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.
Wisconsin does not have any large mountains or mountain chains because the state is in the middle of a tectonic plate and its ancient mountains have eroded.
Mountains typically form near the places where tectonic plates collide, known also as “convergent boundaries.” Around 1.8 billion years ago, state mountain ranges such as the Penokee Mountains were created through these collisions, and they later eroded under moving glaciers.
Some of the highest points in Wisconsin today are Timms Hill, Rib Mountain and Lookout Mountain, which all peak at around 1,950 feet. While the United States Geological Survey does not officially define the term “mountain,” the British define a mountain as taller than 2,000 feet.
Currently, Wisconsin is not located near the edge of the North American plate to which it belongs and thus is unlikely to form a mountain range anytime soon.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Does Wisconsin have any mountains? 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.
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.
Polls do not show that most U.S. adults think violence against leaders is acceptable.
YouGov poll, conducted Sept. 10: 11% said violence can sometimes be justified to achieve political goals; the figure was 24% among very liberal respondents.
PRRI International, August-September 2024: 18% (29% of Republicans) said “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.”
University of Chicago, June 2024: 10% said use of force was justified to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.
University of California, Davis, May-June 2024: 26% said violence was usually or always justified to advance at least one political objective.
The most-Americans claim was made by Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, discussing conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Vos cited Rutgers University poll results published in April: 56% self-identifying as left of center said the murder of Trump would be at least somewhat justified.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Do most Americans say violence against leaders is OK? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A Democratic state lawmaker who is promising to be a “wild card” joined Wisconsin’s open race for governor on Wednesday, saying she will focus on a progressive agenda to benefit the working class.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, who lives in the liberal capital city of Madison, is embracing her outsider status. In addition to serving in the state Assembly, Hong works as a bartender, dishwasher and line cook. As a single mother struggling with finding affordable housing, she said she is uniquely relatable as a candidate.
“I like considering myself the wild card,” Hong said. “Our campaign is going to look at strategies and movement building, making sure we are being creative when it comes to our digital strategies.”
Part of her goal will be to expand the electorate to include voters who haven’t been engaged in past elections, she said.
Hong, 36, joins a field that doesn’t have a clear front-runner. Other announced Democratic candidates including Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and state Sen. Kelda Roys. Additional Democrats are considering getting in, including Attorney General Josh Kaul.
On the Republican side, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and suburban Milwaukee business owner Bill Berrien are the only announced candidates. Other Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, are considering running.
The race to replace Gov. Tony Evers, who is retiring after two terms, is open with no incumbent running for the first time since 2010.
Hong is the most outspoken Democrat to join the field. She is known to use profanity when trying to make a point, especially on social media.
Hong is one of four Democrats in the Wisconsin Assembly who also are members of the Socialist Caucus.
“We’re meeting a moment that requires a movement and not an establishment candidate,” she said.
She promised to make working class people the center of her campaign while embracing progressive policies. That includes backing universal child care, paid leave, lower health care costs, improving wages for in-home health care workers and adequately funding public schools.
Like other Democrats in the race, Hong is highly critical of President Donald Trump’s administration and policies.
“It’s important to refer to the administration not as an administration but authoritarians who aim to increase mass suffering and harm working class families across the state,” Hong said. “A lot of communities are scared for their families, for their communities, how they’re going to continue to make ends meet when they’re worried about health care and salaries.”
Hong was elected to the state Assembly in 2020 and ran unopposed in both 2022 and 2024.
The Democratic primary is 11 months away in August 2026, and the general election will follow in November.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
Democrat Francesca Hong joins Wisconsin governor’s race, promises to be ‘wild card’ 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.
Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services is continuing to recommend that anyone over 6 months old get an updated, annual version of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, the state’s DHS has put out a standing order for the vaccine. State officials say that will ensure that most Wisconsinites are able to get the COVID vaccine at pharmacies across Wisconsin without a prescription.
This year’s Wisconsin DHS guidelines mirror guidance from a broad range of medical experts. And the guidance echoes what state and federal health officials have recommended in recent years.
Wisconsin’s recommendations stand in contrast, however, to recent moves at the federal level.
This year, the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved the new COVID vaccine for Americans ages 65 and older and for people with certain higher risk conditions. At the national level, a panel is set to meet later this week to discuss vaccine recommendations that will be provided to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a vaccine skeptic who has promoted false information about vaccines.
Wisconsin is now one of several states where health officials have moved to take statewide action on vaccines because of worries about how federal actions could impede vaccine access.
“In the past several months, leaders at federal agencies have made policy decisions and issued recommendations that aren’t supported by or directly contradict scientific consensus,” Dr. Ryan Westergaard, a chief medical officer within DHS, said during a news conference.
The latest announcement from Wisconsin’s health department comes a day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order directing the Wisconsin DHS to put out its own COVID vaccine recommendations.
The order also attempts to ensure that Wisconsinites won’t have to pay out of pocket for COVID vaccines. It says that the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance shall “direct all health insurers within their regulatory authority to provide coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine without cost-sharing to all their insureds.”
“Vaccines save lives, folks,” Evers said in a statement accompanying his order. “RFK and the Trump Administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.”
State health officials are recommending that Wisconsinites get their new COVID vaccines to coincide with the fall spike in respiratory diseases. Those shots are recommended even for people who have gotten COVID shots in the past. That’s because the vaccines released in 2025 are designed to hedge against potentially waning immunity and to target newly emerging versions of the virus, Westergaard said.
“The same way that we recommend getting your flu shot booster every year, because the flu that’s going around this year might be slightly different than the flu that was going around last year, we recommend a COVID booster,” he said.
This story was originally published by WPR.
Wisconsin health department continues to urge new COVID-19 vaccine for anyone over 6 months old 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.
Sometimes life hits you with full-circle moments. For me, writing this is one of them.
After eight years away from the Badger State, I returned home this month to start my role as the new state government and politics reporter at Wisconsin Watch. I will be following the major stories inside the Capitol and connecting with key players in and outside of the building to make sure Wisconsinites understand what is happening in their government and how it affects their lives.
This work is important to me because Wisconsin is my home. I grew up in the Milwaukee area and graduated from Marquette University, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Real-world reporting opportunities in college at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service launched my career and taught me the value of community journalism. (NNS is now part of Wisconsin Watch, another full-circle moment.)
I spent my post-college years reporting on local government at the Naples Daily News in southwest Florida and most recently in Indiana at the Indianapolis Star. Over four-and-a-half years in Indianapolis, I covered local, state and federal politics in the Hoosier State, which included stories on Democratic infighting over reproductive care, the dilemma over how far Republicans should go on property tax reform and how the state’s child labor violations rose as lawmakers rolled back existing protections.
One thing never changed during my time away: Wisconsin was always on my mind, and frequently in the national spotlight. (It hasn’t even been six months since the April Supreme Court race set another spending record.) I felt a pull to return home, and Wisconsin Watch gave me that rare opportunity.
I’m thrilled to be back and to contribute to the important journalism my colleagues are doing every day across the state.
In the meantime, you can help me get going in this essential work. Email me at bcarloni@wisconsinwatch.org with your ideas on what to look into, questions about why our government works the way it does and suggestions for who I should meet. You can also subscribe to our weekly politics newsletter, Forward, to stay informed about what’s coming each week at the Capitol.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
When it comes to covering state government and politics, there’s no place like Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
As of July, two dozen Ashland residents had cases pending in federal immigration court. Attending court dates in person would require at least a three-and-a-half-hour trek to Fort Snelling in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Two mosques in Barron owe their existence to a nearby Jennie-O turkey plant, which has employed Somali refugees on its processing line since the 1990s.
And for the first time in five decades, Milwaukee’s Oklahoma Avenue did not host a Mexican independence day parade this September. Instead, a smaller crowd marked the holiday on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Mitchell Park, and a small convoy of pickup trucks flying Mexican flags spent the weekend cruising Milwaukee’s South Side, eliciting friendly honks from supportive fellow drivers.
Immigration is as front-of-mind in Wisconsin as it is across the country. If it’s at the front of your mind, Wisconsin Watch wants to hear from you.
Are you an immigrant yourself? A business owner sponsoring an employee’s green card? A teacher meeting with parents from a half-dozen countries? A public official in a town like Barron? Does your farm rely on seasonal guest workers? Whoever you are, we want your help building a clearer picture of how immigration is reshaping Wisconsin – and how Wisconsin is shaping its immigrant communities.
Wisconsin Watch has covered immigration for more than a decade, but this year, we’re devoting new energy to the subject. That’s where I come in.
I’m Paul Kiefer, Wisconsin Watch’s first dedicated immigration reporter, albeit as a one-year Roy W. Howard fellow. I’m new to Wisconsin, but I’ve covered immigration before, most recently for the Washington Post on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where a fast-growing Haitian community is reassessing its relationship with the region’s poultry industry.
Immigration is rarely a stand-alone subject, and we plan to explore the intersections with Wisconsin Watch’s other coverage areas. What role will immigrants play in the future of Wisconsin’s paper mills? What becomes of homes left empty when their residents are deported? What trade-offs are involved when a county jail dedicates cell space to hold ICE detainees?
Above all else, we want our immigration coverage to reach as broad a cross section of Wisconsin as possible. That means considering the input of Wisconsinites from every walk of life, always with our mission – to inform, to connect and to hold officials accountable – in mind.
If you have suggestions, tips or questions, please reach out to me at pkiefer@wisconsinwatch.org. I speak English and Spanish; if you speak another language, we can work out a way to communicate.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Help shape our immigration reporting 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.
Rochelle Nagorski thought her son was all set to go to Burdick, his neighborhood elementary school, this year.
“I got an email stating that he was enrolled, but we weren’t getting anything stating who his teacher was,” she said.
Nagorski later learned Burdick, 4348 S. Griffin Ave., Milwaukee, was at capacity and that her son was placed on the school’s waitlist.
“Why wouldn’t he get into his neighborhood school? It’s literally two and a half blocks from our house.”
She is not alone. Others also have reported similar challenges.
Steve Davis, media relations manager at Milwaukee Public Schools, explained in an email to NNS that the school district is working to make sure not to exceed maximum class sizes at schools.
“This means more schools are at capacity and cannot accept new students, even if it is a family’s neighborhood school,” Davis wrote.
Capacity and other issues related to the enrollment process have forced Nagorski and others to scramble to find alternatives.
Citlali Torres said she already had enough on her plate after her uncle, Vincent Torres, was killed in front of his home this summer. Then, someone stole her wallet with her ID.
While she dealt with those challenges, she decided to enroll her 4-year-old daughter at Morgandale Elementary, 3635 S. 17th St.
“Morgandale is a great school. I went there all the way from K4 to eighth grade,” Torres said.
She tried to enroll her daughter but was told she needed to wait for the year to start to see if the school had space.
Once the school year started, Torres called MPS central services but was told a picture of her ID wasn’t enough to enroll her. She needed a physical ID card, which was stolen along with her wallet.
Torres said the staff at Morgandale have been helpful and supportive, but she has struggled to get help from central services.
“All I want is for, you know, to get my daughter enrolled in school.”
Nagorski also had trouble with central services. When she called, the employee told her she should have put other schools on the list in case her son didn’t get into Burdick.
Nagorski didn’t know it was possible for her neighborhood school to fill up, so she only put Burdick on the list.
Staff at central services said she’d have to come to the office and enroll her child in another school. Nagorski, who is on medical leave from ankle surgery, asked if there was another option but was told there was none.
The district has since reached out to her to schedule a home visit.
Since her son was waitlisted, Nagorski has considered whether to re-enroll him in Wisconsin Virtual Academy, where he went last semester. She said online learning didn’t work well for him – she noticed him become disengaged – but it’s better than nothing.
“I’d rather get them on online learning so he’s at least got some kind of schooling going on and get some kind of structure,” she said.
Nagorski said she wished the district notified her sooner that her son was on the waitlist at Burdick.
“If I would have been notified a week prior to school starting, even if he was on a waitlist,” she said. “Give me something to work with.”
Torres was finally able to enroll her daughter in school after NNS connected her with Davis.
She began classes on Sept. 10 at Morgandale.
Davis said parents will get the fastest service by coming in person to the central services office at 5225 W. Vliet St.
Parents can apply to enroll their students by checking out this online portal.
For families who can’t come in person or navigate the online portal, Davis said they can call 414-475-8159 and ask a canvasser to visit.
The district requires identification when enrolling your student. If you don’t have a government-issued ID card, call the number above.
According to Davis, one way to help avoid parents’ school of choice reaching maximum capacity is by applying during the regular enrollment period.
“We appreciate that full classes and schools may present challenges for families,” Davis wrote in an email to NNS. “We do hope they can understand that a classroom filled above its maximum capacity can present a challenging experience for all the students, their families and the teacher.”
High school priority enrollment: Oct. 3 – Nov. 3.
Kindergarten enrollment: Feb. 7, 2026 – March 9, 2026.
All other grades: Feb. 7, 2026 – Aug. 31, 2026.
Parents face challenges navigating the Milwaukee Public Schools enrollment process 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.
In 2020, a grand jury issued a 10-count indictment against Kevin Shibilski, chief executive officer of 5R Processors.
The post Former state lawmaker, charged with fraud, left 2.7M pounds of hazardous waste appeared first on WPR.
Josh Dietsche with the state Department of Transportation spoke with WPR’s “Morning Edition” about the agency’s bridge inspection, repair and replacement program.
The post As Twin Ports’ Blatnik Bridge replacement nears, Wisconsin eyes others in need of repair appeared first on WPR.
Graffiti or vandalism to historical markers — like plaques or statues — would become a felony under a proposal considered by Wisconsin Senate lawmakers on Wednesday.
The post Damaging historical markers, statues would be a felony under Wisconsin bill appeared first on WPR.
In 2016, the first ever Cycling Without Age chapter in the U.S. formed in Oshkosh. And now, with more than 100 chapters statewide, Wisconsin has more than any other state.
The post Wisconsin seniors are biking all over the state thanks to Cycling Without Age appeared first on WPR.
Robert Cherone, a 45-year-old from Elkhorn, was crushed by a robotic machine at the company’s facility.
The post 45-year-old Elkhorn man dies in ‘tragic accident’ at West Milwaukee pizza factory appeared first on WPR.
Voters in DeForest have agreed to oust a trustee mid-term following a special recall election Tuesday. Those results could eventually lead to fluoride being restored to the village's water supply.
The post Wisconsin village’s voters unseat trustee after anti-fluoride vote, other controversy appeared first on WPR.
Microsoft’s data centers in the village of Mount Pleasant will require up to 8.4 million gallons of water each year, according to data released Wednesday.
The post Microsoft data centers will use up to 8.4M gallons of water each year, records show appeared first on WPR.
Dressing: Salad: Directions: Make the dressing: Whisk garlic, dried oregano, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Gradually add the olive oil while whisking constantly to form an emulsion. Stir in […]
The post Colombian Salad appeared first on WPR.
Hundreds of people gathered in Waukesha Tuesday night for a vigil honoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The post Hundreds gather in Waukesha to honor Charlie Kirk appeared first on WPR.
Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong has launched a bid for governor, joining a growing primary field for the Democratic nomination.
The post Madison Rep. Francesca Hong joins Democratic primary for governor appeared first on WPR.
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