The cost for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest, detain and deport someone is at least $17,121, on average, according to the agency.
The federal agency, located within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, cited that cost this year as President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up deportations of undocumented immigrants. As of late October, DHS had reportedly deported 527,000 people during Trump’s second term.
ICE may be underestimating the taxpayer cost of deportations. Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative, calculated a much higher per-deportee cost.
Studies cited by Penn Wharton had costs per deportation ranging from $30,591 to $109,880, coming out to an average of $70,236. The biggest variable between the two studies was the detention and monitoring cost, a figure that is dependent on how long a deportee is detained.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
This fact brief was originally published by MinnPost on November 18, 2025, and was authored by Brian Arola. MinnPost is a member of the Gigafact network.
Last winter, I got an intriguing story tip: Many Wisconsin manufactured home communities were operating with expired licenses.
I didn’t initially know much about these communities, often called mobile home parks, where residents own their homes but rent the land they sit on. I quickly learned they provide a critical source of affordable housing in Wisconsin and beyond — the country’s largest portion of unsubsidized low-income housing.
Housing experts and advocates told me private equity’s growing interest in the model threatens to change that. My reporting found that Wisconsin’s government is failing to enforce basic protections for owners. Still, some residents and groups see pathways for safe, affordable manufactured home ownership as a solution during an affordability crisis.
That required talking to owners of manufactured homes across the state, starting with a February drive from Wisconsin Watch’s Madison newsroom to snowy La Crosse. There I met with a couple who moved into their manufactured home more than a decade ago. That meeting led to a months-long tour of similar communities.
A Cumberland couple showed me their favorite part of their manufactured home, the fireplace. I passed out flyers in Richland Center and Spring Green, chatting with a surprising number of people who answered their doors.
As the weather warmed, I walked up to chatty neighbors sitting on porches in Wisconsin Dells. Menomonie residents stopped their yard work to talk. I left a set of Fond du Lac park interviews sunburned after standing on a porch for too long as residents lent me their time and perspectives.
Not every homeowner’s experience made it into our “Forgotten homes” series, named after a lawmaker’s reference to the homes as “a forgotten segment of real estate.” But they often shared a lot of similarities. Here are some of my takeaways:
Park ownership is changing. While some residents said they know the person who owns their park, others were paying rent to out-of-state companies. Some mentioned concerns about what would happen to their homes once their local owner decides to sell.
Residents don’t always know where to turn when conditions deteriorate. Wisconsin uses a patchwork of state and local agencies to monitor different aspects of manufactured home communities. That leaves residents unsure of where to complain about issues or unaware they have that option.
People want to stay in their homes. Even as some residents face surging monthly payments, they struggle with the idea of giving up the space, independence and yards.
Owning a manufactured home outside of a park can be complicated. Wisconsin Habitat for Humanity affiliates are developing factory-built housing in residential neighborhoods. But local zoning can block certain homes from residential neighborhoods. And other park residents mentioned needing more money to purchase land themselves.
Manufactured homeowners often face stigma but are proud of their homes. Residents showed me carefully decorated lawns, peaceful walking routes through parks, kitchens with custom cabinets and the homes of their longtime neighbors and friends.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
A Republican proposal to require every Wisconsin municipality to offer early-voting hours has divided groups representing voters and election officials, with voters calling the proposal a net gain for voting access and some clerks calling the requirements onerous, especially for small municipalities.
The bill originally required every municipality to offer at least 20 hours of in-person early voting at the clerk’s office or an alternate site. It was amended Tuesday, based on clerk feedback, to allow for fewer required hours in some smaller municipalities.
Municipalities that can’t hold their own early-voting hours would be able to offer it in a neighboring municipality or the county clerk’s office under the bill. A separate measure would provide $1.5 million to municipalities extending their early-voting hours — lowered from an originally proposed $10 million — but that would be available only for the 2025-26 fiscal year, while the early-voting requirements appear to be indefinite. The proposal would apply to the April and November elections.
Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, a Republican, previously told Votebeat she wrote the bill after noticing the stark difference in early-voting availability between rural and urban municipalities. Cities such as Milwaukee and Madison offer multiple days for early voting, while some rural municipalities offer just a couple of hours, or do it by appointment only.
Cabral-Guevara didn’t directly answer a follow-up question from Votebeat on Tuesday about whether the Senate would fund the measure, but said she’s hoping it passes. Rep. Scott Krug, a Republican who wrote the bill with her, told Votebeat he hopes the Senate will pass the measure since he lowered the amount of proposed funding.
“It’s only going to create more opportunities for voting,” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. “That for us is always the key. It should be funded for more than one year.”
The amended bill would set the minimum early-voting period at 10 hours in municipalities with fewer than 600 voters,15 hours in municipalities with between 600 and 799 voters and 20 hours in towns with 800 or more voters.
But some clerks said any hourly requirement would be too burdensome — and could have the unintended consequence of decreasing voter access. Because Wisconsin’s elections are run at the municipal level, a small number of clerks serving only a few dozen voters would still be required to adhere to the minimum hours.
Omro Town Clerk Dana Woods called this “too drastic of a measure” and said the requirements may lead to “honorable public servants” choosing to leave their jobs.
Most Wisconsin clerks work part time, with some scheduled only a few hours per week. Woods, for example, is scheduled to be in her office just seven hours per week and serves 1,800 registered voters.
Lisa Tollefson, the Rock County clerk, acknowledged that the proposal could increase voting across the state but said it still doesn’t make sense in the smallest municipalities, where voters typically choose to vote on Election Day.
Joe Ruth, government affairs director at the Wisconsin Towns Association, said at a public hearing for the proposal that clerks would likely stop offering early voting by appointment if they have to fulfill the proposed hourly requirement. And if they do so, he added, the voters who can’t come during the set hours would lose their opportunity to vote early in person.
Ruth didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the amendment alleviated his concerns.
In an Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections executive session, the five Republicans on the committee voted in favor and the two Democrats voted against it. It is scheduled for an Assembly floor vote on Wednesday.
Republican Rep. Dave Maxey, who chairs the Assembly elections committee, called the bill a great idea and questioned why people would vote against a funded mandate that would expand voting. He said there would be a mechanism to fund early voting in future years through the budget.
Rep. Lee Snodgrass, a Democrat, told Votebeat that she voted against the bill because it allows a county board to decide whether a municipality can hold early-voting hours at the county clerk’s office. She said county boards shouldn’t have oversight over elections. The latest tweak to the bill now requires consent from both the county board and clerk.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call or text the three-digit suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. Resources are available online here.
A recently released report details problems at Wisconsin prisons including high staff turnover, overcrowding and issues with solitary confinement.
Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections paid the firm Falcon, Inc. roughly $500,000 to complete the yearlong review of the prison system’s adult facilities.
Among other issues, the report zeroed in on the department’s policies for solitary confinement, officially known as restrictive housing.
Alarms raised about solitary confinement of people with serious mental health struggles
The report raised concerns about how often people are locked up in solitary confinement while dealing with serious mental health issues.
“Individuals with SMI (serious mental illness) placed in restrictive housing are more likely to become violent and, if released from restrictive housing, are more likely to return,” the report’s authors noted, citing outside research. “Those individuals housed in restrictive housing are also more likely to die by suicide than those living in other housing settings.”
On the last day of March 2025, 872 adults were locked up in solitary confinement through the DOC, making up close to 4% of the prison population. That was roughly on par with the percentage of inmates in solitary confinement six years prior.
A significant number of those in solitary confinement — 101 people on the day measured in March 2025 — were classified as having a serious mental health issue.
Dusk falls on Columbia Correctional Institution on June 18, 2025, in Portage, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
The report noted that people who spend extended periods of time in solitary confinement are more likely to be part of the DOC’s mental health caseload, meaning they’ve been referred for mental health needs of varying severity. Sixty-nine percent of the people locked up in solitary confinement for more than 120 days were part of the DOC’s mental health caseload. By comparison, 46% of the general prison population was on that mental health caseload.
The report did commend the DOC for attempting to limit extended stays in solitary confinement by adopting a May 2024 policy that requires a higher-up to approve solitary confinement stays longer than 120 days.
It urged DOC to change its solitary confinement policies by creating “alternative” units for people with serious mental illness, “so they can automatically be diverted from restrictive housing.”
DOC urged to change practice of using solitary confinement for people on suicide watch
Per its policies, the DOC can send people to solitary confinement as “disciplinary separation,” which is punishment for bad behavior.
It also sends people to solitary confinement through what it calls “administrative confinement,” which is when people are deemed a threat to themselves or others if they’re kept with the general prison population. Typically, that extends to people who are flagged for “suicide watch,” if they’re deemed to be at risk for suicide.
But putting suicidal people into solitary confinement cells is likely making the situation worse, the report warns.
“Observation cells are typically in restrictive housing units, which is problematic,” the report notes. “Individuals on observation status are not allowed therapeutic items, visits, phone calls, or recreation.”
The report urges the DOC to stop that practice and instead move its areas for observing at-risk people to “more appropriate environments that support therapeutic care and patient safety.”
Protesters call on the short-staffed Wisconsin Department of Corrections to improve prisoner conditions and lift restrictions on prisoners’ movement during a protest on Oct. 10, 2023, at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Meryl Hubbard / Wisconsin Watch)
Marianne Oleson, an activist with Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing of Wisconsin, described the DOC’s existing solitary confinement policies as barbaric. She spent five years incarcerated in Wisconsin.
“It’s torture,” Oleson said of solitary confinement. “As someone who has spent time in their quote-unquote ‘restrictive housing’ unit for being suicidal, you’re only compounding the harm and the hurt.”
She said solitary confinement left her with permanent psychological scars.
“My mind was my weapon,” Oleson said. “My mind was destroying me, and the answer they gave me was to lock me down with that weapon. And I nearly broke. I’ve seen women break, honestly.”
In an email, DOC spokesperson Beth Hardkte acknowledged that most observation cells for people on suicide watch are located in the restrictive housing units of prisons, although she said there is no specific DOC policy requiring them to be located there.
“Observation cells are specially designed to ensure safety and property can be restricted to prevent self-harm,” she said. “Observation status also requires more intensive staffing and availability of psychological or health care staff.”
Report also highlights issues with overcrowding, high staff turnover
Also noted in the report are struggles with “staff attrition” and a large proportion of inexperienced staff members.
“WIDOC has experienced a great deal of staffing changes, with a significant number of the current staff hired during or after the COVID19 pandemic,” the report notes.
And it detailed the DOC’s struggles with overcrowding. Nearly every state prison is holding more people than it was designed for. On average, men’s prisons were at 130% capacity, and women’s prisons were at 166% capacity.
That overcrowding is leading to delays for people who are supposed to be transferred from one prison to another, the report notes. In some cases, that means people aren’t locked up according to their designated security level, such as men classified as medium-security remaining in a maximum-security prison.
Currently, there are more than 23,000 adults locked up in Wisconsin’s prisons — making them over capacity by more than 5,000 people. The state’s prison population is now roughly at pre-pandemic levels, which is more than triple the size of the prison population in 1990.
Oleson said the report highlights the need for policy and legislative changes to cut back on the number of Wisconsinites behind bars.
“It confirms what we have said for years,” Oleson said. “Wisconsin’s prisons are dangerously overcrowded, under-resourced and in desperate need of healing.”
Security cameras are mounted on barbed wire fence at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, a maximum- and medium-security women’s prison, June 24, 2025, in Fond du Lac, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who first took office in 2019, has said he wants to decrease Wisconsin’s prison population, although that reduction hasn’t happened in practice. Some Republican members of the GOP-controlled Legislature have said they oppose his goals of eventually decreasing prison beds and expanding certain early release programs.
In a statement, DOC Secretary Jared Hoy says the report by Falcon, Inc. shows the prison system is “moving in the right direction.”
“Falcon experts recognized the work of countless dedicated DOC employees to modernize our health care and restrictive housing policies,” Hoy’s statement said. “As much as we’ve done, we can always do more, do better and the recommendations in the report provide a guide for our agency.”
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
The most powerful Republican in Wisconsin stepped up to a lectern that was affixed with a sign reading, “Pro-Women Pro-Babies Pro-Life Rally.”
“One of the reasons that I ran for office was to protect the lives of unborn children,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the cheering crowd gathered in the ornate rotunda of the state Capitol. They were there on a June day in 2019 to watch him sign four anti-abortion bills and to demand that the state’s Democratic governor sign them. (The governor did not.)
“Legislative Republicans are committed to protecting the preborn because we know life is the most basic human right,” Vos promised. “We will continue to do everything we can to protect the unborn, to protect innocent lives.”
Now, however, Vos has parted with some in the national anti-abortion movement in its push for a particular measure to protect life: the life of new mothers.
Many anti-abortion Republicans have supported new state laws and policies to extend Medicaid coverage to women for a year after giving birth, up from 60 days. The promise of free health care for a longer span can help convince women in financial crises to proceed with their pregnancies, rather than choose abortion, proponents say. And many health experts have identified the year after childbirth as a precarious time for mothers who can suffer from a host of complications, both physical and mental.
Legislation to extend government-provided health care coverage for up to one year for low-income new moms has been passed in 48 other states — red, blue and purple. Not in Arkansas, where enough officials have balked. And not in Wisconsin, where the limit remains two months. And that’s only because of Vos.
The Wisconsin Senate passed legislation earlier this year that would increase Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months. In the state Assembly, 30 Republicans have co-sponsored the legislation, and there is more than enough bipartisan support to pass the bill in that chamber.
But Vos, who has been speaker for nearly 13 years and whose campaign funding decisions are considered key to victory in elections, controls the Assembly. And, according to insiders at the state Capitol, he hasn’t allowed a vote on the Senate bill or the Assembly version, burying it deep in a committee that barely meets: Regulatory Licensing Reform.
Vos’ resistance has put him and some of his anti-abortion colleagues in the odd position of having to reconcile their support for growing families with the failure of the Assembly to pass a bill aimed at helping new moms stay healthy.
“If we can’t get something like this done, then I don’t know what I’m doing in the Legislature,” Republican Rep. Patrick Snyder, the bill’s author and an ardent abortion foe, said in February in a Senate hearing.
Reached by phone, Vos declined to discuss the issue with ProPublica and referred questions to his spokesperson, who then did not respond to calls or emails. Explaining his opposition, Vos once said, “We already have enough welfare in Wisconsin.” And in vowing to never expand Medicaid, he has said the state should reserve the program only for “those who truly need it.”
His stance on extending benefits for new mothers has troubled health care professionals, social workers and some of his constituents. They have argued and pleaded with him and, in some cases, cast doubt on his principles. ProPublica requested public comments to his office from January 2024 to June 2025 and found that the overwhelming majority of the roughly 200 messages objected to his stance.
“I know this is supported by many of your Republican colleagues. As the ‘party of the family’ your opposition is abhorrent. Get with it,” one Wisconsin resident told the speaker via a contact form on Vos’ website.
Another person who reached out to Vos chastised him for providing “lame excuses,” writing: “The women of Wisconsin deserve better from a party that CLAIMS to be ‘pro-life’ but in practice, could care less about women and children. We deserve better than you.”
‘A commonsense bill’
Donna Rozar is among the Wisconsin Republicans who staunchly oppose abortion but also support Medicaid for new mothers.
While serving as a state representative in 2023, she sponsored legislation to extend the coverage up to one year. Her effort mirrored what was happening in other states following the end of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. Activists on both sides of the abortion issue recognized that there could be a rise in high-risk births and sought to protect mothers.
“I saw this as a pro-life bill to help mothers have coverage for up to a year, in order to let them know that they would have the help they needed if there were any postpartum complications with their pregnancy,” said Rozar, a retired registered nurse. “I thought it was a commonsense bill.”
Vos, she said, would not allow the bill to proceed to a vote even though it had 66 co-sponsors in the 99-person chamber. “The speaker of the state Assembly in Wisconsin is a very powerful individual and sets the agenda,” she said.
Rozar recalled having numerous “frustrating” conversations with Vos as she tried to persuade him to advance the legislation. “He was just so opposed to entitlement programs and any additional expenditures of Medicaid dollars that he just stuck to that principle. Vehemently.”
Donna Rozar, a Republican former state representative from Marshfield, sponsored legislation in 2023 to extend Medicaid coverage for mothers but said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos wouldn’t even allow a vote on the bill. She is seen at Gov. Tony Evers’ State of the State address on Jan. 24, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (Drake White-Bergey / Wisconsin Watch)
Vos has argued as well that through other options, including the Affordable Care Act, Wisconsinites have been able to find coverage. While some new mothers qualify for no-cost premiums under certain ACA plans, not all do. Even with no-cost premiums, ACA plans typically require a deductible or co-payments. And next year, when enhanced premium tax credits are due to expire, few people will be eligible for $0 net premiums unless Congress acts to change that.
Rozar lost her race for reelection in August 2024 after redistricting but returned to the state Capitol in February for a Senate hearing to continue advocating for the extension. She was joined by a variety of medical experts who explained the extreme and life-threatening risks women can face in the first year after giving birth.
They warned that without extended Medicaid coverage, women who need treatment and medication for postpartum depression, drug addiction, hypertension, diabetes, blood clots, heart conditions or other ailments may be unable to get them.
One legislative analysis found that on average each month, 700 women fell off the Medicaid rolls in Wisconsin two months after giving birth or experiencing a miscarriage because they no longer met the income eligibility rules.
Justine Brown-Schabel, a community health worker in Dane County, told senators of a new mother diagnosed with gestational diabetes who lost Medicaid coverage.
“She was no longer able to afford her diabetes medication,’’ Brown-Schabel said. “Not only did this affect her health but the health of her infant, as she was unable to properly feed her child due to a diminishing milk supply.”
She described another new mother, one who had severe postpartum depression, poor appetite, significant weight loss, insomnia and mental exhaustion. Sixty days of Medicaid coverage, Brown-Schabel said, “are simply not enough” in a situation like that.
Currently, new moms with household incomes up to 306% of the poverty line (or $64,719 a year for a single mom and baby) can stay on Medicaid for 60 days after birth. But the mother must be below the poverty line ($21,150 for that mom and baby) to continue with coverage beyond that. The new legislation would extend the current protections to a year.
Bipartisan unity on the legislation is so great that Pro-Life Wisconsin and the lobbying arm of the abortion provider Planned Parenthood, which offers some postpartum services, both registered in support of it before the Senate.
“It’s something that we can do and something that’s achievable given the bipartisan support for it,” Matt Sande, a lobbyist for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said in an interview. “It’s not going to break the bank.”
Once fully implemented, the extended coverage would cost the state $9.4 million a year, according to the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The state ended fiscal year 2025 with a budget surplus of $4.6 billion.
With the Assembly bill buried by Vos, Democratic Rep. Robyn Vining tried in July to force the issue with a bit of a legislative end run. She rose during floor debate on the state budget and proposed adding the Medicaid extension to the mammoth spending bill.
All of the Republicans who had signed on to the Medicaid bill, except one absent member, voted to table the proposal, sinking the amendment. They included Snyder, the bill’s sponsor, who in an email to ProPublica labeled the Democrats’ move to raise the issue during floor debate “a stunt.”
“Democrats were simply more concerned with playing political games to garner talking points of who voted against what, than they were in supporting the budget negotiated by their Governor,” he said.
Said Vining of the Republicans who tabled the amendment: “They’re taking marching orders from the speaker instead of representing their constituents.”
Well-funded opposition
Vos’ opposition echoes that of influential conservative groups, including the Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida think tank that promotes “work over welfare.” Its affiliated lobbying arm openly opposed the Medicaid extension for new moms when it first surfaced in Wisconsin in 2021, though it has not registered opposition since then. Reached recently, a spokesperson for the foundation declined to comment.
Over the past decade, the foundation has received more than $11 million from a charitable fund run by billionaire Richard Uihlein, founder of the Wisconsin-based shipping supplies company Uline. In recent years, Uihlein and his wife, Liz, also have been prolific political donors nationally and in the Midwest, with Vos among the beneficiaries.
Since 2020, Liz Uihlein has given over $6 million to Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, which is considered a key instrument of Vos’ power. And in February 2024, she donated $500,000 to Vos’ personal political campaign at a time when he was immersed in a tough intraparty skirmish.
One concern cited by extension opponents such as the Foundation for Government Accountability is that Medicaid coverage for new moms could be used for health issues not directly related to giving birth. Questions over how expansive the coverage would be spilled into debate in Arkansas in a Senate committee in April of this year.
“Can you explain what that coverage is? Is it just like full Medicaid for any problem that they have, or is it somehow specific to the pregnancy and complications?” asked GOP Sen. John Payton.
A state health official told him new mothers could receive a full range of benefits.
“Like, if they needed a knee replacement, I mean, it’d cover it?” Payton said.
“Yes,” came the reply.
The bill failed in a voice vote.
In Wisconsin, no lawmaker voiced any such concern during the February Senate hearing, which was marked by only positive feedback. In fact, one lawmaker and some medical experts in attendance openly snickered at the thought that Arkansas — a state that ranks low in public health measurements — might pass legislation before Wisconsin, leaving it the lone holdout.
Ultimately, the Wisconsin Senate approved the legislation 32-1 in April, sending it along to the Assembly to languish and leaving Wisconsin still in the company of Arkansas on the issue.
Despite the setbacks and Vos’ firm opposition, Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin and other anti-abortion activists are not giving up. He thinks Vos can be persuaded and the bill could move out of its purgatory this winter.
“I’m telling you that we’re hopeful,” Sande said.
Rozar is, too, even though she is well aware of Vos’ unwavering stance. “He might have egg on his face if he let it go,” she said.
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Two of the biggest political issues of the year are immigration and health care.
In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 75% of Republicans said they were very concerned about illegal immigration and border security while 83% of Democrats said they were very concerned about health insurance. Those were the top issues among those groups. (Among independents, 79% said they were very concerned about inflation and the cost of living, making it their top issue.)
Here’s a look at some recent fact checks of claims related to health care and immigration.
Health care
No, Obamacare premiums aren’t doubling for 20 million Americans in 2026, but 2 to 3 million Americans would lose all enhanced subsidies and about half of them could see their premium payments double or triple.
Yes, Obamacare premiums increased three times the rate of inflation since the program started in 2014. They’re making headlines now for going up even more.
No, 6 million people have not received Obamacare health insurance without knowing it. There wasn’t evidence to back a claim by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about the level of fraud in the program.
No, Wisconsin does not have a law on minors getting birth control without parental consent. But residents under age 18 can get birth control on their own.
Immigration
Yes, unauthorized immigrants have constitutional rights that apply to all people in the U.S. That includes a right to due process, to defend oneself in a hearing, such as in court, though not other rights, such as voting.
No, standard driver’s licenses do not prove U.S. citizenship. There’s a court battle in Wisconsin over whether voters must prove citizenship to cast a ballot.
Yes, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is offering police departments $100,000 to cooperate in finding unauthorized immigrants. It’s for vehicle purchases.
No, tens of millions of unauthorized immigrants do not receive federal health benefits.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wisconsin municipalities and school districts, which rely on taxpayer dollars to fund their services, are running into rising frustration from the residents who pay those costs.
The frustration comes as more local governments are turning to wheel taxes to fund transportation-related services as costs of construction materials rise and local leaders say the Legislature over the years has constrained ways municipalities can raise additional revenues. Nearly half of Wisconsin residents are paying a wheel tax in 2025, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The number of Wisconsin school districts turning to taxpayers to support referendums has also grown in recent years with the state seeing more than 200 ballot questions in 2024, 148 of which were operating referendums. Ninety-four districts sought referendums in elections this year, the most in an odd-numbered election year since 2007, the Policy Forum noted earlier this year.
But Wisconsin taxpayers’ support for funding revenue needs of local governments and school districts appears to be waning as residents grapple with their own rising costs from energy bills to health care payments.
The Marquette University Law School Poll conducted in October showed 56% of voters found lowering property taxes to be more important than funding public education, a number that has gradually grown in the last two years. Between 2015 and 2022 more voters supported funding public schools over lowering property taxes. Additionally, 57% of Wisconsin voters in October said they would be more likely to vote against a school referendum when, just four months earlier, 52% of voters said they would support one.
The public discontent with government taxes and fees aligns with a longtime Republican strategy to reduce the size and reach of government. Similar frustration with the role of government in the wake of the Great Recession swept Republicans into power in Wisconsin in 2010, and they’ve kept control of the Legislature since then.
Heading into the next cycle, Republican lawmakers are promoting bills that seek to limit when taxpayers can be asked for more funding.
One bill from Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, would require referendums for local governments that want to establish a wheel tax and mandate the municipalities and counties with existing wheel taxes to go to referendum to keep their fees in place. Hutton, who is up for reelection in 2026, holds perhaps the most vulnerable of three Republican Senate seats that Democrats are targeting in elections next year.
A resident brought the idea for the wheel tax bill to Hutton’s office as New Berlin and Elm Grove considered implementing their own vehicle registration fees earlier this year, his chief of staff said in an email to Wisconsin Watch. The New Berlin Common Council officially rejected the option to pursue a wheel tax in July.
“Some may argue that these are not make or break amounts of money, and that certainly may be the case,” Hutton said during an October hearing on the Assembly companion to his bill. “But every cost adds up to many citizens in these communities, especially those families who are living paycheck to paycheck.”
Hutton’s bill is scheduled for a public hearing Wednesday, just a week after the Eau Claire City Council voted to raise the city’s wheel tax from $24 to $50. Eau Claire residents will pay $80 between city and county fees with the new increase, which is currently higher than Milwaukee where city residents pay $60 in wheel taxes split between the city and county.
The vehicle registration fee increase will give the city of Eau Claire an additional $1.2 million, which the city’s finance director told councilors was necessary for a balanced budget without making other cuts.
“If we didn’t have the wheel tax available, we would have to make very significant cuts,” Stephanie Hirsch, Eau Claire’s city manager, told Wisconsin Watch. “We can’t really touch our public safety departments because of state laws that require us to maintain spending and service maintenance of effort laws, so it would be coming from those public works functions or the other nonmandated services that we provide like operating a very popular outdoor pool or maintaining parks.”
But Eau Claire residents opposed to the proposal said it was wrong to approve a wheel tax increase as costs are rising for food, health care, energy and more.
“Another fee increase, especially on something as basic as the ability to drive to work, drive to school or appointments, should be completely off the table right now,” said Elizabeth Willier, who told the council she organized resident petitions against doubling the wheel tax through conservative group Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin.
Growing tax frustration
Citizen anger against government taxes isn’t new. But it seems that taxpayers in Wisconsin have especially become more engaged in government in the years since the coronavirus pandemic, said Paul Rozeski, the director of government and member relations with Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Inc.
More people want answers about where their money is going, he said.
“We have a lot of small business members, and for them, it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts,” Rozeski said. “Clearly, more and more taxpayers are feeling the same way.”
That public sentiment on referendums increased as 71% of Wisconsin’s school districts learned in October they will receive less general aid for the 2025-26 school year than they did the prior year. State general education aid funding was kept flat in the biennial budget earlier this year.
It could lead districts to make budget cuts, raise property taxes or even turn to voters with referendums to make up those funding gaps.
“I think that’s not going to slow down,” Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, said last month of school district referendums. “I think we’re going to see even more, sadly.”
Under current law Wisconsin school districts will receive a $325 per pupil increase each year in how much revenues they can raise from a combination of state aid and property taxes for the next 400 years due to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ creative veto in 2023.
It’s not clear yet how many school districts might seek referendums in 2026. State law gives districts up to 70 days before an election to adopt a resolution for a referendum, a spokesperson said.
Solutions at the Capitol?
Republican legislative proposals at the Capitol have sought more transparency from school districts that seek additional dollars from taxpayers or more participation from local governments that seek revenues through wheel taxes. Additionally, the Assembly Committee on Education signed off on a series of bills looking to encourage school district consolidation across the state.
Public hearings were held earlier this session on companion bills that would prohibit recurring operating referendums and limit ballot questions from applying to more than four years. Hutton and Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, also brought forward a proposal to bar school districts from pursuing referendums if they are not in compliance with Department of Public Instruction financial reporting requirements.
Nedweski during a public hearing in October cited Milwaukee Public Schools as a reason for the bill. Voters passed a $252 million MPS referendum in 2024, but the district had failed to file 2023 state financial reports on time, which led DPI to withhold state funding.
The likelihood of the Republican proposals receiving Evers’ signature is slim. While Hutton’s Senate bill on wheel tax referendums will receive a public hearing, it’s not clear what appetite other lawmakers will have for the proposal.
The Assembly Committee on Local Government held a public hearing on the Assembly version of Hutton’s bill in late October, but chair Rep. Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, told Hutton and Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, that he opposed the proposal.
“If they don’t like a wheel tax, they can replace the board,” Novak said.
Hirsch in Eau Claire understands that the increased wheel tax may be a hardship for residents with the combination of city and county fees. But requiring a referendum would take away options the city needs, she said.
“What we really wish would happen is that the state government would give us more local control and more tools,” Hirsch said. “For example, what we wish for most is a local option sales tax. We really don’t like putting all of the weight on property taxes, and we don’t want to charge people the wheel tax. We wish there were other tools in the tool kit.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
In a classroom turned barbershop on the third floor at Milwaukee’s Rufus King International High School, students sit for a haircut and talk about academics, sports and the latest trends with English teachers Cameron LeFlore and Emmanuel Johnson.
They’re the latest clients of The Shop in 310, a free on-campus barbershop club for Rufus King students. LeFlore said the cuts help young men feel more confident.
“Then they don’t need a hat or hoodie,” he said. “They can just walk with their head held high.”
The idea for the shop started when LeFlore brought his clippers to the school, hoping students would want a haircut.
Johnson, who was recently hired at the school, decided to collaborate with LeFlore once he learned they both had an interest in barbering.
Checking out the new club
The Shop in 310 opens daily at 3:30 p.m. except Thursdays. Among the regulars at The Shop in 310 are Rufus King juniors Elijah Ramirez and Demontrey Cochran.
Ramirez, 17, moved from Chicago to Milwaukee three months ago and was nervous about trying out a new barber for the first time in 10 years.
“I was scared at first, but then I gained confidence and trust in Mr. LeFlore,” Ramirez said.
He was pleased with the results of his first mid-taper cut.
“It came out better than I expected,” he said.
Since then, he’s gained opportunities with photographers and notices how his cut stands out.
Cochran, 16, is a student in LeFlore’s class and was excited to support the club.
“I really wanted to see how this would turn out,” Cochran said.
Ramirez and Cochran each encourage their peers to give it a try.
“Every man can vouch that after they get a haircut, they are going to feel good and that they can conquer the world because of their haircut and confidence from it,” Cochran said.
Clippers used at The Shop in 310 sit on a desk at Rufus King High School. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Financial relief for families
The Shop in 310 initially charged $10 per cut, but after being approved by the Office of Administration at Rufus King as an official club, the trims became free.
“If your child starts off as a freshman coming here, you’d be saving thousands by the time they’re a senior,” LeFlore said.
Before joining Rufus King, Johnson offered free cuts to students at Marshall High School, where he taught previously, and felt glad to do it.
“Back then, cuts were $25 to $30. Now barbers are charging $40 and up,” he said.
Cochran typically spends $35 for a mid-taper cut at his barber. Since coming to The Shop in 310, he’s been able to save money and also values how accessible it has been for his peers.
“There’s a lot of people I know who don’t even have barbershops near them, so it takes them a long time to finally get a cut,” he said.
LeFlore and Johnson use the club’s Instagram to post haircut tutorials for students interested in learning how to cut their own hair at home.
“I try to take a holistic approach and think back to what I would’ve wanted when I was in high school,” LeFlore said.
Demontrey Cochran, 16, gets a haircut from English teacher Emmanuel Johnson at Rufus King High School. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Visiting The Shop in 310 is more than just receiving a haircut for Ramirez and Cochran. It’s a place to feel welcomed.
“At first I saw them as just English teachers,” Ramirez said. “I like their communication and ability to understand what I’m specifically asking for.”
Beyond the sounds of clippers, Cochran sees the barbershop as peaceful, chill and liberating.
“As long as everything is appropriate this is a non-judgment zone,” he said.
Practice leads to improvement
LeFlore and Johnson are self-taught barbers who learned the skills on their own before bringing clippers into the classroom.
Johnson started off cutting his youngest brother’s hair as a favor while receiving feedback from his mentor Thomas Mclern, a barber with more than 30 years’ experience.
“While cutting my brother’s hair I realized that cutting hair was one of the best ways for me to serve the community,” he said. “Cutting hair is now an art for me.”
LeFlore’s path to barbering began after watching a friend cut his own hair, inspiring him to do the same.
“I told my friend to send me all the products I needed, then I went and brought everything,” he said.
LeFlore said it used to take an hour and a half to complete a haircut, now it’s only 20 minutes.
Tapping into diverse hair types
As their skills improved by cutting five to 10 heads a week, Johnson and LeFlore became more versatile.
Having already worked with diverse hair types at Marshall High School, Johnson was able to adjust to the needs of Rufus King students.
“At Marshall, I was exposed to different hair types and hair thinness, so at Rufus King, I learned quickly and had no problem,” Johnson said. “Every now and then when I get a hair type that’s not my own, it’s still a learning experience.”
Though LeFlore was nervous about cutting different hair textures, he practiced on his dad, whose hair is straighter, and watched YouTube videos to become better.
“I took my time and it turned out OK, but it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be,” he said. “I learned that straighter hair is easier, you just have to be more precise.”
Cochran said he has interest in cutting his own hair after graduating high school.
“I want to purchase my own barber kit eventually, and that should save me at least $100 a month,” he said.
Johnson and LeFlore want people to know that whether it’s cutting hair or something different, practice is key.
“Whatever they’re looking to pursue, they need to find like-minded people who do the same things and practice together,” Johnson said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Reading Time: 4minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
A federal board ruling has paved the way for courts to more easily toss out asylum cases and instead deport applicants, not to their home country, but to a “third country” they barely know.
The ruling has the potential to affect the cases of thousands of immigrants who entered the asylum process since 2019.
The Department of Homeland Security is using its extra power inconsistently, moving to send some asylum seekers to third countries while making more traditional motions in other cases. One immigration attorney says it illustrates the “crazy arbitrariness of the system.”
Milwaukee immigration attorney Anthony Locke spent the first weekend in November wrapping his head around the latest ground-shaking rule change for asylum cases. His Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counterpart apparently did the same while pushing to deport one of Locke’s clients.
Locke represents a Nicaraguan asylum seeker arrested in a late September ICE operation in Manitowoc. That client was set to appear before an immigration court judge on Nov. 4 in a hearing Locke hoped would move the man closer to securing his right to remain in the U.S.
But five days earlier, the Board of Immigration Appeals — a powerful, if relatively obscure Department of Justice tribunal that sets rules for immigration courts — had paved the way for courts to more easily toss out asylum cases and instead deport applicants, not to their home country, but to a “third country” they barely know.
Just before the Nov. 4 hearing, the DHS attorney motioned to dismiss Locke’s client’s case and deport him to Honduras, through which he had only briefly passed on his trek north. Locke now has until early December to argue that his client could face “persecution or torture” in Honduras.
“Trying to demonstrate that they’re scared of a place they’ve had minimal contact with,” he said, is akin to proving a negative.
If the judge sides with DHS, the Nicaraguan man will be sent to Honduras without an opportunity to make his case for remaining in the U.S.
“I am, quite frankly, not too hopeful, and I’ve had to be quite honest with my client about that,” Locke said. “This is so sudden, so jarring, and it has such an immense impact.”
The full impact of the appeals board ruling remains to be seen, but it has the potential to affect the cases of thousands of immigrants who entered the asylum process since President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2019 began establishing “safe third country” agreements, starting with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
U.S. law for decades guaranteed anyone physically present in the U.S. the right to seek asylum, but the agreements allowed the U.S. to instead send asylum seekers to third countries to seek legal status there.
While Joe Biden suspended most third country agreements during his presidency, Trump, upon returning to office in January, revived them as a means to limit asylum applications and facilitate deportations. The list of countries willing to accept the deportees is still growing, though not all have signed formal “safe third country” agreements.
The Board of Immigration Appeals overhauled the process of sending an asylum seeker to a third country. Its ruling allows DHS to send asylum seekers to countries through which they did not pass en route to the U.S. It also requires immigration courts to consider whether asylum seekers can be sent to a third country before hearing their cases for remaining in the U.S., creating the proving-a-negative scenario Locke described.
The ruling may not impact those who filed for asylum before third country agreements were forged.
DHS did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s request for comment.
Locke’s client entered the U.S. in 2022, requesting asylum on the grounds that his protests against Nicaragua’s ruling party made him a target for persecution. The man entered the country through a Biden-era “parole” program that allowed some immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the U.S. for two years, Locke said. Roughly a third of new arrivals to Wisconsin who entered the immigration court system since 2020 came from Nicaragua, though not all secured parole.
The Trump administration ended the parole program earlier this year, claiming that the roughly 500,000 immigrants who entered the country through the program had not been properly vetted and that participants limited opportunities for domestic workers.
Locke’s client landed in the immigration court system in September after his arrest in Manitowoc. He is currently in custody in the Dodge County jail — one of a growing number of local detention facilities in Wisconsin housing ICE detainees.
One of his fellow detainees, Diego Ugarte-Arenas, faces a similar predicament. The 31-year-old from Venezuela entered the U.S. in 2021 alongside his wife, Dailin Pacheco-Acosta. The couple filed for asylum upon reaching Wisconsin, citing their involvement in opposition to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Pacheco-Acosta found work as a nanny in Madison, and Ugarte-Arenas found a restaurant job.
The couple appeared in court for the first time on Nov. 12, both via video call. Though separated by hundreds of miles, the cinderblock walls behind them made their settings look almost identical.
Diego Ugarte-Arenas appears virtually at an asylum hearing while sitting in the Dodge County jail, Nov. 12, 2025.
Dailin Pacheco-Acosta appears virtually at an asylum hearing while sitting in a northern Kentucky county jail, Nov. 12, 2025.
As they waited for their case to reach the top of the queue, the couple watched the court field-test the new rule on third-country deportations as the DHS attorney motioned to send another asylum seeker to an unnamed third country. But when Judge Eva Saltzman called their case, the DHS attorney did not make the same motion.
“When you move this quickly and have this volume of cases, not every case gets treated the same,” said Ben Crouse, an attorney representing the couple. The inconsistency, Crouse said, reflects the “crazy arbitrariness of the system.”
After scheduling a follow-up hearing, Saltzman allowed the couple to speak to one another for the first time since their arrest.
“Everything will be OK, you hear me?” Ugarte-Arenas said through tears.
Saltzman moved on to the next case.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The amount some pay for Affordable Care Act health insurance will double when enhanced subsidies expire, but there isn’t evidence the number is 20 million.
KFF, a health policy nonprofit, estimates monthly payments for Obamacare recipients will increase, on average, $1,016 – more than doubling, from $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.
That counts increases to premiums and lost subsidies.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, citing KFF, made the 20 million claim. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Sanders was wrong.
KFF doesn’t say how many of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees will see premiums double.
But 2 to 3 million people on the high end of income eligibility would lose all enhanced subsidies. About half could see premium payments double or triple.
Enhanced subsidies, created in 2021, expire Dec. 31. Some Obamacare enrollees will receive lower enhanced subsidies or none. Standard subsidies remain.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
A Republican lawmaker’s plan to regulate drop boxes and give Wisconsin’s clerks more time to process absentee ballots ran into obstacles last week, including skepticism from fellow Republicans and a rival GOP bill to ban drop boxes entirely.
The cool reception for Rep. Scott Krug’s ideas, especially to let clerks process ballots on the Monday before an election, underscores the GOP’s persistent internal divide over election policy in Wisconsin, with advocates of reforms long sought by election officials of both parties running into distrust fueled by conspiracy theories and misinformation. Last week, the resistance appeared strong enough to stall or complicate efforts by Republicans who aim to address clerks’ needs and craft workable policy that can gain Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ support.
That split was on full display at a Nov. 4 hearing of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, chaired by Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin.
Krug, a former committee chair who championed the draft bill to regulate drop boxes, argued that his colleagues should adopt a “reality-based” mindset with their approach to drop boxes. Liberals, he said, control the governor’s office, making it all but certain that GOP Rep. Lindee Brill’s bill to ban drop boxes would get vetoed by Evers.
To that, Brill responded: “I am a believer in God and a follower of Jesus Christ, so do I think there’s a chance that (Evers) would change his mind and sign this into law? Sure. But I’m taking this on because our Republican president believes this is the direction we should be heading.”
In response to questions, she dismissed an Associated Press survey of election officials that found no widespread fraud from drop boxes in the 2020 presidential election that could have affected the results, saying she wasn’t sure she considered the AP a valid source.
“You and I find truth in different spots,” she told a Democratic lawmaker.
During the hearing, Maxey let others speak at length, including Peter Bernegger — a conspiracy theorist fined by the Wisconsin Elections Commission for making frivolous complaints — who echoed unfounded claims of widespread drop box fraud in Wisconsin.
When Krug scrutinized Brill’s proposal, though, Maxey interrupted him, leading a visibly frustrated Krug to ask him to “give me the last sentence, like we’ve let others have.”
Republicans have slim majority, divided caucus
This clash between the two views on election policy “is long-standing and is not going to be resolved anytime soon,” said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor and founder of the Elections Research Center. “Right now, it seems like neither path is really working.”
Assembly Republican leaders typically only advance bills that have 50 GOP votes, enough to pass without Democratic support. They once held 64 of 99 seats, nearly a supermajority, but now have just 54, meaning they can afford to lose only four GOP votes to advance legislation. That math and the internal distrust make passing even modest reforms difficult. Unless they can rally the more skeptical voices in their caucus, Burden said, Republicans have to be willing to cross the aisle and court Democratic votes.
Maxey, who co-authored Brill’s bill, told Votebeat that drop boxes “are about as effective for election integrity as a mask is at preventing COVID,” an analogy that left his meaning muddled: Drop boxes in Wisconsin have never been proven to be a means for widespread fraud, whereas masks have been shown to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Maxey said his worries weren’t “wild conspiracy theories” but came from past ballot issues in Madison, though none of those involved drop boxes. He told Votebeat that he fears tampering and that voters using drop boxes might be unable to fix ballot errors.
Burden noted that valid ballots deposited in drop boxes are like any other absentee ballot and contain voters’ and witnesses’ information, which helps prevent fraud.
Monday processing proposal in doubt
Krug’s draft proposal to let local clerks begin processing absentee ballots on the Monday before an election was a change long sought by election officials to help speed up the reporting of results, but blocked by a few conservative lawmakers. Krug and other GOP leaders hoped his proposal could win them over because it was part of a broader package that included measures conservatives want, including an explicit ban on clerks fixing, or curing, errors on absentee ballot envelopes, and the stricter regulation of drop boxes.
But at a hearing on Nov. 6, Krug conceded that both the preprocessing and drop box proposals were in jeopardy because of GOP opposition. Those measures were stripped out of the package after pushback from Brill, Maxey and other conservatives, who released their own bill to ban drop boxes entirely.
Maxey told Votebeat that he would likely give a Monday processing proposal a hearing in his committee but would vote against it — adding that he knows other Assembly Republicans are against it, too.
Krug — who previously told Votebeat that he “would use every little ounce of political capital effort created on elections to get Monday processing done” — appeared to downplay the measure’s importance, saying it was only an issue in Milwaukee, where late-night reporting of election results often leads to conspiracy theories about fraudulent ballot dumps.
Clerks elsewhere disagree that the problem is so localized. Marathon County Clerk Kim Trueblood, a Republican, told Votebeat she hopes Krug “hasn’t entirely given up” on the Monday processing proposal, though “that’s what it sounds like for this session, at least.”
Krug also blamed its failure so far on the governor’s office, which he said received the draft Monday processing proposal months ago but never got back to him.
“Scott Krug has taken enough you-know-what in every community in the state of Wisconsin for being bold on this issue and saying we have to do it,” Krug said. “I need partners.”
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
Dillon Beyer woke up Monday morning to a flurry of text messages.
A co-owner of Tree Huggers Cannabis, which is based in La Crosse with locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Beyer and his colleagues in Wisconsin’s hemp industry were beginning to learn that, tucked into the U.S. Senate bill to reopen the federal government, was a provision that could outlaw much of their industry.
That clause, inside the continuing resolution that the U.S. House approved and President Donald Trump signed Wednesday, would ban the “unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp derived products.”
That left Beyer “freaking out a little bit.” His company employs 25 people, developing and distributing drinks and other products that contain the psychoactive ingredient THC.
“It would force us to close our doors, because it would make all of the products that we sell noncompliant,” Beyer said ahead of the U.S. House’s vote.
In Wisconsin, where medical and recreational marijuana are illegal, a long-standing federal loophole has allowed one related industry to flourish.
The 2018 federal Farm Bill removed hemp from the list of controlled substances. As a result, products containing low doses of the psychoactive ingredient THC — like vapes, oils, gummies and beverages — are legal.
That’s true even in states like Wisconsin that don’t otherwise allow for other forms of marijuana production or sales.
Phillip Alberti is a research program manager specializing in hemp at an alternative crops lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said hemp has wide uses beyond its connections to marijuana — for example, as an agricultural and fiber product.
But he said it’s unclear exactly how big the Wisconsin hemp industry is.
“I’ve been looking forever to find those numbers … because I really think it’s important at the university to understand the impacts. Then we can see where there might be a need,” said Alberti. “All I know is that I cannot go anywhere without seeing those products. I can’t go to breweries. I can’t go to gas stations.”
Overall nationwide, it’s a booming, multibillion-dollar industry — one that critics say is insufficiently regulated. They say it’s too easy for kids to get their hands on the products, which are sometimes packaged to look like fun snacks or candy, and that it should be treated the same as other forms of marijuana.
THC products are for sale, Nov. 12, 2025, at Smoke World Vape in Beaver Dam, Wis. (Angela Major / WPR)
Supporters, including those in the industry, say these products offer an alternative to alcohol, or provide benefits like stress relief.
Alla Tsypin and Richard Bowman co-own RA! Wellness, a THC beverage company based in Madison. Tsypin said they welcome more regulation for their products, but they shouldn’t be banned.
“We should all be held to the same standard, as far as our ingredients, our (lab testing), our transparency, things like that,” she said. “But to take it away as a whole as an option for millions of people is pretty crappy.”
Wisconsin business owners say they’re figuring out next steps. The legislation gives companies 365 days to find themselves in compliance.
For Tsypin and Bowman, that’s a year to get over the “shock” and potentially pivot their business. They also hope that this sudden move will spark a conversation that will draw more public support for their industry — and potentially lead to changes in state or federal law.
“The biggest takeaway from all of this is, really, how much this has affected not only us, but also the families, the growers, the consumers, the people … that rely on this as medicine,” said Tsypin.
Beyer, of La Crosse, said he thought bad actors in an underregulated field have given his products a bad name. His company checks customers’ IDs, and packages their products in dark colors that make it clear they’re not for kids.
He said he thinks the next year gives both industry workers and consumers time to push for bigger changes to the law — a vaster opportunity than the loophole they’ve worked within for years.
“We are confident, and we are hoping to work with our supply chain of distributors, retailers, our consumers to really raise awareness and sound the alarm,” he said.
Reading Time: 5minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
The founders of Ebb & Flow Connections Cooperative host emotional CPR training to community members and run a community living room in downtown Appleton.
Lynn McLaughlin and Karen Iverson Riggers have trained more than 2,500 people in ECPR in roughly seven years.
Their approach to teaching social connection has proved successful enough that groups in several other counties want to replicate it, and several state entities say the model is a method for building connection to prevent suicide.
The effort is grant-funded, and the community living room requires space and volunteers.
Karen Iverson Riggers scrawls on a giant notepad as the 12 people around her call out rules they think should govern the next two days they’ll spend together: “It’s OK to cry.” “Authenticity over correctness.” “Judgement-free zone.” “Say it messy.”
The group — a mix of mental health professionals, children and family workers and curious residents — is kicking off an “emotional CPR,” or “ECPR,” workshop, a community public health training teaching how to assist someone in crisis or emotional distress.
Training leaders Iverson Riggers and Lynn McLaughlin have dedicated the last several years to encouraging northeast Wisconsinites to deeply connect with one another — and giving them a free community space to do so — in hopes they can combat the social isolation many feel today.
“This is not an individual problem. It’s not like you are doing something wrong because you’re lonely or feeling isolated,” Iverson Riggers said. “This is a community design issue … Lots of folks are being forced to work themselves to death without having any free time to engage in any kind of community or connection.”
Karen Iverson Riggers, co-founder of Ebb & Flow Connections Cooperative, guides the conversation during an emotional CPR training session on Oct. 28, 2025, in Oshkosh, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
The pair founded Ebb & Flow Connections Cooperative, which runs a Community Living Room in downtown Appleton. They describe it as an “unconditionally welcoming” space, where community members can socialize, play games, hang out or confide in certified ECPR practitioners.
“There’s no requirement to belong,” McLaughlin explained. “You just do.”
Their approach to teaching social connection has proved successful enough that groups in several other Wisconsin counties are now trying to replicate the resources they offer. Plus, several state entities say their model is a method for building connection to prevent suicide.
With funding from the Medical College of Wisconsin, the pair spent two late-October days in Oshkosh training Winnebago County residents and workers.
Attendees practiced how to effectively listen to and assist people who are struggling, as a means to prevent self-harm and further distress. After the workshop, they’d be considered an ECPR “practitioner” and could go on to eventually work as a listener in a living room.
A place to ‘just be’
The pair’s idea for bringing more northeast Wisconsin residents together was born several years ago, when they were sitting in Iverson Riggers’ living room, discussing the unhelpful ways people typically respond to those struggling with mental health issues. They also lamented the general loss of “third spaces,” or places outside of home or work where people casually connect with their community without a cost barrier.
“So we said, ‘You know, what if there was a space where folks could go and could just be?’” Iverson Riggers said.
That question led them to devise the idea of the Community Living Room, where people could do just that.
In 2023, they received a grant from the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, which they used to launch the concept as a pop-up event in different places — the local library, community gatherings, the children’s museum. There was always food and several ECPR-certified listeners in attendance.
Caprice Swanks participates in an emotional CPR training session on Oct. 28, 2025, at the Oshkosh Food Co-op community room in Oshkosh, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Thanks to the relationships they built hosting pop-ups, a local developer gifted them space to open a permanent downtown Appleton location in October 2024. They pay just $1 in rent annually.
“It was created to break down all the barriers that people find to seeking support,” Iverson Riggers said. “There’s no appointments and no forms. There’s no requirement of a certain kind of identity or diagnosis. There’s no requirement about how you engage.”
Inside the space, which resembles a large apartment, several cozy couches invite visitors to get comfortable. There are tables to sit at or partake in board games or puzzles. A small kitchen area with a fridge is stocked with fresh snacks. A poster on the wall permits people to take what they need — clothing, food, safe sex tools, hygiene supplies and even Narcan.
“It just says something about creating a space … where we can go and connect and feel welcome without having to buy anything, without having to be a certain way, without having to conform to whatever the rules of the space are,” Iverson Riggers said.
A community agreement is posted on the wall during an emotional CPR training led by Ebb & Flow Connections Cooperative on Oct. 28, 2025. Participants called out rules to guide the two-day session, which was held at the Oshkosh Food Co-op in Oshkosh, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
How people use the space varies. Some simply pop in for a snack or a drink or to use the bathroom. Two visitors regularly come in and practice playing the guitar. Others want to connect one-on-one with the “listeners” trained in ECPR — at least two people who have taken the training are paid $50 per hour to be present.
While the staff are trained to help people who are experiencing emotional crises and are more than ready to assist if needed, the living room aims to be a “prevention space,” they said. They believe that if people feel less lonely and isolated, or know they have somewhere where they can get support, they may not reach the point of crisis.
“You know, it’s not just this joy-filled, ‘everything is peaceful’ (place),” McLaughlin said. “We’re learning how to navigate conflict in community. We’re learning how to support people in distress, in community.”
Since they started offering community ECPR workshops roughly seven years ago, they’ve helped train more than 2,500 people.
For years, they felt they were “pounding the pavement” to spread the word about their ideas for connecting neighbors. Now, they’ve turned a corner and have seen a steady increase in demand.
Community members across Wisconsin, including in Winnebago, Brown, Sauk and Sheboygan counties, have shown interest in replicating their approach. Prevent Suicide Wisconsin also shared Ebb & Flow’s approach in its 2025 Suicide Prevention Plan as a model for using peer support to reduce deaths by suicide.
Thanks to this, Iverson Riggers and McLaughlin expect they’ll soon be “overwhelmed” with interest. The increased attention has come with its own challenges — they had to cut back on meetings with people who want to replicate their approach in other counties. It’s also been hard to keep up with the demands of “chasing down funding” and keeping the downtown Appleton space in shape, Iverson Riggers said.
Leaders and participants laugh together during an emotional CPR training session on Oct. 28, 2025, at the Oshkosh Food Co-op. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Lanise Pitts, a practitioner certified in ECPR, said she was drawn to the warmth of the cooperative and kept returning to events after she attended the training. The Community Living Room allows her to connect with people from different circles and different career paths that she would likely never meet otherwise, she said.
“When people just come in, it’s just like being welcomed to somebody’s house. Come in, find something to do, kick your feet up,” Pitts said while curled up on a couch in the living room. “When they leave, after we’ve done puzzles or colored or played card games or music games or had a 30-second dance party, it’s just like the weight gets lifted. Like you might come in with a lot of baggage, but when you leave out, you’re leaving some of that behind, and it just kind of dissipates.”
The Community Living Room currently has funding to be open two days a week. See a schedule here.
Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus. Email her at mdunlap@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Veterans Day always holds a special place for me. It’s a moment to honor two very special men, my grandfathers, who shaped my life and values and whom I was named after.
My paternal grandfather, Richard Franklin Brown, served in the Marines, and my maternal grandfather, Eugene Preston, served in the Air Force. Every year, this day reminds me that freedom is something precious that we’ve inherited because it was earned, protected and preserved by those who came before us.
Each Veterans Day is a time to pause and think about what they endured and fought for, not only for their families but for the ideals that define our country. It also reminds me how easily those freedoms can fade when we forget the cost of protecting them.
One story that always stands out to me is the Gulf of Tonkin incident of Aug. 2, 1964. That day, the USS Maddox exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, on Aug. 4, reports claimed that a second attack had taken place against U.S. ships. That second attack, as we now know, never happened, yet the reports swayed public opinion and led Congress to pass what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.
That decision marked a major escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, costing millions of lives and reshaping American politics, culture and public trust in institutions. The consequences were especially devastating for young Black men, who were recruited and drafted at disproportionate rates and, in many cases, returned home carrying trauma, addiction and lifelong hardship. It remains one of history’s clearest reminders that misinformation, when left unchallenged, can alter the course of a nation and define generations.
For me, that lesson reinforces the purpose and responsibility of a free and accurate press. Truth and trust are not only journalistic values. They are civic obligations that uphold our democracy and protect our shared future.
Wisconsin Watch takes that responsibility seriously. Our mission is to provide clear, factual and accessible information that helps people navigate their lives and strengthen their communities. Veterans and their families are one of many groups whose needs have informed our journalism. Earlier this year, our newsroom looked at how federal workforce and funding cuts could affect veterans here in Wisconsin, how homeless veterans would be affected by the closure of Klein Hall and whether the state Legislature would take steps to help. And yesterday, we published a list of 12 veteran-related bills that are currently in front of Wisconsin lawmakers.
Much like my grandfathers’ service, our work is guided by endurance, care and the belief that truth matters in even the most trying times.
To all who have served and to everyone who stands for accuracy, transparency and fairness, thank you! Your courage and commitment make freedom a reality and a treasured gift for us all.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment says: “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The 14th makes the same declaration and says no state shall “deny to any person … the equal protection of the laws.”
The U.S. Supreme Court hasheld that all people in the U.S. have constitutional protections, though citizens have additional rights.
Due process generally means that the government must give individuals a chance to defend themselves in a fair hearing, such as in court.
Politico reported Oct. 31 that more than 100 federal judges have ruled that the Trump administration’s effort to systematically detain immigrants facing possible deportation appeared to violate their rights or was illegal.
All people also have other constitutional protections, including the right to free speech and assembly and to a public education.
Citizens have additional constitutional protections, such as the right to vote.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Legislation is being introduced that would, for the first time in a decade, increase benefits for the most severely injured workers in Wisconsin.
The bill, if adopted by the Republican-majority Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, would make a number of changes to the state’s worker’s compensation system.
In particular, it would give raises to people declared permanently and totally disabled such as 77-year-old Jimmy Novy and paraplegic Scott Meyer.
They were featured in a September Wisconsin Watch article. It reported that more than 300 PTD recipients haven’t gotten a raise in their worker’s compensation benefits since 2016.
Novy, who lives in southwest Wisconsin, receives a worker’s comp check of $1,575 per month. Had his benefit kept pace with inflation, which rose 34%, he would have received nearly $21,000 more over the past nine years.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin employers have seen their premiums for worker’s compensation insurance decrease 10 years in a row, saving them $206 million in the past year and over $1 billion since 2017.
Unlike most workers injured on the job, who get temporary worker’s compensation benefits before returning to the job, Wisconsin PTD recipients get worker’s comp checks for life. Twenty-three states provide automatic cost-of-living raises for PTD recipients. But Wisconsin PTD recipients get raises only if worker’s comp legislation proposed every two years, known as an “agreed bill,” becomes law.
The new agreed bill was proposed by employers and labor leaders on the state Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council. The Assembly Workforce Development, Labor and Integrated Employment Committee will hold a hearing on the bill Thursday.
The bill would make these changes for PTD recipients:
Make an estimated 210 more PTD recipients eligible for raises, known as supplementary benefits. Currently, only PTD recipients injured before Jan. 1, 2003, are eligible for raises. The bill would change that date to Jan. 1, 2020.
Raise the maximum weekly benefit for PTD recipients by 57%, from $669 to $1,051, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
Give PTD recipients annual raises, with the amounts set shortly before taking effect. The raise amounts would vary based on when the recipients were injured and their earnings at the time.
One example, provided by the state Department of Workforce Development when the agreed bill was proposed: A PTD recipient injured in 1985 and receiving $535 a week would get a 57% increase to $840. The increase would amount to nearly $16,000 per year.
Spokespersons for the Assembly committee chair, Rep. Paul Melotik, R-Grafton, and for Sen. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development, said the lawmakers had not yet reviewed the bill.
Novy, while in his late 20s, learned he had been exposed to manganese, a key component in batteries, from working in a battery manufacturing plant. He suffered neurological problems that affected his left leg, severely limiting his ability to walk or even maintain his balance.
The bill would raise Novy’s monthly worker’s comp check to about $2,450 from $1,575, an annual increase of about $10,000.
“That’s about time,” Novy said Friday about the bill, eager to hear when he might see a raise in his check.
Wisconsin Watch’s Tom Kertscher explains how permanently and totally disabled workers haven’t seen a raise to their worker’s compensation benefits in nine years. (Video by Trisha Young / Wisconsin Watch)
The money for worker’s compensation checks comes from worker’s compensation insurance companies and from employers who are self-insured for worker’s comp. No tax dollars are involved.
Agreement among employer and labor members on the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council on the bill was reached after a “fee schedule” for worker’s compensation medical services was included in the 2025-27 state budget adopted in July.
The schedule limits how much health care providers can charge for worker’s comp care.
Meyer, who lost both legs following a workplace accident in 1993 and now lives in Colorado, said he hopes that for PTD recipients on fixed incomes, the proposed raises make “a meaningful impact on their day-to-day lives.”
Appleton lawyer John Edmondson, who represents worker’s comp recipients, said the raises would be “a very nice step in the right direction, albeit coming far too late for those PTD workers who economically suffered and some who simply died waiting.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
More than 300,000 veterans who served their country call Wisconsin home.
During the 2025-26 legislative session, state lawmakers from both parties have proposed bills that would extend benefits to veterans, support memorials to wars they fought in and fund programs that help veterans who struggle with housing, mental health and substance abuse following their service.
Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed an additional $1.9 million for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to fund increasing costs of operating veterans homes. But the Republican budget-writing committee later removed those dollars. GOP lawmakers have argued the WDVA already has funding to cover the costs of the veterans homes in a general appropriation that annually has been underspent, but the department has said the removal of veterans home funding from the budget casts doubt on the legality of using those funds.
Several proposals to fund the veterans homes have been introduced at the Capitol this year, but a solution has not yet made its way to Evers’ desk.
Here are notable bills on veterans issues moving through the legislative process. More legislation could be introduced as the current session continues.
Homeless veterans funding
Senate Bill 411/Assembly Bill 428
Lead authors: Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken/Rep. Benjamin Franklin, R-De Pere
Summary:The bills would provide $1.95 million over the biennium to support the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program operated by the WDVA. It also requires the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to fund the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project and reduces the disability rating threshold for veterans or their surviving spouses to claim property tax credits.
Status: Senate Bill 411 passed the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs in October. Assembly Bill 428 was introduced in September but has not received a hearing.
Assembly Bill 596/Assembly Bill 597
Lead author: Franklin
Summary:Assembly Bill 597 would create a state-administered grant program to provide grants to organizations that house homeless veterans through the veterans trust fund. Assembly Bill 596 would provide $1.9 million over the biennium for up to $25 per day for homeless veterans housing organizations. The state funding would complement a federal Veterans Affairs grant program that awards up to $82.73 per day.
Of note: Joey Hoey, the assistant deputy secretary for the WDVA, testified before lawmakers that while the agency supports funding for homeless veterans, the bills would not allow the WDVA to reopen the veterans homes in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls that closed in September.
Status: The bills received public hearings in the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs in October.
Senate Bill 385/Assembly Bill 383
Lead authors: Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick/Rep. Jodi Emerson, D-Eau Claire
Summary:The bills would provide $1.9 million over the next biennium to cover the increased costs of operating the Veterans Housing and Recovering facilities in Union Grove, Green Bay and Chippewa Falls. They also would help fund the lease of a new facility in Chippewa Falls.
Of note: The bills are the only proposals that provide the funding WDVA says it needs to fund the veterans homes without additional provisions in the legislation.
Status: The bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Substance abuse and recovery support
Senate Bill 396/Assembly Bill 404
Lead authors: Sen. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton/Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa
Summary:The bills would provide an additional $512,900 in the 2025-26 fiscal year and $602,800 during the 2026-27 fiscal year for the WDVA’s Veterans Outreach and Recovery Program, which provides support to veterans with mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders. It also increases the number of full-time positions for the program by seven employees.
Of note: A fiscal estimate states that the seven full-time positions were previously funded through American Rescue Plan dollars, but funding expired in July.
Status: Both bills were introduced this session and referred to legislative committees.
Housing and property taxes
Senate Bill 175/Assembly Bill 247
Lead authors: Jacque/Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston
Summary: The bills would require local governments to reduce building permit fees by 75% or $500 if the permit is for improvements to the home of a disabled veteran and are necessary to accommodate their disability.
Of note: Paul Fisk, the legislative chair of the American Legion Department of Wisconsin, testified in support of the bill in April but noted Wisconsin’s proposal would be more restrictive than an Illinois proposal that became law in January. The Illinois law entirely waives permit fees for disabled veterans.
Status: The Senate version of the bill passed the Committee on Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs in May. The Assembly bill was introduced and referred to a legislative committee.
Senate Bill 261/Assembly Bill 264
Lead authors: Smith/Rep. Christian Phelps, D-Eau Claire
Summary:The bills would allow a person to claim both the farmland preservation tax credit and the property tax credit for veterans and their surviving spouses in the same tax year.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill indicates allowing Wisconsinites to claim both credits would reduce tax revenues by about $160,000 per year starting in the 2026 fiscal year.
Status: Both bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Education
Senate Bill 587/Assembly Bill 591
Lead authors: Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim, D-Appleton/Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse
Summary:The bills would remove the funding cap for the Wisconsin GI Bill, which provides full tuition and fee remission to eligible veterans and their dependents at UW system schools and technical college districts.
Of note: In an October press release, Dassler-Alfheim said Wisconsin only covered 15% of the total costs for individuals attending a tech school and less for those attending a public university.
Status: Both bills were introduced in October and referred to legislative committees.
Senate Bill 59/Assembly Bill 47
Lead authors: Jacque/Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Hortonville
Summary: The bills eliminate five-year residency restrictions in current law that specify when a veteran or surviving spouse or child can be eligible for tuition and fee remission for UW system schools and technical colleges. Under the bills, people can get tuition and fees waived as long as they indicate they are Wisconsin residents immediately before registering at a school.
Of note: Representatives of the UW system and Wisconsin technical colleges testified that legislative appropriations are not covering the rising costs of remissions at their institutions.
Status: The Senate version of the bill passed the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges in October. The Assembly bill was introduced and referred to a legislative committee in February.
Memorials
Senate Bill 254/Assembly Bill 250
Lead authors: Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto/Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc
Summary:The bills would create a continuing appropriation at a total of $9 million within the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs designated to support the preservation of the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.
Of note: Annual maintenance costs for inside the 67-year-old memorial exceed $800,000, members of the war memorial’s board of trustees wrote to lawmakers in April.
Status: The Assembly bill unanimously passed the Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs in June but hasn’t been scheduled for an Assembly vote. The Senate bill was introduced in May and referred to a legislative committee.
More veterans benefits
Senate Bill 2/Assembly Bill 27
Lead authors: Jacque/Murphy
Summary:The bills would expand the definition of veterans in Wisconsin to include people who served in Special Guerrilla Units operating in Laos during the Vietnam War and were naturalized under the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000. It would not include admission to state veterans homes or burial in a veterans cemetery. Those are subject to federal laws.
Of note: In January testimony, Jacque said that there are as many as 1,000 Hmong veterans in Wisconsin.
Status: The Senate bill passed the chamber in May. The Assembly bill passed the Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs but has not been scheduled for a floor vote.
Senate Bill 387/Assembly Bill 389
Lead authors: Jacque/Franklin
Summary: The bills would change the definition of veteran to allow former members of the U.S. Army reserves or the National Guard to indicate their veteran status on their driver’s license or identification card. Current law does not allow veterans of the reserves or the National Guard to include that status on licenses.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill from the WDVA states that license applicants who want their veteran status on their identification must provide verification of their eligibility to the agency or a county veterans service officer. The agency processes 6,000 to 7,000 veteran status forms each year.
Status: Both bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Senate Bill 505
Lead author: Smith
Summary: The bill would allow disabled veterans with an up-to-date deer hunting license to hunt deer of either sex during any open firearm season, which is currently only available to active members of the U.S. military who are on furlough or leave in Wisconsin.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill suggests about 5,947 gun deer licenses sold by the Department of Natural Resources in the 2025 fiscal year were purchased by disabled veterans.
Status: The bill was introduced in October and referred to a legislative committee.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
As appropriations for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s funding remain uncertain because of the government shutdown, Native American tribes across the U.S. have been forced to step in with emergency funds to support families who rely on the federal aid.
It’s a demographic that relies heavily on SNAP, which provides food assistance for approximately 42 million Americans.According to the Economic Policy Institute, 23% of American Indian and Alaska Native households used SNAP benefits in 2023 — nearly double the national average.
And tribal advocates and representatives have warned lawmakers of the risk the government shutdown poses to their communities, including the lapses in funding to SNAP, Head Start and WIC, the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
“Most tribes are taking care of their tribal members. It’s just that they’re taking on a lot of expense at this point,” Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin told NOTUS.
In Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation officials announced on Monday they would use $6.5 million to provide direct checks to citizens on the reservation or in nearby counties. Another $1.25 million will fund nonprofit food programs and local food banks to help support the Cherokee Nation, which is the largest tribe in the country.
In other states, the percentage of people affected by SNAP cuts also disproportionately hits tribal nations. Wisconsin, for example, has 11 federally recognized tribes, and the Menominee tribe is its largest with approximately 8,700 members, according to Wisconsin First Nations. Wisconsin Watch reported that in Menominee County, which is 80% populated by the Menominee Tribe, 46% of residents receive SNAP benefits. Officials for the tribe did not respond to an inquiry from NOTUS.
When asked if he’d been speaking with tribal nations in his state about how they are affected by SNAP cuts, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said, “Well they would be affected like everyone else.”
“I’m opposed to this government shutdown,” Johnson said. “The simple solution is: Vote for the House CR,” referring to the continuing resolution that would end the government shutdown.
Sen. Mike Rounds told NOTUS he has been in contact with the tribal nations in South Dakota.
“The vast majority of the members on most of my reservations, one of their primary sources of money for food is SNAP,” Rounds said. “Our Democrat colleagues, I think, are starting to understand it. But they are wedging because they want something that we can’t deliver, which is an outcome on their proposal to simply continue on with a failed plan on Obamacare.”
A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump on Thursday to issue full SNAP benefits within a day, a decision that comes after a long back and forth over the use of USDA contingency funds. On Friday, the administration filed an appeal to stop that order.
But even ahead of the shutdown, SNAP was already facing cuts. Trump’s reconciliation bill slashed $186 million in SNAP funding through 2034, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The bill, which was signed into law in July, included a $500 million cut in funding to the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program, which allowed states and tribes to procure fresh, locally sourced food.
“I’ve been speaking to tribal leaders and those that are responsible for food programs within sovereign nations, and there’s concern across the board,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján.
Luján’s state of New Mexico has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans in the country. In his previous attempt to pass legislation that would temporarily fund SNAP, Luján included reimbursing the states and tribes that are currently using emergency funding.
When asked if tribes or states would receive these reimbursements, a spokesperson for the USDA blamed Democrats for the shutdown.
“This compromises not only SNAP, but farm programs, food inspection, animal and plant disease protection, rural development, and protecting federal lands,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Senate Democrats are withholding services to the American people in exchange for healthcare for illegals, gender mutilation, and other unknown ‘leverage’ points.”
Historically, tribal reservations are geographically isolated and more likely to be in a food desert.
The only program that remains somewhat untouched by the government shutdown and the reconciliation bill is the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. FDPIR provides monthly boxes of USDA foods that Natives refer to as “commodities” based on their lower nutritional value. Prior to Nov. 1, when SNAP ran out of federal funding because of the shutdown, some nations suggested their members switch from SNAP to FDPIR because households cannot participate in both programs in the same month.
The consensus among lawmakers, however, is to end the shutdown.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, told NOTUS on Wednesday the effect on Native American communities is simple to describe: “It’s quite bad, disproportionately bad.”
“People deserve to eat,” he added.
NOTUS reporter Manuela Silva contributed to this report.
Milwaukee residents still facing recovery challenges from the August flood have until Wednesday, Nov. 12, to apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration physical disaster loans.
To begin the process, you must apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov or call 800-621-3362.
Ald. DiAndre Jackson sent an email on Thursday informing residents that they need to apply for FEMA assistance separately even if damage was previously reported to 211, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District or a damage assessment team in late August. Disaster Survivor Assistance teams will also be present at pop-up locations in Milwaukee’s affected communities to help survivors with the FEMA process and provide updates.
Residents can visit any location, and no appointments are required. Click here to view the Milwaukee County Disaster Survivor Assistance location calendar.
Submitting documentation to FEMA
While applying, you must provide the following:
Contact information
Social Security number
A general list of damage and losses
Annual household income
Insurance information
Bank account information for direct deposit
Your address at the time of disaster and where you’re currently residing.
Important reminders
Before applying for FEMA, you must file an insurance claim.
According to the Milwaukee County executive, FEMA will not pay for things that your insurance already covers. However, if your insurance doesn’t cover all your essential needs or is delayed, you can ask FEMA for extra help.
The City of Milwaukee Office of Emergency Management also reminds residents that FEMA provides funds for mold removal as part of disaster aid.
Through FEMA’s Clean and Sanitize program, residents can make a one-time payment of $300 for mold removal, too.
Mold will keep growing until steps are taken to eliminate the source of moisture.
Click here for more information and guides to mold remediation.
Applying for the Small Business Administration loans
Homeowners can get up to $500,000 to fix or rebuild their primary home, and renters can borrow up to $100,000 to repair or replace personal property.
This loan is not for second homes or vacation houses, but if you are a rental property owner you may qualify.
Businesses and nonprofits can apply for a physical disaster loan to borrow up to $2 million for repairs to property or real estate. The deadline to apply is also Nov. 12.
For help on the application process, you can walk in or schedule an appointment at the Business Recovery Center-Summit Place, 6737 W. Washington St., Milwaukee.
Hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Gov. Tony Evers said Wisconsin is restoring benefits for nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites who receive federal food aid.
The move means the Wisconsinites who rely on food assistance “will not have to wake up tomorrow worried about when or whether they are going to eat next,” Evers said in a Thursday evening statement.
Evers’ announcement came hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin.
The federal government had halted November payments for the program amid the government shutdown. More recently, the administration opted to make partial payments under previous court orders last week. A Wednesday statement from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the partial payments could add delays because states had to calculate what reduced payments would look like for individuals and get that information to a vendor that distributes the funds.
On Friday morning, the Trump administration filed a motion with a federal appeals court asking for an emergency stay of the Thursday night court order.
Evers’ statement said the state Department of Health Services anticipates benefits would be available Friday morning to FoodShare recipients.
“My administration worked quickly to ensure these benefits could be released as soon as possible so that our kids, families, and seniors have access to basic food and groceries without one more day of delay,” Evers said in a statement. “But let’s be clear — it never should’ve come to this.”
Evers, a Democrat, said the Republican Trump administration should have “listened to (Evers) and so many who urged them to use all legal funds and levers to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to food and groceries.”
Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback told WPR that the state is working to access “readily available federal funding, pursuant to the court’s order.” She said, as of Thursday night, the administration had submitted the necessary information to ensure residents can get their FoodShare benefits “as early as after midnight.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement last month that benefits would be paused was a break from past precedent for the USDA, which had used emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits in previous government shutdowns. Wisconsin was part of a multistate lawsuit seeking to compel the USDA to continue funding the program.
The lapse in benefits put pressure on Wisconsin recipients of the benefit, as well as food pantries and other service providers. On Thursday prior to the judge’s ruling and Evers’ announcement, the Milwaukee County Board approved $150,000 in assistance for the 234,000 people in that county who receive the benefits.
On Nov. 1, Evers declared a state of emergency and a period of “abnormal economic disruption” in response to the ongoing shutdown and potential lapse in federal food assistance. The executive order directed state agencies to take all necessary measures to prepare for a potential delay in FoodShare payments. It also directed the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to enforce prohibitions against price gouging.
Senate Republicans and Democrats have been deadlocked over a short-term federal funding bill since Oct. 1. Democrats, like U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, are demanding the bill include an extension of COVID-19 era Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits. Without them, Democrats and Evers estimate ACA insurance premiums would spike significantly. Republicans in the Senate are demanding that Democrats vote on a “clean” funding bill.
On Wednesday, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johson called on his GOP colleagues to kill the Senate’s fillibuster rule, which requires 60 votes in order to pass certain legislation. With a 53-seat majority, Republicans can’t pass their funding bill without Democratic support. Johnson’s comments represent a flip from 2022 when he accused Democrats trying to kill the filibuster of wanting “absolute power.”
Login
