Author Rachel Gross joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to share the history of outdoor recreation marketing and some of its Wisconsin ties.

The post How the outdoor recreation industry markets towards our identities appeared first on WPR.

“For us, it’s about providing these opportunities to showcase Wausau and Marathon County’s history,” Opal-Wahoske told WPR. “It helps us appreciate how far we’ve come and provides context for where we’re going, all while remembering how we celebrated the holidays 100 years ago.”

The post The Marathon County Historical Society brings 1927 Christmas to life at Yawkey House Museum appeared first on WPR.

Listen to a playlist from the director of the new Green Bay punk rock doc "Green Blah," that highlights early local bands like The Tyrants and No Response.

The post New film shows history of Green Bay’s early punk rock scene appeared first on WPR.

Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee is developing a care plan after two mounds were recently identified on the property. Elsewhere in the state, volunteers with the the Effigy Mounds Initiative work to preserve mounds by cataloguing them and removing invasive vegetation.

The post Wisconsin groups seek to preserve Indigenous mounds, including recent rediscovery appeared first on WPR.

“World War II Dispatches to Madison: Letters Home From an Army Air Corps Soldier” chronicles Bob’s time in Europe as a radio mechanic from January 1943 to September 1945.  

The post Author gathers World War II letters from one young Wisconsin soldier into new book appeared first on WPR.

From stories of buried treasure to tales of mistaken identity, the lore of the Northwoods keeps the spirit of the Prohibition era alive.

The post Gangsters in the Northwoods: How Wisconsin became a hideout for notorious criminals appeared first on WPR.

From crime prevention to dementia awareness, the Woman’s Club of Pewaukee has served the region for 120 years. The group’s past president shares more about their work with "Wisconsin Today."

The post Pewaukee Woman’s Club celebrates 120 years of community service appeared first on WPR.

More than a century after being buried, and decade after being exhumed, a group of Milwaukee County residents are still awaiting a final resting place

The post Burying ‘The 831’ of Milwaukee County – again appeared first on WPR.

“There were over 35 prisoner of war camps set up in Wisconsin in 1943,” explains Pam Ekholm of the Wisconsin Historical Society. That included Bayfield, where businessman D.S. Knight made an agreement with the military to bring German prisoners of war to work on local farms and at a bean cannery.

The post Historian recounts when German POWs worked on Wisconsin farms appeared first on WPR.

Anna Shechtman talked with “To the Best of Our Knowledge” about the feminist history of crossword puzzles and how crosswords help us share a common language.

The post Welcome to my crossworld appeared first on WPR.

Actress and film producer Marsai Martin delivers remarks during a brunch held to celebrate Black Excellence on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. President Biden hosted the brunch during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual Legislative Conference this week to recognize achievements in the Black community. At right is Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, in the last months of his four-year term, detailed his administration’s efforts in seeking to advance opportunities and equity for Black communities on Friday during the White House’s first-ever brunch in celebration of Black Excellence.

The event came as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation hosted its annual legislative conference this week in Washington, D.C.

“Today, we honor this simple truth: Black history is American history, Black excellence is American excellence, and folks, we don’t erase history like others are trying to — we make history,” Biden said to a crowd on the South Lawn that included members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Black leaders.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; Trell Thomas, founder of Black Excellence Brunch; Marsai Martin, an actress and producer; and Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, gave brief remarks ahead of Biden.

“I know it because I’ve seen it. I’ve been vice president to the first Black president in American history, a president to the first Black vice president — and God willing, to the first female Black president in American history,” Biden added.

Biden — who originally sought a second term — passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris in mid-July following his disastrous debate performance in June against the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, now has the chance to become the first woman to serve as president, the first Black woman president, and the first president of South Asian descent.

Biden also underscored some of the administration’s key efforts in regard to Black communities, such as achieving the lowest Black unemployment rate on record. As of August, the administration has created 2.4 million jobs for Black workers, according to a White House fact sheet.

He also emphasized the administration’s efforts to ensure that more Black Americans have health care than ever before. The White House says it’s done so by “lowering premium costs by an average of $800 for millions of Americans, increasing Black enrollment in Affordable Care Act coverage by 95%, or over 1.7 million people since 2020,” per the fact sheet.

Biden added that “on this very lawn, in front of the White House built by enslaved people, we hosted the first-ever Juneteenth concert after I made Juneteenth a federal holiday, and on this lawn, we celebrated the first Black woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, the best decision I made: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.”

He also condemned racism toward Haitian migrants to the U.S., saying the community is “under attack in our country right now” and calling it “simply wrong.” Conspiracy theories about migrants and bomb threats continue to rock Springfield, Ohio.

Trump at Tuesday’s presidential debate hosted by ABC News amplified false claims about Haitian migrants there, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” adding that “they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Appearing to allude to Trump, Biden added that “there’s no place in America. This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”

Meanwhile, Biden and Harris are both slated to speak at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner Saturday in Washington, D.C.