When an Alabama clinic’s only OB-GYN left the state to provide abortion care in Colorado, the head of operations thought the facility would have to close. 

But Robin Marty, executive director at WAWC Healthcare in Tuscaloosa, hired a doctor in August who she called a “unicorn” — someone who’s from Alabama and, after training outside of the state, returned home to practice medicine. 

Marty said Alabama’s near-total abortion ban could cause physicians to practice elsewhere after they finish their residencies. 

“Doctors don’t want to worry about surveillance, potential arrests and other legal issues,” she said. 

A study published this month found that applications to medical residency programs in states with abortion restrictions have declined compared to states where abortion remained mostly legal. The findings are an “early signal” that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision nearly four years ago overturning federal abortion rights protections may exacerbate health care shortages, said lead author Dr. Anisha Ganguly.

A majority of doctors end up practicing medicine in states where they trained. Obstetrician and gynecology training programs typically take four years to complete, so the full scope of how abortion restrictions affect where physicians work after they complete their residencies remains to be seen. 

Still, experts said the findings could spell trouble for the future of the reproductive health care workforce in states with abortion restrictions, some of which are already plagued with maternity care deserts. 

Doctors say bans limit training, standards of care

OB-GYNs affiliated with Physicians for Reproductive Health who either trained or work in states with abortion bans told States Newsroom that restrictions after the Supreme Court decision hamstrung their ability to offer reproductive care and affected the education of medical residents. 

Dr. Neha Ali grew up in Texas and trained there, too. But by the end of her OB-GYN residency’s second year, the state enacted SB 8, a six-week abortion ban that allowed residents in the state to sue providers or anyone who helped someone terminate a pregnancy. After the Dobbs decision in June 2022, a near-total abortion ban took effect in Texas.

“I knew I wanted to be an abortion provider before I started OB-GYN residency, and I chose to be in Texas for my residency training because I wanted to experience what that’s like in a state with barriers. But ultimately, the barriers became too large,” Ali said. 

After she finished residency in 2024, Ali moved to Colorado, a state with strong abortion-rights protections, where she practices complex family planning.

Ali said she talks to medical students about her experience training in Texas, where she was not able to perform any dilation and evacuations — a second-trimester abortion procedure — during residency. 

“I do think it’s very valuable to see what it’s like to be in a restrictive state and understand what that is like to be a provider there, but that doesn’t sell people on a residency for four years,” she said.

OB-GYN Dr. Louis Monnig trained in Kentucky before the state banned abortion. 

“Making it difficult or putting up barriers to that training just limits the abilities of any doctor who provides reproductive care to have opportunities to get exposure and experience, and just get better at what they’re doing,” he said. 

Monnig completed his residency in June 2023 and moved back to his home state of Louisiana because of his connections to the region and its health care disparities. “It felt like it was worth it to come back,” he said. 

In October 2024, a Louisiana law classifying mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances took effect. 

“It made me lose faith that lawmakers were doing any of these things to actually protect patients or patient safety,” he said. 

The medications are used not only for abortions, but miscarriages and other conditions, too. The law has sowed confusion among health care providers and led some to practice emergency drills to access the drugs during obstetric emergencies, Louisiana Illuminator reported. Monnig said the law has “changed some of the day-to-day operational workflow for patient care,” especially for situations where misoprostol is used, such as labor induction and postpartum hemorrhaging. 

Patients have faced issues when trying to get prescriptions filled: Pharmacists have called Monnig’s office to make sure a patient wasn’t having an abortion after he prescribed misoprostol for conditions such as cervical stenosis — when it’s difficult to insert a medical instrument in the cervical canal.

Drop in applications to ban states’ residency programs

Out of more than 22 million applications to 4,315 residency programs across the U.S., 67% were submitted to programs in states without abortion restrictions between 2018 and 2023, the new research showed. Thirty-three percent went to programs in states with restrictions. 

Fewer women than men applied to train in states with abortion restrictions before the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion ruling, according to the study, and that disparity widened after more than a dozen states enacted abortion bans. The number of men applying to residency programs in states with abortion restrictions — mostly in the South and the Midwest — also decreased significantly. 

“When there’s a decreased level of interest in these states, it suggests to us that there’s an evolving health care workforce shortage in these states,” said Ganguly, an internal medicine physician and an assistant professor at University of North Carolina’s Division of General Medicine and Epidemiology. 

Many states with abortion bans — Idaho, Iowa, Georgia and Missouri, for example — are also facing labor and delivery unit closures, particularly in rural areas where hospitals struggle with provider recruitment. Health officials in these states listed improvements to maternal health as a priority in their applications to the federal Rural Health Care Transformation Program, but solutions will take years to implement. 

Shortages affect more than one specialty. Ganguly said OB-GYNs have historically offered the bulk of abortion-related care in the U.S., but it’s increasingly important in emergency medicine, family medicine and internal medicine. Primary care providers and emergency medicine doctors often diagnose pregnancy complications such as miscarriages, and internists help women who have chronic disease manage and plan for pregnancy. 

Dr. Hector Chapa, an OB-GYN who teaches obstetrics and gynecology at Texas A&M University and is a member of the American Association of Pro–Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, took issue with the study’s approach. 

“It’s essential to understand that this study is not specific to OB‑GYN residency programs, and by grouping OB‑GYN with family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine, the study assumes that all specialties are affected equally, despite their very different levels of involvement in abortion. This broad grouping risks introducing bias into the results,” he said in a statement. 

Ganguly said her team did examine applications to OB-GYN residency programs in isolation to affirm findings of a decline among applicants in abortion-restricted states. Looking at other specialties, too, was meant to provide clarity about how bans affect the health care workforce more broadly.

OB-GYN education and the maternal health care workforce 

The latest study adds to a body of research examining how the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion in 2022 affected training after medical school, particularly for those specializing in reproductive health care. 

In the 2023-2024 application cycle, the number of applicants to training programs in states with abortion bans decreased by 4.2% compared to the previous cycle, while there was less than a 1% decrease in applications to residency programs in states where abortion is legal, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. 

In some states, abortion bans have definitively led to an exodus of OB-GYNs and maternal fetal medicine specialists. Idaho lost 35% of its doctors who provide obstetrics between August 2022 and December 2024, according to a study published in July. 

Having reproductive health providers flee states with abortion bans is “devastating,” according to Pamela Merritt, the executive director of Medical Students for Choice. 

“It’s a public health disaster that we’re going to see the consequences of decades to come,” she said. 

Merritt’s organization has chapters at several medical schools in states with abortion bans. She said students are not getting adequate training, and some are even discouraged from discussing abortion. 

In February, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center canceled a Medical Students for Choice chapter’s talk with an OB-GYN who wrote a book about providing abortion care later in pregnancy. School officials told The Texas Tribune hosting the event on campus was not in the university’s best interests.   

“Everybody who graduates from medical school in Texas should know that there’s this thing called third-trimester abortion, that when the life of the mother is at risk, you legally can provide this care,” Merritt said. 

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation last year clarifying that doctors can offer pregnant women abortions during medical emergencies. The Texas Medical Board released guidelines for the abortion law this year, nearly half a decade after the state banned most abortions and at least four Texans died after being denied prompt abortion care, ProPublica reported. 

Program helps residents in restrictive states get abortion care training 

“Every single physician, nurse and health care provider needs to be educated about abortion care,” said Dr. Jody Steinauer, an OB-GYN and the director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of Southern California in San Francisco. “This is a huge crisis in OB-GYN specifically: All OB-GYNs must have the competence and the skill to safely empty the uterus. Even if the individual is personally uncomfortable providing abortion care, they have to be able to empty the uterus to save someone’s life in an emergency.”

Steinauer leads the Ryan Residency Training Program, which works with OB-GYN residencies across the country to ensure comprehensive abortion and family planning rotations. Nearly a dozen states lack Ryan programs, and most of them have near-total abortion bans. 

She said residencies in states with abortion bans are struggling to make sure their students have the skills to provide abortion: “We’re at risk of having a whole generation of OB-GYN graduates who are not skilled to provide the care they need to provide.” 

To remedy this issue, the Ryan Program has helped to establish 20 partnerships with schools in abortion-restrictive states to train OB-GYN medical residents in states with reproductive rights protections. 

Steinauer said the rotations are between two to four weeks and complicated to plan, but they help doctors learn procedural skills, how to manage medication abortions and counseling. 

The rotations also help OB-GYNs navigate pain management during obstetric procedures, communicate effectively with abortion patients and familiarize themselves with ultrasounds, she said. These skills are important for providing the full spectrum of reproductive health care, from inserting IUDs to treating miscarriages, the doctor said. 

“It’s such a refreshing experience for them to be working in a state without a ban, and they get to see abortion as normal health care,” she said. 

Mukta Joshi is an investigative reporter at Mississippi Today. She is spending a year as a New York Times Local Investigations fellow examining immigration and criminal justice issues. She can be reached at mukta.joshi@nytimes.com.

The Adams County Correctional Center, one of more than 200 ICE detention facilities in the U.S., is located near the city of Natchez on a sprawling 14-acre site in southwestern Mississippi.

The facility, which holds more than 2,000 people, is a significant economic driver in a county of fewer than 30,000 residents. CoreCivic employs approximately 400 people there, making it one of the largest employers in Adams County. Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said CoreCivic is the county’s single largest taxpayer.

The federal government sets strict limits on who can visit Immigration and Custom Enforcement detention centers. And nearly all of them are run by for-profit companies, making the details of their operation private and difficult to monitor. 

So far, this is what we know.

Who owns it?

The Adams facility is privately owned and operated by CoreCivic Inc., a publicly traded company based in Tennessee. 

One of the largest private prison companies in the country, it disclosed in its most recent financial filings that it owns or controls about 57% of all privately owned prison beds in the U.S. 

The company, which reported $2.2 billion in revenue last year, has benefited financially from the Trump administration’s push to arrest immigrants. From 2024 to 2025, revenue increased by nearly $200 million thanks largely to an increase in ICE detentions, according to the company’s latest annual report.

Over the past few years, CoreCivic, its employees and PACs have poured millions of dollars into political donations and lobbying. In the 2024 election cycle, 84% of these donations went to Republican candidates. In the same cycle, CoreCivic spent more than $1.7 million lobbying, according to OpenSecrets. The previous year, it spent more than $1.6 million.

The Adams County facility is one of two ICE facilities operated by CoreCivic in the state. A second CoreCivic facility in Tutwiler, in northern Mississippi, was authorized last year to start housing ICE detainees.

What kinds of people are detained there? 

The Adams facility is a men’s facility. Most of its detainees are not from Mississippi. They were picked up by ICE agents somewhere else and are being held here until they decide to leave the country, or until an immigration judge deports them or sets them free.

Being in the U.S. without proper documentation is a civil infraction, like a speeding ticket – not a criminal violation. This fact has contributed to controversy about prison-like conditions that people detained by ICE are experiencing.

Only 9% of people in the Adams center have any sort of criminal conviction. But even those with criminal records are being held for civil immigration infractions, not as punishment. 

In addition to men, the facility currently houses a small number of transgender women. Following President Trump’s 2025 executive order, transgender people are required to be incarcerated in facilities that align with their gender assigned at birth, regardless of their legal status.

How long are detainees held?

In early 2025, then-warden Jason Streeval was quoted by the Natchez Democrat as saying that the average stay in the facility was about 60 days but had been getting longer. He told the newspaper that some detainees had been there for as long as seven months. 

Has the facility ever been the subject of controversy? 

The Adams facility made headlines in 2012, when an inmate protest against poor conditions snowballed into a riot that resulted in the killing of a guard. The FBI opened an investigation, leading to a number of inmates being charged and ultimately sentenced for participating in the riot. In the wake of the riot, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson called for an investigation into CoreCivic, then operating as Corrections Corporation of America.

One section of the facility, known as the “Zulu” unit, contains solitary confinement cells, where detainees are housed as punishment. In 2020, two nonprofit groups submitted a written complaint to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security alleging that immigrants from Cameroon had been tortured by ICE officers in that ward and forced to sign deportation documents. A year later, the complaint was still unresolved, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. A representative for ICE did not respond to an inquiry about the current status of the complaint.

In 2021, an inspection by DHS found that Adams generally had provided sufficient medical care but identified one case in which the medical unit examined a sick detainee but did not send the person to the hospital. The detainee died. 

DHS also found that Adams didn’t meet other federal standards. Among the cited failures: It did not respond to grievances in a timely manner, it inadequately implemented COVID-19 safety protocols and it failed to assist vulnerable detainees. The ACLU called for the facility to be shut down.

What’s life like inside? 

The facility is divided into units, each holding about 140 people who share eight toilets and 15 showers, according to detainees interviewed by Mississippi Today. While inside, detainees can work if they choose, helping to clean, run the kitchen or do laundry. Several people held at the center said they were paid about $3.50 per day for their work.

Detainees are generally restricted to their own unit, where they can move about freely. One detainee said he was allowed to visit a secure outdoor area once every four or five days.

Several detainees described harsh conditions, but said that they had spent time in other facilities that were far dirtier and more restrictive. 

We don’t know much beyond that, especially about what the detention center looks like inside. A detainee who can afford the fees can send messages and make video calls from inside. They can’t send photos or attachments. And the communication app blurs their background and obscures the video completely if the camera is aimed away from the detainee’s face during a call.

How much does it cost to run? 

The contract to run this facility, like most other ICE detention centers, is an “Intragovernmental Service Agreement” between ICE, CoreCivic and Adams County. The 2019 agreement shows that ICE had agreed to pay a $3.9 million monthly flat rate for the facility, an amount set to increase every year. There have since been changes to this contract, but they were not immediately accessible. 

When we requested an interview with the warden and assistant warden, a spokesperson for CoreCivic redirected us to the company’s public affairs office and requested us to send our questions in writing. 

Over the next few months, we plan to publish weekly dispatches about the facility and about ICE detention in Mississippi and do our best to address these unanswered questions. You’ll be able to find my reporting on the Mississippi Today website, on our social media channels and in our Friday newsletter. And you can follow me on X @mukta_jo.

In the meantime, please fill out our survey. If you know something about the detention center, if you know someone who works there or is detained there, or want me to find out something about it for readers, please get in touch.

Clarification 3/27/26: This story has been updated to clarify the types of detainees held in the Adams County Correctional Center.

Several hundred Madison-area Christians gathered at the state Capitol Sunday for the Palm Sunday Path, a faith-based rebuke to the administration and actions of President Donald Trump.

 The procession was organized as a form of resistance to authoritarianism that organizers say Trump has embraced in the White House. 

“We believe that now is not the time for the followers of Jesus to be silent,” the Rev. Will Massey, associate pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison, said in a video posted on Facebook about the Palm Sunday Path by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, which sponsored the program in Madison and in other communities across the state.

“Anchored in the Matthew 25 call to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and welcome the stranger, we follow Jesus to the seat of power to witness to Christ’s reign of justice, peace, and shared belonging,” the council states on its website. “Grounded in worship and open to all who long to follow Jesus in the work of healing the world, this gathering proclaims Christ’s power of love, solidarity, compassion, and peace.”

Participants came from congregational, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and other Christian traditions. Many carried green palm tree fronds, evoking the story told in the Christian Bible of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem the week before his death and being greeted by shouts of praise and appeals for deliverance from his followers as they waved palm tree branches.

In a sermon before the group started their walk around the Capitol, Rev. David Hart of Sherman Avenue United Methodist Church told the participants that Jesus during his lifetime paid attention to and identified with the outcasts of society — the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and those ignored by the ruling powers of Rome, who occupied Israel 2,000 years ago.

In the procession that followed, the group walked all four sides of the Capitol Square, singing on their way, led by musician Sarah Burgess.

The event took place a day after the No Kings protests that mobilized millions of people across the country in opposition to Trump, and leaders and participants of the Palm Sunday Path echoed many of the same sentiments — defending immigrants, calling for the respect for human rights and lifting up marginalized groups.

But some put a different twist on the No Kings message, nodding to the common Christian expression that identifies Jesus as the King for Christian believers.

That was reflected on signs such as one carried by a person in the procession that referred to the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, verse 35: “Our king says: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

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Protesters took to the streets in cities and rural communities Saturday to rally against President Donald Trump’s policies in the third No Kings demonstration since the Republican’s return to office last year.

Organizers said there were more than 3,000 events across the nation expected to draw millions. It came one month after the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran began. The war was among many issues that demonstrators said brought them out, also citing aggressive ICE actions toward immigrants, the rising cost-of-living and attacks on the constitution, and civil and voting rights.

Here is a look at some of the rallies from across the nation.

(The Center Square) – Only 10 U.S. senators voted against the bipartisan housing bill that restricts large institutional investors from buying up single family homes and requires investors to sell build-to-rent homes within seven years.

Along Highway 45 and County Road E, 191 acres is being added to the Upper Wisconsin River Legacy Forest, established in 2015 with 1,042 acres of forestland southeast of Land O’Lakes along the Wisconsin River.

The post Upper Wisconsin River Legacy Forest expands in Vilas County appeared first on WPR.

A Wisconsin university is using augmented reality to show staff from meat processing plants and farmers what it's like to look through the eyes of livestock.

The post ‘Cow vision’ goggles let farmers see the world on 4 hooves — and may improve animal welfare appeared first on WPR.

The Bayfield County board will take up agreements where Canadian energy firm Enbridge would reimburse law enforcement for services tied to its controversial Line 5 reroute in northern Wisconsin. 

The post Constitutional rights, finances at stake in reimbursement deals tied to Enbridge’s Line 5 appeared first on WPR.

More than 10,000 march to Wisconsin State Capitol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 — Baylor Spears

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Isiah Holmes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Henry Redman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Members are also engaging in voter education.

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

— Erik Gunn

 

In Green Bay, protesters mourn Alex Pretti

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

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

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

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

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

— Andrew Kennard

Large crowds gather in two small communities of northwest Wisconsin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Frank Zufall

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In under two weeks, voters will head to the polls to select a new Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. The winner will likely play a role in how voters cast ballots for the subsequent decade.

That’s because the Wisconsin Supreme Court plays a key role in settling voting disputes, particularly when state government is divided between a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled Legislature.

In the past few years, the court has issued a series of high-stakes rulings on election administration — banning and then unbanning ballot drop boxes, ordering new legislative maps, limiting who can bring voting-related lawsuits, and allowing the state’s top election official to remain in her role.

While the Wisconsin Supreme Court race is officially nonpartisan, candidates have become increasingly willing to embrace partisan views and often campaign on their records as liberals or conservatives. In this race, Appeals Court judges Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor are squaring off. Taylor is a former Democratic member in the state Assembly, while Lazar is a member of the conservative Federalist Society. 

Although there are exceptions, justices’ votes on election cases often align with their ideological backgrounds.

Unlike the past two Wisconsin Supreme Court races, though, this contest won’t determine ideological control of the court. Liberals already hold a 4-3 majority, and the outcome will either preserve the liberal majority or expand it to 5-2 by replacing retiring conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley. As a result, the race has drawn significantly less attention and spending than the last two contests, which decided the court’s ideological balance.

Even so, the winning candidate in that person’s upcoming 10-year term is likely to weigh in on a range of voting battles currently playing out in lower courts. Those may include cases over whether voters with disabilities can cast electronic ballots, the legality of Wisconsin’s membership in the multistate Electronic Registration Information Center, a demand for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to audit the citizenship of registered voters, and whether voters can spoil a ballot that they’ve already returned and cast a new one.

Critically, the winning justice will also be a member of the court for the 2028 presidential election, when voting disputes often intensify and escalate to court challenges. 

“There’s a lot of importance just because of the length of the term,” said UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden, who noted that the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the past 10 years has weighed in on absentee voting rules, the legality of postponing elections because of the pandemic and President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 

Because Wisconsin is a consistent battleground state, Burden said, the court becomes a frequent venue for efforts to change election rules for national races. Some of those potential lawsuits may be hard to predict, he added, because developments in technology and AI in campaigns over the next decade may require new rules or changes to current laws.

Although liberals have a firm hold on the court now, Burden said, they shouldn’t take that for granted. Ten years ago, conservatives had a clear court majority, so much so that liberals didn’t even field a candidate in the 2017 race. Now, liberals have a hold on the court and could extend it with a win. 

With Wisconsin politics frequently switching from one side of the aisle to the other, he said, this election may be pivotal for the balance of power down the road.

Candidates’ pasts reveal stark contrast on elections

The candidates’ records — from their rulings, prior public-facing jobs and campaign positions — reveal sharp divides in how they each approach election law.

For example, as an assistant attorney general for the state under GOP Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, Lazar defended Wisconsin’s voter ID law and Republican-drawn legislative maps, which critics have described as among the most gerrymandered in the country.

Taylor took the opposite stances on both issues. During her time in the Legislature, she called for repealing the voter ID law, which has since been enshrined in the Wisconsin Constitution. She also derided the Republican redistricting effort as a means to do “whatever it takes to amass and protect their power.”

More recently, Lazar was involved in an unusual case in which two state appeals courts issued conflicting opinions on the same election issue: In November 2023, one court found that a conservative group wasn’t entitled to obtain information related to people deemed by judges to be incapable of voting. The next month, Lazar joined the majority in a second court that reached the opposite conclusion — despite a Wisconsin Supreme Court precedent stating that only the high court can overturn appellate decisions.

That case is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Both candidates have also played pivotal roles in more recent election rulings.

In one case involving absentee ballots, Taylor wrote the majority opinion rejecting the Legislature’s argument that an absentee voter’s address must include a street number, name and municipality. Instead, she adopted a more lenient standard for an address, requiring voters to provide enough information for a clerk to reasonably identify where a voter lives.

In a separate case, Lazar joined a panel rejecting a lower court opinion that voters with disabilities should be allowed to have electronic ballots sent to them electronically. 

Cases on the Wisconsin Supreme Court horizon

Only a small fraction of cases heard in circuit and appeals courts ultimately come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The high court issued just 23 opinions in its 2024-25 term, and it’s hard to predict which cases will be taken up. At present, only one election law case is currently before the court.

That number may remain low following a 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling restricting who can file lawsuits over election rules and policies. Writing for the majority, liberal Justice Jill Karofsky said people must be personally “aggrieved” to bring election lawsuits. 

In dissent, outgoing conservative justice Bradley wrote that the majority’s ruling “guts the People’s right of access to the courts in election law matters.”

Among the issues likely to reach the court in coming years are challenges to the state’s congressional boundaries, which liberals are trying to redraw ahead of the typical 10-year cycle. One such case is currently slated for a jury trial before a three-judge panel in April 2027.

The court could also be asked to decide whether election officials can be sued for failing to count votes, a central issue in the ongoing lawsuit over whether Madison should be forced to pay out millions for disenfranchising nearly 200 voters whose ballots were misplaced in the 2024 presidential election .

Ultimately, the most consequential case the next justice could face may come in 2028, the next presidential election year. In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court narrowly halted Trump’s attempt to throw out enough Democratic votes to change the outcome of the race. The 2024 election wasn’t extensively litigated in Wisconsin courts, but the potential for court challenges remains in future presidential contests.

Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat’s free national newsletter here.

Wisconsin Supreme Court race pivotal for future election policy 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.

Protestors across Wisconsin are pushing back against what they describe as growing authoritarianism from President Donald Trump.

The post Thousands turn out for third round of No Kings protests in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.

WASHINGTON — Large crowds took to the streets Saturday in the nation’s capital for the third No Kings protest, rallying with others across the United States against what organizers say is an unprecedented expansion of power by President Donald Trump.

Thousands of people carrying signs and playing music began the day at Memorial Circle below Arlington National Cemetery. Crowds exiting the cemetery Metro stop clogged exit gates as they flowed toward Arlington Memorial Bridge into the district.

A dense crowd already was packed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool by late Saturday morning. Hundreds moved to the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol by late afternoon for a separate Remove the Regime rally, where numerous speakers, including former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, urged Congress to impeach the president. Dunn, who is running for Congress in Maryland in 2026, was on duty during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

No Kings day in Washington, D.C. (Video by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

No Kings day national organizers anticipated more than 3,000 demonstrations across the United States, in every congressional district, and worldwide marches were organized on six continents, according to Logan Keith, a No Kings day organizer and national communications coordinator for the advocacy group 50501. Organizers said Saturday night at least 8 million people participated  

No notable instances of violence or conflict with counter-protesters were reported by late Saturday afternoon, though a bomb threat at the Hawaii Capitol disrupted the Honolulu rally, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The previous national No Kings demonstration in October drew millions of Americans to the streets, and Saturday’s protests were expected to as well. States Newsroom’s live blog from Saturday includes reports and photos from across the nation.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the nation’s flagship event, tens of thousands were gathering around the state Capitol, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Streets were clogged, buses packed and parking scarce well more than a mile away as throngs — dressed in layers and carrying homemade signs with messages like “No War” and “1776” — streamed toward the Capitol.

Headliners and speakers were expected, such as Bruce Springsteen — who will sing his new song “Streets of Minneapolis” — as well as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Jane Fonda, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and more.

In the months since the previous No Kings rallies, the Trump administration sent thousands of federal agents into Minneapolis, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, on Jan. 7. 

Just over two weeks later, Customs and Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, also 37 and a U.S. citizen. 

Robin Eller, who is from Minneapolis but was protesting in New York City, said it was necessary for her to be part of the demonstration.

“We’ve seen two of our neighbors shot and killed for no reason other than trying to do what’s right for other humans in our community,’’ she said. “So we just feel like whenever we have the chance to be part of, numbers that help bring accountability, that’s what we want to do.’’

In recent months, many high-profile violent encounters between federal law enforcement and the public circulated widely on social media and in news reports. One notable video captured ICE agents violently pulling Bangladeshi American Aliyah Rahman from her vehicle as she told the officers she was disabled, according to her testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill in February. 

Other high-profile arrests have occurred across the country, including in Nashville, Tennessee, where ICE agents arrested the 35-year-old journalist, Estefany Rodriguez Florez, despite her pending asylum application. Florez and her husband, a U.S. citizen, had just dropped their 7-year-old child at school before the arrest. 

Bigger crowds 

Crowds at the Washington, D.C., No Kings march noticeably were larger compared to October’s march. Rallygoers carried signs protesting Trump’s mass deportation campaign, increases in health care costs and the administration’s heavy redactions of the Epstein files.

A speaker rallying the crowd at the Virginia side of the Arlington Memorial Bridge urged participants to vote in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

“Let’s get our march on, let’s fight,” he said.

Across the country, messages against Trump’s monthlong war in Iran also featured prominently. The president launched joint operations with Israel on Feb. 28 that has since spread across the Middle East and caused an oil shortage crisis worldwide. 

So far 13 American service members have died, and more than 300 have been injured, including 15 wounded Friday after an attack on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.

In the Washington, D.C. march, Robyn Abshire Sims, 52, of Virginia, carried a sign reading “Impeach. Remove. Convict. 25th Amendment Now.”

“I am here to be in solidarity with the masses. They have no idea how many of us there are,” she said. “Donald Trump needs to be removed, right now.”

Ezra Bermudaz, who is in his 40s and lives in northern Virginia, said the administration is “unprofessional” and that it is alienating Americans from their government.

“A real good politician, make us feel like we’re part of it. Right now, it feels like we’re not part of it,” he said. “…  I don’t activate, I’m not a protester, but it really does suck.”

David Landolfi attended the D.C. march dressed in his U.S. Marine fatigues bearing his name. The retired veteran of 26 years deployed with the 2nd Marine Division to Vietnam at the end of the war, and later to Lebanon.

“I wanted all the other people here to know that I was in the military, and the military do support a lot of things that I’m supporting today,” said Landolfi, 72, of Annapolis, Maryland.

“Most military men and women are not in support of war. And that was a promise that (Trump) made, that we wouldn’t be in any more wars. And, well, that’s not happening,” he said.

IN THE CITIES

Beyond the district, protests in other big cities drew large crowds Saturday.

In Chicago, Saturday’s demonstration was larger than previous rounds, which were responses to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic-led cities. Some first-time protesters Saturday said they were motivated by the war in Iran, rising prices and persistent unaffordability, and the current government shutdown that hamstrung airline employees and travelers. 

Many people blamed Trump for their feelings of anxiety and a sense of the country backsliding.

“Never in my 70 years did I think I would still be out here fighting for basic human rights. Or that I’d be fighting to not be ruled by a king,” said Valerie Butler-Newbern, 70.

In New York City, crowds packed Times Square.

Giuseppe Palazzolo said he is a former MAGA supporter who became disillusioned with the Trump administration because of the war with Iran. He said he thinks that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars and not what the American public wants. The Staten Island man said Trump broke campaign promises that he would not start wars and would bring peace to the Middle East.

 

The White House released a statement ahead of Saturday’s rally criticizing the event and the media. President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. According to the traveling press, he visited his golf club nearby but made no public statements.

“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in the written statement to media Friday.

IN THE STATES

Minnesota

The Twin Cities rally that included A-list performers was expected to draw 100,000, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

The Minnesota event was a nationwide focus after the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Minnesota was the site of a plethora of documented violations of civil and constitutional rights, including the deaths of Good and Pretti.

Arkansas

In more rural, Republican-leaning areas, the demonstrations gave some protesters a sense of community.

“It feels almost unreal when you live in a community that is so red, and then you see everyone come together like this,” first-time protester Nadia Washburn of Stuttgart, Arkansas, told the Arkansas Advocate. “It makes you feel like your feelings are valid.”

Michigan

Democratic elected officials took part in several events, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Detroit. Her emotionally charged speech criticized not only the actions of Trump and ICE but also Democrats who have not done enough to protect the community, the Michigan Advance reported.

Indiana

A rally at the Indiana Capitol attracted lifelong Democrats, former Republicans and independent voters who are disaffected with the two-party system in general and Trump in particular, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.

Tennessee

In Nashville, which was the center of an ICE operation last year, several organizers spoke and mostly delivered strong messages against the immigration enforcement agency, the Tennessee Lookout reported.

Kansas

A demonstration in the Kansas City suburbs of Johnson County stretched 6 miles down a thoroughfare, the Kansas Reflector reported.

Pennsylvania

In addition to massive rallies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dozens of smaller demonstrations took place across the commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.

Several hundred Pennsylvanians gathered in Reading, where ICE is planning to establish a 1,500-bed detention facility.

Nebraska

Many protesters in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, held anti-Trump signs or American flags, while others wore costumes, the Nebraska Examiner reported. Volunteers from different groups gathered signatures for ballot initiatives and at least one candidate.

New Hampshire

Crowds across the Granite State protested the administration and the war in Iran, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.

Janet Adams, a former middle school science teacher from Woodstock, New Hampshire, said she attended her first rally Saturday because of concern for the young people in her life. At 74, she was frustrated with what she saw as a lack of progress, and cited the Iran war and “hate” in national politics as part of what made her concerned for the futures of her 10 grandchildren.

Iowa

Thousands of Iowans gathered at the state Capitol, protesting against Trump and Iowa Republicans for issues like the war in Iran, ICE action and discrimination against transgender Americans, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.

Maine

Many attendees at the Portland, Maine, protest expressed anger at Trump’s ongoing war on Iran, and his deportation efforts — which became much more real for many in Maine during a weeks-long surge in January — as well as the lack of action from Congress to deter him, the Maine Morning Star reported.

South Dakota

About 200 people showed up in South Dakota’s capital city of Pierre, one of a dozen rallies in the small, Republican-led state, including places such as Aberdeen, Vermillion and even White River, a town of just over 500 people, South Dakota Searchlight reported.

Idaho

Many speakers at the protest in Boise localized their frustrations with the Republican-dominated state Legislature over the latest in a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and years of not changing the state’s strict abortion ban, even as doctors have left the state, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

North Carolina

Opposition to the Trump administration’s use of military force in Iran and Venezuela and threats against Cuba and Greenland dominated the protest, which lasted around three hours and blocked off traffic in downtown Durham, North Carolina, for much of the morning, NC Newsline reported.

West Virginia

A sea of protesters holding signs and American flags filled the space in front of the state Capitol in Charleston. They lined both sides of the street and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.” Some drivers honked their support as they passed by, West Virginia Watch reported. 

Illinois

A month after the death of prominent Chicagoan and civil right leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, a rainbow coalition of protesters — angered by the Trump administration’s policies and actions — flooded into Chicago’s Grant Park.

Kathy Tholin, chair of Indivisible Chicago, a progressive group that has been one of the chief organizers of the Chicago events, said the energy at the demonstrations needs to translate to votes at the midterms.

“The midterms are not just critically important to sending a message to those in power. But it’s one of the ways that we can actually get something done,” Tholin said. “We’re all building to that and voters are seeing that. There’s an election going on almost every month, and those elections show that people are coming out and tuning in.”

But not everyone who was in Grant Park Saturday is at odds with the Trump administration. Paul Chavez of Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he is a proud lifelong Democrat who “no matter what” he supports the president.

Chavez, a 57-year-old TSA employee, said people should unite around the unpaid airport workers at jam-packed hubs across the country. Funding TSA is the most nonpartisan thing that people can advocate for at the rallies, he said.

South Carolina

At the top of protesters’ minds in Columbia, South Carolina, were the war in Iran, the files released detailing the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges, and voting rights, especially with the proposal of the SAVE Act, which would create photo ID requirements nationwide for voters to prove they’re citizens, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore, who is being sued by the Trump administration for refusing to turn over the state’s voter rolls, defended that move to a crowd of about 20,000 in Providence, the Rhode Island Current reported.

Oregon

An estimated 30,000 people — down from the 40,000 who turned out in Portland for the second No Kings protest in October — were in downtown Portland on Saturday. More protests, not affiliated with No Kings, were expected later in the evening near the ICE facility south of downtown, the Oregon Capital Chronicle  reported.

Florida

No Kings marches attracted crowds even in conservative areas of the Sunshine State, the Florida Phoenix reported. The crowds appeared in cities with strong military presences like Pensacola and Jacksonville, and even deep-red Polk County, where Trump won by 21 points in the 2024 presidential election, saw an enthusiastic crowd of at least 2,000 people at Freedom Park in downtown Lakeland.

Montana 

Following weeks of uncertainty as to whether the state would allow another large No Kings rally on the Montana Capitol steps, more than 1,000 people stood on the lawn as they protested what they said is creeping authoritarianism in the United States, the Daily Montanan reported. Event organizers scrambled as the state Department of Administration went back-and-forth on a blanket ban of weekend events at the Capitol that was eventually nixed after pressure from legislators and the public.

Alabama

Many protesters in cities and towns throughout Alabama cited Trump’s immigration policies and ICE’s detaining and deporting large numbers of people, the Alabama Reflector reported. Others expressed concerns about cuts to social safety net programs that were codified under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed last year. The legislation imposed about $186 billion in funding cuts over the next decade to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program meant to aid people by providing food.

Washington

Many of the thousands gathered in Olympia, Washington, waved signs touting a number of criticisms against the Trump administration: unlawful immigration enforcement, the war with Iran, the president’s appearance in the Epstein files, the death of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration agents and anti-trans legislation, the Washington State Standard reported. 

Fewer than 100 gathered at a counterprotest against Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson and a new income tax on those who earn more than $1 million.

New York

Smokey Sims of the Bronx said the protest “proves that America is tired of Trump’s stuff.”

Palazzolo, the former MAGA supporter from Staten Island, who became disillusioned with the Trump administration because of the war with Iran, said Trump had had gotten the country “knee-deep in this illegal war.”

He hasn’t found the congressional approval,” he said. “We’re further from peace and closer to catastrophe than ever before. I feel so betrayed.”

New Jersey

Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill appeared briefly at a rally in Princeton, N.J., the New Jersey Monitor reported. Trump’s immigration crackdown was top of mind for many protesters, with Saturday’s demonstrations coming just three days after Sherrill signed three new laws to strengthen protections for immigrants in the state and six weeks after she limited immigration enforcement operations on state property.

Kentucky

Jefferson County, Kentucky, Clerk David Yates, a Democrat who in March intervened in a federal lawsuit in hopes of blocking the U.S. Department of Justice from gaining access to Kentuckians’ sensitive voter data, told a Louisville crowd: “I will not be bullied; I will not be intimidated,” the Kentucky Lantern reported. 

Stateline reporters Robbie Sequeira and Shalina Chatlani contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — A host of celebrities outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday kicked off a weekend of protest against President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power and his administration’s pressure on freedom of expression — from theater programming in the nation’s capital, to late-night television.

More than a dozen activist performers and creators rallied for Artists United for Our Freedoms, an event organized by the advocacy group Committee for the First Amendment. 

Anti-Vietnam War movement icons Jane Fonda and Joan Baez, actors Billy Porter and Sam Waterson, musicians Maggie Rogers, Crys Matthews and Kristy Lee, and authors Ann Patchett and Bess Kalb were among the lineup who delivered performances and speeches. 

The speakers focused on what they called Trump’s hostility to First Amendment principles, including his Federal Communications Commission pressuring stations to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air. The speakers also said the administration pressured CBS to take Stephen Colbert’s show off the air as a condition for approving a merger related to Paramount, CBS’ parent company. 

Under Trump, the Defense Department also booted reporters it considered unfriendly out of the Pentagon’s media workspace. And the administration is fighting The Associated Press in court over  White House access after the news organization declined to use Trump’s preferred Gulf of America name for the Gulf of Mexico. 

No Kings preview

The event came one day ahead of the third No Kings day, a nationwide protest movement that last drew millions of Americans to the streets in October to rally against a lengthy list of Trump’s actions since beginning his second term.

Fonda, one of the leading members of the Committee for the First Amendment, encouraged the crowd to attend Saturday’s demonstrations.

“Tomorrow we’re gonna see a great example of community building — the No Kings protests. Don’t just go, bring five people,” Fonda said.

The actor and activist revived the committee in late 2025 along with hundreds of artists. Her actor father, Henry Fonda, created the organization during the notorious “Red Scare” in the U.S. during the late 1940s and into 1950s. 

At the time, Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy led a campaign to smear actors, musicians and other public figures based on their political leanings, launching numerous false allegations of Communism.

At Thursday’s event, notable moments included Baez and Rogers performing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and Porter delivering a dramatic reading of artist and athlete Paul Roberson’s 1956 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

“It’s time to break your silence and stand tall against authoritarianism that is taking a hold and consolidating very fast. We know that when fear strikes, silence spreads, and we cannot let that happen,” Fonda said.

“While the war in Iran is not a focus of the Committee for the First Amendment, I want to say that the First Amendment suffers greatly in times of war as the government works to crush internal dissent,” Fonda added, alluding to the war Trump launched in conjunction with Israel just over one month ago.

Kennedy Center cuts

The two-time Academy Award winner also called out to Kennedy Center employees in the crowd who learned Friday of layoffs. The Washington Post first reported the cultural center shedding employees ahead of its two-year closure for renovations.

The legendary performing arts center, now bearing the name of Trump on its facade, will close for renovations on July 4, the president announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, in February. 

Trump installed himself as chair of the Kennedy Center board shortly after taking office again in 2025.

Country musician and Alabama native Kristy Lee told the crowd she withdrew from performing at the Kennedy Center.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was looking forward to the opportunity. But playing at that center after what happened would cost me my integrity, and that’s worth more than any paycheck,” Lee said.

Media mergers

Several speakers decried the administration’s support for massive media mergers, including between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, owned by David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and a major Republican Party donor who worked with Trump to gain a large stake in TikTok.

Paramount-Skydance is now on track to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, which currently owns CNN and HBO.

“The Trump regime has sought to quash dissent and demonize the vulnerable, to consolidate the media into the hands of friendly oligarchs. These moves are right out of the authoritarian playbook,” said Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of Free Press, a media watchdog advocacy group.

Logan Keith, a No Kings day organizer and national communications coordinator for the advocacy group 50501, told the crowd “We show up, we speak out, we refuse to be silent.”

“We will gather in the millions in cities, towns large and small. … We will declare in one unified voice ‘America has no kings.’”

In response to the rally, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “President Trump is in the process of making the Trump-Kennedy Center the finest performing arts facility in the world for all Americans to enjoy. No one cares what Jane Fonda has to say. Her awful acting has traumatized people enough.”

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Small businesses that paid President Donald Trump’s tariffs have been largely left to fend for themselves as they navigate the administration’s refund system.

In Washington, the lawmakers calling for small businesses to be first in line to receive their share of the $166 billion paid in tariffs say that, for the most part, their hands are tied.

“I’m fighting for that to happen, but most of it’s going to end up playing out in court, but it really matters to our small businesses in particular,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

Baldwin said she met with the owners of a local textile company that laid off staff to afford tariffs on imported fabric — and now they wonder if they’ll get their money back.

In Wisconsin, importers paid $3.5 billion in tariffs from March to December 2025, according to the small business coalition We Pay The Tariffs. More than a dozen Wisconsin companies, including Milwaukee Tool and Kohl’s, have sued the Trump administration for tariff refunds.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is currently updating its duty payment processing system to issue refunds at scale. Officials must review more than 53 million entries filed by importers that include emergency tariff payments.

The development of the CBP system’s new functions to receive, process and refund these duties was mostly complete as of last week, according to court filings.

Once the process is set, it becomes a question of who has the resources and know-how to navigate CBP’s refund system. The Trump administration is requiring business owners to file their own claims.

CBP’s updated system will require importers to file a declaration detailing their payments of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to an affidavit filed in trade court earlier this month.

“It’s incumbent on smaller importers to do what they need to do to get their money,” said Chris Duncan, a former CBP attorney who currently works as a tariffs and customs lawyer.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Small Business Committee, said that puts small businesses at a disadvantage.

“Small businesses do not have teams of legal and financial experts to submit their forms. Small businesses do not have the time to navigate this convoluted system,” Markey said in a call with business owners last week. “Small businesses need their refunds, and they need them now.”

Markey and 19 other Democratic senators sent a letter to CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott on Friday demanding the agency automatically refund IEEPA tariffs through its existing system rather than the updated one.

“There is no principled reason for the Trump administration to conduct the refund process this way,” reads the letter, reviewed by NOTUS. “CBP already has the payment records it needs to issue refunds.”

Markey — along with Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeanne Shaheen — also introduced a bill that would require CBP to issue full tariff refunds with interest and prioritize returning money to small businesses.

Without buy-in from Republicans, however, Democratic senators say it will be up to the local communities to pressure the federal government.

“What is going to be most helpful is to create enough pressure in communities, particularly small communities,” Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said.

Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat who represents the Madison area, expressed concern about the “dysfunction” that could arise from companies trying to navigate the intricacies of the CBP’s refund system and answer to consumers who shouldered price increases.

“Bottom line is, we never should have done illegal tariffs to begin with. Congress should have stood up, as Democrats had asked for, for our constitutional authority around tariffs, and now we’re going to wind up creating all kinds of dysfunction for businesses and individuals,” Pocan said.

Following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling striking down his emergency tariffs in February, Trump said he would continue his tariff agenda using alternative legal authorities and imposed a 15% global tariff, which Congress must vote to extend later this year.

Trump allies in Congress say the president’s tariffs, which are unpopular among voters, are short-term pain for the long-term gain of balancing the U.S.’s trade relationships and attracting foreign investment.

Nevertheless, when asked if tariff refunds should be passed on to consumers, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican who represents suburban and rural areas west of Milwaukee, expressed openness to the idea.

“If it’s something that they could actually draw, like a clear line or a bright line. You know, we had a lot of companies where the tariffs had a direct effect on aluminum out of Canada or textiles out of Vietnam, or — you know, it was all part of the manufacturing process,” Fitzgerald said.

“So I’m not sure how that would shake out either, if it was one element of a larger manufacturing versus, like, a straight retailer who was selling some type of consumer goods.”

This story was produced and originally published by Wisconsin Watch and NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.

Lawmakers are worried small businesses will get left behind in Trump’s tariff refund system 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: 5 minutes

A northeast Wisconsin anti-poverty nonprofit plans to close later this year amid serious financial challenges and the loss of a government contract.

For more than 50 years, Newcap has operated in 10 counties. It serves low-income residents and is funded primarily through state and federal grants.

The agency served more than 25,000 people in 2022. Its programs range from employment and job training to educational support, financial coaching, health and food assistance, housing services, home repair and case management, according to an annual report.

Housing advocates say Newcap’s closure could lead to northeast Wisconsin losing more than $2.7 million in federal funding and leave more than 100 households at risk of losing housing.

In a statement, Newcap interim Executive Director Deb Barlament said the organization has faced “significant financial challenges” in recent months and has implemented staffing reductions and other cost-saving measures in response.

“At this time, the organization anticipates closing its doors sometime this year,” Barlament stated. “A more specific timeline will be determined as we work through existing grant obligations and funder requirements.”

Barlament’s statement says the organization hopes to “responsibly wind down operations” and is “actively collaborating with other organizations and funders to help ensure that services continue to be available to the communities we serve.”

It comes after a 2025 financial audit by accounting firm Baker Tilly found the organization had a more than $2 million deficit in 2024. The audit raised “substantial doubt about the Organization’s ability to continue operating,” citing recurring deficits, negative cash flow and reduced liquidity.

The state is conducting “enhanced financial monitoring” of the nonprofit, which includes comprehensive financial and program reviews, as well as reviews of financial documentation.

In a statement, the Wisconsin Department of Administration said the state has been working with Newcap to address its use and repayment of Weatherization Assistance Program funds for the 2025-26 program year. The program provides home weatherization assistance to low-income individuals.

The audit shows that in 2024 Newcap spent about $5.1 million for weatherization programs.

“Approximately 28% and 26% of the Organization’s grants revenue and grants receivable, respectively, were generated by weatherization and emergency furnace programs funded by the Wisconsin Department of Administration,” the audit states.

On March 13, the DOA informed Newcap that it “could not in good faith” renew the nonprofit’s weatherization contract for the next program year “given the current financial situation at Newcap and outstanding funds the agency must repay,” according to the statement.

The statement does not specify why the agency needs to repay the funds, or the specific dollar amount of that repayment.

“Working with our federal partners to administer grant programs requires DOA to assess potential risks of grantees,” the statement read. “Though Newcap has recently taken steps to address overhead costs and operating cash flow, Newcap’s financial viability remains uncertain.”

The Department of Administration says it is working with Wiscap, a statewide network of anti-poverty nonprofits, and other agencies to ensure services continue to be provided in northeast Wisconsin.

Wiscap did not respond to requests for comment about what happens when a Community Action Program, or CAP, agency — like Newcap — closes.

Millions in funding at risk if federal contracts can’t be transferred

Carrie Poser is executive director of the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care, a nonprofit that coordinates housing and supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness across 69 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

She said Newcap administers four U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, which provide support services to 134 households across its 10-county service area, with 84 of those in Brown County.

Poser said local service groups want to take over those federal housing grants. But she said HUD officials in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., have told her they are not processing grant transfers.

That puts the 134 households currently using those programs at risk of losing their housing and becoming homeless, she said.

“We have humans that, for no fault of their own, look at returning to homelessness that we can prevent,” she said. “It’s not because we don’t have agencies. It’s not because we don’t have the ability to do the work.”

If those grants aren’t transferred, she said more than $2.7 million — including more than $1.6 million in federal funding to Brown County — could be permanently lost from the 10 counties Newcap serves.

“It will be harder for those communities to ever get new money in this way again,” Poser said. “It’s just harder to get a grant once you’ve lost one by HUD.”

She said Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care plans to move forward with filing paperwork with the federal government necessary to transfer the grants, but she isn’t sure if the effort will be successful.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did not respond to questions about the potential loss of federal funding to northeast Wisconsin.

Laurie Styron is executive director of CharityWatch, a Chicago-based independent charity watchdog. She said Newcap serves a large geographic area, so its closure is likely to put more strain on other area nonprofits and agencies that provide similar services.

“Help that someone in need may have received from Newcap could become fragmented and require people who are already struggling to seek out services from different agencies, rather than just one,” she said. “The remaining providers in the area could see longer wait lists and reduced quality of care.”

Newcap is also closing three year-round homeless shelters, two in Green Bay and one in Shawano, by March 31, Barlament said via email.

Tara Prahl is chair of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition and director of social services for the nonprofit Ecumenical Partnership for Housing. She said Newcap’s closure, including the loss of two homeless shelters in Green Bay, could have “a significant impact to our community,” especially if the government funding Newcap was receiving doesn’t remain in the area.

“All of our homeless service providers are at capacity,” she said. “This is only going to hit a little bit harder for those that are already feeling this.”

Prahl also said Newcap’s closure makes it more important for the Brown County community to take steps to address homelessness and its housing shortage.

In Shawano, Newcap provided one of only two homeless shelters in the community. Shawano Area Matthew 25, or Sam25, provided the other.

Kendra Brusewitz, executive director of Sam25, said her shelter is only open from mid-October to mid-May as an overnight emergency shelter. She also said Sam25 has often partnered with Newcap.

“They help service the homeless families in our community year-round, so if we were full we could connect with them and get (people) services over there, or vice versa,” Brusewitz said. “Not having that partnership is a concern.”

CEO placed on leave no longer employed by Newcap

Newcap’s announced closure also comes after the organization placed its former CEO Cheryl Detrick on administrative leave in February. 

A Newcap official confirmed via email that Detrick is no longer employed by the organization. Of the 15 CAP agencies in Wisconsin with executive salaries listed in tax filings, Detrick had the highest compensation at $239,641 in 2024.

Detrick was placed on leave amid reports from WLUK-TV alleging the organization misused taxpayer dollars.

Two Democratic Green Bay-area state lawmakers issued statements last month calling for an investigation into the organization’s use of taxpayer funds.

In Barlament’s statement, she said Newcap is aware of “questions regarding accountability for what has occurred” at the nonprofit. She said the organization is “committed to doing everything we can to address the situation and move forward responsibly.”

U.S. Reps. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, and Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, sent a letter on March 12 to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calling for a federal investigation into Newcap.

“Money that should have gone towards helping Wisconsinites find safe and stable housing may have instead padded executive salaries and funded staff outings,” the federal lawmakers wrote. 

Poser said she’s contacted Wied and Steil’s offices for help getting HUD funding transferred from Newcap to different nonprofits but has not received a response. 

She said she’s reached out to the rest of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation for assistance in persuading HUD to allow for the transfers.

“We absolutely need a nonpartisan show of support around this issue,” she said. “Folks in need are in need regardless of what political party they belong to.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Nonprofit closure could cost northeast Wisconsin $2.7M, put 134 households at risk 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: 2 minutes

Changes from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” are forcing states to expand work requirements for those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. 

The law did not rewrite the core work requirements for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Instead, it changed who must meet them. In Wisconsin, the changes could put around 36,000 people at risk of losing their food assistance benefits. 

Policy consultant David Rubel said federal law allows a third option that could make assistance more accessible for those who are at risk of losing benefits.

Work requirements

The age range for adults required to meet work requirements will increase from 18-54 to 18-64. Parents of children age 14 and older will now also need to meet work requirements.

Federal law allows three primary ways for some adults without dependents to continue receiving FoodShare. 

The primary way is employment. People must work at least 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month to keep benefits. 

Another way is training or workforce programs. People can participate in state-approved job training programs for 20 hours a week and keep benefits. 

The third option, Rubel said, can require significantly fewer hours. 

Workfare allows people to work or volunteer in a state-approved program for a number of hours based on the value of that person’s SNAP benefits. 

According to federal law, the number of hours required is calculated by dividing a person’s monthly SNAP benefits by the state minimum wage. So, if someone in Wisconsin, where the minimum wage is $7.25, receives $180 in food stamps, they’d have to work or volunteer only about 25 hours monthly to continue receiving benefits. 

Rubel said SNAP recipients may not realize that option exists.

“If someone thinks they must volunteer 80 hours a month, they may assume they can’t comply,” he said. “But six hours a week is very different.”

Why you should know

While not directly promoted on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website, Elizabeth Goodsitt, a DHS spokesperson, said workfare is available in Wisconsin under the FoodShare Employment and Training (FSET) program.

According to Goodsitt, once a FoodShare member chooses to participate in FSET, a case manager will discuss the situation and background to see if workfare is a good approach for that person. 

“Sites that accept FSET participants for workfare are set up by the FSET vendor and structured to offer members the chance to build their work experience, record and references,” she wrote in an email. “If a member does workfare, their case manager works with them to calculate the number of hours that will meet their work requirement, specifically, based on the amount of FoodShare they receive each month.” 

Wisconsin is one of four states, including Texas, Vermont and South Dakota, that signed a pledge committing to work opportunities for people at risk of losing SNAP benefits. 

Because enforcement has just resumed in many places, states are beginning to notify recipients through recertification letters. Recertification letters are routine notices SNAP participants receive every six months to confirm their eligibility.

But in many states, the public messaging around SNAP work requirements focuses primarily on the 80-hour employment threshold. 

“If people only hear about the 80 hours, they may assume they have no choice,” Rubel said. “People should have all the information so they can make an informed decision.”

SNAP work requirements have changed. Here is a look at options to keep benefits, including volunteering 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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