Interstate truckers in the U.S. are required to read and speak English under guidance by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (MCSAP).
The federal register states that interstate drivers must read and speak enough English that they can “sufficiently converse with the general public” and respond to official inquiries. English-speaking regulations for drivers first came into effect in 1937 under the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 2016 the Obama administration relaxed enforcement, but in April the Trump administration rescinded that directive.
Enforcement of the rules vary from state to state. The U.S. Department of Transportation claimed in a press release that California, Washington and New Mexico have failed to enforce English requirements for commercial drivers.
On Aug. 26, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the federal government would withhold all MCSAP funding for these states unless they “adopt and enforce” English requirements within 30 days.
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This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.
The federal government’s demands that states turn over their voter rolls and related information highlights long-standing conflicts over how to ensure that only eligible voters are registered without endangering voting rights.
The U.S. Justice Department has sent letters to several states — and plans to send many more — asking them for copies of their voter lists and for detailed information about how they maintain them. The department has said it’s seeking to enforce requirements in federal law that President Donald Trump has ordered it to prioritize.
It has already sued North Carolina, alleging that the state has not been properly verifying voter identity, and sued Orange County, California, for refusing to provide full records for 17 people who have been removed from the rolls in connection with a probe of potential noncitizen voting. And it has threatened to sue or withhold federal funding from other states if they do not comply with their requests for information.
Everyone agrees that a “clean” voter list — cleared of people who have died or moved out of the jurisdiction, or who otherwise aren’t eligible to vote — is good practice. But they differ on how aggressively election officials should move to remove potentially ineligible voters, what exactly federal law requires election officials to do, and how to balance election security with the risk of wrongly removing and disenfranchising eligible voters.
Rhetoric and false claims can make the debate harder to follow. Here’s a guide to understanding the issues and arguments.
What does the law require?
There are two key federal laws that govern the maintenance of voter rolls.
The National Voter Registration Act requires election officials to make a “reasonable effort” to remove voters who become ineligible to vote because they move or die, a process known as list maintenance. The Help America Vote Act, enacted about a decade later, requires states to use a computerized statewide list of every registered voter and assign them a unique identification number. It also requires them to remove duplicated names.
Beyond that, it’s up to state and local governments to set their own policies for how and when to perform list maintenance, and it’s up to federal courts to decide what is “reasonable.” That term isn’t defined in the law, and it’s often where voting rights groups and advocates for stricter list maintenance disagree.
In a recent case in Michigan, for example, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the state’s actions to remove the names of thousands of dead voters from the rolls were sufficient, even though the plaintiff, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, claimed to have identified thousands more on the rolls.
Logan Churchwell, research director at the foundation, said in an interview that the court’s decision amounted to giving Michigan an “E for effort.” He said his organization believes there should be a higher standard that would reduce the risk of fraud and administrative error.
For her part, Lata Nott, director of voting rights policy for Campaign Legal Center, said the National Voter Registration Act’s requirement for a “reasonable effort” at maintaining lists is designed to set a floor, but it doesn’t prevent states from creating extreme policies that lead to eligible voters being mistakenly removed.
What is the central issue in the debate?
The main disagreement is over how aggressive list maintenance should be. A recent congressional hearing highlighted the differences between Democrats and Republicans on this question.
House Republicans claimed dirty voter rolls enable fraud and said ensuring that only eligible voters are on the list increases election security and voter confidence. They dismissed the idea that their efforts are meant to purge certain types of eligible voters from the rolls, such as people of color.
“This is not and should never be a partisan issue,” said Rep. Laurel Lee, a Florida Republican and former secretary of state. “Maintaining accurate voter rolls is fundamental to election security and public trust.”
House Democrats made it clear that they, too, don’t want ineligible voters, such as dead people or noncitizens, on the list. But they questioned why Republicans would want to take any actions that could potentially disenfranchise eligible people, citing recentincidents of state list maintenance actions that led to eligible voters being removed.
“What we do want is every eligible voter gets the chance to vote and their constitutional rights are not infringed upon,” said Rep. Julie Johnson, a Texas Democrat. “And that seems to be a huge distinction.”
Why is it hard to keep voter rolls updated?
It is difficult partly because of the decentralized nature of voting.
The U.S. doesn’t have a national database of eligible voters or citizens. Under federal law, states maintain their own lists. They assign voters the ID number that’s required under the Help America Vote Act, but that number doesn’t have to be connected to any existing federal identification, such as a Social Security number.
To remove voters who were eligible, but aren’t anymore, election officials must have ways to find out when a voter dies, moves to another state, is convicted of a felony, or otherwise becomes ineligible to cast a ballot.
Many election officials get data on address changes from their state’s motor vehicle department and the U.S. Postal Service and get death reports from state and federal agencies. Some states allow or mandate the use of other sources, such as obituaries and responses to jury duty summonses.
But there are potential gaps and time lags in these systems. When people move, for example, they don’t often tell the election office for their old address to remove them from the rolls.
It’s fairly easy for officials to track in-state moves because people carry the same state-assigned voter ID number when they go to register in a new location in the state. But it’s harder for officials to find out when someone moves out of state. That requires coordination between states, or more detailed searches through government records.
Many states are members of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, a consortium that collects state voter roll data and alerts its members to potentially duplicate registrations across state lines. But two of the largest states, California and New York, are not members. And several Republican states have withdrawn from ERIC in recent years, citing concernsabout the program, including about how the organization shares some of its data with researchers.
Do some states have more registered voters than residents?
Statistics like this are often used to back up claims of voter fraud or poor state practices. But there’s a legitimate explanation for this that’s tied to federal and state laws.
In some instances, state laws allow election officials to remove voters from the rolls quickly, such as when they die, or if they respond to a jury duty summons by saying they are not a U.S. citizen.
But when a state finds out a voter may have moved, federal law requires election officials to send a confirmation mailing before removing that person from the rolls. If the voter doesn’t respond, they remain on the roll of registered voters, but are moved to the “inactive” list, and their names must stay there for two federal election cycles before they are removed, unless the state hears from them.
That four-year wait, and a large number of voters on the inactive list, can make the voter roll appear bloated at any given time.
But another reason for the disparity is that population estimates themselves are imprecise, said Chris Fowler, a professor of geography and demography at Penn State University who studies voter rolls and census data.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey is currently our best measure of population changes from year to year, Fowler said. But the uncertainty in the national population count is about 10 million residents, he said — roughly equal to the population of Michigan.
Some use the disparities between the numbers to cast doubt on the accuracy of elections and raise alarm about voter fraud, such as Elon Musk with his misleading claim that Michigan had “more registered voters than eligible citizens.” His numbers included inactive voters as if they were eligible voters. But before those voters could cast a ballot, they would have to correct their voting record to prove eligibility, most commonly by showing documentation proving they still live in the jurisdiction.
How ‘dirty’ are the voter rolls?
Some of the most cited data available on this comes from more than a decade ago and has helped inspire efforts at improvement since then. But those efforts have run into challenges.
In 2012, a research study by the Pew Center on the States found that more than 2.75 million people were registered to vote in more than one state, and there were more than 1.8 million dead people whose names were still on the voter rolls. These and other findings “underscore the need for states to improve accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency,” Pew said.
There have been multiple attempts to create systems allowing states to share data to help with voter list maintenance. That’s a difficult task because any such effort must comply with state and federal laws governing data use and privacy. Officials must also cross-check data from various sources, using enough different data points to ensure that the matches are accurate and that a person with the same name as another isn’t mistakenly removed as a duplicate.
One prior program, the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, was ultimately shut down under a court settlement because it did not do enough to protect sensitive voter data. It was also found to be highly inaccurate, often incorrectly identifying registrations as duplicates because of poor matching techniques.
After Pew’s study, the nonprofit provided funding to help launch ERIC, to try to screen out duplicate voter registrations across state lines. Since then, ERIC has helped states identify hundreds of thousands of voters each year who have moved across state lines, and tens of thousands of voters who died. But in part because some Republican states have left the program, only half of states now participate, leaving a lot of gaps.
Some states use more data sources and perform checks more frequently than others. In the latest federal survey of election officials, for example, about 30% of states said they do not use National Change of Address reports from the U.S. Postal Service or data from motor vehicle agencies to identify potentially ineligible voters.
Do poorly maintained voter rolls allow for more fraud?
Generally speaking, removing voters who have moved prevents them from wrongly voting in their old voting jurisdiction, and removing a voter who has died prevents another person from fraudulently casting a ballot in their name.
That said, prosecutions for double voting and voting for others are rare, and Votebeat could not find any studies showing that states that do a better job of cleaning voter rolls have less voter fraud.
The Heritage Foundation’s database of voter fraud across all states since 1982 includes 174 convictions for duplicate voting, 99 cases of noncitizen voting, and two cases of someone voting under a dead person’s name.
But Churchwell, of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said the number of prosecutions does not properly measure how much fraud occurs. Rather, he said, it indicates the state’s propensity to prosecute. “I doubt you’ll find research showing where a state is simultaneously terrible at list maintenance yet zealous with prosecutions,” he said.
Are there noncitizens on the voter rolls?
Yes, but states that have looked have not found them in large numbers.
Audits in multiple states have found small numbers of noncitizens on the rolls, few of whom had actually cast ballots, and there are no known instances of noncitizens voting in large enough numbers to influence the outcome of an election.
The threat of noncitizen voting has become a prominent talking point for Republicans, driving their efforts to pass proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters. But even in Republican-led states, officials who have recently tried to find noncitizens on the rolls have reported only small numbers.
In an audit last year, for example, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office found 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million registered voters. Nine of them had voted in prior elections, the office found. In Ohio, only one of the 641 cases of noncitizen voting that Secretary of State Frank LaRose referred for prosecution resulted in a voter fraud charge.
In Texas, which has more than 18.6 million registered voters, the Secretary of State’s Office identified 581 noncitizens from 2021 to August of 2024. The state referred 33 potential noncitizens who voted in the 2024 election to the attorney general for investigation. The state also is investigating potential cases from the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.
In Arizona, which requires proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections, Jesse Richman, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, identified at least 2,331 registered voters who he believes are highly likely to be noncitizens. He studied the state’s voter rolls as an expert defense witness for a case challenging the state’s proof of citizenship laws. Richman said those people could have become naturalized citizens since last updating their license, but the ID they used when registering to vote or updating their registration was a noncitizen ID.
On Aug. 28, the U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment of a Canadian citizen charged with registering to vote and voting in federal elections in North Carolina in 2022 and 2024.
Are there dead people on the voter rolls?
Yes, there are voters who have died but whose names are still on the rolls.
But claims about the number of such voters often turn out to be inaccurate.
In 2012, for example, South Carolina’s State Election Commission reviewed 207 cases that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles had referred to as potential cases of ballots being cast in the names of dead voters. Of those, the commission was able to conclude that 197 did not involve dead voters — instead, they were either clerical errors or identified through bad matches. There wasn’t enough information on the remaining 10 cases to make any determination.
States that are members of ERIC receive reports about voters who may have died while out of state, and the service has identified about 644,000 voters who died over the last 13 years and whose names needed to be removed from the list. But some state laws may limit how states use that information.
Pennsylvania, for example, is an ERIC member, but state law allows officials to remove the names of dead voters only if they learn of it through the state’s health agency or an obituary. Election officials in the state, including Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, have advocated for that to change.
Can list maintenance measures lead to eligible voters being purged?
Yes. In Texas, some of the people removed from the rolls last year were eligible citizens who did not respond to a mailed notice seeking more information about their status, an investigation by Votebeat, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica found.
And that’s the concern that voting rights advocates have about states that take aggressive steps to clean their lists, especially close to an election. Two of the most recent cases were in Alabama and Virginia, just before the November 2024 election.
This is why federal law has safeguards on when states can remove potentially ineligible voters, such as the rule that election officials cannot conduct systematic voter removals within 90 days of an election, Nott with Campaign Legal Center said.
“The more aggressive your list maintenance laws are,” she said, “the more likely you are probably going to be purging people who are eligible to vote.”
Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org.
Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat‘s newsletters here.
This story is from Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here.
In south-central Wisconsin, near-record warmth in January and two record-breaking summer heat waves have cross-country skiers nervous they won’t be getting much snow this winter — again.
And it’s not just skiers in Wisconsin who are worried. New research shows heat waves are prompting a growing number of Americans to make the connection between hotter weather and climate change.
Ski seasons in the United States have shrunk by an average of 5.5 to 7.1 days between 2000 and 2019 compared to the 1960s and ’70s, according to a 2024 study by researchers from Canada and Austria. And in the coming 25 years, ski seasons could be even shorter — by between two weeks and three months — depending on how much the world reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers said.
Tamara Bryant, executive director of a cross-country ski club in Madison, Wisconsin, has seen this dynamic firsthand — both in her professional and personal lives.
“I remember the winters where my son could build snow forts in the front yard, year after year, and we’re just not getting the same (amount of snow),” she said. “Having a white Christmas is not something we can totally rely on.”
Madison’s chain of lakes also aren’t freezing like they used to, creating hazards for people who fish on the ice.
Hilary Dugan, associate professor in the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says back in the 1800s, lakes would remain frozen approximately 130 days a year, but now, on average, it’s about 75 days. Here, a young ice fisherman shows off his catch on Lake Monona in Madison in 2024. (Sharon Vanorny / Courtesy of Destination Madison)
Hilary Dugan, associate professor in the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says back in the 1800s, lakes would remain frozen approximately 130 days a year, but now, on average, it’s maybe 75 days a year.
“That’s something that people around here notice because winter is a big part of life,” Dugan said. “Traditionally, winter would start in December (and) it would end probably like April. That meant that you could consistently go out and ice fish, cross-country ski, you know, winter recreation.
“We’re talking months of change — not just a couple of days.”
Heat curbs desert hiking
More than 1,700 miles away in Phoenix, dangerous heat has prompted officials to close the city’s extensive system of mountain trails. But that hasn’t stopped some from hiking in 100-degree-plus weather, leading to emergency rescues and the death of a 10-year-old last year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found 2024 was the hottest year in its 130-year climate record. NOAA reported the average annual temperature across the contiguous United States in 2024 was 55.5 degrees — or 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average — heat that it said fueled a near-record number of tornadoes.
Hotter summers and warmer winters are not only disrupting outdoor activities. The record-breaking heat has also been driving national concern about climate change — more so even than dramatic events such as wildfires and hurricanes, according to new research.
Yale’s latest Climate Opinion Maps found that 65% of U.S. adults somewhat or strongly agree that global warming is affecting weather patterns, while 72% of adults nationally think global warming is real.
Its recent study showed that people’s interest in learning more about climate change consistently spikes during weather events like heat waves. And the public’s interest in climate change increases in specific areas experiencing extreme weather events, researchers found.
The Phoenix Mountains Preserve is criss-crossed with trails. But extreme heat caused by climate change is making hiking them much more dangerous. (Andy Hall / Floodlight)
“Certain weather events — like heat waves — seem to produce consistent jumps in climate change interest across all regions simultaneously,” the researchers wrote, “while others — like wildfires — show more geographic variation.”
The study involved research through Yale’s partnership with Google. The team analyzed online search trends across the country, finding that searches on climate change followed “consistent and predictable patterns.”
Heat waves in 2023 sparked consistent interest in climate change, the study found, while Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 garnered an increase in searches only in the places affected by those storms. Similarly, interest in climate change increased during bouts of wildfires in the United States and Canada, but only in the areas most directly affected by the smoke, the study found.
The authors suggest the findings can be used by officials to help people prepare for extreme weather. And, the authors note, “this timing could help the public better understand the need to transition to renewable energy sources, reduce fossil fuels, update risk assessments, increase planning, and strengthen building codes.”
Heat not just inconvenient — it’s deadly
Climate Central’s analysis of heat streaks between 1970 and 2024 found that their frequency has at least doubled in nearly 200 cities across the Southwest, Northeast, Ohio River Valley and southeastern parts of the country — and those heat waves were attributed to greenhouse gas emissions.
The data, released in July by the nonprofit group of scientists and climate researchers, also found heat waves are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. In 2023, the group reported that 2,325 people in the United States died from extreme heat — a record high.
This heat, Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Rob McDade said, “It’s very dangerous.” In July 2024, a 10-year-old boy died from heat-related injuries while hiking South Mountain Park and Preserve with his family.
In 2021, Phoenix adopted a safety program to restrict access on parts of the city’s 200-plus miles of trails during extreme heat — especially on rugged stretches where it’s more difficult for the fire department to rescue hikers.
“We have more people hiking than ever, and we are seeing rescues that have to happen that definitely are related to the heat,” said Jarod Rogers, deputy director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Last year, between May 1 and Oct. 13, the city had 45 days of trail closures due to extreme heat. Since adopting the safety program, there have been fewer rescues — from 57 in 2021 down to 35 in 2024.
“The proof is in the pudding,” McDade said. “Setting up these restrictions is dramatically cutting back those extreme (heat) day mountain rescues.”
Warm weather hits winter sports
Rising temperatures are causing a different kind of risk in northern regions. Last winter, Dugan said she repeatedly heard about people being rescued after falling through melting lake ice.
“It felt higher than normal,” she said. “People are willing to go out on the thinnest ice to go get some fish. It’s definitely a passion for people here.”
Skiers are also feeling the burn from a warmer climate. Bryant, executive director for the MadNorSki Club (Madison Nordic Ski), said there has been little snow in recent years, shortening the cross-country skiing season.
Annual snowfall in Madison has decreased over the past three winters from 70 accumulated inches in 2022 to 43 inches in 2023 and 22 inches in 2024.
Bryant said popular ski races have had to cancel because of the lack of snowfall. Some event organizers have resorted to using artificially made snow.
The annual American Birkebeiner ski race in Cable, Wis., has had to adjust to less snow and warmer temperatures in recent years. In 2024, organizers used snowmaking machines to create a 10-kilometer loop instead of the normally linear 50- or 53-kilometer course. (Courtesy of American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation)
In 2017, organizers of the American Birkebeiner race (“Birkie”), which draws more than 10,000 nordic skiers to northern Wisconsin each year, canceled its cross-country ski races due to lack of snow.
In 2024, another low-snow year, Birkie organizers used snowmaking machines to create a 10-kilometer ski loop instead of the normally linear 50- or 53-kilometer course.
“In the photos, you would see this little white ribbon of snow on the trail, and it was brown everywhere else,” Bryant said, calling the recent lack of snow in Wisconsin “freaky.”
Birkie spokesman Shawn Connelly said the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation has kept its ski events running thanks to donor funding to purchase the snow-making equipment. “As long as we have the cold, we’ll have the snow,” Connelly vowed, “and we’ll continue to host North America’s largest annual cross-country ski race.”
Trump seeks to halt U.S. climate push
While the Yale study shows Americans are increasingly concerned about climate change, President Donald Trump’s administration is moving in the opposite direction.
In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which scientifically characterized planet-warming greenhouse gases as a danger to human health and the environment. The ruling was used as the foundation for the federal government’s regulation of emissions from vehicles and power plants for the last 16 years.
The proposal comes after the Trump administration gutted many of the initiatives of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that aimed to reduce the country’s climate impact over the next two decades.
Environmental advocates have accused the Trump administration of “burying its head in sand” when it comes to the climate crisis.
“Americans are already suffering from stronger hurricanes, more severe heat waves and floods, and more frequent fires,” Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a prepared statement. “(Americans) are watching these climate disasters get worse (and) the danger to their lives and health intensify.”
Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action.
That includes Medicaid (low-income people), Medicare (age 65 and over) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And they aren’t eligible to buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) marketplaces.
Federal Medicaid can reimburse hospitals for providing emergency care to unauthorized immigrants, but that is not coverage for individuals.
Vice President JD Vance said Aug. 28 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, that health care benefits can’t be sustained “if you allow tens of millions of people” into the U.S. without authorization “and give them those benefits.”
White House spokespersons did not return requests for comment.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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In Wisconsin, permanently and totally disabled workers haven’t seen a raise to their worker’s compensation benefits in nine years, despite prices increasing 34% and the Legislature granting companies premium cuts worth more than $1 billion.
There’s a chance the raise will finally happen now that the state budget includes the creation of a worker’s comp fee schedule for medical services, which was a sticking point in past worker’s comp bill negotiations.
The proposed bill would make an estimated 210 more people eligible for raises and increase the maximum weekly benefit to $1,051 from $669 effective Jan. 1, 2026. It still must pass the Legislature and be signed by the governor.
Jimmy Novy grew up on a farm with corn, cattle and chickens in Wisconsin’s smallest municipality. Yuba, in the Driftless Area northwest of Madison, covers a third of a square mile. Novy correctly quotes its population in the last census: 53.
In 1967, at age 19, married with a child, Novy got a job at the Rayovac plant in nearby Wonewoc. It made batteries used in walkie-talkies in the Vietnam War.
In his late 20s, Novy learned he had been exposed to manganese, a key component in batteries. He suffered neurological problems that affected his left leg, severely limiting his ability to walk or even maintain his balance.
“The nerves from the brain to my leg, they can’t do nothing about that,” he said.
With four children to raise, Novy turned to Wisconsin’s first-in-the-nation worker’s compensation system. After three years of legal back-and-forth, the state agreed that Novy was permanently and totally disabled (PTD), meaning he was among the worst-off of Wisconsin workers injured on the job. As a result, he qualified for worker’s comp checks for life.
But there was no guarantee of how often those checks would increase.
Jimmy Novy suffered neurological problems in his late 20s after a decade handling toxic chemicals at a Rayovac plant in Wonewoc, Wis. (Courtesy of Jimmy Novy)
A now-abandoned factory once housed Rayovac Corp., a battery company at which Jimmy Novy suffered a workplace injury in his late 20s. The site is seen July 29, 2025, in Wonewoc, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Now 77, widowed, remarried and using hearing aids and a cane, Novy hasn’t seen an increase in his $1,575 monthly worker’s compensation check — nor have the other more than 300 other PTD recipients — since 2016.
“I can’t make it,” Novy told Wisconsin Watch in mid-July. “I got $8 left in my checkbook right now to last me through the last week of the month.”
“The wife buys food and stuff, otherwise I’d be starving to death,” he added.
Had Novy’s worker’s comp payment kept pace with inflation, which rose 34%, he would have received nearly $21,000 more over the past nine years, according to calculations by University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Menzie Chinn.
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, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, which is part of the state Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council.
Twenty-three states, including Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, provide automatic cost-of-living raises for PTD recipients. In Wisconsin, raises have been provided only when they are included in a wide-ranging worker’s compensation “agreed bill,” proposed every two years, and only if the bill becomes law.
That moment might be at hand.
The advisory council has recommended raises for PTD recipients in the next agreed bill, which is being drafted.
The bill still has to be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Making history, creating PTD raises
In 1911, Wisconsin became the first state to adopt a comprehensive worker’s compensation law that was upheld as constitutional. Before that, the burden was on the worker to prove that a job injury was the employer’s fault. Now it’s a no-fault system. Workers injured on the job can receive regular payments based on their salary, plus coverage of medical bills to treat their injuries.
Wisconsin’s system has received high marks for getting injured workers back on the job quickly and for worker satisfaction in health care for their injuries.
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.
About 21,000 people annually receive Wisconsin worker’s comp checks, the vast majority of them for a temporary period. Only about 500 people receive PTD benefits, and only 300 of them, like Novy, are eligible for raises.
That’s because the 2016 agreed bill limits raises, known as supplementary benefits, only to PTD recipients injured before Jan. 1, 2003.
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. He also talks with Jimmy Novy, 77, who grew up on a farm in Yuba, Wisconsin, and became severely disabled after his job at the local Rayovac company exposed him to manganese. (Video by Trisha Young / Wisconsin Watch)
How PTD raises are decided
The process that determines whether PTD raises are granted is not unlike the bargaining that an employer and a union do to reach a contract. Both sides have priorities, and there is horse trading and eventually compromise, at least on some issues.
The Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council is composed mainly of five representatives from management and five from organized labor, though it also includes nonvoting members representing insurance, health care and the Legislature.
Every odd year, the council develops a bill proposing multiple changes to worker’s comp. The process typically takes months of negotiations, said John Dipko, the council’s non-voting chair and administrator of worker’s compensation for the state Department of Workforce Development.
If approved by the Legislature and the governor, the bill becomes law the next year.
That process has produced 11 PTD raises since 1972. The 2016 raise put the maximum PTD payment at $669 per week.
‘The most severely changed’
Circumstances have left PTD recipient Scott Meyer better off financially than Novy, but delays in raises have forced Meyer to dip into savings and, as his health conditions worsen, worry about the future.
Meyer grew up outside of Milwaukee, playing in the woods and farm fields of rural Washington County. He was a member of the hockey team at West Bend West High School.
In 1993, at age 19, Meyer was working on a loading dock when a co-worker backing a semi-trailer pinned Meyer between the trailer and the dock. Meyer closed his eyes and tried to remain calm, thinking his right leg was broken.
“One of the paramedics in the ambulance thought that I was unconscious and said to the other paramedic that this was going to be his first fatality call,” Meyer recalled. “And I immediately then knew that something more major had happened.”
Scott Meyer in 1992 in his West Bend West High School hockey uniform. (Courtesy of Scott Meyer)
Scott Meyer in 2023 with his dog Luna near their home in Frisco, Colorado. (Courtesy of Lynn Meyer)
Worker’s comp recipient Scott Meyer’s video request to the state for a raise.
Meyer underwent multiple surgeries, spent more than a year in the hospital and dropped to under 100 pounds. He was left a paraplegic.
Though unable to work, Meyer became an Alpine skier in Colorado, where he now lives, competing in the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia.
Meyer, 51, said he receives about $2,300 per month from worker’s compensation – nearly $370 per month less than what he was paid on the job in 1993.
Meyer, who owns a condominium with his wife, a mental health therapist, said he has been able to live comfortably only by preserving savings, including from a one-time payout he received from his former employer for his injury. But with no raises in nine years, he has had to dip into savings to get by.
Earlier this year, both Novy in an email and Meyer in a video asked the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council to recommend raises for PTD recipients.
“These are people whose lives are the most severely changed and are legitimately dependent upon these funds,” Meyer told Wisconsin Watch. “We’re talking about pennies on the dollar to the kind of money that is in the system.”
The process that results in PTD raises involves negotiations on a variety of worker’s compensation issues. That has made the road to another raise rocky in recent years.
Delayed raises and a possible breakthrough
The Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council’s agreed bill for 2018 would have raised the maximum weekly PTD payment to $711 from $669 and made more PTD people eligible for raises. But the bill also proposed a “fee schedule,” generally opposed by health care organizations, to limit how much health care providers can charge for worker’s comp care. The bill did not pass the Legislature.
Since then, the labor side of the advisory council continued to propose PTD raises, while the management side continued to seek a fee schedule. Wisconsin is one of only a handful of states without one. The two sides did not agree to include PTD raises in their 2020, 2022 and 2024 agreed bills.
A key barrier was cleared when a fee schedule for worker’s comp was included in the 2025-27 state budget adopted in July.
Days later, the advisory council proposed raises for current PTD recipients and made more PTD recipients eligible for raises.
Jimmy Novy smokes a Wrangler cigar on his porch July 29, 2025, in Hillsboro, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Under the 2026 agreed bill, the injury date for PTD recipients to be eligible for raises would change from Jan. 1, 2003, to Jan. 1, 2020 — making an estimated 210 more people eligible for raises.
The bill would also raise the maximum weekly benefit for PTD recipients to $1,051 from $669 effective Jan. 1, 2026.
And it would add raises each Jan. 1, though those amounts would not be set until shortly before they become effective.
For individuals, the raise amounts would vary based on when they were injured.
For example, 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.
Once it’s drafted, the new agreed bill would need a final vote from the advisory council, which is expected in September. Then the bill would be submitted to the labor committees of the state Senate and Assembly.
Council management representatives didn’t reply to calls and emails requesting comment. Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale, the lead labor representative, said she understands the frustration over delayed raises. But she said the advisory council system, with management and labor hashing out worker’s compensation issues, provides stability.
Without it, “it would be up to the Legislature, and the whims of the political winds would determine the policy,” she said.
Dipko, the DWD administrator, said the department is sympathetic.
“We agreed that an increase is overdue,” he said.
Jimmy Novy holds out his arm to show his new tattoo on July 29, 2025, in Hillsboro, Wis. He has been collecting worker’s comp checks from the state since his injury in his late 20s. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
An archival photograph of Jimmy Novy, one of 312 permanently and totally disabled individuals in Wisconsin who haven’t seen a raise in their supplemental income since 2016. (Courtesy of Jimmy Novy)
After waiting this long, Novy isn’t sure what to think. He’s happy he and wife share a $125,000 brick house they own “with the bank,” as he puts it, and for his monthly $1,635 Social Security check, which increases each year. But he has filed for bankruptcy three times, most recently in 2020. He feels that at this stage of his life, he should be more secure, and a raise in worker’s comp would help.
“The Legislature should be — forget Republican, Democrat — just vote for what’s good,” he said.
“I can’t see how come they can’t give us a little raise every year,” he added.
How to express your opinion
The Legislature later this year is expected to consider a bill that recommends changes in state law on worker’s compensation, including providing raises to the permanently and totally disabled. Here is contact information for the two labor committees:
The chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development is Sen. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac: Sen.Feyen@legis.wi.gov; 608-266-5300.
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Some of the state’s fastest-growing jobs are in the health care and green energy fields.
Jobs projected to have the most openings tend to have high turnover and pay lower wages, according to state and federal data.
Many jobs that are shrinking the fastest are based on outdated technologies or practices.
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development keeps a list of the “Hot Jobs” statewide – jobs that pay above the median wage, are expected to grow faster than average and have the most projected openings.
When Wisconsin Watch this spring launched a new pathways to success beat focused on jobs and job training, we set out to learn how Wisconsinites are building family-sustaining careers and what’s standing in their way.
Doing that required knowing how the job tides are changing in Wisconsin. What jobs are growing the fastest? Which are shrinking? What will be the most common jobs in the coming years, and what do they pay? The six charts below use state and federal data to answer those questions.
To learn more about any of these jobs, including what the work entails, how much it pays and how to get trained, click on the links in the article or visit a website like careeronestop.org, onetonline.org or skillexplorer.wisconsin.gov.
We’re planning follow-up coverage related to some of the growing fields on these lists. Which job or jobs would you like to learn more about? What questions do you have? Fill out this short Google form to let us know.
Which jobs are growing the fastest in Wisconsin?
Some of Wisconsin’s fastest-growing jobs are jobs in health and green energy fields, as you might expect. That includes the top four:
Six of the jobs that ranked in the top 10 fastest-growing have median salaries of $85,000 or more. Seven of the top 10 typically require a college degree, and four typically require a graduate degree.
Of the jobs that ranked in the top 10, just two (nurse practitioner and data scientist) are projected to add more than 1,000 jobs. Several are projected to add fewer than 200. By comparison, the state’s most common job, home health and personal care aide, is projected to have 14,150 annual openings, in part because of high turnover among those workers.
Three jobs were tied with physician assistants for 10th place. One is rail yard engineers, also known as hostlers or dinkey operators, who inspect train equipment and drive small locomotives to move railcars. The others are aircraft service attendants, who re-fuel planes and service them between flights, and administrative law judges or adjudicators, who rule on government matters. But while all three are projected to grow by 33% in Wisconsin, the number of physician assistants is projected to grow by 970, and the ranks of aircraft service attendants are projected to grow by just 50. Administrative law judges and rail yard engineers are projected to grow by just 10.
One note: These projections may not account for the latest developments in the job landscape, including how artificial intelligence might change the way Americans work, or what kinds of workers are needed. Gov. Tony Evers in 2023 appointed a task force to study how AI might transform Wisconsin’s labor market. The group found that bookkeepers, data entry keyers, credit analysts and insurance claims processors are among those whose work most overlaps with AI capabilities. They note that that doesn’t mean those workers will necessarily be replaced by AI; they could instead end up using AI tools to make their jobs easier or more efficient.
The task force also did the same analysis for the state’s 10 most common jobs. It found all had “middling” levels of AI exposure, suggesting they may not experience as much change with AI as some occupations will.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration has taken steps to reverse renewable energy initiatives, a move that could threaten the projected job growth for wind turbine service technicians. Twice this year the federal government halted construction of offshore wind farms.
Which jobs will have the most openings in Wisconsin?
Some occupations have lots of openings each year not because the industry is growing but because turnover is high. The jobs projected to have the most future openings in Wisconsin also pay some of the lowest wages. The top four have median annual salaries of less than $35,000 a year, and all of the top 10 have salaries under $46,000. None require education beyond a high school diploma, and most don’t require any formal education.
One in 10 Wisconsin workers holds one the top five jobs on this list, all with a 2022 median wage under $46,000. About 215,000 of those people work in jobs with a median wage under $35,000.
Of the 10 most common jobs, two stand out for higher average wages: registered nurse ($86,070) and truck driver ($57,380).
The state’s most common job involves caring for older adults or people with disabilities in their homes, helping with tasks like bathing, medication and grocery shopping. Across the country, demand for these workers is growing as more Americans choose to age in their homes rather than in assisted living or nursing facilities. In Wisconsin, the number of residents over 65 is expected to almost double by 2040, increasing demand. Industry leaders and disability advocacy groups say they already struggle to hire and retain enough workers as wages in other entry-level jobs rise, and they’ve called on the state to raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate, which pays for most of this care. The 2025-27 state budget allocates $19 million to raise that rate, less than half of what Evers requested.
Declining employment
Many of the jobs shrinking the fastest are ones you might expect: those based on outdated technologies or practices. About one in four positions held by telemarketers, switchboard operators, couriers, door-to-door salespeople and street vendors is projected to vanish by 2032.
Of the top 10 fastest-shrinking jobs, nine don’t usually require a college education.
Secretaries and administrative assistants are expected to lose the most jobs (2,420), followed by couriers and messengers (1,990), customer service representatives (1,550) and tellers (1,290).
Nursing assistant ranks are projected to shrink, too (by 720, or 3%), though that field will remain big in Wisconsin, with estimated 26,510 nursing assistant jobs in 2032.
‘Hot Jobs’
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development keeps a list of the “Hot Jobs” statewide and in each of 11 regions. These jobs pay above the median wage for the state or region, are expected to grow faster than average and have the most projected openings. Visit this website to see the data and sort it in various ways.
One major caveat about this data: It compares 2032 to 2022, when COVID-19 was still disrupting the economy, so it favors jobs that have rebounded after shrinking during the pandemic.
For example, registered nurses don’t appear on the “Hot Jobs” list. The job pays well and it’s growing quickly, but few nurses lost their jobs in the pandemic. That means the field isn’t growing as much as those that saw major pandemic layoffs, said DWD Senior Research Analyst Maria del Pilar Casal. She expects registered nurses will make the list next time.
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Northeast Wisconsin’s fastest-growing jobs span a variety of industries, including health care and logistics.
Jobs in the region with the most openings tend to have low barriers to entry and tend to pay relatively low wages.
While the paper industry has a strong foothold in the northeast, paper goods machine operators are expected to lose the most positions.
What are the roughly 450,000 workers in northeast Wisconsin doing for a living? And how will that change in the next decade? We pored over state workforce data to find out.
Below are six charts you can use to make sense of which jobs are growing and shrinking across the region.
Wisconsin Watch also published a version with data that encompasses jobs across the entire state.
This article is solely focused on job trends in northeast Wisconsin. As we continue to build our new northeast Wisconsin bureau, you can expect us to provide more stories tailored to the region.
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development — the state agency from which we sourced this data — defines the “Bay Area” as Brown, Door, Florence, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano and Sheboygan counties.
Home health and personal care aides are the fastest-growing occupation in the region, expected to add nearly 1,200 jobs by 2032. Wisconsin will need more workers to assist older adults as the state’s population continues to age significantly, with the number of residents over the age of 74 expected to increase 41% between 2020 and 2030.
Several of the occupations on this list are already some of the most popular in the region, so the hundreds to thousands of jobs they’re expected to add represent a smaller share of the area’s overall workforce. When looking at growth by percentage, some other occupations are expected to add a smaller number of jobs, but they will constitute a larger share of the workforce.
The occupations expected to grow most percentage-wise include:
Nurse practitioners, projected to grow 62% by adding 450 jobs.
Data scientists, projected to grow 47% by adding 148 jobs.
Physician assistants, projected to grow 41% by adding 128 jobs.
Actuaries, projected to grow 41% by adding 49 jobs.
Information security analysts, projected to grow 41% by adding 115 jobs.
Some occupations have lots of openings each year — not necessarily because the industry is growing but because there are more people leaving their roles.
Many of the jobs projected to have the most future openings have low barriers to entry, meaning they don’t require formal education or certification to obtain. They also pay relatively low wages — for example, topping the list is fast food counter workers, who made an average salary of $27,890 in the region in 2024.
Many of the jobs that have the most openings each year are also the most common jobs for northeast Wisconsinites to hold.
The 10 most common occupations in the region span largely essential jobs, including the workers who treat you at the hospital, those keeping the region’s restaurant industry alive and the people who make sure your packages are safely packed and delivered.
While the paper industry has a strong foothold in the northeast, paper goods machine operators top the list for anticipated job loss. This includes workers who tend paper goods machines that convert, saw, corrugate or seal paper or paperboard sheets into products.
Other industries are expected to lose fewer jobs, but those losses will make a larger dent in the profession. Some of the occupations expected to lose the most percentage-wise are:
Broadcast technicians, expected to lose 35 jobs, a 60% decrease.
Word processors and typists, expected to lose 10 jobs, a 37% decrease.
Nuclear engineers, expected to lose eight jobs, a 23% decrease.
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials, expected to lose 18 jobs for a 20% decrease.
Data entry keyers, expected to lose 72 jobs, a 19% decrease.
Most of these occupations — telemarketers, typists and data entry keyers — are based on outdated technologies or practices, so the fact that they’re shrinking quickly may not be surprising.
Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development keeps a list of the “Hot Jobs” in every region of the state. To be classified as such, the occupation must pay above the state’s median salary, have an above-average growth rate and top the list of projected job openings.
Use the table to explore what education and training northeast Wisconsin’s “Hot Jobs” provide, what they pay and how they’re expected to grow.
Note: This data may be slightly skewed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The department says it accounts for pandemic impacts “as accurately as possible.” Some occupations that regularly have large growth rates didn’t make the cut if they didn’t show a significant decline in 2020 followed by a notable recovery, the department notes.
Is there a job you’re curious about that didn’t make one of our charts? Use this searchable database of hundreds of occupations to see how each is expected to change in the northeast region by 2032.
We’re planning follow-up coverage related to Wisconsin’s fastest-growing fields. Which jobs would you like to learn more about? Fill out this short Google form to let us know.
Peer-reviewed research found links between marijuana use and psychosis – the loss of contact with reality, experienced as delusions or hallucinations.
The consensus is there is a clear association, but more research is needed to determine if there is causation.
That’s according to the Journal of Cannabis Research editor, researchers at the Institute of Cannabis Research and a review of 32 studies that reviewed research.
The institute’s Jeff Smith said most cannabis users don’t develop psychosis.
Research samples:
Lifetime use is associated with increased odds of psychosis, especially among daily or weekly users.
Psychotic disorders are 11times more likely among adolescent users than non-users.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents most of northern Wisconsin, called for more research on the link to inform legalization policy.
Marijuana for recreational use is legal in 24 states. In May, Republicans nixed a Wisconsin legalization proposal.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Dr. David Gorelick, University of Maryland psychiatry professor and Journal of Cannabis Research editor-in-chief: Interview
Institute of Cannabis Research at Colorado State University Pueblo: director and chemistry professor Chad Kinney; and strategic partnership and outreach specialist and biology professor Jeff Smith: Interview
Americans who earn less than $18,000 are estimated to see a slight federal tax cut under President Donald Trump’s big bill, but the net effect of the bill is likely to lead to a loss in household resources.
The average federal tax change from current levels for the bottom 20% of American earners is a reduction of $150 by 2026 and a reduction of $160 by 2030, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. In contrast, the average income earner will receive a $2,860 cut while the top 1% of earners will see a $75,410 cut on average.
Lower income earners already pay little in taxes. Reductions in Medicaid and SNAP benefits are likely to affect lower income earners disproportionately, resulting in a projected net decline of 2.9% in their household resources.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
As homelessness grows across Wisconsin, social service agencies are feeling a crunch. The federal government is slashing funding for tackling the problem, and state lawmakers aren’t helping much either.
Reporters for Wisconsin Watch, the nonprofit news organization for which I work, unpacked those challenges in a mid-July story. They noted the Legislature’s budget writing committee rejected a $24 million proposal by Gov. Tony Evers to boost funding for homelessness support services and shelter operations.
The reason? Committee leaders won’t say.
The 2,358-word story included perspectives of multiple service providers and policy experts, but the lawmakers were conspicuously absent. My colleagues sent multiple requests for comment to four members of the committee, including its two co-chairs. One declined an interview request. The others did not reply.
The silence leaves the public guessing.
Do the lawmakers disagree on the scope of the problem? Do they think money can be better spent on other issues? How much is just politics between a Republican-controlled committee and a Democratic governor?
We don’t know because they won’t tell us.
It’s hard to address homelessness — or any complex challenge — if we don’t even know where leaders stand.
Jim Malewitz
Unfortunately, independent journalists are growing accustomed to being ignored. In a trend spanning multiple levels of government and political parties, public officials are increasingly avoiding answering inconvenient questions about matters of public concern. They’re sending generic statements instead of agreeing to interviews that are more likely to yield clarity. That’s if they respond at all.
It’s happening in Wisconsin and beyond.
“Patterns of media evasion and selective engagement have become the norm for many newsmakers. They may work with media that are friendly to or aligned with the source’s views, resulting in little to no accountability questions or pushback,” states a 2024 Poynter Institute report. “Many sources who once engaged with reporters, even if grudgingly, have become masters of media avoidance.”
Such tactics are less harmful to journalists than they are to constituents. We ask questions on behalf of the public — not to satisfy our own curiosities. Ignoring us is ignoring the public.
Earlier this year, a McFarland man who arrived three years ago from Cuba attended what he thought would be the first hearing in his asylum case — after following steps laid out by the federal government. Instead, a judge dismissed Miguel Jerez Robles’ case and agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him.
“He had everything in order, and he was arbitrarily arrested and placed in expedited removal when he doesn’t qualify to be in expedited removal,” his attorney told the Capital Times and Wisconsin Watch.
The news outlets reached out to ICE for comment. It did not respond. A month after his arrest, the man was released, still with no explanation.
Thankfully, such stonewalling is not universal. Some officials still value transparency, agreeing to interviews that help the public understand their actions. It’s probably not always easy. Engaging with journalists takes time and energy, and requests may flow in with tight deadlines.
But their constituents are better off for it.
While writing this column, I emailed the four lawmakers who did not comment during Wisconsin Watch’s homelessness reporting in July: Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam; Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green; Sen. Romaine Robert Quinn, R-Birchwood; and Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto. I offered a fresh chance to discuss their vote and share their perspectives on receiving media requests.
None of them responded.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a group dedicated to open government. Council member Jim Malewitz is managing editor of Wisconsin Watch.
Sponsored content allows partners to reach our civic-minded readers through clearly labeled and transparently produced stories. The views expressed do not reflect those of Wisconsin Watch or Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, and sponsors do not influence our editorial decisions. Learn more about our mission.
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Paid posts allow organizations to share their perspectives on issues relevant to our audience. These posts are labeled as sponsored, reviewed for clarity and relevance, and published outside of the editorial team’s control. This helps sustain independent journalism while keeping readers informed about community-driven efforts and public interest topics.
Wisconsinites lost $109 million to fraudsters in 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
As our use of technology to manage our money increases, so does the potential for fraud. Financial scams are constantly evolving, so it’s important to stay informed. Here’s how you can avoid becoming a victim.
Imposter scams from an organization
The most common type of fraud, imposter scams have common themes:
Someone calls claiming to be from your financial institution, credit card company, the county sheriff, the IRS, a charity or a similar type of trusted entity.
Using “spoofing” technology, they make it look like the call is coming from a legitimate institution.
The caller tries to convince you to send money as a donation, to cover fraudulent charges on your account or because of a violation or debt you’ve incurred.
They ask you for personal information like verification codes or login credentials.
They create a sense of urgency.
If you receive a phone call like this, especially if it’s unsolicited or unexpected, pause. Do not feel pressured to respond right away.
Hang up and contact the organization the caller says they represent using a verified number from a legitimate website – or send a secure message through the legitimate organization’s app or website. It’s unlikely that government officials and agencies would call you about official business or ask you to wire money or purchase gift cards.
Imposter scams from a loved one
Beware of calls from people attempting to sound like a family member such as a grandchild or relative asking you to wire money or provide credit card numbers to help them get out of trouble.
These calls often occur late at night to confuse the call recipient and may use enhanced technology to mimic a loved one’s voice.
Resist the pressure to act immediately. Instead, end the call and independently contact the person who allegedly made the call, in order to verify the details.
Romance scams
Sweetheart scammers pretend to fall in love with people in order to win their trust and steal their money. These scams may unfold over a year or more. They are often initiated on dating websites and apps, or via social media.
Common reasons for requesting money include airline tickets, tuition, medical costs or paying off debt.
Even if someone has professed their love to you or you feel like you’ve established a bond, be reasonably cautious before reacting. Don’t wire money to someone you’ve never met, or someone you’ve only known for a short amount of time.
Phishing and smishing
Using email (phishing) or texts (smishing), scammers send messages that appear to be from your financial institution, popular merchants or someone you know. They create a sense of urgency to convince you to click a link, open an attachment, take an action such as wiring money or share confidential information like account numbers, login credentials or personal information.
Red flags to watch for:
Email addresses with domain names (the segment after the “@” symbol) that don’t match the company’s real domain, which is typically the homepage of the company’s website.
Generic greetings (“Hello user”).
Frequent misspellings, bad grammar or word choices that seem off.
Links or attachments that stress acting quickly.
Never click the link or open the attachment. This is a common tactic for downloading malware or spyware to your device and tracking your confidential information.
When in doubt, conduct an online search to verify the website or phone number, and independently contact the entity to confirm the validity of the email or text you received.
Ransomware
Ransomware is a kind of software that holds your device hostage by restricting access until you pay a ransom. Ransomware spreads to your devices when you click on an infected email attachment or a link that leads to a contaminated file or website. Ransomware also can affect a network of computers in the workplace or be passed around on a contaminated thumb drive.
Never click on attachments or links in unsolicited emails or texts.
Avoid using thumb drives from others.
Run antivirus software to search for and remove malicious software on your computer.
Employment scams
If you receive an unsolicited job offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers may pose as employers or recruiters, offering exceptional employment opportunities, including working from home. But once you get the job, you’re asked to deposit an official-looking paycheck in your account and wire a portion of the money to someone else for business purposes.
Before you commit to an employment situation:
Research the company on trustworthy public websites to make sure it’s legitimate.
If the job is for a well-known organization, double-check its website to confirm the job is posted there.
Avoid on-the-spot job offers, especially when they don’t involve interviews.
Always get job details and an offer in writing before taking next steps.
Fake check and overpayment scams
These scams might begin with a merchant reaching out to say you’ve overpaid for something and they need to issue you a credit. However, when you initiate the credit process, suddenly the $50 you were supposed to be credited shows as $50,000 and now they’re instructing you to send that money back.
Or someone messages you on Instagram about using your photo or modeling, then they “accidentally” send you a check for too much and ask you to send back the extra money.
Just like with imposter scams, pause before agreeing to do anything with your money. Don’t send money back to someone who sent you a check. If a company claims they need to access your account to process a refund, hang up and do some research to determine if this is a legitimate situation.
Overall, following a few basic rules can help you avoid being the victim of financial fraud:
Always listen to your intuition if something feels off.
Take time to thoughtfully respond rather than reflexively react.
Never share account details or personal information.
Create a unique username and password for every online account.
You’ve worked hard to earn a living, build your savings and pursue your financial goals. Stay up to date and be aware of ways to protect what you’ve achieved by taking smart steps to avoid the growing number of financial scams out there.
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Klein Hall, which has helped some 1,000 veterans rebuild their lives since opening in 2007, is set to close on Sept. 12, displacing more than two dozen residents.
Gov. Tony Evers proposed $1.9 million in new funding to support Klein Hall and a veterans home in Green Bay. The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget writing committee rejected the proposal.
Elected officials have pointed fingers, but some lawmakers say their colleagues should put politics aside to prevent the closures. A pair of bills seek to do that, but opinions differ on the best path forward.
Meanwhile, most veterans already moved out of the Chippewa Falls and Green Bay homes.
Air Force veteran Blake Haynes faced an impossible choice during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: pay rent or buy insulin. He couldn’t afford both. One month, he chose rent. His blood sugar spiked, sending him into cardiac arrest. Clinically dead for 10 minutes, he was revived by doctors, only to see him fall into a coma.
When he woke up almost three weeks later, Haynes said, everything changed for him physically and mentally. He couldn’t work. He faced eviction. He could no longer stay with his kids.
“I was going to end it all,” he said.
Eventually a nurse connected him with Veterans Outreach and Recovery. That led him to Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, which provides housing, job training and recovery services to veterans. During his year and a half there, Haynes stayed on track with medical appointments and found direction in his life.
Two years after leaving Klein Hall, Haynes lives a new reality. He’s renting a home, leasing a new car, staying out of the hospital for diabetes issues and pursuing a nursing degree. Most importantly, he’s back with his kids.
“I have a life,” Haynes told Wisconsin Watch.
But Klein Hall, which has helped some 1,000 veterans rebuild their lives since opening in 2007, is set to close on Sept. 12, displacing more than two dozen residents.
That’s after lawmakers enacted a budget without funds to cover rising costs at veterans homes.
A state of Wisconsin flag, United States of America flag, and a POW/MIA flag fly outside Klein Hall on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Gov. Tony Evers proposed $1.9 million in new funding for the Veteran Housing and Recovery Program. VHRP supports the veterans homes like Klein Hall as well as facilities in Green Bay — also slated to close — and Union Grove. The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget writing committee rejected the proposal before hashing out the two-year budget Evers signed in July.
Evers, a Democrat, called closures “a direct result of the Legislature’s failure to approve the investments” he proposed.
Amid the finger pointing, some lawmakers say their colleagues should push politics aside to prevent closures that leave veterans with fewer services. A pair of bills seek to do that, but opinions differ on which offers the best path forward.
Meanwhile, most veterans already moved out of the Chippewa Falls and Green Bay homes, and their closure date is fast approaching.
A ‘stepping stone’ toward recovery
Klein Hall was a place of recovery for veterans like Haynes who wanted to get their lives back on track. For Army veteran Randy Nelson, it was a chance at stability after years of battling a methamphetamine addiction.
“I feel so lucky by everything I’ve been given, and Klein Hall was a stepping stone for me,” Nelson said.
Randy Nelson, an Army veteran, looks through the dresser in his room, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
In February, Nelson completed a two-month chemical dependency program at the St. Cloud Veteran Affairs Medical Center to address his bipolar disorder and substance use. After completing the treatment, he was advised not to return to his trailer in Minneapolis and was directed to Klein Hall, where he could continue his recovery near his daughter.
Beginning in April, Nelson took part in many of the programs that help him manage his anger and remain drug-free. He met regularly with a social worker who helped him schedule medical appointments and drove him to places he needed to go.
When veterans first enter the program, they are evaluated, with two major focus areas being mental health and substance abuse, which affects about 60% to 70% of residents, said Randy Withrow, site director of Klein Hall.
Other programs focus on housing retention and anger management, like the one Nelson joined. Each resident also has an individualized service plan. Case managers work with them on housing, finances and health, but also tailor to more individual needs like job searches or accessing disability benefits.
In their leisure time, veterans often play puzzles and games, read books from the facility’s library or spend time coloring, an activity that Withrow noted can help those with anxiety redirect their focus.
Randy Withrow, site director of Klein Hall, stands in front of a mural painted by veteran James Heber that depicts Chippewa Falls and a veteran’s journey at Klein Hall is painted on the wall, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
As part of his therapy, one veteran, James Heber, turned to painting to create a mural for the facility. Filled with shades of green and blue, the artwork depicts Chippewa Falls and follows a veteran’s journey at Klein Hall — from military service to homelessness to stability, ending with finding a home of their own.
“It tears me apart that we can’t save this in some way,” Withrow said.
Finding new homes
Klein Hall can house 48 veterans. At the time the closure was announced in mid-July, the facility housed just under 30 residents. Now there are just two. Staff worked quickly as soon as news broke to find alternative housing and program options for veterans. Efforts in Green Bay look similar, where the priority is finding veterans the resources and support they need to transition into new places ahead of the closure, said Katrina Currier, site director at the Green Bay facility.
“We’re losing a critical housing program,” she added.
Fortunately, many have found new arrangements and are in the process of moving into those places, the goal being to make sure no veterans are left on the street as the facilities close, Withrow said.
Nelson recently signed a lease for a place in Eau Claire, which he found through HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing. He said he hopes to stay there until he needs assisted living.
Other veterans were relocated to the facility in Union Grove, which is the only of the three VHRP-operated sites that remain open. But the adjustment came quickly.
Books are stacked on the shelves in the library, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Marine veteran Derek Aune said the sudden closure “thrust” him and other veterans at Klein Hall “into high gear.”
Aune came to Klein Hall after spending time in and out of jail and institutions. As someone who prefers to take things slow, he said he had no place to go after being released from prison and described Klein Hall as a stable place to land, somewhere he could get back on his feet before planning where to go next.
Instead, he relocated to Union Grove, a facility much farther from the people and hometown he knows. He said the closure forced him to switch medical providers, disrupted his plan to move forward at his own pace and made it harder as someone who deals with depression.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine after a while, but it sucks when you have mental health issues like that, and then you get flung from one thing to another,” Aune said. “It’s not very easy to deal with.”
Navy veteran Rob Lewandowski arrived at Klein Hall in early July, also hoping to better his life with the support of a community of fellow veterans. Just a week later, he learned the facility was shutting down.
Lewandowski spent years recovering from PTSD and maintaining sobriety, and said he was looking for a way to become a “productive member of society” again. He left his apartment in Rice Lake, where he had been isolating, in search of that at Klein Hall.
Instead, Lewandowski found himself at Building 47, a housing facility for veterans in Minneapolis. He said he’s grateful for the sense of community and progress in his housing search he’s found there, but the move had him give up a new job opportunity in Chippewa Falls that he secured right before he had to leave.
“I really, really, really wish that they hadn’t closed. I would still be there. I’d already be working,” Lewandowski said. “I would be that much further along on the way to being self sufficient, which I strive to be and I’ll be there one day.”
Saving Klein Hall
Before the closure was announced, the facility just received new mattresses, which still remain bagged in plastic. The next project was to refresh all the furniture.
But with the facility’s remaining days numbered, the priorities have shifted. Staff are focused on placing veterans and preparing to shut down the building.
“Sadly, every day we come to work, we’re here to shut the program down,” Withrow said.
New, unopened mattresses are stacked in the hallway, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Still, some advocates haven’t given up on saving the program. The funding that was cut from the budget was intended to lease a new building for Klein Hall residents, due to the aging condition of the nearly 50-year-old facility. Withrow said the building’s biggest issues are the roof and air conditioning system, along with other plumbing problems. The main concern, he noted, is that these repairs tend to be expensive.
Jerry Green, a veteran with 40 years of experience in real estate development, said the building is so outdated that repairing it to code standards would likely cost more than leasing a new space. He works for Goldridge Companies, a real estate firm based in Eau Claire, and explained that the plan was to use the proposed budget funding to lease a new facility in Altoona, close to transit, restaurants and pharmacies.
There would be no construction cost to the state, Green said, only the cost of leasing the replacement building for Klein Hall. He pointed to the need to save the program, noting that a number of veterans die by suicide due to their struggles. In 2023, Wisconsin Department of Health Services data showed that while veterans make up about 6% of Wisconsin’s adult population, they accounted for 15% of adult suicides.
“(Klein Hall) gets the veterans back on course, and helps them get employment and straighten out their lives, mostly to save their life,” Green said.
It’s just a matter of coming up with the funds to pay for it, but legislators remain divided on who is to blame and how to move forward.
Randy Withrow, site director of Klein Hall, walks into a room that formerly housed a veteran, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, spoke to veterans in Howard last week, blaming Evers for the planned closures. He argued that the governor and Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs had enough funding to keep the facilities open.
WDVA Assistant Deputy Secretary Joey Hoey pushed back on the claims, saying the department can’t freely spend its funds. Costs from Lutheran Social Services, the nonprofit managing the facilities, rose about 30%, he said — more than the department could cover without additional state funding.
The VHRP facilities operate under two grant and per diem awards from the Federal VA: one for Chippewa Falls, and another for Green Bay and Union Grove. Hoey told Wisconsin Watch the department could not renew the grant for Chippewa Falls without the extra funding from the state.
In the renewal application for the other two facilities, WDVA reduced the total number of beds from 57 to 40 to reflect the closure of the Green Bay facility. Hoey said there were beds available at Union Grove to accommodate those displaced by closures.
The sun shines on Klein Hall on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
After Evers’ funding proposal was rejected by the joint finance committee, Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, and several other Senate Democrats introduced an amendment on the Senate floor to fund the programs. But it was voted down by all but one Republican on the committee.
Budget committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, told Wisconsin Watch in a statement that the Legislature invested in veterans’ programs in the state budget. The budget included a 15% increase to VHRP, $5 million to support the state’s veterans homes and $2.5 million for the Veterans Community Project, with additional funding to county-level services.
However, Born did not address the decision to exclude funding for the facilities set to close or outline any future plans to address those closures.
In response to the lack of funding for the facilities, Smith introduced a standalone bill aimed at keeping both Klein Hall and the facility in Green Bay open before their scheduled closure deadline.
Smith hopes that a floor session expected in September could address this issue, but it is ultimately up to the Republican leadership to decide what gets discussed and whether the bill moves forward. Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, cosponsored the bill, and told Wisconsin Watch that he would “be honored to vote yes” on the bill once it reaches the Senate floor.
Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, introduced another bill that includes the over $1.9 million to keep the VHRP sites open, along with other veteran-focused initiatives. The legislation aims to also expand the property tax credit for veterans and fund the University of Wisconsin-Madison Recovery Project to help recover and identify remains of Wisconsin service members missing in action.
Jacque told Wisconsin Watch his bill aims to address other important veterans’ issues left out of the final budget, while also providing funds to save Klein Hall. He said “it appears that the governor could still use discretionary funds to keep the facilities open and I encourage him to do so.”
Official portraits of Gov. Tony Evers, President Donald Trump, and WVDA Secretary James Bond hang on the wall, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Smith expressed frustration at what he described as a “political cat and mouse game,” rather than simply passing a “clean bill” to ensure veterans have access to critical recovery and housing services.
Hoey believes that if a funding bill passes, the Green Bay facility could reopen relatively quickly. Reopening Chippewa Falls would take longer, as WDVA would have to reapply for the grant, and funds would not be available until Oct. 1, 2026.
For Smith, the solution lies in putting politics aside to do what is right for veterans.
“It is not about Democrat or Republican. This is about people that we owe every available resource to, to be sure that they are able to recover or to have housing,” he said. “We have a program for that, and it’s provided through Klein Hall, it’s provided through the facility in Green Bay, which they are also going to close, and we cannot let that happen, period.”
Lasting impact
Withrow reflected on the effect Klein Hall has had on numerous veterans. He recalled one veteran who came in after losing his leg, wheeling himself around in a wheelchair while struggling with addiction and unemployment. Withrow got to see him leave the program. The veteran now has a prosthetic leg and showed Withrow a video of him jogging.
Randy Withrow, site director of Klein Hall, poses for a portrait in front of books stacked on the shelves in the library, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, at Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
He witnessed another veteran come in with a poor rent history, anger issues and substance abuse. He now owns a home.
“We had residents that come in with nothing and then end up in a place that they’ve always dreamt about being, that (they) didn’t think they could have,” Withrow said.
Nelson, one of the last remaining residents at Klein Hall, moved into his new apartment. He said he’s grateful for the support he received at the facility and that it’s been instrumental in maintaining his sobriety. He didn’t think once about using during his time at the facility.
“It’s a shame that this is shutting down,” he said. “I don’t know where I’d be right now had it not been for here.”
Students in Wisconsin who receive free or reduced lunch can apply for free driver’s education classes.
“Doing what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state and ensuring the next generation of drivers can make good and safe decisions behind the wheel is critically important to building safer roads and communities for everyone,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement this week.
The Driver Education Grant Program has provided $6 million annually to more than 10,000 students since it began in September 2024.
The first $1.5 million in grants this year will support the first wave of applicants with the same amount released every three months.
Common Ground pushes for access
Common Ground, a nonpartisan coalition that addresses community issues, has advocated for more access to driver’s education for low-income high school students.
“This grant program will reduce racial and economic disparities around access to driver education and the ability to obtain a driver’s license,” the organization said in an Aug. 25 news release.
Common Grounds launched a listening campaign in 2021. Its leaders spoke with about 1,000 people, and reckless driving was the primary concern.
According to data from the Milwaukee County Motor Vehicle Collision Dashboard, individuals younger than 20 years of age had the highest injury rate by age group in Milwaukee County.
What you need to know
The program will pay to send approximately 11,500 low-income students per year to driver’s education classes on a first-come, first-served basis.
Interested students and/or their families ages 14 to 19 can go to the WisDot website and fill out an application. WisDOT also created a map to help students and families find a program near them.
Funds are paid directly to the driving school. The funding covers 30 hours of classroom time, six hours of observation time and six hours of driving.
After applying, eligible students will receive a confirmation email with confirmation “coupon” numbers for the course.
They can share the coupon number with any licensed driving school in the state to start the course.
Driving schools will enter the coupon number in their student records upon course enrollment. Payment for the course will be sent electronically to the schools from Wisconsin DMV.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.
A conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Friday that she will not seek reelection, creating an open race for a seat on the court that’s controlled 4-3 by liberals.
Justice Rebecca Bradley’s decision not to run for a second full term comes after conservative candidates for the highest court in the battleground state have lost each of the past two elections by double-digit margins. Both of those races broke national spending records and the liberal won in April despite heavy spending by billionaire Elon Musk.
Liberal state Supreme Court candidates have won four of the past five races, resulting in them taking over the majority in 2023, breaking a 15-year run of conservative control. Regardless of who wins the April election, liberals will maintain their 4-3 court majority until at least 2028. If they can win next year, their majority would increase to 5-2.
The open race comes as several high-profile issues could make their way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the coming months, including abortion, collective bargaining rights, congressional redistricting and election rules.
Chris Taylor, a state appeals court judge and former Democratic state lawmaker, is the only announced candidate.
Bradley had said in April that she planned to run again, but ultimately changed her mind.
“I will not seek reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because I believe the best path for me to rebuild the conservative movement and fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the Court,” she said in a statement.
Bradley said her warnings about the court being controlled by “judicial activists” went unheeded “and Wisconsin has seen only the beginning of what is an alarming shift from thoughtful, principled judicial service toward bitter partisanship, personal attacks, and political gamesmanship that have no place in court.”
“The conservative movement needs to take stock of its failures, identify the problem, and fix it,” she said.
Bradley, 54, was appointed to the Supreme Court by then-Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 and won election to a full 10-year term in 2016. Before joining the court, Bradley had served three years as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge and a year as a state appeals court judge.
Bradley was a reliable conservative voice on the court, dissenting on a July ruling that found an 1849 Wisconsin law did not ban abortions. Another case, brought by Planned Parenthood that seeks to make abortion a constitutional right, has been accepted by the court, but a date for oral arguments has not been set.
When conservatives had the majority, Bradley voted to uphold the Act 10 law that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most state workers. A new challenge to that law is in the state appeals court and could go before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Bradley also voted with conservative justices in a 2020 case brought by President Donald Trump in a failed attempt to overturn his loss in Wisconsin that year. The court ruled 4-3 against Trump.
Jesús Daniel Ruiz Villamil wanted to be proactive, so before he started his junior year at Milwaukee’s South Division High School, he asked his counselors about courses beyond normal high school classes.
They suggested dual enrollment, where Ruiz Villamil could get college credit for taking university-level courses like Latin American and Caribbean studies and advanced Spanish taught by his high school teachers.
Now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ruiz Villamil credits the dual enrollment classes he took at South Division for the success he’s experienced so far in college.
“I think those college classes … helped me to improve my writing and reading skills to be prepared for my English classes, psychology classes and political science classes,” he said.
Dual enrollment gives students the opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school. South Division is one of several Milwaukee Public Schools that offer dual enrollment in the school – MPS teachers teach college classes in the classroom.
MPS high school students at any school can also take advantage of dual enrollment on a college campus – where students can earn high school and college credit at the same time for taking college classes – through the district’s M-Cubed partnership with UWM and the Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Participation in dual enrollment is growing in Wisconsin, but Milwaukee lags behind many other districts in the state, a Wisconsin Policy Forum report found.
In Milwaukee Public Schools, 2.8% of high school students participated in dual enrollment, the study found using 2023-2024 state report card data. The report card data is based off enrollment data from the previous school year.
In Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, the rate is 47%, while at Racine Unified, the dual enrollment participation rate is 40%.
Concerns with state funding
Vicki Bott, UWM outreach program manager, said she thinks dual enrollment could grow at MPS, but limits in state funding force schools to weigh the benefits of increasing access with other pressing district needs.
The district covers nearly the entire cost of programs like M-Cubed or in-classroom courses like those at South Division, MPS postsecondary engagement coordinator Hannah Ingram said. Wisconsin does not give school districts funding to help cover these dual enrollment costs.
For each UWM course that a high school teacher teaches, MPS pays $330 per student at no cost to the student. For this coming school year, the district is paying a little over $3,200 per student to participate in the M-Cubed program, Ingram said.
“It’s too much of a burden on school districts and high schools, so that’s where we’ve got some inequity,” Bott said. “If it’s a matter of like, you know, repainting to prevent lead poisoning or providing tuition for dual enrollment, they’re going to choose the lead poisoning prevention.”
Other hurdles
Some schools don’t have dual enrollment courses inside the classroom because no teachers have the necessary qualifications to teach a college-level course, MPS career and technical education manager Eric Radomski said. Teachers also don’t get incentives to teach dual enrollment courses.
South Division can offer several courses in the high school because several teachers already had the necessary qualifications, including master’s degrees, Principal José Trejo said.
Trejo said not many South Division students participate in M-Cubed. He said students tend to just participate in the courses within the high school.
South Division High School Principal José Trejo said students typically do well in the school’s dual enrollment courses because students are already familiar with the teachers, and teachers are familiar with their unique needs and circumstances. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Most dual enrollment courses across Wisconsin are similar to South Division’s program, where high school teachers get credentialed to teach courses for college credit in the classroom, Wisconsin Policy Forum researcher and report author Don Cramer said.
South Division is one of 10 MPS schools that offer classes through UWM in the high school, Ingram said. Radomski said 15 high schools have career and technical education classes, eight of which offer dual enrollment career and technical education courses.
Despite the financial constraints, Radomski said, “We have seen a gradual trend in the right direction with more and more (career and technical education) teachers offering dual enrollment courses over the past several years.”
The district adds about one to two career and technical education dual enrollment courses in the high school each year, he said.
Different schools, different priorities
Another reason dual enrollment access varies, according to Ingram, is because some MPS schools choose to prioritize other programs over dual enrollment in the classroom, like Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, the Rising Phoenix program through the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, or Early College Credit Program and Start College Now, Wisconsin’s two dual enrollment programs.
At Pulaski High School, for example, three students dual-enrolled during the 2022-2023 school year, but 84% of students completed AP or IB courses.
Not all students who take AP courses take the exam, and not everyone who takes the exam receives college credit. Students need to take and score high enough on an AP exam to earn college credit.
AP exams are graded on a scale of one to five. Students typically need to score three or higher depending on the course and the requirements of the university to which the student is transferring. Students can check what AP scores their prospective college accepts using the College Board’s AP credit policy search.
Radomski said despite the benefits of advanced courses like AP and IB, a lot of MPS students see greater success in dual enrollment courses because they need to pass an entire class to receive college credit, not just a test.
“We have over a 75% pass rate, for example, in Career Tech Ed, but the number is not nearly that high for students getting a three or four on their (AP) test in order to get that credit,” Radomski said.
Ruiz Villamil said the rigor of AP courses helped him prepare for college classes, but he preferred dual enrollment. He said he failed two AP exams and didn’t earn credit despite taking the classes for a year.
Helping students find their path
At South Division, principal Trejo has seen dual enrollment courses help students gain better clarity about what they want to do after graduation. With this clarity, Trejo said, students can avoid pursuing a college degree only to realize they don’t like it.
“It’s a really good experience in terms of understanding ‘maybe that’s not what I want to do’ and it’s OK,” Trejo said. “But at least you found that out early enough so that you’re not spending so much money in college.”
For example, students interested in becoming a teacher can learn how they like working in a classroom by taking college-level education classes and participating in an internship at an MPS school — an opportunity Trejo said students might not have if they didn’t start their education career until college.
Ruiz Villamil said his dual enrollment courses helped expose him to new pathways of study.
“That’s one of the reasons that I’m doing a Spanish minor, probably major,” Ruiz Villamil said. “Nowadays, I can look back to it and appreciate that I took those classes.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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Judge Mark McGinnis will resign Feb. 1, but won’t face criminal charges after jailing a man during a probation hearing for an unrelated financial dispute in December 2021.
The special prosecutor, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, said the decision was based on McGinnis’ decision to resign, acknowledgement he could have handled case differently and concerns about the separation of powers.
The cement contractor who was jailed for three days said he may pursue a lawsuit now that the criminal case is resolved.
An Appleton-area judge won’t face criminal charges for jailing a man during a probation hearing over an unrelated financial dispute, but he will resign in February before his term expires, a special prosecutor assigned to the case said Thursday.
Outagamie County Judge Mark McGinnis had jailed cement contractor Tyler Barth in December 2021 over a private money dispute that was not a matter before the court. McGinnis accused Barth of theft, but Barth had not been arrested or charged with a crime. Wisconsin Watch first reported the case in January 2024.
La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case in March 2024, more than a year after the Wisconsin Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation.
“That’s crazy, the fact that nobody’s going to prosecute him for it, that’s insane,” Barth said in an interview Thursday. “If he’s retiring, I guess that’s good, he can’t do that to nobody else,” but “it’s just bullshit, in my opinion.”
Gruenke said several factors led him not to charge: McGinnis had acknowledged through his attorney that he could have handled the matter differently; McGinnis’ decision to retire; and concerns about the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government over charging a judge for a “mistake” made on the bench.
“This isn’t a case to test those parameters, especially since he acknowledged that he should have done it differently,” Gruenke said in an interview.
Read the Wisconsin Watch report detailing allegations of misconduct by Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis.
McGinnis informed Gov. Tony Evers in a letter Wednesday of his retirement effective Feb. 1, which he said would follow his 55th birthday and make him eligible for retirement benefits. McGinnis did not mention the investigation. He said his plans include educating judges in the U.S. and internationally.
McGinnis and his attorney Michelle Jacobs, the former top federal prosecutor in Milwaukee, did not reply immediately to calls and emails requesting comment.
Barth had appeared before McGinnis for a probation review hearing on a felony conviction for fleeing an officer. McGinnis accused him of stealing several thousand dollars from a cement contracting customer.
The customer’s spouse worked in the same courthouse for another Outagamie County judge.
Even though Barth had not been arrested or charged with theft, McGinnis ordered him jailed for 90 days, saying he would release Barth as soon as he repaid the customer.
Tyler Barth, a Hortonville cement contractor, says Outagamie County Judge Mark McGinnis jailed him over a financial dispute with a disgruntled client who worked in the courthouse. He is seen on Sept. 8, 2023, at a job site in Appleton, Wis. (Jacob Resneck / Wisconsin Watch)
The 32-year-old Fremont resident spent three days in jail before Fond du Lac attorney Kirk Everson intervened and persuaded McGinnis to release him.
Barth said Thursday he would seek an attorney in hopes of filing a lawsuit.
McGinnis was first elected in 2005, at age 34, and has been re-elected every six years without opposition. Most recently he was re-elected in April 2023 for a term that runs through July 2029.
Wisconsin judgeships are nonpartisan.
Gruenke, a Democrat, is a 30-year prosecutor, including the past 18 years as the La Crosse County district attorney.
Gruenke was appointed as special prosecutor by the Outagamie County Circuit Court in March 2024 after Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis determined it would be a conflict of interest for her office to handle the case.
Legal experts agree judges have unparalleled latitude for taking away someone’s liberty, especially if the person is on probation. But invoking criminal penalties to compel action in an unrelated dispute arguably goes beyond a judge’s lawful authority.
Wisconsin legal experts said they weren’t aware of any instance in which a sitting Wisconsin judge was charged with a crime for actions taken as a judge.
Experts also had said they did not expect criminal charges against McGinnis, but that a referral to the state Judicial Commission would be possible.
With McGinnis’ announced retirement, it’s unclear if the commission, which could take up the matter on its own, would do so.
Any matters before the Judicial Commission are generally confidential. They become public only if the commission files a complaint against a judge or if the judge being investigated waives confidentiality.
Editor’s note: This story corrects the spelling of Kirk Everson’s name.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
A jail lieutenant for a northern Wisconsin sheriff’s office resigned in 2022 after an internal investigation found he sent sexually explicit messages and photos to female subordinates. He now works as a police officer in a neighboring county.
Jeffrey Johnson worked at the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, rising to administrator of the county jail, before he “resigned in lieu of termination,” according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice database that tracks law enforcement officers who leave a position under negative circumstances. Johnson started working for the Minong Police Department in Washburn County a little over a year later, according to the same database.
His resignation came after he admitted to sending “text messages of a sexual nature to a subordinate jail deputy, including pictures of your genitals,” according to a document from the sheriff’s office The Badger Project obtained in a records request. “When confronted about these text messages, you did not deny sending them and noted you could not recall the messages, given you were likely intoxicated when they were sent.”
Sawyer County refused to release the full investigation report to The Badger Project, citing client-attorney privilege, but one of the documents it did release notes that Johnson interacted similarly with “a number of other female deputies.”
Sawyer County Sheriff Doug Mrotek said in an interview that scrutiny on Johnson was greater because he was a leader and oversaw the jail’s staff of about 17 people. But he was not on duty when he sent the messages and the interactions didn’t constitute harassment, Mrotek said.
“We all make mistakes,” Mrotek said. “We all can have a bad day. It’s tough for me not to have a lot of respect for his integrity and character. Now make no mistake, I’m not saying that I condone his wrong action … but he made a mistake. And that mistake cost him his position as a leader.”
Mrotek said if Johnson had been a patrol deputy and not a jail lieutenant at the time, he would probably still be working for the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s a leader-subordinate issue,” Mrotek said. But “he’s not going to make the same mistake twice.”
Johnson used Mrotek as a reference when he applied to his current job, where he works as a patrol officer and not in a supervisory role.
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.
Minong Police Department Chief Lucas Shepard wrote in an email that Johnson was recommended for the position by the command staff at Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
Shepard also said Johnson was unanimously approved for the position at his department by himself and four citizen representatives. The chief and Johnson are Minong’s only full-time police officers.
Shepard said his department’s own background check revealed that the allegations of misconduct against Johnson involved consensual behavior that happened off duty.
“Beyond his resignation from that department, Officer Johnson offered the Minong Police Department years of valuable knowledge, training, and experience in law enforcement,” Shepard wrote. He “exemplifies what community-based policing strives for and if he has one definite characteristic as an officer, it is the care that he has for the people that he is policing.”
Wandering officers increasing in Wisconsin during cop crunch
This cop crunch has been a problem for years across the country, experts say.
Statewide, the number of wandering officers, those who were fired or forced out from a previous job in law enforcement, continues to rise. Nearly 400 officers in Wisconsin currently employed were fired or forced out of previous jobs in law enforcement in the state, almost double the amount from 2021. And that doesn’t include officers who were pushed out of law enforcement jobs outside of the state and came to Wisconsin to work.
Despite their work histories, wandering officers can be attractive to hire for law enforcement agencies, as they already have their certification, have experience and can start working immediately.
Law enforcement agencies can look up job applicants in the state DOJ’s database to get more insight into officers’ work history. And a law enacted in 2021 in Wisconsin bans law enforcement agencies from sealing the personnel files and work histories of former officers, previously a common tactic for cops with a black mark on their record.
About 13,400 law enforcement officers are currently employed in Wisconsin, excluding those who primarily work in a corrections facility, according to the state DOJ. Wandering officers make up about 2.5% of the total.
At least one major study published in the Yale Law Journal has found that wandering officers are more likely to receive a complaint for a moral character violation, compared to new officers and veterans who haven’t been fired or forced out from a previous position in law enforcement.
This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.
State environmental regulators can require large livestock farms to obtain permits that seek to prevent manure spills and protect state waters, a state appeals court has ruled.
Last year, a Calumet County judge ruled in favor of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in a case challenging the agency’s authority to require permits for concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs. Those farms have at least 1,000 animal units or the equivalent of 700 milking cows.
In 2023, the WMC Litigation Center sued the DNR on behalf of the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance and Venture Dairy Cooperative. They argued that agency rules that require CAFO permits and regulate stormwater runoff from farms can’t be legally enforced because they’re inconsistent with state and federal law.
In a decision Wednesday, a three-judge panel upheld the lower court’s decision.
“Because we conclude the two challenged rules do not conflict with state statutes and do not exceed the DNR’s statutory authority, we affirm the circuit court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the DNR,” the panel wrote.
A DNR spokesperson said it’s reviewing the decision and unable to comment further at this time.
An attorney for farm groups had argued the DNR can’t go beyond federal requirements under state law, adding that state and federal laws exempt farms from regulation of their stormwater runoff.
Federal appeals court rulings in 2005 and 2011 found the Clean Water Act doesn’t allow the Environmental Protection Agency to require CAFOs to get wastewater discharge permits until they actually release waste into waterways. The three-judge panel noted state permitting programs may impose more stringent requirements than the EPA’s permitting program.
In a joint statement, Wisconsin Dairy Alliance and Venture Dairy Cooperative said the decision is disappointing for Wisconsin’s ag community.
“We believe that there is no place for bad actors and that polluters should face penalties, but this case had nothing to do with weakening environmental laws. Our sole mission in challenging the DNR’s authority was to ensure that Wisconsin farmers are held to standards consistent with federal law,” the groups wrote.
“We continue to believe that a ‘presumption of guilt’ runs contrary to the very fundamentals of the American justice system. We are disappointed with today’s outcome and will continue to fight for Wisconsin farmers regardless of the size of their farm,” the groups continued.
The ruling affects the state’s 344 CAFOs. Under permits, large farms must take steps to prevent manure spills and runoff that include developing response plans, nutrient management plans and restricting manure spreading when there’s high risk of runoff from storms.
Midwest Environmental Advocates is among environmental groups that intervened in the case. They said the legal challenge could have severely limited the DNR’s ability to protect state waters from manure pollution, noting CAFOs can house thousands of cows that produce more waste than small cities.
Adam Voskuil, an MEA attorney, said the ruling affirms environmental regulations.
“We’re continuing to protect water resources in the state, and (it’s) a prevention of rolling back really important, necessary regulations,” Voskuil said.
Without them, Voskuil said the DNR would be responsible for proving whether each individual CAFO has discharged pollutants to surface water or groundwater. He said it’s likely the agency wouldn’t have the resources to do that work, meaning many farms wouldn’t be permitted or taking required steps to prevent pollution.
Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, said there has to be oversight of any industry.
“There needs to be some kind of authority that can call out the bad actors and make sure our water supply is safe,” Von Ruden said.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has been defending DNR in the case. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has previously said the state should be strengthening protections for state waterways, not weakening them.
Manure has been linked to nitrate contamination of private wells. Nitrate contamination can lead to blue-baby syndrome, thyroid disease and colon cancer. Around 90 percent of nitrate in groundwater can be traced back to agriculture.
The lawsuit is not the first to challenge DNR’s authority to require permits for CAFOs. In 2017, the Dairy Business Association sued the agency in part over its permit requirements, dropping that claim as part of a settlement with the DNR. Large farms have also challenged the agency’s authority to impose permit conditions on their operations. In 2021, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the DNR had authority to impose permit requirements on large farms to protect water quality.
Today I want to discuss something more fundamental: Out of the infinite stories we could report at a given time, how do we decide which to pursue with our finite resources?
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Wisconsin’s latest budget diverts 100% of funds from the Common School Fund to pay for 12 assistant district attorneys in Milwaukee.
The constitution requires net proceeds from a county’s traffic fines and forfeitures to go to the Common School Fund. A 1973 Supreme Court ruling found the Legislature can’t have a nominal amount of that money go toward the school fund, which pays for school library books in many counties.
The Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, which oversees the fund, has asked the Legislature’s attorney for an opinion.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to reflect that the 12 assistant district attorney positions are existing positions funded by expiring federal funding, not new positions.
A provision in the recently passed state budget that diverts $2.2 million annually from schools to fund 12 Milwaukee County prosecutors may violate the Wisconsin Constitution.
The budget act redirects all traffic fines and forfeiture revenues in Milwaukee County to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to fund 12 assistant district attorney positions that had been paid for with federal funding set to expire.
But under Article 10, Section 2, of Wisconsin’s constitution, all “clear proceeds” from traffic fines are required to go to the Common School Fund.
A statute later established the “clear proceeds” at 50% of total revenue, while counties could retain the other 50% to reimburse the cost of prosecuting traffic violations or seizing and managing forfeitures.
In a 1973 Wisconsin Supreme Court case, the court granted limited power to the Legislature to define “clear proceeds.” In doing so, the decision said counties couldn’t keep so large a percentage of fine and forfeiture revenue that “the sum left for the school fund is merely nominal.” It also ruled that a county can only use these funds to reimburse for the prosecution of the fines and forfeitures.
By giving all revenue to the Milwaukee County DA, the new law, part of the biennial budget, contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision that all “clear proceeds” — or net profits — from forfeitures and fines be directed to the Common School Fund.
Established in 1848 under the state constitution, the Common School Fund is used by public schools to purchase school library books and instructional materials and may be the only source of library funding for some counties. The Office of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) manages the fund.
In two recent BCPL meetings, board members discussed how the amendment appears to contradict the Supreme Court decision — raising the prospect of litigation, according to meeting minutes.
“This provision appears to directly violate the 1973 Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion regarding Article 10 of the Constitution,” Tom German, board executive secretary of BCPL, said during an Aug. 19 meeting. “That opinion expressly limited the Legislature’s authority to define clear proceeds in order to prevent only a nominal amount of fines and forfeitures going to the school fund. Zero is less than nominal.”
The provision is projected to reduce revenue directed to the fund by $2.2 million annually. Wisconsin’s remaining 71 counties are still required to direct 50% of revenue from fines and forfeitures to the Common School Fund. A report from April 2025 estimated the 2024-25 library aid to be $8.3 million for more than 130,000 pupils in Milwaukee County.
The Milwaukee County DA’s office has about 120 ADAs and 160 support staff. The provision allows the county to maintain 12 ADA positions, which German says also violates the Supreme Court opinion.
The Legislature’s budget committee added the provision during the last executive session of this budget cycle under a “miscellaneous items” section of the motion as part of a budget deal with Gov. Tony Evers.
Before the provision was proposed and passed by the committee late in the budget process, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau did not publish budget papers to explain the redirection of revenue from fines and forfeitures, as it often would for other budget proposals that come before the Joint Finance Committee during normal budget deliberations.
“The DPI will work with our partners in state government and professional organizations to ensure the Common School Funds — which are critical to student learning — continue,” a DPI spokesperson told Wisconsin Watch in response to the funding change.
In the last BCPL meeting, German said he informed the Wisconsin Legislative Council — the nonpartisan state agency in charge of providing legal and policy analysis — of this violation, and the council is currently investigating the provision.
The Legislative Council declined to comment. Evers’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
A Milwaukee County spokesperson said the funding for the 12 assistant district attorneys was a “bipartisan solution” to an “urgent need” to address court backlogs in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.
“Without this funding, Milwaukee County will lose a dozen assistant district attorney positions, which will significantly increase court backlogs that will impact public safety efforts now and in the future,” the county spokesperson said in an unsigned email.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
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