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• A judge’s order promises compensation to potentially thousands of disabled workers who were denied unemployment benefits under a state law struck down as discriminatory.

• The invalidated law prevented recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) from collecting unemployment insurance.

• Two classes of workers may be eligible for compensation: those denied unemployment benefits after Sept. 7, 2015, and before July 30, 2025, under the invalidated law, and those who had to repay benefits they received during that period for the same reason.

A federal judge has ordered Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development to compensate disabled workers who were denied unemployment benefits under a state law struck down as discriminatory.

U.S. District Judge William Conley’s order promises relief to potentially thousands of workers affected by a 2013 Wisconsin law that banned recipients of federal disability aid from collecting unemployment compensation when they lost work. 

But many details remain to be ironed out, including how quickly the state will reprocess a decade’s worth of denied claims and whether any claims should draw priority.

“Some work needs to be done yet to put the order into practice, and counsels for the class are working diligently to get to that point,” said Paul Kinne, one of the attorneys representing plaintiffs.

Conley issued his order Wednesday following a hearing in which attorneys representing workers and the state discussed remedies for denials under a law that Conley ruled violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. 

The overturned law prevented recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) — a monthly benefit for people with disabilities who have worked and paid into Social Security — from collecting unemployment insurance.

Republican lawmakers who approved the law claimed in 2013 that simultaneously collecting disability and unemployment benefits represented “double dipping.” But SSDI guidelines have long allowed and even encouraged recipients to supplement their income with part-time work, so long as their earnings remain below the threshold of “substantial gainful activity.” 

Conley’s order covers two classes: workers who were denied unemployment benefits after Sept. 7, 2015, and before July 30, 2025, due to receiving SSDI, and those who had to repay benefits they received during that period for the same reason.

Not every class member is automatically entitled to benefits, Kinne said, and it may take time to determine eligibility. That’s due to a variety of factors, including potential difficulties in retrieving and analyzing past claims data — and locating the claimants. Still, Kinne expects an  “overwhelming majority” of class members to be compensated.

In addition to receiving compensation for past denied claims, class members can file certifications for subsequent weeks in which they were told they were ineligible to file. These certifications should be submitted within 90 days of receiving notice from the department, the order said. 

The order also states that claimants who were charged with unemployment fraud for not properly disclosing their SSDI status will be eligible for benefits they had to repay. 

Class members who received federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) — aid for people who lost work during the COVID-19 pandemic but didn’t qualify for regular benefits — will not receive additional benefits for weeks in which they already received pandemic aid. PUA claims were paid at a higher rate than regular benefits, Conley’s order states, and federal law bans the collection of both.

The Department of Workforce Development will begin notifying affected workers by Oct. 1, the order said. The parties must still agree on the language for those notifications, which should inform affected workers about the outcome of the lawsuit and how to claim benefits to which they should be entitled.

“I was generally pleased with the order,” Kinne said. “There is now light at the end of the tunnel for disabled people to receive the unemployment compensation that they should have received in the past.” 

Wisconsin to compensate workers with disabilities for wrongfully denied unemployment claims is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• A special prosecutor was appointed in March 2024 to look into Judge Mark McGinnis’ decision to jail a concrete contractor in December 2021 over a money dispute during a probation hearing for an unrelated crime. The money dispute was with a courthouse employee.

• The special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, said he plans to make a decision on the case around Labor Day.

• Criminal charges against a judge for a decision made from the bench are possible, but unlikely and without recent precedent. Judicial misconduct cases have been reviewed by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission since 1978, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court has the final say on any penalty.

A special prosecutor expects to decide in early September whether to take the extraordinary step of filing criminal charges against an Appleton-area judge over his actions from the bench.

The special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, declined further comment to Wisconsin Watch on his investigation of Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis.

Wisconsin Watch reported in January 2024 that McGinnis’ actions were the focus of a Wisconsin Department of Justice criminal investigation that had been ongoing for more than a year. The March 2024 appointment of the special prosecutor has not previously been reported.

McGinnis had jailed cement contractor Tyler Barth in December 2021 over a private dispute that was not a matter before the court. 

When Barth appeared before McGinnis for a probation review hearing, on a felony conviction for fleeing an officer, McGinnis accused him of stealing several thousand dollars from a cement contracting customer.

The customer worked in the same courthouse for another Outagamie County judge. 

Even though Barth had not been arrested or charged with theft, McGinnis ordered him jailed for 90 days, saying he would release Barth as soon as he repaid the customer.

“I think it’s definitely crazy, just lock a guy up with no charge, no pending charge, no nothing and then get away with it,” Barth told Wisconsin Watch in a recent interview.

The 32-year-old Fremont resident said he spent three days in jail before Fond du Lac attorney Kirk Evenson intervened and persuaded McGinnis to release him.

“I just don’t think the guy should be able to do this to anyone else,” Barth said.

Barth later settled the money dispute with his customer. An attorney advised him it would be difficult to win civil damages against McGinnis because of judicial immunity, but Barth is waiting to see what happens with the criminal case before deciding whether to pursue a federal civil rights lawsuit.

McGinnis did not reply to requests seeking comment.

McGinnis was first elected in 2005, at age 34, and has been re-elected each time, without opposition. Most recently he was re-elected in April 2023 for a term that runs through July 2029.

Wisconsin judgeships are nonpartisan.

Gruenke, a Democrat, is a 30-year prosecutor, including the past 18 years as the La Crosse County district attorney. 

Gruenke was appointed as special prosecutor by the Outagamie County Circuit Court in March 2024 after Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis determined it would be a conflict of interest for her office to handle the case.

Legal experts agree judges have unparalleled latitude for taking away someone’s liberty, especially if the person is on probation. But invoking criminal penalties to compel action in an unrelated dispute arguably goes beyond a judge’s lawful authority.

Judicial historian Joseph Ranney, an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School, said he is not aware of any instance in which a sitting Wisconsin judge was charged with a crime for actions taken as a judge.

Jeremiah Van Hecke, executive director of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, also said he was not aware of such a case.

Since 1978, the Judicial Commission has been the body responsible for investigating complaints against judges, which are then referred to the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has published 31 decisions that carried some form of punishment, often a reprimand, including several for actions taken from the bench.

In 1980, Milwaukee County Judge Christ Seraphim was suspended for three years without pay for a number of violations, including “retaliatory use of bail.” In 1985, retaliatory use of bail was one of the charges brought against Rusk County Judge Donald Sterlinske, who was ordered removed from office even though he had resigned.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman has agreed to a three-year suspension of his law license, but is awaiting formal action in that case. It centers on his work as a special counsel investigating the 2020 presidential election, not his work as a judge.

Marquette University law professor Chad Oldfather said, though it’s unlikely, McGinnis could be charged with misconduct in public office. That state law prohibits, among other things, officials from knowingly exceeding their lawful authority. 

But a referral to the Judicial Commission seems much more likely than a criminal charge, Oldfather said.

The commission could also initiate an investigation on its own.

A special prosecutor, Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett, decided not to file criminal charges following a 2011 incident in which state Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Justice David Prosser of choking her during an argument in a justice’s office.  

The Judicial Commission recommended that the Supreme Court discipline Prosser for misconduct, but the court took no action for lack of a quorum of four of the seven justices. Three justices recused themselves because they were witnesses to the incident. 

Any matters before the Judicial Commission are generally confidential. They become public only if the commission files a complaint against a judge or if the judge being investigated waives confidentiality.

There have been criminal charges filed in connection with a judge’s role as a judge, though they were not in response to official actions taken by a judge. 

In April, federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan with two crimes for allegedly obstructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting a criminal defendant in her courtroom. Her case is pending.

In 2019, a Winnebago County jury found Leonard Kachinsky, a municipal court judge, guilty of misdemeanor violation of a harassment restraining order involving his court manager.

Special prosecutor weighing whether to criminally charge Outagamie County judge is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Change is hard, and exciting. 

That’s what I tell myself as my family and I prepare to move across the state. 

We currently live in Superior, but we’ll soon lay roots in Door County, where I grew up. I’m a little over a week into my role as Wisconsin Watch’s regional editor for northeast Wisconsin. 

The journey so far

I grew up in Egg Harbor and graduated from Sevastopol High School before attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, I earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English. 

I’ve spent the majority of my career in Wisconsin: first as an education reporter in Watertown, then reporting and editing in the Fox Cities and Superior. 

My most recent role was managing editor for Project Optimist, a nonprofit news outlet that reports on greater Minnesota (everything outside of the Twin Cities metro area). 

When I saw Wisconsin Watch post this job, I knew I had to apply. Several friends and former colleagues worked as Wisconsin Watch interns. They spoke highly of their experiences, and they’re some of the most talented, hardworking journalists I know. 

Furthermore, I published Wisconsin Watch stories as an editor for the Superior Telegram. I know firsthand how vital the organization’s coverage is to news outlets throughout the state. 

What we’re up to

The NEW News Lab launched in 2022. Wisconsin Watch joined the collaboration along with five media organizations, Microsoft, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation, and the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. 

The effort puts in-depth local journalism front and center, and it gained traction. We’ve collaborated to explore solutions to a range of challenges that affect northeast Wisconsin families — from unaffordable housing and child care to dangerous conditions at nursing homes and the region’s labor crunch.  However, Wisconsin Watch hasn’t had staff in northeast Wisconsin until now. 

The northeast Wisconsin newsroom is our way of crystallizing our commitment to the region. We want to build on the partnerships forged through the NEW News Lab and strengthen them. I believe journalists serve communities best when we set competition aside and put readers first. 

Fellow Door County native Jessica Adams is our director of partnerships for the northeast region and has been helping us learn about what people want and need from local news. Over the past several months, she held listening sessions at public libraries and met with stakeholders. If you want to let Jessica know your thoughts, you can take her online survey here. 

Miranda Dunlap is our first reporter in Green Bay. She’s focused on pathways to success – a beat I’m thrilled to lead. Learn more about it from Miranda here. 

I’m excited to meet new faces, connect and see where Wisconsin Watch fits into the local media landscape.

Have a story idea? Email it to jzvandenhouten@wisconsinwatch.org.

Meet Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten, our new northeast Wisconsin regional editor is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• A 2013 state law prevented recipients of federal Social Security Disability Insurance from collecting state unemployment insurance after losing part-time work.  

• A federal judge struck down the law, ruling that it had “disparate impact on disabled workers seeking unemployment insurance benefits.”

• A hearing will explore whether and how the state should compensate workers for past denied claims.

Wisconsin has stopped blocking laid-off workers who receive disability benefits from collecting unemployment insurance — a response to court rulings that the practice violated federal discrimination law. 

Now U.S. District Judge William Conley will consider whether and how the state should compensate workers for past denied claims. Attorneys representing the state and affected workers plan to propose remedies ahead of a hearing on Wednesday. 

“In my eyes, we deserve all of it,” James Trandel, a longtime seasonal worker who faced denials for years, told Wisconsin Watch. “The law should have never been.”

The state law in question prevented recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) — a monthly benefit for people with disabilities who have worked and paid into Social Security — from collecting unemployment insurance after losing work. 

In proposing the law under Gov. Scott Walker in 2013, Republican lawmakers claimed that simultaneously collecting disability and unemployment benefits represented “double dipping” that “may constitute fraud.”

That overlooked the fact that SSDI guidelines have long allowed and even encouraged people on disability to supplement their income with part-time work, so long as their earnings remain below the threshold of “substantial gainful activity.” 

Eight SSDI recipients, with help from attorneys, challenged the law in 2021 by filing a class action lawsuit.

Conley ruled in July 2024 that the law violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, citing its “disparate impact on disabled workers seeking unemployment insurance benefits.”

But the ruling was not immediately implemented. The state’s Department of Workforce Development continued denying unemployment claims until Conley ordered it to stop in July.

DWD spokesperson Haley McCoy said the department did not oppose Conley’s order to stop enforcing the law he struck down, but she declined further comment due to pending litigation.

The lawsuit covers two classes: workers who were denied unemployment benefits after Sept. 7, 2015, due to receiving SSDI, and those who had to repay benefits they received for the same reason.

Conley will now consider who in those classes qualifies for benefits and how much they should get. 

Both parties will exchange proposals before Wednesday’s oral arguments to address such questions, said Victor Forberger, an attorney for the plaintiffs who has helped many SSDI recipients pursue their claims. The plaintiffs want the state to fairly compensate those who faced discriminatory denials, he added. 

The discussions may also involve how to address past claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) — aid for people who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic but didn’t qualify for regular benefits. The state initially denied PUA claims from workers on disability, but it reversed course in mid-2020 following Wisconsin Watch and WPR’s reporting on the denials.

“No one’s asking to get paid benefits twice. They’re just asking to get paid to be treated just like everyone else,” Forberger said.

Fighting for future generations 

Trandel, who has used a wheelchair since a 1983 fall left his legs paralyzed, filed for unemployment for years during the off-seasons of his job as a gate chief for the Milwaukee Brewers, where he helps with tickets and security. He has since hit retirement age, now 67, allowing him to switch from SSDI to Social Security retirement benefits. The state allowed him to collect a couple of weeks of state unemployment pay for the first time this spring because he was no longer on SSDI.

Although Trandel managed to get by without the state fulfilling his past claims, he believes that compensating workers for past denials would offer a measure of justice.

But even if that doesn’t happen, he’s proud of what the lawsuit has accomplished so far. 

“If I get nothing, that’s fine,” Trandel said. “At least the law’s changed so the future generations won’t have to go through what we went through the last 12 years.”

Judy Fintz, a seasonal worker and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, hopes that allowing SSDI recipients to collect unemployment like others will eliminate one of the many barriers they face in interacting with a long-outdated system that’s undergoing an overhaul. 

Fintz spends the school year cleaning tables, windows and soda machines part time at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse dining hall. She applied for unemployment during the off months from school, when she relies on SSDI while her bills pile up. That experience was far from smooth, even outside of the denials. She faced the difficulties of having to file claims by phone rather than online due to a severe learning disability, and she said she was treated poorly.

“This should really change everything around,” Fintz said of the court proceedings. “We should be able to get (unemployment insurance) without issue, so we can pay our bills.”

Reentering the workforce

As they await the outcome of litigation, some SSDI recipients are looking for more work that accommodates their disabilities.

Eugene Wilson of Madison is one such person. He deals with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder — conditions that make him easily overwhelmed by tasks and make repetitive work difficult.

Wilson found part-time work years ago before being laid off during the pandemic. He was denied regular unemployment and PUA during a process that took an additional toll on his mental health, he said.

He now receives about $1,500 a month in SSDI benefits and affords his apartment with the help of rental aid. He barely gets by.

He has tried for years to return to the workforce, but he rarely hears back after filing applications and sending thank-you messages. 

“It’s like nobody wants to hire anybody on disability,” Wilson said.

“I just want to get out there and do it and show people that people on disability can do this.”

Jessica Barrera of Eau Claire has a similar goal. Wisconsin Watch followed her in 2020 as she navigated life as a single mother who lost her job during the pandemic and depended in part on SSDI to survive. She spent six months fighting to receive her PUA claim after being denied regular unemployment insurance, initially unaware of the 2013 state law. 

“It really made me feel less than others,” Barrera said. 

That pushed her toward a new goal: “to be equal” by earning a degree and returning to the workforce full time. Barrera is just two semesters away from earning her bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She works part time as a peer and parent support specialist, supporting families with mental health challenges  — including those who face similar barriers to hers.

She lives with a rare disorder that makes her blood too thick, causing clots and severe fatigue that can make it hard to even get out of bed. Her current job gives her the flexibility to handle her frequent medical appointments and other challenges with the disease. Working full time will require finding an employer who understands her situation.

Barrera, who is not a plaintiff, encourages those seeking justice in court to stay hopeful and persistent.

“When I got the denial, had I just been like, ‘Well, I’m denied. I’m just out of luck’… Would we be where we are now?” Barrera said. “You have to sometimes be patient, but keep (up) the good fight.”

Wisconsin ends unemployment aid ban for workers with disabilities. Now they want compensation for past denials. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• The $111 billion state budget adopted last month doesn’t extend the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, but it does include two conservation earmarks totaling $15 million in Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ district.

• The projects include repairs to Echo Lake Dam, which Vos said will save Burlington taxpayers $3,000.

• Environmental advocates are hopeful the Legislature will still extend the Knowles-Nelson fund before the end of the current session. A Republican bill would reauthorize it for four years at $28.25 million per year with additional legislative controls.

Wisconsin’s recently passed budget doesn’t include the extension of a popular land conservation program, but it does include two earmarks for environmental projects in the home district of the state’s most powerful Assembly Republican.

After Republican legislators declined to reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund in the state budget, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed five natural resources projects, criticizing the Legislature for choosing “to benefit the politically connected few” instead of supporting stewardship through the statewide fund. 

“I am vetoing this section because I object to providing an earmark for a natural resources project when the Legislature has abandoned its responsibility to reauthorize and ensure the continuation of the immensely popular Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program,” Evers wrote in his veto message.

However, Evers didn’t veto other natural resources projects, including two totaling $15 million in Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ district in southeastern Wisconsin west of Racine. Asked why Evers spared those projects, his spokesperson Britt Cudaback referred Wisconsin Watch, without specifics, to the agreement between Evers and legislative leadership that cemented the $111 billion two-year budget. 

Local environmental earmarks in the state budget are nothing new, but the latest examples highlight how such projects can take on greater political dimension when not overseen by civil servants at the DNR and the Legislature’s budget committee, as has been the process for more than 30 years since the creation of the Knowles-Nelson fund. Legislators have allowed the program to inch closer to expiration while attempting to secure stewardship programs in their own districts.

The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund supports land conservation and outdoor recreation through grants to local governments and nonprofits and also allows the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to purchase and maintain state land. The program is currently funded at $33 million a year until the end of June 2026.

Local governments and nonprofit organizations can apply for Knowles-Nelson grants during three deadlines every year, and DNR staff evaluate and rank projects based on objective criteria including local public support, potential conservation benefits and proximity to population centers. 

Despite not authorizing the fund through the state budget, Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc, and Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, committed to reauthorizing the fund and introduced stand-alone legislation in June to reauthorize the stewardship fund at $28.25 million per year for the next four years.

Burlington receives $15 million for two natural resources projects

The two projects in Vos’ district received a total of $15 million in state taxpayer dollars from the general fund and were the only natural resources earmarks mentioned in the state budget agreement between Republicans and Evers.

The only larger natural resources earmark — a $42 million grant for a dam in Rothschild — was added by the Joint Finance Committee and included in the final state budget, though it wasn’t mentioned in the agreement. That grant isn’t funded with general fund revenue, but rather a separate forestry account, which includes revenues from the sale of timber on public lands.

In a statement on the inclusion of funding for the projects, Vos, R-Rochester, touted how $10 million for the Echo Lake Dam will save Burlington residents an average of $3,000 in taxes that would otherwise fund the project. Upgrades to Echo Lake will cost as much as $12 million including $3.5 million for dam modifications and up to $5 million for lake dredging. 

For years, city officials in Burlington have grappled with how to address the Echo Lake Dam. In 2022, the Burlington City Council considered removing the 200-year-old dam but ultimately voted to keep it after residents expressed support though an advisory referendum. The dam needs upgrades because it doesn’t meet DNR requirements to contain a 500-year flood.

The Browns Lake Sanitary District also received $5 million for the removal of sediment in Browns Lake. Local residents have raised concerns over sedimentation in the lake, affecting the lake’s usability for recreation and ecological balance. 

In a website devoted to the Browns Lake dredging, Claude Lois, president of the Browns Lake Sanitary District, thanked Vos for including $5 million for the project and advised residents: “If you see Robin Vos, please thank him.”

DNR spokesperson Andrea Sedlacek directed Wisconsin Watch to Evers’ spokesperson, declining to answer questions on whether the two projects in Vos’ district could have been covered by Knowles-Nelson funds. The Echo Lake Dam project tentatively received a grant for over $700,000 from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund last fall for development of gathering spaces adjacent to the lake. 

Vos did not respond to a request for comment. 

Other conservation projects were vetoed by Evers, including a $70,000 dredging project on a section of the Manitowoc River in the town of Brillion. Ultimately, the DNR and the Evers administration provided funding for the project after Sen. Andre Jacque, R-New Franken, and local farmers criticized the veto, claiming that they were at risk of flooding without funds for the dredging project. 

Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, said he was surprised and disappointed with Evers’ veto of the Deerskin River dredging project in his district. He called Evers’ reasoning a “lame excuse, using the Knowles-Nelson program as political cover” in an email statement to Wisconsin Watch. Swearingen said he and Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, were considering alternative funding sources, including introducing stand-alone legislation to finance the dredging project.

Swearingen declined to say what he thought about the projects in Vos’ district getting funded. Other Republican lawmakers with vetoed projects in their districts didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay, a member of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, told Wisconsin Watch she supports Evers’ vetoes because the earmarked projects did not go through the process the DNR uses to evaluate the benefits of particular projects.

Andraca said while several earmarked projects were likely strong contenders for Knowles-Nelson, without the DNR’s process of evaluating project merit, the most beneficial projects may not receive funding.

“We need to make sure that we’re taking into account that the best, most important projects are being funded, not just the projects that are in someone’s (district) who might have a little bit more sway in the Legislature,” Andraca said.

Paul Heinen, policy director for environmental advocacy organization Green Fire, lobbied for the first stewardship fund in 1989. Heinen said legislators have pushed for stewardship projects in their districts through the state budget process for as long as the stewardship fund has existed.

“The DNR has a process by which they go through to analyze projects, and that’s all set up in the code and everything,” Heinen said. “But of course, just like Robin Vos and any other legislator, if they can get something in the budget, it’s faster and you don’t have to go through the steps in order to get something done.”

In the 2023-25 budget cycle, the largest natural resources earmark was $2 million for dredging Lake Mallalieu near River Falls. 

Heinen said legislators are faced with a conundrum — they claim to oppose statewide government spending on stewardship, but want projects in their own districts. 

“Publicly, they say they’re opposed to government spending in this boondoggle stewardship fund,” Heinen said. “But then when it gets down to something in their district, they are at the ribbon cutting.” 

State Supreme Court decision complicates reauthorization

For years the JFC halted Knowles-Nelson conservation projects by not taking a vote on them, something critics referred to as a “pocket veto.” The Evers administration sued over the practice, and in July 2024 the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 6-1 the Legislature’s pocket veto was unconstitutional.

“What the court said was that the finance committee by going back after the fact and blocking an appropriation that had already been approved by the entire Legislature, and that was an unconstitutional infringement on executive authority,” said Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives for Gathering Waters, an alliance of land trusts in the state.

Republicans have said trust issues with both the DNR and the Evers administration prevented them from releasing Knowles-Nelson funds without more control.

Kurtz and Testin’s proposed bill also includes new requirements for legislative approval for larger projects over $1 million in an effort to allow legislative oversight without the pocket vetoes.

The bill’s funding level is below the $100 million per year for 10 years that Evers proposed in his budget, but close to current funding levels of $33 million per year. 

In 2021, the fund was reauthorized with $33.2 million per year for four years. In 2019, the fund was reauthorized for only two years, breaking a cycle of reauthorization in 10-year increments.

A poll of 516 Wisconsin voters commissioned by environmental advocacy organization The Nature Conservancy found 83% supported Evers’ proposal, with 93% of voters supporting continued public funding for conservation. However, most respondents were unaware of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.

Funding for Knowles-Nelson peaked in 2011 and was reauthorized under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson was the first governor to approve funding for the stewardship fund in 1989.

“There was a lot of talk initially from mostly Republican legislators who were skeptical of the governor’s proposal,” Carlin said. “But it’s really only a huge amount of money in comparison to how the program had kind of been whittled down through the years.”

In a January interview with the Cap Times, Vos said the chances of Republicans reauthorizing the fund were less than half. 

Andraca said she hears more from constituents about the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund than almost any other program.

“I seriously hope that my Republican colleagues are serious about passing something because it would be a real tragedy to lose something like this that has bipartisan support and has been so instrumental in preserving Wisconsin’s natural areas,” Andraca said.

‘Totally uncharted territory’ for stewardship funding

Carlin said the failure to reauthorize Knowles-Nelson puts land stewardship organizations and local municipalities — the typical recipients of Knowles-Nelson grants — in “totally uncharted territory.” 

Although Knowles-Nelson funding is set to expire at the end of next June, Carlin said local governments and land trusts face uncertainty in planning because they aren’t sure the Legislature will get the new reauthorization bill done.

“Similar to what you’re probably hearing from folks about federal budget cuts … this just totally scrambles the planning horizon,” Carlin said.

Heinen, however, is more optimistic the Legislature will vote to reauthorize Knowles-Nelson. 

“90-plus percent of the people in the state of Wisconsin want the stewardship fund,” Heinen said. “Legislators know that. They’re not going to go running for reelection in November of next year and have their opponents say, ‘Why are you against the stewardship fund?’ So I’m really not worried about it at all.”

Budget deal’s $15 million in earmarks for Robin Vos’ district highlight politicization of Wisconsin’s conservation funding is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Northeast Wisconsin Technical College is part of a growing trend of technical colleges moving to shorter courses, and it’s among few to offer classes almost exclusively in an eight-week semester model.

• Administrators and instructors say the intensive pace helps students perform better and prevents them from dropping out when they face hardships outside of school.

• NWTC’s retention and graduation rates have improved since the college began offering shorter courses.

Halfway through his Monday morning class at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Green Bay campus last month, Patrick Parise instructed his Introduction to Ethics students to hold up their fingers: one if they’re confused about the lesson, 10 if they’ve mastered it. When met with a sea of “jazz hands,” he moves on to review the next chapter.  

The students will take their final exam several days later, after absorbing major ethical theories and key philosophers’ views in just eight weeks — half the length of the traditional 16-week college course. 

That’s because NWTC leaders have overhauled nearly every course in recent years, accelerating them to move twice as quickly. Administrators and instructors say the intensive pace helps students perform better and prevents them from dropping out when they face hardships outside of school.

NWTC is part of a growing national trend of colleges moving to shorter courses, but it’s one of fewer to offer eight-week classes almost exclusively. Many others have recently flirted with the idea by piloting a smaller share of shortened course options. 

“Everybody wants shortened learning. Nobody wants to be in a class for 16 weeks anymore. That’s not the pace of learning,” said Kathryn Rogalski, the college’s vice president of academic affairs and workforce development. “That faster pace, that more intensive time together, I think, is making the difference.”

The schedule at NWTC splits the traditional semester in half — for example, rather than taking four classes over the course of 16 weeks, a student would complete two speedier classes in the first eight weeks, then complete two more in the latter half of the semester. 

Proponents of the approach say juggling fewer classes allows students to focus better while some worry the brisk pace makes it easier to fall behind. 

The transition required a heavy lift, which came with challenges. Some students say the swift pace required a learning curve, and administrators acknowledge that starting a new slate of courses every eight weeks can be intense. 

But data suggests the switch has brought positive change to the 23,000-student college. Retention rates are up, meaning fewer students are dropping out. Students are earning higher grades on average. More are graduating on time. 

Parise, who has taught at NWTC since 2007, says his students engage more in shorter courses. In the 16-week model, he would have taught the ethics students once a week. Now he sees them twice weekly, which reduces the material students forget between classes and strengthens relationships, he said. 

“I find classes develop a far better sense of a learning community,” Parise said. “That’s huge … in the classes that I teach, creating an environment where students feel safe and comfortable and share ideas and ask questions — I don’t know that you can teach somebody ethics without having an environment like that.”

Shortening courses to limit ‘stopping out’

In 2018, NWTC leaders contemplated how they could reduce the number of students who were “stopping out,” or withdrawing from their studies with the intention of returning later, at the six-week mark. 

At least one in three NWTC students rely on federal financial assistance to afford college costs, and many have jobs and families — meaning nonacademic challenges can easily derail the semester.

College leaders wanted these students to be able to “take a break when they needed to, but then not have to be gone a whole semester or a whole year before they could start back,” Rogalski said.

Breaking the semester up into smaller pieces could help, they realized. National research and data from a few short courses they already offered suggested students persist better in accelerated courses. Meanwhile, the eight-week course model was beginning to gain momentum at community colleges in Texas, showing promising results. 

“If (students) are in week six of eight, they can figure out those last two weeks of, ‘How do I figure out that child care? How do I find some transportation?’ And they can finish the courses that they started,” Rogalski said. “If they’re in week six of 16 weeks, it’s really hard for 10 more weeks to figure out how to make it through.”

So NWTC leaders went all in. By 2020, they shifted roughly half of classes to the model. By 2021, 93%. The college exempted select courses, such as clinical rotations in hospitals for nursing students, but otherwise asked all instructors to get on board. 

That sweeping overhaul across nearly every program is vital to seeing results, but it’s a feat few colleges have accomplished, said Josh Wyner, vice president of education nonprofit The Aspen Institute.

“That’s really one of the things that we’ve appreciated about Northeast Wisconsin for years, is that they went to scale when they found something that worked,” Wyner said. “If the data show that students will benefit, they ask themselves the question … ‘Why would we continue to offer things in other formats?’”

Overhauling courses isn’t easy

Accelerating college courses comes with speed bumps. 

A sick student absent for a week misses double the instruction. Financial aid payment schedules must be retooled. Some high schoolers taking dual enrollment classes must manage the condensed schedule. Instructors must revamp their courses. 

Many colleges make the mistake of “simply trying to take 16 weeks of coursework and squeeze it into eight weeks,” Wyner said. 

“It can’t be the same class when it was in 16 weeks as it is in eight weeks. It has to look different,” Rogalski said. “I don’t think any college could be successful at this if they just shrunk their curriculum and just did exactly what they were doing, but did it twice as fast.”

When Nick Bengry transferred to NWTC from Lawrence University in Appleton to save money on tuition, it came with a learning curve. The university used a lengthier semester schedule, so he worried about the transition to more rigorous courses at the technical college. In the last year he’s found “some (classes) that are a little bit rougher” than others in the eight-week format, but feels like the workload ultimately “ends up being similar.” 

“Some classes like, the medical terminology class, were really fast-paced because of the way they were designed,” said Bengry, who plans to transfer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison next year and eventually become an emergency room doctor like his father.

He also finds it easier to schedule the requirements he needs for his biomedical engineering major while juggling a job at Bellin Health. 

“It makes it easier to fit the courses you need into your semester,” Bengry said. “Each course being only half the length means that if I need to fit a course into this semester, there’s more spots — it could be the first half or the second half.”

When students do struggle with their coursework, college staff has half the time to get them back on track before their class ends.

For example, in Kristin Sericati’s developmental reading and writing class, which helps students with lower literacy skills, “resource navigators” visit the classroom during the first week to meet one-on-one with every student and advertise services like tutoring or financial assistance. The college also has an “early alert” system that enables staff to intervene with helpful resources immediately if a student isn’t showing up to class or scores poorly on an assignment.

“A student is not waiting two weeks to have some sort of support that they need, which is now a quarter of their learning experience in that class,” Matt Petersen, NWTC’s associate vice president for ​​institutional research and strategic analytics, said. “We just can’t afford that. Our students can’t afford that.”

As they’ve worked out the kinks, NWTC leaders have returned some classes to 16 weeks. One microbiology class changed back when eight weeks wasn’t enough time to grow the bacteria needed for the students’ research. Now, about 86% of courses are accelerated, fewer than the share in 2022, and administrators say they’ll continue evaluating what works best. 

Boosting retention and graduation 

Seven years after leaders conceived the overhaul, data shows it’s paying off. 

Retention for full-time students, or the share of students who stay enrolled or finish their program from one year to the next, has shot up by 19 percentage points since 2018, when the college introduced eight-week courses. Now, 77% of full-time NWTC students continue in their studies, federal data shows. Nationwide, full-time community college students had an average retention rate of 63% in 2023, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. 

Retention rates for part-time students have shown smaller growth, rising from 56% to 59%. Part-time students regularly have lower retention rates than full-time.

In addition, the share of NWTC students who graduate within three years of enrolling has risen 3% to 46% since 2018. That’s well above the national average of 35% — and a tough data point to budge, according to The Aspen Institute.

Petersen said the change also correlates with an improvement in students’ grades, with hundreds more students now receiving a “C” or above in their courses. 

Plus, students who do have to temporarily withdraw are having an easier time getting back to their studies, said Sericati, the developmental writing instructor. 

“Before, if a student is in five classes and they come up against a life issue in week six and drop out of all of their classes, they now are on (academic) warning. They failed all of these credits,” Sericati said. “Now, if a student comes up against a life issue, they likely can complete those two courses that they’re in and not have that issue when they rejoin us again in another eight-week session.” 

As colleges like NWTC share their success with shorter classes, the model is building momentum, said Karen Stout, CEO of Achieving the Dream, a nonprofit focused on community college success. For example, Western Technical College in La Crosse began transitioning to seven-week courses in the summer of 2024. 

“It is such a relief, actually, to see that this made a positive difference,” Rogalski said. “Students who probably never imagined that they could be successful in college …  They haven’t aspired to complete a degree or go on to a university, and now we’re seeing that these students have this hope that they didn’t have before. And within eight weeks, they’re seeing that they have been successful.”

Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus.

This college’s strategy for preventing dropouts? Classes half as long is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Maintaining relationships between children and incarcerated parents helps mitigate the negative impacts of the separation. Family visits have been shown to reduce recidivism. 

• At Camp Reunite, children spend a week at a traditional summer camp, with access to outdoors activities and trauma-informed programming. Two days out of the week, campers spend an entire day with their incarcerated parents.

• The program is accessible only to children of those incarcerated at Taycheedah and Kettle Moraine prisons, but the camp is discussing an expansion to Racine Correctional Institution.  

• Stigma surrounding incarceration and transportation barriers have limited growth of the camp.

The thunk of a plastic bat followed each pitch and question Tasha H. lobbed toward her 14-year-old son. She cheered after each hit as she tracked down the whiffle ball and prepared her next throw. 

“Maybe baseball next year?” 

No, he responded before hitting the ball over his mom’s head. He plans to try out for varsity football instead.

“You’re getting a lot better than you give yourself credit for,” Tasha told him.

Standing in a patch of green grass in late June, working to extract more than one-word answers from her son, Tasha looked like a typical mom of a soon-to-be high schooler. But as the ball landed on the wrong side of a chain rope fence, it was clear they were not standing in a backyard or baseball field. 

“I can’t go get that,” she said. 

The fence stood only about 2 feet high. But Tasha could not cross it or the much taller, barbed fence bordering Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac — not for at least another year. 

The brief batting practice was part of Camp Reunite, a program for children with incarcerated parents. Before camp, Tasha had not seen her son in the year since she was arrested for crimes she committed related to a drug relapse.

WPR and Wisconsin Watch are withholding the last names of parents or kids included in the story at the request of Camp Reunite to protect the campers’ privacy.

One of the first things Tasha noticed about her son was that he’s taller than her now. 

“Then he spoke and it was like a man, and I was appalled,” Tasha said. “I know that sounds crazy, but I just want to be there as much as I can, even though I’m in here.”

They both needed the visit, she said. 

Maintaining relationships between children and incarcerated parents helps mitigate the negative impacts of the separation, experts say. Family visits have been shown to reduce recidivism. 

Camp Reunite allows children to spend a week at a traditional summer camp where they can hike, canoe and participate in trauma-informed programming like art therapy. Two days out of the week, campers get to spend an entire day with their incarcerated parents in a more relaxed setting than typical visits.

Despite the camp’s success for parents and their kids, it remains unique to Wisconsin and has operated in just two prisons this summer: the women’s prison at Taycheedah and Kettle Moraine, a nearby men’s facility.

Public opinion is the camp’s biggest obstacle, said Chloe Blish, the camp’s mental wellness director. Prison and camp staff described hearing and reading concerns over the perception that the program is a safety risk — and that it rewards incarcerated parents. 

Past media coverage of the camp has prompted online backlash against named parents — personal attacks that older campers can read and absorb, Blish said.

She wishes skeptics could experience a day at Camp Reunite, she said. “It’s electric.”

Tasha and her son started their reunion playing the board game Sorry!

“I miss you,” she said before moving her pawn 10 spaces and asking if he signed up to attend the winter camp. 

He nodded before knocking her piece back to the start, softly telling his mom “sorry.”

Between turns and debates about the rules, she asked about school, football, friends, food at camp and where he got his shoes. He reminded her that she bought them for him. She told him he needed to clean them with an old toothbrush, which led to a short lecture about how often he should replace his toothbrush. 

He asked her why she didn’t spend extra money to get Nikes with her prison uniform, a gray T-shirt and teal scrub pants. They joked about her all-white Reebok sneakers.

“I’m glad you came,” she said. “It’s been a long time, huh?”

Not like other camps

When Taycheedah social worker Rachel Fryda-Gehde heard officials were trying to host a camp at the prison, her first reaction was: “Nobody’s ever going to entertain such a crazy idea.”

This summer, she helped run the prison’s eighth season. 

She and other camp leaders plan to present on the program’s success at national conferences this fall, she said. They want to see the camp grow, but there are barriers, including public perception.

The nonprofit Hometown Heroes runs the camp in coordination with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Camp Hometown Heroes started as a summer camp for children whose parents died after serving in the military. The camp paid to fly Blish and her sister from California to Wisconsin during summers when they were teenagers.

She still loves Hometown Heroes, but Camp Reunite has more impact, she said.

“There’s a lot of camps for gold star kids, that’s easy support,” Blish said. Things are different at Camp Reunite.

She and other camp leaders often work in the kitchen, filling in to wash dishes during Camp Reunite. During Hometown Heroes, that’s never necessary, because so many community members volunteer to help, she said. 

Hometown Heroes, an exponentially larger operation, also receives more individual donations because of people who have a passion for helping veterans and military families, wrote Liz Braatz, the camp’s director of development. 

She has heard the stigma around supporting people in prison, she wrote in an email. But discussing the camp as a way to help children affected by trauma “has made all the difference” in reshaping perceptions, she said. 

Outside of camp, the organization provides campers with new clothing, school supplies and hygiene products. 

“It does not matter who your God is or who you vote for, if your passion is helping these kids,” Braatz wrote. 

The camp is in conversation with Racine Correctional Institution and now has plans to expand its program next summer. 

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections would welcome Camp Reunite in additional facilities, spokesperson Beth Hardtke said. 

Barriers stifle attendance 

The camp faces additional obstacles in expanding its service. 

This summer’s camp at Taycheedah was far from capacity. There were enough camp staff for more than 100 kids, Blish said. But just over a dozen families showed up. 

“We started out with a lot more,” Fryda-Gehde said. 

There are two major requirements for moms to join the camp: no sex crime convictions and no major conduct issues in the six months leading up to camp. This year’s attendance shrank after women were placed into segregation cells after breaking prison rules.

Prison social workers spend months with the moms to prepare for camp. Moms create posters to decorate their campers’ bunk beds, while prison staff set up activity stations like a beauty parlor and photo booth in the visiting room.

But the biggest reason for lower attendance: getting some caregivers on board. 

Some kids might not be ready to visit with their incarcerated parents, Blish said. Other times, caretakers are hesitant to allow them in a prison or struggle to get them there. 

Women are more likely than men to be the primary caretakers for their children at the time of arrest. That often leads to major life disruptions for campers visiting the women’s prison who are more likely to live with foster placements or more distant relatives. 

Even caretakers comfortable with the camp might struggle to get there. Many families lack cars, Blish said. The camp tries to arrange rides for as many kids as possible, but it can’t always pick up kids who live farther away. 

‘You’re here to have fun’

Nyzaiah and his three younger siblings live with their grandparents in Milwaukee. Camp was the first time they’ve made the more than hourlong drive to visit their mom since she was incarcerated. 

“I was trying not to cry because I don’t like really showing my emotions to people, but I did drop a tear,” he said. “Me and my mom are really close.”

They talk on the phone around four times a week, but seeing her in person felt different, he said. 

Most of his classmates get picked up by their parents. Only his close friends know why his grandparents pick him up each day.

“At home, I’m big brother. I gotta do everything and make sure it’s good. I don’t like to bring a lot of stress on my grandma,” the 13-year-old said. 

But at camp, his brothers and sister are in separate cabins. 

“The counselors told me, ‘You’re here to have fun. Don’t worry about your siblings. We’ve got them,’” he said. 

Glitter, braids and tearful goodbyes 

Moms aren’t the only ones asking questions at camp. 

“You’ve got a TV?” asked Deloise L.’s 11-year-old son.

“Of course,” she answered. The morning before camp she woke up early from excitement and watched the morning news while she waited. 

Deloise’s children are staying with her sister who brings them for somewhat regular visits throughout the year. But camp is different.

“I love this,” she said. 

During a normal visit, her family is under the supervision of correctional officers, and her movement is more limited. At camp, most of the prison staff present are social workers. Moms walk from activity to activity without asking permission, including to the camp’s crowded “salon.”

Deloise clipped hot pink braids into her teenage daughter’s hair and applied glittery makeup over her eyes. Her son picked out a fake mustache.

As counselors warned that there were 10 minutes left until they would bus back to camp, kids scrambled to get close to their moms. Even the knowledge that they would be back later that week failed to stop the tears.

“When you got to separate from them, that’s when it gets bad,” Deloise said, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “It just gets bad when you want to be around your kids.”

This is her family’s second camp. They plan to attend one more summer camp before her release in 2026.

“I’m learning from my mistakes,” she said. “They won’t have to worry about this again.”

‘I did drop a tear’: Camp Reunite helps kids connect with their incarcerated parents is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Responding to an order from President Donald Trump, several federal agencies are seeking to block undocumented immigrants and some immigrants with legal status from accessing programs that provide literacy classes, career education, medical and mental health care, substance abuse treatment, free preschool and more. 

• A range of institutions — including colleges, government agencies and nonprofits — manage the affected programs.

• The order has caused widespread confusion about which organizations must check immigration status of the people they serve and how they could do that. Parts of the order appear to conflict with federal law. 

• Wisconsin joined 20 other states in a lawsuit challenging the new restrictions.

A group of federal agencies announced in July that at least 15 federally funded health, education and social service programs would exclude undocumented immigrants and some who are living in the country legally. 

Responding to President Donald Trump’s February executive order to “identify all federally funded programs currently providing financial benefits to illegal aliens and take corrective action,” the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice and Labor listed programs that provide literacy classes, career education, medical and mental health care, substance abuse treatment, free preschool and more. 

In Wisconsin alone, the state Department of Justice estimates the new federal restrictions “put at risk more than $43 million each year in substance abuse and community mental health block grants that fund services in all 72 counties, 11 Tribal nations, and approximately 50 nonprofit organizations.” 

Wisconsin Watch contacted more than a dozen Wisconsin organizations, government agencies and national experts to learn about the new policy’s effects. But we found more questions than answers. Most are unsure who is subject to the new rules or how to comply. 

While we were reporting this story, Wisconsin joined 20 other states in a lawsuit challenging the new restrictions. That suit is still pending, but the parties have agreed to a deal that would delay most of the restrictions in those states until September. 

Confusion created by the guidance could have serious consequences, experts say. Some providers might delay or cancel programs unnecessarily out of an abundance of caution, while some immigrants may avoid services for which they remain eligible, such as health care and education.

While much remains unclear, here’s what we know so far. 

Which immigrants would be barred?

A 1996 law already prohibited certain immigrants from receiving 31 “federal public benefits,” including Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and cash assistance. The Trump administration’s new guidance bars the same immigrants from additional programs, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

Those ineligible include: 

• People with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). 
• People with nonimmigrant visas, such as student visas, work visas and U visas for survivors of serious crimes. 
• People who have pending applications for asylum or a U visa. 
• People granted Deferred Enforced Departure or deferred action. This includes Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients — those who entered the country as children.
• Undocumented immigrants.
• Lawfully present immigrants who don’t fall into categories below. 

People in the following groups would remain eligible:

• Lawful permanent residents (green card holders). 
• Refugees. 
• People who have been granted asylum or withholding of removal. 
• Certain survivors of domestic violence.
• Certain survivors of trafficking. 
• Certain Cuban and Haitian nationals.
• People residing under a Compact of Free Association with Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Why the confusion? 

A range of institutions — including colleges, government agencies and nonprofits — manage the affected programs. Many did not previously check the immigration status of the people they serve; creating a process to do so may add costs and logistical challenges. It could prove especially daunting for organizations like soup kitchens and homeless shelters, which provide urgent services to people without easy access to documents. 

Meanwhile, entities that administer these federal funds include nonprofits and federally funded community health centers, which operate under laws that conflict with the guidance.

Health and Human Services said its settlement with the suing states “will permit the agency to consider, as appropriate, whether to provide additional information” about the restrictions it announced. 

How would the changes affect health care in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin has 16 federally qualified community health centers serving patients at 217 sites. They receive money from Congress to provide primary care to all, regardless of their ability to pay. Nationally, such clinics serve more than 32 million patients, making up 1 in 10 people in the United States and 1 in 5 people in rural America, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers. 

Aside from emergency rooms, they are often the only care options for undocumented immigrants or those with limited English proficiency, said Drishti Pillai, director of immigrant health policy at KFF, a national nonprofit providing information on health issues.

Federal law requiring those clinics to accept “all residents of the area served by the center” contradicts the Trump administration guidance. 

The national association said in a July 10 statement that it’s working with experts and legislators to understand the impact of the new rules and ensure centers “have the information and resources needed” to continue serving their patients. 

Access Community Health Centers, a nonprofit that provides medical, dental and mental health care at five south central Wisconsin clinics, will make “adjustments” if further federal guidance comes, CEO Ken Loving said.

“We don’t have the information we need to understand how this is going to impact us and how we can adapt to help our patients,” he said.

How would the changes affect education in Wisconsin?

The new restrictions target adult education services under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and career and technical education services under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Community and technical colleges would likely face the brunt of the impact, but just how much is unclear. 

The Wisconsin Technical College System has followed 1997 guidance that said public benefit restrictions did not apply to such educational services, spokesperson Katy Petterson said. She’s not sure how the updated guidance might affect the system, which will “wait to learn the impact of the lawsuit.” 

If community-college-operated programs begin checking immigration status, ineligible immigrants may remain able to take federally funded classes through nonprofits that are subject to different rules. 

The nation’s 1,600 Head Start agencies, which provide free early childhood education and family support services for low-income families, fall under the restrictions announced in the Department of Health and Human Services notice. But the document doesn’t say whether Head Start staff must verify the immigration status of children, parents or both.

“It’s very ambiguous about who this impacts. … If you read the language, it’s 26-plus-ish pages of legal jargon, and it’s shifting,” said Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, which supports the state’s roughly 300 Head Start service sites.

One thing Mauer wants families to know: Children already enrolled in Head Start won’t be forced out. 

“We want to follow the rules, but Head Start is not required to redetermine eligibility,” Mauer said, noting it has never been required to do so in 60 years. She’s been telling the center directors to sit tight, even as worried parents ask questions. 

One entity that won’t start checking immigration status: K-12 schools. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that denying education to undocumented students violated their constitutional rights.

Must nonprofit providers start checking immigration status?

Probably not. The 1996 law restricting public benefits says nonprofit charities are not required to “determine, verify, or otherwise require proof of eligibility of any applicant for such benefits.”

At Literacy Network, a nonprofit offering a variety of free ESL and basic education classes in Madison, staff aren’t planning changes based on the new rule. 

“It could certainly impact many of our students in other areas of their lives and therefore their ability to participate in our programs, but not who we can serve,” spokesperson Margaret Franchino said.

Still, guidance from the Department of Education is vague. It states that the exemption for nonprofits is “narrowly crafted,” and “the Department does not interpret (it) to relieve states or other governmental entities … from the requirements to ensure that all relevant programs are in compliance.”

Ryan Graham is the homeless systems manager at Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care, a nonprofit that supports agencies responding to homelessness across most of the state. 

As his agency discusses updates with partner agencies, it is preparing for an “increased administrative burden on already stretched staff.”

“We don’t yet know whether there will be delays caused by having to check or validate someone’s citizenship status, especially in emergency situations where time is critical,” Graham said. 

When do the new rules take effect?

The notices published in July took effect immediately, though some federal agencies said they would likely not enforce them for about a month. The Trump administration later agreed to pause enforcement until Sept. 3 in the 21 states that sued. 

The Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, has voluntarily stayed enforcement of its directive in all states until Sept. 10. 

What is the basis of legal challenges? 

The multistate lawsuit argues the Trump administration failed to follow proper procedures in implementation and that it can’t retroactively change the rules after states accept grants to administer programs. Requirements to check the immigration status of every person served would unreasonably burden program staff and possibly force programs to close, the states argue. 

States “will suffer continued, irreparable harm if forced to dramatically restructure their social safety nets and render them inaccessible to countless of the States’ most vulnerable residents,” the plaintiffs wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Head Start groups nationwide had already sued before the Trump administration published new guidance. That suit argued staffing cuts, funding delays and bans on diversity efforts threatened to destabilize Head Start — a long-standing, congressionally mandated program. A hearing in that suit was held Aug. 5 on a request to temporarily block the Health and Human Services notice. 

What does the Trump administration say? 

The 1996 public benefits ban exempted federal programs that offered services available to all people on the grounds that they were “necessary for the protection of life and safety.” 

Trump calls that exemption too broad. 

“A surge in illegal immigration, enabled by the previous Administration, is siphoning dollars and essential services from American citizens while state and local budgets grow increasingly strained,” the White House said.

Citing studies from congressional committees and groups that seek to severely curtail immigration, the White House argues that allowing broad access to federal resources incentivizes illegal immigration and costs U.S. taxpayers. The recent federal spending package also eliminated access to Medicaid, Medicare and food stamps for some authorized immigrants, including refugees and asylees.

Trump ran for office on a promise to carry out mass deportations, and the bureaucratic moves appear to be a new frontier in that immigration crackdown. Since he took office, the administration has raided stores and workplaces, built new detention centers and attempted to shut down the asylum process at the southern border. It has also urged many immigrants without permanent legal status, including DACA recipients, to self-deport. 

Why does this policy change matter?

Experts worry the confusion about the new rule could have a chilling effect, leading even eligible immigrants to stop using services. 

Pillai of KFF noted that the restrictions on community health centers, alongside congressionally approved changes “that limit health coverage to a smaller group of lawfully present immigrants,” will likely make immigrant families even more reluctant to seek health care and social services. 

The changes “may increase their reliance on emergency room care, which can be more costly in the long term,” she added. 

Graham, the homeless systems manager, believes the Trump change will create “a direct barrier to safe and stable shelter for undocumented individuals and mixed-status families” and qualified immigrants or citizens who “may not have identification or the means to attain identification after fleeing a dangerous situation or crisis.”

It could also prompt administrators of some programs not covered by the rule to start screening participants as a precaution, or shut down programs to avoid screening challenges.

That has happened before. When Trump issued an executive order in January saying the administration would no longer “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” gender-affirming health care for people under 19, some providers stopped offering those services even though state law protected them. 

Likewise, a 2023 KFF study found that in states that institute abortion bans, the majority of health care providers say they worry about accidentally running afoul of the law.

Braden Goetz, who worked for more than 20 years in the U.S. Department of Education and now works as a senior policy adviser at the New America Foundation’s Center on Education and Labor, said it’s unusual for federal guidance to be so sparse and ambiguous. 

“​​Maybe that’s the intention: to confuse people and chill services to people who are not citizens or not legal permanent residents, and scare people,” Goetz said.

Natalie Yahr reports on pathways to success in Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Sreejita Patra is statehouse reporting intern for Wisconsin Watch.

Trump is trying to exclude immigrants from many federally funded programs. Here’s what it means for Wisconsin. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Video game quality assurance testers at Middleton-based Raven Software have ratified their first union contract, more than three years after launching the first union at a major U.S. gaming studio. 
  
• Testers are some of the lowest-paid employees in the video gaming industry.
  
• The deal comes after Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard, Raven Software’s parent company. Activision had been accused of trying to bust the union. Microsoft agreed to stay neutral on the union. 
  
• Organizers said they learned plenty during the challenging years of contract negotiations.

Video game testers at Middleton-based Raven Software have ratified their first union contract, more than three years after making local and national headlines by launching the first union at a major U.S. studio. 

Ratified on Aug. 4, the contract gives employees a 10% raise while limiting mandatory overtime and preserving remote work options. 

The deal is the latest development in a saga involving some of the video game industry’s lowest-paid workers. It comes after Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard, Raven Software’s parent company, leaving the roughly two dozen testers to negotiate with one of the world’s largest tech companies.

“I think we pretty much got everything we aimed for,” said Erin Hall, a seven-year veteran at Raven and one of two workers who negotiated the contract. As a quality assurance tester, she checks for bugs in the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise and works with developers to fix them.

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson declined to comment but directed Wisconsin Watch to a web page discussing Microsoft’s labor principles. 

Studios nationwide employ testers to play new video games and identify problems before release.

Raven’s testers make around $21 an hour, and they’re frequently required to work overtime in weeks-long “crunch time” stretches ahead of a game’s release. The volatile nature of their industry prompted the workers to organize. 

The testers walked off the job to protest layoffs of a dozen colleagues in December 2021. They announced the formation of a union the next month — the first at a AAA studio that makes high-budget games. The Game Workers Alliance represents the workers, organized with support from Communications Workers of America. 

Lessons from three years of negotiating

For Hall and fellow bargaining committee member Autumn Prazuch, contract negotiations required intensive lessons on bargaining and labor laws. Neither had joined a union before launching their own.

“We had no idea it would be this difficult, or that it would take three-and-a-half years, or that it’d be this stressful, that we would be giving up so many nights and weekends,” Hall said. “We felt like it was the right thing to do, and we did it, and we learned as we went.”

The process took about twice as long as a norm that has grown longer in recent years. Newly unionized workers between 2020 to 2023 spent an average of 17 months negotiating their first contract, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis.

The contract negotiations overlapped with a change of ownership: Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard. In 2022, while waiting for regulators to approve the deal, Microsoft committed to remaining neutral on the workers’ unionization efforts. 

That was after Activision took steps organizers called union busting, including withholding raises granted to nonunion workers and reorganizing Raven’s staff in what the union argued was an attempt to dilute its support ahead of the election.

Prazuch said negotiating with leaders at Activision and Microsoft made her feel like “a little fish in a big pond.”

“You’re sitting across from tech billionaires, and this is a huge company … and we’re 19 people at Raven QA in Middleton, Wisconsin,” she said. 

But in that process, Prazuch discovered strengths she didn’t know she had. 

“I’ve learned that I have more determination than I initially thought, that my voice is louder than I thought it was,” Prazuch said. 

She also learned that the same focus that helps her identify glitches in games allowed her to flag subtle wording changes that would shift the terms of the deal. 

The deal they reached limits mandatory overtime to half the weeks in a quarter, and it gives testers the flexibility to choose their schedules when working overtime. Workers who currently work remotely can continue to do so under a contract that also promises 10% raises over the two-year contract period, with potential for additional raises. 

Hall said she’d encourage other workers to start unions — if they’re in it for the long haul. 

“I would not want to take it back for anything, but it was really hard work,” Hall said. “If people want to unionize at their workplace, just know it’s going to be really difficult, and you have to be committed to seeing it through to the end.”

More video game workers are unionizing

While Microsoft’s promise to not oppose employees’ union efforts contrasts with many other major companies, the process has still had moments of controversy. Communications Workers of America, for instance, criticized Microsoft this summer when it announced plans to lay off around 9,000 workers across the company. That included its gaming division, where it halted production of several games.

Raven’s quality assurance team escaped those layoffs, along with a previous round, Hall said. Having a contract doesn’t guarantee the testers won’t be laid off, but it requires the company to offer notice and bargain over severance and benefits.

Keith Fuller, a former Raven Software employee who is now a Madison-based workplace culture consultant, called collective bargaining “one of the few levers that game developers have” as video game companies tighten their belts and as the Trump administration redefines workers’ rights.

“The power imbalance that’s inherent in capitalism shows up very easily in game development,” Fuller said. “I think that this is something that will benefit workers across the industry.”

The organizing trend comes as state lawmakers are exploring ways to encourage video game companies to move to Wisconsin or expand their in-state operations.

In the years since Raven workers unionized, workers at some other major studios have followed their lead. Communications Workers of America says it now represents 2,000 video game workers at Microsoft. 

“When we started (our union campaign), we were kind of ambitiously hoping that there’d be anyone that would do this too, and now there’s so many,” Hall said. 

These Wisconsin video game workers were first to unionize at a major U.S. studio. Three years later, they have a contract. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Measles was once declared eliminated in the U.S., but it’s spreading again. And now it has reached Wisconsin. State health officials on Saturday announced nine cases in Oconto County — the first infections confirmed in the state this year.
• Older Wisconsin residents recall painful and disruptive bouts with childhood measles during the pre-vaccine era. Some are still affected, such as those who lost their hearing as a result. 
• Of the estimated 3 to 4 million Americans infected each year before vaccinations, an estimated 48,000 were hospitalized and 400 to 500 died.
• Health professionals are preparing to recognize the signs of a disease they’ve rarely, if ever, treated — and to respond to potential outbreaks.

The measles started like a typical childhood illness for Dorothy Thompson — with just a runny nose. But she soon developed itchy red blotches across her skin and a fever so high doctors feared it could cause brain damage. She was just 5 years old, but decades later, some of her memories remain vivid.

“It was so horrible,” recalled Thompson, 72, of Richland Center. “I would never wish it on anyone.”

In the years before a measles vaccine became widely available in the 1960s, Thompson’s experience was not uncommon. Nearly every child in the United States caught measles before age 15. What many considered a normal part of childhood was disruptive and even deadly. It wasn’t unusual for students to go home from school sick. In hundreds of cases each year, they never returned. 

After vaccine advances eliminated the virus in the U.S., measles is spreading again. More than 1,300 measles cases have been confirmed across 41 states, the latest being Wisconsin. 

The state Department of Health Services on Saturday announced it confirmed nine measles infections in Oconto County — the first in Wisconsin this year. 

To understand what the reemergence of measles might look like, Wisconsin Watch spoke with residents who contracted the disease decades ago as children, including some who still live with complications today. They described high fevers and days of bed-ridden isolation during the infections, as well as lasting damage to their bodies — like the hearing loss some live with now.

Health professionals across the state told Wisconsin Watch they’re preparing to recognize the signs of a disease they’ve rarely, if ever, treated — and to respond to potential outbreaks.

When nothing stopped measles

In the days when measles ran rampant, medical treatment was limited. Families largely cared for sick children at home, relying on home remedies and passed-down knowledge, or the occasional house call from a doctor.

Thompson remembers her days sick at home. Her mother applied calamine lotion to relieve itching around her rashes, and Thompson was required to stay in a dark room wearing sunglasses for fear that the disease would damage her eyes. The worst part, she recalled, was being packed in ice to manage her over 100-degree fever.

Other common treatments in decades past included isolating to prevent spreading the virus to others and spending days in bed until symptoms wore off. 

With no vaccine to block infections, some officials advised parents to have their children catch measles early — particularly for daughters, so they would be less likely to contract it later during a pregnancy. 

Newspaper accounts in the 1950s and 1960s described the phenomenon of “measles parties,” in which children were deliberately exposed to others infected with the virus.

Those also applied to German measles, or rubella, a milder virus linked to severe birth defects during pregnancy. 

Kathleen Cooper of Rhinelander remembers those parties. When she ultimately caught measles at age 6, she was confined to a darkened room and prevented from watching television due to fears that bright light might cause blindness — similar to what Thompson recalled.

Cooper was supposed to attend a birthday party that weekend. Instead, the party came to her.

“That’s how they treated it back then,” said Cooper, now 73. “If one kid in the neighborhood got the chickenpox or the measles, everybody went over to their house so the mothers could just get it over with, because it was just something that you had to get through.”

Lasting toll from measles

But measles parties did not protect people from the misery of the disease. Infections only spread. 

“I was ill and bedridden for weeks. When I was finally able to get up I was a skeleton. My pants couldn’t stay up and my clothes hung on me,” Door County resident Pam Goodlet recalled of a measles bout in 1963 as a 13-year-old. 

Delirious with fever and unable to eat or drink water, Goodlet stayed hydrated by sucking on ice cubes. She recalled being visited by a doctor just once and was never taken to a hospital or clinic.

Goodlet ultimately recovered without long-term health consequences, but many others weren’t so lucky.

Of the estimated 3 to 4 million Americans infected each year before vaccinations, an estimated 48,000 were hospitalized and 400 to 500 died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In 1967, a column published in the Waukesha Daily Freeman described the stories of children whose lives were permanently altered by the disease. 

They included a Watertown toddler who was hospitalized and diagnosed with a cognitive impairment after an infection that occurred one year before vaccines became widely available in 1963. 

“Too late for Valerie,” the toddler’s mother reportedly lamented.

Another child was described as healthy until developing encephalitis — a dangerous inflammation of the brain — at the age of 2 due to measles. The condition left her mentally impaired and also deaf, the newspaper reported. An estimated 1,000 children annually suffered encephalitis from measles in the pre-vaccination era.

Leslie Fedorchuk of Milwaukee still lives with the effects of her measles infection.

She was about 6 years old when she realized something wasn’t right with her hearing. As her mother’s friend kept dialing her home’s wall-mounted phone, Fedorchuk, perched on a chair to reach it, would answer, hear nothing and hang up.

It took her mother picking up to realize her friend was speaking each time, but Fedorchuk couldn’t hear from her right ear. The episode happened shortly after Fedorchuk contracted measles and mumps simultaneously.

“I’m in my 70s, and I’ve lived with it my whole life,” Fedorchuk said. “When I hear people say, ‘Oh, nothing can happen if you don’t get a vaccination,’ I think, ‘Oh, yeah, something can definitely happen.’”

Peggy Haas, 69, a registered nurse in Waukesha County, became a firm believer in vaccines after witnessing the damage measles could inflict.

While finishing her master’s degree at Marquette University in 1987, she taught undergraduate students in the pediatrics ward at St. Joseph Hospital in Milwaukee. One day she assigned a student to care for a woman in her 20s who, due to measles complications, had the developmental capacity of an infant.

“She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t feed herself, she couldn’t even walk,” Haas said. “That was the first time I’d seen anybody who had failed to vaccinate their child and what it could do.”

Potential measles complications run the gamut from ear infections and diarrhea to more serious issues like pneumonia and encephalitis. Such brain swelling can cause permanent tissue damage, leading to hearing loss or other serious neurological complications.

Some potential effects aren’t immediately visible. Measles can disrupt the part of the immune system that remembers previous infections, a phenomenon known as immunity amnesia. That leaves people more vulnerable to future viruses for two to three years after a measles infection.

“For example, if you’ve been immunized for polio, and then you get a measles infection, the immunity you had to polio could be wiped out or reduced,” said Malia Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. “You wouldn’t even know that you’re susceptible to some of this stuff.”

The mortality rate for measles is just 1 in 1,000, but the risk of a weakened immune system makes the toll of measles higher, Jones noted. And while medical care has dramatically improved since the 1960s, no specific treatment exists for measles today.

“We just offer supportive care — in the hospital for those who become very sick — and hope for the best,” Jones said.

Vaccine was ‘a turning point in public health’ 

By the 1960s, vaccine breakthroughs showed that cases of measles were preventable. 

The first measles vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1963. By 1971 it was combined with vaccines for mumps and rubella, paving the way for the MMR vaccine used today. 

Early uptake was limited, and in 1983, the MMR vaccine was only routinely recommended for 1-year-olds.

But it soon became clear that a single dose fell short of offering full long-term protection. A second dose was added in 1989 to the routine schedule for children before starting school. Taking two vaccine doses is about 97% effective at preventing measles, the CDC says, compared to 93% for one dose.

The two-dose regimen initiated more regular contact between young children and health care providers. That led to more early developmental checks, including hearing, vision and behavioral assessments now standard in pediatric care. It also paved the way for childhood vaccination schedules to prevent other diseases, said Dr. Jim Conway, a UW-Madison professor in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Global Pediatrics.

“The MMR vaccine was a really major turning point in public health,” he said.

By the early 2000s, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning it wasn’t continuously spreading for a period longer than a year. 

How health officials are responding

But the virus is back, with the U.S. seeing more than four times as many infections in 2025 than in all of 2024. And it has now been detected in Wisconsin. 

In Oconto County, “all of the cases were exposed to a common source during out-of-state travel,” the state health department said in a statement Saturday.

“DHS, in coordination with the Oconto County Public Health, is working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to the measles virus,” the statement said. “At this time no public points of exposure have been identified and the risk to the community remains low.”  

Wisconsin is vulnerable to an outbreak due to its relatively low childhood vaccination rates. It is one of just 15 states that allow vaccine exemptions for medical, religious and personal belief reasons. No Wisconsin county comes close to reaching the vaccination rate of 95% that is considered the benchmark for herd immunity protection. 

Public health officials are bracing themselves to respond.

Jennifer Weitzel, director for public health in Sauk County, said her department began closely monitoring measles this year after a Texas outbreak resulted in hundreds of infections and killed two unvaccinated school children. The department is being attentive as popular destinations like Wisconsin Dells and Devil’s Lake draw out-of-state visitors this summer. Just 70% of Sauk County’s kindergarten-aged children received two doses of the vaccine in 2024, down from 76% in 2019. 

The health department is working with providers and doctors to communicate the important protections vaccines bring. 

“I think that’s part of the challenge … no one sees these diseases anymore, so we forget just how effective vaccines have been and how awful these diseases really are,” Weitzel said.

Her colleagues coordinate tabletop exercises with other health departments, including those in Richland County and the Ho-Chunk Nation, practicing communication and response protocols in worst-case scenarios.

Health officials say they are trying to build trust in an era of misinformation surrounding viruses and vaccines. 

“Public health also took a big hit during COVID,” Weitzel said. “Folks are leery of government overreach, of recommendations, so we’re trying to build back that trust at a time where it’s critical, because measles is spreading, and we know that we could prevent it.”

But Holly Neri, a public health nurse in Door County, sees some positives from the COVID-19 pandemic: It prompted public health professionals to better prepare for virus outbreaks.

Door County nurses have sought to make sure patients are up to date on vaccinations. A state immunization grant for purchasing vaccines has helped, Neri said. The goal is for at least 78% of Door County children to be current on their vaccines by age 2, including MMR.

Their department is sharing information with local medical providers about identifying and responding to measles. 

Some groups, such as pregnant women and very young infants, cannot be safely vaccinated. That makes it particularly important for others to do so — aiming to get as close to herd immunity as possible, said Rebecca Wold, public health supervisor for the Oneida County Health Department. 

“If you’re not sure of your immunity or vaccination status, you don’t have any record of having a measles vaccine or having had measles as a child, it is safe to get a measles vaccine, and we would recommend it,” Wold said.

Want more information about measles? 

See this guide from Wisconsin Watch that rounds up medical professionals’ recommendations for protecting yourself and others. 

Door County Knock reporter Emily Small contributed to this report. 

‘I would never wish it on anyone:’ Measles resurgence spurs memories of past toll in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Before the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Americans faced measles infections each year. The advent of vaccination eliminated the disease in the United States by 2000. But outbreaks have returned to some U.S. communities as trust in vaccines wanes in many communities.

More than 1,300 measles cases have been confirmed this year across 41 states, the latest being Wisconsin. That’s after the state Department of Health Services on Saturday announced it confirmed nine measles infections in Oconto County — the first in Wisconsin this year. 

Each Oconto County infection involved exposure to a “common source during out-of-state travel,” the state health department said in a statement. 

“DHS, in coordination with the Oconto County Public Health, is working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to the measles virus,” the statement said. “At this time no public points of exposure have been identified and the risk to the community remains low.”  

What should Wisconsin families know about measles? 

Wisconsin Watch spoke with two University of Wisconsin-Madison experts: Dr. Jim Conway, a professor in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Global Pediatrics; and Malia Jones, an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health.

We gathered additional information from officials at multiple rural public health departments across Wisconsin and reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Below are some takeaways. 

When and where am I most susceptible to measles?

That depends on individual health and vaccination status. Very young people (especially infants too young to be vaccinated), older adults and people with compromised immune systems face higher risks for contracting measles and developing severe complications.

Measles tends to spread more easily in crowded urban environments and during travel. However, it can spread anywhere, as evidenced by recent rural outbreaks, including those in Texas, where hundreds of infections have been confirmed and two school children have died. All it really takes is exposure to an infected person. Measles is one of the most highly contagious known diseases. It can remain infectious in the air or on surfaces even after an infected person leaves the area.

To put it in perspective, measles is often reported to have an R nought value — the number used to describe contagiousness — between 12 and 18. That means if one person with measles walked into a room of vulnerable people, odds are they would infect 12 to 18 others in the room. 

What should I do if I start having measles symptoms?

Measles often starts with general cold-like symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes, making it hard to immediately recognize. The rash typically appears a few days after infection — and after a contagious person may have exposed others. 

If you think you might have measles or have been exposed to it, contact your local health department or healthcare provider immediately — especially if you’re unvaccinated or traveled to an area where cases were reported.  Suspected cases can be reported to local health departments even before confirmation, allowing officials to respond more quickly. Experts recommend staying home while waiting for test results to avoid spreading the virus.

What are the risks of measles?

While some think of measles as a mild childhood illness that everyone used to get, it can be dangerous. The disease can lead to a range of complications, from ear infections and diarrhea to more severe pneumonia or brain-swelling encephalitis. Such brain inflammation can affect multiple parts of the body and even cause permanent damage, especially to the brain and hearing. 

Meanwhile, a  rare but fatal long-term brain disease called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis can develop years after the initial infection. 

Some people infected by measles may experience neurological issues or nerve damage later in life.

One lesser-known risk factor: Measles can disrupt the part of the immune system that remembers previous infections, a phenomenon known as immunity amnesia. That leaves people more vulnerable to future viruses for two to three years after a measles infection.

In higher-income countries measles kills 1 to 3 of every 1,000 people infected, 10% to 20% of infections requiring hospitalization — often due to pneumonia, dehydration or severe diarrhea. Encephalitis occurs in about 1 in 1,000 cases, and pneumonia occurs in about 5% of infections. Children who are malnourished or have limited access to medical care face significantly greater risks. 

U.S. health officials have confirmed three measles-related deaths this year. 

What if I’m unsure whether I’ve had measles or the vaccine?

If you were born before 1957, you’re generally considered immune to measles because the virus was so widespread during the pre-vaccine era. Many adults born in the 1960s and 1970s may assume they’re protected when, in fact, they were never fully vaccinated, or even vaccinated at all. A second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine wasn’t added to routine childhood immunization schedules until 1989, so many adults missed one or both recommended doses. 

The bottom-line is if there’s any uncertainty around your vaccination status, it’s safe to get vaccinated again. There’s no harm in receiving an additional dose of the MMR vaccine. In fact, an extra dose is both safe and more practical — quicker and more cost-effective than getting a blood test to check your immunity.

“More is better,” Conway said. “This is not one of the vaccines that has particularly tough side effects.”

Staying up to date not only protects you from serious illness but also helps safeguard others in your community who may be more vulnerable to complications from measles.

What can I do to protect myself and others?

Vaccination is your best defense. The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to protect yourself and those around you from measles. Make sure you’ve received both recommended doses, and stay informed about outbreaks in your community, especially if you’re traveling or belong to a vulnerable group.

Visit these resources for more information

• About measles (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• How to protect your children during a measles outbreak (American Academy of Pediatrics)
• Measles cases are rising—here’s how to protect your family (Public Good News)
• How are routine vaccines tested for safety? (Public Good News)
• No, vitamin A does not prevent measles (Public Good News)

Measles has made it to Wisconsin. Here’s what to know about the virus. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Rent Smart, a free, six-module course developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, educates people about the essentials of renting. It aims to serve people from high school students and incarcerated individuals to people in homeless shelters.
  
• Completion of the course earns renters a certificate that could make their applications more desirable to landlords.
  
• The interactive classes are accessible online, and they include “Train the Trainer” opportunities for professionals who want to educate renters in their own communities. Educators in Brown County are offering additional in-person training.

In an increasingly tough housing market, a University of Wisconsin program seeks to give renters a leg up in their search for safe, affordable housing by educating them about the process and improving their standing with landlords. 

Rent Smart, a free, six-module course developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, covers the essentials of renting — everything from what’s affordable, what to look for during an apartment inspection and what to ask a landlord while applying. 

“How do we create a really good business relationship between tenants and landlords? I think Rent Smart can help with that,” said Todd Wenzel, a UW-Madison Extension human development and relationships educator in Winnebago County and one of two state co-chairs of the program.

The program aims to serve a variety of people, from high school students and incarcerated individuals to people in homeless shelters. The interactive classes are accessible online, and they include “Train the Trainer” opportunities for professionals who want to educate renters in their own communities.

Successful participants receive a certificate outlining the modules they’ve completed. It can help renters stand out in cases when landlords receive dozens of applications for a single unit, Wenzel said.

Out of 462 people who completed the program and took a survey, 98% said they believed it “will or might help them obtain appropriate housing.” Meanwhile, 84% of those who moved after completing the course said their new housing was safe, more affordable and/or better quality.

For many participants — particularly those facing access issues, Rent Smart is their introduction to how the rental system works.

“Rent Smart (is) helping create potentially a better applicant pool of individuals,” Wenzel said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or you’re 80, or you’ve had an eviction, or you’ve been incarcerated — you have that knowledge that not only is going to help you as a tenant, but it is actually going to help the landlord.”

Patrick Leifker, executive director of the Brown County Housing Authority, said the hope is that landlords who see an applicant’s Rent Smart completion certificate will recognize the effort they’ve put in, whether that means overlooking past evictions or other challenges that might otherwise disadvantage the renter.

Rent Smart offers classes on Zoom 10 months out of the year. The remaining two months are dedicated to teaching people to administer the program locally, expanding the program’s reach. 

That’s what’s happening in Brown County, where Rent Smart trainers are working on making the curriculum more accessible. Previously, most Brown County trainers offered training only within their own organizations, Leifker said. Now, trainers are offering the classes to the broader public.

Rent Smart: just part of the housing solution 

Leifker believes programs like Rent Smart can promote housing stability for Brown County residents who most need it. 

Brown County, like many Wisconsin communities, is seeing housing prices and homelessness rise. 

Wisconsin’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment reached $1,204 this year, an increase of nearly 7% from 2024, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition report released in July. Fair Market Rents estimate a typical amount a household moving today would pay for a “modest, decent-quality rental home,” according to the report.

Brown County residents must earn $22.06 per hour to afford Fair Market Rent, the report found. It’s the ninth highest wage among counties in Wisconsin, up from 12th highest in 2024.

Meanwhile, Brown County’s annual summer point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night on July 23 identified 123 unsheltered people on the streets, a preliminary figure that does not include people in homeless shelters. That was up from 31 people counted in July 2019, according to the nonprofit Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care. The figures are widely viewed as an undercount of the true homeless population.

Worsening housing challenges have prompted several Brown County organizations to step in, with some turning to renter education and landlord engagement.

Efforts to educate landlords, too 

The outreach includes making sure landlords understand what to expect when renting to housing assistance recipients.

Much of this work traces back to the formation of a landlord engagement work group as part of a broader plan to tackle homelessness in the region. The workgroup is now part of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition. It allows landlords to share real-time feedback on what’s working and what isn’t. 

“For a long time … we knew that we needed each other,” Leifker said. “They needed us to help their tenants ensure that the rent was being paid on time. We knew we needed them for places for our renters to live, but it was really kind of almost on two parallel lines and we never intersected.”

Bill Paape, city of Green Bay inspection supervisor, brings his guidance to the work group, helping answer questions about inspection processes and procedures. 

The city, in partnership with the police department, hosts regular landlord training sessions that bring together speakers from various departments to support both new and experienced landlords. These sessions aim to address issues created by what he described as evolving housing needs and economic shifts.

“Housing is very tough to come by in certain areas, depending on the housing types and the affordability part of it,” Paape said. “So it’s trying to brainstorm what we can do together to make it easier on everybody.”

Still, more is needed to help renters and landlords stay afloat, starting with addressing the root causes of the housing crisis, said Rick Van Der Leest, president of the Apartment Association of Northeast Wisconsin and Fox Valley Apartment Association. Programs are needed that help tenants pay their rent, rather than just delay eviction. 

“Owners cannot be successful without our residents also being successful,” Van Der Leest said.

How to access Rent Smart

Brown County is offering in-person Rent Smart sessions on Thursdays throughout August, with details about September sessions to be later made available. Those interested in registering can find more information on the Brown County UW Extension website or call 920-391-4610. 

People across Wisconsin can find more information about online Rent Smart courses by visiting the UW Extension website.

Rent Smart training helps tenants navigate Wisconsin’s housing crunch is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Like millions of other Americans, I have a loved one who faces substance use challenges. I can still remember the gut-wrenching feeling early in the pandemic whenever I encountered headlines describing rising rates of overdoses and fentanyl poisonings.

But around 2022, some of that news coverage contained hope. Millions of dollars from a national legal settlement with drug makers, distributors and pharmacies was headed to communities reeling from the opioid epidemic, with the potential to help families like mine. 

I was immediately curious about how communities would spend the money. I’m from Nebraska, which has no public reporting requirements for opioid settlement funds, leaving the public in the dark. When I moved to Wisconsin last year, I was excited to see significantly more transparency. 

Within my first few days at WPR and Wisconsin Watch, I pitched a story on how local governments were spending these dollars. My editors were interested, but that idea got buried under other pressing reporting — from seniors getting kicked out of nursing homes, to people losing health coverage. 

May offered a fresh opportunity to revisit the settlement story. That’s when a legislative committee published a fresh batch of spending reports from Wisconsin counties and municipalities that received payouts. 

A 2021 state law requires Wisconsin governments to report basic information about their opioid settlement accounts each year. But when I started looking at those reports, they weren’t easy to digest. They are published in massive PDFs. Some included handwritten responses, with occasional missing or incorrect information. 

An assignment I thought would take a couple of weeks to report and write, lasted well over a month. 

I used a tool called Google Pinpoint to scrape information from three years or reports submitted by 87 different local governments. It took multiple late nights to check, edit and combine information from each report into a set of spreadsheets. I spent hours each day calling county and municipal offices, listening to hold music as I tracked down missing or corrected spending numbers.

As a self-proclaimed “words person,” the toughest part was calculating each government’s total earnings, spending and interest from settlement payouts. 

In response to my questions, seven governments filed reports that had been missing. Others corrected mistakes I identified on reports they had filed. 

The exhausting process was worth it. We did our best to create a place where people can  easily learn  — without sifting through meeting minutes or long PDFs — how their county or municipality is spending dollars intended to address a crisis. Or in the case of nearly 30 governments, that they have yet to spend any of it.

I’m not done with this reporting. If you have questions about my process or findings, please reach out. I hope to hear from anyone with opinions about how their local government is spending these dollars, whether positive or negative. You can reach me here: acostello@wisconsinwatch.org. 

Why we’re tracking opioid settlement spending is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Wisconsin is expected to receive about $780 million by 2038 through national litigation surrounding drug companies’ role in the opioid crisis, with 70% flowing to the state and 30% split between 71 counties and 16 municipalities. 
  
• The state has reported spending $36 million so far. Local governments have spent about $20 million. 
  
• Nearly 30 local governments have yet to report any spending, with some citing a need for more guidance. 
  
• Transparency varies among local governments. Seven filed required spending reports only after a reporter asked why theirs was missing. Wisconsin Watch and WPR found errors on reporting filed by more than a dozen local governments.  

Wisconsin and its local governments are expected to receive more than $780 million by 2038 as part of a national legal settlement over the role of drug makers, distributors and pharmacies in the opioid crisis — potentially transformational funding in efforts to reduce drug deaths.

But it’s not easy to track where some of that money is going. 

While Wisconsin does a better job than many states in making that information accessible, advocates say it has room to improve, particularly when it comes to transparency around local spending. Not every local government has filed required reports on time, and Wisconsin Watch and WPR found reporting errors on documents submitted by more than a dozen local governments.

The state gets 30% of the settlement funding and documents its spending on a web page.

The rest flows to 71 Wisconsin counties (all but Polk, where the county board declined to join Wisconsin’s lawsuit) and 16 municipalities, according to Wisconsin’s settlement agreement finalized in 2022.

It’s considered compensation for a public health crisis that killed at least 14,747 Wisconsinites between 2000 and 2023.

Local governments have spent $20 million during the first three years of disbursements, investing in strategies ranging from residential treatment and jail recovery programs to technology for police and T-shirts for school-based drug prevention programs.

The millions spent so far make up less than 15% of what local governments have received. With more than $115 million sitting in county and municipal accounts as of last December and about $400 million more on the way, local spending will likely ramp up in the coming years.

But transparency varies across local governments. 

A 2021 state law requires that local governments spend opioid settlement dollars within a list of approved uses related to the opioid crisis. But the law does not require local officials to tell the state how they spend it. Instead, counties and municipalities are required to report only how many settlement dollars they have received and spent, alongside their year-end balances.

Debates have unfolded nationwide about how to use settlement funds — including about the merits of spending on policing or programs that promote supervised drug use to reduce harm.

In making those decisions, local governments should be transparent and involve people directly impacted by the opioid epidemic, experts say.

Rick Schaefer lost his job and house after developing an opioid addiction. He accepts he’ll never be made whole.

“But we should be more involved in how the (settlement) money is spent,” Schaefer said, adding that most people he talks to know little about the settlement funding. While he wishes people would pay more attention, he wants governments to better engage the public.

“I want to see more people with lived experience doing the work,” he said.

Some localities have followed that practice by including people with lived experience on advisory committees. Others post detailed spending information online, conduct regional surveys and hold community listening events.

The majority of Wisconsin’s local governments elaborate on their plans in supplementary annual surveys by the Wisconsin Counties Association.

Milwaukee County is seen nationally as a model for transparency and public involvement. It submitted nearly 30 pages of details to the state this year alongside its required figures.

But a dozen counties and municipalities have skipped or minimally answered the optional questions. Multiple municipalities failed to report opioid settlement spending totals one to two years after state deadlines. And seven governments submitted reports only after a reporter asked why theirs was missing. 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice reviews the reports annually and has flagged and reported issues when they are identified, but the department “does not have any enforcement role with respect to the submission of these reports,” spokesperson Samantha Standley said in an email.  

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee also receives the reports annually. Co-chairs Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, did not respond to requests for comment.

Lessons from tobacco settlement 

Drug overdose rates dropped in 2024 across Wisconsin and the country, the first annual decline since 2019. 

The decrease represents major progress, said Giavana Margo, Wisconsin program manager for Vital Strategies, a national nonprofit working to reduce overdose deaths.

Still, plenty of work remains, and progress is uneven.

Black and Indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate harm from the opioid epidemic. In Milwaukee, for instance, older Black men are accounting for a growing share of drug deaths as fentanyl creeps into cocaine supplies. 

Wisconsin still saw more than 1,000 drug-related deaths from February 2024 to February 2025, preliminary U.S. Centers for Disease Control data show.

Settlement dollars have the potential to save lives if spent strategically, Margo said.

That did not happen the last time states reaped billions in compensation for a public health crisis. 

States, including Wisconsin, settled with tobacco companies in 1998 for an estimated $246 billion over the first 25 years. 

While states promised to use the funding to fight tobacco use, the bulk went toward plugging budget holes. Most states still spend less on tobacco prevention than the CDC recommends.

For its part, Wisconsin receives hundreds of millions each year from settlements and taxes on tobacco but spends less than 12% of what the CDC recommends on prevention. 

Advocates want to avoid a repeat as opioid settlement funds flow in, said Kristen Pendergrass, vice president of state policy at Shatterproof, a national nonprofit focused on the addiction crisis. It’s why experts call for transparency.

Wisconsin is off to a better start this time.

The Department of Health Services opioid settlement web page details $36 million in department spending so far — much of it funding treatment center construction and renovation. 

Wisconsin is among 20 states with some level of public reporting requirements for 100% of settlement funds at the state and local levels, according to OpioidSettlementTracker.com.

Many states lack any reporting requirements for locally disbursed funds, leaving interested residents to sift through county board minutes and a scattering of local government websites. 

Wisconsin’s annual reporting requirement creates a central location for spending information, Margo said, even if it’s not as robust or accessible as it could be. 

States such as Minnesota and Indiana break down local spending on dashboards and spreadsheets linked on health and substance abuse-related websites. Wisconsin’s reports aren’t as easily findable. They are published as PDFs on the Joint Finance Committee website, alongside hundreds of other spending reports unrelated to opioids. The reports are also available by request through the state DOJ. The Wisconsin Counties Association separately published the 2023 and 2024 spending reports to a resource page created for county officials.

The city of Milwaukee receives more settlement funding than any local government except for Dane and Milwaukee counties. But it failed to initially report two years of spending and receipts after “an oversight resulted in delays,” wrote Comptroller Bill Christianson. After being contacted by a reporter the city submitted reports detailing more than $500,000 in spending, and it created procedures to meet future reporting deadlines.

Some local government officials said they didn’t know they were required to submit reports if they had yet to spend any settlement money. Several corrected missing expenditure figures, misreported receipts and mismatched account balances between years after a reporter flagged discrepancies. 

Calls for public input

The overdose reversal drug Narcan saved Schaefer’s life multiple times before he started his recovery journey and became a certified peer support specialist. Growing availability of Narcan and other harm reduction resources is likely fueling the decline in overdose deaths — at least in part, Schaefer said.

Many Wisconsin local governments have reported purchasing drugs like Narcan and training for its use. 

“Things are going in the right direction,” Schaefer said. “So let’s decide where to throw more money. What else can we try?”

He and other members of DUO Wisconsin, an organization for current and former drug users, hope governments will listen to people with lived experience. Their proximity to the crisis forges unique perspectives.

Many local governments have launched advisory councils and seek public input, including from people affected by the opioid crisis. Twenty-one local governments in annual reports to the state mentioned soliciting some form of community input. 

But even in those cases, people don’t always know how to get involved or whether they will be listened to, said Jess Morrow, a DUO member.

“How do you even begin to look or find out?” she asked. 

Morrow and Schaefer live in Dane County, which holds public meetings on opioid settlement spending and includes people with living experience on its advisory committee.

“When you look at the successes of other counties and other states, it’s meeting people where they’re at,” said Dane County Supervisor Rick Rose, who helped create that committee.

He aims to streamline the county’s allocation process so more dollars can more quickly flow where needed.

“This disease is changing every day,” Rose said.

Several local governments reported spending money on test strips for the potent drug fentanyl and xylazine, a veterinary sedative increasingly found in illicit drugs. But DUO members say people are also unknowingly buying drugs cut with harmful substances strips don’t test for, like plastic and dog dewormer.

“Everybody who uses probably has way too many (test strips), because they’re everywhere,” Schaefer said. “We need something that does a better job of accurately telling you, really what’s in everything. … The technology is improving to get us there.”

Some local governments have yet to spend

Nearly 30 counties and municipalities reported spending zero settlement dollars so far, including several who said they weren’t sure how to spend it.

Monroe County in 2023 cited as a barrier “minimal information available and guidance on how to appropriately use opioid settlement funds.”

Delaying spending could make sense in some scenarios, Pendergrass said. Governments might want to take extra time for research and outreach. Or they could invest in interest-earning accounts that grow funds for ambitious future projects. But they owe an explanation to the public, she said.

And the funds could save lives now.  

“It’s great news that overdose rates are going down,” Pendergrass said. “But we can’t take our foot off the brake because people are still dying every day.” 

How are Wisconsin’s local governments spending millions in opioid settlement payouts?  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Back in February I shared our newsroom’s plan for covering President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. As noted then, whether you love or loathed the disruption in Washington, it promised to deeply affect our lives in Wisconsin. 

And it has.

Five months later, Washington’s whirlwind is still churning — whether it’s the dismantling of the Department of Education, canceled or frozen grants, tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich or newly enacted work requirements that are expected to kick people off of Medicaid.

Here is an update on how we’ve leaned into our strengths in keeping communities connected and informed during exhausting news cycles. We promised: 

Reporting that prioritizes your questions and tips

That includes Addie Costello’s tip-inspired feature about Madison’s Yahara House, which focuses on building relationships and job opportunities for adults with serious mental illness — a model shown to work. Costello explored how Wisconsin could expand support for such programs and how federal cuts to Medicaid could jeopardize access.

We’ve also focused on news you can use, such as this story from Devin Blake of Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, which explained people’s rights as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conduct sweeping arrests.

Prioritizing context over speed

When Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in March for allegedly helping a man without legal status evade federal immigration authorities, we amplified daily updates from our trusted partners at the Associated Press while considering what our specific expertise could add to the conversation. The result: this context-rich story from Jack Kelly about how Dugan’s arrest echoed the arrest of a Massachusetts judge in 2019. 

This approach has shaped how we’ve covered tariffs, frozen funding and disrupted programs. We’ve examined local impacts to adult education students, AmeriCorps volunteers, local farmers, people who are homeless and a program that teaches about Milwaukee’s history — just to name a few.  

It has also informed our coverage of Trump’s self-described big bill-turned law, including what provisions mean for Medicaid recipients and people seeking workforce training. Our fact briefs in partnership with Gigafact have helped readers understand which claims about the bill were true. 

Collaboration

As always, we’ve continued to distribute our reporting for free, team up with other newsrooms on big stories and amplify the great work of our partners. 

In June, Wisconsin Watch’s Natalie Yahr collaborated with Erin McGroarty of the Cap Times to bring you the story of Miguel Jerez Robles, a McFarland man who was among the first people swept up in a wave of arrests inside immigration court buildings. The story illustrated the volatility and randomness of the country’s immigration processes — and the aggressiveness of Trump’s approach. We detailed Jerez’s detention and, shortly after publication, his surprise release.

We additionally republished a pair of stories from The 19th about Yessenia Ruano, a Milwaukee teacher’s aide and mother of twin U.S.-citizen daughters who hoped to avoid a forced return to El Salvador — 14 years after arriving in Wisconsin. The most recent story illustrated Ruano’s farewell to Milwaukee as she and her children left rather than risking detention.

Meanwhile, we’re still rounding up top headlines in our Wisconsin Weekly newsletter, the most recent of which included a WPR story about Trump’s proposal to ax the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which investigated a 2018 refinery explosion in Superior that injured dozens of workers and forced residents to evacuate. 

We want our coverage to offer you actionable information — and help you digest the most important storylines without feeling overwhelmed.

Let us know how we’re doing. Please keep shaping our reporting by sending your tips, questions and feedback. If you don’t hear from us immediately, please do know that we read everything you send.

How Wisconsin Watch is covering disruption from Washington is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988.” Or you can send a text message to 988 or use the chat feature at 988lifeline.org.

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Older adults account for 1 in 5 suicides in Wisconsin, with the rate among men over 75 twice the statewide rate for everyone.

• The latest data from 2023 show suicide rates among older people declined over the previous year, when they were higher than the national average.

• The state budget includes additional mental health resources in the Fox Valley and for Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh. Republican lawmakers are calling for additional telehealth resources, while Democrats want to reinstate the 48-hour waiting period for gun purchases.

Earl Lowrie doesn’t spend a day of retirement without thinking about suicide.

The disabled 66-year-old lives with two grandchildren in the village of Cameron in northwest Wisconsin, where he is $50,000 in debt and suffering from multiple autoimmune diseases. Nowadays, Lowrie spends his time trying to elude a pernicious voice, telling him “there really isn’t any recourse now” and to “take some opioids and go to sleep.”

Nationwide, adults over 65 have some of the highest suicide rates by age group, though they are among the least likely to seek or receive mental health support. They made up 20% of all suicide deaths in Wisconsin between 2018 and 2023 — but in 2023, only 3,142 older people used county mental health services, down from a peak of nearly 4,000 who used them in 2018.

Wisconsin Watch spoke to policymakers, health professionals, advocates and older adults about the current mental health landscape for older people in Wisconsin and the possible roads to geriatric suicide prevention in the future. Their goals beyond prevention are to help older adults realize that they are not forgotten and to raise awareness about community supports at every stage of life.

That’s what Lowrie is working to remember. 

Older men kill themselves at two times the statewide rate

In 2023, 184 older Wisconsin adults ended their own lives, out of 921 total suicides. The statewide age-adjusted suicide rate was 15 out of 100,000 residents, while the rate for those between 65 and 74 years old was 15.7. Suicides among those 75 and older were higher at 17.1.

That’s down from the previous year, when Wisconsin adults above 65 died at a higher rate than the national average, 18.6 vs. 17.7. It’s unclear why the numbers went down or whether it will continue in future years.

Nonetheless, depression and anxiety disorders “have really picked up” recently for the patients of Kenneth Robbins, a geriatric psychiatrist based in Rock County. He has especially noticed issues with older men, who died from suicide at more than two times the statewide rate in 2023. 

Robbins said that one of the biggest contributors to this suicide rate is isolation.

“What’s unique about older white men is that many of them are not very socially adept,” Robbins said. “When they retire, they’re not quite sure what to do with their lives exactly and often become very lonely and feel like they’re not doing anything meaningful and start to wonder, ‘What’s the point of living?’”

Robbins also noted that older adults who struggle with medical problems, such as dementia or cancer, are highly likely to attempt suicide for fear of physical pain and becoming a “burden” to their loved ones.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, more than half of residents 55 years and older who died by suicide in 2023 had health problems that “appeared to have contributed to their deaths.”

Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, said he was at a wedding when his wife’s great-grandmother, suffering from dementia, told him to kill her. James’ father told him he would rather die by suicide than live with the disease.

“I’ve had many family members state they would rather die by suicide than to remain on the Earth if they were attacked by dementia,” said James, who worked to ensure the recently approved state budget included more mental health services in the Chippewa Valley.

Older adults in rural Wisconsin face extra challenges

Lowrie retired from truck driving in 2019 after he had a fall at work and needed a spinal fusion for his back. Around that time, he developed rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, and later stage 4 cancer. 

“My mental illness went off the rails,” he said. “The only reason that I didn’t (take my life) was because I’ve seen how painful it is for others around you.”

The pain Lowrie was referring to was the loss of his youngest son, Justin, who shot himself a little less than a decade ago. Ever since then Lowrie retreats for long periods into a depression “closet” that lets very few people inside.

“I’ve been trying to break out of that here more recently,” he said. “Often you don’t have that trigger that you needed to get you out of the closet to go out and find something that’s going to bring you out of this slump.”

Lowrie’s home county has an age-adjusted suicide rate lower than the statewide average, but many rural counties in the state have significantly higher than average rates. Of the 184 suicides among older adults in 2023, 115 were in areas with populations under 50,000 and 42 were in areas with populations under 10,000.

Older adults in rural areas often live far away from mental health providers, many of whom don’t accept Medicare, according to Robbins. They also often live far away from family and community.

“That further adds to the hopelessness you feel and the loneliness that you feel,” Robbins said. “Nobody’s noticing that you’re getting more and more depressed, and becoming less and less functional.”

No legislation geared toward geriatric mental health

Though there is no legislation circulating to address geriatric mental health and suicide prevention, legislators are pushing broader bills related to mental health, substance abuse and gun control, which they say will start to help. 

Gov. Tony Evers’ initial 2025-27 state budget recommendations included $1.2 million and six full-time equivalent positions for Mendota Mental Health Institute’s geropsychiatric treatment unit, which serves mentally ill, disabled or drug-dependent older adults who require more specialized services than are generally available.

The request was for hiring additional staff and moving the unit to a nearby building with larger treatment space. Jennifer Miller, the communications specialist for Mendota, said the Wisconsin DHS made the request because it is seeing an increase in older patients who need mental health services.

With the new space, “there (would have been) additional capacity at (Mendota) to serve these individuals in a space designed to meet the unique mental health treatment and service needs facing an aging population,” Miller said. 

However, legislative Republicans removed the additional funding for Mendota. Instead, the budget provides almost $16 million to address the current deficit at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute’s “civil patient treatment program” for 2025. Winnebago, located in Oshkosh, treats patients legally ordered to undergo mental health treatment, but the funding is not specifically for geriatrics.

The budget also includes $10 million in funding for the development of a mental health campus and $1 million for reopening a substance abuse treatment facility in the Chippewa Valley, which has a significantly higher suicide rate than the statewide average. 

James and Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, who co-authored the provisions, said the campus will restore the region’s mental health beds lost after two nearby hospitals closed last year. Moses also said that he has been working on general telehealth bills that would help bridge gaps in mental health care for older adults in rural areas.

“It’s about making sure they’ve got access — (especially) if they don’t have family members — to someone they can talk to,” Moses said. He believes older adults should be able to do an online video meeting rather than drive 45 minutes or an hour to talk to someone about their issues.

For suicide prevention, Democrats have circulated multiple bills related to gun safety, one of which would reinstate the previous 48-hour mandatory handgun purchase waiting period repealed by Republicans in 2015. 

Former Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff — who last year purchased a handgun and killed himself within hours — had argued for reinstating the waiting period, saying it had prevented his own previous suicide attempts. 

Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, a close friend of Brostoff who reintroduced the bill to the Senate in June, said the law had protected an “untold number of people.”

“There’s the false narrative of, ‘if you don’t have a gun, you’re not safe,’ right? … (But) the statistics show that most suicides that end in death are with a handgun,” Larson said. “The more time we can put in between the time that somebody is trying to obtain a handgun and when they actually get it, it saves lives.”

People 65 and older carry out 25% of all firearms suicides in Wisconsin and use firearms for suicide at by far the highest rate. Lowrie disagrees that gun legislation would prevent suicides and said older adults start to feel a “very large sense of helplessness” when their guns are taken away.

Finding community

Lowrie attributes suicide challenges and reluctance among older adults to seek mental health support to the way his generation was raised. 

Organizations such as NewBridge, a Madison nonprofit dedicated to serving low-income older adults, seek to proactively address the issue by providing older adults with community programming and case management, but especially mental health care.

Kathleen Pater, the mental health manager at NewBridge, described older adults as a “forgotten group” who “might not be the best advocates for themselves.” Her team is often the first human interaction their clients have in a long time and the first to have honest conversations about mental health.

We need to “really focus and see the importance of this stage in life and how much seniors can really offer the community back,” Pater said. “It’s connecting them back into the community with intergenerational programs, and just a societal shift in seeing our elders as valuable and knowledgeable and having all this life experience rather than being isolated and forgotten.”

In January, Lowrie finally sought out help for his mental illness after an interaction with his ex-wife sent him into a “tailspin” of anxiety and suicidal thoughts. When an online artificial intelligence therapist didn’t work, his best friend Wes told him about the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Initially, Wes had suggested a NAMI chapter in Rice Lake, about seven miles away from his village. But Lowrie soon found the Rice Lake office was closed, and the nearest location in Eau Claire was 50 miles away.

Despite “talking (himself) into it and out of it above half a dozen times,” Lowrie took a leap of faith with the encouragement of Wes and his granddaughter and went to Eau Claire. He now describes NAMI as “a rope pulling me out of the water, keeping me from drowning.”

“There’s people from every walk of life and every different kind of problem that you could imagine, but mine was no more twisted and weird than their own,” Lowrie said. “It was through them I found enough encouragement and ideas of finding more help.”

Through NAMI, Lowrie was connected to individual, weekly counseling, a nutritionist, a dietitian, and a mental health prescription that gives him hope. He continues to attend NAMI Eau Claire’s biweekly meetings, and his cancer is now in complete remission.

Despite newfound support, Lowrie said he is often “suffocated” by his mental illness and that most of the time, he would rather be dead than suffer. In his worst moments, not even his favorite things, like the laughter of children or the breeze on his skin, can draw him out.

But Lowrie doesn’t intend to stop fighting. 

“I am going to do everything in my power to get to the other side of my mental illness,” Lowrie told Wisconsin Watch. “I’m on a mission, and I’m not holding back at all … I’m coming out the other side one way or another.”

Older adults make up 1 in 5 suicides in Wisconsin. Here’s what can be done to fix that. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• A provision of President Donald Trump’s big bill creates Workforce Pell grants, available to students who demonstrate “exceptional financial need” and lack a graduate degree. 

• The new grants can be used to pay for qualifying workforce training that can be completed in less than a semester.

• The grants are supposed to be available starting in fall 2026, but questions loom about whether the U.S. Department of Education will be ready. 

• Tech college leaders say a range of people could benefit, including working parents and the formerly incarcerated. They say the grants may lead to new training opportunities that help plug persistent labor shortages.

The federal budget bill that passed this month has drawn much attention for polarizing Medicaid work requirements, cuts to food aid and new funding for immigration enforcement. But one item tucked into the lengthy bill has been on bipartisan wish lists for more than a decade. 

It allows eligible Americans to use Pell grants, the federal government’s largest grant program for undergraduates, to pay for shorter workforce training courses than what previously qualified. 

Such courses could train a range of workers, including welders, truck drivers, emergency medical technicians and cybersecurity analysts, though exactly which programs will be eligible for funding hasn’t been decided. 

In Wisconsin, where many such jobs regularly go unfilled, proponents say the grants could set low-income residents on a path to better jobs, while also aiding the employers and the communities that rely on those workers. Meanwhile, a small group of critics say the new program could lead some students down a dead end road of low wages. 

Who qualifies for the grants? 

Like existing grants, the new Workforce Pell grants are available to students who demonstrate “exceptional financial need.” Funding will vary based on the number of hours or credits of the training, hovering below the maximum annual Pell grant of $7,395, according to Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit focused on education and workforce issues. 

Unlike the existing grants, Workforce Pell is open to people who already have a bachelor’s degree, as well as those without. People who hold graduate or professional degrees are still barred. Students apply by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The grants, which can be used for qualifying courses of eight to 14 weeks and are expected to serve 100,000 students a year, are supposed to be available starting in fall 2026. Jobs for the Future calls that timeline “aggressive” and warns that the Department of Education, which the Trump administration has sought to dismantle, may need more time to implement the program. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the administration may follow through with plans to fire nearly 1,400 education department employees, with plans to assign duties to other agencies.

Leaders at the state’s 16 technical colleges have pushed for such a Pell grant expansion for years, said Layla Merrifield, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System.

“It’s a good idea to expand access to workforce credentials and help entry-level employees who are trying to join a career and get themselves into a better place economically,” Merrifield said. “This could be really important for moving folks into careers.”

Boost for in-demand jobs like truck driving

The funding could allow tech colleges to train more students for in-demand jobs like truck driving, Merrifield said. Wisconsin truck drivers earn a median salary just over $50,000, and Wisconsin employers are projected to hire more than 6,000 of them in each of the next seven years. That puts truck drivers at the top of the state’s “Hot Jobs” list. 

But training those drivers is expensive, Merrifield said, so colleges can’t necessarily afford to enroll more students. 

“You start to see employers starting their own (commercial driver’s license) programs because there’s such a tremendous need for folks with this credential out in the industry,” Merrifield said. 

Roger Stanford saw those challenges during his time as vice president of instruction at Chippewa Valley Technical College, where students had to pay around $5,000 up front for truck driving training, no matter their income. 

Thirty-two states directly fund short-term credential programs by supporting students or schools, but Wisconsin isn’t one of them, according to a report by higher education consulting firm HCM Strategists.

Students in some programs can apply for federal student loans, and all students can apply for scholarships if their college offers them. 

“When you’re coming out of poverty or you’re a single parent, it’s just impossible to come up with the cash. And so we were really limiting how many people could go into that program,” Stanford said. 

Still, some experts worry about using federal aid to fund such programs. A 2016 analysis by the left-leaning think tank New America found two in five adults with a short-term credential didn’t have jobs, and half of those who did earned $30,000 a year or less. 

“Obtaining only a short-term certificate is not a likely vehicle towards economic mobility for the average student,” the authors wrote. Earnings were particularly low for Black and Latino adults. 

The Workforce Pell legislation requires programs to meet wage and employment benchmarks to qualify, but experts disagree about whether that sufficiently protects students and taxpayers. 

More options for working parents and ex-incarcerated

A 2011 experiment previews the potential effects of the new grants. In the pilot program, the U.S. Department of Education offered Pell grants for short-term training for students who wouldn’t otherwise qualify and compared their outcomes to those without grants. The study found people who were offered the grants were more likely to enroll in and complete training, but long-term wages and employment rates were similar across the groups. 

Chippewa Valley Technical College was part of that pilot. Suddenly, Stanford said, more students started signing up to become truck drivers. 

“It makes people go, ‘Oh my gosh, if I can get financial aid for this, I’ll go into truck driving.’ It helps you fill those programs which are all tied to good jobs,” Stanford said. 

Today, Stanford is president of Western Technical College in La Crosse. Western Tech doesn’t train truck drivers, but the college predicts a handful of its programs will be eligible for the new grants. That could include training in welding, emergency medical services, auto repair, advanced manufacturing and dental care.

Workforce Pell grants will be especially helpful for adults returning to school while working or taking care of children, Stanford said.

“We probably all know some people that just can’t commit to a two-year program right now … Or they look at a two-year program and say, ‘I’ll take three credits each term.’ That puts them on a trajectory of five or six years, and they never finish,” Stanford said. Data show that students who attend school part-time are less likely to graduate than their full-time counterparts. 

“If we can put them on a trajectory to get them a credential in eight or 10 weeks, people can get their life around it,’” Stanford said, like by tapping relatives to watch their kids for a couple months. 

“They can say, ‘Wow, this is going to be hard, but I know at the end of it, there’s 24 bucks an hour, and I can do that,’” Stanford said. 

Another group that can benefit from access to shorter courses: recently incarcerated people.

“When you’re coming out of jail, you don’t have two years,” Stanford said. “If we could turn around and say, ‘We can take you right from the jail and give you 10 weeks and put you into a job that has life-sustaining wages, that helps (lower) recidivism.”

Pathways in construction, IT, auto repair and more 

The new grants will encourage colleges to expand their short-term training opportunities to fill other workforce gaps by parceling longer academic programs into stand-alone “stackable” courses, which would let students earn a credential, get a better job and then decide whether to pursue a technical diploma or associate degree, Stanford said. 

That model could work well for most of the building trades, Stanford said. About 15 students finished Western Tech’s yearlong program in building construction and cabinetmaking last year, but local construction companies need about five times that, Stanford said. He estimates a “modularized” approach could prepare 60 to 80 students to start working sooner.

Stanford also sees promise for fields like information technology, where the college could offer stand-alone courses in cybersecurity, programming or networking. The same could apply in machining, auto repair or mechatronics, an automation-related field that combines multiple types of engineering. Colleges could prepare students to start in operator jobs making $40,000 or $50,000 a year, with the potential to double that pay after earning a degree, Stanford said.

“I think in the next decade, you’re going to see probably less emphasis on diplomas and associate degrees and more on direct job credentials and certifications that get people (on the job) quicker, and then pathways to associate degrees,” Stanford said. “This is a really, really big opportunity for us … I think it really will help change the economic mobility of so many people that are struggling.”

Filling rural EMT gaps

The grants could help Wisconsin address some of its most serious labor shortages, including in health care. Rural Wisconsin communities have struggled for years to maintain adequate emergency medical services. 

Western Tech trains students to work as emergency medical technicians, providing life-saving care and transporting patients to hospitals. The median EMT salary in Wisconsin is just over $43,000, according to federal data, though many rural departments rely on volunteers. 

Western Tech’s EMT program trained more than 100 EMTs last year. The region could use far more. 

“Say we offer four sections a year right now. We could easily offer eight, and they would all have work, because there’s just so much demand,” Stanford said. 

Sometimes rural fire departments or hospitals wait months for new recruits to start training because the college can’t afford to run a class for just a couple students. Stanford expects the new grants will encourage more students to join the field.

“That’ll help across the whole country,” Stanford said. “EMT (training) is needed everywhere.”

Wisconsin lawmakers have also sought to fill the gap. The budget Gov. Tony Evers signed earlier this month includes $3.5 million to reimburse tech colleges for emergency medical services training.

Other Pell changes off the table for now

An earlier version of Trump’s bill would have allowed Workforce Pell grants to be used at unaccredited training providers, stirring fears that unscrupulous entities might take advantage. 

Lawmakers removed that provision, leaving existing accreditation requirements in place. 

Meanwhile, other headline-grabbing Pell proposals didn’t make the cut. House Republicans previously proposed raising the credits required to receive the maximum award and making students enrolled less than half-time ineligible.

Merrifield, the Wisconsin Technical College System president, was relieved to see those provisions removed from the final bill. She estimates around 7,000 students would have lost all aid and thousands more would have seen their aid amounts cut. 

“While Workforce Pell would be helpful on the margins, ending part-time Pell would be tremendously harmful to technical colleges and our students,” Merrifield said. 

Natalie Yahr reports on pathways to success in Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus.

New financial aid for career training: What to know in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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• Wisconsin’s state budget doesn’t include $24 million that Gov. Tony Evers proposed to address homelessness in the state.

• At the same time, the Trump administration is looking to pull back on resources that address housing, including consolidating a grant for permanent housing solutions into one that can only be used to provide up to two years of temporary housing.

• Rural service providers are looking to philanthropic sources and others across the state to address the growing homeless population in their local communities.

At a recent gathering of social service organizations in Brown County, participants contended with a double gut punch to their efforts to reverse Wisconsin’s recent rise in rural homelessness: almost no new support in the state budget and federal funding cuts.

The Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition, which focuses its efforts not only on the urban growth around Green Bay but also on the rural towns along the outskirts of the county, consists of at least 45 partner and supporting member organizations — representing the vast complexity of the issue they’re attempting to fix.

Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal gave them reason for hope. It included over $24 million of new funding to address homelessness.

The funding would have increased support for programs, including the Housing Assistance Program that provides support services for those experiencing homelessness and the State Shelter Subsidy Grant Program that funds shelter operations. 

But after the Republican-controlled budget committee cut Evers’ proposal, organizations were left with the same state resources they had last year, despite increasing homelessness across the state and looming cuts in federal support.

Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who both represent mostly rural districts in Wisconsin, did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

Sen. Romaine Robert Quinn, R-Birchwood, a JFC member who represents the rural northwestern corner of Wisconsin, including the city of Shell Lake where Wisconsin Watch reported on a father and daughter experiencing homelessness, declined an interview request. Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, who represents the western part of Brown County, did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

Federal cuts coming for homeless services

President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget reductions would cut funding for key programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including grants that many local organizations depend on to provide housing and supportive services. 

The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal funding began with a Jan. 27 executive order that temporarily paused many federal grants and financial assistance programs — including those supporting homelessness services — causing immediate disruptions for organizations like RAYS Youth Services in Green Bay.

Josh Benti, program coordinator for RAYS and homeless initiative project director for the Brown County coalition, recalled how his organization’s basic services were abruptly halted, leaving it unable to support a child in need.

Benti’s organization provides services designed to promote stability and independence for youth up to age 24. They include placement in licensed foster homes, similar to emergency shelter stays.

Shortly after Trump signed the order in January, Benti received a text from his boss saying the organization could no longer move forward with placing a child in a host home. He had to inform the child it was uncertain whether the program would be funded. 

Even after federal funds were reinstated weeks later, disbursement delays further affected how employees were paid. Benti’s role, originally salaried, was switched to hourly so that he and his colleagues could maintain their positions.

Benti explained that because RAYS’ federal funds are matched by private grants, the organization’s development staff has begun applying for grants across the state. The organization seeks to expand its services and collaborate with statewide partners to become “too big to fail.” 

“We can’t do it all by ourselves,” Benti said. “We need those funds to take care of those pieces we do every day.”  

Trump’s big bill brought new limitations to RAYS through changes to social safety net programs, such as provisions introducing new work requirements for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which limited eligibility and access of certain recipients. 

These policy shifts have raised additional concerns about the potential losses to critical areas of the organization, especially Medicaid. Reductions to the federal health care program for low-income people threaten a large portion of Foundations Health and Wholeness, a nonprofit that provides mental health care to uninsured and underinsured individuals, many of whom rely on Medicaid as a source of health coverage.

Carrie Poser, executive director of Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care — a nonprofit committed to ending homelessness — pointed out that Medicaid cuts, along with restrictions on food stamps, won’t only affect people experiencing homelessness directly. 

“It will impact those living in poverty who are maybe just … a paycheck away from becoming homeless, and now you’ve just hit them with the potential of losing their health insurance, or losing access to food,” Poser said.

The organization manages a variety of federal grants, including funding for Coordinated Entry Systems that prioritize housing resources based on need, as well as a large federal Rapid Re-housing project of more than $5 million focused on domestic violence survivors.

Trump calls for shift from permanent to temporary housing

Trump’s budget proposal could eliminate federal funding for the Continuum of Care program, funneling those resources into state grants for up to two years of housing assistance. The shift would eliminate Permanent Supportive Housing, which is geared toward homeless individuals with disabilities. Under current law, those temporary housing grants can’t be used for permanent housing.

Trump’s budget also would zero out the funding for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.

“The top-line takeaway is that rural and suburban communities are going to suffer the most loss,” said Mary Frances Kenion, chief equity officer at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

About 48% of Wisconsin’s permanent supportive housing is currently funded through Continuum of Care dollars. Areas served by the outstate organization rely on federal funding for roughly 41% of their homelessness services budget.

The outstate organization also receives Housing Assistance Program grants, which it subgrants to organizations aiming to address specific gaps in their communities and offers them support that may not be available through federal funding.

Without added state support, the organization can’t expand its efforts to end homelessness, though it can maintain current levels. Currently, Housing Assistance Program funds support half a dozen projects outside Milwaukee, Dane and Racine counties, a limited reach that additional funding would have broadened for the organization.

Additionally, more state funding for shelter operations could have helped shelters pay more staff and reopen after many closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Poser said.

Now, as the demand for shelter continues to rise, other service providers also face limited resources to expand their services.

The shelter funds provide support to the Northwest Wisconsin Community Services Agency for operating its shelters. However, CEO Millie Rounsville said the funding has remained flat for years, despite growing demand for services.

“As you’re trying to create additional projects … there’s no additional resources to be able to support those and actually would take away resources from other communities because the pot is the same size and the programs are expanding, which means that there’s less money to go around, and no new money to address any of the increase in the unsheltered,” Rounsville said.

With no increases in funding, expanding programs or launching new initiatives to meet rising homelessness has become increasingly difficult.

As several housing assistance organizations face limitations to state and federal funding to maintain many of their day-to-day programs and services, Kenion urges them to take stock of existing resources and make contingency plans.

Kenion advised communities to map out what services they currently offer, whether that’s through permanent supportive housing or homelessness programs, and to clearly understand where their funding may come from. She added that rural communities, in particular, should begin having difficult conversations about their funding landscape and work to broaden partnerships such as those with faith-based groups, clinics, small businesses, victim service providers and philanthropies.

Rural areas face challenges accessing support

Don Cramer, a researcher for the Wisconsin Policy Forum, points to some of the difficulty rural areas might face in obtaining funding to address homelessness. 

In rural parts of the state, limited staff capacity could mean that local agencies miss out on some of the state and federal funding opportunities that their urban counterparts are able to obtain. Cramer suggested that larger cities with high homeless populations, like Milwaukee, typically have more staff and time to dedicate to pursuing grants, while smaller counties, even those with higher homeless populations, often don’t have the employees who focus their time exclusively on applying for these funds.

Cramer also pointed out that rural communities often struggle not only to secure funding, but to capture the scope of homelessness in their areas, making it even harder to recognize and address the issue.

As Wisconsin Watch previously reported following the winter “point in time” count, one of two annual nights in the year that portray the number of people experiencing homelessness across the country, the state’s mostly rural homeless population reached 3,201 last year, its highest number since 2017.

The reported number of homeless students in Wisconsin last year reached its highest number since 2019, with 20,195 students experiencing homelessness, according to a report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Last year was the third consecutive year the number of reported homeless students has increased after hitting its lowest level in 2021 during the pandemic. 

The sheer difference in the number of students experiencing homelessness and individuals experiencing homelessness further highlights how the methodology for quantifying homelessness across the state, which is used to determine a community’s level of need, “doesn’t make sense for those who don’t know the differences in the methodologies,” Cramer said. 

The standards of counting between Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI), which would count a student who may be sleeping on a relative’s couch in its homeless count, and HUD, which wouldn’t, illustrate the strict guidelines that likely don’t come close to representing the full picture of homelessness in the state. 

“When you think of the (homeless counts), many assume those are undercounts,” Cramer said. “But I think the students would be pretty accurate — because schools are working with a majority of the state’s student population, and kindergartners aren’t hiding that information.”

‘We need to take into account our increasing need’

Katie Van Groll sees this issue firsthand through her work as the director of Home Base, an arm of the Boys and Girls Club of the Fox Valley that specifically works with youth up to age 21 who are experiencing challenges related to housing insecurity. 

Van Groll added that the difference between the HUD and DPI counts contributes to a systemic misunderstanding of what homelessness looks like for young people. For example, couch surfing is much more common in young people experiencing homelessness than it is for adults, but because the HUD count doesn’t include that frequent circumstance, the difference between being sheltered and being homeless “almost gets forgotten,” Van Groll said. 

“What that does is it makes them ineligible for other funding and other resources because they don’t meet the HUD definition until they are literally on the street, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” Van Groll said. “The sooner that we can intervene, the quicker we can disrupt that cycle and change those generational experiences of homelessness.”

While the number of youth experiencing homelessness in the state continues to rise, Evers’ budget proposal to increase funding for the Runaway and Homeless Youth program, which already operates on a difficult-to-obtain regional lottery system that Home Base competes for each year alongside other youth-oriented programs, was denied an increase in funding. 

Only one program serving runaway and homeless youth per region receives funding by the state, which in itself “is a disservice,” Van Groll said. “Right now, we’re lucky in that we are in a current federal grant so we are not looking at reapplying to the (state) funding that was just released, but we expect that other programs may not be in the same situation.” 

“Many people are going to be like, ‘well, what are you complaining about? You’re not losing any money,’” Van Groll said. “But you kind of are because we need to take into account the state of our economy, we need to take into account our increasing need, we need to take into account the fact that losing those decreases likely impacts those programs just like it does ours, which means it continues to be largely competitive across the state, inhibiting some programs from accessing those fundings.”

Meaghan Gleason, who leads the Brown County count, announced during the Brown County coalition meeting on July 9 that the current number of volunteers signed up for the summer homeless count is lower than the last two counts. She asked attendees to contribute in any way they can. 

“I would encourage you to contact your friends, family, community members, board members, funders — anyone who may be interested in going out and helping and seeing the work that we do in action,” Gleason said. 

In a phone interview on July 16, Gleason said that after reaching out to the coalition for more volunteers, involvement for the July 23-24 overnight summer count in Brown County will now see the highest number of volunteers she’s directed since taking on the role two years ago.

Homeless advocates added that there’s been an increase in encampments, with people experiencing homelessness moving deeper into the woods as the summer goes on. 

Amid the wet and hot season lately, Peter Silski, Green Bay homeless outreach case coordinator, explained that many of the people he encounters have no other choice than to build simple tents and shelters. 

Through conversations with people experiencing homelessness and connecting them with local, grassroots programs, Silski said the goal is “to empower individuals to become self-sufficient, but we want to make sure we’re there for them for as long as they need us.”

Wisconsin Watch reporter Margaret Shreiner contributed to this report.

‘We can’t do it all by ourselves’: As rural homelessness grows in Wisconsin, Republicans balk at boosting support is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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About this video

The Local Food Purchase Assistance program, or LFPA, was a federal program that awarded states two-year grants to help small farmers invest in their local food systems while growing their businesses. 

The Trump administration gutted the program in March, just as farmers started placing seed orders. The timing particularly affected livestock farmers who often need to commit to the size of their herd and harvest over a year in advance. 

Wisconsin Watch staff writer Bennet Goldstein spent weeks talking with producers affected by the loss of LFPA, including Jess D’Souza, a pork farmer in Dane County. During one of several visits to her farm, he and photojournalist Patricio Crooker watched meat processors harvest her pigs to fully appreciate how food travels from farm to plate.

On a separate visit to the farm, Joe Timmerman photographed Jess and her herd of Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs, documenting many beautiful moments on the piece of agricultural land that she purchased nearly a decade ago and eventually named Wonderfarm. 

Collectively, the images tell a story of life, death and resilience on a small farm – but  some viewers may find some of the images in the video uncomfortable or even emotionally upsetting. Our decision to include them was the result of many discussions that touch on long-standing debates in newsrooms about when it is justified to publish or showcase disquieting images related to death, injury or violence. 

Some of the questions raised in these discussions don’t have simple answers. For instance, Bennet wonders whether our desire to outsource meat production to others —  and hide the bloody parts of that business — contributes to the characterization of these photos as being in poor taste or emotionally disturbing.

We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of the issues and questions raised in this reporting.

As for the LFPA program’s future, Wisconsin producers hope to see funding restored in the yet-to-be-debated federal Farm Bill. 

Video: life, death and resilience at Wonderfarm is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Click here to read highlights from the story

• The Trump administration has frozen $715 million in previously appropriated adult education funds nationwide, including $7 million in Wisconsin. 

• That’s left program staff scrambling to figure out how they’ll continue providing free services that prepare people for the workforce, such as helping people learn English and educating people in prisons and jails. 

• Education leaders say the cuts could kneecap efforts to grow Wisconsin’s thin workforce.

• Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined a coalition that is suing the federal government over a freeze he calls “unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary.”

On a recent Wednesday evening, a handful of adults sat around a table in a classroom at Madison College’s Goodman South Campus. They chatted about the week, their plans for the weekend and, finally, the day’s discussion question: Are human rights universal? 

The Literacy Network’s “Transitions” class is designed as a final step for immigrants with advanced English skills, preparing them for college or careers. Students spend a year learning to set goals, write resumes and interview for jobs. On this day, the lesson was about finding reliable sources for their next big assignment: a college-style oral presentation on a historical human rights struggle.

The Madison-based adult education nonprofit has surpassed many of its goals in recent years, with particularly high enrollment in Transitions. It scored a $72,000 annual federal grant to grow the program from 100 to 150 students.

But in June, the organization learned the money wasn’t coming.  

On June 30, the Trump administration said it was withholding the nearly $7 million Wisconsin was previously set to receive for adult education — threatening programs that help adults complete high school, learn English and improve their literacy skills, among other services. 

If the funding isn’t distributed, the shortfall could shrink remedial programs in a state where around 340,000 adults don’t have a high school diploma, Wisconsin providers warn.

“Reducing funding from programs that have been proven to be effective — and impact not just individuals but whole communities — is really short-sighted,” said Literacy Network executive director Robin Ryan.

The administration has frozen $715 million in adult education funds nationwide, its largest blow to community college program funding to date. It’s part of $6.8 billion in total federal education funding frozen while the administration ensures “taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities,” a U.S. Department of Education memo said. 

While the majority of funding on hold is for K-12 education, federal dollars make up a greater share of the adult education budgets. That’s left staff scrambling to figure out how they’ll continue to provide their free services, which range from helping people learn English to educating those incarcerated in prisons and jails. 

Sixteen technical colleges and seven community organizations in Wisconsin have received federal funding through a competitive process for adult education and literacy programs. More than 17,000 people attended these institutions for services during the 2023-24 school year, many of whom are people of color or are from low-income backgrounds.

“To me, that’s something that we should be doubling down on and tripling down on, not cutting funding,” said Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield.

Wisconsin leaders are fighting to get the promised funds. On Monday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, joined 23 other states in suing the Trump administration, calling the freeze “unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary.” 

“The Wisconsin Technical College System Board has already begun canceling professional development activities, and staff layoffs may soon follow, further disrupting services,” Kaul said in a statement. “This sudden funding loss leaves Wisconsin’s technical colleges facing budget shortfalls that threaten the stability of these essential programs.” 

Trump officials allege ‘dismal’ results

Funding fears began swirling in the adult education community months ago. In early May, President Donald Trump sent Congress a fiscal year 2026 budget outline that called for the elimination of grants under the Adult Education Family Literacy Act, asserting the funding produces “dismal” results. Organizations braced for the possibility of not receiving federal funding beyond the next year. 

“K-12 outcomes will improve as education returns to the states, which would make remedial education for adults less necessary,” the administration’s discretionary funding request read. “The budget redirects resources to programs that more directly prepare students for meaningful careers.”

The shock came two months later, when Trump’s administration withheld the money adult education providers had budgeted for the upcoming year — funding already approved under the Biden administration. 

Ryan of the Literacy Network felt déjà vu when she heard the news.

The Trump administration in April informed her it was canceling a different previously approved grant: $74,000 to help prepare students with green cards to take the U.S. citizenship test. 

“It used to be you would always fight for the next budget, the next grant, but once you got a grant, you knew you had it,” Ryan said. “Since this administration started …we’re in a new climate.”

Monday’s lawsuit argues Trump officials are violating the law in refusing to spend the money. The administration has not indicated whether it will eventually release the frozen funds. 

Ryan isn’t holding her breath, and she’s preparing for the worst. 

Adult education departments at technical colleges receive most of the adult education dollars allocated to Wisconsin. They are being  “extra tight” with their budgets, said Peter Snyder, associate dean of adult education at Moraine Park Technical College. Snyder expects community organizations — like Literacy Network — to feel the impacts of cuts even more because more of their work centers on adult education. 

“With our Technical College System colleges, we’re doing a lot of other work, so for us, it’s more of a matter of managing what we have,” Snyder said. “My heart goes out to those other programs that are doing really great work that are solely reliant on that funding.”

Milwaukee Area Technical College runs the state’s largest adult education program, serving more than 12,000 students between the 2020 and 2022 school years. It’s currently missing $800,000 in promised grant dollars, plus around $500,000 in other funds that were contingent on the federal money.  

“The loss of (this) funding would result in a significant negative impact for supplying the region’s talent pipeline and would negatively affect our students’ economic mobility and career success,” MATC spokesperson Darryll Fortune said in an emailed statement. 

Worsening workforce woes

Education leaders say the cuts could kneecap efforts to grow Wisconsin’s thin workforce.

In the 2023-24 school year, the most recently available data, more than 2,700 Wisconsin adult education students earned a high school equivalency credential, and over 2,500 enrolled in college or workforce training, preparing them for jobs for which they may not have otherwise qualified. 

Literacy Network associate director Jennifer Peterson said programs like the Transitions class are a wise investment. 

Recipients of these federal dollars must test students throughout their studies and report how many achieved at least one of the benchmarks the federal government tracks, which include raising scores by approximately two grade levels, earning a high school equivalency or enrolling in postsecondary education. 

Of the 77 Transitions students tested over the past three years, 71% showed that type of improvement. 

The funding freeze unfolds as Wisconsin employers struggle to find workers qualified for jobs in many key industries. 

“This is definitely not a case of not aligning with the priorities, because the priority is labor, and that’s what this work is doing,” Peterson said. “Wisconsin needs more workers and will continue to need more workers.”

Anna Mykhailova, a cardiologist who fled Ukraine after the 2022 Russian invasion, landed a new job after taking the Transitions class. 

Licensing laws make it complicated for many foreign-trained medical professionals to practice in the United States, so Mykhailova took what she learned in the class and became a phlebotomist — someone trained to draw blood — at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. 

She later moved up to a role as a cardiac sonographer, taking ultrasounds with the skills she’d used as a doctor in Ukraine. Literacy Network, where she still attends tutoring to improve her English, awarded her scholarships to cover the cost of her board certification exams.  

Mykhailova’s husband Sasha Druzhyna, who worked as an anesthesiologist in Ukraine, took the same class. In fall, he’ll start a graduate program at the Milwaukee School of Engineering to become a perfusionist, a specialist who operates a heart-lung machine during open-heart surgery. 

That class won’t expand without the frozen funds, and Literacy Network has already cut some classes. 

Message to public: Please help 

Trump’s move to withhold already-appropriated funding surprised even those who have seen priorities ebb and flow under previous presidents.  

“This has historically, for many decades, been very stable funding that has strong bipartisan support. It has been, up until now, pretty outside of political winds blowing,” Peterson said. “It’s a big change in our field.”

Staff at Neighborhood House of Milwaukee had already found a way to do without these funds before the news came down. The nonprofit offers ESL and citizenship classes for around 150 immigrants each year, many of them refugees from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America. 

The organization previously received a $75,000 annual federal adult education grant, but staff didn’t submit all the necessary paperwork when the latest applications were due, so it wasn’t expecting a fresh round of funding. The organization instead turned to private donors and other grants — a shift others who long depended on federal funding may soon need to make, too. 

Liliane McFarlane, who manages the organization’s International Education program, said the organization raised enough to replace the federal funding for a year. 

The Literacy Network is bracing for the possibility of additional federal cuts. It relies on three other federal grants, with about 15% of its $2.6 million budget coming from Washington.   

“We consider all of that to be endangered,” Ryan said.

For now, Ryan said, the goal is just to keep all programs afloat and hope so the organization can scale up during a future presidential administration.  

“We are hoping that this is a Trump administration duration of difficulty,” she said. “We are very much reaching out to the public and saying, ‘Please help us. These are important, effective programs that affect the whole community and help people thrive.’”

Natalie Yahr and Miranda Dunlap report on pathways to success in Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus.

Trump funding freeze threatens programs that prepare thousands for jobs in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.