An Appleton-area judge won’t face criminal charges for jailing a man during a probation hearing over an unrelated financial dispute, but he will resign in February before his term expires, a special prosecutor assigned to the case said Thursday.
Outagamie County Judge Mark McGinnis had jailed cement contractor Tyler Barth in December 2021 over a private money dispute that was not a matter before the court. McGinnis accused Barth of theft, but Barth had not been arrested or charged with a crime. Wisconsin Watch first reported the case in January 2024.
La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case in March 2024, more than a year after the Wisconsin Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation.
“That’s crazy, the fact that nobody’s going to prosecute him for it, that’s insane,” Barth said in an interview Thursday. “If he’s retiring, I guess that’s good, he can’t do that to nobody else,” but “it’s just bullshit, in my opinion.”
Gruenke said several factors led him not to charge: McGinnis had acknowledged through his attorney that he could have handled the matter differently; McGinnis’ decision to retire; and concerns about the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government over charging a judge for a “mistake” made on the bench.
“This isn’t a case to test those parameters, especially since he acknowledged that he should have done it differently,” Gruenke said in an interview.
Read the Wisconsin Watch report detailing allegations of misconduct by Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis.
McGinnis informed Gov. Tony Evers in a letter Wednesday of his retirement effective Feb. 1, which he said would follow his 55th birthday and make him eligible for retirement benefits. McGinnis did not mention the investigation. He said his plans include educating judges in the U.S. and internationally.
McGinnis and his attorney Michelle Jacobs, the former top federal prosecutor in Milwaukee, did not reply immediately to calls and emails requesting comment.
Barth had 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’s spouse 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.
The 32-year-old Fremont resident spent three days in jail before Fond du Lac attorney Kirk Evenson intervened and persuaded McGinnis to release him.
Barth said Thursday he would seek an attorney in hopes of filing a lawsuit.
McGinnis was first elected in 2005, at age 34, and has been re-elected every six years 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.
Wisconsin legal experts said they weren’t aware of any instance in which a sitting Wisconsin judge was charged with a crime for actions taken as a judge.
Experts also had said they did not expect criminal charges against McGinnis, but that a referral to the state Judicial Commission would be possible.
With McGinnis’ announced retirement, it’s unclear if the commission, which could take up the matter on its own, would do so.
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.
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Wisconsin judge will resign, won’t face criminal charges for jailing cement contractor is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A jail lieutenant for a northern Wisconsin sheriff’s office resigned in 2022 after an internal investigation found he sent sexually explicit messages and photos to female subordinates. He now works as a police officer in a neighboring county.
Jeffrey Johnson worked at the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, rising to administrator of the county jail, before he “resigned in lieu of termination,” according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice database that tracks law enforcement officers who leave a position under negative circumstances. Johnson started working for the Minong Police Department in Washburn County a little over a year later, according to the same database.
His resignation came after he admitted to sending “text messages of a sexual nature to a subordinate jail deputy, including pictures of your genitals,” according to a document from the sheriff’s office The Badger Project obtained in a records request. “When confronted about these text messages, you did not deny sending them and noted you could not recall the messages, given you were likely intoxicated when they were sent.”
Sawyer County refused to release the full investigation report to The Badger Project, citing client-attorney privilege, but one of the documents it did release notes that Johnson interacted similarly with “a number of other female deputies.”
Sawyer County Sheriff Doug Mrotek said in an interview that scrutiny on Johnson was greater because he was a leader and oversaw the jail’s staff of about 17 people. But he was not on duty when he sent the messages and the interactions didn’t constitute harassment, Mrotek said.
“We all make mistakes,” Mrotek said. “We all can have a bad day. It’s tough for me not to have a lot of respect for his integrity and character. Now make no mistake, I’m not saying that I condone his wrong action … but he made a mistake. And that mistake cost him his position as a leader.”
Mrotek said if Johnson had been a patrol deputy and not a jail lieutenant at the time, he would probably still be working for the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s a leader-subordinate issue,” Mrotek said. But “he’s not going to make the same mistake twice.”
Johnson used Mrotek as a reference when he applied to his current job, where he works as a patrol officer and not in a supervisory role.
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.
Minong Police Department Chief Lucas Shepard wrote in an email that Johnson was recommended for the position by the command staff at Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
Shepard also said Johnson was unanimously approved for the position at his department by himself and four citizen representatives. The chief and Johnson are Minong’s only full-time police officers.
Shepard said his department’s own background check revealed that the allegations of misconduct against Johnson involved consensual behavior that happened off duty.
“Beyond his resignation from that department, Officer Johnson offered the Minong Police Department years of valuable knowledge, training, and experience in law enforcement,” Shepard wrote. He “exemplifies what community-based policing strives for and if he has one definite characteristic as an officer, it is the care that he has for the people that he is policing.”
The total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin has dropped for years and now sits at a near-record low, according to stats from the state DOJ, as chiefs and sheriffs, especially in rural areas, say they struggle to fill positions in an industry less attractive to people than it once was.
This cop crunch has been a problem for years across the country, experts say.
Statewide, the number of wandering officers, those who were fired or forced out from a previous job in law enforcement, continues to rise. Nearly 400 officers in Wisconsin currently employed were fired or forced out of previous jobs in law enforcement in the state, almost double the amount from 2021. And that doesn’t include officers who were pushed out of law enforcement jobs outside of the state and came to Wisconsin to work.
Despite their work histories, wandering officers can be attractive to hire for law enforcement agencies, as they already have their certification, have experience and can start working immediately.
Law enforcement agencies can look up job applicants in the state DOJ’s database to get more insight into officers’ work history. And a law enacted in 2021 in Wisconsin bans law enforcement agencies from sealing the personnel files and work histories of former officers, previously a common tactic for cops with a black mark on their record.
About 13,400 law enforcement officers are currently employed in Wisconsin, excluding those who primarily work in a corrections facility, according to the state DOJ. Wandering officers make up about 2.5% of the total.
At least one major study published in the Yale Law Journal has found that wandering officers are more likely to receive a complaint for a moral character violation, compared to new officers and veterans who haven’t been fired or forced out from a previous position in law enforcement.
This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.
Ex-Sawyer County jail head who sent lewd texts to female employees is now working at nearby police department 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.
While they may look like something out of a horror flick, disease experts say the virus causing the wart-like growths isn’t a sign of the end times.
The post Rabbits with hornlike growths spotted in northern Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.
Wisconsin has a record-high number of jobs and median wage, but there are signs that the economy is softening and changes in federal policy could negatively affect workers in the coming years.
The post Despite record-high jobs and median wage, federal policy changes could challenge Wisconsin families appeared first on WPR.
Hera Salehi founded the Afghan Student Association to connect Afghan students, celebrate culture and promote education.
The post UW-Madison’s new Afghan Student Association launches this year appeared first on WPR.
Vice President JD Vance praised the sweeping federal budget bill for its potential to improve local manufacturing before a crowd of supporters in La Crosse on Thursday.
The post JD Vance promotes Trump’s signature tax law in visit to key Wisconsin congressional district appeared first on WPR.
The Washington County Board voted to move forward with the sale, despite objections from several community members who have raised questions about the sale price and why the county would sell to buyers who won’t pay taxes.
The post Washington County is selling former UW campus to Christian school appeared first on WPR.
At least 21 people in Oconto County have been infected with measles, raising concerns of a wider outbreak of the highly contagious disease.
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A listener in Madison asked WPR's WHYsconsin project why so many older homes in Wisconsin have an exposed toilet sitting in the unfinished basement.
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Ingredients Directions Place chickpeas and 2 cups broth in a large braiser or saucepan. Scatter garlic, onion, pepper flakes, salt, and zucchini on top and drizzle olive oil over. No […]
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A disturbing incident on an Orleans Parish school bus in Louisiana has left a longtime school bus monitor hospitalized with multiple injuries after she was allegedly attacked by a high school student and the student’s mother, reported News Channel 10.
The incident reportedly occurred Aug. 21 and was caught on video, involving a McDonogh 35 High School student and her mother physically assaulting school bus monitor Tamika Jackson. The footage aired by News Channel 10 indicates the mother striking Jackson and then her daughter joining the violent altercation.
Jackson’s husband, Johnny Jackson told reporters his wife was transported to the emergency room with severe injuries, including bite marks on her face and thumbs, scratches and a deep gash across her face.
“They pulled her hair out. They bit her in her face, on her lips, on her thumbs,” he said.
Images shown by News Channel 10 support his descriptions of the injuries.
According to the article, Johnny Jackson said the confrontation began after his wife instructed the student not to sit in the last two rows of the bus, an area she suspected students had been using inappropriately, potentially to perform lewd acts. The student, who was not identified in this writing, allegedly called her mother, who then boarded the bus at confronted Jackson, resulting in the violent assault.
Despite her injuries and being on duty at the time, Jackson was reportedly issued a Municipal Court summons by the New Orleans Police Department for disturbing the peace.
Her husband expressed outrage, saying, “It’s insane knowing my wife was at work when this happened, and yet she’s being treated like she was part of a fight.”
NOPD has not filed a police report at this time, citing a lack of video evidence. Officers reportedly told the family they are treating the matter as a “routine fight” until the footage is reviewed.
In response to the incident, InspireNOLA Charter Schools, which oversees McDonogh 35, stated it is conducting an active investigation and emphasized that the safety of students and staff is a top priority. Community members and staff have called for a thorough investigation and accountability following the attack.
Related: South Carolina Parent Runs School Bus Off Road After Alleged Child Assault
Related: Virginia School Bus Aide Arrested for Alleged Assault
Related: Arizona School Bus Driver Assaulted, Student’s Mother Charged
Related: Texas Student Accused of Assaulting Officers and Attemping to Start School Bus
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New research published by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Carleton University finds that the U.S. could see an estimated $1.6 billion in societal benefits every year by using electric school buses.
This first-of-its-kind data released Wednesday accounts for the cost of using diesel-burning school buses as compared to using electric school buses, measured by two metrics: Health impacts and climate effects. WRI stated that by “comparing these costs at the local level, the data provides annual societal benefit figures in dollar terms for every county in the contiguous U.S.”
People in every state would experience positive benefits from ESBs, the research suggests, but it would be most pronounced in countries operating the oldest-burning school buses, and in communities with higher proportions of people of color and in countries with larger populations and dense, urban areas.
Still, the research indicates New York, California, Florida and Texas are poised to benefit the most from ESBs. However, nearly every county nationwide stands to benefit by using electric school buses, with the study finding more than $509,000 in average annual benefits per county and some counties seeing more than $30 million in societal benefits each year. Annual benefits vary by county based on school bus fleet size, population density, electricity fuel type mix, and age of the current diesel fleet.
“For years, communities in New York have experienced outsized impacts of diesel pollution,” commented Matt Berlin, CEO of New York City School Bus Umbrella Services. “As this new data from WRI proves, school bus electrification makes sense for New Yorkers. Investing in electric school buses means making the bus ride for kids and bus attendants and drivers on the bus quieter and healthier. Beyond the bus itself, reducing pollution near schools and in the communities where we all live means we all enjoy these benefits.”
WRI stated that the research is among the first to “model and quantify the county-level health and climate impacts of using electric school buses instead of aging diesel-burning school buses.”
When looking at the the factors of population health and climate change, the research notes that about 90 percent of the nearly half-million school buses operating in the U.S. run on diesel fuel and the harmful pollutants in diesel can cause respiratory illness, cognitive impairment and cancer, as recognized by the World Health Organization.
ESBs, however, produce zero tailpipe emissions and have the lowest greenhouse gas footprint of any school bus type at the national level, even when accounting for emissions from the associated electricity generation, the research claims. It examines the effects of diesel-burning school buses in operation, as well as the production and distribution of the fuel used.
The health impacts of diesel-burning school buses were estimated by determining the excess mortality associated with exposure to PM2.5, despite federal regulations over the past 15 years that have reduced diesel emissions by approximately 90 percent. The impacts were calculated into dollar figures based on a sociological metric that reportedly looks at how much society is willing to pay for small reductions to the risk of dying from health conditions that may be caused by environmental pollution. The sociological metric is referred to as the Value of a Statistical Life.
Meanwhile, the climate impacts of diesel-burning school buses were measured by calculating the Social Cost of Carbon, an established metric for the societal damage from extreme heat, sea level rise, food insecurity and other impacts of climate change, from these buses’ carbon dioxide emissions. The study notes that because health impacts were measured only by excess mortality from PM2.5, there are likely more health benefits of electric school buses that aren’t captured in this data, including reduced exposure to ozone pollutants, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide (NOx) and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
Further Studies Needed
A technical note acknowledges several research limitations in addition to only studying excess mortality of PM2.5 and recommends additional environmental analysis and higher resolution modeling in urban areas. The study does not address environmental justice or equity benefits of ESBs and disparities in air pollution based on race, ethnicity or income, the latter which the researchers said could reveal additional ESB benefits for marginalized communities. The research also makes assumptions about brake and tire-wear emissions and relies on “not yet mature” ESB operational parameters and emissions based on data from 2020 that does not account for changes in fleet composition changes, vehicle standards and the electricity grid. Additionally, benefits per ton remain consistent between 2016 and 2020 and “may not fully capture changes in atmospheric composition or emissions.”
Once the costs of diesel school bus impacts were determined, the research calculated the same types of impacts for ESBs, including electricity generation, and compared them to that of diesel to provide a dollar figure from each county.
Brian Zepka, research manager for WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative said the research used a new modeling approach to trace air pollution back to its source, “allowing us to directly attribute which health impacts stem from diesel-burning school buses. While other approaches start with the air pollution source and estimate its impact, this approach, developed in peer-reviewed research funded by the Health Effects Institute, starts with the health impacts, like early deaths from air pollution, and traces that pollution back to its source—in this case, school buses.”
WRI noted the research “uses state-of-the-art models and county-level data to more specifically estimate where electric school buses would provide the most health and climate benefits through reduced emissions. It doesn’t look at the cost to own or operate different types of school buses, instead examining the impact on society from the use of the buses.”
Sue Gander, director of WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative, said the new research shows “undeniably” that ESBs give kids a cleaner ride to school.
“In every region of the country, North, South, East and West, communities stand to see real, significant benefits from the cleaner air and reduced emissions of electric school buses. And as this research demonstrates, everybody wins when kids get to school on a clean ride, to the tune of $1.6 billion dollars every year in health and climate benefits nationwide,” she said. “Given the outsize benefits of electrifying the most polluting diesel-burning school bus fleets, and the concentration of those buses in low income areas and areas with more people of color, this data reinforces the need to ensure that those most impacted by diesel exhaust pollution are among the first to benefit from electric school buses.”
The 10 percent of diesel-burning school buses that are the most polluting are responsible for nearly 50 percent of the total health impacts of diesel-burning school buses nationwide, the research notes. Breaking that down by per-mile health impacts from diesel school buses, while varying, results to under $10 to nearly $4,000 per 1,000 miles driven, depending on the school bus age and operating location.
While the research only focused on PM2.5-related premature mortality as the primary health end point, diesel-burning school buses also emit large amounts of NOx, which contribute to ozone formation and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure—both are linked to asthma, morbidity and additional premature deaths.
The research does not include the additional health effects or impacts of other diesel pollutants. WRI stated the research is likely underestimating the total benefits of electrification. Incorporating NOx-related outcomes in the future could show greater contrasts between diesel and electric.
Related: California Doubles Down on Zero-Emission Vehicles with Renewed Affordability, Adoption Priorities
Related: Safety Concerns of the Electric Grid?
Related: Report Highlights Shift in Federal Policy from EVs to Conventional Fuels
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COPPELL, Texas – Coppell Independent School District (ISD) and Durham School Services celebrated a smooth, successful start to the school year thanks to the outstanding job done by Durham’s team in transporting students to their first day of school safely, on time, and ready to learn. The Durham team transports 7,500 students and runs 64 routes for the school district.
Durham and Coppell ISD have been partners since 2017 and have built a mutually supportive, trusting partnership over the course of the past eight years. Beyond providing transportation services, the Coppell Durham team is also a committed community partner. Throughout the years, the Durham team has participated in the community’s holiday parade as part of its Partners Beyond the Bus community outreach program and is also a member of the Coppell Chamber of Commerce.
Sid Grant, Chief Operations Officer for the Coppell Independent School District, shared, “The first day and week of student transportation provided by Durham School Services was the smoothest and most operationally efficient start-up I have ever witnessed in my twenty plus years of working with student transportation. Durham’s General Manager, Jake Sutton, and his team, did amazing work developing bus routes, routing each student, communicating to parents, and training the drivers in preparation for the first day of school. Their efforts and attention to every detail ensured the safe and successful transportation of 7,500 students.”
“Our team here in Coppell has worked extremely hard to ensure we started the school year successfully,” said Jake Sutton, General Manager, Durham School Services. “I could not be prouder of the office staff, maintenance team, drivers, and monitors for delivering the best start up in decades. Thank you, team, for being the premier team in the business, and thank you to Coppell ISD for recognizing the team’s efforts and being a phenomenal, supportive partner.”
If you’d like to be part of the Durham team in Coppell or another location, we encourage you to search and apply for available opportunities at www.durhamschoolservices.com/career/.
About Durham School Services: As an industry-leading student transportation provider, Durham School Services and its sister brands, Stock Transportation and Petermann Bus, are dedicated to the safety of our students and People. Collectively, for more than 100 years, we have been committed to Excellence and upholding our mission of getting students to school safely, on time, and ready to learn. Through this mission and a grassroots approach to our operations, Durham School Services and its sister brands have earned recognition as a trusted transportation provider among our Customers and the Communities they serve.
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CAMPBELL, Calif. CLEVELAND, Ohio, – ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT), a leading provider of EV charging solutions, together with intelligent power management company Eaton, today announced an ultrafast charging architecture with end-to-end power infrastructure for public charging and fleets. ChargePoint Express Grid, powered by Eaton, is a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capable solution that delivers up to 600kW of power for passenger EVs and can provide megawatt charging for heavy-duty commercial applications.
The innovative integration of ChargePoint’s Express chargers with Eaton’s end-to-end electrical solutions delivers a powerful solution to overcome grid constraints, addressing the challenge of how to cost-effectively scale charging for the growing number of EVs entering service. By leveraging Eaton’s Everything as a Grid approach and integrated V2G capabilities, the system can seamlessly synchronize onsite renewables, energy storage and vehicle batteries with local energy markets to help fleets significantly reduce fueling costs. When deployed at scale with participating utilities, the joint architecture can even help balance the electric grid.
“The new ChargePoint Express architecture, and particularly the Express Grid variant, will take DC fast charging to levels of performance and cost not previously imagined. This latest technological breakthrough further demonstrates our commitment to deliver innovation,” said Rick Wilmer, CEO of ChargePoint. “Combined with Eaton’s end-to-end grid capabilities, ChargePoint is delivering solutions to help EVs win on pure economics, regardless of tax incentives or government support.”
“Accelerating electrification at scale hinges on industry-changing technology from trusted manufacturers that can be deployed faster while achieving new levels of reliability and efficiency at a significantly lower cost,” said Paul Ryan, vice president and general manager of energy transition at Eaton. “Our partnership with ChargePoint is an accelerator for innovation in electrification, with novel technology today and into the future that makes going electric the smart choice.”
Eaton will custom engineer each Express configuration with comprehensive power infrastructure delivered site-ready with the option of a skid-mounted solution to expedite installation, reduce equipment requirements, and simplify connection to the grid and distributed energy resources (DERs). Eaton also plans to commercialize solid-state transformer technology in the next year through its recent acquisition of Resilient Power Systems Inc. to support DC applications in the EV market and beyond.
The ChargePoint Express Grid, powered by Eaton, will debut at the RE+ trade show in Las Vegas in Booth #V8071. Express solutions are available to order for select customers in North America and Europe, with deliveries beginning in the second half of 2026. Learn more here. To learn more about the ChargePoint Express line of EV chargers, please visit https://info.chargepoint.com/dc-architecture.html.
About ChargePoint Holdings, Inc.
ChargePoint has established itself as the leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging innovation since its inception in 2007, long before EVs became widely available. The company provides comprehensive solutions tailored to the entire EV ecosystem, from the grid to the dashboard of the vehicle. The company serves EV drivers, charging station owners, vehicle manufacturers, and similar types of stakeholders. With a commitment to accessibility and reliability, ChargePoint’s extensive portfolio of software, hardware, and services ensures a seamless charging experience for drivers across North America and Europe. ChargePoint empowers every driver in need of charging access, connecting them to over 1.25 million charging ports worldwide. ChargePoint has facilitated the powering of more than 16 billion electric miles, underscoring its dedication to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and electrifying the future of transportation. For further information, please visit the ChargePoint pressroom or the ChargePoint Investor Relations site. For media inquiries, contact the ChargePoint press office.
About Eaton:
Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for people everywhere. We make products for the data center, utility, industrial, commercial, machine building, residential, aerospace and mobility markets. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges and building a more sustainable society for people today and generations to come.
Founded in 1911, Eaton has continuously evolved to meet the changing and expanding needs of our stakeholders. With revenues of nearly $25 billion in 2024, the company serves customers in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
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Detail of a mural inside the Madison Labor Temple building celebrating unions and worker rights. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
“This fight is all of labor’s fight,” Kevin Gundlach, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, declared at a “solidarity dinner” for 43 immigrant workers who recently lost their jobs at a Monroe, Wisconsin cheese factory. “Even Wisconsinites who don’t know about the story, should know in a cheesemaking state we should support cheesemakers.”
The workers, some of whom labored for more than 20 years at W&W Dairy, were told in August they would have to submit to E-Verify screening and confirm their legal status in order to continue their employment after a new company, Kansas-based Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), bought the cheese plant. They walked off the job to protest, hoping DFA, which has a policy of subjecting new hires to E-Verify screening, would exempt them because of their many years of service. The company declined, but asked the workers to return to help train their replacements, one worker said.
The cheese plant employees I spoke with said they were still in shock, worried about supporting their families as they face the loss of pay and benefits at the end of the month.
Workers who pulled long shifts, kept the plant going through the pandemic and took pride in producing high quality, Mexican-style cheeses — queso fresco, queso blanco, quesadilla and panela — now feel betrayed.
Their goal is no longer to return to their old jobs. Instead, they are focused on getting severance pay from W&W Dairy, which is still technically their employer until Sept. 1 — Labor Day — when DFA assumes control of the plant.
On Thursday, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the immigrant workers’ rights group Voces de la Frontera, wrote to W&W president Franz Hofmeister to ask that the dairy show appreciation for its longtime workers by offering them a severance package. A Labor Day picnic organized by community members to support the workers, “would be an excellent opportunity to announce that the workers and the company have resolved their differences and that workers are being given some compensation,” Neumann-Ortiz wrote. “This would give the workers a chance to thank you publicly and provide some healing and closure.”
W&W’s success was propelled by its loyal workforce — fewer than 100 people who knew how to do multiple jobs in the plant and switched roles to keep things running smoothly. The quality of the product attracted a high-profile buyer.
“The growth trajectory for the Hispanic cheese market is more than three times that of the cheese category,” Ken Orf, president of DFA’s Cheese, Taste and Flavors Division, told the trade publication Cheese Reporter, in an article about the benefit to the company of its “strategic acquisition” of W&W, which puts it in a “stronger position for growth with this important dairy category.”
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Hispanic employees of the plant.
Bibiana Gonzalez, a child care provider and community leader in the Monroe area, said she liked the term “essential workers” when she first heard it. The W&W workers felt they were essential to their employer’s success, and put in long hours during the pandemic, when other people were staying home to protect their health. But “unfortunately, people confuse essential workers with workers who can be exploited,” Gonzalez said.
“They want to toss these workers in the street just for being immigrants,” said Voces de la Frontera organizer Pablo Rodriguez.
DFA wants to distance itself from any thorny political issues around immigration. In a statement to WKOW Channel 27 news, the company asserted it had a goal “to retain 100% of the W&W workforce,” but that “as part of the hiring process to become DFA employees, all W&W workers and other applicants were notified of the need to provide documents to complete both an I-9 form and the E-verify process.” Failing to produce the proper documents, unfortunately, would mean “DFA’s ability to offer employment was impacted.”
Using cold, passive bureaucratic language, DFA casts it as a regrettable accident that its E-Verify policy rendered nearly half the cheese plant’s employees ineligible to continue working there. But as a cooperative with 5,000 dairy farm members, it’s impossible DFA leadership is unfamiliar with its industry’s heavy reliance on workers who don’t have papers.
In Wisconsin, where DFA has 399 member farms and four dairy manufacturing plants, an estimated 70% of the dairy workforce is made up of immigrants who cannot get E-Verifiable legal work papers.
In dairy, as in other year-round, nonseasonal industries, immigrants who make up the majority of the work force are ineligible for U.S. work visas. Congress has simply failed to create a visa for year-round jobs in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, food service and other industries that rely on immigrant labor.
Far from being a drag on the economy, immigrant workers who lack legal authorization are heavily recruited by U.S. employers and “supercharge economic growth,” according to a new Center for Migration Studies research brief. The research brief shows that 8.5 million undocumented workers in the U.S. contribute an estimated $96.7 billion annually in federal, state and local taxes, “filling roles vital to critical industries.”
The brief also warns that mass deportations could cause critical workforce shortages. No one knows that better than Wisconsin dairy farmers, who would go out of business overnight if their mostly immigrant workforce was deported.
Union members who came out to support the W&W workers Tuesday night embraced the idea that all workers are in the same boat, are ill served by an authoritarian, bullying Trump administration, and will do better if they band together.
That’s the whole idea of solidarity: Working people need to unite to protect their common interests against the rich and powerful, who will run roughshod over all of us if they can. Expanding on that unifying message, Al Hudson, lay leader of the Union Presbyterian Church in Monroe, whose congregation supports the W&W workers, brought his social justice gospel to the union hall.
“We are proud to be a gathering place for the Green County Hispanic community,” Hudson said of his church. “We’re proud to do our part to be a Matthew 25 church,” he added, referring to the Bible verse in which Jesus calls on the faithful to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the sick and visit those in prison. “This is what churches are supposed to do,” Hudson said. “I admire your courage,” he told the displaced W&W workers, pledging to continue to “walk with you and support you in your struggle as long as you want us there.”
The union members in the hall cheered. They applauded the W&W workers, they applauded speeches about solidarity among working people of every race and ethnic background. They seemed enlivened by the chance to do something to help.
The warm feeling of pulling together to resist the violent bigotry of the anti-immigrant Trump administration, recognizing the common struggle among all working people, was uplifting.
“Solidaridad!” shouted Gundlach, and the mostly gringo crowd of unionists shouted back, “Solidaridad!”
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U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Kennedy's confirmation hearing on Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan leaders of a U.S. Senate committee dealing with health policy expressed alarm with the direction of the country’s top public health agencies after President Donald Trump fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other high-level officials resigned.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy — chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — posted on social media late Wednesday that the “high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee.”
Cassidy separately called on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to indefinitely postpone its September meeting.
“Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting,” Cassidy wrote in a statement. “These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member on the committee, called for a bipartisan investigation into the reasons Trump fired Susan Monarez as CDC director less than a month after she received Senate confirmation.
Sanders said that Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Monarez and the handful of high-ranking CDC officials who resigned this week should be able to testify publicly about what’s happening inside the agency.
“We need leaders at the CDC and HHS who are committed to improving public health and have the courage to stand up for science, not officials who have a history of spreading bogus conspiracy theories and disinformation,” Sanders wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing that Trump had every right to fire Monarez and that he expects to pick a new nominee “very soon.”
“Her lawyers’ statement made it abundantly clear themselves that she was not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again,” Leavitt said. “The secretary asked her to resign. She said she would and then she said she wouldn’t. So the president fired her, which he has every right to do.”
Kennedy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Finance Committee next week, that panel’s chairman, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, announced Thursday.
Kennedy “has placed addressing the underlying causes of chronic diseases at the forefront of this Administration’s health care agenda,” Crapo wrote on X. “I look forward to learning more about @HHSGov’s Make America Healthy Again actions to date and plans moving forward.”
Cassidy was an essential vote to confirm Kennedy as director of HHS, which oversees the CDC, though he expressed concerns throughout that process that Kennedy’s past statements about vaccines weren’t rooted in reputable medical research.
Cassidy said during a floor speech in February after voting to advance Kennedy’s nomination that Kennedy assured him he will protect “the public health benefit of vaccination.”
“If Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, I will use my authority of the Senate committee with oversight of HHS to rebuff any attempt to remove the public’s access to life-saving vaccines without ironclad causational scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific community and before Congress,” Cassidy said at the time. “I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongly sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote.”
Vice President J.D. Vance addresses a crowd at Mid-City Steel in La Crosse on Thursday. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
Vice President J.D. Vance decried what he described as the crime-ridden streets of American cities and Democrats’ alleged efforts to take health care away from U.S. citizens and give it to undocumented immigrants at an event Thursday afternoon at a steel fabrication facility in La Crosse.
At the event, which took place on the bank of the Mississippi River at Mid-City Steel, Vance and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum touted the benefits that Republicans’ budget reconciliation law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will deliver for working class Wisconsinites.
The night before Vance’s visit, Democratic elected officials and candidates for state and federal office mingled with voters at state Sen. Brad Pfaff’s (D-Onalaska) annual corn roast. State Dems came to meet voters at the La Crosse County Fairgrounds in West Salem and to search for a path back to power nationally, trifecta of control of state government and an effective counter to the authoritarian impulses of President Donald Trump.
The back-to-back events highlighted how politically important western Wisconsin is set to become over the next year as attention focuses on the competitive 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, and the open race for governor.
At the fairgrounds on Wednesday, Pfaff’s staff members handed out 350 brats, 150 hot dogs and 500 ears of corn slathered with 13 pounds of butter as a polka band played and candidates for statewide office made their way down long picnic tables with cups of Spotted Cow and Miller Lite, stopping to chat with voters. In attendance were Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is running for governor, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who is running for lieutenant governor, and Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, who is running for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Also in attendance were state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Wisconsin Economic Development Coordinator Missy Hughes, both of whom have been testing the waters as possible gubernatorial candidates.
Pfaff, who ran unsuccessfully against Van Orden for the 3rd District congressional seat in 2022, repeatedly touted the importance of Democrats listening to rural voters and speaking to issues that matter to their lives.
That message played well in front of the group of about 120 attendees who complained that Van Orden does not often face disgruntled constituents. Democrats have frequently highlighted the fact that Van Orden has not held any in-person town halls or debated his Democratic election opponents.
“It’s extremely frustrating. The thing is that we as Democrats, we’ve got a brand that we’ve got to rebuild,” Pfaff said. “And I’m a Democrat. I’m a proud rural Democrat. I was raised with the values of hard work, dedication and resilience. I was raised in the fact that, you know, you need to get up every morning and go to work, and you need to be able to provide for your family and put away for the future. But you need to be able to be part of a community and build a community that is inclusive and welcoming.”
Pfaff added that Van Orden has not been accessible to his voters or answered for his votes on legislation such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“You need to be accessible to your constituents, and when you’re not accessible to your constituents, you’re not serving yourself, and definitely you’re not in touch with the people of the district,” he said. “So it’s very concerning. But … we will have a very competitive congressional race in 2026 and Derek’s gonna have to explain his votes and his actions.”
Rebecca Cooke, who lost to Van Orden in last year’s election and is running again to unseat him next year, said she’s trying to spend this time, about 14 months before the midterm elections, traveling the district and understanding voters’ concerns.
“My campaign has always been really focused around working families and working class people, which I think Senator Pfaff too, we have a very similar thought and understanding, because we talk to people, right?” Cooke said. “Brad hosts open events like this so that he can hear from people directly. And I think that that’s the difference with Van Orden, who brings in J.D. Vance, the big guns, because he can’t deliver the message himself. I think we are of and from western Wisconsin, and so we know how to communicate with people in our community, and we listen to them.”
On Thursday, both Burgum and Vance celebrated Van Orden’s vote on the budget reconciliation bill, inspiring Van Orden to stand from his front row seat and pump his fist. Prior to his vote on the legislation, Van Orden said he wouldn’t support a bill that cut funds from food assistance programs, but ultimately he cast a deciding vote for the legislation that, analysis shows, will boot 90,000 Wisconsinites off food assistance programs and cause 30,000 rural Wisconsinites to lose their health care.
Burgum also said the Trump administration is working to bring steel manufacturing and shipbuilding back to America. But on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin raised the alarm for shipbuilders in Marinette after Trump announced the purchase of ships built in South Korea.
“I am deeply concerned by recent reports that indicate the Trump Administration is looking to have U.S. ships made overseas in South Korea,” Baldwin said in a statement. “We need to see the details of this agreement because at the end of the day, America cannot compromise here – we are already losing to China and we have no time to waste. We must be firm on our commitment to supporting our maritime workforce, keeping our country safe, and revitalizing America’s shipbuilding capacity. I have long fought to strengthen our shipbuilding industry, and it can’t be done with shortcuts or quick fixes. The President must prioritize American workers by investing in our shipbuilding industry here at home and buying American-made ships.”
Despite the massive cuts the reconciliation law is making to federal assistance programs, Vance said that the Democratic Party is lying about its effects, claiming Democrats voted against the bill because they wanted to raise taxes and give health care to people who are in the country without legal authorization.
Vance touted the extension of tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017 during the first Trump administration, saying they will put money back into the pockets of American workers like the ones at Mid-City Steel. He also celebrated Trump’s tariffs calling them a lever to protect American industry.
“What the working families tax cuts did is very simple, ladies and gentlemen, it let you keep more money in your pocket, it rewarded you for building a business, for working at a business right here in the United States of America, it makes it easy for you to take home more of your hard earned pay and it makes it easier if you’re an American manufacturer, an American business, it makes it easier for you to build your facility or expand your facility,” Vance said.
But the cost of the tariffs is being borne by American consumers in the form of higher prices, and the tax cuts have largely gone to benefit the wealthiest Americans.
An analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that 69% of the benefits of the tax cuts will go to the richest 15% of Wisconsinites.
The vice president also painted American cities as crime-infested slums where everyday Americans cannot walk down the street without being accosted by a person “screaming on a street corner.” The Trump administration has deployed the National Guard and Marines in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles in a show of force, and Trump has threatened to send soldiers to fight crime in other Democratic cities — even though the highest crime rates in the country are in Republican-controlled states.
On Thursday Vance said that even though Milwaukee has what he said is a crime problem, the president doesn’t want to send troops in to address it unless he’s asked to by local officials.
“Very simply, we want governors and mayors to ask for the help. The president of the United States is not going out there forcing this on anybody, though we do think we have the legal right to clean up America’s streets if we want to,” Vance said. “What the president of the United States has said is, “Why don’t you invite us in?’”
William Garcia, the chair of the 3rd Congressional District Democratic Party, said that Vance’s visit showed that Republicans are out of touch with western Wisconsin, noting that a speech at a steel fabricator isn’t representative of what actually drives the local economy and delivering that speech to a hand-selected crowd glosses over the pain the Trump administration’s policies are bringing to local communities.
“If you really wanted to talk to people out here, you would talk about agriculture, and you would try and justify why Canadian fertilizer has a massive tariff on it now, so we have to spend so much more money to just grow our own food,” Garcia said. “Then you have to talk about your immigration policies that are preventing our harvest from being picked after they’ve grown. And so that’s why he’s having to narrow the people he’s talking to, to this super small crowd, because by and large, conservative, liberal, whatever, are being hurt by these policies, and he doesn’t want to hear any pushback about that.”
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