The Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago houses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. (Ken Lund / flickr | license: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic)
A federal appeals court in Chicago on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy for immigrants in removal proceedings, ending its split over a year-old policy that has prevented thousands of immigrants in federal custody from requesting bond.
The 2-1 decision may allow hundreds of detainees in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin — the three states within the court’s jurisdiction — to seek bond hearings in immigration court.
At the center of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling: Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national who immigration authorities picked up in Racine last summer as “collateral” while searching for a different target.
The 7th Circuit joins five other federal appeals courts in ruling against the detention policy. Two courts have sided with the administration, likely setting the stage for the nation’s highest court to take up the issue.
“Detention without sufficient purpose, or indefinitely prolonged detention, threatens due process,” Judge Joshua Kolar wrote in the court’s majority opinion, joined by Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi. Former President Joe Biden appointed both judges to the 7th Circuit.
“My colleagues and I could debate until we’re blue in the face,” wrote Judge Diane Sykes, a George W. Bush appointee, in her solo dissent.
“At this point, only the Supreme Court can bring uniformity and settle this question once and for all. I anticipate that it will do so soon.”
A fight over mandatory detention
The legal battle centers on opposing interpretations of a decades-old federal law.
The 1996 Immigration Reform Act requires immigration authorities to detain — without bond — anyone found crossing the U.S. border without authorization. Prior administrations applied that rule narrowly, allowing many immigrants arrested in the country’s interior to seek a bond hearing in immigration court.
The Trump administration bucked that approach in July 2025, when ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a new legal interpretation requiring detention without bond regardless of where immigrants are arrested.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, a panel of judges who set the rules for the federal immigration court system, signed off on the interpretation in September.
With bond off the table, tens of thousands of immigrants in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody turned to a backup option: filing habeas corpus petitions in federal district courts to challenge their detention. Unlike immigration courts, which are part of the U.S. Department of Justice, federal district courts belong to the judicial branch and, therefore, are technically independent of the White House. When a federal district court grants a habeas petition, it generally orders an immigration court judge to hold a bond hearing.
Wisconsin’s Western and Eastern District courts received roughly 100 habeas petitions in the past year. About 30 of those cases remained open as of Thursday, and the appeals court’s ruling does not necessarily take them off the docket.
From Racine to the 7th Circuit
Cirrus Rojas left his rural hometown in southern Mexico as a teenager, reuniting with his brother in Racine in 2018. He remained off immigration authorities’ radar until ICE agents arrived at his home in June 2025 looking for a prior tenant, said his attorney, Milwaukee-based Jennifer Bizzotto.
“He answered their questions,” she added, “and they used his responses to detain him.”
Jaciel Cirrus Rojas is a Mexican national who federal immigration authorities apprehended in Racine in 2025 as “collateral” while searching for a different target. (Courtesy of Jennifer Bizzotto)
Wisconsin court records show no prior criminal convictions or civil citations under his name.
Cirrus Rojas’ first language is a dialect of Chatino, a group of indigenous languages spoken by roughly 50,000 people in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
“There are not a lot of forms or information available in Chatino,” Bizzotto added — a barrier that she said largely explains why Cirrus Rojas didn’t file for asylum until he entered ICE custody, citing fear of torture if he returned to Mexico.
He spent much of the following nine months in custody at the Dodge County jail as his case wound through the immigration court system, separated from his partner and child. Eastern District of Wisconsin Judge Brett Ludwig rejected his attempt to secure a bond hearing via habeas petition last October, but Cirrus Rojas and the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin appealed that denial to the 7th Circuit.
Cirrus Rojas was among the relatively few ICE detainees able to leave custody on bond in February after a federal district court judge in California vacated the mandatory detention rule. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that decision less than a month later.
His case before the 7th Circuit continued even after he left custody. Just days before the Thursday ruling, immigration authorities signaled they intend to take Cirrus Rojas back into custody. He remained out of custody as of Friday afternoon.
Courts split nationwide
The 7th Circuit remained split on the issue for months, leaving Wisconsin’s federal district court judges to reach their own interpretations of the 1996 immigration law. Three judges in the Milwaukee-based U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled in the Trump administration’s favor, while seven Wisconsin judges — including two in the Western District — ruled against the administration.
Federal appellate courts are similarly divided. The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit and the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit have upheld the mandatory detention rule; the former has jurisdiction over many of ICE’s largest detention facilities. The 7th Circuit joins appellate courts based in New York, Cincinnati, Denver, Atlanta and San Francisco in rejecting the rule.
“If Congress had indeed demanded — but not funded — no-bond detention for all unlawful entrants, that may well have thrown the nation’s immigration system into chaos,” Kolar wrote. “Immigration authorities might have found themselves quickly overwhelmed by a colossal unfunded mandate to arrest and detain millions.”
Sykes took a different view of Congress’ goals. Lawmakers must have intended to “put all aliens who have not lawfully entered the country on equal footing,” she wrote, not to provide additional rights to those detained in the interior of the U.S.
A path to bond — for some
While detainees and attorneys nationwide await the Supreme Court’s guidance, some in Wisconsin are preparing for a wave of bond hearings.
ICE held more than 1,000 people across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin as of the beginning of July, including more than 100 at the Dodge County jail. The 7th Circuit’s ruling does not mean all of them will get a bond hearing.
Congress’ 2025 Laken Riley Act requires detention without bond for immigrants “charged with, arrested for, (or) convicted of” an array of offenses ranging from shoplifting to assaulting a law enforcement officer. That requirement — along with procedural rules predating the Trump administration — could still bar some current detainees from securing bonds.
Just over half of all ICE detainees who passed through Wisconsin detention facilities between January 2025 and March 2026 had prior criminal convictions, most commonly for driving under the influence of alcohol. Another quarter had pending criminal charges when they entered ICE custody. The share with no prior criminal history, including Cirrus Rojas, has climbed in recent months.
The 7th Circuit’s ruling also does not force the hand of immigration court judges, who retain the authority to set bond amounts or reject bond requests altogether.
“It was hard enough to get bond before this interpretation (took effect) last year,” said Milwaukee immigration attorney Ben Crouse, though the mandatory detention rule added costly and time-intensive hurdles.
The anticipated flood of bond hearing requests had yet to appear as of Thursday evening.
Bizzotto worries that the appeals court’s decision is another step in a game of “whack-a-mole.”
If some immigration judges begin denying bond requests “under any pretext,” she said, immigration attorneys may need to open a new front in federal court to push for more neutral arbitration.
Nevertheless, Bizzotto said she has already begun preparing a stack of bond hearing requests and expects fellow immigration attorneys are busy doing the same.
This story was updated with additional reporting.
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For years, the story surrounding American manufacturing was in decline. We heard about factories closing, jobs moving overseas, and communities struggling to replace the industries that once defined them. That narrative is beginning to change.
As executive chairman of QPS Employment Group, an employee-owned staffing and recruiting firm headquartered in Brookfield, I speak every day with manufacturers across Wisconsin and the Midwest. Unlike economists analyzing data after the fact, our recruiters hear what’s happening in real time. We know when production lines are speeding up, when companies are adding shifts, and when employers begin asking for more workers.
Today, the message we’re hearing is encouraging. Manufacturing is making a comeback. A recent Institute for Supply Management reportbacks up what employers have been telling us for months: U.S. manufacturing has expanded for six consecutive months. While growth moderated slightly in June, factories continue to report healthy levels of new orders and steady production, signs that demand remains resilient despite ongoing economic uncertainty.
That’s especially good news for Wisconsin. Manufacturing has long defined our identity.
From precision machining and industrial equipment to food processing and paper products, our state has built its reputation on making things. These industries don’t just create products; they create careers, support local businesses and strengthen communities.
A busy factory means more truck drivers delivering materials, warehouse employees moving inventory, and electricians, maintenance technicians, welders, engineers, accountants and administrative professionals supporting operations. The ripple effect extends well beyond the factory floor.
Several factors are contributing to today’s momentum. Companies continue investing in domestic production. Businesses learned from recent supply chain disruptions and increasingly recognize the value of producing more goods closer to home. Investments in artificial intelligence, data centers and advanced technologies are fueling demand for equipment, components and industrial products that American manufacturers are well positioned to produce.
None of this means manufacturing is easy.
Many employers still face rising material costs, interest rate uncertainty and rapidly changing global markets. Labor shortages also remain one of the biggest obstacles to continued growth.
One of today’s biggest challenges is that manufacturing demand continues to grow even as companies struggle to find enough workers. That challenge won’t solve itself.
For decades, we’ve encouraged nearly every young person to pursue a four-year degree while overlooking opportunities in skilled trades and manufacturing.
The reality looks very different today. Modern manufacturing is clean, technology-driven and increasingly sophisticated. Employees operate advanced robotics, program automated equipment, analyze production data and work with technologies transforming the industry. Many of these careers offer competitive wages, excellent benefits and long-term stability without requiring massive student loan debt.
That is a message we need to do a better job of sharing with students, parents and educators alike. Employers share that responsibility.
Successful manufacturers aren’t waiting for talent to walk through the door. They’re investing in training, partnering with technical colleges, offering apprenticeships, improving workplace culture and creating career paths that encourage employees to stay.
Workforce development has become a competitive advantage. Wisconsin has long benefited from its work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. Those strengths remain just as valuable today as they were generations ago. Sustaining this manufacturing resurgence will require continued investment not only in equipment and facilities but also in people.
That means supporting technical education, expanding apprenticeship opportunities, helping veterans transition into manufacturing careers and creating workforce solutions that allow businesses to fill critical positions.
Manufacturers remain optimistic. After several years marked by supply chain disruptions, inflation and economic uncertainty, many employers are once again planning for growth rather than simply reacting to challenges. That shift in mindset matters because confidence often drives investment, hiring and long-term expansion.
We see that confidence firsthand. No one can predict exactly what the economy will look like a year from now. Manufacturing has always been cyclical, and challenges will inevitably emerge along the way. Still, the trajectory is moving in the right direction.
Wisconsin has an opportunity to build on that momentum by continuing to support the industries that have long been the backbone of our economy. If we invest in our workforce, embrace innovation and ensure manufacturers have access to the talent they need, this comeback can become sustainable.
It can become the foundation for the next generation of American manufacturing. That’s something worth building.
Scott Mayer is the founder and executive chairman of QPS Employment Group, an employee-owned staffing and recruiting firm headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Guest commentaries reflect the views of their authors and are independent of the nonpartisan, in-depth reporting produced by Wisconsin Watch’s newsroom staff. Want to join the Wisconversion? See our guidelines for submissions.
We Energies reassured shareholders on Wednesday that Oracle’s ongoing dispute with state regulators over new credit rating requirements for data center operators poses no threat to the planned hyperscale data center in Port Washington.
WEC Energy Group CEO Scott Lauber, head of We Energies’ parent company, told investors during a quarterly earnings call that the Port Washington facility remains on track to come online as soon as late 2027. In a “worst-case scenario” in which Oracle backs out of the project, “there are a lot of opportunities for that site,” Lauber said, “but at this point, I have no indication that’s the case.”
Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission (PSC) in April approved a rate structure for We Energies’ “very large customers” that requires operators like Oracle to pay for the construction of new power plants needed to meet data center energy needs. But constructing a new plant can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and any unpaid debts tied to the plants could fall on We Energies’ other customers if a data center operator becomes insolvent.
To shield ratepayers from a potential cost shift, the PSC set a AAA- credit rating threshold for data center operators seeking electric service from We Energies. Companies below the threshold must post steep collateral, either in cash or lines of credit, as a backstop.
That requirement could cost Oracle, the co-developer of the Port Washington data center campus alongside OpenAI and Vantage, over $100 million per year in financial security payments. The company held a BBB credit rating when the PSC approved the credit rating standards, largely because of its aggressive borrowing to finance artificial intelligence ventures and risky business relationship with OpenAI. S&P Global Ratings, one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies responsible for assessing creditworthiness of government and corporate debt, lowered Oracle’s rating to a BBB- on July 9 — the bottom edge of the agency’s “investment-grade” tier. If the company’s credit rating falls further, Lauber said, “we already have all the collateral we need.”
We Energies asked the PSC to reconsider the rule last month, arguing that the added cost could dissuade other companies from operating in Wisconsin. “If the Commission does not reopen its decision on this issue, the implications for Wisconsin would be significant and limit the ability of numerous investment-grade companies to invest in Wisconsin,” the utility’s attorneys wrote in their request. The PSC declined We Energies’ request earlier this month.
Lauber sounded more optimistic about the credit rating requirements on Wednesday. “I don’t think the collateral will be an issue long term,” he said, noting that ratings agencies reacted positively to the credit rating threshold.
We Energies is currently in talks with at least two other data center operators interested in setting up Wisconsin operations, albeit at far smaller scales than Oracle or Microsoft, which operates a new data center campus in Mount Pleasant. Lauber told shareholders that the credit rating requirements pose no obstacle to those prospective customers.
Oracle, however, sued the PSC in Ozaukee County Circuit Court last month, asking a judge to “set aside, reverse and remand” the credit rating requirements. The tech giant argues the commission acted outside of its authority in approving the rule and that the AAA- bar isn’t “needed to prevent harm” to We Energies’ other customers.
We Energies is an interested party in that lawsuit, but it did not join Oracle as a plaintiff.
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Local news matters, but we journalists have work to do when it comes to delivering the information people value most, according to the northeast Wisconsin residents who took part in the Local News Landscape Study.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Center for Civic Engagement spoke to 251 people who call Brown, Kewaunee, Oconto and Outagamie counties home. Community members shared what they think about local news, what topics they feel informed or uninformed about, where they get news, and more.
The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation commissioned the study through the Press Forward Northeast Wisconsin chapter, of which Wisconsin Watch is a member.
What people said
Study participants value local information. However, areas they consider top priorities, like health care (76%), public safety (70%), the local economy (54%) and education (49%), they don’t feel well informed about.
While many people get their news from social media and digital outlets, television remains an important news source for many residents.
Trust in local journalism is stronger than social-media-based sources. However, people shared concerns about bias, sensationalism and repetitive coverage with researchers.
Some people reported feeling underrepresented and want more news coverage that reflects their lived experiences.
Participants pointed out several barriers to accessing local news, like paywalls, limited coverage of certain communities or issues and relevance gaps.
Local news has spurred civic engagement for nearly half of survey respondents, motivating them to vote, volunteer, attend events or donate to a cause.
What comes next
I found the whole study fascinating.
One area I keep going back to is section 3.2 (page 27 of the PDF), which presents key themes about “what matters most to residents.”
I hear so many of these same thoughts when I interact with people, from friends and family to community members. They share their frustrations about out-of-state stories on the local TV newscast. They wonder how the reporting process works and where journalists get the information we report. They want to watch or read the facts and make up their own minds – not be told what to think.
I agree. Here’s how Wisconsin Watch plans to use the results of this media landscape study to shape our coverage in northeast Wisconsin.
Astrid Code is our Scripps Howard Fund intern, and she’s reporting on issues affecting rural communities into the fall.Read her work so far here.
The Northeast Wisconsin News Lab (NEW News Lab) – a consortium of newsrooms that collaborate around a given theme – is working on election stories about the topics people said matter most but they don’t feel well informed on. Wisconsin Watch is focusing on health care.
Our weekly newsletter, Northeast News, aims to be an antidote to some of the negativity survey respondents said overwhelms them. Our rotating feature sections aim to spotlight community members and nonprofit organizations making a difference; shout out fantastic small towns and funky places off the beaten path; and offer community members a space to share their diverse, fact-checked opinion essays.
We’re brainstorming more ideas to fill the gaps highlighted by the study. In the meantime, let me know what stories you think deserve more coverage. Email me at jzvandenhouten@wisconsinwatch.org.
Are you on Medicaid and concerned about losing your coverage? Reach out to Astrid to share your thoughts: acode@wisconsinwatch.org.
Nancy and Brian Breedlove visited the Oshkosh Tool Library in mid-July hoping to borrow a hand truck, also called a dolly.
The Oshkosh couple needed to move heavy items out of their garage before workers installed an epoxy coating on the floor.
A story in the Oshkosh Herald pointed the Breedloves to the Oshkosh Tool Library, 300 S. Koeller St., Suite R, in Oshkosh. Nancy Breedlove figured they would stop by before they rented or purchased the equipment they needed.
“We’re grateful that the facility exists and to learn that there’s all kinds of stuff here,” she said.
The Breedloves are among 140 people in the Oshkosh area who are members of the tool library, which opened in September 2025. And the effort is picking up steam: In the month of June, the tool library recorded 51 loans – its largest amount thus far, said volunteer Jacob Klaameyer.
A year of planning
The entrance to the Oshkosh Tool Library at 300 S. Koeller St., Suite R, is seen on July 15, 2026, in Oshkosh, Wis. (Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten / Wisconsin Watch)
Organizers, including Klaameyer, met at a Repair Cafe in Oshkosh and voiced support for a tool library and makerspace in a community survey. They spent a year making their vision come to life.
The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Klaameyer said its governance structure was intentionally established as an organizer cooperative. That means the volunteers who power the Oshkosh Tool Library have an equal say in the organization’s future, as do its members.
If, for example, organizers found a new space and wanted to relocate the tool library, the decision would come up for a vote during a monthly meeting, Klaameyer said. Monthly meetings are open to the public, and organizers make the Oshkosh Tool Library’s financial records available on its website.
“(For) options that are going to affect everybody, we would engage the membership,” Klaameyer said.
Up and running
The tool library has more than 558 items available for community members to borrow. The most popular items include pressure washers, a wet vacuum and fans. Large pieces of equipment like a 3D printer, a CNC machine and a band saw are available for use, as well.
One of Klaameyer’s favorite spots is the space’s “free materials” section. It’s a wall near the door with drawers of nails, screws, nuts, bolts, washers and all kinds of miscellaneous small parts people can take – free of charge – to complete a project.
And people don’t have to have a project in mind to visit the tool library. The organization hosts free workshops led by volunteers, including sewing machine basics, intro to Linux, bat and butterfly house construction and bike maintenance. Community members can also reserve space at the tool library for meetings or gatherings free of charge.
Allegra Van Rossum poses for a photo in the Oshkosh Tool Library on July 15, 2026, in Oshkosh, Wis. (Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten / Wisconsin Watch)
Volunteer Allegra Van Rossum, of Oshkosh, appreciates learning new skills directly from people at the tool library, rather than turning to the internet.
“I think the best part about it is the social connections between people and the learning … Just having the knowledge of people like Jake or someone who will know ‘Oh you should use this tool’ – I think that’s underrated,” she said.
Collaborative projects
Besides checking items off their own to-do lists, tool library volunteers collaborate on group projects. Their latest effort is called Make a Village. Klaameyer said they’re constructing a microshelter modeled after Conestoga huts used to house people in Eugene, Oregon.
“We started this project because we want to not only have the tools accessible to our community, but also help these tools solve community issues,” he said. “And I just thought it was a great opportunity to both practice woodworking with others, but also have a tool for advocacy for that sort of change in our community.”
Once complete, the microshelter will hit the road on a trailer. Klaameyer wants to show the finished space to local elected officials to see if microshelters could be part of the community’s response to homelessness.
Jacob Klaameyer poses for a photo in the Oshkosh Tool Library on July 15, 2026, in Oshkosh, Wis. (Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten / Wisconsin Watch)
That kind of collaboration makes the effort worthwhile for Klaameyer.
“My favorite part is when people show up and we build things together,” he said.
How to join
People have to be at least 18 years old to become a member of the tool library, and they must live in Winnebago, Outagamie or Fond du Lac counties.
Loans typically run for seven days, though Klaameyer said they can be extended to 14 days.
Members must sign a liability waiver and a tool use agreement.
Woodworking tools and a CNC machine are among the pieces of equipment community members can use for free at the Oshkosh Tool Library, pictured on July 15, 2026, in Oshkosh, Wis. (Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten / Wisconsin Watch)
Tool library organizers maintain a calendar on the Oshkosh Tool Library website with workshop information and open hours for every month. Community members can drop in during open hours to set up an account, complete their registration paperwork and check out equipment.
There’s no cost to join the tool library. However, they appreciate donations, Klaameyer said.
Learn more
Visit the Oshkosh Tool Library during open hours at 300 S. Koeller St., Suite R, Oshkosh. It’s located behind Takiza Mexican Cuisine.
Community organizations in need of tools can contact the Oshkosh Tool Library by email at oshkoshtoollibrary@gmail.com. Klaameyer said the tool library has a surplus of basic tools community groups can take for free.
This story is part of Community at Work, an ongoing feature series focused on community organizations that make a difference in northeast Wisconsin. Who should we feature next? Email jzvandenhouten@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
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Business owners and individuals have mobilized to provide food, water and supplies to those impacted by Monday’s tornado and to clear fallen trees from the area.
Wisconsin Watch spoke to several people about why they volunteered their time and resources.
Waverly Beach Bar & Grille distributed 500 box lunches daily through Thursday to help affected community members, who include its own employees.
Organizations like Operation BBQ Relief provided food to survivors and first responders to “give them just a couple minutes reprieve from all this.”
A walk around downtown Menasha reveals the heart of devastation after an EF3 tornado surged through parts of Neenah, Appleton and Menasha on Monday at 11:56 a.m., traveling 12 miles. Ceramic roof tiles lie shattered on the sidewalk, trees bend at unnatural angles, downed power lines block streets and roofs are torn from churches and homes.
Community members are still recovering from losing homes and businesses, and thousands of residents remain without power two days later. But the neighborhoods hit the hardest buzz with activity. Chainsaws roar on every street as volunteers clear trees to reopen roads and protect what’s left of people’s houses.
Roy Eckberg, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Green Bay, told Wisconsin Watch the tornado developed quickly as two storms merged.
“Typically, most tornadoes, you probably get a few minutes to maybe 10 minutes (of warning), but in this case, the rapid development was something I’ve never seen in northeast Wisconsin,” Eckberg said. “It was that fast. It was shocking.”
Power lines lie downed and buildings stand without roofs near Manitowoc and Third streets after an EF3 tornado struck Menasha, Wis., on July 28, 2026. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
Ben Clemmer, who lives just a mile away from severely damaged businesses including Mandersfield’s Home Bakery and Tony’s Bar, was working from home when the tornado hit.
“It was pretty crazy looking. You know, there’s that kind of freaky storm glow that people talk about. That was very real … Seeing trees bending basically all the way over to horizontal was kind of incredible,” he said. “The surprising part, I guess, to me, is that there’s any trees left.”
Since he had a generator, Clemmer set up a phone charging station outside his house Tuesday so neighbors could maintain access to critical updates and communication. Downed power lines left the entire city – about 18,000 residents – without electricity, according to the Associated Press.
He’s one of many community members eager to help disaster survivors. Businesses and individuals have mobilized to provide food, water and supplies and to clear fallen trees.
Menasha resident Ben Clemmer set up a phone charging station for neighbors in Menasha, Wis., on July 28, 2026, after an EF3 tornado knocked out power. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
Helping hands reach out
Jesse Hieb, of Muskego, drove his truck around the worst-hit parts of Menasha, handing out water and Gatorade bottles from a cooler with James Enderle, outreach pastor for Living Savior Lutheran Church. Hieb has experience with disaster relief, including when a flood hit Muskego last August.
“Pop’s (Pub) down in Muskego is trying to put together supplies from that community,” Hieb said. “They were hit with a flood last year, so they’re just trying to pay it forward. So we’re gonna go down, pick those supplies up, come back up tomorrow, do the same thing. Drive around with ice cold water, trying to just help people get through the day.”
Living Savior Lutheran Church Pastor James Enderle hands out water and Gatorade to residents affected by the tornado in Menasha, Wis., on July 28, 2026. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
Local business owners transformed their restaurants into food distribution sites, like Waverly Beach Bar & Grille, which planned to give out box lunches from 1 to 4 p.m. daily through Thursday.
Even though the restaurant wasn’t hit by the tornado, Operations Director Dion Block said many employees were impacted, and residents began using the space as a temporary shelter while waiting to return to their homes. He ordered 500 box lunches per day from his supplier Monday night and mobilized his staff to hand out meals and water on Tuesday.
“We range from people who just lost something like a fence or a tree that damaged their house to … multiple employees whose families lost their home,” Block said.
Tornado survivors with no place to stay were bused to Christ the Rock Community Church, which continues to provide overnight shelter.
Emlyn Thomas of Operation BBQ Relief, a nonprofit disaster relief organization, gave out bratwurst at a tent just outside Christ the Rock. He was serving food at a National Night Out event in Chilton on Monday evening when he heard news of the tornado. He immediately packed the leftovers, drove to the Appleton area and served first responders.
Residents pick up box lunches for storm victims at Waverly Beach Bar & Grille in Menasha, Wis., on July 28, 2026. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
“Tornadoes usually are very narrow in their focus; it’s a line,” Thomas said. “This was not that narrow. This was pretty wide. I have never seen a firehouse destroyed. Station 41 was leveled. So this is in some ways unprecedented.”
Operation BBQ Relief began in 2011 after an EF5 tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, and now deploys volunteers to disasters across the country to provide barbecue meals to storm victims and first responders. Thomas said his crew will stay outside Christ the Rock until Thursday at minimum.
“We call it the one hot meal that matters,” Thomas said. “Some of these folks, short of it being you lose a kid, this is the worst day of their life. They’ve lost everything. Your wedding pictures are in somebody’s yard 25 miles away. Every possession you had is gone. We can show up and we can give them just a couple of minutes reprieve from all this.”
Chris Ghobrial, owner of 18 Acres Food Truck, drove up about an hour and a half from Watertown and was giving out smashburgers outside of Christ the Rock on Tuesday.
“It’s just part of our outreach program to give back to the communities that are in need, especially because we’ve been blessed with what we have and want to reciprocate the blessings,” Ghobrial said.
Emlyn Thomas, area coordinator for Operation BBQ Relief, stands outside Christ the Rock Church in Menasha, Wis., on July 28, 2026. Thomas has deployed to disasters across the country to provide meals and aid to survivors and first responders. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
‘Learning to cope’
A curfew remains in effect from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the village of Fox Crossing and the city of Menasha. A boil water advisory also remains in effect for some Fox Crossing water utility customers. As of Wednesday morning, crews restored electricity to parts of Menasha, but thousands of Outagamie and Winnebago county residents still lacked power.
Two days after the tornado, Clemmer said the community is grappling with the long-term implications of rebuilding.
“There’s lots to do, and yet sometimes it feels like there’s nothing you can do about it,” Clemmer said.
“We’ve started to transition from the initial shock of the event to now shifting more fully into a recovery mode. It’s just kind of learning to cope, I guess, with the new situation, … what do you have to do to … continue moving forward.”
An EF3 tornado destroyed homes and other buildings in Menasha, Wis., on July 27, 2026. (Astrid Code / Wisconsin Watch)
Officials are asking nonresidents to avoid traveling to Menasha and not to self-deploy to affected areas. Winnebago County officials are circulating a resource guide with information on cooling and charging sites, food, Wi-Fi centers, shelters, medical equipment and ways to donate. Volunteers can sign up to be officially deployed at Volunteer Fox Cities or in person at 1478 Midway Road.
Miranda Dunlap contributed reporting to this story.
Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes announced he ended his campaign for governor in a video posted to social media on Thursday, July 30. Barnes did not endorse any candidate, but hinted at the growing support for Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong. “It’s become very clear who our nominee is going to be,” he said.
As early voting gets under way ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, Wisconsin is hurtling toward a gubernatorial matchup between Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, and Northwoods U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a MAGA Republican.
Hong, a 37-year-old former restaurant owner, has emerged as the front-runner in the Democratic primary, growing a lead over her opponents in four consecutive Marquette University Law School polls. Just in the past week, her support increased — from 26% to 38% — among likely Democratic primary voters even after the chaotic maneuvering by candidates earlier this month. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez exited the race after issues with her campaign finance reports, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley restarted his campaign with a rare primary endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers.
Marquette Poll director Charles Franklin described Hong’s position in the latest poll as “a pretty sizable lead.” It’s reminiscent of 2018 when Evers’ support in polls grew over the course of the crowded Democratic primary, Franklin said. Evers won the primary with about 42% of the vote in 2018.
“She’s increased her lead compared to last week, and it’s increased across virtually every demographic group we look at,” Franklin said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an insurmountable lead in the sense that there’s 34% still undecided. But if you look at the trend from a week ago to this week, she’s in a better position than she was then.”
State Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, second from right, addresses the moderators during a gubernatorial debate at Marquette University in Milwaukee, July 28, 2026. (Andy Manis for Wisconsin Watch)
Hong also faced few attacks from her opponents in the first and only televised primary debate held in Milwaukee this week, even as she faces questions about her past social media posts supporting Democratic Socialists of America organization policies such as abolishing the U.S. Senate and abolishing and defunding police. The July 22 Marquette Poll showed 49% of registered voters in Wisconsin have an unfavorable view of the DSA organization and the democratic socialist label.
In Tuesday’s debate, Hong said as governor she would not sign a budget that cuts funding for police departments. She also said she does not support the full platform of the national DSA nor is she endorsed by the national organization, while highlighting bipartisan support her campaign has received for policies like a moratorium on the construction of new AI data centers.
“I am looking forward to helping Democrats become the big tent party that they have aimed to become for many years,” she said.
As Hong rises, some Democrats have questioned whether a democratic socialist can win statewide in November and help down-ballot Democrats. But party leaders have failed to shore up an opponent who can defeat Hong.
Crowley’s reentry with Evers’ endorsement may have muddied the waters, said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Elections Research Center.
“With in-person voting already underway, it is difficult to see how an issue, scandal, endorsement, or other development can impede her path to the nomination,” Burden said.
The latest Marquette Poll released Wednesday showed that while a majority of potential Democratic primary voters indicated they heard about Evers’ endorsement, it did not make a significant impact on who they would support in the race. Crowley received 7% support among likely primary voters behind Hong at 38% and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes at 16%.
Crowley said in the last two weeks of the primary campaign he will continue to make the case to voters about why he is the best candidate.
“We still have the same amount of folks when I actually stepped out of this race, right? It’s still five of us,” Crowley said. “So, I truly believe our job is just to make the case. And I do think that folks may be a little bit overwhelmed by how many candidates are in this race and want to make sure they’re making the right choice, but that’s why we’re on the campaign trail.”
State Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, addresses the media in the spin room after a Democratic gubernatorial candidate debate at Marquette University in Milwaukee, July 28, 2026. (Andy Manis for Wisconsin Watch)
Barnes, who was initially seen as the front-runner in the primary due to the name recognition from his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, took more swipes at Crowley during Tuesday night’s debate, targeting the Milwaukee County executive for his reentry into the race being “revived by special interests.” Barnes’ support remained flat in the two July Marquette polls.
“I think that people should be frustrated. People are tired of having their politics meddled in,” Barnes said after the debate. “People have seen, you know, the power brokers that be meddling in elections time and time again. And because of that meddling, people have been turned off from politics. People don’t show up to vote. They feel as if there is no place for them if the decision is made before they even get a chance to cast a ballot.”
It is increasingly unlikely that any consolidation happens ahead of Aug. 11. Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan, who have continued to poll in the low single digits, told reporters on Tuesday that they had no intention of leaving the race.
Brennan said he believes potential voters are only just beginning to tune into the race.
“I still think that there are people who are going to come to me and who are going to see that I am the best path to winning a general election and being the best governor,” Brennan said.
“I’ve made that commitment to the voters and my supporters, and I am confident that we are going to make progress as we have continued throughout this race,” Roys said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin addresses supporters of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wis., on April 2, 2024. (Jeffrey Phelps for Wisconsin Watch)
Meanwhile, Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, also sees Hong as his opponent in November, and the Republican Governor’s Association has run ads casting Hong as being “too liberal for Wisconsin” while highlighting policies, such as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that could appeal to Democratic primary voters.
In a statement following the debate, Tiffany took aim at “Socialist Francesca Hong” and highlighted Hong’s past social media posts that called for abolishing the police, prisons and the U.S. Senate.
“While Democrats offer chaos, I’m offering common sense: lower taxes, safer communities, stronger schools, and a government that lets the people of Wisconsin keep more of their hard-earned money,” Tiffany said.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
A Wisconsin appeals court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that had restored abolished collective bargaining rights, in a setback for unions and public workers in the state. Unions are expected to appeal, sending the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is controlled by liberal justices.
The 2024 ruling striking down the law as unconstitutional had been on hold pending appeal, so Wednesday’s reversal does not change the status quo. The law remains in effect, as it has been the past 15 years, as the legal fight continues.
Enactment of a 2011 anti-union state law, championed by Republicans, sparked weeks of protests and made Wisconsin the center of a national battle over union rights.
That law, known as Act 10, effectively ended most public employees′ ability to bargain for wage increases and other issues and forced them to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Supporters of the law say it gives local governments more control over workers and the powers needed to cut costs. They argue that repealing the law, which allowed schools and local governments to raise money through higher employee contributions for benefits, would bankrupt those entities.
Opponents argue the law has hurt schools and government agencies by stripping employees of the right to collectively bargain over pay and working conditions.
Christina Brey, a spokesperson for the unions that brought the lawsuit, said they remain confident on the merits of the case and that they are considering all available options.
“Wisconsin is better when all employees have a say in our workplaces, whether about class sizes in our schools, safety on the job, hours or any other number of areas,” Brey said. “Public service workers across the state won’t stop until we regain free, fair and full collective bargaining rights to negotiate with our employers.”
Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who introduced and championed the law, praised the decision.
“This ruling is a major win for the hard-working taxpayers of Wisconsin and the people they elect to run our schools, state, and local governments,” Walker said in a text message.
All five of the Democratic candidates for governor this year have vowed to repeal the law if elected. The primary is Aug. 11.
Tens of thousands protested the anti-union law at the state Capitol
The law was Walker’s signature legislative achievement, catapulting him onto the national political stage and spurring an unsuccessful attempt to recall him from office. Walker used the furor to mount a brief, ill-fated run for president that ended in 2015.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law despite the massive protests that went on for weeks and drew as many as 100,000 people to the state Capitol.
The law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public unions by allowing them to bargain solely over base wage increases no greater than inflation. It also disallowed the automatic withdrawal of union dues, required annual recertification votes for unions and forced public workers to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits. It led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across Wisconsin.
The law has withstood numerous legal challenges over the years, but this is the first since the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to liberal control in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed by seven unions and three union leaders, argued Act 10 should be struck down because it creates unconstitutional exemptions for firefighters and other public safety workers. Attorneys for the Legislature and state agencies countered that the exemptions are legal and have already been upheld by other courts and that the case should be dismissed.
The Legislature said in court filings that arguments made in the current case were rejected in 2014 by the state Supreme Court. The only change since that ruling is the makeup of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, attorneys for the Legislature said.
Appeals court agrees with Republicans, questions timing of lawsuit
The three-judge appeals court panel ruled in a 2-1 decision to overturn a December 2024 ruling from Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost, saying the challenged provisions of the law did not violate equal protection guarantees of the Wisconsin Constitution.
The lower court “had no legal basis” to declare the law unconstitutional, the appeals court said.
The Wisconsin Legislature had a “rational basis” for only placing certain public safety workers under the law, the appeals court said.
“Courts must respect both precedent and our role in deferring to the Legislature’s fiscal policy decisions,” the appeals court said.
Appeals Court Judge Shelley Grogan said in a concurring opinion that the timing of the lawsuit was “to say the least, suspect.” The lawsuit was filed in November 2023, three months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court switched from majority conservative control to a majority of liberal justices.
“Renewed attempts to attack Act 10 on already-rejected bases simply because the composition of our supreme court has changed must be rejected,” Grogan wrote. “A law’s constitutionality does not ebb and flow with a court’s composition, and the judicial branch must not be used to advance political agendas on either side of the political spectrum.”
Appeals Court Judge Lisa Neubauer, the lone liberal on the three-judge panel, dissented, saying the lower court was correct. She said the Legislature made “arbitrary and irrational distinctions” by taking away collective bargaining rights from some public employees but not others.
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.
One of my favorite parts of managing the Wisconsin Watch newsroom is hearing from readers. Whether you’re sharing a story tip, sending feedback or offering a fresh perspective, those exchanges make our journalism better.
That’s why I was excited to launch our guest commentary initiative.
Since January, we’ve published guest opinions from Wisconsinites with a range of perspectives. Some have written about issues they’ve worked on professionally. Others have drawn from personal experience or original research. Together, they’ve expanded the WisConversation around the most pressing issues affecting us all.
These commentaries reflect the views of their authors, not Wisconsin Watch. But they still receive the same careful attention we bring to all of our journalism, including fact-checking and editing for clarity. Collaborating with contributors in that process has proved particularly rewarding. Several have expressed appreciation for having an editor scrutinize facts and help them communicate more effectively while maintaining their voice.
Thanks to all who have contributed. Below are the guest commentaries we’ve published just since May. You can find every submission here.
Reading Time: 4minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
Labor and employment attorney Victor Forberger offered several tips for people who are filing for unemployment during a recent webinar.
He advised people to know the difference between an initial claim and a weekly certification; to know that mistakes can be used against you; to make sure you’re searching for work; to document and retain records of your work search actions; to report all job offers; and to know if the reason you left your job is valid.
In Wisconsin, filing for state assistance after becoming unemployed can be an odyssey.
A long list of mistakes can derail your claim, jeopardizing your benefits and even opening you up to legal trouble.
Wisconsin Watch attended the State Bar of Wisconsin‘s unemployment filing seminar, where labor and employment attorney Victor Forberger presented on the mechanics of the winding filing process.
We used that information to compile this list of tips and common mistakes to avoid when filing your unemployment claim. Here are some things to know.
File an initial claim, where you report that you separated from a job.
File a weekly “certification,” where you must continue to prove you meet each of the state’s criteria for benefits.
Department of Workforce Development staff and judges use the word “claim” interchangeably while referring to each of these processes, Forberger said. Knowing the difference can help lessen mistakes.
Know that mistakes can be used against you
The online system will repeatedly ask if all of the information you’re entering is truthful, as a method of protecting against fraud.
Thus, any mistake you make is assumed to be purposeful, unless you can point to a specific reason that might have caused the mistake, such as a disability, that shows you’re not at fault. That’s hard to do.
Mistakes can — and often do — lead people to be charged with fraud, enabling the state to claw back unemployment benefits and charge penalty fees.
Dates are tricky. Prepare accordingly
When you file your initial claim, you’ll be asked to select the first week you want to begin receiving benefits. That date may have nothing to do with when you actually lost your job.
“You may have suffered a job loss, and the employer gave your vacation pay that you had accrued for 20 years, and so you’re being paid now for six weeks,” Forberger said. “You don’t file your unemployment claim on the week that the job loss ended. Start your unemployment claim when the vacation pay has run out.”
People often try to start the initial claims in the past, on the date that they lost their job.
You are supposed to file your initial claim within seven days of the week you want to start receiving benefits. If it’s outside of that time frame, the state considers it a “late claim,” which is very difficult to prove and accepted under only what the state deems “exceptional circumstances.”
Reporting the wrong date could disqualify you and derail the process of receiving benefits.
Make sure you’re searching for work
The main way people disqualify themselves, Forberger said, is by not properly showing the state you are looking for new work.
You must conduct four new work search actions every week and upload the proof during the weekly certification process.
Forberger recommends doing five actions, to be safe, in the event that one action is disqualified.
Falsely reporting actions could be considered fraud, disqualifying your claim and opening you up to legal penalties.
Hang onto your documents
You should keep all of the documented proof of your work searches handy for one year.
The state randomly audits people’s work searches for accuracy, so you could be asked to submit proof of your work search actions for any particular week. Any issues could mean having to repay your benefits for that week.
Report all job offers
During the weekly certification process, you will be asked if you have turned down a “bona fide job offer” that week, meaning a legitimate job offer, complete with a pay rate and list of duties.
“It can’t just be like, ‘Hey, come by tomorrow, I got a job for you,’” Forberger said. “It’s got to be like, ‘You’re going to get hired at $15 an hour to stock shelves at my department store, and your schedule is going to be in the evenings, part time.”
During the first six weeks of your job search on unemployment, you are allowed to turn down what the state deems suitable work without threatening your benefits if the offer involves lower skills or significantly lower pay than before.
After those six weeks, you have to take any “bona fide” offer that comes your way, Forberger said. You must also report all of the offers that you’ve turned down, even if they weren’t suitable work. Failing to do these things could disqualify you from unemployment benefits.
Don’t file your weekly certifications on Sunday
People often file their weekly certifications on Sundays thinking they’re being proactive by doing it early. But there’s no phone support available to call for help on Sundays.
“There’s no need to rush because you’re going to get paid,” Forberger said. “Getting it one or two days earlier is not going to make all that much of a difference.”
Know if your reason for leaving your job is valid
When filing for unemployment, you will be asked to report why you separated from all of the jobs you’ve held within the last 18 months.
The onus is on you to understand if your reason for leaving a job is one Wisconsin considers “disqualifying,” and report it accordingly. Mistakes you make here will be treated as intentional.
Among the reasons that will disqualify you from receiving unemployment benefits:
You work a job considered “excluded.” Learn more here.
Among the reasons that are accepted:
Were laid off or your work hours were reduced because your employer did not have enough work for you.
Left your last job and can show it was for a good cause. Learn more about what is defined as “good cause” here.
Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Find her on Instagram and Twitter, or send her an email at mdunlap@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
On a partisan primary ballot, voters must first select which party’s primary they want to vote in.
Instructions on Aug. 11 ballot templates explain that if voters mark a party at the start of the ballot, votes cast in any other party won’t be counted.
If voters don’t make a party selection, then vote for candidates in more than one party, none of their votes will be counted.
State law requires polling places to prominently display these rules for partisan primaries.
The chief federal judge for Wisconsin’s Eastern District has begun clearing a path to bond hearings for immigrants in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, months after attorneys first asked her to rule on challenges to the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy.
Over the past month, Judge Pamela Pepper has sided with at least four immigrants challenging the legality of their detention — her first rulings on a Department of Homeland Security policy that has landed thousands of immigrants nationwide in custody, sometimes for months.
Pepper’s rulings place her among a growing number of federal judges who have rejected the administration’s interpretation of immigration law. But courts nationwide remain divided over whether immigrants can seek release from ICE custody while fighting their deportation cases.
Those disagreements have created a patchwork of rulings that federal appeals courts or the U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately resolve.
Pepper, appointed by then-President Barack Obama in 2014 and the district’s chief judge since 2019, is among the last of her colleagues to rule on the issue.
New detention policy sparks dispute
The dispute centers on opposing interpretations of a decades-old federal law.
The 1996 Immigration Reform Act requires immigration authorities to detain — without bond — anyone found crossing the U.S. border without authorization. Prior administrations applied that rule narrowly, allowing many immigrants arrested in the country’s interior to seek a bond hearing in immigration court.
The Trump administration bucked that approach in July 2025, when ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a new legal interpretation requiring detention without bond regardless of where immigrants are arrested.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, a panel of judges who set the rules for the federal immigration court system, signed off on the interpretation in September.
With bond off the table, thousands of immigrants in ICE custody have turned to a backup option: filing habeas corpus petitions in federal district courts to challenge their detention. Unlike immigration courts, which are part of the U.S. Department of Justice, federal district courts belong to the judicial branch and, therefore, are technically independent of the White House. When a federal district court grants a habeas petition, it generally orders an immigration court judge to hold a bond hearing.
If the district court judge grants the petition in time for an immigrant to leave custody on bond, the person’s removal case moves to the slower-moving “non-detained” docket, buying time to build a case for staying in the U.S.
The mandatory detention policy has triggered tens of thousands of habeas petitions over the past year, overwhelming the federal prosecutors responsible for defending ICE detentions. Wisconsin accounts for roughly 100 of those cases, filed in its Western and Eastern District courts. Pepper received 15, more than any other Eastern District judge.
Judges split over Trump policy
Legal battles over the validity of the mandatory detention policy are still unfolding in federal courts nationwide.
Judges in Wisconsin’s Western District have uniformly rejected the mandatory detention policy while those in Wisconsin’s Eastern District remain divided.
Eastern District judges Brett Ludwig, William Griesbach and J.P. Stadtmueller — appointed by Presidents Trump, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan respectively — have consistently upheld the mandatory detention policy.
“It would make little sense to reward those undocumented immigrants who successfully evaded detection upon arrival in the United States and traveled into the interior of the country with discretionary release, while mandating the detention of those individuals who were not so successful or who sought entry at a border or port of entry,” Griesbach wrote in a December 2025 order denying a Venezuelan detainee’s petition.
Judges Lynn Adelman, Byron Conway, William Duffin and Nancy Joseph have each ruled against the mandatory detention policy at least once in the past year. Adelman and Conway were appointed by Democratic presidents; Duffin and Joseph were selected by a panel of judges.
“There are plausible reasons for treating noncitizens who are well-settled in communities, perhaps working jobs and supporting families, differently from new arrivals. As a noncitizen spends years in the country, it is expected that he or she will develop connections to the United States and its citizens that may help establish a defense to removal or a path to permanent legal status,” Adelman wrote in March.
Conway became the first Eastern District judge to rule on the issue last October, when he granted a habeas petition filed by a Nicaraguan man whom ICE agents arrested in Sun Prairie while searching for his roommate. Most Eastern District judges ruled on the mandatory detention policy within one to two months of receiving a petition challenging the policy.
Pepper didn’t grant a habeas petition until June, more than six months after that Nicaraguan petitioner sought the court’s intervention. She has yet to deny a petition.
Pepper echoed Adelman’s reasoning in her recent rulings, arguing in a June 17 order that the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 1996 law “cannot be squared with the text of the statute.”
Her order also noted inconsistencies within the federal appeals court that could settle the question in Wisconsin. Judges on the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, remain divided on the detention policy.
The U.S. Department of Justice requested in May that the 7th Circuit hold expedited oral arguments, but it has yet to do so.
Appellate courts based in New York, Cincinnati and Atlanta have ruled against the Trump administration’s policy. Courts based in St. Louis and New Orleans have sided with the administration. The Louisiana-based court has jurisdiction over most of ICE’s largest detention facilities.
The question may eventually fall to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It’s up to the justices whether they want to take the case,” said Milwaukee immigration attorney Marc Christopher, “but traditionally on cases involving immigration, cases where there’s been a clear circuit split, and where it affects literally tens of thousands of people, I think it’s going to be near the top of the issues they want to resolve.”
Legal uncertainty, human costs
The lack of clarity only increased pressure for Wisconsin’s federal court judges to begin tackling the growing pile of habeas petitions, Milwaukee-area immigration attorney Jennifer Bizzotto said.
Even if Pepper were not the court’s chief judge, Bizzotto added, “there are so few judges that it really does matter a great deal.”
Pepper’s recent burst of activity brings relief to attorneys and immigrants with cases on her docket, but some lament the long wait’s human toll. “Of course people are happy to be released,” said Claire McNulty, another Milwaukee-area immigration attorney, “(but) how much of a win is it when it’s taken this long?”
“You’re just sitting in detention for months and months with no movement,” Bizzotto said. “These are real people’s lives that hang in the balance.”
Pepper’s recent rulings came too late for at least one immigrant in custody.
Jarwin Martinez Rayo, a Nicaraguan national arrested by ICE officers in Janesville shortly after President Trump’s second inauguration, filed a habeas petition in August 2025. Pepper took up the petition in late January, ordering DHS to respond within a month.
DHS placed Martinez Rayo on a flight to Mexico in mid-February — an increasingly common practice known as a “third-country removal” wherein federal authorities deport immigrants to countries other than their own. The agency did not notify the Eastern District court until June, at which point Pepper dismissed the case without commenting on the administration’s mandatory detention rule.
Bizzotto said the 7th Circuit’s split leaves even more immigrants in limbo.
“We’re all living on borrowed time here,” she said, “and if you want to go for optimism, at least we have one more judge who we know is willing to rule against (the policy).”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.
Ahead of the 2026 midterms, Wisconsin election officials are planning for the potential of mail ballot delivery delays by encouraging voters to mail back absentee ballots as soon as possible or return them some other way.
Unlike many other states, which allow ballots to be counted if they arrive after Election Day as long as they’re postmarked by that day and arrive by a set cutoff time, Wisconsin requires mail ballots to arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
Historically, the USPS and Wisconsin Elections Commission advised voters that mailing back a ballot a week ahead of Election Day would suffice. Now, the commission and municipal clerks are calling on voters to allow more time.
Milwaukee election chief Paulina Gutiérrez reported receiving only 20 mail ballots on Election Day in April’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election — a low number even for a small election — but more than 269 late ballots on the day after, which Gutiérrez said was a high number for an election of that size. Seeking to avoid such a high number of late-arriving ballots in the future, Gutiérrez told Votebeat that for the upcoming August election, the city opened its ballot drop boxes four weeks sooner than it would have in the past.
“We are encouraging voters to use our drop boxes or drop off their absentee ballot at (early in-person voting sites),” she said.
If they’re unable to do either, Gutiérrez said voters should mail back their ballots at least two weeks ahead of Election Day.
In Madison, which received more than 100 late ballots in April — also more than what’s typical — City Clerk Lydia McComas told Votebeat that drop boxes open three weeks ahead of the August election.
“We emphasize this is a convenient and far faster option than returning an absentee ballot via USPS,” she said.
Many election officials observe mail delays
These concerns are shared by election officials across the state.
In a recent survey, two-thirds of Wisconsin election officials said they observed problems with absentee ballot mail delivery in the April election. About one-third of officials said voters had complained to them about mail delays.
Nearly 40% said that mail performance in the election was somewhat or much worse than mail performance in past elections.
That experience isn’t universal. Vernon County Clerk Jerry Pedretti, who’s also clerk of the separate town and village of Genoa, told Votebeat that rural USPS workers recognize absentee ballots from the envelopes and make “every effort to make sure that they’re getting them delivered.”
Similarly, Buffalo County Clerk Lisa Schmitt said a couple of ballots arrived after Election Day in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election but problems weren’t major. That was likely a result of postmasters keeping the mail local rather than sending it out via Minnesota for processing, which she said is the typical procedure for non-election mail.
Nonetheless, commissioners at the Wisconsin Elections Commission are concerned about the delays. On MyVote, a website for voters to request ballots, the commission still includes the USPS recommendation for voters to return mail ballots at least seven days before Election Day. But in June, the commission’s new election manual and guidance to voters went further, suggesting at least 10 days before Election Day.
At a meeting in early July, commissioners discussed this updated guidance. “I’m concerned about us just saying 10 days is enough,” Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said at the meeting.
USPS spokesperson Desai Abdul-Razzaaq said that he is confident the Postal Service will perform well in the upcoming elections. While he said the USPS takes officials’ concerns from the April election seriously, he said “the overwhelming majority of Election Mail was processed and delivered within established service standards.”
Voters sue for ability to cast provisional ballots
Amid these delays, voters are challenging commission guidance prohibiting voters from casting in-person ballots on Election Day if they think their mail ballot might arrive too late to be counted.
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin said the commission’s guidance violates the right to vote enshrined in the Wisconsin Constitution and is calling on a Dane County Circuit Court judge to allow voters to cast provisional ballots if they think their ballots might arrive late.
Unlike standard in-person ballots, which generally go directly from the person casting them to a tabulator, provisional ballots are segregated and verified and counted later on, once election officials determine they are validly cast. The league is asking for mail voters to be able to cast provisional ballots and only have them counted if their mail ballots don’t arrive on time.
State law says that a voter who mails or delivers an absentee ballot to a clerk isn’t permitted to vote in person in the same election on Election Day. But the league said the commission is too narrowly interpreting that law in its rule prohibiting voters from casting ballots if they suspect their ballot will arrive late.
“This rule risks denying Impacted Voters their right to vote — the right most preservative of all others,” the lawsuit states.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
King Yang, 3, dances in the rain at his brother Yaay Aden Yang’s graduation party at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul on June 28, 2026. Their father, Zong Yang, was deported to Laos in May. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
Yaay Yang held onto his 3-year-old brother King’s hand as the two walked home on a sunny June afternoon. Their mom had caught King playing in a muddy puddle and asked the eldest of her five boys to escort him home for a change of clothes.
A few blocks away, Yaay’s relatives sat under a pavilion at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul, waiting for his return so they could celebrate his high school graduation.
“I do understand it … being the role model,” Yaay, 17, said on the walk home. “It’s what I have to do. Even if I’m really not the best, I still want to be a good one for them.”
Yaay’s life turned upside down five months ago when his dad, Zong Yang, 48, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February. Yaay, who also goes by his middle name Aden, found himself stepping into his father’s shoes. His mother, Linda Yang, became a single parent overnight, raising five sons without Zong – King, 3; Titan, 7; Everest, 8; Kenji, 15; Yaay, 17.
“I don’t want to disappoint them,” Yaay said of his younger brothers.
Yaay Aden Yang, who often goes by his middle name, cuts a cake at his high school graduation party at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul on June 28, 2026. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
Days after his dad was detained, he started falling behind in school. He eventually bounced back and started caring for his brothers after school. He’s taken on more house chores and cooks for his brothers.
“Admittedly, I’m not that good,” he said of his cooking skills, a slight smile on his face.
Zong had impressed on Yaay the importance of being a strong leader for his brothers long before federal immigration agents flooded Minnesota in late 2025.
“He wants to make sure that I’m ready, and that I have everything all figured out,” Yaay said. “I know that he does care deep down, and I do see that with myself too.”
Relatives embrace Yang family
Yaay helped unload food from relatives’ cars earlier in the day at Lorraine Park as others finished setting up his graduation party. Luna, a black puppy, sat nearby under a picnic bench. The family bought Luna about a year and a half ago for Titan, but Yaay wound up as her main caretaker.
Yaay Aden Yang’s maternal uncle, Genue Lor, prepares the coals for grilling at Yaay’s high school graduation party. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
In between greeting guests, Yaay found a quiet moment to check on King as he sat with cousins on a bench and gently rubbed the side of his cheek.
Family members from North Carolina and Minnesota gathered after a heavy rain in the morning left puddles. Pop music played loudly over a speaker as guests ate pasta and Cheetos while Yaay’s uncle, Genue Lor, grilled sausages. While the mood was joyful, tears punctuated the day, as it was the first time the family had gathered in such large numbers since Zong’s deportation in May.
As news of immigration agents arresting Hmong residents emerged last year, Zong’s potential deportation began looming over the family. Yaay said his dad had held onto the hope that he could avoid detention and deportation so he could attend the graduation events.
Yaay pictured seeing both of his parents sitting among other families as he walked across the stage in his graduation cap and gown.
“It does hurt,” he said of his dad’s absence from his graduation ceremony in early June. “A lot.”
Yaay Aden Yang poses for pictures with his mother, Linda Yang, after graduating from South St. Paul Secondary School on June 4, 2026. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
Zong was deported due to a felony burglary conviction from his early 20s and is one of many Hmong and Southeast Asian residents from Minnesota and elsewhere who were deported during Operation Metro Surge.
“He’s the glue that kept everybody together,” Linda said of Zong at the graduation party. “He’s kind of a jokester, and he likes to keep everybody entertained. If anything, he would be with everybody just drinking with them.”
Dozens of children and adults danced to the music at the party. A large handmade sign hung in the background, reading “Congratulations” in large cursive red and white letters – Yaay’s high school colors.
“It’s really big,” Yaay said of the party. “Can’t believe this is actually for me.”
Linda’s older brother, John Lor, who lives in Inver Grove Heights, came with his wife and children. He was in the Yang family’s backyard with Zong when Linda called Zong on Feb. 4 to inform him that federal agents had abruptly cut her off on her way to work, and that they planned to pick him up the next morning.
“I stayed with the family that day,” Lor said. “It was really heartbreaking. I try my best now to help my brother-in-law and my sister.”
Linda’s younger sister, Mai Cua Lor, who was at the party, looked up to Linda her entire life as a model for how to be a wife and mom.
“She and her husband – they made such a big impact in our lives, showing us what love is and how to care for one another and putting family first,” Mai Cua said, adding that Linda is a “strong, independent woman.”
But losing Zong has taken a toll on Linda, Mai Cua said.
“She don’t ever ask for help. She don’t ever cry. She don’t ever show her weakness. So, when she turns to us and says, ‘I need help. I need support,’ it breaks my heart,” she said, her voice breaking. “Cause that’s my sister; she don’t ever ask for anything.”
Mai Cua, who lives in North Carolina, felt helpless that she couldn’t do anything when Zong was detained, but she told Linda and her sons to never hesitate to ask for help.
Pa Houa Lo, one of Linda’s three sisters, lives in Elk River and drives down often to lift Linda’s spirits.
“She’s so strong for her kids, and she doesn’t want her kids to see her cry, but then she turns to us,” Pa Houa said, breaking into a sob, ”and she just tells us she’s broken, ‘cause her rock is gone.”
Yaay Aden Yang’s maternal aunts, Pa Houa Lo, left, and Mai Cua Lor, right, at his graduation party at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul on June 28, 2026. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
Linda grew up in North Carolina and was living there when a mutual friend introduced her to Zong, who lived in Minneapolis at the time. They kept in touch until they met in person in 2007; they married a year later.
Linda’s brother, Genue Lor, drove 18 hours from North Carolina with his two children to support her. He said he’ll always support his sister and brother-in-law, but understands why opinions are divided over the reason for Zong’s deportation.
Linda knew about Zong’s past. He attended regular check-ins with federal immigration officials for 20 years. Since Laos historically refused to accept deportees from the United States, Linda and Zong never imagined he would be sent abroad. But things started to change last year as Laos shifted its stance due to political pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. Reality settled in.
Linda told Sahan Journal she plans to move to Laos after their children are grown.
“I believe in my sister, and she believes in the law of the system, too,” Genue said. “They really do believe in the American system. That’s why she still has hope that, one day, things will be better. Maybe not in the short-term, but in the long-term, because it’s just the hope of returning together and seeing each other again.”
A dad’s toast from abroad
Surrounded by Yaay and her parents, who flew in from North Carolina, Linda delivered a short speech in the afternoon, thanking Yaay for stepping up to care for his brothers while also dealing with the pressures of being a high school senior.
She smiled as tears ran down her face.
“We haven’t done much for you, but you’ve done so much for us,” she said in a trembling voice.
Linda Yang, left, tears up as she plays a pre-recorded message from her husband, Zong Yang, at their son Yaay Aden Yang’s high school graduation party at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul on June 28, 2026. Zong was deported to Laos in May. Yaay, right, plans to attend Winona State University this fall. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
She paused for a breath.
“And now you’re leaving me!” she said before bursting into laughter.
Yaay wrapped his arm around his mom in a hug, prompting smiles among the guests. She leaned her head on his chest. Then, she announced a pre-recorded video toast from Zong.
“But this toast isn’t my toast, ‘kay?” she said, her voice cracking. “This is Zong’s toast to everybody, ‘kay?”
She held up her phone, and Zong’s face appeared on the screen.
“I just want to do a little toast,” he said as cars zoomed by in the background.
He thanked the guests for their attendance and said he was proud of Yaay. Speaking in Hmong, he said his heart cries when he thinks of the distance between himself and his family.
“Aden, I’m very proud of you, son,” he said in English. “You did it. You made it. … It tears me up every time to think about you guys.”
Yaay choked back tears as he stood next to his mom with his arms behind his back, his hands clasped together. Chong Lo, Yaay’s 65-year-old maternal grandmother, gave him a hug. Linda’s sister, Pa Houa, buried her face in her scarf. Everest, Yaay’s 8-year-old brother, cried as he listened to Zong’s recording.
“Just want to say I love you — miss you man,” Zong said in the video, addressing Yaay. “I wish I could be there, but I can’t.”
Zong held up a can of beer.
“Remember, do the right thing in life,” he told Yaay. “Cheers you guys.”
He downed the drink. Guests at the party lifted their beers and drank them all in one go.
‘I’m not doing good’
Zong told Sahan Journal in an interview later that he couldn’t appear at the party via a livestream because seeing his family’s faces and hearing their questions would have flooded him with emotions.
“I knew if I came live, I would have just been crying,” he said. “I would just be bawling, so I couldn’t do it like that.”
He couldn’t bear the thought of his family asking him how he was doing.
“I’m not doing good,” he said in a shaky voice. “I miss my wife, I miss my kids – so that’s why I couldn’t do it live.”
The Yang family is shown in an undated photo taken at a family event. Back row left to right: Linda, Yaay, Kenji and Zong. Front row left to right: Titan, King and Everest. (Courtesy of Linda Yang)
Zong was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and was never issued citizenship in Thailand, Laos or the United States. He received a green card when he immigrated to the United States with his family as a child and said he never applied for citizenship because he assumed that his green card secured lifelong residency in the country because it said, “Permanent Resident.”
His family first settled in California, where most of his siblings and his mom still live. He has an older brother in Minnesota. His dad died several years ago from a sudden illness.
Zong was convicted of felony burglary in Wisconsin in 1999 for stealing several semi-automatic handguns from the Gander Mountain store in Appleton, Wisconsin, when he was 21. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, serving about seven years before he was released at the end of 2006, according to court records. His criminal record also includes a conviction for drug possession in 2019.
Yaay Aden Yang’s relatives gathered in late June to celebrate his high school graduation. His father, Zong Yang, appeared at the party in a pre-recorded message because he was deported to Laos in May. Our partners at @SahanJournal followed Aden in the latest installment of an occasional series documenting how deportation reshapes families long after a loved one leaves. #Hmong#Deportation#MetroSurge#SouthStPaul#Minnesota#Midwest
The burglary conviction is considered a removal offense by the federal government and stripped Zong of his green card and prevented him from ever applying for U.S. citizenship. It also resulted in a final order for deportation against him that required him to regularly check in with ICE at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at the discretion of his immigration officer, or until the government could find a country that would accept him as a deportee.
Zong spent about four months earlier this year in immigration detention facilities in Texas and Louisiana, before he was put on a flight to Laos. When he arrived in Laos on May 9, he was moved to a detention facility operated by the Lao government. He was later released because a local sponsor vouched for him, which is required of U.S. deportees before they leave Lao custody.
“Nervousness is still there,” he said of his slow assimilation to life in Laos, a country he had never stepped foot in before.
These days, he’s less intimidated buying food from local vendors, or when meeting new people. He’s making small steps to care for himself: He often goes to the gym with a friend and recently opened up a bank account.
He lives alone in an apartment located 15 minutes from the National University of Laos in Vientiane, the country’s capital.
“It’s like watching your life just live before you, and you can’t do nothing about it, just go on without you, you know? Like I was supposed to be in the picture,” Zong said of why he didn’t appear live at Yaay’s graduation party. “I’m not supposed to be 2,000 miles away. I’m not supposed to be in the Eastern Hemisphere, you know? I’m supposed to be right there with them.”
Yaay prepares for college
After Zong’s toast, Linda passed the microphone to Yaay, who was caught by surprise. Yaay told the guests he plans to attend Winona State University this fall and study chemistry.
“I’m just going to go and see what life has planned for me,” he said, holding tightly onto the microphone as he nervously glanced at the ground.
“You got it baby!” his maternal aunt, Pa Houa, shouted.
Yaay graduated on June 4, walking across the stage in his red cap and gown as his dad watched live on WhatsApp through Linda’s cellphone. Zong, who didn’t attend college, always reminded his children to focus on education.
Yaay walked with about 200 high school seniors. He wore a red stole with a Hmong design of the elephant foot motif and his name written in Hmong, “Yej Yaj.” Some of the student and teacher commencement speakers briefly addressed the federal immigration operation that rippled across Minnesota from late 2025 through early 2026.
“It is a city built on the backs of immigrants, and it continues to be a community where we are strengthened by our immigrant families,” student speaker Jackson Schultz said about South St. Paul.
Yaay was one of the last students called on stage. Linda zoomed in on him to give Zong a better view. Linda’s sister, Pa Houa, and Zong’s cousin, Mai Zoua, cheered loudly.
“It’s emotional,” Linda said at the graduation ceremony. “I know his dad wanted to be here; it’s another one of those bittersweet moments.”
Linda Yang holds her youngest son King, 3, in her lap as she watches her eldest, Yaay Aden Yang, graduate from South St. Paul Secondary School on June 4, 2026. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
Yaay, filled with a mix of excitement and nervous energy, found his family when the ceremony ended.
“It’s the first time that my life’s not really being directed by going to the next school grade,” he said. “It’s going into college and moving up and living on my own. It’s adulting, basically.”
Yaay smiled happily for photos, holding a bouquet of flowers and a string of balloons. He’s relied on close school friends to cope with his dad’s deportation.
“It is a big accomplishment and obviously with all this stuff going on, I wish my dad was here to witness me do this, and just be here with me in this moment,” he said. “Being able to make my parents proud and being able to live up to their expectations, even how basic it is, it’s still heartwarming.”
More than 7,000 miles away, Zong watched from Laos at about 8 a.m. as Yaay walked across the stage at 8 p.m. Minnesota time.
“I was just happy to see people that still love us to go support even though I wasn’t there,” Zong told Sahan Journal in an interview later, his voice cracking. “It was hard, but it’s just something that I was happy to see.”
He hopes to find ways to still be a part of his sons’ lives during big and small milestones.
“I hope that as they get older, they will understand the whole situation,” he said. “I hope that they do not hold on to say that I left willingly, that you know, that I had a choice, and I just went. That’s what’s going to hurt me the most.”
Not dead, but gone
Yaay’s maternal grandfather, Nhia Ying Lo, 67, also gave a speech at Yaay’s graduation party, telling Linda to have a big heart, and that she has a family to rely on. He bent over and cried into his hand at times, overcome with emotions.
Nhia Ying told Sahan Journal in an interview that what happened to Zong is unfair, given how the United States enlisted Hmong allies to fight in the Vietnam War.
The United States started to recruit Hmong men and boys in 1961 to fight in a CIA-backed operation against Vietnamese communists. An estimated one-fourth of the Hmong men and boys who were recruited died in service, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.
Following the end of the Vietnam War, Hmong people fled political persecution prompted by their alliance with the United States. Many ended up in Thai refugee camps. Many Hmong, including Zong, were born in the camps and later immigrated to the United States.
That generation of Hmong people don’t know the Lao culture or language, Nhia Ying said, and only have familiarity with the Hmong community in the United States.
“Why would they take people like this, with access to jobs, to go live in Laos? They know we are people who don’t know anything (in Laos),” he said.
When it was time for her speech, Yaay’s maternal grandmother, Chong Lo, 65, stood in front of him, one hand clasped over his shoulder.
“Help each other,” she said in Hmong. “Love your mom.”
Yaay Aden Yang is congratulated by friends and family members after graduating from South St. Paul High School on June 4, 2026. His dad’s cousin, Mai Zoua, is pictured at left. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal)
She cried every time she talked about Zong, or heard his name mentioned at the party.
“I want people to see this, to know what the pain is like, that his life – he’s not dead, but he’s gone,” she said in an interview.
She pressed a tissue to her nose.
“For a family to actually survive this, the parent with the children has to work double — double shifts,” she said, crying so hard she could barely finish her sentence.
Seeing Yaay and Kenji helping Linda gives her some relief, she added. Linda’s sister and brother, Pa Houa and John Lor, who live in Minnesota, regularly visit the Yang family to help with the children.
“We’re never going to be able to replicate his dad, but we’re here to just show our love and support in every way possible, because he’s (Yayy) as much as our son, and that’s (Zong) as much as our father as well,” Pa Houa said. “It’s good to see (Yaay) pass his milestone, but it’s also a little bitter because you wish everyone could join you.”
Most of their family members were playing volleyball when Yaay and King returned to his graduation party after a 10-minute absence to change Yaay out of his muddy clothes. Yaay let go of King’s hand. King took a few steps and glanced back at Yaay with a look of uncertainty on his face.
“Go,” Yaay said softly, motioning to the playground.
Dozens of relatives from both sides of the family awaited them.
“Seeing everyone here,” Yaay said, “it’s nice, and I think I also needed this – just to see all the people who are there to back me up, and help me, and just give me something to work for and not fail.”
Most Wisconsin law enforcement agencies use body-worn cameras.
The Madison Police Department, despite being one of the largest in the state, does not — at least not department-wide.
That could change, if Common Council members support a budget proposal backed by the mayor and the police department.
Madison’s lack of body cameras has drawn renewed attention in recent days after a Madison officer fatally shot Corey Ruiz, a 38-year-old Black man last Wednesday. Police say the officer was injured after Ruiz pulled a knife. Four officers are now on leave pending a Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation.
Currently, the only Madison officers with body-worn cameras are those on the SWAT team and motorcycle unit.
But at a Thursday press conference about the killing of Ruiz, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said she wanted to fund body-worn cameras for the entire police department. She’s backing a three-year phased plan, that would lead to full adoption by 2029.
That comes after years of contentious debate and multiple failed proposals to broaden the use of body cameras.
“We are in a major metropolitan city in the state of Wisconsin, and Madison is one of the few cities that still does not have police body cameras,” attorney B’Ivory Lamarr said. “In 2026, solving a police shooting should not be a mystery.”
Corey Ruiz’s brother, Adam Ruiz, also said body cameras are needed.
Candles and flowers mark a makeshift memorial at the site where Corey Ruiz was fatally shot by a Madison police officer, July 22, 2026 in Madison, Wis. (Wes Hogg for Wisconsin Watch)
“I believe that system is corrupted and us, as the people, we need to stand up and come together to put a stop to this madness,” Adam Ruiz said. “They need body cameras to stop future incidents to stop future incidents from happening.”
Bystanders took video of the shooting, and Ruiz’s attorneys said, given MPD’s lack of body camera, that footage is essential.
“If there wasn’t video, we can only imagine what the narrative would have been,” attorney Ben Crump said. “Thank God for all of those people who had their cell phones out.”
Mayor says cost swayed her decision
Previously, Rhodes-Conway supported a pilot program that tested out body cameras on a limited basis. But until now, the mayor had not committed to backing a permanent body camera program.
On Thursday, Rhodes-Conway said budget considerations had swayed her decision.
“My main concern has been the cost,” Rhodes-Conway said in response to question from WPR. “When we initially got the estimates from the pilot, there was a very large price tag, and the (police) chief has worked to bring that price tag down in various ways.”
In a budget request submitted earlier this year, Madison’s police department asked for $414,784 over three years to roll out body cameras. That phased approach would start with officers in the city’s north policing district in 2027. By 2029, the cameras would be used across the entire city.
Rhodes-Conway says she plans to back that request from the police department when she submits her own budget proposal later this year. The funding would ultimately need to be approved by Madison’s Common Council.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway speaks during a press conference, Dec. 16, 2024. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)
For more than a decade, Madison body cam proposals have stalled
For more than a decade, Madison’s elected officials have debated whether the city’s entire police force should use body cameras. But efforts to introduce the cameras have been stymied. Over the years, opposition has come from some of the Common Council’s more left-wing members, as well as from some local activists.
The use of body cameras often gains attention in the context of police misconduct. But increasingly, law enforcement officials are using body camera footage as evidence to secure convictions.
During a Common Council meeting in 2023, Madison resident Steve Verburg was among those who spoke out against body cameras.
“What’s happening is this ongoing surveillance ends up worsening over-policing of marginalized communities,” he said.
Another resident, former Common Council candidate Michelle Ellinger Linley, told the council the purpose of body cameras is “not to make our communities safer, but to uphold unnecessary surveillance, tracking and record-keeping of communities at highest risk for exploitation.”
Council president: Community now wants body cameras
More recently, in November 2025, Alder Barbara Harrington-McKinney introduced an amendment that would have redirected just over $400,000 from the Office of the Independent Police Monitor to fund “staffing capacity needs related to implementing body worn cameras.” That amendment failed 17-3.
The amendment would have eliminated the police monitor’s annual budget. And some alders complained it was introduced too late in the budget process.
On Thursday, Madison Common Council President Sabrina Madison said she believes a body camera proposal will clear the council in 2026.
“The community, for a while, was not wanting to implement body-worn cameras yet,” Madison said. “That has changed.”
The city’s police cruisers are outfitted with dashboard and backseat cameras. And cellphone videos from bystanders have been circulating online after Wednesday’s shooting.
But DOJ investigators have no way to review body camera footage if it doesn’t exist.
In an interview with WPR, Madison said it’s impossible to know whether a body-worn camera would have changed the outcome of Wednesday’s shooting. But she said those cameras could provide additional information.
“Now folks are really having that discussion more often about what is the gap that we’re missing when we don’t have that footage,” Madison said.
Madison Police Department backs body cameras
During Thursday’s news conference, Police Chief John Patterson spoke about tensions in Madison following the killing of Ruiz.
“Everyone in this room can feel the thinness of trust in this city right now,” Patterson said.
He called MPD’s lack of body cameras “another challenge to repairing trust in our community.”
Patterson’s predecessor, former Police Chief Shon Barnes, tried to implement department-wide body cameras. Barnes was unable to do so before he left to lead Seattle’s police department last year.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes speaks during a press conference on Dec. 16, 2024. (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)
The Wisconsin Professional Police Association, a union representing police officers, has also advocated for body-worn cameras.
“Unfortunately, because Madison officers are not equipped with body-worn cameras, investigators and the public will not have the benefit of video from the officers’ perspectives in this most recent case,” said the association’s executive director Jim Palmer, referring to the shooting of Ruiz. “Body-worn cameras aren’t perfect and don’t always capture everything an officer sees or experiences, but they can provide critically important additional evidence and context.”
During Madison’s last mayoral election in spring 2023, Rhodes-Conway’s opponent, Gloria Reyes, came out in support of citywide body cameras. Reyes is a former Madison police detective, who was endorsed by the city’s police union.
At the time, Rhodes-Conway did not categorically oppose the proposal. But she cautioned that body cameras alone cannot solve police violence.
Rhodes-Conway expressed a similar sentiment in the days after the killing of Ruiz.
“(Body cameras) are part of a solution,” Rhodes-Conway said Thursday. “But they are not the solution.”
If the police department’s latest proposal is approved, Madison would purchase 220 of body cameras by 2029.
The Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin has changed both dramatically and barely at all since the start of this year.
The size of the field, which remained stagnant at seven major candidates for months, shifted rapidly in the span of 10 days in July that included both the exit of Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez from the race after she revealed problems with her campaign finance reports and the reentry of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who secured a historically rare endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers.
As of Sunday, the race includes former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan, Crowley, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong and Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys.
Here is what hasn’t changed: Hong, a self-described democratic socialist, led her opponents in the third consecutive Marquette University Law School poll released last week, which was conducted prior to Rodriguez’s exit from the race. Internal polling released by Barnes and Crowley’s campaigns also showed Hong in front.
A fractured field means support continues to be spread out across the remaining five candidates and could result in a winner on primary Election Day with far less than 50% of the vote. Meanwhile, Republicans have coalesced around likely nominee U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany for months.
“Hong could certainly win the nomination with 35 to 40% of the vote,” said Anthony Chergosky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. “All available evidence indicates that Hong is below 50% of the vote, but she doesn’t even need 50% of the vote if the field remains so fragmented and divided.”
At the same time, the percentage of undecided voters continues to be higher than those who have selected any specific candidate. The Marquette poll found nearly half of registered voters surveyed in mid-July were undecided.
Wisconsin Watch traveled to forums, farm tours and meet-and-greets around the state as the five remaining candidates have continued to lay out their vision to voters and explain why they are best suited to lead Wisconsin.
The stakes of the race are high. Democrats see 2026 as an opportunity to win control of the Capitol for the first time since 2010, which could result in dramatic new progressive legislation. After Republicans won the governor’s office and majorities in the Senate and the Assembly in 2010, they used that power to dismantle public sector unions, increase pension and health insurance contributions for public employees, cut taxes, freeze UW tuition, restrict abortion, permit concealed carry of firearms, end the state’s land conservation program and enact gerrymandered legislative maps that protected their majority from a Democratic wave in 2018.
It leaves a lot for voters to digest as in-person early voting begins Tuesday and two weeks remain before the partisan primary on Aug. 11. Two key moments this week could reshape the race — a debate hosted by WISN on Tuesday evening and a new Marquette Law School Poll of the current field expected to be released on Wednesday.
Barnes takes aim at political establishment
Mandela Barnes, a Democratic candidate for governor, is seen with End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller at a town hall about money in politics on July 14, 2026. Barnes, the former lieutenant governor who lost a close U.S. Senate race in 2022, is one of five candidates running for an open seat after Gov. Tony Evers chose not to seek reelection. (Brittany Carloni / Wisconsin Watch)
The same day the Wisconsin Elections Commission determined tech businessman Elon Musk likely broke state election laws during the 2025 state Supreme Court race, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes slammed the influence of money in politics at a town hall with End Citizens United, a political group that quickly endorsed him upon his entry in the governor’s race in December.
Wisconsinites rejected Musk’s financial influence last year and must continue to fight against a “rigged system” that doesn’t support policies for working people, like raising the minimum wage, Barnes told the small group gathered at the Goodman Community Center in Madison.
“These are the same industries that are making money hand over fist, the same people in industries that continue to make it hard for folks to get paid,” Barnes said. “You talk about people working harder and harder but life also getting harder and harder. It’s more difficult to get into the middle class. It’s more difficult to be able to purchase that first home. It’s more difficult to be able to even think about the American Dream now.”
Barnes grew up in Milwaukee with a mother as a public school teacher and a father who belonged to the United Auto Workers union. He is a former organizer who served two terms in the state Assembly, ran for and lost a state Senate seat and was elected lieutenant governor during the 2018 blue wave. He has led a voter turnout organization and a clean energy advocacy group, but hasn’t run any large organizations, which opponents have highlighted as a weakness for someone seeking to be the state’s chief executive.
In 2022 he won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate after opponents dropped out ahead of the primary, but narrowly lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. While the race has driven his name recognition in the gubernatorial primary, that 26,000-vote defeat still eats at him, he told guests at the Wisconsin Democratic Convention in June.
The loss has opened him to criticism from other Democrats who have questioned whether he can win in a year when the party is striving for a trifecta in the governor’s office and the Legislature.
While he trails in the polls behind Hong, Barnes insists he remains the most battle-tested candidate to take on obstacles for Democrats after the primary. The recent Marquette poll shows only Barnes leading in head-to-head matchups against Tiffany among the remaining candidates in the race, although last week’s poll did not include Crowley.
Barnes has campaigned on what he calls “The Wisconsin Way,” a policy agenda that includes raising taxes on the rich, expanding BadgerCare, passing universal child care and freezing utility rates, though some experts question whether Barnes would have the legal authority to freeze rates as governor.
At a Democratic forum in Belmont, Barnes criticized the political moves that led Crowley to reenter the governor’s race with Evers’ endorsement. It’s another example of a system that leaves people frustrated with politics, he said in a clip shared on social media.
“The only people who win when we continue to play these insider politics games are corporations and special interests,” he said. “We deserve so much more.”
Brennan brings state government experience
Joel Brennan, right in white shirt, a Democratic candidate for governor, campaigns at a farm in East Troy, Wis., on July 2, 2026. Brennan spoke with research agronomist Jim Stute (green shirt), who owns the farm, and Chuck Anderas (blue shirt), the policy director at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. (Brittany Carloni / Wisconsin Watch)
Joel Brennan arrived at an East Troy farm ready to listen.
Brennan nodded as Jim Stute, a research agronomist, explained how precipitation levels have changed on the property he has lived on for nearly three decades. Brennan leaned against a headless scarecrow in a white lab suit among the neat rows of research crops as Stute described his tactics to scare away sandhill cranes.
It’s a window into how Brennan, a longtime city dweller who grew up in Brookfield and lives in Milwaukee, has approached his campaign for governor.
“It’s got to be about learning and listening. If we’re going to get stuff done, it has to be around … data-driven decisions and personal stories,” Brennan explained. “For me it is about how do I get out here and do this, how do I learn from people who have been doing it, what are the successes, what are the ways the state’s been involved, and what’s the opportunity for us?”
Brennan is unabashedly running as a moderate Democrat, often aligning himself with the Evers administration that he helped lead as the secretary of the Department of Administration. He highlights his willingness to continue working across the aisle to get things done for Wisconsinites.
Like many of Brennan’s primary opponents, his campaign has focused on ways to make life more affordable in Wisconsin, such as expanding Medicaid and providing a public option for BadgerCare. But his ideas have often differed from some of the large-scale policies of his primary opponents. While the other Democrats have backed universal child care, Brennan has instead favored tax credits for child care businesses, caps on out-of-pocket costs for families and expanding eligibility for the existing Wisconsin Shares program.
He entered the race in mid-December and has leaned on his career experience holding executive-level roles in businesses and nonprofits, including serving as CEO of Discovery World and president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. In 2018, Evers tapped Brennan to lead the DOA, the top state executive agency tasked with overseeing financial management of state agencies and helping the governor draft the biennial budget. Brennan left that position in 2022.
Brennan is the only one of the remaining candidates who has not held elected office before, which has limited his name recognition. Though he was the first Democratic candidate to launch a campaign ad in June, he only mustered 5% support in last week’s Marquette poll.
Still, he has tried to find ways to push through the crowd, including questioning the electability of front-runners or his primary opponents’ leadership decisions. He was the first to attack Rodriguez with pointed questions after she fired her campaign manager over inaccuracies in her financial reports and released an ad last week criticizing Hong, Barnes and Crowley as unelectable in a general election. The ad, however, received pushback from Black Democrats, who called the spot racist for specifically highlighting candidates of color. It left out mention of Roys, who is white like Brennan.
Brennan insists his executive experience gives him an edge over the candidates with legislative experience who “don’t have defined duties.”
“That’s what I’m going to keep leaning into,” Brennan said. “That, plus listening and learning, I think, gets you to a point where people can see me doing the job, know that I could win and could be effective as governor. Those are the ingredients that get me to where I need to get to.”
Crowley returns with Evers’ endorsement
David Crowley, a Democratic candidate for governor, speaks to guests at a meet-and-greet at the Concordia Ballroom in La Crosse, Wis., on July 23, 2026. Crowley, who dropped out of the race in early July, reentered on July 18 with an endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers. (Brittany Carloni / Wisconsin Watch)
The first question for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley from a smattering of people gathered at the Concordia Ballroom in La Crosse was about why he dropped out of the governor’s race in early July.
“It’s a long story,” Crowley said. He explained he initially chose to leave the race based on the numbers and campaign ad buy announcements that seemed to show Rodriguez with the best path forward, but more information came out about Rodriguez’s financial position that showed it was not the case.
Crowley restarted his campaign on July 18. While Crowley acknowledged he may be the “double Dutch candidate” in the race, he told the group in La Crosse he feels a momentum propelling his campaign that was not there before.
The most significant boost came from Evers, who endorsed Crowley on July 18 over the remaining candidates who served in his administration. Evers in a statement described Crowley as “the right candidate for the people of Wisconsin.”
“He’s not just a candidate who can win in November,” Evers said. “But he’s the kind of person who cares about doing the job right, he has the experience to make tough decisions, and he’s proven he can work together with others to get good things done.”
Crowley, at 40, is both the youngest and first Black person to serve as Milwaukee County executive, the job that oversees the most populous county in Wisconsin. It’s a role previously held by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. “I’m not like him, though,” Crowley said with a chuckle to a guest in La Crosse.
Crowley grew up in Milwaukee and navigated challenging early years as his parents struggled with mental health and addiction and his family faced evictions. He credits public schools with his path to success and eventually became a community organizer.
His entry into politics first began with work on former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold’s campaign. Crowley was first elected to office in 2016 when he ran for state Assembly. He served two terms and left the Legislature in 2020 to run for Milwaukee County executive.
Crowley tells audiences at campaign events how, as county executive, he has not shied away from working with anyone, including lawmakers across the aisle, to improve the lives of people in Milwaukee County. In La Crosse, he told the group about his efforts in passing the 2023 shared revenue law that has helped Milwaukee County pay off debts incurred from the pension scandal in the early 2000s, although Crowley acknowledged the law did not solve all municipal funding problems across the state.
Crowley has focused his campaign on an affordability plan referred to as the “Badger Basics,” which includes proposals such as building more housing, creating a public option for BadgerCare and easing child care costs for families with a child under age 5 by capping their costs at 7% of their household income.
The key question for Crowley’s campaign is whether any momentum following his reentry into the race can actually push Crowley to the front of the field with just two weeks left to go.
The new Marquette poll this week will provide a window into if his support has grown among registered voters, but in recent days, Crowley has also had to field questions about profane social media posts on an account he said he once shared with others. Crowley’s campaign told news outlets that although he had access to the account, he did not write any of the posts.
Crowley said Evers’ endorsement shows the governor, whose job performance remains favorable among Wisconsin voters, believes in Crowley’s judgment.
“I think indirectly, people are wondering, ‘OK, who the hell is this dude, and why did Governor Evers pick him?’” Crowley said. “So, people are showing up. They’re paying attention to our social media posts, and they’re coming out to volunteer and donating their hard-earned money to support this campaign because they trust his judgment.”
Hong rides momentum into final weeks of primary campaign
Francesca Hong, a Democratic candidate for governor (green hat), visits the Wegmueller farm in Monroe, Wis., on July 12, 2026. Hong, a Madison state representative, is a democratic socialist and has gained national attention for her campaign as democratic socialists have won big races in other states. (Brittany Carloni / Wisconsin Watch)
Francesca Hong diced tomatoes for pico de gallo as she told guests at Dan Wegmueller’s farm in Monroe about the top question she hears on the campaign trail.
Why is she a democratic socialist?
“It’s less about the labels and more about the solutions,” Hong explained as her knife hit the cutting board, a familiar task for the chef and former restaurant owner. “When we are focusing on local, on the means of taking care of people and lowering costs, that has to mean being less reliant on industry. Right now, our community is being dominated by billionaires and mega corporations not paying their fair share, and then deciding a lot of the pricing and the way that we live our lives.”
Hong, a 37-year-old state representative from deep-blue Madison, has emerged as a top contender in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. Her surprising rise comes as democratic socialists are winning primaries across the country and rejecting establishment policies. Hong has led in three Marquette polls since October and finished second behind Rodriguez in the WisPolitics straw poll at the Wisconsin Democratic Convention in June.
If Hong wins the nomination, the key question for Democrats in swing-state Wisconsin is whether her policies appeal to voters across the state. The Marquette poll last week showed more registered voters have an unfavorable view of the democratic socialist label than a favorable one.
Republicans appear to be rooting for her nomination. A recent ad from the Republican Governors Association ominously casts her as being too liberal, opposed to President Donald Trump and supportive of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — all statements that could entice Democrats to vote for her in the primary.
Hong has had to answer questions about controversial democratic socialist views, such as her past social media posts in support of defunding and abolishing the police. She told radio station WTMJ in July that she does not believe police funding should go away. At the same time, Hong has faced backlash from Republicans for her statement that described the fatal shooting of Corey Ruiz in Madison as “an execution.”
Hong also has had to fend off questions about appearing on a fundraising live stream with Hasan Piker, the controversial political commentator and streamer, who has been criticized for antisemitic comments. Hong told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she disagrees with some of Piker’s comments, but said candidates should not give up opportunities to address large audiences.
Hong, a single mother who was elected to the Assembly in 2020, has leaned on her service industry background and economic policy proposals, including universal child care and a moratorium on data center construction, to connect with voters.
In the final weeks, Hong said she plans to continue to show up in communities not expecting to see a candidate and engage in one-to-one conversations to drive curiosity about her vision and policies. People underestimate the extent that policy matters more than labels and existing political boundaries, Hong said.
“I’m lucky that I get to say and show up as a chef, a mom, a renter, a service industry worker,” Hong said. “That from worker to worker we’ve got to talk about how we’ve got to fix this.”
Roys has teachers union endorsement, campaign experience
Kelda Roys, a Democratic candidate for governor (blue blazer), speaks at a rural issues forum at Evansville High School in Evansville, Wis., on July 9, 2026. Roys, a Madison state senator, is one of five candidates running for an open seat after Gov. Tony Evers chose not to seek reelection. (Brittany Carloni / Wisconsin Watch)
Kelda Roys, sitting center stage in Evansville High School’s auditorium, eagerly chose a bucket brimming with education questions as the first category of the night during a forum on rural issues in early July. Just three candidates — Roys, Hong and Republican Andy Manske — participated.
It was an obvious move for the Madison state senator, who won the endorsement of Wisconsin’s largest teachers union and bills herself as the “education candidate” in this year’s Democratic primary.
Roys used the question — explain your position on separation of church and state regarding public schools in Wisconsin — to share her broader vision for public education in the state.
“What my kids are getting in our public schools is not the same as what my sisters and I got, and it’s not OK with me,” Roys told the crowd. “A huge part of that reason is because we are diverting public resources into private unaccountable vouchers, many of them religious in nature. So, as governor, I will fully fund our public schools.”
Gubernatorial forums are familiar spaces for Roys. She ran for governor in 2018, when 10 candidates competed in the Democratic primary for the chance to unseat then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Roys finished third far behind Evers, who defeated Walker that November.
Before that, she served two terms in the Assembly from 2009 through 2013, which overlapped with the early years of the Republican trifecta control of state government and the passage of Act 10. Roys led protests against the law that dismantled collective bargaining rights for most public employees while serving as the Assembly’s Democratic caucus chair.
In 2012, she ran for Congress and lost the Democratic primary to now-U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan. Roys returned to the Legislature when she was elected to the state Senate in 2020 after winning a seven-candidate Democratic primary on Madison’s west side and ran unopposed in 2024. She is also an attorney and a real estate agent.
Roys has focused her campaign on funding public schools, but also lowering costs and raising wages. Her policies include plans to open the state’s insurance plan to all Wisconsinites to decrease the cost of health insurance. She also proposes universal access to Wisconsin Shares, the state’s child care subsidy program for low-income families, with costs capped at 7% of parents’ income per child. The state would fund its portion of the costs through legalizing marijuana. “You’re going to be able to get baked for babies,” she said to laughs in Evansville.
She is quick at campaign events to describe the Trump administration as a “dangerous authoritarian regime,” while promising to safeguard Wisconsinites and their rights from attacks by the federal government.
Roys, though, has not made inroads in polling over the course of the primary, and last week’s Marquette poll shows her at the bottom of the pack among registered voters with support at just 2%.
Still, Wisconsin needs an experienced leader in this moment when Democratic control is on the line, and her experience in the Legislature makes her best suited for the job, she said.
“For over 20 years I have been turning progressive ideas into law in the toughest of political environments, and that is the kind of experience and deliverables that we should expect from our next governor,” Roys said. “Not just somebody with good ideas, because we’ve got six (now five) great Democrats running … but you’ve got to be able to turn them into law.”
Editor’s note: This story corrects that Joel Brennan was president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
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Milwaukee has become part of a mass surveillance apparatus. Surveillance technology is dangerous, and few know that these are counterinsurgency tactics being practiced on residents by our own police department.
Integrated surveillance technology tactics, like drones, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), video cameras, “Stingray” international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catchers, and social media trackers, were developed during colonial endeavors and on battlefields like Vietnam, Colombia and the Middle East to pacify local populations.
These types of surveillance technologies made their way back for use against the domestic populace in the United States.
The dangers of Flock cameras
It’s unfortunate that the police have resorted to counterinsurgency tactics to surveil Milwaukee residents, but one is uniquely dangerous: automated license plate reading technology, more popularly known as Flock cameras.
Flock technology can establish a “pattern of life” for Milwaukee residents, especially when combined with other surveillance technologies, without a warrant or probable cause.
A “pattern of life” is the recurring patterns, behaviors and cycles that make up your average day-to-day activities. Establishing a pattern of life involves law enforcement collecting surveillance data and combining it to build a detailed picture of a person’s habits, routines, relationships and behavior. This includes where a person sleeps, when they leave, where they work, where they regularly meet, what vehicle they drive, which routes they take and much more.
Flock cameras and other automatic license plate recognition tools also record other information, such as make, model, color, body style, temporary tags, damage and stickers. They call it the “vehicle footprint” and use it when there is no license plate or the license plate is unreadable. These cameras actually record everything in a wide angle, but allegedly the interface that the local police can see only displays what I’ve mentioned.
The companies that make them, and theoretically anyone who accesses the recording, can see everything captured in the videos. That means faces, cellphones, clothes, actions – everything.
The Milwaukee Police Department combines this with open-source intelligence like Babel Street, which analyzes publicly available information, such as social media data. This means they can also begin to build out a psychological profile, ideology, interests and a network of associates.
Over-policing the community
The Milwaukee Police Department made more arrests for reckless driving in 2025 compared to 2024. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service file photo)
Although the MPD has acquired this technology under the pretext of solving crime, it indiscriminately monitors all Milwaukee residents’ whereabouts and online activities, and that does not make Milwaukee safer. Instead, it reinforces over-policing, and these technologies tend to be concentrated in Black and Latino communities.
Studies show that over-policing produces more crime because it deteriorates community-police relations, causing communities to abide by what sociologists call the “code of the street,” which causes retaliatory violence.
Researchers have clearly illustrated that most crime is a result of unmet needs, so if we intend to make Milwaukee safe, policing and surveilling the populace will not create a safe community. If people still have to survive harsh circumstances, the government can place all the surveillance technology and police they desire; people will still find ways to survive when faced with intense, concentrated poverty, hyper-segregation, economic exclusion and structural racism.
Furthermore, the current federal landscape has set a dangerous precedent for how it accesses and exploits the surveillance data collected by local police and sheriff’s departments. We must oppose and ban Flock automated license plate readers and any other technology that undermines civil liberties and privacy. The abuse of these technologies causes more problems for Milwaukee residents. We need to remove them to protect our privacy and democracy.
Nickolas X Dohertyis the Confronting Mass Incarceration coordinator at the Milwaukee Turners.
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service invites community members to submit opinion pieces of 500-800 words on topics of interest to central city Milwaukee. To send a submission for consideration, please email info@milwaukeenns.org. The views expressed are solely those of the authors.
In Milwaukee at H.W. Longfellow School’s Community Learning Center, which is operated by the South Side nonprofit Journey House, staff are always finding new ways to immerse students in art and culture.
To help, Cherise Myers, Journey House director of community partnerships, said the nonprofit utilizes state Child Care Bridge payments to bring in instructors specializing in art, dance, digital media and more.
Now Longfellow and other Milwaukee Public Schools-based before- and after-school programs must grapple with how to continue exposing students who don’t often get exposure to art while losing thousands of dollars in stabilization payments.
“This is kind of putting the nail in the coffin,” Myers said. “Not being able to have the money to contract or work with these opportunities.”
The Child Care Bridge Payments Program was the state’s temporary solution to the federal government sunsetting Child Care Counts, a monthly federal child care stabilization program born out of the pandemic that supported nearly 1,400 child care providers in the city of Milwaukee.
The Wisconsin Legislature budgeted for a year of Child Care Bridge payments, which ended last month.
Journey House received over $6,300 from the state in 2026 to support the Longfellow Community Learning Center. About 90 MPS-based before- and after-school programs collectively received $1.2 million in 2025.
Activities to be cut
Milwaukee Recreation, which received Child Care Bridge funding to operate child care as part of its programming at MPS locations, has struggled to attract and retain high-quality staff with competitive wages.
The monthly Child Care Counts and later state Child Care Bridge funding were critical in raising wages and giving employee bonuses, Community Learning Center coordinator Leighton Cooper said.
Cooper, who coordinates Community Learning Centers through Milwaukee Recreation, said the funding helped staff stay longer at their programs overall.
“It’s causing us less and less to have to go out and find and recruit more and more staff to operate our programs,” he said.
Now that Child Care Counts and Child Care Bridge payments have ended, Cooper said Milwaukee Recreation may have to cut funding for some supplies and activities, stop giving bonuses and cut staff positions beyond the required ratios from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.
“Our staff wages certainly can’t be changed,” Cooper said. “Staff are paid and that’s going to help us to keep staff in spaces.”
Journey House received less funding than other Community Learning Centers, and Myers said the organization already can’t always compete with wages at other schools.
Myers said the ended funding may not affect new employees who were hired on starting pay, but veteran employees may leave if pay drops. Many already rely on other jobs to make ends meet, she said.
Still, Myers said the money helped Journey House bring in instructors from local colleges, universities and community organizations to lead activities because those instructors aren’t always free.
Myers said Journey House programming depends on student needs, but the organization runs chess and Lego clubs, flag football, basketball and cheerleading classes, painting and metal classes and more.
500 programs across state losing funds
Across Milwaukee, about 90 MPS-based Community Learning Centers and before- and after-school camps received $1.2 million in 2025, according to Wisconsin Department of Children and Families data.
Randy Neve, lead of the Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance, estimates more than 500 before- and after-school programs serving school-aged children statewide are losing monthly stabilization payments. Milwaukee’s MPS-based programs are among them.
Many of the providers who received state and federal stabilization payments were early-childhood centers serving infants and toddlers, NNS reported in June.
But Neve said these programs, including the ones across MPS, serve thousands of 4- to 12-year-olds. The loss of stabilization payments will affect that population of children and families.
“In the long run, the kids are the ones that lose out and are hurt,” Neve said.
Push for the state
The state budgeted for one year of Child Care Bridge payments in the biennial budget.
Legislators including state Sen. LaTonya Johnson, who represents District 6 on Milwaukee’s North Side, proposed SB 322 to support child care providers, but the bill didn’t get a hearing, NNS reported.
Neve said the Wisconsin Out of School Time Alliance is working with other organizations to advocate for greater funding for before- and after-school programs like the one Journey House hosts at Longfellow. He and other partners are educating policymakers about what the loss of this funding will mean for providers and families.
Myers said many of the families at Longfellow are already struggling with the rising cost of living, and the loss of stabilization payments will ultimately hurt students and families.
“Things are tough, and it’s sad to say that this is just going to make things tougher,” Myers said.
Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Every morning, rising senior Chris Hutcherson takes two Milwaukee County Transit System buses to get to Audubon Technology and Communication Center on Milwaukee’s South Side.
Hutcherson said he doesn’t mind his daily commute on MCTS, except when the buses are delayed. If his bus hits traffic, he sometimes misses his transfer.
“Then the 57 don’t come for like a good, good 20 minutes,” Hutcherson said.
Hutcherson is one of about a fifth of Milwaukee Public Schools high schoolers who district officials say ride MCTS buses to school. The district is now deciding on whether to send more students on county buses as part of a transportation system overhaul.
To hit its transportation budget for the year that began in July 2026, MPS needs to cut roughly $3.5 million, according to figures the administration presented to the school board in June.
MPS Senior Director of Transportation Services David Fifarek said the district will not implement most changes until the 2027-28 school year, to allow for community engagement and to determine which recommendations are most practical.
Betting on the bus
Hutcherson tracks county buses on Google Maps, which he said is the most reliable of the apps he’s tried, though it isn’t foolproof.
“I was actively watching that app on my phone, and I remember getting on the bus, and it’s saying that it didn’t leave,” Hutcherson said.
MCTS buses are on time 80% of the time, which, by its definition, is within one minute before or five minutes after the scheduled departure time, according to transit officials.
Fifarek said students who live more than seven miles from their high school are assigned to MCTS, while those within seven miles typically ride a yellow bus.
“You can’t have a yellow bus running effectively more than seven miles from starting point to destination without having to run at least an hour long to do it,” Fifarek said.
MCTS buses will likely be most effective for students in high-density areas who can take a bus to school with no transfers, Fifarek said. It also alleviates some safety concerns because students are quickly on and off the bus without having to get off the bus and wait for another one to connect them to school.
He said things get tricky when students live on the opposite side of town and children have to transfer buses in an area that is unfamiliar to them.
Fifarek described a “tug of war” between MCTS covering more of the city with county buses and running them often enough so riders aren’t stranded waiting for a transfer.
MCTS is weighing that very dilemma as the agency begins its own overhaul of the county bus system to provide efficient service amid a looming budget deficit.
For the next 12 to 15 months, a spokesperson said MCTS will engage with stakeholders including MPS as part of the MCTS Forward system redesign.
MCTS has already made tough decisions to recover from a $14 million deficit, reducing frequency on routes like Hutcherson’s 57, and running the 55, the main line for commuting Reagan High School students, during peak hours. Midday service has since returned for the 55.
Fifarek said the district’s future plans will largely depend on how MCTS will change its coverage and ride frequency in the next year.
“If that coverage model changes, then we’re going to have to pivot and then reinstate some yellow buses or some other form of transportation to replace the void that might be created by the county transit system,” Fifarek said.
On July 15, MCTS proposed cutting bus service by 25% in 2027 to address the deficit.
Chronically late
Perry Perkins, a student at Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School, was one of five students who said buses to Milwaukee Public Schools are routinely late in the morning. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
McQuinn Coleman said his yellow bus is late multiple times each school year. When he has too much trouble with the bus, he stays home.
Four other students at Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education, Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School and Milwaukee High School of the Arts said their buses are routinely late in the morning. They sometimes take MCTS buses as a result.
A district-commissioned analysis by 4MATIV presented at the June board meeting found that 73% of trackable bus trips to MPS are on time. But, looking at all trips, including about a third that have no GPS data, less than half of MPS bus trips could be confirmed as arriving on schedule.
Coleman said he dealt with so many transportation issues that he lost a credit and had to take summer school.
‘On point ever since’
One day, Coleman said he got robbed as he left summer school.
He said he doesn’t feel safe waiting at stops anymore and stays vigilant on his walks to and from the bus.
“I’ve been on point ever since,” Coleman said.
Hutcherson said he generally feels safe taking MCTS buses, but he also makes sure to stay aware of his surroundings.
Other male high school students who spoke to NNS said they feel safe walking to and from their stop and waiting for the bus.
Students like Coleman are the ones School Board Director Darryl Jackson thinks the district should consider when forming a transportation plan.
He said cost saving measures are important, but safety shouldn’t be overlooked in favor of cost.
“Currently, a lot of adults don’t want to walk through certain neighborhoods,” Jackson said. “We got to keep that in mind with having our students walk through certain areas.”
Fifarek said safety is one of the biggest concerns as MPS reviews the recommendations and overhauls the district transportation system.
The report presented to the school board in June estimates $11 million in savings if the district consolidated stops, for example. But Fifarek said implementing such a step by only considering distance could potentially send young children crossing busy streets like Capitol Drive or Fond du Lac Avenue.
“Eleven million dollars of savings in stop consolidation would have to completely wipe out this concept of no cross streets,” Fifarek said. “You might create some safety issues and risks in the process.”
Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
The massive Interstate 94 construction project in Milwaukee County is expected to wrap up in 2033, according to a timeline on the state Department of Transportation’s project page.
Construction began on the I-94 East-West corridor in late 2025, meaning eight years will pass before utility and roadway construction are estimated to end in 2033.
The project covers 3 ½ miles of I-94 between 16th and 70th Streets in Milwaukee County and prompted long-term closures of several roads.
Plans include widening the freeway from three to four lanes in each direction, eliminating left-turn ramps, redesigning the Stadium Interchange and reconstructing aging roads.
Crash rates in the corridor are higher than the statewide average, and 13 bridges do not meet clearance standards, according to the DOT.
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