfare activists have been raising the alarm about what they say is Rigland’s abuse for many years, Tourkin said. “And these people have worked tirelessly. So regular people like me have this very short window to get these abused dogs out.”

On Sunday the rescuers will likely encounter more resistance. Since the March action, Ridglan Farms has constructed a barrier around the facility consisting of a ditch hardened by obstacles and wire. Animal rights activists have also captured pictures of masked men dressed in black, which the organizers say are armed security guards hired by Ridglan. 

The Marty Project — an animal rights organization — on Wednesday posted on Facebook the text of an email it says was sent to the Dane County Sheriff’s Office by a former law enforcement officer acting as a liaison between the animal rights group, police and Ridglan. The post claimed that masked men at Ridglan have followed vehicles on public roadways, harassed people, and brandished firearms.

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard on Thursday called for de-escalation at Ridglan Farms, urging demonstrations to remain non-violent and lawful. “This is an emotional issue for many people, and understandably so,” Agard said. “But the path forward must be rooted in respect, safety, and the rule of law. Dane County is at its best when we come together to solve problems, not escalate them.”

Ridglan denied reports of armed masked men acting as security guards near the farm’s property. “No one from Ridglan Farms is doing anything like that,” the company said in a statement emailed to the Examiner. It called the reports “wild claims” by activists “to generate negative coverage of Ridglan Farms and if that has happened to activists or anyone else, they should certainly document it and report it to police immediately.”

Meanwhile, the activists are moving forward with their plan. Andersson said, “there is no limit to the power” of direct action.

Tourkin said,  “I did see true bravery by others, including Ingrid. I carried a dog to safety — to what I thought was safety — and those beings, they’re the focus.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Kris Seals, a Brookfield alderman, has resigned following public outcry over anti-Muslim social media posts he made. Though Seals initially resisted calls for his resignation, he has since backpedaled and apologized for his comments, which discussed violence against Muslims. 

“I would like to apologize to the Muslim community for my insensitive and inappropriate statements I made online,” Seals said in an emailed statement which was shared by Brookfield City Attorney Jenna Merten, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 

Shortly after Seals was reelected in an uncontested race on April 7, Fox 6 Milwaukee reported on numerous posts the alder made on LinkedIn. “They will take over your country with out (sic) one shot,” read one of Seals’ posts. “They will out vote you in less then (sic) 30 years and then you will be living under Sharia Law.” Fox 6 Milwaukee said the posts were first noticed by a local resident who shared them with the TV news station. “They are a sick religion,” Seals wrote in  another post. “This must stop. deport them all.” In yet another post Seals wrote “It’s time to wipe out the immigrants from Britain and all of the EU.” Another of his  posts referred to shooting Muslims and Somalis with  “bacon rapped (sic) bullets,” topped off with laughing emojis. 

Seals had also made a post reading “Obummer is not the President anymore! So Presidential immunity is Mute. Hang him for treason,” and another one suggesting that criminals should be shot twice in the head to save “the people tons of money in court cost and prison cost, also eliminating the dems from becoming involved in trying to save their voter base.” Images of another post have been shared with the Examiner, with the posts alleging that “every blue state has Billions in fraud” which Seals re-posted and commented that, “I think it’s way past time for Public Executions.”

Fox6 Milwaukee reporters questioned Seals at his home. Seals said “it’s obnoxious, these people,” referring to what he called “extreme Muslims” and asking the reporter to “put that word in there, because it’s not all Muslims.” Grinning, Seals admitted to making the posts about bacon-wrapped bullets, a discriminatory trope mocking the Muslim prohibition on eating pork. Seals told the reporters that the only post he regretted was the one calling for criminals to be shot. “Sometimes we say a lot of things online that we don’t necessarily mean,” Seals said. He later claimed that his LinkedIn posts were  bringing attention to important issues. “Those are problems,” said Seals. “I have a right to say how I feel.”

The comments caused an uproar and Muslim community organizations called for Seals to resign. “Public officials take an oath to serve all constituents, not to demonize them,” said Robert McCaw, government affairs director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Seals’ violent and dehumanizing remarks targeting Muslims and immigrants are not just offensive, they are dangerous. This rhetoric fuels hate, legitimizes discrimination, and puts real people at risk. It is fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities of public office.” 

Seals said in his resignation statement that he spoke with a member of the Muslim community. “I appreciate they are willing to forgive me for the rude statements I made,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with them and to get an even better understanding of the Community.”

The common council will now need to determine how to fill Seals’ empty seat. It wasn’t the first time Brookfield’s common council had to contend with inflammatory comments made by Seals. 

In 2023, Seals drew attention for speaking against a proposed affordable housing development in his wealthy, mostly white suburb. “The problem that I have is the future of Brookfield,” said Seals. “What we are trying to do is step down to a West Allis or a Wauwatosa. No, we’re Brookfield. We don’t step down to allow the people who can’t afford to live in Brookfield to come in, because then we become West Allis, then we become Wauwatosa. This is not what Brookfield is. I’ve been here 60 years, this is not Brookfield.” Seals also said people who want to live in Brookfield need to “put your nose to the grindstone” until they can afford to live there. 

An attempt to censure Seals for his comments on affordable housing failed, with 16 local residents appearing to speak in support of the alder. One woman called his opposition to the housing project “exemplary.”

Brookfield Ald. Michael Hallquist pushed for Seals’ censure in 2023. In an emailed statement to Wisconsin Examiner, Hallquist applauded his common council colleague’s resignation over three years later.

“First and foremost, I want to reassure the Muslim members of our community that you belong here, you are loved, and you are every much as Brookfield as my family is,” said Hallquist. “You are our neighbors and we will continue to show up for you.”

Hallquist said that Seals “represents an ever-decreasing attitude of hate and intolerance in our community. While I appreciate his apology, I hope he sincerely intends to learn more from his neighbors on his pathway to forgiveness, and I wish him well on that journey. It speaks volumes to the kindness of our Muslim community to offer him the opportunity to do-so.” Hallquist concluded that, “Brookfield is what we make it, so I hope we continue to create a culture for our city where everyone feels safe, appreciated, and welcome.”

This article has been updated with comment from Ald. Michael Hallquist.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt called a press conference Friday to push back against reports about a U.S. citizen who claimed last month that she was detained by federal immigration agents and held at the Dodge County Jail. Schmidt announced he is filing a civil lawsuit against the woman who made the allegations, saying, “it is important that we correct the facts, so today we’re here to talk about the fact vs. the fiction in the Sundas Naqvi allegations that were made.” 

In early March, Naqvi, 28, of Skokie, Illinois, claimed that she and her co-workers had been detained by federal immigration authorities at the O’Hare airport in Chicago after returning from a work trip abroad. Naqvi’s family and Kevin Morrison, a Cook County commissioner, said that Naqvi had been taken to the Broadview Detention Facility and was then transferred across state lines to the Dodge County Jail, then released without aid or transportation in the pre-dawn hours. 

Schmidt said during his press conference Friday that these allegations are false. “They gained significant attention, but they have not been supported by any — any — verified evidence at all,” he said. Schmidt noted that Morrison, a candidate in the Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat, held a press conference to air the Naqvi allegations in the leadup to a the election, which he  lost. 

Naqvi’s alleged detention took place against a backdrop of news reports and widespread public outrage over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which targeted Chicago and Minneapolis. 

Research conducted by the Deportation Data Project found that 1,300 arrests made by federal immigration agents were listed as “collateral,” meaning they were not the intended targets of the enforcement, the Minnesota Reformer reported. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has also been criticized for assisting in detaining and transporting people arrested by federal immigration agents. 

Schmidt said that the initial claims about Naqvi’s arrest were “coordinated messaging designed to generate outrage and media attention.” He showed a picture posted to social media showing Naqvi being reunited with her family after her alleged detention.

Schmidt said that there “is no record of booking, there is no record of detention, there is no record of release, no contact with the individual, no transfer to any federal agency.” He also blasted media outlets that covered Naqvi’s allegations as factual, repeatedly saying those kinds of stories hurt the reputation of law enforcement. 

“Media coverage has impacts,” said Schmidt. “What you publish has impacts on more than just those readers and viewers. It has impacts on real human beings.” Schmidt showed hate mail the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office received after the Naqvi allegations surfaced, and revealed the names of the people who sent the messages. “These are the types of things that we as elected officials, that public officials get when media put out information that is not verified. And many times, it’s false information that goes out and we get these regularly. And I don’t think that the media understand the impact that these kinds of stories have on real people every single day.”

Schmidt stated that Naqvi had been briefly detained by Customs and Border Protection until 11:42 a.m. at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, after which she left and checked in at a Hampton Inn and Suites hotel in Illinois at 1:17 p.m, just minutes from the airport. While investigating the allegations, Schmidt made contact with a man he calls both a witness and a victim, who provided corroborating evidence refuting Naqvi’s story.

The witness — who Schmidt refused to identify citing Marsy’s Law — allegedly received texts from Naqvi telling him that she’d arrived to her hotel room, and asking to use his credit card to buy some food. Records from the hotel confirm when Naqvi checked in, and that she was not at the Dodge County Jail when she claimed. Naqvi also asked to use the witness’s card to pay for a spa treatment during this time. “Now I don’t know about you, and my staff have never recorded one, there is no spa at Broadview in Chicago Illinois,” said Schmidt. “I can also tell you there is no spa lady in our jail here in Dodge County.”

Schmidt said that on the morning Naqvi claimed she was released from custody, she’d actually asked the witness to drive her to Wisconsin to help her sister with car trouble. The witness allegedly told Schmidt in a recorded interview that he thought she was  going to the Kenosha area, but it turned out Naqvi wanted to go to another hotel in Beaver Dam. Schmidt showed images and played video of Naqvi at a gas station with the witness, wearing the same striped black and white shirt she wore in a social media post that purportedly showed her being reunited with her family. Schmidt called the witness “a true gentleman” for holding the door open for Naqvi as they left the gas station. 

It was around this time, Schmidt said, well-past 5:00 in the morning, that Naqvi claimed she was being released from the Dodge County Jail. The witness’s vehicle was also captured by several Flock cameras along the journey, Schmidt said. The sheriff wanted to check whether the timeline of events he believed occurred tallied with what the witness was saying. “So I put those times into A.I. and I said ‘what time would he have left?’” The software’s results lined up with what the witness described, Schmidt said.

Later, Schmidt played video of Naqvi at another location taking selfies. At 6:50 a.m. on the morning she was allegedly released, Naqvi’s sister and others arrived in a silver SUV to pick her up. The unnamed witness told Schmidt that he was then asked by Naqvi to pose for media as one of the coworkers who allegedly went with her on the overseas work trip, and who were allegedly detained with her upon returning to the country. Schmidt said that none of this happened, and that the witness refused to make those claims to the media, but did claim to be one of the coworkers to Naqvi’s attorney. 

Schmidt said that the witness paid for Naqvi’s trip to Turkey, and that the trip was not related to or paid for by an employer. In fact, later media coverage reported that the company where Naqvi claimed to work denied that she worked there. Schmidt said that while Naqvi was overseas, she wanted to get a medical procedure for which the witness took out a $3,000 loan. Schmidt said that Naqvi spent about $25,000 of the witness’ money, maxing out his credit card. The witness did all of this, Schmidt said, because he believed he might be able to have  a long term relationship with Naqvi.

The sheriff also discounted the images of Naqvi’s phone location showing her at Broadview and Dodge County. “I’m here to tell you that in the world of A.I., in the world of technology that they live in, things like this can be spoofed very easy,” he said. “I could do it on my phone in only a matter of minutes.” Schmidt noted that one of the screenshot images actually had two different time stamps. Schmidt also highlighted Naqvi’s past disputed allegations, including an accusation of sexual misconduct against a professor that the professor denied.  

In 2019, Schmidt said, Naqvi made a report to the Skokie police that she was violently sexually assaulted. Although officers observed injuries, took forensic evidence and arrested an ex-boyfriend of Naqvi’s, they later determined the report was false, Schmidt said. Another 2020 report with the Skokie police made by Naqvi accused a driver of being impaired in a Walmart parking lot. The driver showed no signs of impairment, and claimed he met Naqvi on a dating app and was waiting for her to come out of the Walmart. The report was classified as disorderly conduct and categorized as not made in good faith, Schmidt said. 

Schmidt said he has not had any success getting other law enforcement agencies interested in following up on what he regards as Naqvi’s bad acts, none of which are likely to be charged as crimes in the state of Wisconsin. He added that he does not know the status of any investigation the FBI may be doing, and the state police he reached out to in Illinois never got back to him. Schmidt said that he was told by local law enforcement officers that while they would like to act, that they can’t because Cook County prosecutors don’t take on cases of this nature. Later, Schmidt claimed that upon hearing this the witness allegedly said “it sucks to live in a blue state.” 

Schmidt is filing a lawsuit in an attempt to hold Naqvi and anyone else involved in her allegations accountable, he  said. “This is not a misunderstanding or a minor discrepancy,” said Schmidt. “This is not a violation of the constitutional or civil rights of Sundas Naqvi or those allegedly with her. The timeline claimed is not physically possible based on the evidence that we have, and that matters.” He also condemned the media and politicians for spreading false reports, saying they damaged respect and trust in law enforcement. 

“Let me be clear,” said Schmidt, “ICE is not the enemy. Law enforcement is not the enemy.” Schmidt said that he won’t stand by “while false narratives are used to portray law enforcement as something it is not.” He added, “I take it personally when my staff are called liars. These are men and women who do the job the right way every day and those accusations are simply not supported by facts.”

Schmidt said that a criminal investigation is ongoing, in addition to the federal civil lawsuit he’s filed, which seeks $1 million in damages. He wouldn’t comment on whether any phones were forensically downloaded as part of this investigation, which Schmidt said he used a lot of his own time to pursue. 

In a statement provided over email, Morrison said that he understands that a lawsuit has been filed, and that while he has not seen it, he cannot comment on pending litigation.  Morrison did not comment on whether he has been in contact with Naqvi or her family. The Examiner reached out to the office of attorney Robert Held, who represented Naqvi and her family when the allegations were first made, but no comment has been forthcoming.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is one of seven Democrats vying for the nomination in this year’s primary for governor,  is calling domestic violence a “public health emergency” after learning about the killing of a Kenosha woman, Makayla Plaza, 28, allegedly by her estranged ex-husband. Plaza’s attempts to get a restraining order against her ex-husband were shot down by a Kenosha County judge. 

In February, Plaza told the court she feared for her life and the lives  of her young children. But the judge denied her request for a restraining order. Markus Plaza, her 33-year-old ex-husband, was taken into custody after a 24-hour man-hunt following her death on April 1 TMJ4 reported that law enforcement found the man, Marckus Plaza, hiding in the basement of a salon. 

Makayla Plaza’s boyfriend said that her ex-husband would take her keys from her, lock her inside the house, and listen in on her phone calls. The Kenosha Police Department said that the husband had a history with the department, including an arrest for battery in February which resulted in no charges being filed. 

In a statement released through his campaign, Crowley said that “I have been sitting with this since I heard the news because I am also grieving,” recounting how his own friend Nancy Metayer — vice mayor of Coral Springs, Florida — was allegedly killed by her husband just days ago. Metayer was soon to announce her campaign to run for Congress. “Two women. Two states. The same devastating, preventable outcome. How many more?” Crowley said in his statement.

“I need Wisconsin to understand that this was not a fluke,” Crowley said. “This was not an isolated failure.” Rather, he said, tragedies like Plaza’s death are the result of underfunded shelters, understaffed courts and setting the legal  bar for protection “so impossibly high that a woman has to prove she is already in danger before we will act to prevent it.” He called for treating domestic violence as “the public health emergency it is.” 

Wisconsin has the tools and research it needs to make a difference, Crowley said, as well as the expertise of  social workers, survivors and advocates. “What we have lacked — what Wisconsin has lacked for too long — is the political will to act,” he added.  “I am done waiting.” If he is elected  governor, he said, tackling domestic violence would be a priority, including changing  how restraining orders are processed statewide, ensuring that survivors and their families have legal assistance and investing in mental health and substance use disorder treatment, as well as in domestic violence prevention and crisis support programs in all 72 counties. 

“So to the women of Wisconsin who are living this right now — I see you,” said Crowley. “If you are afraid, if you are trying to find a way out, if you have asked for help and been turned away or doubted or made to feel like what is happening to you isn’t serious enough — I want you to hear this directly from me: You are believed. What is happening to you is real. You deserve a system that fights for your life the way you are fighting for it every single day.” 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

A large and diverse crowd packed a community center on Milwaukee’s  south side Thursday, calling for the release of Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Sarsour, who is of Palestinian descent, was detained by federal immigration agents Monday morning. His supporters are calling Sarsour’s arrest an targeted act of political retaliation designed to chill opposition to the Israeli government and support for the Palestinian people.

“This is a man who came to the United States and kind of lived the American dream,” Othman Atta, executive director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, told the audience of community members, press, activists, and local elected officials. “And they are trying to tarnish his image. They’re trying to target him.”

A green card holder and lawful permanent resident, Sarsour has lived in the United States for over 30 years. “The U.S. government fully vetted his visa application at that time,” Kathryn Brady, head of the Muslim Legal Fund of America’s Immigration Litigation Department, said in a statement Wednesday. Brady said that it’s difficult to believe that the federal government’s “position now is not rooted in a violation of his First Amendment right to speak about the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Atta said that on Monday Sarsour stopped at an old warehouse on Milwaukee’s south side which he owned because mail kept arriving there. As he left, a car came on the wrong side of the street “flying toward him,” said Atta, forcing Sarsour to jump out of the way. The unmarked car stopped and a person allegedly in civilian clothes pointed a gun at Sarsour and asked who he was by name. 

Atta said 12 vehicles were involved in the arrest, and Sarsour was loaded into a van before being told he was being taken by federal immigration officers. 

Atta said that the story was relayed to Sarsour’s attorney Munjed Ahmad during a phone call in which Sarsour declared that he was a lion and willing to fight. Sarsour was transported to the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois before being quickly transferred to another facility in Indiana, Atta said.  

“This is America,” said Atta. “This is Trump’s America.” 

He described Sarsour as a husband, father, grandfather, and a successful business owner who has no criminal record or convictions. 

“According to the papers that were filed in immigration court, they went back to when he was a minor — a teenager — in the West Bank under Israeli occupation,” said Atta. 

When he was a teenager, Sarsour was arrested and detained by the Israeli police. “He served two years,” said Atta. “Many of you who know him know that his passion for Palestine, his passion for justice, was based on the experience he had and that his family and friends had. He would talk to us many times how for 80 straight days, he was interrogated, and brutalized, and tortured while he was in Israeli military custody.” 

Palestinians living both in the West Bank and the region of Gaza, which has suffered catastrophic damage and where tens of thousands of people have been killed during attacks by the Israeli government in the last two and a half years, have reported similar abuse. 

In 2024, the United Nations found that due process rights for Palestinians had been violated in the West Bank for nearly 60 years. Last year, charges were dropped against five Israeli soldiers accused of beating and sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner in an assault that was captured in a video. A top legal official in the Israeli military admitted to approving the video’s release in an effort to show the world how the over 9,000 Palestinians detained by Israel are treated, the Associated Press reported. 

Al Jazeera reported that the bodies of Palestinians released as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and militant factions of Hamas exhibited signs of torture including restraints and injuries still evident on the dead. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement Thursday that Sarsour was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces.” In the statement, which repeatedly called Sarsour a “terrorist” and an “illegal alien from Jordan,” DHS charged that he “lied” on his green card application to enter the country in 1993 during the Clinton administration, and that his first attempts to apply for an immigrant visa at the American consulate in Jerusalem were rebuffed because of those allegations and others of “illegally attempting to possess” weapons and ammunition. 

Atta and Sarsour’s supportive community urged onlookers Thursday not to forget the reports about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. 

Atta said that Sarsour was again detained by the Israeli government after returning in 1995, which is where the weapons allegations came from, and that the written charges were in Hebrew, “which he doesn’t read or understand.”

Sarsour’s son, Kareem, was joined by other members of his family Thursday. Over the last two days, the family has been “bombarded” with “thousands of messages from all the people who knew him saying what he meant to them as a father-figure, as a role model, as a beloved community member, it just tells you who he was,” said Kareem Sarsour. Kareem described his father as “always giving” and said that Sarsour had tried to give his children everything he couldn’t have when he lived in the West Bank. 

The crowd that assembled to support Sarsour and his family included many Muslim residents, local activists, and elected officials, with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and  Mayor Cavalier Johnson in the front row, and further back, Alds. JoCasta Zamarripa and Alex Brower. Christine Neumann-Oriz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, was in the audience, and speakers from Jewish Voice for Peace joined Muslim and Christian faith leaders in denouncing Sarsour’s detention and calling for his release.

A flurry of Wisconsin lawmakers and local officials have condemned Sarsour’s arrest. Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said in a statement that the federal government was “increasingly fascist”  and called Sarsour “a vocal advocate for a free and independent Palestinian State.” 

“We have already seen numerous Muslim activists unfairly and unlawfully targeted by the Trump Administration for their beliefs and their speech,” Larson wrote. “These Unconstitutional assaults on our freedoms should alarm all of us. When any individual or group is targeted by the government for their speech, all of our freedoms are threatened.” 

Congresswoman Gwen Moore called Sarsour’s detention “completely unacceptable.” “Salah Sarsour is a respected leader in the Milwaukee community, and his detention raises serious concerns about the continued targeting of lawful residents based on the color of their skin or their political beliefs,” she said.

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) charged that Sarsour’s detention was an attack on free speech. “Until free expression and free speech are protected, not treated as a privilege of the Trump Administration’s loudest supporters, this openly fascist government should be neither trusted nor obeyed,” Clancy said in a statement. “We must abolish ICE and hold those responsible for these repeated acts of state violence accountable.” 

Statements supporting Sarsour were also put out by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Mandela Barnes for governor campaign, and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council Immigrant Rights Committee. 

Ahmad said that he’s “shocked” at how many communications he’s received from attorneys around the country on Sarsour’s case. “We have assembled a very capable legal team, that legal team continues to grow,” said Ahmad, declaring that they will work to free Sarsour. A hearing is scheduled on April 18. 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and County Board President Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell signed legislation Wednesday afternoon reaffirming the county’s commitment to adhering to the goals of the 2016 Paris Climate agreement. 

“In Milwaukee County, we know that the climate crisis is a real, pressing threat to our environment, our economy, our health, and our quality of life,” Crowley said at the gathering beside other officials at the Urban Ecology Center of Washington Park. 

The international agreement called on nations to adopt policies to keep average global temperatures from increasing more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The United States joined nearly 200 global nations and states in signing onto the agreement under President Barack Obama. President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement after he was sworn into office in 2017 and, after President Joe Biden rejoined the agreement, again in 2025.  Trump has called the agreement “unfair,” “one-sided,” and a “rip-off.” Since the Trump administration exited the agreement, state and local governments across the country have signaled their aims to stick with the agreement’s aims. 

Milwaukee County first signed onto the Paris Climate Accords in 2017. The county’s goal is to reach net-zero operational emissions by 2050. The event Wednesday was held on the first day of Earth Month.

Crowley praised Milwaukee’s efforts towards reducing carbon emissions and climate resiliency despite being in a time “when federal climate leadership is stepping back.” He said at the event that the county has reduced its emissions by nearly 50% since 2005. 

Nicholson-Bovell echoed the sentiment.

“Milwaukee County continues leading the way in the march toward a more environmentally sustainable community,” she said. “Our legislation recommits Milwaukee County to the Paris Agreement and Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, because our children’s future depends on how we combat the climate crisis and build the equitable future we all deserve.” 

Crowley and Nicholson-Bovell were joined by Milwaukee County Supervisors Felesia Martin, Anne O’Connor and Sky Capriolo.

The Urban Ecology Center itself is an example of the steps Milwaukee County has taken towards reaching net-zero. The Washington Park center was recently renovated, becoming the first all-electric non-residential building in Milwaukee County, the center’s executive director, Jen Hense, explained. 

Now the building creates zero emissions and, with the planned installation of 100 new solar panels next week, is set to reduce its energy consumption by about one-third.

When the building was renovated, about 60% of its original structure was re-used. Some of the wood used in the renovations was also reclaimed from trees felled by Milwaukee County to combat the emerald ash borer insect. Bird-safe glass had also been installed, so far decreasing the number of collisions the building is responsible for. Surrounding the ecology center are ponds where people often fish, and the center works to re-introduce native plants to assist local ecosystems.

Hense stressed the importance of the Urban Ecology Center’s work. There are over 35,000 young people who attend outdoor and science programs at the county’s three Urban Ecology Centers, and more than 600,000 people visit the green spaces the center stewards in Riverside Park, Washington Park, and Menomonee Valley. 

“We know that these natural spaces, and hundreds more across the county — that are loved and cared for by amazing individuals and incredible environmental organizations — are important to our community, and are essential to protect for generations to come,” said Hense. “We know that combatting the global climate crisis can start right here in the county, and that this work is truly an act of environmental justice.” 

Nicholson-Bovell recalled growing up in a Milwaukee neighborhood where the nearest park didn’t have grass. She said that she was born premature with under-developed lungs, a condition worsened by the air pollution in her community. Studies have shown that increasing the number of urban trees would help improve polluted air conditions. 

“The environment that I grew up in had been ripped apart by the building of a freeway,” said Nicholson-Bovell. “And it was little kids like me who struggled to breathe in our communities. We didn’t have access to clean air, we didn’t have access to green space. And when I became a Milwaukee County supervisor, I promised that no child that I could help support would ever have to experience that again.”

Crowley said visiting the county’s parks reminds him “of just how lucky we are to have accessible access to beautiful green spaces like the one that we are in today.” He stressed that having this “in our backyard” should never be “taken for granted” while highlighting the success the county has already achieved at reducing its climate impact. “And it is because, and through, our office of sustainability that we remain focused on building green infrastructure, creating local sustainability jobs, and making sure that every single neighborhood is part of our climate solution,” said Crowley. 

Crowley said that partnership and collaboration with higher levels of government will be needed to fully accomplish the county’s climate goals. Yet that assistance is unlikely to come from the current federal government. Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax. Under Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency also repealed the 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health. During both Trump Administrations, climate data and even the words “climate change” have been purged from federal websites. Climate policies at the state level have also been blocked or frustrated by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature. 

Grant Helle, director of the Milwaukee County Office of Sustainability, said that “while federal climate leadership declines, Milwaukee County is taking action.” Helle said that local action is “not optional, but essential.” Helle noted that the new Marcia P. Coggs Health and Human Services Center will have on-site solar which will off-set over 11% of that facility’s energy use. The county is also re-thinking how building design could impact climate change, an issue which Helle said residents are concerned about. 

A stream of extreme weather events in recent months and years have likely fueled those concerns. Just weeks ago, people in parts of Wisconsin endured a historic blizzard, receiving so much snow that plow services needed to be shut down. Some Milwaukee communities still haven’t fully recovered from record-breaking amounts of rain and flooding that swept through the city in August. The Trump Administration has denied multiple requests for assistance and flood relief made by Wisconsin communities. 

Extreme heat gripped areas of the state in 2023, coinciding with increased wildfire activity within the state, while smoke from fires in Canada worsened air quality. Severe storms also hit Milwaukee and other Wisconsin communities in 2022 and 2021. O’Connor recalled the floods of 2010, where people were “literally canoeing down the street where I live in my district.” 

Crowley said that the August floods should be an indication that the midwest is not safe from climate change. 

“That tells us how do we build infrastructure that is resilient, and how do we think long term making sure that this planet is continuously livable for our young people and for many generations moving forward,” he said. 

Nicholson-Bovell said that the floods were devastating, but that climate change is a national issue. “My husband I met in St. Louis,” she said. “They had a historic tornado rip through the inner-city of St. Louis and they’re still scrambling to try and find housing for individuals.” 

Helle said that increased flooding, harsher heatwaves, and worse air quality are climate hazards Milwaukeeans are already experiencing. “It’s really unfortunate,” said Helle. “But what it does is go to show that we need to continue to make efforts here in Milwaukee County right now where we can to lower the impact on those residents that we ultimately serve.” 

 

Connection, compassion and hope — those are the three key elements members of the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative (MORI) say helped lower overdose deaths to levels unseen in Milwaukee County since 2016. “It’s MORI in conjunction with this whole community,” Jonathan Belott, a lieutenant with the Milwaukee Fire Department, told the Wisconsin Examiner. 

“We don’t live in a silo,” said Belott, who’s led the overdose response initiative since its inception in 2019. “We have so many of our different partners that we have come to rely on to get people the help that they need throughout this community.” 

Last year there were 383 fatal overdoses in Milwaukee, the lowest number in a decade, according to the county’s overdose dashboard. That marked a significant reversal of the recent overdose epidemic that peaked in 2022, with 674 fatal overdoses in Milwaukee, fueled by widespread contamination of cocaine, heroin, prescription pills, and other substances with the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

As the crisis accelerated in 2019, Belott was assigned to head a new strategy. “I didn’t even know what I was getting into in that moment,” he told the Examiner, sitting beside fellow firefighter and team supervisor Robert Rehberger and peer support specialist Amy Molinski — both members of the overdose response initiative — at the team’s homebase fire station on Fiebrantz Avenue. 

“I didn’t understand even the full impact of what it was,” said Belott. “I was kind of just told, ‘Hey, you’re going to be this guy.’ But the more you get into it, the more you see how it has been impacting people’s lives over these years…We watched those numbers go up and up…Just a crazy amount of people.”  

Between 2017 and 2025, 4,582 people died across Milwaukee County. Nationwide, overdose deaths became more common than those caused by homicide, car accidents or suicide. The people who died were brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. Some were children younger than 5, others were elders in their 70s. Most were people between 20 and 60 years old. They were unhoused, working class and wealthy people from numerous ethnic and racial backgrounds. Even in Milwaukee — one of America’s most segregated cities — addiction and death have never discriminated.

Every year seemed worse than the last as record-breaking numbers of Milwaukeeans died. “And then we saw just a little decline,” said Belott. Overdose deaths fell by more than 30% in 2024, followed by a sharp drop in 2025. “You’re talking 50% less people dying over the course of the three years,” Rehberger said of the most recent numbers.  

“I’ll say it’s bittersweet,” said Molinski. “And I’ll say that because the number of deaths that we have are still too many. It’s unfortunate that it had to get as high as it did before people were willing to do anything about it.”

Milwaukee’s sharp decrease in overdose deaths mirrors a nationwide trend, tied to stepped-up treatment and harm reduction efforts as well as a shrinking fentanyl supply.

Building a program from scratch

Belott credited Michael Murphy, who served on the common council, with helping steer the first $100,000 to the fire department to start an overdose reduction program. “To his credit, he recognized that we had to do something different than what we were doing,” Belott told the Examiner. 

Although it was just enough money to get a program off the ground, there were questions about what such a program would actually look like. “We had to make the program from absolutely nothing,” said Belott. “Like this didn’t exist anywhere that we knew. …We didn’t base it off anything.” The team itself started off very small. “It was like three hours a day for Monday through Friday,” said Rehberger. “And now we got four teams going out every day doing this work. And it’s just proud to see like,  something come from it.”

The Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative started by using the fire department’s access to 911 call data to identify people who had survived an overdose within the last 24-48 hours. From there, team members would go out to find those people, and see whether there was any help they could provide. “Help” doesn’t have to mean pressuring someone to go into rehab — although the Milwaukee overdose team also regularly works to get people into treatment programs. With time, the team realized that “help” can also mean getting someone clothes, food, providing them with narcan and other harm reduction supplies, and offering compassionate and non-judgmental support.

Molinski recalled one girl who called the overdose response team because she needed a ride to her psych appointment. “It’s cold, she didn’t want to walk,” Molinski recalled. “So we picked her up and we took her there. We stopped at the food pantry along the way so that she could get some food.”

“Help” can also mean checking in on family members who recently lost a loved one to the overdose crisis, and ensuring they have access to the resources they’ll need to process their loss. Belott said that acts like these are about providing “basic humanity for the people that we work with.” Molinski echoed the sentiment. “It’s helping to eliminate some of the struggle,” she told the Examiner. “We all want to quit when it’s hard.”

The Milwaukee overdose team also had to focus on how it would grow to meet those needs. Like Belott, Rehberger didn’t know what to expect when he joined the team. “I volunteered but I didn’t really know exactly what I was volunteering for at the time,” he told the Examiner. When the team decided to add addiction peer support specialists, Molinski, who is employed by Community Medical Services, a medication-assisted treatment clinic, was brought on. The team’s vehicles, modestly marked with the fire department’s logo and “community paramedics” on the trunk, usually carry two firefighters and one peer supporter.

Working on the overdose response team, Molinski grew to understand just how much people respected the Milwaukee Fire Department. “These guys [firefighters] got rolled into it, and I don’t think that there’s any way that you can’t say that that helped impact the success that we see today,” Molinski, who got into the peer support field after enduring her own battles with addiction, said. When overdose survivors “get greeted by someone in a uniform that doesn’t judge them, tries to take the shame out of what they’re doing and say ‘your life is worth saving, like not just on the street last night but moving forward,’ that means a lot,” she said.

As the overdose response effort evolved, so did team members’ understanding of the epidemic, themselves, and each other. “There was a lot of humility in the beginning,” said Molinski. “There was a lot of us having to look at one another and sometimes kindly, sometimes very directly, [saying] like, ‘Hey, what you just did wasn’t right.’” 

Molinski admitted that “I’m a little rough around the edges” and “I’ve kind of always done things my own way.” She grew to appreciate what representing the fire department meant. “So you can be you, just tone down just a little bit,” she said. “And I needed to hear that. …We learned from one another.” The firefighters learned how to loosen up and Molinski learned how to tighten up, she said, “and we were kind of able to share that with everybody as they came.” 

A conversation, not an interrogation

Firefighters who joined the team also often had to rethink how they approach people struggling with addiction. As emergency responders, Belott and Rehberger were trained to stabilize people, patch them up, and transport them to a hospital in the middle of a crisis. In order to succeed, however, the overdose response effort demanded a completely different modus operandi.

“For us, we’re not there in the crisis moment,” Belott explained. “We’re there following the crisis moment. So we have time…we sit down and we have a conversation, not an interrogation, which is what I used to do at the beginning.” 

“If you have a conversation with somebody, you learn about them…Because a conversation flows,” Molinski said. Rehberger called it “asking a question in a different way, and listening.”

This allowed team members, especially those with no personal experience with addiction, to see a whole new side of the epidemic and what it meant for people fighting to stay alive. The conversations they had affected them deeply, allowing them to experience the gratitude the people they tried to help felt  for anyone willing to treat them with dignity. “Before I came here, one of the things that I wasn’t expecting was how much relationship you grow with the people that we’re meeting,” said Rehberger. “I feel like I was just thinking that it was going to be mostly like a 911 call, you know? Like you’re helping the person in that moment.” Rehberger wasn’t used to people being so grateful on calls that they gave him giant hugs. “Never did I think that I was going to be hugging someone while on the fire department. Ever.” 

Molinski recalled her first month with the overdose response team. “It was in the middle of the summer, it was hot, they didn’t have air conditioning,” Molinski recounted. “He was wearing no shirt, he was smoking cigarettes in his apartment, and it was a lot. And as we left, I hugged him goodbye.” Belott was taken aback, quipping that Molinski was “all in.” The peer support specialist explained that it may have been a very long time since that man had felt “a caring human touch.” 

What winning looks like

Even for Molinski, who’d experienced her own addiction to heroin and other drugs, the conditions people survived day-to-day were startling. “Our stories of addiction while we were in active addiction are insane,” Molinski told the Examiner. People living with an active addiction may or may not have stable housing, regular access to food, hygiene products, transportation, work, or even trustworthy people. Sometimes, the overdose response team would find people only to lose track of them again for over a year.

“They probably lost three phones in those 18 months,” said Molinski. Yet, out of the blue, the same person who couldn’t hold onto a phone might call the overdose response team for help because they had managed to keep a team member’s business card. “I mean, think about that for a second,” said Molinski, “how hard it is to keep track of your property when you’re in active addiction, but somehow a business card was still there to call.” 

Other times, team members learned firsthand just how hard it is for people to stop using drugs. “People are trying,” said Molinski. “… not everybody is just choosing to stay in their addiction. Some of them don’t see a way out. They’ve tried and they can’t get out. And when you see that, it’s easier to treat people with a little bit more compassion. Give somebody a little bit of grace as to why they’re still in that situation.”

Rehberger remembered checking on a woman, who contacted the team saying that she didn’t have any clothes. “I didn’t know what that meant, honestly,” said Rehberger. When team members met the woman they realized that she literally didn’t have clothes to wear. So they got her clothes, then food, and then they returned to see if she’d go into treatment. When they did, the woman told them, “Honestly, I would never have gone in for treatment the next day had you not gotten me the food first,” Rehberger recounted. 

Belott said that simply getting through the door to have a conversation was a success. “If they’re willing to sit down and talk with some strangers in uniform, that’s an amazing thing,” he said. “And we show up and they know, OK, somebody’s following up, somebody gives a crap about me.” 

Team members have dropped off birthday cupcakes to people living in homeless encampments, and celebrated “clean days,” marking milestones for people who’ve quit drugs. Molinski recalled one unhoused man the team had been trying to locate for a long time. After connecting with his grandparents, the team was able to arrange for him to get into detox before going off to a residential facility. It turned out the man was living near an alley. He conveyed to the team that he didn’t want members to park too close to the site.  So they stood near a pizza sign, yelled his name, and he came out accompanied by a friend. “My buddy needs help, too,” he said. 

The overdose response team’s efforts were the subject of intense debate in the community. Team members often found themselves fighting the stigma and shame attached to addiction. Some people were confused about why the team tried so hard, even questioning whether the city would be better off just letting people die. With patience and much labor, however, some people’s minds changed. Belott wondered, “How many 10-minute conversations have we had over the years? And how many minds [were] changed by doing that?” 

Success can be measured in concrete results like the lower number of fatal overdoses. But not every achievement can be recorded on a spreadsheet, and not every good deed results in a life saved.

About eight months into the program, team members were working with a young woman they had come to know well.  “We actually got told that we weren’t allowed to see her anymore,” said Molinski. “We were too invested…She saw us a lot. She was not in good shape. This girl was struggling. And we just kept going to see her. And we didn’t know how we were going to help her, if we could help her. We had no idea what to do.” First they tried reaching her parents, who were exhausted by their daughter’s  addiction. The mother hadn’t seen her in over 200 days, and the father didn’t want her back home because she was prone to stealing. 

Team members eventually found out that she was sustaining herself as a sex worker on Milwaukee’s North Side. Besides her addiction, she also suffered from the condition endocarditis which causes inflammation of the heart. Team members accompanied her to the hospital so that she could get a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) line, a procedure which frightened her.

Then one day the team got a call from a man she was staying with, saying that she was lying in the bathroom and couldn’t get up. She was rushed to the emergency room. She asked team members to bring some of her favorite treats, a Sprite and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, when they visited. 

It was her thirtieth birthday when the team visited the hospital and brought her a blanket and a book to read. “She was completely unconscious, unable to speak in any way,” said Molinski. “And then the day after that, her family called [Belott] and I and said, ‘We’ve made the decision to take her off of life support. And we would like to invite you guys to come and say goodbye if you would like.’” 

Molinski said that she and Belott “were too invested…We were all f-ing in…And we went, and we cried over her bed, and we said goodbye to her, and her family took her off life support, and that sucked.” Yet, Molinski also had texts that the young lady sent her saying that she loved them, and that knowing them was the first time in years that she felt that anyone cared about her. “And she died,” Molinski said, shedding tears, “but she died feeling loved.” Her parents saw that love, too. “I don’t care what anybody says…The numbers say that was a fail,” said Molinski. “They weren’t there. It wasn’t a fail. …We made that girl feel like she was worth something before she left the world. We met her too late, we couldn’t help her. But she felt loved when she left.”

Despite the loss, the team knew that they’d done something good that day. “I think about her all the time,” said Molinski. Belott, the team leader who was sitting near her and Rehberger, wiped tears from his eyes. 

“I still have a list of the books that she wanted me to bring her when she was in the hospital. I can’t delete it off my phone,” said Molinski. “She made an impact on me. And we were told to stop. And we didn’t stop.” 

What Milwaukee needs to keep overdose deaths down

Since the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative began its work in 2019, Milwaukee County has made great strides against the overdose and addiction epidemics. Narcan — the crucial spray-medication used to revive an overdose victim — can be found in bars, grocery stores, hospitals, restaurants, and free-to-use vending machines. Not only is Narcan carried by firefighters and other emergency responders, but ordinary people can be trained to use it. “Keep that Narcan flowing out there,” Belott stressed. 

Several Milwaukee County communities have adopted their own kinds of overdose response teams. The West Allis fire department, which recently integrated with Wauwatosa’s, has launched one such effort. The state of Wisconsin also legalized testing strips both for fentanyl and xylazine — a potent tranquilizer — allowing people to check drugs for dangerous substances before using them. New treatment centers have opened in parts of the county. Even within local jails, people are able to access medication-assisted treatment and take the first steps towards recovery.

Many of those resources are also distributed by the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative  for free in the form of “Hope Kits.” Similar to a small plastic purse, with the word “Hope” printed on it in bright red lettering, the kits are stocked with Narcan, testing strips and contact information for treatment centers, therapy, and groups like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. All frontline firefighters are deployed with Hope Kits.

The Milwaukee overdose response team’s work is funded by opioid settlement funds, paid out by the pharmaceutical companies that helped spark the opioid epidemic. With those funds, and additional grants, the team is able to keep the lights on and grow its coterie of firefighters, peer support specialists, vehicles, and harm reduction resources. “We’re proud of MORI,” Belott told the Examiner. 

Treatment is still in short supply. Often, the team is forced to look for residential treatment beds outside of Milwaukee County. Sometimes that’s a good idea for people who need to sever their old connections. But for those facing transportation challenges, it can be difficult. Molinski, Belott and Rehberger also said no residential treatment centers in Milwaukee have proper accommodations for people with disabilities.

“There is none. Zero,” said Molinski. “Not a single place where someone can get help in a wheelchair. Or somebody that simply hurt themselves while using and is on crutches, they also can’t go.” 

Ultimately, the greatest resource the overdose response team can provide is hope. Regardless of what they’ve done, or experienced, people’s lives are worth saving, team members said. In Molinski’s case, it was disconnection and feeling empty that led her into drug use, and it was connection and hope that pulled her out of it.  

“My life was worth saving,” said Molinski. “It would’ve been really hard to convince someone of that back in 2006, 2007…That would’ve been a tough sell. My parents were starting to wonder if it was worth it for them to keep fighting. But it was worth it!” Today, she is raising a teenage daughter, and works in a field where she can help people who struggle like she did. But to get there, Molinski had to keep trying. “I never dreamt that this was waiting for me,” she said.

This article has been edited to reflect that Ald. Michael Murphy helped steer funds to get the overdose team started, not Ashanti Hamilton.

More than 10,000 march to Wisconsin State Capitol

Indivisible Madison East estimates that more than 10,000 people came out for the third round of No Kings protests in Wisconsin’s capital city.

Madison protestors met at Brittingham Park, a public park that sits on Monona Bay, around 12:30 p.m. and, led by a group of women in Statue of Liberty costumes, marched more than a mile to the Wisconsin State Capitol. 

Protesters highlight two developments since the last No Kings protest in October: President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally launch a war with Iran and his decision to send federal immigration agents  to the Twin Cities, escalating mass deportation efforts, resulting in the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents. 

Protesters carried U.S. flags, some of them positioned upside down to signal dire distress. There were many signs critical of the Trump administration. 

Megan McKay, a Madison resident who grew up in the Chicago area, told the Wisconsin Examiner that immigration was the main issue that brought her out to protest for a third time since Trump took office, due to personal experience that has shaped her outlook. She said her father immigrated to the U.S. from Belfast, Northern Ireland when he was “wee” but received a deportation letter in 2019. She said they were lucky to be able to work through the system to allow him to stay.

“We, quote, unquote, look like we’re supposed to be here. We speak English. I feel like it’s completely unacceptable what this current administration is doing,” McKay said. “Our country was founded on immigrants. We are the land of opportunity, and we’ve completely lost sight of that.”

McKay said she thinks more people are having an “aha” moment about Trump, and she is confident there could be a blue wave in this year’s midterm elections. Wisconsin will have critical elections on the ballot for governor, the state Legislature and Congressional seats in November

As protesters marched, they chanted phrases including “One, two, three, four: we don’t want your bloody war! Five, six, seven, eight: stop the killings, stop the hate!” and “No ICE, no bombs, no billionaires.” 

On the steps of the state Capitol, they were met by the Raging Grannies, who sang songs about democracy.

Dane County Circuit Court judge and Rev. Everett Mitchell was the keynote speaker. He told the crowd he was traveling in the Middle East when  the U.S. launched the war against Iran last month. 

“I was scheduled to come home, and then… the bombs started falling on Iran. The drones started going up and the skies over the Gulf were filled with things that were not supposed to be in the sky,” he said.

Mitchell said for several days there was no word from the U.S. government to citizens traveling abroad, and no flights available to leave.

“I wanted you to sit with that idea for a moment that an America that claims to be superior, had left its citizens stuck in a foreign land because they had engaged in the war that nobody voted for,” he said. 

Mitchell said the U.S. bombing of a girl’s school in Iran on Feb. 28, which resulted in the deaths of more than 170 people including young students, felt like “history repeating itself.” He  compared it to the bombing of a Birmingham church by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963, which killed four young Black girls. He said some of the remarks that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made following the attack were stuck in his head. 

“[King] said that the tragic, unspeakable murder of those girls was not the act of a lone bomber, but it was a product of every politician who fed his constituents the stale bread of hatred,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell read the names of some of the young children who died in the attack including Hana Dehqani, who was 8, and Zahra Bahrami, who was 7. He added that  “every child deserves to have protection,” and he urged the protesters to not let their action end at the protest. 

“The outrage has to become something. The anger has to become something. The sign making, the marching, the protest, it has to become something. It has to become more votes. It has to become more bodies in the street. It has to become voices at the school board and has to become candidates on the ballot who are actually committed to the community that they serve our organization,” Mitchell said. “It has to mean something because they’re asking us to build something that is different in our world.”

 — Baylor Spears

 Thousands fill Milwaukee’s Washington Park bandshell for No Kings protest

No Kings demonstrations took place across the Milwaukee area Saturday, from the inner city to surrounding suburban communities. In Washington Park, a bandshell meant to accommodate 8,000 people was filled up with residents of all ages, races and creeds. Holding homemade signs, with some people clad in costumes, the crowd voiced its collective discontent with the war in Iran and the  policies of the Trump administration.

Near Washington Park, cars jostled for any parking they could find in the surrounding neighborhoods, as curious neighbors watched people stream past. Several local activist groups had established tents and tables, offering free information or the opportunity to join their organizations. Food trucks were parked nearby, and rally organizers encouraged people to grab a bite to eat before a planned two-mile march. Campaign workers for Francesca Hong and Sara Rodriguez, two Democratic hopefuls running in the primary to replace Gov. Tony Evers combed the crowd for potential supporters. 

Local Milwaukee rap artists and bands entertained the crowd before a short line-up of speakers took the stage, blasting the Trump administration’s policies on immigration, the wars in Iran and Gaza, military action against Venezuela, immigration, reproductive access and the rising cost of living.

Marchers filled the streets, forming a long stream that  stretched for block after block. Volunteer street marshals from local activist groups worked in tandem with the Milwaukee Police Department to block off roads and redirect traffic as the march worked its way through  neighborhoods. 

As the marchers passed, drumming and chanting, onlookers cheered. “Say it once and say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!” the protesters yelled in unison. “No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!” “Raise your voice, take a stand, no war in Iran!” 

The protest march was so large that different sections of the march had separate, simultaneous chants. “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have to go!” “From Mexico to the Phillipines, let’s end the U.S. war machine!” “No Kings, no wars, we won’t take it anymore!” Once the massive march returned to Washington Park, it took several minutes for the end of the stream of people to arrive. 

No Kings demonstrations were also organized on Milwaukee’s East Side. The surrounding suburbs of Greenfield and Shorewood also had protests, as did the more conservative communities of Waukesha, Brookfield, and Oconomowoc. 

— Isiah Holmes

3rd Congressional District’s No Kings protests continue to grow 

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District hugs the state’s border with Minnesota along the Mississippi River from Grant County in the far southwestern corner of the state up to Pierce County in the shadow of the Twin Cities. 

At No Kings protests in La Crosse and Viroqua on Saturday, area residents said they were motivated to raise their voices to support their neighbors in nearby Minnesota who were targeted by a violent immigration crackdown, and to express their displeasure with Republicans — especially Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a vocal ally of President Donald Trump who has represented the district since 2023. 

The campaign to unseat Van Orden in the 3rd CD is a closely watched contest for a swing district seat Democrats might be able to flip as they attempt to win back a majority in the House of Representatives in 2026. 

On Saturday in La Crosse and Viroqua, protesters asked about Van Orden responded with eye rolls, name calling and, in one case, a fart noise. While people who came out for the No Kings protests said they were excited for the chance to vote Van Orden out of office this fall, most said they had not yet made a decision about who to support in the district’s Democratic primary. 

In Viroqua, a community focused on art and organic food that has developed into a hippie outpost in the midst of bright red Vernon County, dozens of protesters packed the corners of the busy intersection at Main Street and Decker Street. A brass band played “This Land is Your Land” as  passers-by honked in support. 

Mark Larson, a 28-year U.S. Army veteran, said the large crowd at the Viroqua protest was a reflection of how the community feels about the president. 

“I’m optimistic the Republicans are going to be unseated, we’ll see some change,” he said. “We’ll have someone in Congress who will stand up and say no to the president. Van Orden is a disgrace.” 

Kim, a Viroqua resident who would only give her first name, moved to the area with her husband Bruce from rural Minnesota nearly three years ago to find a more inclusive place to live. 

“Being here is an antidote to despair,” she said of joining other rural residents who came out on a chilly spring morning to air their grievances with the federal government. 

Maggie Van Alstyne, a resident of nearby Westby who arrived at the protest with her face painted green and dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she’s attended protests on all three No Kings days and feels like they’ve grown each time. 

“It’s awesome people are starting to not be afraid,” she said. “More people are for this cause than against.” 

Van Alstyne complained about the Trump administration reducing people’s freedoms while making things more expensive and lamented the effect Trump’s policies have had on farmers. She said Van Orden, who sits on the House agriculture committee, is a “blowhard” who only “talks from his barstool.” 

In the larger city of La Crosse, hundreds of people lined the streets up and down the intersection of Losey Boulevard and State Road. People flying flags and singing karaoke filled the empty parking lot of a shuttered K Mart store. The honking from supportive motorists was constant. 

Lindsay Fischer, a La Crosse resident originally from the Twin Cities area, said she’d been feeling “hopeless” about her inability to do anything about the Trump administration’s ICE operations in her home town. But the protest Saturday was a way for her to voice her support for her friends and family at home who had been directly involved in resisting federal efforts. 

“We will not let tyrants take over,” she said. 

La Crosse residents Joe and Sue Anglehart said they’d been to every No Kings protest in the community. 

“We need to support citizens’ right to freedom,” Sue said. “Our country is a mess.” 

— Henry Redman

In Dodgeville, defiant cheer, chants and music even when times ‘are more dire’

In the city of Dodgeville, a community of about 4,000 people an hour west of Madison, some 450 people showed up for a three-block march and a two-hour rally. 

There was music and chanting and a poem read by its author, one time Madison police chief turned Episcopal priest David Couper.

“The more noise we make the more we make our elected officials nervous. The more they cannot ignore us,” said rally emcee, Lex Liberatore.

It was Dodgeville’s third No Kings rally. Liberatore is a United Church of Christ pastor in nearby Platteville and a member of the Dodgeville Indivisible chapter. He has helped with the previous Dodgeville No Kings events, but it was his first time on the stage.

“I thought this was a lot more energy than the previous rallies,” he told the Examiner.

The rally itself had a defiantly cheerful tone. A series of folky music performers and bands performed, with playlists that included “Solidarity Forever” and the 1960s song “For What It’s Worth.”

Liberatore told the crowd that after the October 18 No Kings rally, organizers got feedback that they wanted fewer speakers, more music and chants.

His wife, Amy Liberatore, helped lead the chanting. “I never went to boot camp, but I saw ‘An Office and a Gentleman,’” she reassured the audience.

“I don’t know but here’s the thing,” she declared in military cadence count call-and-response style. “We did not elect a king!”

The chants included mockery of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort and home. She namechecked ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her top aide, Cory Lewandowski; nodded to the Epstein files and some of those named in them, particularly Trump

Couper’s contribution was a poem he wrote, he said, in the middle of the night after the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The confessional-style piece spoke of his years training police officers, the history of lynchings and slavery and the violence carried out in the immigration enforcement raids of the last year.

“God is nauseous. He spits us out. I feel the disgust for spiritual cowardice, for those who run from the winnowing fire, those who are neither hot nor cold, but spittle,” Couper read.

The nearly 10-minute long work concluded, “We will overcome this great evil. We will be the people we have always wanted to be. We will be heroes. Let this be true.”

Organizer Myra Enloe said that while the October rally in Dodgeville was nearly twice the size, some attendees had splintered off as surrounding communities  held separate rallies in their towns and villages.

Despite the cheerful atmosphere, “I think the circumstances are more dire,” Enloe told the Examiner after the event was over. “Now we’re at war. And we’ve seen the brutality of, the cruelty of, this administration more clearly.”

The  Indivisible chapter that organized Saturday’s rally in Dodgeville had its roots in Mineral Point, a  one-time mining town south of Dodgeville that is now  a center for artists and artisans.

“There were actually some young women in Mineral Point that invited me to a meeting back in November 24 after Trump won and said, ‘What do we do?’” Enloe recalled.

A retired nurse, Enloe and some friends knew about Indivisible and decided to form a Dodgeville chapter. 

For the first No Kings rally last June, 500 people showed up at the courthouse. “We had billed it as a rural day of defiance, and so I think people from around the whole area” turned out, Enloe said.

Now more groups are forming in surrounding communities such as Spring Green, Platteville, Darlington and Mount Horeb. “All have groups that are organizing and doing more to really raise our voices in defiance of what’s happening nationally,” she said.

The group helped organize a benefit concert at the Mineral Point Opera House to raise $3,000 for the Southwest Community Action Program to use in support of immigrants.

Members are also engaging in voter education.

 “The last election, in 2024, we had 87 million people that didn’t vote,” Enloe said. “So [we’re] trying to make sure that we educate the public about what their choices are in voting, and the importance of voting. And we need everybody to get out there and make their voices heard.”

— Erik Gunn

 

In Green Bay, protesters mourn Alex Pretti

No Kings protesters gathered at St. James Park in Green Bay and began their march on Saturday, with chants including “Minneapolis to Green Bay, immigrants are here to stay” and “up, up with liberation! Down, down with deportation!”

State Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) noted the city’s connection to Alex Pretti, a high school graduate from the area.

Protesters chanted during a march in the northeast Wisconsin city where Pretti graduated from Green Bay Preble High School long before he was killed by Border Patrol in a highly scrutinized shooting in Minnesota. 

Speakers identifying with organizations including Citizen Action of Wisconsin, the Green Bay Anti-war Committee and the Northeast Wisconsin Democratic Socialists of America, raised concerns on issues ranging from the Iran war to data centers.

“And if we’re serious about this struggle, then we don’t just protest, we organize our workplaces,” a speaker with the Wisconsin Labor Party said. “We don’t just march, we build connections in our neighborhoods at home. And we don’t just resist would-be kings, we replace their power with our own.”

— Andrew Kennard

Large crowds gather in two small communities of northwest Wisconsin

Two small communities in northwest Wisconsin – Spooner in Washburn County and Siren in Burnett County – had large No Kings protests on Saturday.

In both communities, many of the demonstrators were retired people, and several noted that they had participated in other protests against the Trump administration. A few even mentioned they had protested against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown in Minneapolis this winter.

In Spooner, a city of 2,450, more than 300 people gathered at the intersection of Hwys. 63 and 70. A well-known retired WOJB radio morning host and Vietnam War Veteran, Eric Schubring, said he “was deeply troubled” by what he called a “very bad administration.” He was also troubled about the possibility of Trump deploying Marines to the Persian Gulf in the war against Iran.

Nancy Olson of Spooner said she was demonstrating because “the country is in bad shape and we have a president who acts like he has dementia, and he thinks he is above the law, and I’m against the war.”

Jesse Gronning of Shell Lake joined the Spooner crowd as a counter-protester, advocating for the Trump administration. He received some angry looks from others, but he was polite. He said that President Trump “is not a king, not a fascist and not a dictator” but was “operating under constitutional authority.”

Standing near Gronning were Jeff and Lydia Lewis of Minong, who offered a different perspective. “I am here because of the many outrageous (actions) Donald Trump has perpetrated on the American people. I am most angry about this war in Iran, particularly in light of his failure to support Ukraine,” said Lydia. Jeff said he had numerous reasons to be protesting and expressed a desire to see the full Epstein files.

With a sign hanging around her neck that said: “Fascism has arrived. Resist,” Jodi Harold of Sarona said she had participated in at least three other protests in the past and was out on Saturday because “this administration is doing everything wrong.”

In Siren, in a village of a few hundred, more than 200 people gathered for a protest along Hwys. 70 and 35.

Michael Summers held a cartoonish figure of Trump wearing a king’s crown being flushed down a toilet. Summers said he was inspired by so many people coming out in a small community.

A group of retired residents from Voyager Village joined the protest for a variety of reasons. “I’d like to get our democracy back,” said Susan. “I felt the need for some of us to show America that some of us want to preserve democracy,” said Patty.

Gary Thill of Webster was trying to engage passing drivers with a sign reading “Flip Me Off if You Voted for Pedophile.” He counted over 21 who gave him the finger. “I’m here today to voice my frustration with the administration and with all the corruption and with everything the current administration stands for,” said Thill.

— Frank Zufall