Beginning this week, student loan borrowers could receive a notice that the federal government is coming for their paycheck.
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The city of Milwaukee is cracking down on habitual parking violators this year.
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Ryan Martin is known as “The Anger Professor.” In his new book, he offers advice on dealing with a wide range of human emotions. It’s called “Emotion Hacks: 50 Ways to Feel Better Fast.”
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Preliminary findings from researchers show a decline in antibody levels among Wisconsin eaglets with high PFAS levels in their blood, potentially reducing their ability to fight off infections.
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Months after a $1.6 billion data center proposal in Menomonie was halted by its mayor, the city council has passed an ordinance restricting where and how any potential future data centers can be built.
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Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman says his due process rights have been denied during the ongoing fallout of his investigation of the 2020 presidential election.
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Wisconsin health leaders say they are "greatly concerned" about the new vaccine guidelines released Monday by the federal government.
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Ryan Thornton, 37, of Racine reached a plea deal after being charged with threatening Wisconsin Chief Justice Jill Karofsky.
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The return of the sandhill crane to Wisconsin is a conservation success, but now the state needs to manage the population and the crop damage the birds can cause. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)
A Wisconsin Assembly committee held a public hearing Tuesday on a bill that would require the state to hold an annual hunt of sandhill cranes.
The sandhill crane was once nearly extinct and its recovery is seen as a conservation success story. Similar to the return of the wolf, the growth of the sandhill crane population has caused a long running political debate in Wisconsin. For years, Republicans in the Legislature have been pushing for a sandhill crane hunt — arguing the opening of recreational opportunities would benefit the state’s hunting industry and advocating for eating the birds’ meat.
The proposal this session stems from a legislative study committee commissioned last summer which examined how to mitigate damage caused by the birds to the state’s farm fields and the possibility of holding a hunt. Estimates say that each year the birds cause almost $2 million in crop damage, mostly to corn seeds that are eaten before they can sprout.
In the initial version of the bill proposed by the study committee, a number of provisions were included that would have directly addressed the crop damage. If a sandhill crane hunt is authorized, that would allow farmers to access money through an existing Department of Natural Resources damage abatement program, but otherwise all the farm-specific provisions have been removed from the version of the bill now being considered by the Assembly.
If a bird is frequently damaging a farmer’s crops, a depredation permit is obtainable from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however federal law requires that the bird’s carcass not be consumed.
Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc), the bill’s author, said the bill is a “well thought out proposal to relieve farmers and promote new opportunities for hunters.”
But Democrats on the committee and critics of the bill questioned why the specific farmer assistance programs were cut out, how a hunt would affect the crane population and how much establishing a hunt would cost the DNR.
Rep. Vincent Miresse (D-Stevens Point) noted that the Republicans were simultaneously arguing that holding a hunt wouldn’t significantly impact the state’s crane population and that holding a hunt would help mitigate the crop damage caused by the birds.
“If it’s not going to impact the population very much, then how do we protect farmers’ investment in seed and corn sprouts and potatoes and cranberries, if we’re not going to actually impact the population to the benefit of the farmer,” Miresse said.
Taylor Finger, the DNR’s game bird specialist, said in his testimony that opening the existing crop damage abatement program up to sandhill crane damage without adding additional funds to the program would result in “worse outcomes for farmers seeking assistance.”
Republicans on the committee largely questioned the testimony of sandhill crane researchers. Anne Lacy, director of eastern flyway programs at the Baraboo-based International Crane Foundation, said she is concerned about holding a hunt in Wisconsin because it is one of the few places on the continent where sandhill cranes breed.
“I don’t think there is a [population] number that justifies a hunt,” Lacy said. “There are many states that hunt sandhill cranes, and they do it successfully. They’ve been managed for years, including this population. But Wisconsin is a breeding state, so that puts a different spin on a hunting season … So it’s not so much a number. It is how a hunt affects this bird because of its ecology.”
In an extended back and forth in which he raised his voice, Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers) pushed Lacy to say she is supportive of sandhill crane hunts elsewhere.
“All right, so I catch you dodging me, so therefore you do not personally support a hunt in any other state,” Sortwell said.
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“The strong penalties in AB 677 serve as a stern warning and deterrent to bad actors," Rep. Amanda Nedweski said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
A bill that would establish child grooming as a felony crime in Wisconsin received a public hearing Tuesday.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) and Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) introduced the bill late last year after a report from the Capital Times found that there were over 200 investigations into teacher licenses stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct or grooming from 2018 to 2023.
Nedweski spoke about the case of Christian Enwright, a former Kenosha teacher who pleaded guilty last year to over a dozen misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct after he had an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old student, during the Assembly Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing.
“Unfortunately, the Christian Enwright story is all too common. For too long, these cases have been swept under the rug and child victims were put through a lifetime trauma, often knowing that the person who preyed upon them is likely out there doing it to another child,” Nedweski said. “The strong penalties in AB 677 serve as a stern warning and deterrent to bad actors. The bill ensures that adults who exploit positions of trust to manipulate and prey upon children can no longer hide behind misdemeanor charges or technical gaps in state law.”
Under the AB 677, grooming would be defined as “a course of conduct, pattern of behavior, or series of acts with the intention to condition, seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child for the purpose of producing distributing or possessing depictions of the child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
Examples of behavior that would constitute grooming include verbal comments or conversations of a sexual nature directed at a child, inappropriate or sexualized physical contact; communication over text and social media to lure or entice a child; promising gifts, privileges, or special attention to lower a child’s inhibitions or create emotional dependence; and acts intended to isolate a child from family or peers.
While the bill was spurred in part due to cases involving teachers, the bill authors told the Assembly Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that the bill would not just address grooming happening in the school arena.
“It is important to remember that grooming can happen anywhere — grooming can happen anywhere, not just in our schools. This bill is not targeted at schools, but at grooming whenever and wherever it might happen,” James said. “I believe that it will have a strong deterrence effect. Clear criminalization of grooming behavior sends a strong message that predatory conduct will not be tolerated in Wisconsin.”
A person convicted of a grooming charge, under the bill, would be guilty of a Class G felony. The charge would increase to a Class F felony if the person is in a position of trust or authority, and to a Class E felony if the child has a disability and to a Class D felony if the violation involves two or more children. A convicted person would need to register as a sex offender.
During the hearing, Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) said she thinks the bill is important, but expressed some concerns about whether it could result in a “chilling effect” that would discourage people from taking on mentorship roles or interacting with children. She said she wanted to ensure that lawmakers got the definition of grooming correct.
“I think that this is a bill that if we get it right, we are going to protect so many kids and if we get it wrong, we are going to put a lot of people at risk,” Emerson said.
Nedweski said legislators should remember that the bill would be related to a pattern of behavior, not a one-time occurrence, that there would need to be the intention to “entice” a child and it would be up to a prosecutor to decide whether a person’s behavior fits the crime.
“That’s why we work so hard to get the definition as right as we can,” Nedweski said, adding that she and her colleagues have worked with law enforcement and prosecutors to develop the bill and looked at what other states have done. “Nothing is ever going to be 100% perfect, but I think we’re pretty darn close.”
Rich Judge, DPI assistant state superintendent for the division of government and public affairs, registered in favor of the bill on behalf of the agency, though he did not provide testimony. DPI Superintendent Jill Underly has previously said defining grooming is one of the top steps the state can take to work to address the issue.
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A small crowd of far-right activists marched on the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 in a nonviolent protest. They followed the path of the march five years ago, when rioters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidential election win. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — Five years after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, the struggle to define the event and assign blame carried on in events across the city Tuesday that remained nonviolent, though still disturbing.
A crowd of no more than a few hundred of President Donald Trump’s supporters commemorated the deadly attack with a somewhat subdued march from the Ellipse to the Capitol that was in stark contrast to the riot five years ago.
Inside the Capitol, U.S. House Democrats gathered in a small meeting room, apparently unable to secure larger accommodations for an unofficial hearing that largely rehashed the findings of a House committee that spent 2022 investigating the attack.
Trump, meanwhile, addressed House Republicans three miles west at the Kennedy Center. In an hour-plus address, he blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the violence on Jan. 6, 2021 and recommended the GOP lawmakers pass laws to make election fraud more difficult. Trump’s claim that his 2020 election loss was due to fraud sparked the 2021 attack.
“Our elections are crooked as hell,” he said, without citing evidence.
Inside the Capitol, at a morning event that U.S. House Democrats organized and in which Republicans didn’t take part, lawmakers and experts criticized Trump’s pardons of people involved in the 2021 attack, one of his first acts after returning to office last year.
They also decried his continued recasting of the events of the day.
White House officials launched a webpage Tuesday that blamed the attack on Democrats, again including Pelosi, and restated the lie that initiated the attack: The 2020 election that Trump lost was marred by fraud and should not have been certified.
“Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6,” the page reads. “…In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters.”
Pelosi at the hearing on Tuesday condemned Trump’s version of the attack.
“Today, that president who incited that insurrection continues to lie about what happened that day,” the California Democrat said.
Other Democrats and their invited witnesses also described the pardons as signaling that the president accepted — and even encouraged — his supporters to pursue illegal means of keeping him in power.
Brendan Ballou, a former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor who resigned shortly after Trump’s 2025 pardons, told the panel the executive action sent Trump supporters the “clear message” they were above the law.
“The January 6 pardons also fit into a broader narrative of what’s going on with this administration, that if people are sufficiently loyal and willing to support the president, either in words or financially, they will be put beyond the reach of the law,” he added. “It means that quite literally for a certain group of people right now in America, the law does not apply to them.”
Homeland Security Committee ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi led the panel discussion, with Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and several others also sitting in on it.
The first panel of witnesses included Ballou, other experts and Pamela Hemphill, a former Trump supporter from Idaho who traveled to the nation’s capital five years ago to “be part of the mob” in support of the president before becoming an advocate for reckoning with the day’s violence.
An emotional Hemphill, 72 and once known as “MAGA granny,” apologized to U.S. Capitol police officers.
“Once I got away from the MAGA cult and started educating myself about January the 6th, I knew what I did was wrong,” Hemphill told the panel. “I pleaded guilty to my crimes because I did the crime. I received due process and the DOJ was not weaponized against me.
“Accepting that pardon would be lying about what happened on January the 6th,” she added.
She explained her decision to decline Trump’s blanket pardon of offenders convicted of crimes related to the attack, saying it papered over the misdeeds of people involved in the riot. She implored others not to accept revisions of the narrative about what happened in the attack.
Subsequent panels included current and former House members, including two, Republican Adam Kitzinger of Illinois and Democrat Elaine Luria of Virginia, who sat on the committee tasked with investigating the attack.
The crowd of marchers, which included pardoned Jan. 6 attack participants, gathered in the late morning to retrace their path to the U.S. Capitol five years ago.
Organizers billed the march as a memorial event to honor Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by U.S. Capitol Police during the riot in 2021 as she attempted to break into the House Speaker’s lobby.
Far-right activists celebrating the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol marched in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, from the Ellipse to the Capitol. Rioters in 2021 attempted to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election win. (Video by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The crowd of roughly a couple hundred walked from the Ellipse, where Trump spoke to rallygoers in 2021, to just outside the Capitol grounds, where police contained the small crowd on the lawn north of the Reflecting Pool.
Law enforcement officers permitted Babbitt’s mother, Michelle Witthoeft, and a few others to walk closer to the Capitol to lay flowers at roughly 2:44 p.m. Eastern, the time they say Babbitt died.
A group of counterprotesters briefly approached the demonstration, yelling “traitors.” Police quickly formed two lines between the groups, heading off any clashes.
Among the crowd was former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump commuted Tarrio’s sentence upon taking office for his second term.
While looking on at marchers, Tarrio told States Newsroom he was “just supporting.”
“It’s not my event. I’m just trying to help them with organizing and marching people down the street, I guess. But we’re here for one purpose, and that’s to honor the lives of Ashli Babbitt and those who passed away that day.”
When asked if marchers were also honoring the police officers who died in the days and months after the attack, Tarrio said he mourned “any loss of life” but added “I heard some suicides happened. I don’t know. I haven’t really looked into that. I’ve been in prison.”
U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered injuries during the riot, according to the Capitol Police. He died the following day from natural causes, according to the District of Columbia Office of the Medical Examiner.
Four responding police officers died by suicide in the following days and months.
As the march continued, a group of Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers on bicycles stopped Tarrio and asked him to confirm the march route to avoid any “confusion.”
When counterprotesters began to heckle the Jan. 6 attack supporters, Tarrio waved the marchers forward, “C’mon, c’mon, keep moving.”
Jan. 6 rioter Rasha Abual-Ragheb, 45, of New Jersey, addressed the crowd earlier and thanked “Daddy Trump” for her pardon. Abual-Ragheb, who pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating and picketing in the U.S. Capitol, showed off a tattoo on her arm reading “MAGA 1776.”
Willie Connors, 57, of Bayonne, New Jersey, stood on the edge of the crowd with a yellow “J6” flag tied around his neck. Connors said he didn’t enter the Capitol during the 2021 attack, but said he was in the district that day to protest the 2020 presidential election, which he falsely claimed was “robbed” from Trump.
“Donald Trump, I’ll take the bullet for that man. He’s my president,” Connors said.
Multi-colored traditional Greenlandic homes in Nuuk, Greenland, are seen from the water on March 29, 2025 in Nuuk, Greenland. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering options to acquire Greenland, including possible military operations, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, renewing a push for the Danish territory that follows the stunning U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional approval over the weekend.
Trump and his top officials have professed a need for the United States to take Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark that, like the U.S., is a member of NATO.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said in a statement to States Newsroom. “The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.”
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen in a Tuesday statement stressed to President Donald Trump that his country is “not something that can be annexed or taken over simply because someone feels like it.”
Leaders of Denmark and the heads of NATO countries Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom, issued a joint statement in support of Greenland’s sovereignty.
Leavitt’s comments came after the NATO allies’ statement.
Greenland’s government did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment on Leavitt’s Tuesday statement.
The Jan. 3 military operation in Venezuela to capture Maduro and his wife to be brought to face a trial in New York opened fresh doubt about the Trump administration’s foreign policy goals.
Following the operation, Trump held a press conference during which he said other countries could face the same fate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement after senators were briefed by Trump officials Monday saying he could not get a clear answer that officials would not do the same thing to Columbia, Greenland or Iran.
“Are we going to invade a NATO ally like Greenland? Where does this belligerence stop?,” the New York Democrat said.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — U.S. California Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa has died and Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Baird was injured in a car accident, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
Speaking to a meeting of House Republicans at the Kennedy Center, Trump said he wanted to express “our tremendous sorrow” following LaMalfa’s death and said the congressman was “a fierce champion on California water issues.”
“I also want to send our best wishes to Congressman Jim Baird and his wife, who are recovering from a car accident. They’re going to be okay. But they had a pretty bad accident,” Trump said. “And we’re praying they get out of that hospital very quickly. He’s going to be fine. She’s going to be fine. But it was a bad accident.”
The cause of LaMalfa’s death was not immediately clear on Tuesday morning. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement that they received a 911 call on Monday evening from LaMalfa’s house about a medical emergency.
The congressman was taken to Enloe Hospital, where he died during an emergency surgery, according to the sheriff’s office.
“In accordance with standard protocols, the Coroner’s Unit of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation to determine the cause of death,” the statement said. “A forensic pathologist is scheduled to conduct an autopsy as part of this investigation.”
LaMalfa’s death will reduce Republicans’ already slim House majority, making it more complicated for leadership in that chamber to pass legislation that’s not bipartisan.
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation earlier this week, combined with LaMalfa’s death, decreases the GOP majority to 218 seats.
Baird’s absence until he recovers and can vote in person further erodes that to 217. And it could be narrowed even more by GOP lawmakers missing votes for other reasons.
Democrats control 213 House seats, giving Republican leaders next to no margin for defections on partisan bills.
LaMalfa, 65, was first sworn in as a member of Congress in January 2013 and represented California’s 1st Congressional District, which covers a large section of the northeastern corner of the state.
Baird, 80, has been a member of Congress for seven years, representing Indiana’s 4th Congressional District constituents in the central and northwestern parts of the state.
Baird’s office released a statement shortly after Trump’s announcement, saying the congressman “is in the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, and he is extraordinarily grateful for everyone’s prayers during this time.
“Congressman Baird looks forward to continuing his work on behalf of Hoosiers. The Office of Congressman Baird will continue to provide services and support for those who need it. Congressman Baird and his office remain steadfast in their commitment to serving constituents and focused on advocating for Hoosiers at the highest levels of government.”
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., released a statement saying that “Congress is devastated to learn this morning about the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa.”
“Doug was a lifelong resident of northern California and deeply loved its people. He was as fierce of a fighter for his state’s vast natural resources and beauty as we have ever known,” Johnson wrote. “We are mourning the loss of our friend and brother today and we send our respects for his life and work to his wife Jill and the LaMalfa family during this difficult time.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York wrote in a statement that he joined “people across Northern California in mourning the untimely passing of Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
“Doug and I joined the Congress as classmates in 2013, and it was an honor to witness firsthand his passion and personal resolve for more than a decade,” Jeffries wrote.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., released a written statement that he was “devastated to hear of the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa.”
“A fourth generation rice farmer, he fought passionately for the region’s agricultural community and small businesses, and in 2024 was elected Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which focuses on the priorities of Western and rural America,” Scalise wrote. “He also worked to bolster disaster recovery efforts and funding for rural schools.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina wrote in a statement that he was “deeply saddened by the passing of my colleague and close friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa.”
“I cherished our time serving together on the Agriculture Committee and discussing NASCAR; he was a real gearhead and motorsports fan,” Hudson wrote. “I will deeply miss my ‘amigo.’ Renee and I are praying for his beloved wife Jill, as well as Kyle, Allison, Sophia, Natalie, and all his loved ones, friends, and staff during this incredibly difficult time.”
Milwaukee's King Park surrounded by yellow tape after Sam Sharpe, a resident of a temporary encampment there, was shot by Ohio police officers during the 2024 Republican National Convention. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
The Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety on Tuesday held a public hearing on a pair of bills that would require homeless people on the state’s sex offender registry to wear ankle monitors and increase the penalty for selling drugs close to homeless shelters.
Under the first bill, authored by Rep. Dave Maxey (R-New Berlin), people required to sign up for the sex offender registry and unable to provide a permanent address must be placed under GPS monitoring. An estimated 16% of Wisconsin’s homeless population is on the sex offender registry, according to Maxey, who said he wanted to make sure this population was not a blind spot for Department of Corrections monitoring of people on the list.
“This bill is a clear and common-sense public safety measure that applies one uniform standard so every registrant is monitored at the same level, regardless of housing status,” Maxey said. “This is a straightforward way to protect every member of our society.”
A number of Democrats on the committee had concerns about putting the proposal into practice.
Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) wondered if the cost of the monitoring would end up being paid for by the state.
“Most times, the GPS monitoring is paid for by the person who needs to wear it eventually,” Emerson said. “And if they don’t have the resources to afford a home, I don’t know if they’re going to have the resources to pay the state back for this. And is this something that we’re just going to end up incurring extra costs on? I’m trying to balance the cost versus safety factor.”
Rep. Sequanna Taylor (D-Milwaukee) noted that the ankle monitors need to be regularly charged, which might pose a challenge for people without a home.
“When we talk about the GPS, I know even the people that are not in this situation, who may be on it, there are sometimes tweaks or glitches with them, and also the everyday charging, if we’re talking about someone who’s homeless, is not staying anywhere, I guess I’m just trying to see, how can we encompass or ensure that it will be charged, because once it’s not able to be charged and it’s off, are they meant to go report somewhere or is that a process we haven’t thought about yet?”
Another bill heard by the committee Tuesday, authored by Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield), would add homeless shelters to the list of places including schools, government buildings and public parks that are considered drug-free zones. Convictions for selling drugs within these zones carry harsher penalties.
“Drug-related crimes pose a severe threat to community safety, particularly in areas where at-risk populations are located, current law wisely imposes enhanced penalties for distributing illegal drugs within 1,000 feet of sensitive locations like schools and parks, adding up to five years to the maximum sentence,” Donovan said. “These Drug Free Zones deter illegal activity and safeguard those who are most vulnerable. However, homeless shelters are not included in these protections. Many, many homeless individuals face profound challenges, including addiction and mental health issues. Extending these zones is about punishing malicious drug dealers who prey upon the homeless while providing basic security for them as they attempt to reenter society.”
But advocates for addiction treatment and criminal justice reform questioned the wisdom of the proposal.
Dr. Charles Schauberger, an Onalaska resident and president of the Wisconsin Society of Addiction Medicine, said making homeless shelters a drug-free zone could increase police presence around a shelter, which might push homeless drug users away from the area and into more dangerous situations.
“This legislation is not only ineffective in helping homeless people, but potentially worsens the situation,” Schauberger said. “Increasing criminal penalties for substance-related offenses near shelters may lead to increased law enforcement presence around these facilities for people who use substances they may carry, or may even carry a small amount for personal use, which creates a great deal of fear, fear of harassment, fear of incarceration, fear of losing the only safe place they have yet to go.”
He added that when people are afraid to use shelters, “they don’t disappear. They move further into unsafe spaces. They sleep outside. They use substances alone. They disengage from services. They increase risk of overdose. Medical emergencies, deaths make it much harder for clinicians like me to reach them.”
Amanda Merkwae, advocacy director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said that while the proposal has an “admirable goal” it comes with unintended consequences. She said that in the state’s larger, denser cities, so much of the land is covered by various drug-free zones that lots of drug-related activity is punished there more harshly than in rural parts of the state.
“In densely populated urban areas, that radius around each of these integrated locations overlaps to the point where sometimes an entire city can become functionally a drug-free zone,” she said, noting that the city of Milwaukee contains 156 public schools, 101 private schools, 12 multi-unit public housing facilities, four public swimming pools, dozens of youth and community centers, hundreds of child care facilities, six correctional facilities and more than 130 public parks.
“So studies have shown that these zones don’t necessarily track where drug activity is most prevalent, but rather where certain populations are concentrated,” she said. “So we create this kind of two-tiered justice system based on geography rather than the nature of the crime. So residents in cities can face greater exposure to enhanced maximum penalties than those in rural or suburban areas for the exact same conduct.”
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Protesters supporting U.S. President Donald Trump break into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Five years ago today we were transfixed by the surreal spectacle of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The violence and horror of that day was made more bearable when the insurrectionists were arrested and the election results they tried to overturn were certified.
But now they’re back, pardoned by President Donald Trump, released from prison and planning to parade triumphantly today through the streets of Washington, D.C.
Among the people convicted and later pardoned by Trump, at least 33 have been arrested and charged with new crimes, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Their alleged continuing criminal behaviors include rape, illegal possession of weapons, firing on police officers, and, in the case of Chrisopher Moynihan, threatening to murder House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Some of the most violent offenders are back behind bars. But the most powerful proponents of the Big Lie, including Trump himself, the enablers who staff his administration and the Wisconsin Republicans who hatched the fake electors scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, continue to work to undermine our democracy.
“We must continue to defeat election deniers and the threats they pose,” the Wisconsin-based progressive firm Law Forward declares on its website, in a section devoted to a timeline of the fake electors scheme. Law Forward brought the first class-action lawsuit against the fake electors, and forced the release of documents, text messages and other evidence showing how the plot unfolded, starting in Wisconsin. They present the timeline “as a call to action for every American to see how close our democracy came to toppling and how the freedom to vote must continue to be protected, not taken for granted.”
For a few years it seemed as though we had dispelled the nightmare of Jan. 6. But the lawless, emboldened second Trump administration has dragged us back to that scary, dangerous time.
The brave work of people like Jeff Mandell, founder of Law Forward, and the other lawyers, judges and investigators who continue to struggle against the agents of authoritarianism trying to destroy American democracy is still making a difference.
Last month, Dane County Judge John Hyland found probable cause to continue the trial of Wisconsin attorney James Troupis and Trump campaign aide Mike Roman, charged with felony forgery by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul in connection with the fake electors scheme. Hyland rejected Troupis’ desperate effort to scuttle the case by claiming another judge had a personal bias against him.
Wisconsin attorney Ken Cheseboro, the originator of the fake electors plot, is also facing felony charges.
As Trump and his gang openly defy the U.S. Constitution, pursue baseless, vindictive prosecutions of their political enemies, launch military actions without the consent of Congress, threaten to seize other countries and use their positions to enrich themselves while destroying the public welfare, it feels as through that dark moment on Jan. 6 when American democracy was under physical attack was just the beginning.
But as Mandell told me last year, a few months after Trump took office, “I think building a stronger, more resilient democracy in Wisconsin is its own form of resistance.”
“When things feel most shocking and unstable at the federal level,” at the state and local level, Mandell said, “we can show our institutions still work and provide some reassurance.”
We need that reassurance today more than ever.
“We are slow to realize that democracy is a life and involves continual struggle,” said Robert M. La Follette, the great governor and senator from Wisconsin and founder of the Progressive movement. I’m grateful for the Wisconsinites today who, like La Follette, are committed to that life and willing to continue the struggle.
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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
The U.S. Postal Service adopted a rule effective Dec. 24 clarifying that some mail is not postmarked when it is first received – at a post office, for example – but rather on a later date, during processing.
The rule doesn’t change practices, but instead is “intended to improve public understanding of postmarks and their relationship to the date of mailing.”
Postmarking can affect whether local officials accept election ballots.
Fourteen states, including Illinois, accept a mailed ballot if it is received after Election Day, as long as it is postmarked on or before Election Day.
Thirty-six states, including Wisconsin, require absentee ballots, including those cast by mail, to be received by the local election office by Election Day. They aren’t affected by the rule change.
Manual postmarks can be requested at post offices.
The postal service has been reducing operations, increasing postmarking delays, the Brookings think tank reported.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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Local experts say – and national data supports – that winter brings a broad set of safety risks, including risks that disproportionately affect older adults and young children.
Dangers include hypothermia and frostbite, falls inside and outside the home and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Here are more details about those dangers and how to prevent or minimize them.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports that falls are one of the most common reasons for emergency medical service responses statewide.
In 2024, emergency medical personnel in Wisconsin responded to more than 140,000 fall-related calls, accounting for about 21% of all 911-related ambulance runs statewide, according to DHS data.
Older adults are disproportionately affected.
According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults face a higher risk of falling due to chronic medical conditions that can limit circulation, balance or mobility, including arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
Children also face a higher risk of falls, which are the leading cause of nonfatal injuries for all children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Milwaukee Health Department urges residents to prepare for icy conditions as temperatures fall and to clear snow and ice from walkways to help prevent falls.
The National Institute on Aging recommends using ice melt products or sand on walkways, using railings on stairs and walkways, avoiding shoveling snow yourself when possible and wearing rubber-soled, low-heeled footwear.
Christine Westrich, emergency response planning director for the Milwaukee Health Department, said social isolation adds another layer of risk for older adults.
“Either their friends or relatives have passed away, and they have over time socially isolated themselves,” Westrich said.
The onset of hearing loss and dementia are risk factors for increased isolation, she added.
Age can affect how the body handles cold exposure.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , older adults with inadequate clothing, heating or food and babies in cold conditions are among the groups at highest risk of hypothermia.
This winter, there have already been roughly 10 fatalities where cold temperatures may have played a factor, said Michael Simley, a medicolegal death investigator manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Extreme temperatures can also worsen existing medical emergencies, Simley added.
A heart attack, for example, is serious under any circumstances, he said. But, he added, it becomes even more dangerous when it happens in a hostile environment like when it is very cold.
With colder temperatures comes increased use of furnaces and other heating systems – and with that, a higher risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Increased use of appliances and other items that burn fuels and other chemicals, such as furnaces, portable generators, stoves and chimneys, helps account for the higher risk, according to the CDC.
Carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible, and symptoms such as headache, dizziness and nausea may be overlooked or mistaken for other illnesses.
“We’ve recently had two outbreaks with families of four (members) or greater,” Westrich said. “In one case, they didn’t have working heat and brought a charcoal grill inside. … In another, it was a malfunctioning furnace.”
In both situations, she said, there were no working carbon monoxide detectors.
DHS says carbon monoxide detectors should be installed on every level of the home.
Renters should be especially vigilant, Westrich said.
“Oftentimes, what might get overlooked in the lease, it’ll say the renter is responsible for the battery replacement in those devices,” she said. “Sometimes tenants aren’t aware of that, or it’s hanging high in the ceiling – you forget it’s even there.”
The Milwaukee Health Department maintains cold weather guidance with general information and tips.
For non-emergencies that are not crimes, the Milwaukee Police Department says residents have a number of options, a spokesperson for the department said in an email.
Residents can request a welfare check by calling 414-933-4444.
People seeking shelter, warming centers or other basic needs can call 211.
Those experiencing emotional distress or mental health struggles can call or text 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Westrich and Simley both emphasized the same core message about being mindful of the people in your community.
“Check on your neighbors,” Westrich said.
As temperatures drop, here is where you can find shelter from the cold and free winter gear
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Winter can be dangerous for older adults and children. Here’s how to stay safe 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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