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The U.S. Postal Service adopted a rule effective Dec. 24 clarifying that some mail is not postmarked when it is first received – at a post office, for example – but rather on a later date, during processing.

The rule doesn’t change practices, but instead is “intended to improve public understanding of postmarks and their relationship to the date of mailing.”

Postmarking can affect whether local officials accept election ballots.

Fourteen states, including Illinois, accept a mailed ballot if it is received after Election Day, as long as it is postmarked on or before Election Day.

Thirty-six states, including Wisconsin, require absentee ballots, including those cast by mail, to be received by the local election office by Election Day. They aren’t affected by the rule change.

Manual postmarks can be requested at post offices.

The postal service has been reducing operations, increasing postmarking delays, the Brookings think tank reported.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Federal Register: Postmarks and Postal Possession
• National Conference of State Legislatures: Receipt and Postmark Deadlines for Absentee/Mail Ballots
• Brookings: When a postmark no longer tracks mailing
• Wisconsin Elections Commission: Vote Absentee By Mail
• Washington Post: Thousands of mail-in ballots could be discounted under new post office policy
• San Francisco Chronicle: USPS quietly changes how postmarks work — and it could affect mail-in ballots

Does the US Postal Service always postmark an election ballot on the day it is mailed? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Local experts say – and national data supports – that winter brings a broad set of safety risks, including risks that disproportionately affect older adults and young children.

Dangers include hypothermia and frostbite, falls inside and outside the home and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Here are more details about those dangers and how to prevent or minimize them.

Slips and falls

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports that falls are one of the most common reasons for emergency medical service responses statewide.

In 2024, emergency medical personnel in Wisconsin responded to more than 140,000 fall-related calls, accounting for about 21% of all 911-related ambulance runs statewide, according to DHS data.

Older adults are disproportionately affected.

According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults face a higher risk of falling due to chronic medical conditions that can limit circulation, balance or mobility, including arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. 

Children also face a higher risk of falls, which are the leading cause of nonfatal injuries for all children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The Milwaukee Health Department urges residents to prepare for icy conditions as temperatures fall and to clear snow and ice from walkways to help prevent falls. 

The National Institute on Aging recommends using ice melt products or sand on walkways, using railings on stairs and walkways, avoiding shoveling snow yourself when possible and wearing rubber-soled, low-heeled footwear.

Christine Westrich, emergency response planning director for the Milwaukee Health Department, said social isolation adds another layer of risk for older adults.

“Either their friends or relatives have passed away, and they have over time socially isolated themselves,” Westrich said. 

The onset of hearing loss and dementia are risk factors for increased isolation, she added. 

Hypothermia and frostbite

Age can affect how the body handles cold exposure.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , older adults with inadequate clothing, heating or food and babies in cold conditions are among the groups at highest risk of hypothermia. 

This winter, there have already been roughly 10 fatalities where cold temperatures may have played a factor, said Michael Simley, a medicolegal death investigator manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Extreme temperatures can also worsen existing medical emergencies, Simley added.  

A heart attack, for example, is serious under any circumstances, he said. But, he added, it becomes even more dangerous when it happens in a hostile environment like when it is very cold. 

Carbon monoxide poisoning

With colder temperatures comes increased use of furnaces and other heating systems – and with that, a higher risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Increased use of appliances and other items that burn fuels and other chemicals, such as furnaces, portable generators, stoves and chimneys, helps account for the higher risk, according to the CDC.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible, and symptoms such as headache, dizziness and nausea may be overlooked or mistaken for other illnesses. 

“We’ve recently had two outbreaks with families of four (members) or greater,” Westrich said. “In one case, they didn’t have working heat and brought a charcoal grill inside. … In another, it was a malfunctioning furnace.”

In both situations, she said, there were no working carbon monoxide detectors.

DHS says carbon monoxide detectors should be installed on every level of the home. 

Renters should be especially vigilant, Westrich said.

“Oftentimes, what might get overlooked in the lease, it’ll say the renter is responsible for the battery replacement in those devices,” she said. “Sometimes tenants aren’t aware of that, or it’s hanging high in the ceiling – you forget it’s even there.”

Resources

The Milwaukee Health Department maintains cold weather guidance with general information and tips. 

For non-emergencies that are not crimes, the Milwaukee Police Department says residents have a number of options, a spokesperson for the department said in an email. 

Residents can request a welfare check by calling 414-933-4444. 

People seeking shelter, warming centers or other basic needs can call 211. 

Those experiencing emotional distress or mental health struggles can call or text 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 

Westrich and Simley both emphasized the same core message about being mindful of the people in your community.

“Check on your neighbors,” Westrich said. 

As temperatures drop, here is where you can find shelter from the cold and free winter gear

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Winter can be dangerous for older adults and children. Here’s how to stay safe is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Supporting a second school system with public money

Taxpayers through school district budgets provide $10,877 for each K–8 voucher student and $13,371 for each voucher student in grades 9-12 who enrolls in one of the three voucher programs. Each student who participates in the Special Needs Scholarship Program receives $16,049. Those amounts will increase by 4%, 3.2% and 2.6% respectively next school year.

Except in Milwaukee, where the program is directly funded by the state budget, the funding is deducted from the state aid to each school district. This school year, $357.5 million was deducted.

For public schools, state aid roughly represents 45% of school funding. Federal aid, property taxes and other revenue cover the rest. Although the exact amount varies by district, public schools collected an average of $14,104 per student in property taxes and state general and categorical aid during the 2024-25 school year.

When the state redirected aid from public schools to pay for the Racine, statewide and special need vouchers, school districts were still allowed to raise revenue as if the private school student were attending the public school. So while the district pays $10,877 to the private school for a K-8 student, it can still collect roughly $13,362 in state general aid and property taxes, keeping the difference to pay for other students still in the public system.

Some cities, like Green Bay, have started adding a note to property tax bills stating the amount of money school districts levied to pay for private school vouchers.

In the meantime, Republican lawmakers proposed “decoupling bills,” which would have the state fully cover the Racine, statewide and special need voucher programs, similar to Milwaukee. That would prevent the money from passing through the public school districts, reducing the net revenue school districts have been able to collect for the past decade.

“The funding system is broken, and the link in current law between school choice funding and property taxes needs to be repealed,” said Carol Shires, vice president of operations, School Choice Wisconsin, an advocate group for the voucher system, in an email to Wisconsin Watch.

Private school market stabilizes with public funds

As homeschooling has gained considerable popularity over the past decade, the voucher program has saved many private schools from losing enrollment and likely closure.

“There really would not be a private school sector in Milwaukee, with a few exceptions, if it wasn’t for the voucher program,” said Alan Borsuk, senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School, “because nobody had the money to pay tuition, and there was just no way to afford schools.”

Wisconsin private schools gained 1,687 students from 2011 to 2024, a stark contrast to public schools, where enrollment declined by more than 65,000 students. Homeschooling grew even more, by nearly 13,000 students.

More than half of all private schools (56%) now accept vouchers. This year, 91 private schools had 90% or more of its students participate in the voucher program.

There are fewer private schools, but more are participating in the voucher program

A Wisconsin Watch data analysis found that about half of the private schools that joined the voucher program between 2008 and 2024 grew their student population. 

A debate on effectiveness

When the voucher program was introduced in Milwaukee, lawmakers envisioned the program empowering low-income parents who couldn’t otherwise afford private schools to choose where their children are educated, bridging the education gap, and improving education quality for both the private and public school systems. 

”Choice gives poor students the ability to select the best school that they possibly can,” former Gov. Tommy Thompson said in a telephone interview with the New York Times in 1990. ”The plan allows for choice and competition, and I believe competition will make both the public and private schools that much stronger.”

About 35 years after the program’s introduction, people still cannot come to a consensus on whether it improves education quality.

“Taxpayers fund choice students at a lower dollar amount than they fund public school students, yet those choice students achieve better outcomes,” Shires wrote, referring to the school year 2024-25 state testing results from DPI.

The DPI data cited by the organization showed a higher average test score for voucher students compared to their peers in public schools. 

However, that methodology has been criticized by reviewers affiliated with the National Education Policy Center, a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education. The reviewers criticized the approach of directly comparing standardized test scores of voucher students with those of public school students, arguing that such comparisons are overly simplistic and misleading.

In his review, Stephen Kotok, an associate professor at St. John’s University, wrote that simply comparing average test scores between the two groups without accounting for nonrandom selection into voucher programs overlooks other factors that may influence student performance besides school quality. He also wrote that relying solely on standardized test scores to judge educational quality or productivity is a “crude” measure.

DPI uses report card systems to provide a more comprehensive review of school performances in addition to test scores. Last year, 85% of public schools and 85% of voucher schools met, exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations. However, less than half (43%) of the voucher schools were scored due to insufficient data. DPI cited small student populations and low test participation rates among voucher students for not assessing those schools.

Several recent studies indicate that the academic benefits of voucher programs are marginal.

An analysis of 92 studies on school choice students’ academic achievements published between 1992 and 2015 found a very slight rise in standardized test scores among students who transferred from public schools to voucher schools, according to Huriya Jabbar, an associate professor at the University of Southern California.

Even though earlier data tended to show positive effects from voucher programs, math scores for students who switched to voucher schools were less impressive, and even negative, particularly in newer and larger programs, according to a study by Christopher Lubienski, director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University.

Borsuk wrote that the voucher system does not improve the overall quality of education in a column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He noted the education quality of voucher schools varies by school, with a mixture of excellence and disappointment.

In addition, state laws do not protect private school students from discrimination as they do in public schools. Previous reports by Wisconsin Watch have found some voucher school students have faced discrimination because of their disabilities or sexual orientation.

Not just providing choice for public school students

RPCP and WPCP generally do not accept students previously registered in private schools, but the program makes an exception for grades K4-1 and 9. 

This year, one in four (1,129) newly enrolled WPCP students studied in a private school the previous year — even more than the 948 students who transferred from Wisconsin public schools. Comparatively, most newly enrolled Racine students came from public schools or had not previously attended any school.

MPCP does not have a similar requirement, and DPI stopped publishing the source of enrollment data in 2006.

Bringing religion into classrooms

Enrollment at MPCP jumped in 1998 as the program began incorporating religious schools after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-2 the program didn’t promote state-sponsored religious education.

As of the 2025-26 school year, nearly all of the voucher schools are religiously affiliated.

Parents cite the religion-based curriculum, safer environments, strict discipline and small classrooms in their decision to send their children to private schools.

Parents of voucher students may opt out of the religious curriculum under the law, yet no available data show how often that happens. 

“Almost 30 years now, if there have been 25 cases of opt-outs, I’d be really surprised,” Borsuk said. “If you’re going to a religious school and don’t want to be there, then why are you going to that school? It’s basically as simple as that.”

DataWatch: Nearly half of Wisconsin private school students receive a taxpayer-funded voucher is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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It’s a new year in Wisconsin, and an election one, too. There are many state government and politics storylines we plan to follow at Wisconsin Watch in 2026 from major policy debates to races that could determine the future of the state. 

But we value accountability here, including for ourselves. Before we dive into predictions for the year ahead, we want to look back at what our state team thought might happen in 2025.

Here’s what we predicted and what actually happened. 

2025 prediction: The Wisconsin Supreme Court will expand abortion rights.

Outcome: True.

The court in a 4-3 July ruling struck down Wisconsin’s 1849 near-total abortion ban, determining that later state laws regulating the procedure enacted after the ban superseded it. 

There are still restrictions on when someone can receive an abortion, including a ban on the procedure 20 weeks after fertilization and a 24-hour waiting period and ultrasound before an abortion is performed. President Donald Trump’s big bill signed in July has also threatened Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin that offer abortions. A federal appeals court in December paused a lower court ruling and allowed the Trump administration to continue enforcing that part of the law.

2025 prediction: Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature will again strike a deal to increase funding for public education and private voucher schools, similar to the compromise they made in 2023.

Outcome: Mixed.

Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature did reach an agreement on K-12 education funding during the budget process, approving a $500 million boost for special education funding. But this wasn’t like 2023, when conservatives secured significant funding increases for private voucher schools.

General school aid was kept at the same level as previous years. The Department of Public Instruction in October said, because of that decision, 71% of school districts will receive less general aid during the current school year. Private voucher school funding increased based on past per pupil funding adjustments. As a result of revenue limits going up $325 a year for the next 400 years (no change there from Evers’ creative veto in 2023) and general aid staying flat, property taxes increased significantly. 

2025 prediction: The state Supreme Court election will set another spending record.

Outcome: Nailed it!

Total spending for the 2025 state Supreme Court race between liberal candidate Susan Crawford and conservative Brad Schimel hit $144.5 million, shattering the record set in 2023. The spending in last year’s race broke records even without a $30.3 million giveaway from tech billionaire Elon Musk to conservative voters in the state.

As Larry Sandler recently reported for Wisconsin Watch, it was another year demonstrating how expensive and highly political Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court elections have become over the years. 

2025 prediction: Ben Wikler will be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Outcome: Swing and a miss!

Former Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee in February. Wikler was the runner-up in the contest. 

Following the DNC chair race, Wikler announced in April he would not seek reelection as chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Devin Remiker took on the leadership role following the state party’s convention in June. 

It’s not clear what’s next for Wikler. He announced in October he would not seek the Democratic nomination for governor. 

Wisconsin Watch predictions for 2026

There is a lot on the line this year, especially with several key elections on ballots in the spring and fall. Here are storylines we expect to follow in 2026.

2026 prediction: The Wisconsin Supreme Court election will NOT set a new spending record.

The big factor here is that the outcome of the April race won’t determine who controls the majority of the court, which lowers the stakes compared to elections in 2023 and 2025. The contest is expected to be a race between Appeals Court judges Chris Taylor, a liberal, and Maria Lazar, a conservative. 

A clearer picture of the fundraising for the 2026 race will appear after campaign finance reports are released this month. Lazar entered the race in October, so her campaign fundraising since then is not yet available. 

Taylor, who announced her campaign in May, reported raising more than $584,000 as of July. Following the August announcement that conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley would not seek reelection, a spokesperson for Taylor’s campaign said it had raised more than $1 million.

2026 prediction: Data centers will continue to be a major subject of public interest in Wisconsin as public outcry causes the Public Service Commission to delay approvals of new power plant projects.

Public protests against data centers punctuated the 2025 news cycle as tech giants saw pushback in communities where they sought to build. The Marquette University Law School poll conducted in October shows a majority of Wisconsin voters across the state believe the costs of data centers outweigh their benefits. 

The public opposition to data centers and rising utility bill costs will lead to closer scrutiny of power plant projects, which the Public Service Commission is set to review this year.

2026 prediction: In the governor’s race, Republicans will focus on rising property taxes. Democrats will focus on rising health care costs. But the ultimate X factor will be the public mood about what’s happening at the federal level — just as it was in 2018. 

Already in December, Republicans have slammed Evers’ 2023 creative veto that increases public school funding for the next 400 years as a centuries-long property tax increase. Democrats have condemned Republicans for not voting to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which expired at the end of December.

Federal issues and public opinion about Trump will ultimately be what sways voters to one party or the other. During the 2018 governor’s race between Evers and then-Gov. Scott Walker, health care was a key issue with Walker authorizing a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act and Evers calling to expand BadgerCare. But as we’ve noted before, the public is turning against public education in favor of lower taxes, which could keep Republicans in Wisconsin from suffering major swings the party has seen in other states in 2025 off-year elections.

2026 prediction: Democrats will flip at least one chamber of the Legislature for the first time in nearly two decades (not counting that short-lived Senate flip after the 2012 recall elections).

New legislative maps being used for the first time in state Senate races and midterm elections favoring the opposite political party from the one in the White House are signs it could be a good year for Democrats to secure at least one chamber of the Legislature — if not both. 

The more likely of the two is the Senate, where Republicans hold an 18-15 majority. Democrats need to flip at least two Republican seats and hold onto the Eau Claire area seat held by Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, to win the majority. The party is targeting GOP districts currently held by Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine; Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield; and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, where new maps have yet to be tested. Kamala Harris won those three districts, and Democrats running in other states in 2025 have made double-digit gains.

The Assembly, where Republicans hold a 54-45 majority, could also be in play, but Democrats need to flip five Republican-held Assembly seats. Of the 12 Assembly districts in 2024 decided within less than 5 percentage points, five were won by Republicans. Assembly Democrats would need to flip those five seats and hold onto the other seven close districts from 2024 to win the majority. 

Democrats already flipped 10 seats under the new legislative maps in 2024 during a year when Trump’s name atop ballots gave a boost to Republicans. If Democrats see big wins across the country, there could be down-ballot momentum to flip the Assembly. 

2026 prediction: Fundraising by candidates for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District will exceed 2024, especially as that seat draws national attention in the Republican fight to keep the U.S. House majority.

Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden defeated Democrat Rebecca Cooke by less than 3 percentage points in 2024. Van Orden raised nearly $7.7 million and Cooke brought in nearly $6.4 million during the 2024 cycle, outraising all other Wisconsin congressional candidates at the time, according to Open Secrets. 

The 2026 race for the 3rd District is likely to be a rematch between Van Orden and Cooke, who have already raised millions for the 2026 cycle. As of late September, Van Orden reported bringing in about $3.4 million and Cooke nearly $3 million. National attention on who wins the U.S. House majority will also bring more money into the race. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put the 3rd District on a list of “offensive targets” for 2026.

Here are 5 Wisconsin political predictions for 2026 (and a review of our 2025 predictions) is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Cori Salchert leaves the Christmas lights on year round.

It’s not to celebrate the holidays, but so an ambulance can easily spot her house any time of year. 

“Hearing that an 11-year-old stopped breathing … can be a scary thing for an EMT, so we just lessen the difficulty for finding our home,” Cori said. 

Since 2012, Cori and her husband, Mark, have adopted five children, all with a terminal prognosis — meaning the Salcherts adopt these children knowing their lives will be cut short. They get most of their needs met at the Salcherts’ Sheboygan home, which is equipped with a stairlift and handicap shower.  

“Our hope is that our kids are whole and well and that we’re going to see them again, and that they’re going to be able to say, ‘Hey mom,’ or, ‘Hey dad’ — something that they never were able to say while we had them,” she said. 

Cori is known as the hospice mom. 

She adopts children with complex medical conditions, many from the foster care system.

Children in foster care often have worse medical health than children in the general population. And there are hundreds of kids in foster care with terminal illnesses, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.  

The Salcherts’ first adopted child was Emmalynn. She lived with them for 50 days and died in 2012. She had difficulty regulating body temperature, so she spent most of her life bundled in someone’s arms, like she was the moment she died. 

Samuel was adopted at 13. He died two years later from a rare genetic disorder affecting the brain’s white matter. 

And Nehemiah was just 3 1/2 when he died on Dec. 2, 2021, in the Salcherts’ family room. He was lying next to Cori as she sang “Jesus Loves Me.” 

“He opened his eyes — he hadn’t done that in about 48 hours — and took his last breath, and he was gone,” Cori said as she showed a photo of Nehemiah. “He woke up in heaven and he will never have to have another surgical procedure.”

Social workers and doctors close to Cori call her a unicorn. She said that idea of being exceptionally rare often makes her sad because she wished more people could give dying children a loving place to spend the rest of their lives. 

To others, it might seem like a daunting endeavor to continuously lose and grieve children.

“One of our pastors had told us, ‘These kids are going to wreck your life. But they are not going to ruin it. So your heart is never going to recover the same as it was before you had them. And that’s an OK thing,’” she said. 

Meeting Charlie and Kassidy

The Salcherts say they have 17 children: five adopted, eight adult biological kids and four fostered children. There is a sign on their front door that reads: “There’s like a lot of kids in here.”  

Two of the Salcherts’ adopted children, Charlie and Kassidy, were home from school recently for the holidays.

Kassidy is 6. She was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.  She loves balloons and gets a big smile on her face when the family walks into the room. 

Charlie is 11. He has school awards taped to his wall. One reads: “Ray of Sunshine award presented to Charlie Salchert for making our classroom a better place.” He has hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, in which his brain was damaged from a lack of oxygen and blood flow.

Providing care for Charlie and Kassidy is a family effort. Their adult children pitch in. One child sleeps in Charlie’s room at night, and another helps care for Kassidy. 

Charlie’s condition makes him technically deaf and blind. But Cori said there are moments when she’s not so sure.

At school, Charlie has an eye gaze machine that helps him communicate. 

He’ll do things like turn up the volume and play music as loud as the machine goes. Cori said teachers have to remind him repeatedly to stop. 

“He can be a very naughty 11-year-old in his own way,” she said with a laugh.  

Walk a day in their shoes 

That day at the Salcherts’ home, Kassidy’s biological mother messaged Cori to see how her daughter is doing. Cori gave her an update and reminded her she is always welcome at the house. 

Many people ask the Salcherts about the children’s biological parents and the circumstances that led them to give up their parental rights. She usually tells them to walk one day in their shoes. 

Kassidy’s biological mother didn’t want to give her daughter up. However, her second daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, and she couldn’t care for two children with such complex medical issues. 

The biological mother remains in contact and often receives pictures from school and was there when Kassidy got her ears pierced. 

“Kassidy’s family has just gotten bigger rather than exclusionary,” Cori said. “She has two moms who love her a lot.”

Cori rejects the notion that she is a “Disney princess mom.” She simply has the ability to care for the children, as well as the special equipment, stairlifts and accessible home that some children need. 

And she thinks others have the ability to do it, too. 

“We live in the miracle zone,” she said. “If you don’t live in the miracle zone, well, you don’t need miracles. 

“But we need them and we’ve seen them.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

‘The miracle zone’: This Wisconsin family adopts terminally ill children is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Every year in Wisconsin state government, billions of taxpayer dollars are spent on programs and policies that impact every citizen, community, school and business.

While many people roll their eyes and tune out the sometimes messy, partisan, unpredictable work of state government, WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network encourages citizens to lean in. For the past 18 years, Wisconsin’s equivalent to C-SPAN has provided an inside look into the workings of state government. This inside look, which I have been involved in from the start, has included:

•  Free, live and unedited coverage of the Wisconsin Legislature, executive branch and state Supreme Court.
•  Fourteen thousand hours of searchable and shareable archived video of official state proceedings.
• An additional 16,000 hours of unedited and spin-free coverage of news conferences, interviews, campaigns, elections, and related civic events that add context and perspective. 

As the nation’s first independent, non-government-controlled state Capitol network, WisconsinEye does not favor the political left or right, but is rooted firmly in that all-important middle ground where diverse voices are welcome and informed dialogue contributes to positive outcomes for Wisconsin. The transparency that it delivers is essential to building the trust that keeps democracy functioning. Once citizens in a democracy come to understand how decisions are made, they can better use their voices and voting power to shape outcomes.

As an independent not-for-profit resource, WisconsinEye has relied on charitable donations to support its lean annual budget of $900,000. But this funding approach is no longer sustainable in what has become a highly competitive, post-pandemic philanthropic environment. That’s why the painful decision was made to shut down the functions of WisconsinEye, beginning Dec. 15, until the funding gap is plugged.

To this end, WisconsinEye is asking the Legislature and governor to reconfigure a previously designated $10 million matching grant approved in a unanimous bipartisan act, to help WisconsinEye build a permanent $20 million endowment. We are asking for lawmakers to remove the “match” requirement and instead allocate $900,000 for the network’s 2026 budget.

Additionally, we are calling on the state to invest the rest of the endowment, with earnings flowing annually to the network to cover two-thirds of its annual budget. The remaining one-third will be raised through three proven streams: annual program sponsorships, small-gift and online donations, and an annual fundraising dinner.

Meetings with state officials are underway, but it will potentially take three months to work its way through the state process.

In the meantime, WisconsinEye needs to raise $250,000 (three months of its operating budget) to bridge the financial gap and allow state Capitol programming to resume. Without this bridge funding, WisconsinEye could lose up to four highly skilled, cross-trained staff members. The domino effect would put the network at considerable risk of failure.

An alternative plan, that of a state government takeover of the network, was introduced by several Democratic legislators. Their plan, in my view, is in opposition with the decades-long commitment of the Wisconsin Legislature to provide citizens with an independent, trusted, neutral view of state government.

WisconsinEye cannot continue to provide a valued space where citizens can see for themselves, consider events and issues in context, and draw their own conclusions — if it is operated and controlled by the very entity it exists to cover.

Please consider joining the movement to save WisconsinEye by going to wiseye.org/donate. Your donation is tax-deductible. 

Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to open government. Jon Henkes is the president and CEO of Wisconsin Eye.

Your Right to Know: Protect transparency, save WisconsinEye is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Click here to read highlights from the story

• As low-income households make tough decisions amid rising health care, food and utility costs, firewood banks are providing a community service to keep people warm through the cold winter months.

• Organizations like the Alliance for Green Heat have helped serve the 2.3 million U.S. households that rely on firewood for heat, but the group has had to rebrand under the Trump administration, which placed a premium on harvesting timber from federal lands.

• There are an estimated 250 firewood banks across the country. Resources are available to help start a firewood bank in regions that don’t have access to one.

When Denny Blodgett learned his northwest Wisconsin county intended to burn wood harvested during a road-widening project near his home, he thought it would be unthinkable for that fuel to go to waste.

As Blodgett recalls, he offered some of the harvested wood to an older man from his church, and word spread around his community of Danbury that he had firewood to give.

“And pretty soon, we’re helping 125 families,” said Blodgett, who founded Interfaith Caregivers’ Heat-A-Home program.

That was three decades ago.

Last year, volunteers delivered nearly 200 loads of split wood to local households.

And as the cost of living increases amid federal cuts to social safety net programs, struggling families increasingly face a winter of tough choices as they try to meet their basic needs.

Food, medicine or heat?

Interfaith is one of about 250 known firewood banks across the country that seek to ameliorate the demand for energy assistance.

There isn’t a clear definition for firewood banks, which have been around since at least the 1970s, but have roots in Native traditions since time immemorial. They can take the informal form of Good Samaritans delivering logs to neighbors to large take-what-you-need distribution sites operated by cities or Indigenous tribes.

But the common denominator to these networks of care is their low- or no-cost service to people who lack the means to purchase alternative forms of heat and process their own firewood. Often, both factors stem from the same issue, such as illness or aging.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated as of 2020 that 2.3 million households in the United States rely on firewood as their primary source of heating fuel.

But one of the great paradoxes of what researchers term “fuel poverty” is that those struggling to keep their homes warm in rural, often heavily forested areas lack ready access to wood.

“I’ve got 20 acres of oak and hardwood here and a chainsaw and a log splitter, but I’m pretty much unable to really do much with it,” said Danbury resident Peter Brask, 78, who struggles with neuropathy. “I just still feel embarrassed asking for help because I’ve been so self-sufficient all my life.”

Last year’s wood delivery from Interfaith was a “lifesaver” for getting through the winter, the retired IBM software specialist said.

Blodgett, a former U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, purchases and accepts donated wood, delivered to a yard adjacent to his home. A processor cuts “cattywampus” piles of timber into smaller pieces, and volunteers split them into burnable portions.

The wood dries until it’s “seasoned.” The less moisture in a log, the cleaner and more efficiently it burns.

Interfaith purchased two trailers a few years ago with money the group obtained from the Alliance for Green Heat, a nonprofit that advocates for the use of modern wood-burning heating systems.

Buoyed with money from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it has issued more than $2 million in grants to firewood banks that help them purchase safety equipment, chainsaws and wood splitters, as well as smoke detectors for wood recipients.

Overlooking a renewable resource like wood at the potential cost to human health is unthinkable, said the organization’s founder John Ackerly, especially when so much potential firewood ends up in landfills — the “scraggly stuff” that lumber mills can’t offload. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculated 12.2 million tons of wood ended up as municipal solid waste in 2018.

“Usually, firewood is not a very profitable thing to sell, very labor-intensive and very heavy,” Ackerly said.

Another opportunity presented by firewood banks is providing a local outlet that avoids spreading wood infested with invasive species. Banks also avert the dumping of wood sourced from storm-damaged trees, exacerbated by climate-change-magnified severe weather — winds and snow.

“We’re losing our power, our electricity in these storms all the time,” said Jessica Leahy, a University of Maine professor, who co-authored a guide to starting community wood banks. “It would be great to have everybody in the most carbon-neutral heating source for their house. That sounds great, but there are people burning their kitchen cabinets in order to stay warm.”

Now in its fourth year issuing grants with federal dollars, the Alliance for Green Heat had to rebrand after the Trump administration pushed for increased timber harvests on federal lands in the name of national economic security.

This year, firewood banks seeking grants must source wood from actively managed federal forests, a potential problem for the handful of states that lack them.

“Before, we really touted the program as serving ‘low-income populations’ with a ‘renewable, low-carbon fuel,’” Ackerly said. “We had to remove that language, but we were able to keep doing what we had been doing the same way.”

Researchers who mapped wood banks across the U.S. identified a second in Wisconsin — the Bear Ridge Firewood Bank, sponsored by the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians — and a handful in other Midwestern states, including Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota. 

Clarisse Hart — director of outreach and education at Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, and one of the researchers — said firewood banks often go by different names depending on the region: firewood assistance program, firewood for elders, firewood ministry, wood pantry and charity cut, to name a few.

Other exchanges happen behind the scenes, she said, often on private, community social media pages — making banks harder to identify.

Often, the operations depend on the commitment of volunteers. 

“A lot of people want to give back, but they don’t know what to do,” said Ed Hultgren, who started an Ozark, Missouri, wood bank in 2009. “It doesn’t have to be wood ministry. You find a gap in your area and see if there’s something you can do to fill it.”

Wayne Kinning — a retired surgeon who volunteers with his Fenton , Michigan, Knights of Columbus council — is one of a dozen or so men from St. John the Evangelist parish who cut, split and sell low-cost firewood. The proceeds support local charities.

“We donate all our time and even our chainsaws,” he said. “That, of course, then gives a person a sense of meaning in their day and a sense of worth in their giving.”

Among Blodgett’s helpers are a snowmobile club, several churches and a Jewish summer camp. Another dedicated volunteer — Wendy Truhler, 74, of Danbury — has assisted Blodgett for nearly two decades, since her spouse died.

“Listen, I helped my husband split for 30 years. I know how to lift and work a splitter and this and that,” she told Blodgett when she started. “I would rather be outside than glued to a little 12-inch computer screen.”

Blodgett delivers wood throughout the year, which takes the pressure off the winter rush.

He fills the extra time working on other Interfaith projects: constructing wheelchair ramps for families and running the Christmas for Kids program.

Last year, 335 children received toys and clothes from their wish lists. Families also get a $50 food card. And he makes sure they get another resource wood provides.

A decorated tree for Christmas.

Firewood banks offer heat, and hope, to rural homes in need is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

From the docks of the Port of Santos, a 58-terminal complex covering an area the size of 1,500 American football fields, ships loaded with soybeans prepare to set sail for China. 

Less than 45 miles from São Paulo, the port services nearly a quarter of Brazil’s soybean exports. For decades, U.S. agribusiness giants like Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill have operated facilities at the port. 

Today, they share space with COFCO International, China’s state-owned food conglomerate, which has invested around $285 million in recent years. The expansion will make it the port’s largest dry bulk terminal.

And Santos isn’t alone. In the west, the Port of Chancay is rising on Peru’s central coast.

COSCO Shipping, a state-owned Chinese company, is investing at least $3.5 billion to construct 15 berths, logistics facilities and a 1.1-mile tunnel, enabling cargo to be channeled directly from the port to nearby highways.

Once fully operational, Chancay will function as a regional redistribution hub for exports from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia: from copper and lithium to soybeans and other agricultural products. Upon completion around 2035, it is expected to become the region’s third-largest port.

These and other recent investments across the region have positioned China to source more agricultural products from Latin America as it pivots away from U.S. farmers in response to President Trump’s higher tariffs. 

China first began that pivot in 2018, when Trump’s first-term tariff hikes ignited a global trade war. But since returning to office, the president has renewed that strategy, and China’s investments signal a generational shift that may not reverse if and when the trade war subsides. 

“What are the signs that China’s here to stay (in Latin America)? Really, the infrastructure,” said Henry Ziemer, an associate fellow with the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. nonprofit policy research organization that reports 23 ports across Latin America have some degree of Chinese investment.  

“Ports, railways, roads, bridges, metro lines, energy, power plants are probably the best signs that China has a long-term commitment … These are long-term projects.”

Daniel Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said that when a country gains control over ports that make trade faster, cheaper and more reliable, such as the Port of Chancay, trade flows tend to “lock in.” Reversing that trend, he warned, would require the United States to narrow its efficiency gap, noting that none of its container ports rank among the world’s top 50.

“It could entrench patterns,” Munch said.

This is bad news for American farmers, particularly soybean growers. 

Soybeans are a cornerstone of American agriculture, particularly in the Midwest. Nationwide, more than 270,000 farms grow the crop, according to the latest Census of Agriculture. In Illinois, nearly half of all farms depend on soybean production, and in Iowa and Minnesota, about four in 10 do.

In 2024, more than 40% of U.S. soybean production was exported, with about half going to China.

But tensions between the United States and China have risen this year – Trump has increased tariffs and recently threatened a 157% tax on all Chinese imports, while China responded by reducing U.S. soybean imports to near zero for six months. 

A trade deal announced in November ends the suspension and includes commitments for China to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the final two months of 2025 and at least 25 million metric tons annually through 2028, according to Purdue University and farmdoc Daily. 

Brazil has stepped in as China’s biggest supplier of soybeans, which are used to feed livestock to support protein demand. 

China has become one of the two main export markets for at least 10 nations, most of them in South America, according to the International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2023 report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

From 2010 to 2022, the region accounted for nearly one-third of China’s food imports. Brazil alone supplied about 21% of those imports over the same period.

“In recent years, there has been significant growth in telecommunications projects and across all areas of transportation – including airports, ports, roads, railways, and subways – as well as in sanitation and urban mobility. These sectors account for nearly 60% of the total number of projects,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive secretary of ECLAC, who highlighted the scale of China’s involvement during the 2024 International Seminar on Contemporary China Studies in Costa Rica.

China has viewed Brazil as a strategic partner for several years, primarily because of its soybean supply, and has responded with infrastructure investments, according to Fernando Bastiani, a researcher with ESALQ-LOG, the Group of Research and Extension in Agroindustrial Logistics at the University of São Paulo.

“Today, COFCO has direct access to farmers, purchases soybeans and oversees the entire commercialization chain, including storage and transport to China,” Bastiani said. “In recent years, (COFCO) has also realized it needs to control logistics systems and infrastructure, because that’s a key part.”

In Brazil, Bastiani explained, logistics costs account for 20% to 25% of the final soybean price, mainly due to the long distances between farms and ports and the high cost of trucking. “China understood that by investing in infrastructure, it could help make Brazil more competitive,” he said.

In May, the two countries signed new agreements to deepen their agricultural trade ties, granting Brazil authorization to export meat and ethanol byproducts. 

“Amid the changing and turbulent international landscape, China and Brazil should remain committed to the original aspiration of contributing to human progress and global development,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s pullback squeezes US port volumes  

While Latin America has seen growth, many U.S. ports have experienced a significant decline in business.

At the New Orleans District — a dominant grain corridor — soybean exports grew by less than 3% between September 2024 and September 2025, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Shipments through the Los Angeles District fell almost 15%, while the steepest drop came in the Seattle District, where exports plunged 81%.

Nearly half of all U.S. corn, soybean and wheat exports move through the Mississippi River system, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Market Intel report.

This major inland trade artery connects the Midwest’s farming regions to the Gulf of Mexico, carrying an average of 65 million metric tons annually of bulk agricultural products by barge over the past five years to export terminals near New Orleans, where shipments depart for international markets.

“The facilities that purchase soybeans from farmers extend to our freight railroads, where they don’t have as much volume that they’ve been moving, at least for soybeans,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. 

Steenhoek noted that corn exports have remained strong, which has helped sustain some port activity — but it hasn’t solved the underlying problem: “China imports more U.S. soybeans than all of our other international customers combined,” he said.

At the Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere, agricultural exports have also weakened as trade with China cools.

“Exports in general have been very soft, and we attributed it to the retaliatory tariffs that have been put in place by China,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “Our single biggest export sector is agriculture … of that, soybeans are the number one export commodity.”

Before the first tariffs were introduced in 2018, China accounted for about 60% of the port’s business. Today, it’s closer to 40% and falling, as trade flows and sourcing shift toward countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. 

“We’ve been very aggressive in finding cargo out of other countries,” Seroka said. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we are concerned every day that these policies could impact the amount of cargo that comes to Los Angeles.”

The decrease in exports is not just a hit to farmers, but also to port workers; each four containers handled at the port generates one job, according to Seroka.

“In Southern California, one in nine people has a job related to this port,” said Seroka, referring to dockworkers, truck drivers, brokers and warehouse employees. “It truly is a conversation of national significance.”

U.S. port traffic isn’t poised for a quick rebound despite a recent trade agreement that ends China’s suspension of U.S. soybean imports. After six months of near-zero shipments due to retaliatory trade measures, Beijing in November agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the final two months of 2025 and to commit to annual purchases of at least 25 million tons through 2028.

A recent analysis from Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and farmdoc Daily said the announcement offered some relief to U.S. farmers at the tail end of harvest, but overall exports to China this year are still on track to be the weakest since 2018, when trade tensions during the first Trump administration slashed volumes to 8 million tons.

“It is very difficult to take a market (China) of over a billion people and replace that,” said John Bartman, a soybean farmer from Marengo, Illinois.

By October, Brazil had exported a record 79 million metric tons of soybeans to China, nearly 80% of its total soybean shipments during the period, according to a farmdoc Daily analysis of data from Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretariat. Brazil’s total soybean exports reached about 100 million tons between January and October, already surpassing the country’s full-year total for 2024, which was just under 99 million tons.

“U.S. soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice,” Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, wrote in a statement. 

US trade strategy remains unsettled as China moves ahead

While China builds long-term infrastructure to secure its supply chains, Washington is still struggling to define its trade strategy and to contain the political fallout of renewed tariffs.

In mid-September, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved to block Congress from influencing Trump’s tariff policy, even as Senate Democrats prepared to force votes challenging his trade war, The New York Times reported. The maneuver effectively stripped lawmakers of the ability to advance measures to lift tariffs until March 31, 2026, extending a prohibition first imposed in the spring to spare members from taking a politically difficult vote.

“Tariffs not only cause farmers to pay more for their inputs, but they have also seen tariffs reduce markets for U.S. farm products,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, during an October session.

If the November soybean agreement between Trump and the Chinese president holds, Beijing’s purchases would still fall short of recent norms. Even if China buys at least 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually over the next three years, that volume would remain about 14% below the five-year average shipped to China from 2020 to 2024, according to an analysis from Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and farmdoc Daily.

Some purchases have started rolling in. But April Hemmes, an Iowa soybean farmer who has promoted increased trade with China, said the agreement would be difficult to fulfill, noting that delivering 12 million metric tons of soybeans by early next year is “not very realistic.”  

As China establishes new trade routes across Latin America, every new port or shipping lane makes a future recovery for U.S. farmers more challenging.

Despite the tensions, Hemmes still views China as an essential market. 

“I don’t think our relationship with China has been damaged,” the Iowa soybean farmer said. “China is a low-cost buyer and will need soybeans from the U.S. for a long time. But we will never be their number one source.”

For her, the changing politics and policies have made the United States an “unreliable trading partner.”

“The only way that we become their top choice would be if our soybeans were far cheaper than South America’s.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

Wisconsin Watch is a member of the Ag & Water Desk network. Sign up for our newsletters to get our news straight to your inbox.

China is investing billions in Latin America, potentially sidelining US farmers for decades to come is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Social Development Commission spent 2025 trying to restore services and funding in the face of legal challenges, board friction and government audits and reviews.

Commonly known as the SDC, the organization has a long history of providing services for low-income residents in Milwaukee County, including tax help, job training and rental assistance.   

Since it stopped running its programs in April 2024, SDC has been trying to create a path to resume its anti-poverty work. 

Here are some of this year’s major stories on the SDC. 

March/April

State holds public hearing   

In March, the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families scheduled a public hearing on SDC’s status as a community action agency. 

The community action agency designation allows SDC to receive a federal block grant to support its anti-poverty work. 

Jorge Franco, interim CEO and chair of the SDC board, said at the board’s next meeting he felt the department had not been transparent with SDC about its concerns on SDC’s ability to restart services and meet other requirements while they had been meeting and providing documents over past months. 

In early April, the Department of Children and Families held a hearing in Milwaukee on SDC’s community action status to get public comments from members of the community, who spoke in favor of SDC. 

May/June

State files wage claims lawsuit 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Workforce Development, filed a lawsuit in May that alleges the SDC failed to pay $360,000 in wages and benefits owed to former employees, according to court records. 

William Sulton, SDC’s attorney at the time, acknowledged SDC owes workers wages, but said the lawsuit would not be the most effective way to get them paid. 

Franco has said SDC is committed to repaying employees for wages and benefits. 

State’s community action decision held for review

After reviewing materials from the public hearing, Secretary Jeff Pertl of the Department of Children and Families decided in May that it would remove SDC’s community action status in July.

However, SDC leaders said they had concerns that the state did not follow the proper decision process, so they requested a review from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in June. 

The department agreed to take up the review, which suspended the state’s decision. 

September 

Weatherization vendors win lawsuit 

Three vendors filed a money judgment lawsuit against SDC in an effort to collect reimbursements for weatherization work completed for the agency. In September, a judge granted a total judgment of $186,500 plus statutory costs and accrued interest. 

October 

Credit facility proposed

The SDC board received a letter of intent from Wings Credit Union indicating it is interested in providing the SDC with a credit facility, or a type of loan, of up to $15 million. In SDC’s case, the credit facility would be used to cover upfront expenses for government-funded programs that are paid through reimbursements. 

Foreclosure decision 

In March, Forward Community Investments Inc. filed a foreclosure lawsuit against SD Properties Inc., which owns SDC’s buildings, alleging it defaulted on mortgage payments for the main office and warehouse buildings on North Avenue. 

At an October hearing, a judge ordered a judgment of foreclosure against the North Avenue buildings and ruled that Forward Community Investments was entitled to a money judgment of approximately $3.1 million. 

SDC moved out of the buildings and started a three-month redemption period.

Sulton resigns

Sulton, SDC’s attorney and legal counsel since late 2022, resigned from his volunteer position in mid-October. 

Sulton represented SDC in lawsuits, served as a spokesperson and advised the board.

November 

Board members make failed attempt to remove Franco  

Some members of the board attempted to call an emergency meeting to vote on removing Franco as the board chair and interim CEO, but they ultimately did not vote on anything because of a disagreement on meeting procedure. Franco opposed the meeting and called it “out of order.” 

State releases community action decision

The Department of Children and Families notified SDC on Nov. 21 that it believes the federal review period ended as of Nov. 18 and would be moving forward with removing SDC’s community action status. It selected UMOS to be an interim provider of block grant-funded services. 

SDC commissioners raised questions about the timeline of the federal review at a board planning session in November. 

December 

Federal office releases letter

The director of a division in the federal Office of Community Services found that the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ process of removing SDC’s community action status was compliant with federal law, according to a letter it sent to the department on Dec. 5. 

SDC is seeking further clarity from senior leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services, Franco said in a statement.  

What happens next  

Building sale or foreclosure auction  

The three-month redemption period for the North Avenue buildings expires on Jan. 6, according to SDC, although they technically can be redeemed up until there is a hearing to confirm the sale of the properties at auction. 

Ongoing legal cases

Lawsuits filed against SDC from TriShulla, an information technology company, and the Department of Workforce Development are still ongoing. 

Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods 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.

A year of challenges for Milwaukee’s Social Development Commission is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• ATECH opened over a decade ago to create a pipeline of students interested in advanced manufacturing careers. 

• Many students at the charter school like the hands-on classes, take advantage of paid apprenticeships and earn free college credits. 

• But school leaders say they struggle to attract students, fight a stigma that surrounds technical education and afford equipment and tools.

A cacophony of humming, drilling, banging and buzzing fills Appleton Technical Academy’s cavernous lab. 

In one corner, a student drills ventilation holes in a piece of metal that will eventually be a firepit ring. Another cuts through a thin piece of metal with clippers. Shrouded by red vinyl curtains, several students weld metal, sending blue sparks flying through the air.

As more schools embrace career and technical education, scenes like these are increasingly common in high schools nationwide: fewer students gripping pencils at desks; more wielding expensive tools and receiving hands-on training for their future career. 

Part of that trend, Appleton Technical Academy (ATECH) opened a decade ago to ease the region’s shortage of advanced manufacturing workers. Today, many of the students love their hands-on classes, enroll in paid apprenticeships and collect free college credit before continuing on to trade school. 

But it hasn’t been without difficulties. The school has struggled to attract students, combat a persistent stigma around technical education and afford the pricey equipment and tools it requires. Plus, it’s hard to determine if the school has met the original goal of producing local manufacturing employees. 

What’s happening at ATECH shows how preparing Wisconsin teenagers to eventually fill workforce holes, especially amid the state’s dearth of skilled trade workers, can be a tall task.

ATECH lead teacher Paul Endter spends his lunch breaks and free time trying to grow local support for the school and get more students interested. 

“I continue to tell people we’re the best-kept secret in the Fox Valley, and that’s not by design,” Endter said. “I wish I had more people who wanted to get involved.”

Born from industry needs

In the early 2010s, Jared Bailin, CEO of Appleton-based Eagle Performance Plastics, was struggling to find enough advanced manufacturing workers. The plastic manufacturing leader thought introducing high schoolers to the jobs would help. 

He took the idea to Greg Hartjes, who was principal of Appleton West High School at the time. Hartjes is now the school district’s superintendent and has always worried about students who don’t mesh with traditional high school education structure — students who, he says, “perhaps didn’t want to sit in English class and read Shakespeare,” but rather wanted “their hands in the work that they were doing.” 

Together, they built ATECH, a tuition-free charter school inside Appleton West that aims to prepare students for manufacturing jobs. They secured state grants to fund the launch, and Appleton voters approved a district referendum that put $2.4 million toward renovating labs and classroom spaces.

The school opened in the 2014-15 school year. Here’s how it works: Students can apply to the school at any point, but most enroll their freshman year. They choose to specialize in one of four growing industries: electronics and automated manufacturing, machining, mechanical design or welding. 

At first, students take a small number of classes that introduce them to the basics of manufacturing alongside the traditional courses required of all high schoolers, such as language arts and math. Students gradually take on more courses aligned to their specialization, such as programming for electronics students or blueprint reading for machining students.

Beginning their junior year, students take free college classes that earn both high school and Fox Valley Technical College credit. The classes chip away at a certificate in their focus area, which can shave thousands off tuition for students who enroll in technical college after graduation. Some juniors and seniors can work for local employers as paid youth apprentices during part of the school day, earning money and gaining work experience. 

“ATECH kids are kids that wanted to use their hands along with their brain in learning,” Hartjes said. 

That’s the reason senior Izzy Chappell enrolled. On an early December morning, she dipped into one of the lab’s eight welding booths wearing a helmet to protect from the harsh UV rays and flying sparks. She put the finishing touches on a welded metal skull sculpture she entered in a regional SkillsUSA competition that night. 

“Other classes are hard,” Chappell said. “This comes easy to me.” 

Getting students excited a struggle 

ATECH leaders hoped the school would be a magnet for students, but getting them interested has been a challenge.

The school debuted with 56 students. Enrollment has fluctuated a bit over the decade, never reaching the district’s goal of 120. In the 2024-25 school year — the most recent year with available state data — 68 students enrolled.  

Leaders chalk the lower-than-desired enrollment up to several difficulties: The district doesn’t provide transportation to charter schools, meaning these students typically have to find their own way to school. A jump start toward a career simply doesn’t resonate with many teenagers as young as 14, who Endter said are more motivated by sports or where their friends go to school. 

And most of all, ATECH leaders find many families still see college degrees as the gold standard. Despite growing investment in career and technical education programs nationwide and the critical need for skilled workers in Wisconsin, they say a stigma still plagues technical education, leading many to believe it’s for students who don’t perform well in school. 

“I think a misconception often is that it’s not rigorous, and it’s not for students that have an aptitude or are intelligent,” Hartjes said. “That’s not the case. We’ve given kids an opportunity to really learn using both their hands and their head.”

When ATECH was brand new, a state grant helped the school afford TV commercials and mailers. That money is long gone. Nowadays, Endter visits nearby middle schools to talk to students about career education. They organize tours and career fairs, where ATECH leaders try to entice students with the spacious labs and high-tech equipment.

“It’s not for lack of trying, you know?” Endter said. “But again, as an incoming eighth grader, charter schools represent something different. For some kids, different is good. And for some kids, different is not. So many kids don’t know what could or should be the best pathway for them.”

Meeting workforce needs?

Sophomore Noah Siong enrolled in ATECH because his brother graduated from the school and went on to open his own car repair shop. 

“That kind of opened the gateway to me,” Siong said. “It was like, ‘Oh, this stuff is pretty cool.’”

Siong wants to pursue a career in metal fabrication after graduation. Hartjes estimates hundreds of students like Siong have learned “skills that have prepared them for careers” over the last decade. But it’s difficult to know exactly how many students have gotten jobs that use the skills they learned at ATECH.

Wisconsin, like many states, doesn’t have a system connecting education and employment data, according to a 2024 Education Commission of the States analysis. The evidence ATECH leaders collect is largely anecdotal, but Endter said it indicates the vast majority either continue to technical college to finish their programs or turn their youth apprenticeships into full-time jobs after graduation. Endter estimates about 10% pursue a four-year degree. 

Bailin, the Eagle Performance Plastics CEO, said ATECH hasn’t produced as many local manufacturing employees as he hoped when he helped create the school.

“It didn’t really come out the way I would have hoped,” Bailin said. Eagle has hired between one and three apprentices from ATECH each year. He estimates roughly half have moved into full-time jobs, but it hasn’t been enough to produce the pipeline of machining employees he wanted. The company is no longer closely tied to the school, Bailin said. 

In a measure of its academic performance, ATECH’s state rating has averaged a score of 58, which the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) defines as “meets few expectations.” Hartjes said the hands-on skills students learn are not reflected in the state’s rating system. For example, the college classes students take, however advanced, don’t factor into the school’s rating.

“If they were … tested on their aptitude for mechanics, I guarantee you that they would outscore many other students across our state,” Hartjes said. “If they were being tested on those different things that we focused on, I guarantee you that their knowledge, their experience and their aptitude is going to shine through. But, you know, they don’t.”

‘Just can’t fund all of this’

“I’m going to teach you about different kinds of metal!” technology education teacher Carrie Giauque shouts so students hear her in the noisy lab. She pulls scraps out of a large trash barrel filled to the brim, identifying them to the students crowded around her: “Carbon! Steel! Aluminum! Galvanized steel! Copper!”

Behind them, sheets of metal are stacked floor to ceiling. The school goes through countless sheets teaching students the basics of welding and metal fabrication. It’s ATECH’s largest expense.

“It’s a lot less costly to have 30 students sit in math class,” Hartjes said. 

Despite needing costly materials, ATECH’s state funding is determined by the same formula as all other schools in the district, so it relies on grants and donations to make up the difference. To date, the school has received $266,000 in donations toward equipment and curriculum. 

“A lot of the learning exhausts materials, exhausts some of our resources,” Hartjes said. “(We’re) having to get support from our local manufacturing community, from a financial aspect, because as a school district, we just can’t fund all of this.”

Endter said ATECH also badly needs mentoring from industry employees, who can teach students and teachers how to use the complicated technology they receive as donations. In one classroom, a large robot sits untouched in a locked box after a college donated it. ATECH employees don’t have enough experience with the programming language to teach students how to use it.  

For their part, employers are often stretched too thin to offer up staff to mentor teachers and students. Eagle Performance Plastics used to send someone to ATECH to teach students about a pricey machine it helped buy, but there weren’t enough interested students to make the trip worth it, Bailin said.

Inside ATECH, a “sponsor wall” is decorated with the logos of organizations and employers that have invested in the school. Two-thirds of the spaces are empty — a visual reminder of the school’s need for added support. 

Endter jokes he wears “27 hats” trying to find it. 

“Every hour that I am not teaching, including working through my lunch hour, is dedicated to phone calls, emails, site visits, networking, cold calls,” he said. “You name it. I am doing it.”

The work could soon pay off. Beginning in 2024, Appleton students between kindergarten and fifth grade began taking weekly STEM classes. Endter hopes that will spark interest in career and technical education. 

“I’m on the precipice,” Endter said. “And I’m hoping that there’s going to be this giant surge of students who are looking for opportunities.”

The dilemma isn’t unique to ATECH. Many schools are eager to provide this kind of technical education, Karin Smith, a DPI education consultant, said. However, the equipment and tools are costly, and many schools are struggling to fund basic offerings. (Appleton expects a $13 million deficit this school year.) 

Wisconsin is one of five states that don’t designate state funding for career and technical education programs, relying solely on federal funding. Many states allocate more funding to school districts specifically for these programs because the federal dollars alone cannot meet the costs, according to Advance CTE, a nonprofit representing state career and technical education leaders.

“In Wisconsin, we have used (the federal funds) to, generally speaking, keep the lights on,” said Sara Baird, DPI’s career and technical education director. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly requested the 2025-27 state budget include about $45 million in career and technical education grants to districts. Gov. Tony Evers suggested a pared-down version of $10 million, which was scrubbed by the Legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee and not included in the final bill. 

“We’re seeing tremendous growth and tremendous interest in expanding CTE,” Smith said. Still, school district leaders are frustrated by the lack of funding for it. “They are feeling like their hands are tied behind their back,” she said. 

“We can’t do this alone … Every school has a tech ed teacher who is desperately trying to get kids excited about career pathways,” Endter said. “They need business support. They need donations. They need mentors in the classroom.”

Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Email her at mdunlap@wisconsinwatch.org.

‘Can’t do this alone’: An Appleton school prepares students for skilled trades. It’s not easy. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

A version of this story was originally published by Circle of Blue.

On a warm fall afternoon, dairy farmer Chris Kestell pushes through prairie brambles taller than himself, tracing a path overgrown with thickets and swarming with bees as he hikes toward a hidden waterway.

Though the route is unidentifiable to the untrained eye, Kestell, 47, has lived here, in the small town of Waldo, Wisconsin, for nearly all his life. His father first walked this path 70 years ago, and his two young boys, 8 and 10 years-old, mark the third generation to follow this practiced journey.

After several minutes, he comes to rest beside a fallen tree. In its petrified tangle of roots, guarded by a tiny plastic gnome, a collection of spoons, bowls, and mugs fit like perfect puzzle pieces. Kestell takes a silver ladle from the snarl and kneels over a wall of dirt, from which a steady trickle emerges.

These are the headwaters of the Milwaukee River, known locally as Nichols Creek. According to Milwaukee Riverkeeper data, it is the “most pristine” monitored waterway in the entire 900 square-mile rivershed, and one of the only regional waters where brook trout reproduce naturally. 

As he has done since he was a young boy, Kestell brings the water to his lips. “By a certain age, everybody drinks here,” he says. “The creek is a landmark for this area. When you’re a kid, you’re like, ‘Wow, this is pretty awesome.’ It’s a special place.”

Deep in this quiet wooded alcove, Nichols Creek is a cultural touchstone and habitat of ecological importance. Safe and secure for generations, residents fear it is suddenly at risk of severe damage from a new era of energy transition in Wisconsin. 

The waterway — along with drinking water wells, protected woods and wetlands, and newly restored floodplains — is caught in the spreading network of high-voltage power lines. 

According to Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) documents, more than 400 miles of new high-voltage power lines are either under review or approved in Wisconsin. Similar projects have also been greenlit in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and the other three Great Lakes states in recent months, together totaling well over 1,000 miles. 

As part of its Plymouth Reliability Project, the American Transmission Company (ATC), a local electric utility, plans to install seven miles of high-capacity lines through the Waldo area. Part of the route would pass directly over Nichols Creek, raising concerns over deforestation around the county’s only stream designated as “outstanding” by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Meanwhile, a second ATC expansion, the Ozaukee County Distribution Interconnection project, proposes the construction of five new energy substations and corresponding transmission lines just southeast of Waldo. The preferred route would require the clear-cutting of old-growth forest and intersect the Cederberg Bog Wilderness — “the most intact large bogs in southeastern Wisconsin,” according to the Wisconsin DNR, and a registered National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“Our entire business is based on people coming away from the city and spending the weekend here in the trees,” said Katy Rowe, who co-owns Abloom Farms, a resort and wedding venue located on the northern edge of the bog. “Eminent domain should not be used as a weapon against normal American citizens that have decided to live a quiet life in the country.”

According to ATC’s website, these projects are “needed to ensure electric reliability and address current and future energy needs in the community and the surrounding area.” But those needs aren’t due from the smattering of dairy farms, lonely county roads, and modest old homes that comprise rural Waldo, population 467. 

Nearly two dozen data centers in southeastern Wisconsin alone are either proposed, built, or in-development, but the two newest are not like the others. More than 20 miles away, in the city of Port Washington, a 672-acre campus built by Vantage Data Centers broke ground on Dec. 17. Even farther, some 70 miles south, Microsoft is building a 315-acre facility near Racine. 

Though seemingly far enough away to be irrelevant to Waldo, the new sites’ thirst for power knows few bounds. When fully built, the Vantage and Microsoft locations will together require a 24/7 electricity supply totaling 3.2 gigawatts — greater than all of Wisconsin’s homes combined. 

Power generated by natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, wind, and battery storage stations across the state’s central and eastern regions are all in the mix to bring data center campuses online. Transmission lines, running through Waldo, will transport the electricity they demand.

When reached, ATC declined to comment on the Plymouth Reliability project.

But the company in public testimony has downplayed the project’s potential effects on wetlands and says it will take measures to minimize the impact. 

The project as proposed “will not directly impact stream channels or have direct discharges to streams,” Erika Biemann, senior environmental project manager for ATC, wrote in testimony before Wisconsin’s PSC.

Waldo’s story is not a one-off. New state and federal legislation are incentivizing data center development and encouraging power lines’ rapid rise across the region, potentially running roughshod over other communities. 

In February, Illinois — which by one count leads the Great Lakes region with more than 200 data centers — enacted a law allowing tax incentives for the construction of new battery storage facilities and high-voltage transmission lines. A month later, lawmakers in Indiana (75 data centers) enacted a law aiming to make transmission lines more efficient and cost-effective to construct. Similar legislation went into effect in Ohio (192 data centers) in August.

On a national scale, President Trump signed an executive order this January declaring an energy emergency and ordering agencies to “expedite the completion of all authorized and appropriated” energy infrastructure. The order directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed up their review of permit applications to develop wetlands for transmission lines and other energy projects. The Corps is reviewing such permits for new lines in Wisconsin and other states. 

In late October, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to change permitting and rulemaking procedures to “significantly reduce” the amount of time and oversight required to bring data centers onto the grid. 

Literally caught in the middle of a new epoch of surging energy demand and supply in the Great Lakes region, residents say they are contending with powerful economic trends that could be devastating to the environment, and already are weighing on their spirits. 

Back at his family home, Kestell points to a large rock on his front lawn. The new power lines, Kestell said, would run right over his uncle’s final resting place.

“This is not rural electrification anymore, bringing power to poor farms” said Kestell’s father, Tom, also a farmer in Waldo. “This is an elite, wealthy class of people who are invested in these power stations and data centers, who are going to make probably trillions of dollars off this. And the people who they infringe on in the meantime? They’re just collateral damage.”

Homes and ponds face risk

What’s developing in Waldo is a case in point. The wetland area through which Nichols Creek flows is the source of local residents’ well water. 

“Water comes, goes back down into the ground, and then becomes a collection of underground springs,” said JoAnne Friedman, the town chairperson of Lyndon, Wisconsin. “When you try to imagine how much water is underground here, it is a phenomenal amount.”

The water recharge process, and the natural filtration trees and other plants provide, is threatened by the right-of-way easements that the 138-kilovolt power lines require. All vegetation between 60 feet and 110 feet to either side of the lines would need to be cleared during their construction. 

The loss of maple and cedar tree cover, Kestell said, threatens both the warming of Nichols Creek and soil erosion on the side of county roads that already slump and flood when storms roll through. 

“With all of these projects, they don’t realize how much mitigation people who have these properties have done to prevent erosion,” said Friedman, who has needed to enlarge her property’s 20-foot-deep retention pond from half an acre to two acres to manage gushing ephemeral streams during springtime snowmelt and heavy rains. 

Living at the bottom of a small sloped valley, she said she has planted so many trees she “lost count,” all to help redirect flows from damaging her home. If ATC’s transmission line route is built, she said, this cover would all be clear-cut. 

Hundred-year-old trees would also be razed from the backyard of Randy Pietsch, a retired dairy farmer who has lived along the banks of Nichols Creek for more than 50 years. The trout pond he keeps on his property has long been open to friends and family for fishing, though he closed it several years ago and has no plans now of reopening. 

“I’m not hopeful for anything,” he said. “Why they have to come through here is beyond me. I can’t imagine that electric line’s good for fish. They just want to steal the land, that’s all. It’s sad, it’s stressful. You lose a lot of sleep at night.”

ATC says the project will not significantly affect the creek. 

“The loss of forested riparian habitat along Nicholas Creek would not be significant, especially considering the large riparian forest buffer both upstream and downstream from the proposed route crossing,” Biemann, the ATC environmental project manager, wrote in public testimony. 

Olivia Poelmann, a PSC environmental analysis and review specialist, testified that the project’s cumulative environmental effects are “not expected to be significant and are mostly temporary, with a large majority of impacts occurring primarily during the construction phase of the project.” 

But most startling, residents say, are the effects of ATC’s preferred route on their properties, many of which have been in their families for multiple generations. 

In some cases, the transmission lines’ right-of-way easements extend several feet inside peoples’ homes. One resident, Nolan Harp, said that the lines would run within 40 feet of his front door, placing half of his house within an easement. As a result, five 40-foot tall trees in his yard would be cut down, and his private well would need to be moved.

“That’s my sole source of water. It’s an old well, but it works, it’s clean, and it’s good,” Harp said. “But you can’t have something like that under power lines.”

Harp said that ATC has offered to dig up the open well, its casing, tank, and pump, and replace them elsewhere on his property. But the headache of additional construction, and the obvious hazard of power lines running above his house, has him considering other options.

“I don’t want to move, but if they insist on putting that power line up, I don’t think I can live here,” Harp said.

In late January, the $33.5 million Plymouth project was approved by the PSC, though it added a condition that prevents ATC from using eminent domain to build their power lines. ATC subsequently petitioned to reopen the application on the grounds that PSC cannot revoke that right, which is protected under Wisconsin state law. In April, this petition was granted. 

Kestell, who founded an organization called Neighbors 4 Neighbors to fight against the project in court, estimates that residents have spent $250,000 of their own money on legal fees.

At the end of the day, their homes and health are the most important concerns. 

“When they put these towers in, some of them are going down 30 or 40 feet, possibly hitting the aquifer when they’re digging foundations,” said Kestell, who estimates his own front door will be within roughly 20 feet of an easement. “We’re just not sure about contamination.”

Wisconsin Watch contributed reporting.

As data centers boom, rural Waldo braces for high-voltage lines over wetlands and homes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Angel Shelton never imagined herself holding a leadership position as she spent her teen years in the foster care system in Milwaukee. Now, at 20, she’s the new vice president of Wisconsin’s Youth Advisory Council, hoping to advocate for the needs of foster youths. 

The Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council began in 2005 and consists of current and former youths in foster care who work with government officials to advocate for foster youths in the state. 

“I wasn’t planning on running for this position,” Shelton said. “I guess God had other plans for me.”

Issues she plans to highlight as vice president include the need for improved transportation, more social workers, increased support and expectations for foster parents and more mental health resources. 

She became acutely aware of foster youths’ needs before and during her time in foster care. 

“When we do get a little support, we have to put our foot on the gas to get it fully,” Shelton said. 

Entering a life-changing program

At 16, Shelton met Christine Woods, independent living supervisor at Wellpoint Care Network, who placed her in supervised independent living at 17. 

“Ms. Woods was like an angel that walked up to me and opened all the doors to my journey,” Shelton said. 

Woods later encouraged her to participate in Youth Transitioning to Adulthood, a program that supports youths aging out of foster care by assisting with education, employment, housing, health and care connections. 

While in the program, Woods made Shelton feel secure and introduced her to new opportunities, like becoming a secretary and vice president of the program.

Woods said she admired Shelton’s vulnerability and acceptance of constructive feedback and encouraged her to become a member of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council.

“In the beginning, Angel was shy, and now she’s just out there, and I think it’s because she knows people are listening,” Woods said. 

After a year of serving as vice president of the local Youth Advisory Council and filling other roles, Shelton delivered an impromptu speech for a seat on the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council and won all the votes to become vice president. 

“Her speech was a standing ovation,” Woods said. 

Becoming vice president marked Shelton’s latest step in leading efforts to improve the lives of youths in foster care. 

Providing better transportation services

As a leader on the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council, Shelton is prioritizing transportation services.

She remembers being late for school each day and knows there are many foster youths with mental health challenges or disabilities that struggle with transportation. 

Also, in a conversation with a peer, she was made aware that some youths aren’t given enough funds to take public transportation.

A call for social workers

Although Shelton had a supportive social worker before aging out, she knows all foster children don’t have the same experience.

She hopes to push for more compassionate social workers who will spend more time with the youths.

“They need to understand that we don’t have parents to call on, so we need more social workers who will be present and hands-on,” she said. 

Shelton wants social workers to check in with children weekly and in person, instead of once a month. 

“I see both ends of the stick between young people and other people of authority like social workers and the system, but I want them to understand how we feel,” she said. 

Improving support for foster parents

Another goal of Shelton’s is for foster parents to participate in workshops that provide proper training and expectations for their role, like providing youths with hygiene products, laundry bags and more.

“I want this to be a mandatory workshop where they’re held accountable,” she said. 

Shelton hopes the workshop reminds individuals that youths should be treated with dignity.

“With some foster parents, once you transition out of their house, they are going to put your things in bags and out,” Shelton said. 

While living in a group home for two weeks, Shelton noticed a lack of hygiene products as well. 

“I ended up telling somebody that I couldn’t live like this, and that’s when I was switched over to my own place,” she said. 

Supporting mental health

Losing a friend to suicide motivated Shelton to open up about proper care for mental health.  

Her goal is to provide more mental health services for at-risk individuals who are 12 to 19. 

“Certain feelings are so normalized now, that some don’t even realize they’re battling something,” Shelton said. 

Woods says Shelton can utilize Wellpoint Care Network’s mental health services to link individuals to different forms of therapy like art, music, games and other outlets. 

To ensure every voice can be heard, Shelton said the council will be creating a TikTok account that posts every day in 2026.

The posts will feature videos from foster youths, parents, staff and professionals asking questions, and the council responding with answers.

“I wanted to create a different system nationwide for everybody, not just (Youth Transitioning to Adulthood),” Shelton said.

Watching her sister shine

Seeing Shelton in a leadership role didn’t surprise her oldest sister, Desirae Shelton, but hearing she won vice president brought her to tears. 

“She is living proof that where you come from doesn’t define where you will go,” Desirae Shelton said.

She admired how her sister carried pain but turned it into purpose as she grew more confident and willing to speak up for herself and others. 

“I just want Angel to make youth feel seen and supported,” she said. “I hope she brings attention to what kids go through emotionally.”

Plans for the future

In May, during Foster Care Awareness Month, Shelton will lead an annual mental health panel for the council, professionals, foster parents and relatives to discuss their lived experiences, needs and other topics. 

An Avenues West resident and nursing student at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, Shelton plans to become a nurse practitioner or a professional in the mental health field. 

In the next few years, she also wants to start a nonprofit that provides mental health services and a group home for at-risk teens.

“Whether I’m helping people in foster care or the juvenile system, mental health is at stake for both,” she said. 

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For more information

You can learn more about the work of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council by attending its monthly meeting. They’re held every second Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wellpoint Care Network, 8901 W. Capitol Drive in Milwaukee.

Individuals who are interested in becoming a part of Youth Transitioning to Adulthood can click here to register for its monthly mandatory orientation. 

‘Where you come from doesn’t define where you will go’: Former foster child becomes vice president of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 13 minutes

A version of this story was originally published by the Door County Knock, an independent, nonprofit news organization covering Door County, Wisconsin. Subscribe to its newsletters here.

The 143-foot tug boat Donny S. sits aground in a few feet of water on the northeast side of Baileys Harbor. One cannot miss it, whether buying smoked fish from Baileys Harbor Fish Company, renting a waterfront cottage, hiking at Toft Point State Natural Area or watching a sunset from the Baileys Harbor Yacht Club. 

Depending on who you talk to, the forsaken tugboat is a hazard, an eyesore or a curiosity. No matter what folks think about it, there is no question the Donny S. is something of a local celebrity. Hundreds of social media posts have been made about the vessel on what William Stephan, the chief engineer of another tug, calls “boat nerd” sites.

Attempts to move it have failed. Municipal, county, state and federal agencies have received complaints and inquiries about it. State representatives have gotten involved. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has convened four working group meetings and issued citations and fines to the boat’s owner, Jeremy Schultz. 

But the Donny S. remains mired on the lakebed, its status and fate uncertain.

The curious second life of the Donny S.

Before it came to rest in Baileys Harbor, the tugboat had a long and industrious life. Built in 1950 and named the G.W. Coddrington, it eventually wound up as the Donny S. in Sturgeon Bay. Owned by Selvick, and then Sarter Marine, the tug broke up ice for the winter fleet at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and performed other commercial tugboat operations. 

The boat was decommissioned  in 2020 and sold to private owner, Jeremy Schultz, after it was unable to meet regulatory requirements laid out by Subchapter M. The rule, issued by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2016, established new protocols and standards for commercial tugboats and marine towing companies. 

Schultz moved the Donny S. to Baileys Harbor in 2021, with the intention of eventually taking it to Manitowoc to be scrapped, according to Mike Cole. Cole owns Ironworks Construction in Baileys Harbor. He also owns the dock the Donny S. was tied to when it arrived in Baileys Harbor. 

Sometime after August 2021, Schultz began preparing the tug to be moved to Manitowoc, Cole said. Preparation included “de-ballasting” the tug  – removing the water from ballast tanks that keep the heavy vessel from moving around in wind and damaging the dock. Schultz also got the boat moved farther away from the dock and  “pointed in the right direction,” Cole said. In order to do so, the Donny S. had to be untied, but at least one line was kept between the tug and the dock once it was situated where Schultz wanted it, he added. 

All of the ballast water had been pumped out of the vessel, a float plan was approved, and the tug was ready to go, Cole said. Then the Coast Guard received a complaint about possible contaminants on board, he said, and moving it was delayed.

It was just enough time for weather conditions to go from ideal to difficult. Autumn storms pushed the Donny S. aground, according to Cole. It has not moved since. 

Not for lack of trying, according to William Stephan. Stephan is the chief engineer on the Cheyenne, a tugboat owned by Five Lakes Marine Towing in Sturgeon Bay. Schultz worked on the Cheyenne and had arranged to have it tow the Donny S. to Manitowoc, according to Stephan.

The DNR issued its first citation to Schultz for obstruction of navigable waters in October 2022. On Dec. 22, the Cheyenne tried to move the Donny S. Stephan was on board. 

It was a zero-degree day, with a cold fog settled over Lake Michigan, he remembered. When the Cheyenne got to Baileys Harbor, the Donny S. was “high and dry,” he said, which was a surprise to him and the rest of the crew, as they thought it was ready to be moved. Instead, the 500 ton Donny S. was grounded firmly on the bottom of the lake and surrounded by ice chunks.

The Cheyenne tried a few maneuvers anyway, Stephan said, but it could not get close enough. The water around the Donny S. was too shallow and the Cheyenne did not have enough line to reach it from deeper water. 

“It was a wasted trip,” Stephan said. The Cheyenne’s crew had volunteered their time in exchange for getting a cut of the salvage from the Donny S., he said.

 “(Schultz) still owes me a port light,” he quipped. 

Tug condition, knowns and unknowns

Reports and observations vary regarding the condition of the Donny S. and what exactly is on board. There have not been any formal state or federal assessments made of the tugboat recently, and that is part of the reason nothing is being done about it, according to Mike Kahr. 

Kahr is a Baileys Harbor resident and civil engineer who owned Death’s Door Design and Development, a marine construction firm, for 35 years. 

“I believe it’s sitting on solid rock now with soft sediment around it,” he said, “and I believe if it starts moving in the storm, it’s going to pop a hole in it, and the oil in the bilge is just going to end up on the beach. I firmly, firmly believe that it’s not a question of if, but when.” 

Kahr became concerned about the tugboat when it first went aground in Baileys Harbor, he said. He has since contacted the Coast Guard, the DNR, the Town of Baileys Harbor and the Door County government, alleging it is an environmental hazard. Kahr is also part of a working group convened by the DNR in August 2025 to address the stranded vessel. 

In August, Kahr boarded the Donny S. and took photos, soundings and measurements that he claimed prove the boat is an environmental threat. There is upwards of 3 feet of “oily liquid” in the bilge and about 112 different fuel tanks present on board, he noted. The engines are still in the boat as well, though the transmission has been removed, he said. 

Kahr also took hull measurements with an ultrasound meter and the steel hull is pitted with rust and is ½ inch thick, he said.

It was the Coast Guard’s understanding that all potential pollutants like fuel had been removed from the Donny S. prior to attempts to remove it from the harbor, according to a phone conversation with Lt. Nathan Herring on Dec. 5.

Herring is the commander of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit in Sturgeon Bay, the office responsible for inspecting commercial vessels, waterway safety and pollution response. He attended the first DNR working group meeting on Aug. 28 and heard about Kahr’s findings for the first time.

“That was, I think, new news to everybody in the meeting,” Herring said. 

A current inspection and evaluation of the boat’s environmental condition and contents, by an authorized entity, is crucial for any progress toward removing the Donny S., according to Tressie Kamp, assistant director at the Center for Water Policy at UW-Milwaukee.

The organization is an interdisciplinary research center housed in the School of Freshwater Sciences, and it works with scientists, academics and technical experts inside and outside the UW system to review policy related to state waterways. 

The center published a policy brief in September regarding abandoned vessels in Wisconsin waters. 

“Government actors need to go on the boat and understand what the conditions are years after the last Coast Guard inspection,” Kamp said. Anyone who wants to do something about the tug, whether government or private actors, cannot know what efforts will consist of, or how much it will cost, until that happens, she added. 

Hazard, eyesore or curiosity?

The Donny S. has been drawing interest, and ire, ever since it’s been grounded. 

Mike Kahr is not the only one worried about the potential environmental fallout of the tug. Baileys Harbor Fish Company owner Todd Stuth has also been concerned about the Donny S. since it arrived in Baileys Harbor. It’s easy to keep it in mind, he said, because the tug is right in front of his business. 

“We get questions (from customers) every day,” Stuth said. 

As a commercial fisherman, Stuth has years of experience in the boating world, and he speculated that there is lead paint on the hull of the Donny S. Red lead paint was widely used as hull coating in the 1950s, when the tug was built, he said, which means specific abatement processes need to be followed in order to cut the boat apart for salvage.

Stuth is also certain that the Donny S. will leak at some point, spilling the contents of the bilge into Baileys Harbor waters, which would be a disaster for the watershed, he said. Toft Point State Natural Area and the Ridges Sanctuary are nearby. 

“I’m a little miffed that the state and county haven’t made a stronger push to have it removed,” he said. “We can put a man on the moon … but we can’t get a tugboat out of a harbor.”

Cole with Ironworks Construction asserted there are no contaminants on board the vessel, and everything potentially harmful has been removed, during a phone conversation on Dec. 8. In order to move it from Sturgeon Bay to Baileys Harbor, a float plan and inspection needed to be approved by the Coast Guard, he said. That was done and all potential hazards were removed at the time, he added. 

Captain Lynn Brunsen does not think the Donny S. is an imminent environmental threat either, he said. He works for Shoreline Boat Tours, operating out of Baileys Harbor, and said tourists are always intrigued by the tugboat. 

“I get within one hundred feet of it every time we do a tour,” Brunsen said. “There’s no evidence of oil, no slick or sheen in the water, no smell.” He does agree that eventually a hole will rust or break through the hull and whatever is in the bilge could spill out, he said. 

Brunsen also does not consider the tug a navigational hazard, he said, as it is sitting in about two feet of water. Nothing much bigger than a kayak can get next to it, he added. 

He is concerned about the tug as a safety hazard however, and has observed people climbing aboard the vessel via knotted ropes hanging down the side,“like something you would see on a pirate ship,” Brunsen said. 

Earlier this summer, someone lit what appeared to be smoke bombs or fireworks on board as well, he added. 

Whether a hazard or not, Stuth said, the Donny S. needs to go.

“The entire shoreline community in Baileys Harbor is pretty perturbed and wants it gone,” he said. 

Accountability in limbo

Whose responsibility is it to remove the Donny S.? The tug’s owner, Jeremy Schultz, is the obvious answer, according to municipal, county, state and federal agencies. The DNR has issued over a dozen citations for “unlawful obstruction of navigable waters” to Schultz from October 2022 to February 2024. Fines levied were upwards of $20,000. 

According to court records, Schultz’s fines were paid in June 2025. No fines or citations have been issued since. Notes obtained from the DNR’s working group meetings this fall stated that the owner does not have the means to remove the vessel. 

Schultz could not be reached for comment. 

“What people want to see happen is it is boarded and inspected by an official authority. We want to understand what’s on the boat and for someone to take responsibility for it,” Baileys Harbor town chairman David Eliot said in a phone call Dec. 3. (Disclosure: Knock editor-in-chief Andrew Phillips previously worked for a company owned in part by Eliot. Phillips was not involved in editing this story.)

The town sent a letter to the DNR in March 2025, and will be sending another, Eliot said. According to the letter, the town has received “many inquiries and complaints” from the community and considers the tug an eyesore and a hazard. 

Baileys Harbor was informed by the DNR that the Donny S. is not under the town’s jurisdiction, according to Eliot.

The Door County government has a similar position, Corporation Counsel Sean Donohue said. They would like to see the tug removed, but do not have jurisdiction or funds to do it themselves. Both town and county representatives have attended DNR working group meetings. 

The state authority is the DNR, and they have fined the owner and convened four stakeholder meetings since August to try to address the problem, but have taken no other action. The agency did not respond to inquiries in time for publication. 

From a federal standpoint, the Coast Guard’s involvement is only triggered if there is active pollution or a navigational hazard posed by the vessel, according to Lt. Herring. The Coast Guard does not deem either of those things a concern at this time, with the Donny S. 

“The first step in taking action would be if there’s an active pollutant coming from the vessel into a waterway,” Herring said. “We would be able to federalize that case, or that vessel, to where we can remove those contaminants from it. But as far as removing the vessel itself, there’s nothing that the Coast Guard would do at the onset.” 

Any costs incurred by Coast Guard removal or pollution cleanup would be forwarded to the owner of the tug, he added, and additional civil penalties and fines would be levied. 

One of the reasons cited by municipal, county and state authorities for abdicating responsibility for the tug is that the Donny S. is privately owned. There is no explicit definition of an abandoned vessel under Wisconsin law, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The state statute regarding abandoned property may suffice, but there is also no formal process for dealing with abandoned vessels, according to an administrative policy review in 2015 by NOAA’s Marine Debris Program. 

“The state is still wrestling with the Baileys Harbor case,” Kamp at the Center for Water Policy said, but the courts can make a determination as to whether the Donny S. is abandoned. Even if it is not abandoned, a government entity could seek an inspection warrant to board the vessel, she said. 

A lack of any clear mandate for government action further complicates the problem of removal, Kamp said. A number of government entities have authority to remove the tug, including municipal, county, state and federal agencies, she explained, but nothing that compels them to do so.

The situation is “a perfect storm” for creating confusion and questions on the part of government entities, she added, as indicated by the town and county government believing the situation is outside of their jurisdiction.

An expensive problem

Even if the jurisdictional and enforcement waters were not murky, removing the tug is no small undertaking, according to those who have already tried and members of the DNR working group. Notes from the group indicate initial estimates from salvage companies are upwards of $1 million. 

Those estimates are ridiculous, according to dock and Ironworks’ owner Cole, and he said he thinks he would be able to remove the tug for much less. 

“No one has asked me though,” he said. 

If the Donny S. does indeed contain lead paint, tanks with residual fuel, and contaminants in the bilge, that makes for a complicated removal, according to commercial fisherman Stuth. In order to scrap it properly in that case, it would need to be cut up on the water, requiring a crane, a barge and mitigation around the vessel to block anything leaching into the water, he speculated. 

Unclear authority over the tug, as well as its uncertain abandonment and hazard status means “no salvage company wants to touch it,” he added. 

Door County Corporation Counsel Donohue also indicated that even if it turns out various authorities have jurisdiction over the tug, or are found legally allowed to remove it, the funding to do so is simply not there. 

There are grants available for marine debris and abandoned or derelict vessel removal. The DNR provided information to Schultz about available grants and indicated he would need municipal or county government cooperation in applying for them, according to notes from the working group meetings. Neither town nor county officials have been contacted by Schultz regarding grant funding at this time. 

Removing stranded vessels should be covered by a statute requiring penalties of the vessel’s owner and compelling them to act, according to Kamp. If the owner is insolvent or there is no appetite for government enforcement, she said, there are other potential funding sources. 

Existing environmental funding streams, like grants, are used up very quickly in Wisconsin, she said. The Center’s policy brief advises giving the legislature authority to create a designated funding program for abandoned vessels, based on what some other states have done. 

However, the Center advises Wisconsin “emphasize ways to not put the taxpayers on the hook for addressing these things,” Kamp said. “Keep the responsible entities (the owners) on the hook.” 

Abandoned vessels statewide

The Donny S. is not the only recently grounded vessel in Wisconsin, but it is by far the largest. The Deep Thought, a Chris-Craft Roamer, became grounded near Bradford Beach in Milwaukee in 2024, after the owners ran out of fuel. The boat was beached for several months, becoming a popular local attraction. In May 2025, Milwaukee County ended up paying for its removal.

In the summer of 2024 another boat, this time a motor yacht named the Sweet Destiny, beached in the St. Croix River, near Hudson, Wis. After months of complaints and fines, the boat was removed through volunteer efforts and donations.  

The 33-foot and the 54-foot pleasure boats were newer and much smaller than the Donny S., with fewer potential environmental issues. 

These cases illustrate gaps in Wisconsin law when it comes to abandoned vessels. The DNR is the lead agency responsible for administering the patchwork of laws that address abandoned vessels, public nuisances and waterway obstruction, according to information from NOAA’s Marine Debris Program. 

Though the Center for Water Policy did not do a broad survey or count of abandoned vessels in the Great Lakes, Kamp said, “the fact we have these examples, and mechanisms to deal with them in other states indicates this is not a one-off problem.” 

Fourteen other states have state-level programs concerning abandoned vessels, including designated funds. Wisconsin lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill earlier this year that would clearly define abandonment of a vessel, and threaten owners of such vessels with up to nine months of jail time and a fine of $10,000 if they do not remove it within 30 days.  

An anonymous letter sent to local media and the DNR called out State Sen. Andre Jacque and Rep. Joel Kitchens for their perceived lack of response to the Donny S. A hand-painted banner reading  “Jacque and Kitchens are fine with this” hung on the tugboat at one point this fall.

According to local legislators themselves, they are aware of the issue and have had some involvement. Jacque sent a staffer to the first DNR working group meeting, and his office has researched options for removal and funding.

Kitchens was invited to the first meeting in August, but did not attend, as it conflicted with a hearing for Northern Sky Theater’s tax status, he said. 

“We write laws but have no enforcement,” Kitchens said in a phone call on Dec. 3, “We have the least ability to do anything.” 

If there are contaminants on board, Kitchens said it is “certainly up to the DNR to take steps.” 

Ultimately, it is the owner’s responsibility though, he added.   

Sen. Tammy Baldwin is also aware of the situation, according to Alanna Conley, Baldwin’s deputy communications director.

“At this point, according to public statements from the Coast Guard and folks on the ground, this feels like an issue we would support funding for,” Conley said. “The Town of Baileys Harbor could apply for a debris removal grant. Baldwin’s office supports funding.”

While legislators legislate, officials meet and discuss, shoreline property owners complain, tourists take photos, and everyone waits for someone else to act, the Donny S. remains mired in the lakebed and a gray area of accountability. 

The DNR and Coast Guard did not respond to open record requests in time for publication.

‘We can put a man on the moon … but we can’t get a tugboat out of a harbor’: Who will move the abandoned Donny S.? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

As the year winds down, we’re reflecting on the work we produced in 2025, including what we learned and who we met along the way — from ‘just plain old Larry’ Jones to Darnell Price.

In that spirit, we asked each of our reporters to pick their favorite story written by a colleague  (Secret Santa style!). We’ve rounded up their picks below. While this isn’t a comprehensive summary of our work from an eventful year, it illustrates our broader effort to make Wisconsin’s communities stronger, more informed and connected through our journalism. 

If you have a favorite Wisconsin Watch story, we’d love to hear it. Email me at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org. 

— Jim Malewitz

Older adults make up 1 in 5 suicides in Wisconsin. Here’s what can be done to fix that.

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S., and experts agree that it can be prevented — in part, by talking about it. But when we talk about this public health crisis, how many of us think about people over age 65? This story by Wisconsin Watch intern Sreejita Patra, packed with statistics and human details, explains why we should. Sreejita talked to a variety of experts, including people who’ve attempted suicide themselves, to understand why older people are at higher risk and what efforts are underway to protect them. 

— Natalie Yahr 

Wisconsin pig farmer holds on at Wonderfarm as Washington breaks a promise

Amid the flurry of federal funding cuts this year, Bennet Goldstein invited readers to slow down for a few minutes to walk in the shoes of Jess D’Souza, a pig farmer in Dane County. D’Souza was on track to finally break a profit this year. Then the Trump administration slashed the program that boosted her pork sales. 

Goldstein’s writing places you on the farm and inside D’Souza’s mind as she ruminates on what the decision means for her business — and her dreams. The package included a behind-the-scenes video, produced in collaboration with Joe Timmerman, with animal sounds to boot. I came away with something that the best kind of journalism gives: empathy for someone who lives a wildly different lifestyle than I, and a clear understanding of why the issue at hand matters to real people.

— Miranda Dunlap 

How this rural Wisconsin community college raised grads’ wages — and saved its accreditation

I have loved seeing Wisconsin Watch’s new pathways to success reporters cover our webpage with solutions-focused stories this year. One of Natalie Yahr’s first stories about a local community college sticks out as one of my favorites. The underdog story highlights Southwest Wisconsin Technical College’s journey from nearly losing accreditation to winning an award known as the  “Oscars of great community colleges.” It’s powerful to read about Wisconsinites finding solutions for their communities. 

— Addie Costello

Homelessness is increasing in Brown County. These volunteers traded a night’s sleep to document the challenge

In Joe Timmerman’s story with Janelle Mella about Brown County volunteers counting the homeless in the middle of the night, the writing and photos showed me a place I didn’t know existed. The images and quotes from the volunteers and the people they counted put me on the scene. I appreciate Joe’s conscientiousness in approaching stories. He seems to keep the people he’s photographing or writing about foremost in his mind, and it shows in the work he produces.

— Tom Kertscher

Here’s why Wisconsin Republican lawmakers pass bills they know Gov. Tony Evers will veto

This story was a great example of a Wisconsin Watch forté: identifying a persistent, unanswered community question, then taking pains to locate a satisfactory explanation. Brittany Carloni interviewed reams of sources to help readers understand the seemingly intractable and futile operations of the Legislature: All too often, politicians spend their time pandering to their bases during an election year with symbolic bills rather than engaging in actual governance. We hear from experts rather than the usual talking heads and spokespeople. Brittany raises a broader question that synthesizes larger themes only revealed when the writer takes the long view, getting beyond the daily drip of news headlines.

— Bennet Goldstein

As Wisconsin companies saved $1 billion in rate cuts, severely injured workers haven’t had a raise in 9 years

I work pretty regularly with Tom Kertscher and his reporting, especially on his fact briefs, so I might be a little biased. He’s a fact-checking powerhouse, and one of my favorite stories of his leans into those strengths. It focuses on Wisconsin’s permanently disabled workers who haven’t received a raise in worker’s compensation in nine years. I also had the privilege of creating a companion video for it, so it’s near and dear to me. 

It’s an underreported issue affecting people who are often overlooked. Tom does a great job weaving together the voices at the heart of this story while explaining laws with very real consequences for them.

The story opens with a vignette of Jimmy Novy, who, at the time of the interview, had just $8 in his checking account to last him through the month. Novy was exposed to toxic levels of manganese while working at a battery factory in Wonewoc during the Vietnam War, leaving him with neurological issues that severely affect his ability to walk. While permanently disabled workers like Novy stretch every dollar, Wisconsin employers have been saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year in worker’s compensation insurance premiums. 

This story lays out the facts clearly despite the issue being complicated. Tom explains the stagnation in worker’s compensation — why it’s happening and what might come next for the people living with its consequences. 

 — Trisha Young

Farmers turn to flawed visa program in search for legal labor. Now the rules — and costs — are changing.

Paul Kiefer joined the newsroom earlier this year at a time when immigration reporting felt about as important as ever. His dogged approach to find local, human-centered stories addressing the national topic of immigration hasn’t ceased to impress. In this story, Paul reported on sides of the H-2A work visa program, revealing the struggles that both workers and farmers face through it, that I had never considered before. Beyond Paul’s rich understanding of immigration processes, ability to unravel complex laws and personability that allows him to find strong sources, the enlightening data visualization and powerful photography he used to help tell the story were the cherries on top. 

— Joe Timmerman

Nuclear power could return to Kewaunee County. Some locals have reservations.

Miranda Dunlap is a gifted reporter who builds deep relationships with the people she interviews. When she investigates the possibility of reviving the shuttered Kewaunee Power Station, she doesn’t stop at the fences. Instead, she listens to residents of surrounding communities and amplifies their perspectives that might otherwise go unheard. Her journalism reflects the very spirit and mission of Wisconsin Watch.

— Hongyu Liu

Dammed if we don’t: Could mock beaver dams revive Wisconsin wetlands?

There’s a moment in this video produced by Trisha Young that nearly swerves into the genre of Fred Armisen and Bill Hader’s mockumentary called “Documentary Now.” Asked from a distance whether his family still lives in the area, Jim Hoffman responds by asking “beaver?” He might have misheard the question, or he might be asking for clarification. Did Bennet Goldstein, the question-asker, mean his beaver family or his human family?

I think our writing — and video editing, in this case — should have personality, even surrealism whenever possible. The world is surreal, and readers might appreciate a recognition of the topsy-turvy ways of the world from journalists who are supposed to document life accurately.

Trisha, possibly because she is exceedingly well-read and possibly because she is such a Wisconsinite, is unusually capable of incorporating personality into her work. This video embraces the seemingly absurd — portage routes for beavers — without an aggressive wink-wink-nudge-nudge. It’s a tour de force. Bravo, and merry Christmas.

— Paul Kiefer 

As living costs soar, tax relief shrinks for low-income Wisconsin residents

As a policy and history nerd, I particularly enjoyed Hongyu Liu’s reporting on the withering impact of Wisconsin’s homestead property tax credit and how little it has changed over the years to help those who need it. I’ve become a big fan of how Hongyu uses data to visualize and break down challenging topics, which he does several times in this story including showing how the eligibility levels to receive homestead credits have largely remained stagnant while inflation has skyrocketed. Hongyu’s reporting also explains both the early and recent history of the homestead credit and features real people in Wisconsin who are impacted by receiving smaller dollar amounts at a time when individuals across the country are worried about affordability. It’s a smart story and the kind of work I like to bring up in conversations at the Capitol.

— Brittany Carloni

Three years and more than 10,000 lawyer calls after being charged, this Wisconsin mother still doesn’t have a defense attorney

Margaret Shreiner is who I want to be when I grow up, and she’s only a grade my senior. After her brilliant story on Wisconsin’s public defender shortage was published in September — centering around Wisconsin mother Tracy Germait and her struggle to find legal representation for years after being charged on felony drug charges — a criminal justice attorney took on Germait’s case within days. Through months of thoughtful, diligent reporting, Maggie has effected real, tangible change for a Wisconsinite disadvantaged by the problems within our government. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

— Sreejita Patra

Forgotten homes: Promise and peril in manufactured housing

Addie Costello’s persistence as a reporter and compassion for others shine through in this Wisconsin manufactured housing series. Her ability to take a tip and turn it into a thorough investigation demonstrates her talent as a journalist. Addie dedicated so much time and effort into listening to sources, pulling state records and filling in gaps when telling this story, but her attention to detail makes the result appear seamless. Her reporting not only exposes the ongoing issue but provides solutions and resources to individuals impacted, again showing the care that she brings to her work and those who may be affected. The companion piece on Addie’s takeaways from this series highlights her devotion to the stories she pursues and illustrates the time she dedicates to listening to her sources. The entire manufactured housing series is a must read. 

— Margaret Shreiner

‘Secret Santa’ picks: Our favorite stories of 2025 is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tyler Stafslien is a fourth-generation farmer who’s worked his family’s land in central North Dakota for about 20 years. Roughly half of his 2,500 acres is typically dedicated to soybeans, a major crop in the state and in the Mississippi River Basin. But growing soybeans has become less profitable over the last decade as input costs rose and the Trump administration’s tariff negotiations in 2018 and 2025 destabilized trade and strained farmers’ incomes. 

This year, wary of the precarious export market, Stafslien decreased his soybean acres by half.

“We’ve been experiencing in ag, the last couple of years, a downturn in commodity prices, a lot of that related to just a large supply across the globe of major commodities, but then you add this trade war on top of it, and it’s like the icing on the cake,” Stafslien said.

The administration this month announced a $12 billion fund for one-time payments to row crop farmers to offset a portion of their inflation- and trade-related losses in the 2025 crop year.

Farmers were asking for the federal relief funds and are happy the administration is finally answering, said Stafslien. But he’s still facing uncertainty. The administration has yet to announce how much money per acre eligible growers will be receiving, and the funds will not be distributed until February, further stressing farmers like him with large debt and growing interest.

“Payments announced this week must be followed by additional and expedient efforts to keep farmers on the land and to improve the farm safety net, leaving annual bailouts as cautionary historical context rather than ongoing policy,” David Howard, policy development director of the National Young Farmers Coalition, wrote in a statement earlier in December. 

Farmers and farming associations are looking for longer-term solutions: to diversify trade partners and increase domestic uses for soybeans as export revenues become less certain. Some, like Stafslien, are shifting to other crops, like corn and wheat.

Soybeans are the largest agricultural export in the U.S. The legume covers more than 81 million acres — or 10% — of all U.S. farmland, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in September, and more than 40% of the nation’s soybeans are exported to other countries. 

U.S. farmers received $24.5 billion from soybean exports in 2024, with Chinese purchases accounting for $12.6 billion – roughly twice the amount purchased by the next five largest export partners combined, according to USDA data.

But this year, China stopped purchasing U.S. soybeans during tariff negotiations with the Trump administration, instead falling back on its relationships with Brazil and other South American countries to meet its soybean needs. For U.S. soybean farmers, this growing season ends with low prices, unsold harvests, big financial losses and uncertainty going into the next season despite a tentative new deal with China. 

“We learned firsthand that being heavily reliant on China for export sales is only good when things are good,” said Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee professor of agricultural and resource economics.

How did we get here?

Soybeans brought by traders and missionaries from Asia first took root in North America in small quantities in the 1700s, but the USDA did not begin tracking soybeans as a crop until the early 1920s. 

Around that time, the USDA, land grant university extension agents and farm groups started to promote the soybean to farmers as a soil-fertilizing crop that yielded high-protein meal for animal feed, oil and even meat replacements for human consumption. The Mississippi River Basin’s flat plains and intermittent rain proved to be ideal conditions for the crop. 

Soybeans gained a foothold on U.S. farms in “fits and starts” over several decades, author Matthew Roth writes in his book, “Magic Bean: The Rise of Soy in America,” but really took off  as a cash crop after World War I. Its success was later buoyed by the Agricultural Adjustment Act that allowed soy plantings while restricting other commodities as a way to stabilize crop prices during the Great Depression, policies limiting foreign oils, and the growing need for animal feed and oil during World War II, according to Roth.

The crop helped diversify farming in the South and Midwest. By the 1960s, Roth writes, “the soybean had insinuated itself thoroughly into the American diet,” but indirectly – as feed for the country’s livestock, oils for salads and derivatives in processed foods.

At the same time, soybeans proved to be a desirable product for international trade partners. In 1989, U.S. soybean exports totaled around $4 billion, about a fifth of which went to Japan. The Freedom to Farm Act in 1996 allowed farmers to plant single-crop fields, and with rising export demand from China starting in the early 1990s, many farmers chose to plant soybeans, Roth wrote.

In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization and gained better access to globalized trade with the organization’s members, including the U.S., according to Muhammad and the Council on Foreign Relations. From there, growth in China’s tourism economy and middle class spurred increased demand for meat protein, Muhammad said, heightening the country’s need for animal feed in the form of U.S. soybeans. 

By 2000, the crop was planted on more than 74 million U.S. acres, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“Over time, China has grown, and it seems to be the case that our total export sales have grown with our exports to China,” Muhammad explained. “They’ve sort of driven that rise over the last two decades.”

Brazil’s soybean industry has competed with American exports since the 1970s, but since 2017 has consistently exported more than the U.S. 

When Trump first upped tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018, China retaliated, Muhammad said, and began investing more heavily in purchases and transportation infrastructure in Brazil. The turn toward Brazil as a primary provider during trade negotiations in 2025 “represents a return on that investment (for China),” he said.

Farmers in the U.S. are reckoning with the fallout. 

Farming pains and changing plans

Justin Sherlock farms 2,400 acres of corn and soybeans in eastern North Dakota. His dad started farming in the early 2000s and he took over the farm in 2012.

“The last, you know, 13 years that I’ve been going, the last decade, has been pretty tough to really try and get established,” he said. 

For Sherlock, China coming to market very late in the 2025 harvest season was a blow to profits. Nearly one-quarter of the state’s agricultural exports hinge on soybeans, with China serving as the largest market for U.S. grain.

Sherlock was able to sell most of his soybean crop early to North Dakota soybean elevators — facilities that store the beans — which then found domestic processors in Nebraska and Kansas to sell to. But those domestic markets were also absorbing the supply that would typically be exported to China, so prices — around $8.65 per bushel — dropped significantly below Sherlock’s cost of production. He said he will lose “several hundred thousands of dollars” this year, on top of similar losses last year. 

“We just have to find a way to hopefully make it to next year,” he said. “That’s the struggle right now for a lot of producers.” 

Especially for young or beginning producers, said Sherlock, farmers will likely be having “tough financial discussions with their bankers and lenders.” Or, worst case scenario, these losses could mean losing their farms.

“You cannot have a successful agriculture industry in North Dakota without trade,” he said. “It’s so important that we fix these trade relationships and get back to doing business with other countries.” 

Trade uncertainty was keenly felt by soybean farmers in several Mississippi River Basin states, many of which lead the nation in soybean production and exports. 

Illinois accounts for 16% of the country’s total soybean exports, followed by Iowa with 13%, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. North Dakota comprises 5% of national exports.

Even in states that aren’t among the country’s top producers, soybeans can make up a significant portion of the state farm economy. Tennessee ranks 16th in the nation for soybean exports, for example, but soybeans were the highest-ranked agricultural commodity produced in the state in 2023, bringing in more than $990 million in cash receipts. In 2025, soybeans covered nearly 1.5 million acres of Tennessee farmland – the most of any crop in the state – according to the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.

New crush facilities that separate the beans into oil and meal are under construction in North Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Ohio — states that previously shipped soybeans to other countries to be processed.

The USDA’s Economic Research Service reported in July that more soybeans are being processed domestically. Most of the soybeans that stay in the U.S. are crushed into oil and meal, and a majority of that meal goes toward feeding livestock. The oil is used in biofuels, for industrial uses, and in food. New crush facilities that separate the beans into oil and meal are under construction in North Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Ohio — states that previously shipped soybeans to other countries to be processed. Biofuel has increased domestic demand for soybeans — and crush facilities — since around 2010, providing an alternative for farmers facing lower demand from traditional export partners.

April Hemmes, a fourth-generation farmer in north-central Iowa, said in September that she is fortunate to have nearby options for her beans: There is an ethanol plant and a crush facility that makes soybean meal, biodiesel and food-grade oil, about 10 miles away from her farm. Farmers who don’t have those options will have a harder time adapting to changing export markets, she wrote in an email.

The lack of money in farmers’ pockets is trickling down to other sectors in farming communities, too, said John Bartman, a regenerative farmer working about 850 acres in northern Illinois. He pointed to farm equipment dealers and factories in Illinois and Iowa that are shuttering well-paying jobs because business has been so slow. 

“So it’s more than just farmers who have been affected by this,” Bartman said. 

What comes next? 

In October, China and the U.S. hammered out a trade agreement. China agreed to purchase at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of the year, according to the White House, and will purchase at least 25 million metric tons each year through 2028. USDA export sales data from Oct. 2 through Dec. 8 shows China made soybean purchases from the U.S. totaling about 2.8 million metric tons.

For comparison, China purchased an annual average of 29 million metric tons of soybeans from the United States between 2020 and 2024, according to The Center for Strategic and International Studies, an international public policy think tank.

The deal “really isn’t much of a trade deal at all,” Bartman said.

“We’ve just gone through this tariff war, which we’re still going through right now, and what did we get out of it? China agreed to buy less soybeans than what we had last year, and we as farmers have suffered the collateral damage from this,” Bartman said.

With low trade prices and higher input costs, he warned, “we have not improved our economic situation for next year.”

Bartman is among farmers who are promoting investment in domestic uses for soybeans, including biofuels and plastics, though he acknowledges that a market the size of China’s will be “very difficult” to replace.

Muhammad said the turbulence in the soybean exports market shows that disruption of stable trade policy has consequences, which can hurt some sectors more than others.

The U.S. agriculture sector is often a political target in trade disputes, he said, because other countries understand the agricultural community’s significance in U.S. politics.

“It’s not a major export in the context of all exports, but it’s a politically viable community, and it carries a lot of heft in the context of trade agreements and trade policy because of the national security nature of food,” Muhammad said.

Farmers who are eligible for the Trump administration’s $12 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance program should expect the USDA to announce payment rates for crops the week of Dec. 22, according to the department. Payments are limited to up to $155,000 per person or legal entity.

The program appears similar to a $10 billion aid package offered to farmers impacted by trade retaliation in 2018. Those subsidies did not cover all of farmers’ losses. 

For many farmers like Sherlock, these subsidies are a necessity for short-term survival. He said any farming subsidies he receives go straight to paying his bills and paying off loans.

“There will be a lot of producers, especially young, beginning producers, who won’t be able to make it and farm next year if we don’t do something to help them pay their bills from this year,” he said.

Even established producers are worried. Stafslien works land that’s been in his family since 1912, but the tough years are piling up. 

“This is my future. This is my retirement. I don’t have a 401k plan. I have a farm,” said Stafslien, who lives on the farm with his wife, Shannon, and their two kids. “If I have to keep burning through this equity, that’s very, very scary for my future and my family’s future.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

Wisconsin Watch is a member of the Ag & Water Desk network. Sign up for our newsletters to get our news straight to your inbox.

Soybeans have been a top US ag export for decades. What happens when the top buyer stops buying? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Every week in Forward, our Monday newsletter about the week ahead in Wisconsin government and politics, Brittany Carloni shares a short story from Wisconsin history.

We like to select stories that tie into current events to illustrate how the past speaks to the present. Whether it’s Teddy Roosevelt, after being shot in Milwaukee, warning against factional fighting or the origins of multicultural centers on university campuses or the spirit of gift-giving tied to the first evergreen tree in the Capitol rotunda, the past teaches us a lot about the present.

Today we present the last 12 editions of Back Words. If you like local history tidbits, political analysis and a preview of upcoming state government happenings, make sure you’re subscribed to Forward.

Oct. 6, 2025

On Oct. 6, 1917, just six months after the U.S. entered World War I, Wisconsin Sen. Robert La Follette Sr. spoke for three hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate about the importance of free speech during war time. 

“Fighting Bob” earlier that year voted against Congress’ declaration of war with Germany and criticized war time initiatives from President Woodrow Wilson’s administration. His remarks followed news that a Senate committee received a resolution to expel him from the chamber. 

“Our government, above all others, is founded on the right of the people freely to discuss all matters pertaining to their government, in war not less than in peace,” reads a copy of La Follette’s remarks published in the congressional record. “For in this government the people are the rulers in war no less than in peace.”

Oct. 13, 2025

On Oct. 14, 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot during a campaign stop in Milwaukee while he sought a third term for president as a member of the Progressive Party. 

The shooting occurred as Roosevelt left the former Gilpatrick Hotel on his way to give remarks at the Milwaukee Auditorium. Despite his injuries, Roosevelt followed through with the speech. 

“Every good citizen ought to do everything in his or her power to prevent the coming of the day when we shall see in this country two recognized creeds fighting one another, when we shall see the creed of the ‘Havenots’ arraigned against the creed of the ‘Haves,’” Roosevelt told the crowd, even as supporters implored him to seek medical attention. “When that day comes then such incidents as this to-night will be commonplace in our history. When you make poor men — when you permit the conditions to grow such that the poor man as such will be swayed by his sense of injury against the men who try to hold what they improperly have won, when that day comes, the most awful passions will be let loose and it will be an ill day for our country.”

The episode made headlines the next day. The front page of the Oct. 15 afternoon edition of the Green Bay Press Gazette read: “Crank Shoots Roosevelt at Milwaukee; Wound Not Dangerous.”

Oct. 20, 2025

A Wisconsin Historical Society marker notes that on Oct. 20, 1856, abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a speech in Beaver Dam about the “brutality and immorality” of slavery. Douglass was born into slavery but escaped and grew to become a renowned activist, writer and speaker.

Newspaper notices show Douglass spoke in several other Wisconsin cities during that period. A Kenosha newspaper at the time previewed his visit to the city, describing Douglass as “the eloquent champion of freedom.” Though there isn’t a record of his Beaver Dam speech, his July 5, 1852, speech in Rochester, New York, had a similar theme.

“The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie,” Douglass said. “It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union.”

Oct. 27, 2025

As election season ramped up in 1908, the “Red Special” train carrying Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs made stops in Wisconsin on Oct. 30 and 31 and Nov. 1 during his third campaign for the White House.

An Oct. 31, 1908, story in the Social-Democratic Herald quoted Debs at a stop in Beloit.

“The last panic, so-called, occurred under a Democratic administration in 1893. The Republicans were swift to exclaim, ‘Behold, the fruit of Democratic misrule!’” Debs said. “Up to this time the working class had not yet learned to any great extent to think or to act for themselves. They were still responsive to the plea of the capitalist demagogue. Hundreds of thousands of them swept from the Democratic Party into the Republican Party, and that party went into power upon that issue.”

Debs ran for president again four years later with a Wisconsin connection. In 1912, former Milwaukee Mayor Emil Seidel ran as the Socialist Party’s vice presidential candidate. 

Nov. 3, 2025

On Nov. 3, 1998, Wisconsin voters elected Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson to an unprecedented fourth term. He was first elected to the governor’s office in 1986. 

Thompson won the 1998 election with 60% of the vote to Progressive labor attorney and Democrat Ed Garvey’s 39% of the vote. That same night, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold won re-election against Republican Mark Neumann by only 2 points.

On election night, CNN senior political analyst William Schneider noted 58% of moderate voters picked Thompson, but only 41% voted for Neumann. 

“This really epitomizes the two faces of the Republican Party,” Schneider said. “There’s going to be a split in the Republican Party coming between the governors’ wing, which is dominated by pragmatists and moderate Republicans who are inclusive in their appeal, and the congressional wing of the Republican Party which is dominated by conservative ideologues. Why are the two wings different? Well, clearly, governors represent a whole state, so they have to represent a more diverse constituency and they have to run a government and make things work, whereas members of Congress have much smaller constituencies in the House of Representatives and they can be more ideological and more partisan. I think we’re going to see this division getting bigger and bigger.”

Thompson resigned as governor in 2001 to serve as the secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. 

Nov. 10, 2025

On Nov. 12, 1836, Wisconsin’s first territorial Gov. Henry Dodge signed the first law approved by the territorial legislature, which set expectations for the conduct between citizens and elected officials.  

The legislation authorized the “by fine and imprisonment” of members of the public who disrespect lawmakers or threaten those elected officials for anything they said or did while in session. Fines could not exceed $200, and a prison sentence could not extend beyond 48 hours for one incident. A $200 fine in 1836 would equal roughly $6,000 in today’s dollars. 

The initial law also allowed each chamber of the territorial legislature to expel a member with a two-thirds majority. But it exempted lawmakers from arrest during a session “in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace.” 

Nov. 17, 2025

On Nov. 21, 1968, 94 Black students participated in a mass demonstration in University President Roger Guiles’ office at what we know today as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The event later became known as “Black Thursday.” 

The students sought a series of demands from the university, including providing courses on Black literature and history, hiring Black faculty and creating an African-American cultural center for Black students. 

“We envision the center as a place where on a cold winter night any student, black or white, can come and in one minute throw off all the unpleasant association of the university proper and enter the center in a spiritual as well as an intellectual experience,” sophomore Sandra McCreary told the Oshkosh Northwestern in the days after. 

Oshkosh police later that day arrested the students for unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct for occupying the president’s office and damaging materials from thrown typewriters to broken windows. In December, the Board of Regents chose to expel 90 of the students who participated in the demonstrations. But changes came in the months following Black Thursday, including a new intercultural center that opened in 1969. 

Nov. 24, 2025

On Nov. 24, 1959, Wisconsin leaders celebrated the opening of a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 90 between Beloit and Janesville. A program from the dedication ceremony described the project as “the largest single segment of four-lane highway to be completed at one time in the history of Rock County.” 

Then-Gov. Gaylord Nelson said he hoped the project would reduce traffic accidents and hailed its completion as an example of how officials working together from multiple levels of government “can bring about civic progress.” 

“As Governor of Wisconsin I am pleased to note that this cooperation, combined with the foresight and high standards of the citizens of this area, has resulted in providing Wisconsin motorists as well as visitors with the best transportation facility available,” Nelson wrote in a program message. 

Dec. 1, 2025

On. Dec. 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate voted 67-22 to censure Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Republican senator from Wisconsin who was known for his anti-communism crusades and investigations in Congress. The charges were for the failure to cooperate with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections in 1952 and the “abuse” of the Select Committee to Study Censure in 1954. 

McCarthy answered “present” on the vote while fellow Wisconsin Republican Sen. Alexander Wiley was absent from the chamber that day on official business, according to the congressional record.

The Senate’s vote came after McCarthy’s hearings in April that year on alleged security issues in the U.S. Army, which further damaged the Wisconsin senator’s reputation. The hearings included the infamous moment when army lawyer Joseph Welch, after McCarthy questioned the communist ties of one of Welch’s colleagues, asked: “Have you no sense of decency?” 

In the weeks prior to the official censure vote, McCarthy appeared on the debut program of political show “Face the Nation” where he criticized Democrats and called the upcoming Senate proceedings a “lynch bee.” 

“When they’re not basing their vote upon the counts set forth, when they base their vote upon political reasons,” McCarthy said on the program. “When they say ahead of time in effect regardless of what the evidence says, ‘This man has been fighting communism, he’s been shouting that for over 20 years the Democrat party has been infiltrated, therefore we’re going to get him,’ I think lynching bee is a good name for it.” 

Dec. 8, 2025

On Dec. 7, 1943, two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Wisconsin was christened by Wisconsin first lady Madge Goodland. Official construction on the battleship started in January 1941. 

A story on the events in the Wisconsin State Journal said Goodland practiced breaking the ceremonial champagne bottle ahead of the christening by shattering bottles of sherry against the executive residence. 

Then-Gov. Walter S. Goodland also attended the christening and called the USS Wisconsin celebration “thrilling and inspiring.” 

“What more appropriate than to dedicate this immense fighting craft to the men and women engaged in the world war in which this ship will soon participate,” Goodland said in remarks that day. “And especially to the 250,000 gallant men and women who hail Wisconsin as their home.” 

The ship was officially commissioned in April 1944. 

Dec. 15, 2025

On Dec. 14, 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling upheld former President Joe Biden’s election win in the state and rejected a lawsuit from President Donald Trump and his campaign that sought to overturn the election results. 

Justice Brian Hagedorn, a conservative, joined liberal Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky in the majority while conservative Justices Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley dissented. 

Hagedorn, who wrote the majority opinion, criticized the timing of the Trump campaign’s challenges to Wisconsin’s results, claims which “must be brought expeditiously.” 

“Our laws allow the challenge flag to be thrown regarding various aspects of election administration,” Hagedorn wrote. “The challenges raised by the Campaign in this case, however, come long after the last play or even the last game.” 

Dec. 22, 2025

The first evergreen tree placed in the Capitol rotunda during the Christmas season was in December 1916 as the new building neared completion, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. 

A 40-foot tree for the rotunda arrived in Madison that year from northern Michigan, news reports show. It was lit on Dec. 23, 1916, during a two-day Christmas celebration organized by the local Rotary Club, which included donated gifts to “every child in the city” from the Capitol Mutual Club. 

“Hundreds of children of all ages and sizes tried to stand still yesterday afternoon and listen to the strains of ‘Holy Night’ and other devotional strains interspersed with popular airs at the Rotary club celebration while their eyes were glued on the wonderful tree in the rotunda of the capitol, and the huge baskets of gifts furnished by the Capitol Mutual Club near it,” a Dec. 24, 1916, Wisconsin State Journal story wrote of the festivities. “The singing was very nice but judging from the howl that went up when Santa Claus began to distribute the gifts, the music was not the most interesting feature of the program.” 

An evergreen tree is placed in the Capitol rotunda every year during the holiday season while political party leaders have disputed calling it a Christmas tree or a holiday tree. Gov. Tony Evers gave the 2025 balsam fir from Oconto County the theme “The Learning Tree.”

Back Words: Read 12 stories from Wisconsin history is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Reflecting on 2025, it was a year of visual firsts in our newsroom. It was my first full year working as Wisconsin Watch’s staff photojournalist, a new position at Wisconsin Watch supported by Report for America. It was also the first full year Wisconsin Watch worked with Catchlight, a visual-first nonprofit that leverages the power of visual storytelling to inform, connect and transform communities. That partnership brought a familiar face back to the newsroom: Coburn Dukehart, Wisconsin Watch’s former associate director, who is now our contract photo editor through Catchlight Local.  

This was also the year when Wisconsin Watch set out to publish a new story every day — a major shift for the 16-year-old newsroom that had previously focused on more time-intensive investigative stories. That change — and our growth as a newsroom — meant more reporters were filing photo requests each week. As a result, we published far more original photography compared to past years. 

Our visuals transported readers to many places, from underneath the Capitol’s granite dome to inside the homes of residents across Wisconsin. They illustrated that our storytelling isn’t limited to words. Far from it. 

Our photojournalism shows the mosaic of people and communities that make up our state and helps to convey their emotional reactions to the circumstances of their lives. That’s true whether it’s a sense of optimism while traveling on Amtrak; uncertainty while preparing to move out of a recovery home; joy while pursuing a new career; or togetherness and resolve in the face of federal budget cuts.

We approach each story with compassion and present stories with the hope that these images make our communities feel more connected. We’re going to keep at it in 2026. Until then, here are our favorite Wisconsin images from 2025.

A visual year in review: Our favorite Wisconsin images from 2025 is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit news organization that uses journalism to make communities strong, informed and connected, is seeking a Pathways to Success Reporter focused on southeast Wisconsin. This reporter will explore what’s needed for residents to build thriving careers in the future economy — and what’s standing in the way. That includes expanding coverage of postsecondary education and workforce training, focusing on how education and economic trends impact people’s lives. The role centers on solution-oriented journalism that serves the public, strengthens community life, and holds those in power accountable. 

This Milwaukee-based reporter will join a four-person pathways-focused team that includes an editor, Madison-based statewide reporter and northeast Wisconsin reporter in Green Bay. 

You can read our pathways coverage here, and read more about our approach to the beat here and here. 

About Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing nonpartisan journalism that makes the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. We believe that access to local representative news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life. Under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella, we have three independent news divisions, a statewide investigative newsroom, a regional collaboration in Northeast Wisconsin called the NEW News Lab, and the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS). All three divisions maintain their unique reporting areas and together are positioned to grow and serve our communities with greater efficiency and impact. 

About this position

The ideal candidate will have at least 2 years of experience researching, reporting, and writing original published new stories, bring a public service mindset and a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies, and have experience working collaboratively to report stories that explore solutions to challenges residents face.

Click here for a full job description.

Location: The reporter will be based in Milwaukee. They will have space to work in the Milwaukee NNS newsroom (NNS is a division of Wisconsin Watch). 

Salary and benefits: The salary range is $45,500-$64,500. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. Wisconsin Watch offers competitive benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume, work samples and answer some brief questions in this application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Northeast Wisconsin/Pathways Editor Jennifer Zettel-Vandenhouten at jzvandenhouten@wisconsinwatch.org. 

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Apply by Jan. 9, 2026 for best consideration.

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to fostering an equitable workplace that reflects, understands, and listens to the people we serve. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Wisconsin Watch seeks pathways to success reporter in southeast Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Wisconsin Watch published 83 original fact briefs this year. Fact briefs are 150-word answers to yes/no questions based on surprising or dubious statements made by politicians or other information influencers.

We tend to focus on statements made by Wisconsin politicians, though their statements can range from local to national issues. Many of those are based on statements made about what’s in the news. They’re timely, relevant and easy to digest.

Other fact briefs shed light on topics that remain relevant weeks, months or years after the initial statement was made. Here’s a look at some of those from 2025.

National focus

Do unauthorized immigrants have constitutional rights? Yes. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that all people in the U.S. have constitutional protections, though citizens have additional rights, such as voting.

Is violent crime in the U.S. higher than 25 years ago? No. Violent crime rates, nationally and in major cities, are lower than they were 25 years ago.

Are airline flights the safest mode of transportation in the U.S.? Yes. Federal data show that airline flights are safer than other major transportation modes in the U.S.

Are National Guard troops generally trained in law enforcement? No. National Guard troops, like those President Donald Trump has used to crack down on big-city crime, generally are not trained in law enforcement.

Do tens of millions of unauthorized immigrants receive federal health benefits? No. Unauthorized immigrants are not eligible to enroll in federally funded health coverage.

Is there evidence linking marijuana use to psychosis? Yes. Peer-reviewed research has found links between marijuana use and psychosis — the loss of contact with reality, experienced as delusions or hallucinations.

Does Medicare Advantage cost more than traditional Medicare? Yes. The federal Medicare program spends more per beneficiary for a person on Medicare Advantage than if the person were on traditional Medicare. The difference is projected at 20% higher, or $84 billion, in 2025.

Do recent studies link water fluoridation with less dental decay in children? Yes. Peer-reviewed studies published in the past several years connect water fluoridation with less dental decay in children.

Are homosexual acts criminalized in 65 countries? Yes. Homosexual acts are illegal in 65 countries, including seven that impose the death penalty.

Is there a U.S. law that bans the Communist Party? Yes. The Communist Control Act of 1954 bans the Communist Party. It remains part of the U.S. Code, but has rarely been enforced, and Congress has repealed most of its provisions. 

Are interstate truckers required to read and speak English? Yes. Interstate truckers in the U.S. are required to read and speak English under guidance by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Does the typical public housing tenant in the U.S. stay in public housing 12 years? No. The median stay in public housing in the U.S. is four years, a 2024 study of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department data found. Median means half the tenants in public housing projects stayed more than four years, and half stayed less.

Is the majority of federal government spending mandatory? Yes. About 60% of federal spending is mandatory — appropriations are automatic. About 27% is discretionary spending, and about 13% pays federal debt interest.

Wisconsin focus

Have Wisconsin electricity price increases exceeded the Midwest average for 20 years? Yes. Wisconsin electricity rates — for residential, industrial and commercial users — have exceeded regional averages annually for 20 years.

Can Wisconsin require state jobs go only to Americans? No. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states cannot restrict public employment to citizens. Both public and private employers are generally barred by federal law from treating people differently based on national origin or ethnicity.

Does Wisconsin require daily exercise for K-12 students? No. Wisconsin doesn’t require daily exercise for students, though there are non-daily requirements for physical education.

Has biennial state funding for the Wisconsin DNR dropped by $100 million over 30 years?Yes. State funding of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been reduced by more than $100 million per biennium (two-year budget periods) in the past 30 years, though a key factor is smaller debt payments.

A look back at the Wisconsin Watch fact briefs from 2025 with lasting value is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Dementia Innovations, a nonprofit started in Sheboygan County, is developing what it describes as the first U.S. village where people diagnosed with dementia will live and own homes.
• Unlike a traditional risk-averse memory care facility with locked doors, homeowners at Livasu, short for “living as usual,”  will be free to navigate the village with support from staff.
• It’s similar to a European model. Experts say the village care model is difficult to replicate in the litigious U.S., but Livasu’s founders hope the village will show it can work in Wisconsin and other states.
• To limit costs, the village is using manufactured homes, a more affordable alternative to site-built options.

A row of footprints followed John and Terri Cooper, both 70, as they carefully navigated an icy road near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They stopped at a row of concrete slabs. 

“This is our house,” John said, waving at the first snow-covered block.

“It’s pretty big,” Terri added while standing on the foundation.

As they do every Sunday, the Coopers had driven around 20 miles from their independent living community to the construction site of their soon-to-be home. John flies a drone over the neighborhood taking shape around it, which will include a grocery store, a spa and a gym. He photographs progress on the 45-acre development designed specifically for people like Terri, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

The couple has moved a lot during their 50-year marriage. But this summer’s move will be different from all the others.

Dementia Innovations, a nonprofit started in Sheboygan County, is developing what it describes as the first U.S. village where people diagnosed with dementia will live and own homes. It’s similar to a European model that encourages people with memory loss to remain more independent. The Sheboygan County village, Livasu, short for “living as usual,” will allow people with dementia to live alone or with loved ones and continue typical routines from their homes as their disease progresses.

Applauded for years in other countries, experts say the village care model is difficult to replicate in the U.S. Livasu’s founders hope the estimated $14 million village will show it can work in Wisconsin and other states.

To limit costs, the village is using manufactured homes, a more affordable alternative to site-built options. People will buy their home and set hours of caregiving, depending on their level of need.

Unlike a traditional risk-averse memory care facility with locked doors, homeowners will be free to travel throughout the village with support from staff.

“We all take risks every day, but as we age, and especially as we age with dementia, there’s a safety-at-all-cost approach,” said Livasu’s project lead, Mary Pitsch. “That cost is actually a loss of personhood.” 

Rather than a fence surrounding the village or automatically locking doors, landscaping will direct people from their home toward the community’s “downtown.” People living in the village’s 124 houses will have access to a lodge with support staff and a place to eat meals with neighbors and to watch the Packers, Pitsch said.

The village will eventually feature a public grocery store and a restaurant.

“We are changing the way we are thinking about care and support,” Pitsch said.

Aging at home — together

The Coopers met in college. 

“I picked Terri out almost immediately. It took me some months to convince her that I was the right guy,” John joked.

“Thankfully,” Terri chimed in with a laugh.

As the couple raised two daughters, John worked different technology jobs and photographed sporting events like triathlons on the weekends. Terri was a structural steel detailer. 

After watching her mother battle Alzheimer’s, Terri made sure to eat healthy and exercise to prevent herself from getting the same disease. But in 2019, John started noticing changes. Two years later, Terri was officially diagnosed. 

“I mean right now,” she asked John outside of the Livasu construction site,  “I think I’m OK, right?” 

“Yeah, you’re great!” he responded emphatically, prompting another round of laughs.

Terri shook her head.

“This is what I live with,” she said.

The couple moved into an independent living center over a year ago after John was diagnosed with two forms of cancer that are now in remission.

“We wanted to be someplace where, if I was gone, Terri could live and have people take care of her,” John said. “That’s still the goal.”

Unlike institutional settings, Livasu will allow them to age in their home together.

Manufactured housing brings savings 

The Coopers are excited to again own a home, even if it’s smaller than they’re used to.

First they left their 2,400 square foot home in Neenah for a 1,500 square foot duplex. Their future manufactured home in Livasu measures just 1,140 square feet, John said. But unlike the independent living duplex they rented, they are purchasing this home.

Home prices in Livasu currently range between $95,000 and $175,000 — less than traditional site-built houses. 

Like with any manufactured homes, savings come from finding scale in mass production, with factories buying materials in bulk and cutting down material waste through computer design. 

The Livasu homes are built off-site, limiting construction time and noise as people move in at different times, Pitsch said. The homes have a title, similar to a car, instead of a traditional deed. That will make transferring the homes between owners easier.

Terri Cooper lived in a mobile home during one year at college, John recalled. But today’s manufactured homes are higher quality, he said. 

“They’re actually built pretty nice,” he said.

Every detail is designed for someone aging with dementia, Pitsch explained while walking through a model home placed outside the Livasu construction zone. 

More lights in each house help aging eyes. Dark door handles contrast to lightly painted doors. The homes feature safer electric stoves instead of gas.

While homes in most manufactured housing communities — traditionally called “mobile home parks” — have stairs,  Livasus will place homes at ground level.

Bedrooms will have a direct line of sight to the toilet, which can help prevent incontinence.

“The shower was a big discussion. Do you have glass doors? Do you have a shower curtain?” Pitsch remembered debating with the other designers. 

“Lots of conversations about some things that would seem really simple, were long conversations,” she said, “and we made the best decisions we could.”

Dignity in dementia care

Pitsch, a social worker, developed her passion for this work while working with older adults. She has run an at-home care company with her husband for close to 20 years. She learned Sheboygan-area law enforcement often responded to emergencies involving people with dementia. 

She and other community members started a task force to evaluate the county’s response to residents with dementia. That prompted changes in the county’s emergency protocols and the creation of Dementia Innovations.

“I’m kind of one of those people that if it’s not me, then who’s going to do it?” Pitsch said.

Pitsch and others started planning a way to better care for people with dementia and to prevent emergency situations in the first place. They learned about Hogeweyk, the world’s first dementia village in the Netherlands.

“We are far behind other countries in a better, humanistic way of providing care for those with dementia,” Pitsch said.

Dementia care in the U.S. tends to prioritize safety above all else, said Emily Roberts, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University who researches the connection between older adults and their physical environment. 

Creating environments where people can make choices and take risks can be expensive, especially in a litigious country like the U.S., she said.

Support staff in Livasu will regularly monitor the grounds. Cameras can alert them if someone walks in or out of the village through an unexpected area.

Creating a home-like environment also prevents people from wanting to leave, Roberts said. As the number of people with dementia continues to grow, the country will need more environments that support people with dementia, she said. That’s especially true in aging Wisconsin.

A private room in a nursing home cost $127,750 on average in the U.S., according to the Alzheimer’s Association — more than a smaller home at Livasu. Village residents will pay for care as they need it, similar to at-home care, and potential homeowners discuss their finances with Livasu volunteers, Pitsch said. 

Livasu raised more than $8 million for the first phase of construction. It still needs to raise around $6 million more to complete the entire village, but the first houses are already waiting to get placed on foundations.

Pitsch recently watched as a construction crew drove excavators and bulldozers over the giant field where a restaurant, post office and ice cream shop will eventually go. 

“I pinch myself,” Pisch said. “It gets pretty emotional actually, to see that it’s actually happening,” 

‘Wherever she goes, I go’

When the Coopers move in, they don’t expect to need any caretaking. They still make weekly visits to see their grandkids and take weeks-long hiking, camping and cycling excursions.

“Wherever I go, she goes, wherever she goes, I go. Except in the women’s bathroom,” John said, eliciting more laughs from Terri.

“We kind of like each other, so that’s OK.” 

As the couple finished checking in on construction of their future community, they carefully walked back to their car — holding hands the entire way.

‘Living as usual’: A new village in Sheboygan County reimagines life with dementia is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.