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With more than two decades of experience in transportation, Craig Lipps has become a bit of an unofficial troubleshooter or change agent for school transportation operations.
He led the transportation operation at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District in upstate New York for a couple years, where he helped the district save more than $400,000 annually by optimizing routes with the use of Transfinder solutions.
“In this business, we’re working for the success of kids. That’s the bottom line. You need the best tools to do that. I rely on Transfinder to stay a step ahead of everybody else.”
Then he went to nearby Guilderland Central School District (NY) where he saved the district $2.6 million annually, again with Transfinder’s award-winning solutions.
So how does Lipps do it? Here’s the backstory.
When Lipps arrived at Guilderland, he faced a daunting challenge: a transportation department struggling with inefficiencies, outdated software and ballooning costs. The district was financially upside down, contracting dozens of routes to outside providers while its own buses sat idle.
For Lipps, a veteran transportation leader, the solution was clear—modernize operations with Transfinder technology.
Craig Lipps, right, leads transportation operations at Guilderland Central School District.
The Problem: Inefficiency and Overspending
Guilderland’s transportation system was riddled with inefficiencies. The district had 115 buses in its fleet but was operating only about 70, while paying contractors to handle 36 out-of-district routes.
“It was very costly,” Lipps recalled.
And it just didn’t make sense.
“They (Guilderland) have the equipment and the drivers,” he said, “so you don’t need to contract when you have equipment and drivers.”
The software in place when Lipps arrived was outdated, locally hosted and lacked the tools needed to identify inefficiencies or optimize routes. The data, he said, “was messy.”
A hands-on kind of leader, Lipps left the office to see for himself what was going on.
“I’d get out there in my own vehicle just to watch what was happening,” Lipps said. What he saw confirmed his suspicions: buses sitting idle for hours. “I’ll never forget the day I saw three yellow buses parked at Crossgates Mall.”
He was curious if there was a field trip at the mall.
“So, the next day I went there, the same three buses were sitting there. And the next day I went there. So, I checked the GPS system and, sure enough, those buses were sitting there every single day for more than an hour. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s a problem.’”
The Solution: Transfinder’s Suite of Tools
The software product the district was using didn’t provide the tools “to look and find opportunities or inefficiencies,” Lipps said, yet he knew the district needed a cloud-based, data-driven system to regain control.
When Lipps arrived, he put a spotlight on the issues – “The problem was bigger than anyone realized” – and the district moved quicker to Transfinder, a solution he knew well.
The first step was implementing Routefinder PLUS, Transfinder’s award-winning flagship routing solution. Lipps personally sat down with every driver to build routes in the new system. “I have a large TV in my office and we sat at a table and worked from the laptop and built their routes. They watched it unfold before them. They were intrigued by it, and it was cool.”
Accurate data from the student information system was imported, giving the district a clear picture of transportation needs.
Coupled with Transfinder’s field trip management solution Tripfinder, which streamlined field trip management, the district was well on its way to greater efficiency. Previously, trip requests were handled through PDFs—a cumbersome process that led to mistakes and wasted time. “Tripfinder was a no-brainer,” Lipps said. “It integrated seamlessly with Routefinder and eliminated the nightmare of managing trips manually.”
The Results: $2.6 Million Saved in One Year
By the end of the school year, Guilderland had saved an astonishing $2.6 million. “That was one school year—September to June,” Lipps emphasized. “And those savings will continue every year as long as they keep using the tools.
Photo courtesy of First Light Safety Products Cover Design by Kimber Horne
This month’s issue highlights safety, covering different aspects of how the student transportation is addressing the most pressing safety challenges facing students, drivers and transportation departments. Learn more about the planning needed for the aftermath of school bus crashes, prevention techniques and equipment including lap/shoulder seatbelts, training policies and garages, as well as furthering safety through awareness, access and accountability.
Also, find dates, agendas and new experiences coming up for our 2026 conferences.
‘This is Bad’
Planning for what happens in the minutes, days and weeks following a severe school bus crash is as important as training to avoid an incident from occurring in the first place.
An Evolution of Thought
Installing lap/shoulder seatbelts on school buses is only half the battle. Experts say it’s vital to also have usage policies and training procedures in place for successful implementation.
Keys to Success
Developing a safety culture not only begins and ends with school bus passengers but must encompass everything from driver training to garage layout.
Special Reports
Getting the Word Out
As illegal passing incidents continue to plague the industry, many federal and state organizations are working on public safety announcements to increase school bus awareness among motorists.
Chief Inspector Megan Williamson processes absentee ballots at the Hawthorne Library on Madison's East Side on Election Day Nov. 8, 2022. A voting bill introduced by Wisconsin Republican Congressman Bryan Steil would put new restrictions on how absentee ballots are handled as well as make other changes that voting rights advocates contend would increase barriers for voters.. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
Legislation proposed Friday by Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil would require voters in every state to present a photo ID for a federal election, require states to verify that anyone registering to vote in a federal election is a U.S. citizen, and require paper ballots in all federal elections.
The bill also would put sharp restrictions on a person’s ability to collect ballots on behalf of other people. It would ban universal voting by mail and ranked choice voting in federal elections.
Apress release from Steil’s office states that the bill — dubbed the “Make Elections Great Again Act” — consists of “baseline requirements in place for state election administration.”
U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville)
“Americans should be confident their elections are being run with integrity — including commonsense voter ID requirements, clean voter rolls, and citizenship verification,” Steil, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District and chairs the U.S. House Committee on House Administration, said in a statement. The bill would “improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.”
“The MEGA Act is a crucial step toward restoring trust in our democratic process and delivers long-overdue, common sense reforms that voters across our state and nation expect,” Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said in a statement.
But voting rights advocates said provisions in the legislation would increase needless barriers for voters, and that the legislation itself undermines trust in an election system that is already secure.
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Executive Director Nick Ramos. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)
“The MEGA Act is a seriously problematic piece of anti-voter legislation. It will disenfranchise millions of voters across the country,” said Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
“This is a sweeping federal takeover of election administration,” said Samuel Liebert, Wisconsin state director for All Voting Is Local.
Provisions in the bill highlight claims that have been made by various activists and groups about voter fraud that election experts have argued are unsubstantiated.
The bill requires every state to make an agreement to share information with the U.S. attorney general about “evidence of potential fraud” in the state’s elections for federal office, including voting or attempts to vote by ineligible people. States without such an agreement would not be allowed to use federal funds from the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to administer their elections.
Liebert said under that provision and others, the U.S. attorney general could claw back federal funds on technical or even subjective grounds. “That puts local clerks at risk of losing the very resources needed to run secure elections,” he said, “leading to fewer poll workers, longer lines, and slower results.”
The bill requires a prospective voter to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote, including by absentee ballot. That could block a number of eligible voters from casting ballots, he said, including the elderly, students, married women with name changes, rural voters, voters with disabilities and low-income voters lacking easy access to passports or certified birth certificates.
Samuel Liebet, Wisconsin state director for All Voting Is Local
“There is no evidence this is needed: Noncitizen voting is already illegal and extraordinarily rare,” Liebert said.
The bill includes new restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections.
It would outlaw universal voting by mail — a practice that is in place in eight states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In addition, it would require mail-in ballot envelopes to include a postal bar code for tracking.
Absentee ballots would be required to arrive by the time the polls close in order to be counted, except for overseas voters and voters in the military. Currently some states allow absentee ballots to be counted if they have been postmarked by Election Day and arrive within a set number of days afterward.
Mail-in ballots could not be counted until after the polls close under the bill. In 13 states, counting mail-in ballots can start ahead of Election Day under their current laws. Among the rest, some, including Wisconsin, allow counting to start before the polls close, while others don’t allow them to be counted until after the polls close. In Wisconsin, efforts to allow the counting of mail-in ballots to begin before Election Day have so far not succeeded.
The bill would claw back federal funds from states that don’t follow its requirements for handling mail ballots.
Language in the bill also prevents people from distributing, ordering, requesting, delivering or possessing more than four ballots for a federal election, and requires that the ballot they’re handling must be associated with the individual, a family member or a person for whom the individual is a caregiver.
The aim is to outlaw “ballot harvesting,” Steil said in his press release.
A 2020report by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University said attacks on ballot collection by calling it “ballot harvesting” have conflated two practices — illegal tampering with absentee ballots, and the benign practice of helping voters who need help in casting and returning an absentee ballot.
“Some voters need this assistance in order to cast a ballot,” the Brennan Center report states.
In the MEGA Act, “The limits on possession and return of mail ballots — including felony penalties — would make it harder for caregivers, family members, and community members to help voters who need assistance,” Liebert said. “This is especially concerning for voters with disabilities, older voters, and voters living in rural or tribal communities.”
The bill requires all states to verify the eligibility of voters to take part in federal elections every 30 days “through the use of all verification resources available to the State,” including the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.
In the course of those monthly checks, states must remove any duplicate registrations and any voters not eligible because of a criminal conviction, death, change of residence or because they’re identified as a noncitizen by the SAVE system.
The databases the bill prescribes are prone to errors, however, Liebert said, which “dramatically increases the risk of eligible voters being wrongly removed.”
Another provision gives private citizens the right to sue election officials whom they allege have allowed noncitizens to vote. That would create “a chilling effect that prioritizes risk avoidance over voter access,” Liebert added.
Liebert said the net effect of the bill would be a virtual federal takeover of the state’s role in administering elections.
“It strips states and local election officials of flexibility and imposes one-size-fits-all rules that don’t reflect how elections actually work on the ground — especially in a state like Wisconsin with decentralized administration,” he said.
“This bill is premised on the false idea that our elections are fundamentally broken,” Liebert said. “Election officials — including in Wisconsin — have shown again and again that elections are secure. Codifying suspicion into law doesn’t strengthen democracy; it undermines public confidence and puts election workers in harm’s way.”
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Researchers found that small doses of an antibiotic can coax gut bacteria into producing a life-extending compound. In worms, this led to longer lifespans, while mice showed healthier cholesterol and insulin changes. Because the drug stays in the gut, it avoids toxic side effects. The study points to a new way of promoting health by targeting microbes rather than the body itself.
Researchers have discovered a hidden quantum geometry inside materials that subtly steers electrons, echoing how gravity warps light in space. Once thought to exist only on paper, this effect has now been observed experimentally in a popular quantum material. The finding reveals a new way to understand and control how materials conduct electricity and interact with light. It could help power future ultra-fast electronics and quantum technologies.
Statins are a cornerstone of heart health, but muscle pain and weakness cause many patients to quit taking them. Scientists have now identified the precise molecular trigger behind these side effects. They found that statins jam open a critical muscle protein, causing a toxic calcium leak. The discovery could lead to safer statins that keep their life-saving benefits without the muscle damage.
Jupiter’s swirling storms have concealed its true makeup for centuries, but a new model is finally peeling back the clouds. Researchers found the planet likely holds significantly more oxygen than the Sun, a key clue to how Jupiter—and the rest of the solar system—came together. The study also reveals that gases move through Jupiter’s atmosphere much more slowly than scientists once thought. Together, the findings reshape our understanding of the solar system’s largest planet.
A young star called V1298 Tau is giving astronomers a front-row seat to the birth of the galaxy’s most common planets. Four massive but extremely low-density worlds orbiting the star appear to be inflated precursors of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. By watching how the planets subtly tug on one another, scientists measured their masses and confirmed they are far puffier than expected. The system reveals how these planets dramatically shrink and transform as they age.
Researchers in Bangladesh have identified a bat-borne virus, Pteropine orthoreovirus, in patients who were initially suspected of having Nipah virus but tested negative. All had recently consumed raw date-palm sap, a known pathway for bat-related infections. Genetic analysis confirmed live virus in several samples, pointing to active human infection. The finding raises concerns that dangerous bat viruses may be circulating undetected alongside Nipah.
nside electrochemical devices, strong electric fields dramatically alter how water molecules behave. New research shows that these fields speed up water dissociation not by lowering energy costs, but by increasing molecular disorder once ions form. The reaction becomes entropy-driven—exactly the opposite of what happens in ordinary water. The findings also reveal that intense fields can push water from neutral to highly acidic, with major implications for hydrogen production.
A strange, glowing form of matter called dusty plasma turns out to be incredibly sensitive to magnetic fields. Researchers found that even weak fields can change how tiny particles grow, simply by nudging electrons into new motions. In lab experiments, this caused nanoparticles to form faster and remain smaller. The discovery could influence everything from nanotechnology design to our understanding of space plasmas.
Lowering salt in everyday foods could quietly save lives. Researchers found that modest sodium reductions in bread, packaged foods, and takeout meals could significantly reduce heart disease and stroke rates in France and the U.K. The key advantage is that people would not need to alter their eating habits at all. Small changes to the food supply could deliver large, long-term health benefits.
Archaeologists in central China have uncovered evidence that early humans were far more inventive than long assumed. Excavations at the Xigou site reveal advanced stone tools, including the earliest known examples of tools fitted with handles in East Asia, dating back as far as 160,000 years. These discoveries show that ancient populations in the region carefully planned, crafted, and adapted their tools to meet changing environments.
Termites did not evolve complex societies by adding new genetic features. Instead, scientists found that they became more social by shedding genes tied to competition and independence. A shift to monogamy removed the need for sperm competition, while food sharing shaped who became workers or future kings and queens. Together, these changes helped termites build colonies that can number in the millions.
A jury found a Wisconsin man guilty Thursday of forging threats against President Donald trump in an attempt to get the victim in a robbery case against him deported.
Online court records show the Milwaukee County jury found 52-year-old Demetric Scott guilty of felony identity theft and witness intimidation after deliberating for most of the day. He represented himself during the three-day trial and was immediately taken into custody after the verdicts were read, leaving no way to reach him for comment on Thursday evening.
According to court documents, Mexican immigrant Ramon Morales Reyes was riding his bike in Milwaukee in September 2023 when Scott approached him and kicked him off the bike. He stabbed Morales Reyes with a box cutter before stealing the bike and riding away.
Scott was arrested hours later. While he was in jail, Scott wrote multiple letters posing as Morales Reyes to state and federal officials threatening to kill Trump at a rally. Federal immigration authorities took Morales Reyes into custody in May after he dropped his daughter off at school.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted his photo on social media, along with an excerpt of a letter he purportedly wrote in English promising to shoot Trump at a rally. The White House and Trump supporters played up his arrest as a major success in the administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Investigators determined that Morales Reyes couldn’t have written the letters since he doesn’t speak English well, can’t write in the language and the handwriting in the letters didn’t match his.
Cain Oulahan, center, Ramon Morales Reyes’ immigration attorney addresses the media, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of his client Ramon Morales Reyes. (Andy Manis / Associated Press)
Meanwhile, Scott was making calls from jail in which he talked about letters that needed to be mailed and a plan to get U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to pick someone up so his trial could get dismissed. He admitted to police that he wrote the letters.
Scott was charged separately with armed robbery, battery, and reckless endangerment in connection with the bike incident. The jury on Thursday acquitted him on the robbery and battery counts but found him guilty on the endangerment charge.
Court records show prosecutors charged Scott in 2022 with being a party to burglary. He was out on bail in connection with that case when the bike incident happened and wrote the letters, prompting prosecutors to charge him with three counts of bail jumping. The jury on Thursday found him guilty on one of those counts but acquitted him on the remaining two charges.
All together, he faces up to 26 years in the state prison system when he’s sentenced on Feb. 27. The burglary charge is still pending.
The Noem news release with Morales Reyes’ photo touting his arrest is still posted on the DHS website but now includes a disclaimer stating that he’s no longer under investigation for threatening Trump but remains in ICE custody pending deportation. The release says he entered the U.S. illegally nine times between 1998 and 2005 and has a criminal record that includes arrests for felony hit and run, property damage and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier.
Morales Reyes was released on $7,500 bond in June and is currently residing with his family in Milwaukee, his deportation defense attorney, Cain Oulahan, said. He has applied for a U-visa, a document that allows crime victims and their family members to remain in the U.S., but Oulahan said it could take years to obtain one.
Ramon Morales Reyes is seen in a photo provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Wisconsin online court records do not show any criminal cases involving Morales Reyes. Oulahan, his attorney, said that all the background checks he has conducted on Morales Reyes have turned up nothing.
Morales Reyes moved to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s. He worked as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, is married and has three children who are U.S. citizens, according to his attorneys. He said Scott’s conviction is a huge relief for Morales Reyes and his family.
“He’s been traumatized by going through all this, all these different levels that feel like victimization,” Oulahan said. “He just wants to work and be with his family again.”
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.
After they’ve tried church, therapy, self-help and meditation, and never quite found what they were looking for, people in Milwaukee come to see Angela Smith.
Smith is the owner and operator of The Zen Dragonfly. She uses African traditional methods to assist people in their physical, mental and spiritual healing.
“I’m the person nobody knows they came to see,” she said. “People get to a point where nothing is working. And then they walk in here.”
Spiritual and life coaching
Angela Smith plays a sound bowl at The Zen Dragonfly. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Smith, 63, is a hoodoo practitioner and rootworker, though most Milwaukeeans first meet her through “acceptable” titles like Reiki master, yoga instructor or life coach, she said.
Smith’s healing work spans Reiki, tarot, bone readings, spiritual baths, shamanic journeying and herbal medicine.
Only later do many discover the deeper tradition behind her work.
Her healing practice, rooted in Black Southern folk traditions and ancestral veneration, welcomes anyone in need of help.
Smith doesn’t promise miracles. And she doesn’t advertise cures.
“My job is to help people do their own healing,” she said. “I can break something open. I can clear a path. But you have to walk it.”
Still, people continue to arrive at her door, quietly and urgently, after prayer, therapy and everything in between.
“When you’ve tried all you can,” Smith said, “I’m usually where you come next.”
Tanisha Williams, a friend and healing guest of Smith’s, said Smith is talented in many ways but especially at helping people find what type of healing can help them.
“She just knows how to appropriately assess someone and guide them with appropriate divination,” Williams said.
A lifestyle
For Smith, healing is more than work, it’s how she lives her life.
Smith’s day begins with tending to her ancestors. She rings a bell, pours water, lights candles and reads Psalms. Then she welcomes healing guests.
“Never clients,” she said.
Her home and workspace reflect her practice: altars in every room, artwork celebrating Black history and spirituality, herbs and botanicals curated with care. Friends and students have encouraged her to turn it into a visual book.
She’s considering it.
She laughs when asked about the aesthetics: “I want you to walk into my house and know an African lives here.”
Angela Smith performs Reiki on Heather Asiyanbi at The Zen Dragonfly. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Matthew Nervig, a friend of Smith’s, said she guides others to be the same way so that they aren’t dependent on her.
“She encourages everyone to pursue their own education and personal practice,” he said. “As opposed to keeping people dependent on her so that she can make money, she urges people to learn on their own and be really helpful and genuine.
Serving Milwaukee
Smith said she did not intend to become Milwaukee’s spiritual triage center.
For years, she hid her hoodoo practice, posting only glimpses of altars or crystals. But in 2018, she said she heard her grandmother’s voice say: “You can’t hide no more.”
Her public announcement cost her followers, but brought the people who needed her most.
“Word of mouth built this,” she said. “I don’t advertise. People come because someone told them, ‘When nothing else works, go see Miss Angela.’”
Nervig said Smith thrives at making people feel welcome once they find her.
“She has a real desire for everyone interested in learning more to have the knowledge,” he said.
Over the years, Smith has seen the city’s quiet desperation up close.
“There’s a lot of fear in Milwaukee,” she said. “A lot of being stuck. A lot of repeating cycles. And people don’t know where to go when the usual systems don’t fix it.”
Her School of Good JuJu launched during the pandemic and filled immediately. Smith said nearly all the students had the same story. They left church. They tried therapy. They tried being “fine.” And they were still searching.
Williams, who attended the School of Good JuJu, said it felt like a “meant to be” moment.
“We all need a guide,” Williams said. “It’s like how they say, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
Smith believes the surge of seekers reflects a deeper shift.
“People are exhausted,” she said. “They’re tired of judgment. They’re tired of being told what to believe. They just want to heal.”
Her space offers something Milwaukee’s more formal institutions often can’t: privacy, acceptance, cultural understanding and spiritual agency.
“There’s magic here every day,” she said simply. “People feel that.”
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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