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People cannot send money to Wisconsin prisoners directly. They can instead transfer funds through a company called Access Corrections.
The private company’s website, app, phone and in-person delivery systems are no longer working across the state.
Access Corrections is part of the conglomerate that also runs the prison’s phone system, which has failed in recent months.
The online system Wisconsin prisoners rely on to receive money from loved ones recently crashed, leaving them unable to pay for items like extra food and hygiene products.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections contracts a private company, Access Corrections, to allow people outside of prison to transfer funds to those inside. Those transfers occur through the company’s app, website, phone system, mail and in-person options. But multiple people told WPR and Wisconsin Watch they could not make deposits beginning this week.
A screenshot of the Access Corrections website is shown on May 22, 2025. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections contracts with the private vendor to allow people to send money to prisoners, but the system is not working.
The Access Corrections website and app display nothing more than a white screen and the message: “Sorry, the service you’re looking for is currently unavailable.”
Those who dial an Access Corrections phone number hear a recorded message saying the company can’t take deposits online or over the phone and that it is working to resolve the issue.
In-person deposits at locations throughout Wisconsin are also unavailable, according to an affiliate’s website. It is unclear whether physical mail deposits still work.
A Department of Corrections spokesperson said she was working on a response, which did not arrive by this story’s deadline.
The Keefe Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Robin Guenterberg typically sends his daughter at Taycheedah Correctional Institution $300 a month, with Access Corrections collecting a fee.
His daughter, who he requested not be publicly named, uses most of that money to buy items from the prison’s commissary. She has a chronic health condition and relies on commissary chicken and tuna packets to supplement regularly provided meals, Guenterberg said.
The daughter has lost more than 20 pounds since entering prison late last year, Guenterberg said, adding that he and his wife purchase vending machine items during visits and make additional deposits to help their daughter maintain a healthy weight.
If Access Corrections fails to quickly restart deposits, she may lack funds to place a commissary order for next week, Guenterberg said.
Sarah Liebzeit successfully added funds to her incarcerated son’s account late Monday night. But issues with his prison-provided electronic tablet have prevented him from spending it at Stanley Correctional Institution, she said.
“This is now another issue because the tablets have been just horrible,” Liebzeit said.
Some incarcerated people work low-wage jobs inside their prison. Their pay falls short of covering phone calls, extra food, hygiene products and medical co-pays without outside deposits, multiple family members told WPR and Wisconsin Watch.
Nicole Johnson said her incarcerated boyfriend earns $20 every two weeks at his Dodge Correctional Institution job. Wisconsin’s typical copay charge of $7.50 per face-to-face medical visit is among the highest in the country — more than half of his weekly earnings.
Johnson said she tries to add $50 to her boyfriend’s account twice a month so he can purchase rice and beans to supplement regularly provided meals.
“It’s just how I take care of him right now,” she said.
The Access Corrections crash, she added, “makes me sad because I don’t want him to be hungry all freaking week.”
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As of May 21, all Milwaukee County teens who are the responsibility of the county and held in Wisconsin’s youth prisons were Black or Hispanic.
There were 28 teens (96.4% Black) under “non-serious juvenile offender” court orders.
That includes teens age 17 and under sentenced to the state-run Lincoln Hills or Copper Lake schools – where costs approach $500,000 per year per youth – or the Mendota mental health facility.
Milwaukee County official Kelly Pethke said the county pays for non-serious juvenile offenders; the state pays for juveniles who are sentenced for more serious felonies. Pethke said in early May there were 35 Milwaukee County teens under serious orders, but she didn’t have a racial breakdown.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections said May 22 it tracks racial data by region. Nine of 66 youths (13.6%) in the southeast region were white.
Researcher Monique Liston cited the racial disparity in a social media post.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Last week, our newsroom was intrigued by data in this Economist article showing that Wisconsin stands out nationally when it comes to its low vaccination rates for measles. It prompted a discussion about the many reasons for vaccine hesitancy and the complex challenges of maintaining trust in public health.
One thing is clear: Measles is a very infectious disease, and it’s spreading nationwide.
Officials in 2025 have tracked almost as many measles outbreaks (defined as three or more related cases) as they did in all of 2024. Three deaths this year have been linked to measles. They included two unvaccinated school-aged children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.
The outbreaks come as vaccination rates decline nationwide, particularly in Wisconsin. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine rate for Wisconsin kindergartners has plunged since 2019. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, no county in Wisconsin had more than a 90% vaccination rate, which is traditionally associated with “herd immunity.”
Wisconsin, The Economist article noted, “is among the most permissive states for vaccine exceptions in schools, allowing opt-out for personal-conviction reasons (along with medical and religious exemptions, which most states have); parents only have to submit a written note.”
Still, Wisconsin has yet to see a measles outbreak this year. As we consider how to report on this issue, let us know what you think.
Do you have questions about measles, its vaccine or how to keep your family safe? Or do you have perspectives to share about prevention efforts in your community?
If so, fill out this brief form. Your submissions will shape the direction of our reporting and will not be shared publicly.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Transgender people – those who have a gender identity that differs from the sex assigned to them at birth – are not considered by medical authorities to have mental illness simply because they are transgender.
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association revised its mental disorders manual and no longer listed being transgender as a mental disorder.
“Gender identity disorder” was eliminated and replaced with “gender dysphoria.”
Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis for the distress experienced by some whose gender identity conflicts with their sex assigned at birth.
Numerous medical groups, including the World Health Organization, have stated that being trans is not a mental disorder.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., suggested May 17 at the Wisconsin Republican Party convention that being trans is a mental illness. She said “women shouldn’t be forced to share” facilities such as bathrooms “with mentally ill men.”
Her campaign spokesperson did not provide information to support Mace’s reference to mental illness.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Studies have found some evidence of liberal leanings among journalists, but not radical viewpoints.
Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab said everyone has a different idea about what constitutes news.
Media Biasrates most media in a range of “strong left, skews left, middle, skews right or strong right.”
Of the remainder, media rated “hyper-partisan right” or “most extreme right” outnumber those rated “hyper-partisan left” or “most extreme left.”
AllSides, which rates online U.S. political content, rates most media as “lean left,” “center” or “lean right.”
A 2022 Syracuse University survey said 52% of 1,600 U.S. journalists identified themselves as independent, 36% Democrat, 3% Republican.
A 2020 study by researchers from three U.S. universities concluded that “a dominant majority of journalists identify as liberals/Democrats,” but exhibit “no bias against conservatives” in what they cover.
The office of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., didn’t provide evidence to back his May 9 claim that “most” American news media are “radical leftists.”
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ROTHSCHILD — Far from the liberal capital, Republicans gathered over the weekend to assess the state of a party in full control of the federal government, but showing signs of continued collapse in Wisconsin.
There were plenty of middle-aged white guys, one towing “Trump” the service dog and one in a Carhartt polo talking about conspiracist Alex Jones. Among the handful of African American attendees was a man sporting a “Black Guns Matter” T-shirt. An Appleton 25-year-old in a suit and tie talked up the need for more young people in leadership. A Dane County woman shared her thoughts on clamping down on illegal immigration and onshoring manufacturing jobs, as another attendee walked past in an American flag dress.
What many of these rank-and-file Republicans shared, as they gathered for the Wisconsin Republican Party’s annual convention, was applause for the sheer speed of President Donald Trump’s actions in office — and a desire for more moves to the right in the 2026 elections.
In purple Wisconsin, that film has played out before, and it didn’t go so well for Republicans. After Trump’s first election in 2016, the party lost control of the governor’s office and the state Supreme Court. April’s Supreme Court victory for Dane County Judge Susan Crawford means liberals will control the court through at least 2028 and could reshape the state’s congressional maps to help Democrats retake Congress in the midterms.
While there was some talk of blaming GOP state chair Brian Schimming for the poor April showing, none of that materialized in Rothschild. Instead, the party talked up the November victory and how to double down on the same Trumpian rhetoric heading into 2026.
Here’s how several of the 500 convention attendees at the Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center near Wausau assessed the first four months of Trump’s second term and what they want to see from GOP leaders going forward.
How state Republicans view Trump 2.0
Delegates were animated in their praise of Trump for keeping his campaign promises.
“It gets better every day,” said Rock County delegate Michael Mattus, accompanied by his Belgian service dog. “I’m happy every day. Wake up and thinking, what’s he gonna do today?”
Adams County GOP chair Pete Church, who was elected chair of the state party’s county chairs at the convention, said he only wishes the U.S. House and Senate picked up the pace.
“It would be great if we could get Congress to actually put some of these things into law,” he said. “None of us really wants to see a government run by executive order, but that’s where we’re at.”
Delegates lauded Trump’s visit last week to the Middle East and his crackdown on illegal immigration.
“I have uncles, I have aunts that came over here illegally. I don’t associate with them,” said Martin Ruiz Gomez, 39, a one-time Milwaukee-based MMA fighter attending his first state GOP convention. “It’s not nothing against them, but they’re not doing things right.”
The delegates even backed Trump initiatives that have less public support, such as tariffs. The on-again, off-again measures are viewed by some as making international trade fair and encouraging companies to create manufacturing jobs in the U.S., but recent polling has found more than 60% of Americans oppose them and worry they will raise prices. Rising prices was an issue that fueled Trump’s victory in November.
“Well, I was a little nervous about the tariffs when my (retirement savings account) went (down), but he’s doing what he set out to do,” said Calumet County delegate Linda Hoerth.
Portage County delegate Michael Zaremba agreed, saying the tariffs will eventually return more manufacturing jobs to the U.S.
“Just like with a pregnancy, you have to grow it, and then you have to experience the pain,” said Milwaukee County delegate Cindy Werner, who ran for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor in 2022. “But then there’s joy that comes after that.”
Delegates happy with Trump’s performance were mild with any criticism.
“Trump hasn’t always been a big supporter of the Second Amendment. I mean, he is, but he also isn’t super firm on that,” said 25-year-old Reive Pullen, a gun-rights supporter from Outagamie County.
Dane County delegate Tya Lichte could have done without Trump’s talk of taking control of Greenland or making Canada the 51st state.
“I understand he always likes to lead big and then heel back,” she said.
What more they want from GOP leaders
Soon, attention will turn to 2026 and the election for governor. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers hasn’t said whether he’ll seek a third term. His 2018 win over Republican Gov. Scott Walker marked the end of eight years of GOP rule in Wisconsin and came as Democrats flipped 41 seats to take back control of the U.S. House.
Hoerth, a board member of the Calumet County GOP, wants the next governor to “get rid of all this DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)” and push for a state referendum on at what stage of pregnancy abortion should be legal in Wisconsin.
Hoerth likes the background of military veteran and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, the only announced Republican candidate for governor, based on Schoemann’s recent visit with her and other Calumet County Republicans.
“He got the entire group wound up looking at their phones, checking some different websites that he was telling us about,” she said. “It was great.”
Another Republican mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate, northern Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, sounded like one. He used much of his convention speech to criticize Evers, but not to make any big announcements.
Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany addresses the audience in his speech during the Republican Party of Wisconsin state convention on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at the Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center in Rothschild, Wis. “Isn’t it great inflation is going down here in the United States of America and jobs are going up?” Tiffany said as he held up an egg carton and the audience applauded. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Lichte, of Dane County, said she wants the next governor to follow Trump’s lead on reshoring jobs and to try to make Milwaukee a technology hub.
Milwaukee County GOP chair Hilario Deleon said reducing crime, taxes and the size of state government are top priorities.
Rock County’s Mattus, who called abortion “pro-murder,” said he became more active because “this world (is) becoming more communist and I’m not for that.”
In the name of election integrity, Portage County’s Zaremba wants Republicans to get rid of the state Elections Commission and return to hand-counting paper ballots.
Some delegates expressed hope that their party can mend fences with nonprofits such as Turning Point USA in their efforts to elect Republicans. During the recent Supreme Court race there were disputes about how to campaign that went public and exposed rifts among conservatives.
“It’s all right that we don’t always agree, but when we’re taking those arguments to social media for the whole world to see, that’s where I don’t like it,” said Church, the new head of the county chairs. “The only way it can be fixed is through cooperation.”
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A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is pushing a fix to a 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that hampered the public’s ability to obtain attorney fees in certain public records lawsuits against public officials — but the top Assembly Republican remains noncommittal about the bill.
The case, Friends of Frame Park v. City of Waukesha, involved a public records dispute between the city and a citizen group. Waukesha was working to bring a semi-professional baseball team to town. A group of concerned residents, Friends of Frame Park, submitted a public records request to the city seeking copies of any agreements the city had reached with the team’s owners or the semi-professional league.
The city partially denied the request and refused to produce a copy of a draft contract. Friends of Frame Park hired an attorney and sued. A day after the lawsuit was filed, and before the local circuit court took action, the city produced a copy of the draft contract.
The case eventually worked its way to the state Supreme Court, which determined that Friends of Frame Park was not entitled to attorney fees because it technically had not prevailed in court — the group received the record without action from the circuit court.
The ruling “actually incentivizes public officials to illegally withhold records because it forces requestors to incur legal costs that may never be recovered,” said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, during a public hearing about the bill.
Max Lenz, an attorney representing the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the state Supreme Court ruling incentivizes public officials to “effectively dare the public to sue.”
“The Supreme Court’s ruling in Friends of Frame Park flipped the public records law presumption of openness on its head,” he said.
The legislation, spearheaded by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, would supersede the high court’s ruling and allow a requestor to obtain attorney fees if a judge determines that the filing of a lawsuit “was a substantial factor contributing to that voluntary or unilateral release” of records, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.
The bill has garnered support from an unusual coalition of organizations. Seven groups, some of which frequently lobby, have registered in support of the bill, including the liberal ACLU of Wisconsin and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.
A similar version of the bill was approved by the state Senate last session but did not receive a vote in the Assembly. The legislation was approved by the state Senate last week.
The legislation’s path forward remains unclear. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters recently that “our caucus has never talked about it.”
“It’s certainly something we could discuss, but we don’t have a position on it at this time,” Vos added.
Are you interested in learning more about public records? Here’s a primer on what types of records should be accessible to you — and how to request them.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit news organization that uses journalism to make Wisconsin communities strong, informed and connected, seeks a data investigative reporter to expand our capacity to provide vital evidence and context to our reporting.
Working with other journalists in our statewide and Milwaukee newsrooms, you will use data to help us better understand Wisconsin communities and hold leaders to account. We believe that access to truthful local news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life.
Job duties
Reporting to the managing editor, you will:
Find, compile and clean data that powers our journalism.
Plan and execute quantitative analyses — and interpret results — to support stories and visualizations.
Design and build creative static and interactive graphics to visualize findings.
Pitch and develop your own stories with support from editors.
Help other journalists advance their data journalism skills, teaching and encouraging best practices across the newsrooms.
At Wisconsin Watch we make sure that we are producing quality journalism and give our reporters the time they need to make sure the job is done well. Rather than chasing clicks, we measure success through the impact we deliver to those we serve.
Required qualifications: The ideal candidate will bring a public service mindset and a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies. More specifically, we’re looking for a reporter who:
Has worked on data projects in a newsroom or has performed statistical analysis in a research setting.
Demonstrates ability to analyze data in Python, R, SQL or a similar high-level language.
Has experience with off-the-shelf data visualization tools like Datawrapper or Flourish.
Demonstrates ability to formulate compelling story pitches to editors.
Aches to report and support stories that explore solutions to challenges.
Has experience with or ideas about the many ways newsrooms can inform the public.
Has experience working with others. Wisconsin Watch is a deeply collaborative organization. Our journalists frequently team up with each other or with colleagues at other news outlets to maximize the potential impact of our reporting.
Bonus skills:
Familiarity with Wisconsin, its history and its politics.
Beat reporting experience.
Spanish-language proficiency.
Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!
Location: The reporter must be located in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Watch is a statewide news organization with staff based in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay.
Salary and benefits: The salary range is $50,000-$70,000. Benefits include five weeks of vacation; paid sick leave and family and caregiver leave; 75% reimbursement for silver-tier health and dental insurance on the federal exchange; 100% vision insurance coverage; $100 per paycheck automatic employer contribution to a 403(b) retirement plan (no match required) after 90 days.
Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience.
Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by June 2.
To apply: Please submit a single PDF of your resume and work samples and answer some brief questions in this application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Managing Editor Jim Malewitz at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.
About Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing independent, nonpartisan journalism that makes the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. We believe that access to truthful local news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life. Under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella, we have multiple news departments including a statewide investigative and explanatory projects team, a Capitol bureau, a regional collaboration in northeast Wisconsin called the NEW News Lab, and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS).
NNS was founded in 2011 as a mission-driven newsroom that reports on and celebrates Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods. Through its reporting, website, e-newsletters and News414 texting service, NNS covers ordinary people who do extraordinary things, connects readers with resources and serves as a watchdog for their neighbors. Together, Wisconsin Watch’s state team and NNS reporters collaborate to produce solutions-oriented investigative and explanatory stories highlighting issues affecting communities in Milwaukee.
The U.S. and New Zealand are the only two countries that allow direct advertising on prescription drugs, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy professor Dr. David Kreling, a pharmaceutical policy and marketing expert.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration approves marketing of prescription drugs through the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The act also prohibits using false or misleading information in advertisements.
The FDA requires advertisements to present the statement on a drug’s side effects in a “clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
Most countries prohibit direct advertising of pharmaceuticals because some available drugs aren’t tested enough to guard against rare but potentially severe side effects.
While the U.S. has never had a federal law banning direct advertising of prescription drugs, companies did not publicize prescription information through direct advertisements until the 1980s. Previously only doctors and pharmacists received that information.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., made the claim April 21.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy: David Kreling
Wisconsin Watch journalists have been recognized for their work at the state and national level in recent months.
The Religion News Association awarded Phoebe Petrovic first place in its Award for Excellence in Religion Reporting — Online-only News Outlets category for her stories on radical Wisconsin pastor Matthew Trewhella and a visually stunning explainer on the origins of Christian nationalism. Both were done as part of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network fellowship.
Petrovic also was named among the finalists for the Toner Prize in national political reporting for her stories on Trewhella and Christian nationalism. And her Trewhella story received a second place Award of Excellence in the Wilbur Awards, which recognize national reporting on religious issues in public media.
The RNA also awarded former Wisconsin Watch intern Rachel Hale first place for the Chandler Award for Excellence in Student Religion Reporting for her coverage about the strain of the Israel-Hamas war on Wisconsin’s Jewish community. Her entry included her Wisconsin Watch fact brief that debunked a viral story about a pro-Palestinian protest chant.
The North American Agricultural Journalists awarded Bennet Goldstein a first place award in news for his story on how AI and satellites are being used to detect illegal manure spills in Wisconsin. He was also part of a team of journalists who received second place in special projects for their coverage of the Mississippi River Basin, including Goldstein’s story on whether a Chesapeake Bay conservation strategy could help.
Wisconsin has just one nuclear power plant. Republican legislation, along with an initiative from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, could move the state toward more nuclear power.
The GOP-led Senate Bill 125, introduced in March, would require the state Public Service Commission, which regulates electric and gas utilities in Wisconsin, to conduct a nuclear power siting study.
The study would identify nuclear power generation opportunities on existing power generation sites, as well as on sites not now used for power generation.
It would help Wisconsin “catch up with other states that have already made important strides in exploring new nuclear energy,” said Paul Wilson, chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
State Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, who introduced the bill, did not respond to requests for comment.
Groups registered in favor of the legislation include the Wisconsin Utilities Association and several employee unions. The PSC also supports the bill, noting that an amendment to the bill keeps the current timeline for the commission to review applications for such electricity generation.
Opponents include Sierra Club Wisconsin, which says nuclear power “poses significant risks due to its high costs, long construction timelines, unresolved radioactive waste issues and the potential for catastrophic accidents.”
The environmental group Clean Wisconsin says the nuclear industry, not taxpayers, should fund siting studies.
The effort to explore more nuclear energy is bipartisan in that, separately, Evers proposed in his 2025-27 state budget spending $1 million to do a nuclear power plant feasibility study.
Evers, calling nuclear energy clean, said in a statement to Wisconsin Watch that “with new advanced nuclear technology and the increasing need for energy across Wisconsin, it is long past time that we invest in new, innovative industries and technologies.”
Wisconsin’s only operating nuclear power plant, Point Beach, is near the Manitowoc County community of Two Rivers.
Just six months ago, the Wisconsin Republican Party was flying pretty high.
Despite an unsuccessful attempt to jettison U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the GOP held its Wisconsin seats in the U.S. House and its majorities (albeit smaller) in the state Legislature. Donald Trump’s win in the Badger State put him over the top for a second term in the White House.
Soon after, Brian Schimming was re-elected to a second two-year term as the party’s state chairman.
But, like a sudden drop in cabin pressure, things in politics can change quickly.
There is unrest among some Republicans as they prepare to gather for the state party’s annual convention on Saturday.
The meeting comes some six weeks after a stinging loss in the state Supreme Court election, in which Dane County Judge Susan Crawford defeated GOP-backed Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel by 10 points, cementing a liberal court majority until at least 2028.
A few vocal critics blamed Schimming, who has promised an ”investigation” into what went wrong. Schimming declined an interview request.
The party will meet in Rothschild, a village south of Wausau in Marathon County. One of the county’s leading Republicans, state Rep. Brent Jacobson of Mosinee, doesn’t blame Schimming for Schimel’s loss.
“That Supreme Court race was a reaction to Trump’s victory in November,” said Jacobson, who was elected to his first term last fall. “Democrats were super energized, and they simply turned out in far greater numbers than Republicans did.”
Jacobson said he is satisfied with Schimming’s performance and wants his fellow Republicans to turn the page. He credited Schimming with encouraging Republicans to embrace early voting during the November election, which Jacobson called “a difference maker,” and getting Trump to visit Dane County during the campaign.
“In politics, you have to have a short memory about losses,” he said.
Rep. Brent Jacobson, R-Mosinee, leaves the 2025 state budget address Feb. 18, 2025, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Julia Azari, a political science professor at Marquette University, said Schimming has a difficult job because Wisconsin “has a very unclear relationship with Trump and Trumpism.”
On the one hand, she said, Wisconsin helped Trump to victory in 2016 as well as 2024, but policies such as tariffs in his second term have met with pushback.
Azari also pointed to factors other than Schimming’s leadership for the Supreme Court outcome. She cited the involvement of billionaire Elon Musk in pushing Schimel’s candidacy as more important.
“A lot of it is related to resentment about Musk coming in from on high,” Azari said of Schimel’s loss. “I think Wisconsin voters are resistant to nationalization, and that the nationalization of party politics has had a limited impact here.”
For his part, Jacobson is looking ahead to the governor’s race in 2026, hoping for party unity.
Democrat Tony Evers has not said whether he will seek a third term; so far one Republican, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, is in the race.
Jacobson said he expects more Republican candidates, but hopes not to see a repeat of 2022. He said that year’s GOP primary battle between businessman Tim Michels, who defeated former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch for the nomination, left the party hobbled against Evers.
“We can always learn from history and I would hope that we did that from 2022, so that we can not only be united but come out of the primary process with a lot more resources” in 2026, Jacobson said.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee used its first working meeting on the state’s next two-year budget to scrap Gov. Tony Evers’ recommended spending plan — but it offered clues to which of the public’s priorities remain in the mix and which are DOA.
Using committee rules, Republicans put a prohibition on committee members discussing certain ideas put forth by the governor — including proposals relating to some of the public’s top priorities: education funding, health care and child care — but left the door open to discussing some of his ideas even as they struck them from the budget document.
The Joint Finance Committee’s action marks the fourth time in four budget cycles that it has scrapped hundreds of the Democratic governor’s proposals — though some of them can return to the budget, in some form or another. GOP lawmakers on the committee have gotten used to “the way we have to manage Gov. Evers’ budgets,” committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, told reporters, adding that the governor’s plan called for too much state spending.
Democrats on the committee denounced their GOP colleagues for tossing Evers’ budget.
“People are struggling, and it’s a challenging world,” said Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha. “The one thing we should not be doing, the one thing that nobody votes for their legislator to do, is to make their life harder.”
Committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, panned the idea that Evers’ proposals were the only way to address certain issues in the state.
“This idea that the door is closed on all these things is pretty ridiculous,” he said during the committee’s meeting.
There is more than “one way to address issues and those will all be debated and built over the next couple of months,” Born added.
Here are issues legislators will and won’t be able to discuss as the committee crafts a spending plan over the next two months.
Education funding
The committee closed the book on a number of education issues. That includes a $148 million proposal from Evers to make school meals free to all K-12 students in Wisconsin regardless of income. The program would have taken effect for the 2026-27 school year.
The committee also shut down a $500,000 proposal to fund a grant program for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs, $5 million in funding to help school districts encourage people to pursue a career in teaching and $1 million to pay for feminine hygiene products that can be distributed to Wisconsin students at school.
Though the committee voted to scrap scores of other Evers proposals, it did not vote to end the discussion on certain issues that were priorities for the governor and raised by the public at committee hearings.
One thing scrapped by the committee but left open for discussion was Evers’ $1.13 billion request to have the state pay for 60% of Wisconsin school districts’ special education costs. The state currently covers a third of such costs for public schools and upwards of 90% of costs for some private voucher schools. Multiple public hearing attendees said their public school districts have transferred thousands of dollars from their general funds to their special education funds to cover costs that have not been reimbursed.
The committee also tossed out a $212 million proposal to increase general per pupil aid and a $168 million request to fund school-based mental health services, but left the door open for future discussion on both topics.
The committee’s decision to definitively shut down some proposals but leave open others suggests lawmakers could increase spending for certain programs funded by Evers, just in different ways or amounts.
Health care
As it has throughout Evers’ time in office, the committee rejected a proposal to accept federal Medicaid expansion and used committee rules to block further discussion of the topic. Medicaid expansion has been a top priority for the governor during his six-plus years in office, but Republicans have repeatedly blocked efforts to expand the program.
Wisconsin is one of 10 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has defended that decision as insulating the state from the federal government scaling back Medicaid reimbursements.
Republicans on the committee also closed the door on a $100 million proposal from Evers to fund a program focused on lead hazard remediation. The funds would have been used to help low-income families remediate lead in homes built before 1950.
The committee also clipped a $1.4 million request from Evers to pay for a study to assess so-called “forever chemicals” and identify potential methods for limiting further human exposure. PFAS, as the chemicals are commonly known, have contaminated water sources across Wisconsin. Two years ago, the Legislature approved $125 million to help address PFAS contamination in the state. The funds have so far not been released, with Evers and Republicans at odds with how the money should be spent.
One key item lawmakers threw out but did not block future consideration of is postpartum Medicaid expansion. Wisconsin is one of two states that have turned down a federal expansion of Medicaid coverage for up to 12 months for new moms. Wisconsin’s coverage currently lasts 60 days after birth, far shorter than what health experts recommend. Evers’ proposal would have expanded coverage to one year.
A stand-alone bill that would provide Medicaid coverage to new moms for 12 months is currently working its way through the Legislature. It is co-sponsored by a majority of the Legislature’s 132 members. All six Senate Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee voted in favor of the stand-alone bill last month. Including it in the state budget could provide lawmakers a way to circumvent opposition from Vos, who has criticized the bill as welfare expansion.
Child care
Among the Evers provisions discarded by the committee without a possibility of future consideration were programs that would provide financial assistance to child care providers, assist workers with licensing and certification and pay down debt associated with child care accrued by certain qualifying families.
Child Care Counts was established in 2020 using federal funds to provide monthly stipends to child care providers to cover costs of their services and support the recruitment and retention efforts of child care workers in Wisconsin. But funding for the program is set to expire at the end of June.
Evers’ budget proposal would have allocated $442 million over the next two years to make the program permanent, funding annual payments to child care providers. The recommendation would also fund four new positions at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families to oversee the program.
Without continued state support for the program, around 25% of child care centers in Wisconsin face the threat of closing once current funding runs out.
Another program removed from the budget would have provided a $4.5 million grant to Wonderschool — an organization aimed at meeting the demands of child care — to continue expanding child care in Wisconsin. The program also would provide $5.5 million to the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association to support child care workers in the state, including assistance with the licensing and certification process.
Another cut program would have used federal funds to reduce child care debt for qualifying parents.
Child care access and affordability have been a persistent problem in Wisconsin, with some families expressing concern over how they will cover the costs of child care without state support.
The Joint Finance Committee will continue its work on the budget throughout May and June. The state’s current fiscal year expires on June 30, but if a new budget isn’t yet in place, funding will continue at existing levels.
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Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit newsroom that uses journalism to make the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected, seeks a senior reporter to lead our newsroom’s state government coverage.
The successful candidate will be responsible for producing regular coverage of state government policy and politics with a premium on explaining how they affect the public and how citizens can stay in charge of their government. Coverage will include regular stories that provide context and deepen understanding about state government activities, explain what elected representatives are up to for areas of the state with no Capitol coverage, and deliver high-impact investigative and explanatory solutions. A top-tier candidate will already have a following on social media and be comfortable discussing Wisconsin politics on radio, TV and podcasts and in other web-based formats. Our aim is to deliver important state government news and knowledge to people through their preferred format and channels, whether that’s shared social videos, concise newsletter summaries or compelling narratives.
Job duties
The statehouse reporter will:
Produce weekly news and analysis content for the Monday newsletter Forward.
Produce substantive investigations that examine societal problems and explore solutions.
Participate in weekly planning meetings to map out short- and long-term coverage plans.
Mentor interns and other reporters in state government reporting.
Engage in opportunities to share reporting with media partners.
Report to state editor Matthew DeFour as part of a team with two other reporters and interns.
Required qualifications: The ideal candidate will bring a public service mindset and a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies.
More specifically, we’re looking for a reporter who:
Has covered government and shown the ability to develop sources, find important stories and inform the public about what their elected representatives are up to.
Brings a nimble, innovative mindset — Wisconsin Watch is exploring the frontiers of nonprofit journalism, and we want reporters who bring ideas about how to grow our audience and deliver meaningful information to the people who need it most.
Is committed to nonpartisan reporting focused on identifying problems as well as best-practice solutions.
Key bonus skills:
Data reporting expertise.
Spanish language fluency.
Experience with audio and video storytelling.
Location: The reporter will be based in Madison with desks in both the Capitol press room and our Wisconsin Watch newsroom in Madison.
Salary and benefits: The annual salary range is $60,000-$80,000. Benefits include five weeks of vacation; paid sick leave and family and caregiver leave; 75% reimbursement for silver-tier health and dental insurance on the federal exchange; 100% vision insurance coverage; $100 per paycheck automatic employer contribution to a 403(b) retirement plan (no match required).
Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience.
Deadline: May 30, 2025
To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume, work samples and answer some brief questions in this application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Hiring Manager Matthew DeFour at mdefour@wisconsinwatch.org.
Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.
About Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing independent, nonpartisan journalism that makes the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. We believe that access to truthful local news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life. Under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella, we have multiple news departments including a statewide investigative and explanatory projects team, a Capitol bureau, a regional collaboration in northeast Wisconsin called the NEW News Lab, and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS).
NNS was founded in 2011 as a mission-driven newsroom that reports on and celebrates Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods. Through its reporting, website, e-newsletters and News414 texting service, NNS covers ordinary people who do extraordinary things, connects readers with resources and serves as a watchdog for their neighbors. Together, Wisconsin Watch’s state team and NNS reporters collaborate to produce solutions-oriented investigative and explanatory stories highlighting issues affecting communities in Milwaukee.
The federal Medicare program spends more per beneficiary for a person on Medicare Advantage than if the person were on traditional Medicare.
The difference is projected at 20% higher, or $84 billion, in 2025, compared with 22% and $83 billion in 2024, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
The independent congressional agency says a key reason is Medicare Advantage uses a fixed monthly payment per beneficiary, rather than fee-for-service.
Medicare is federal health insurance mainly for people age 65 and over. Medicare Advantage is a private alternative paid for by Medicare. Advantage enrollees can get more benefits, but are restricted on providers they can see.
Advantage enrollment has been increasing, but some enrollees find it difficult to switch to traditional Medicare when they get older and sicker.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the Madison area, claimed in April that Medicare Advantage was created to save money but costs more than Medicare.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Reading Time: 5minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
We spoke to more than 25 people who reported problems connecting via phone calls in Wisconsin prisons. The problems began intermittently after prisons began distributing free electronic tablets in March 2024, and they have worsened more recently.
Tablets were supposed to improve communication and give prisoners more flexibility to call loved ones, but the private contractor who runs the prison’s communication system has failed to keep up with increased call volume.
Wisconsin prisoners have struggled to connect with loved ones for weeks and even months as a state contractor fails to keep up with increasing demand for its call and messaging services.
The Department of Corrections last year began working with Texas-based ICSolutions, the prison system’s phone provider, to make electronic tablets free for every state prisoner. The state allocated $2.5 million to cover some of the cost. The program aims to boost quality of life behind bars by making it easier for incarcerated people to connect with their loved ones and access resources.
Intermittent problems began after some prisons began distributing the tablets in March 2024. The issues worsened this spring, prisoners and their family members say, spreading across institutions that imprison more than 23,000.
WPR and Wisconsin Watch heard from more than 25 people experiencing connection difficulties at multiple prisons. Incarcerated people described dialing a number multiple times before getting through and waiting more than an hour for calls to connect. Family members described hearing their phones ring but receiving no option to connect with the caller; some calls have dropped mid-conversation.
Family members are airing frustrations in a nearly 300-member Facebook forum launched specifically to discuss the phone problems.
Brenda McIntyre, incarcerated at Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center, traditionally calls her grandchildren every weekend. But the overwhelmed system blocked a recent check-in.
“‘Grandma, why didn’t you call me? You said you’re going to call me,’” McIntyre recalled one grandchild asking when they finally connected.
Phone services somewhat improved late last week, McIntyre said. But she worries about missing updates about her sister’s cancer treatment.
“It’s been a living hell,” she said.
(Photo: Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch, Audio: Addie Costello / WPR and Wisconsin Watch)
Neither ICSolutions nor its parent company responded to requests for comment. But in an undated statement on its website, the company promised improvements in the “coming weeks,” with “significant optimization coming this summer.” The statement recommended shifting calls to “off-peak hours” — before 5 p.m. or after 9 p.m. But family members say they are not always available at such hours.
Corrections spokesperson Beth Hardtke squarely blamed ICSolutions, saying state-run infrastructure and Wi-Fi access played no role in the issue.
“To be very clear, the quality of service that ICSolutions is providing is not acceptable to the department. If reliability and customer service do not improve, the department will be forced to reevaluate our contract,” Hardtke wrote in an email.
The statement from ICSolutions blamed “unexpected challenges” from increased demand for calls. But Hardtke said the company previously assured the department it could handle higher call volume during the rollout.
Prisoners in nine of Wisconsin’s 36 adult institutions — including all three women’s facilities — still lack tablets. The glitches affect them, too, because ICSolutions services the entire phone system, not just tablets.
The corrections department is pausing tablet distribution while trying to fix the reliability problems, Hardtke said.
Tablets mean more calls
Emily Curtis said she was cautiously excited when her incarcerated fiance gained access to a tablet at Stanley Correctional Institution.
Emily Curtis, director of advocacy and programming for the prisoner advocacy group Ladies of SCI, is shown with her fiance Martell and teenage son Brian. (Courtesy of Emily Curtis)
He previously could call only from the prison’s landlines and during limited hours. The tablet enabled calls most anytime, even during lockdowns. For about two months, the two talked daily — right before Curtis fell asleep and right after she woke up.
“It was great,” Curtis said. “Until everything kind of hit the fan.”
Wisconsin is not the only state prison system that has issued tablets.
Unlike some states, however, Wisconsin allows people to make calls from their cells and doesn’t limit the number of calls they can make, Hartdke said via email. That policy, which the department communicated to ICSolutions during contract negotiations, naturally increased call volume, she added.
Calls from Green Bay Correctional Institution, for instance, increased by nearly 200% after the tablet rollout, Hardtke wrote.
Curtis now hears from her fiance just once daily, usually very early in the morning. Their 14-year-old son has gone weeks without talking to his dad, Curtis said, because the phone lines are too jammed once he’s home from school.
Prison phone calls: costly for families, profitable for providers
ICSolutions and the prison system make millions each year from phone calls. The company charges six cents a minute and shares revenue with the state, adding nearly $4 million to its general fund in recent years.
Curtis said she spends roughly $250 a month on calls.
Tablets present new revenue opportunities for prison contractors. An ICSolutions affiliate sold them to incarcerated Wisconsinites before the state made them free. And even with free tablets, prisoners pay for calls, messaging and other applications.
The high cost of phone calls has long burdened the incarcerated and their families. The Federal Communications Commission last year responded by capping fees. Apps for TV and music aren’t subject to the same regulations. That makes tablets a safer investment for prison telecommunication companies, said Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative, which focuses on solutions to mass incarceration.
Incarcerated people often greet the rollout of tablets with excitement, Bertram said. But the attempt to improve virtual communication comes as Wisconsin, like other states, has restricted other communication — like physical mail.
In December 2021, the corrections department began rerouting all prisoner-bound mail to Maryland, where a company called TextBehind scans each piece of mail and sends a digital copy to those incarcerated. The controversial effort aims to reduce the flow of drugs into prisons.
The change delays access to mail and boosts reliance on tablets. As a result, technology glitches have bigger consequences, Betram said.
‘We’re helpless’: Blocked calls mean lonely holidays
Charles Gill is incarcerated at Oshkosh Correctional Institution. His fiance lives in New York, and his adult son lives in New Jersey, too far to visit in person. Gill relies largely on his tablet for communication. But online texts have been delayed by two to three days, Gill said.
“We’re helpless,” Gill said.“To be a father, not knowing what’s going on with your child, to be in a relationship with someone and not knowing what’s going on with them. God forbid something happens and somebody goes to the hospital, somebody gets hurt. We don’t know about it, and we can’t reach out to nobody and talk about it.”
Gill felt particularly helpless on Easter weekend, the anniversary of his brother’s death. He couldn’t reach any family members.
“The phones were just destroyed on (Easter) weekend, ” he said. “You could really feel the tension in the air because people weren’t able to call their families.”
He worries about a repeat around Mother’s Day.
“Having that ability to speak to someone who still sees you as a human being and not a number is vital,” said Marianne Oleson, the operations director for Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing of Wisconsin.
Shawnda Schultz, left, is shown with her mother Marcella Trimble, who has been incarcerated for about nine years. Schultz said glitches in the state prison phone system have brought her to tears. (Courtesy of Shawnda Schultz)
That’s especially the case for mothers who are incarcerated. The majority of women in prisons nationally have children under the age of 18, according to a 2016 U.S. Department of Justice report. Phone calls offer incarcerated women their only chance to act as parent, wife or daughter — ensuring their loved ones are safe, Oleson said.
The faulty phone system leaves incarcerated people with tough choices.
“We even have to choose to try the phone over going to meals,” Christa Williams, who is incarcerated at Ellsworth prison, wrote in an email.
Shawnda Schultz said phone failures have left her incarcerated mother in tears during recent calls.
“It bothers me because their phone calls are the one thing that (prisoners) have to keep them going in there, and it keeps us going too, because that’s our mother,” Schultz said.
Schultz’s sister recently delivered her first baby. If the phones don’t improve, she worries her mother will miss hearing updates, like when her grandchild says his first word.
“I found myself actually in tears because I’m just like, ‘what if something happens to my mom?’” Schultz said.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2025 general recommendations are that children receive about 19 vaccinations and other immunizations.
Those include vaccines against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, tetanus and diphtheria. The range is from one to five doses from birth through age 18.
Total doses could exceed 70. That’s mainly from annual recommended doses of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.
Wisconsin requires seven immunizations (19 doses) for schoolchildren. COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are not included.
Before vaccines, many children died from diseases such as measles and pertussis (whooping cough), according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The viruses and bacteria that cause these diseases still exist, and some are deadly, the department says.
Attorney Mary Holland, head of Children’s Health Defense, an organization founded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. that questions vaccines, said May 1 on Wisconsin radio the federal recommendation is for “at least 77 vaccines.”
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Wisconsin Watch seeks a resourceful and ambitious philanthropy officer to support our fund development work in southeastern Wisconsin and the greater Milwaukee area.
The philanthropy officer will be a key member of the philanthropy team, responsible for cultivating and expanding our charitable support. This role will focus on donor cultivation and growing a regionally based portfolio. The right candidate will be effective in building and maintaining relationships with individual donors, foundations and corporate foundations and collaborating with the philanthropy team on fundraising campaigns and stewardship events. The philanthropy officer will play a critical role in ensuring our organization can continue producing excellent nonpartisan, solutions-oriented journalism that strengthens the communities we serve.
Duties and responsibilities
Relationship and portfolio development:
Build and manage a regionally based portfolio of donors.
Prospect identification: Research and identify potential major donors who have a passion for our work and have the capacity to make significant gifts.
Relationship building: Collaborate with the director of philanthropy, CEO and Milwaukee NNS executive director to craft funder outreach, write personalized communication and conduct in-person meetings. Steward donors and maintain relationships.
Gift solicitation: Approach qualified donors to solicit gifts, effectively articulating the impact of our work and how it overlaps with the donor’s passions.
Collaborate internally with business and editorial staff to craft meaningful donor interactions and proposals.
Act as an ambassador to southeastern Wisc0nsin, attending relevant community events and networking opportunities.
Meet established fundraising goals to support organizational needs.
Systems:
Maintain best practice standards when it comes to record keeping, including logging contact reports to the donor database/CRM.
Collaborate with the associate director of philanthropy to analyze weekly gift reports, customize acknowledgement copy and route letters for approvals and signatures.
Draft acknowledgment letter templates and refresh/update content on a biannual basis.
Partner with the business team on database policies and best practices in record keeping.
Other duties:
Track key initiatives, monitor deadlines and coordinate with teams to ensure the timely execution of goals.
Perform other major donor/development activities as may be required (i.e. tours, public speaking or spokesperson activities).
Collaborate with the philanthropy team on stewardship event execution.
Serve as a community ambassador/spokesperson as needed.
Support proposal development and grant writing as needed.
Qualifications
Excels at relationship building and connecting impact-driven missions with individual passions.
Has experience with high-touch fundraising and gift solicitation.
Displays a desire to work with culturally diverse populations using a compassionate, collaborative and respectful approach.
Responsive, tactful and professional, possessing a relationship-centric mindset.
Thrives in high-pressure environments and remains adaptable amid changing priorities.
Demonstrates a proactive, creative, problem-solving mindset with a focus on outcomes. Demonstrates a commitment to looking for solutions and opportunities for collaboration.
Is highly organized, detail-oriented and capable of juggling multiple priorities.
Is familiar and comfortable with various technologies, from Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, etc.) and CRMs to social platforms, ensuring smooth execution of tasks and communication across different tools.
Preferred qualifications:
5+ years’ experience in nonprofit fundraising, stewardship, donor relations, project management and/or a related area.
Proficient in Google Suite, MS Office, Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Passion for journalism, local news, media, and/or civic engagement.
Location: The philanthropy officer will be located in southeastern Wisconsin, preferably the greater Milwaukee area.
Status, salary and benefits:
Full time, hybrid position.
Salary: $60,000 – $80,000. Final salary offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise and location.
5 weeks of vacation, retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.
Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by May 30, 2025.
To apply: Please submit your resume in this application form and answer each of these three questions in 50 words or less.
Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.
About Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing nonpartisan journalism that makes the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. We believe that access to local representative news is critical to a healthy democracy and to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of everyday life. Under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella, we have three independent news divisions, a statewide investigative newsroom, a regional collaboration in northeast Wisconsin called the NEW News Lab, and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS). All three divisions maintain their unique reporting areas and together are positioned to grow and serve our communities with greater efficiency and impact.
NNS was founded in 2011 as a mission-driven newsroom that reports on and celebrates Milwaukee’s central city neighborhoods, specifically the city’s Black and Latinx communities. Through NNS’ reporting, website, e-newsletters and News414 texting service, we cover the ordinary people who do extraordinary things, connect readers with resources and serve as a watchdog for our audience. NNS, formerly a part of Marquette University, and Wisconsin Watch have a long history of collaboration. In 2024, NNS moved its administrative home and merged under the Wisconsin Watch umbrella. Together, Wisconsin Watch’s statewide team and NNS’ reporters collaborate to produce statewide investigative stories while highlighting issues impacting communities in Milwaukee.
A Democratic bill seeks to bring down house prices in Wisconsin by blocking hedge funds from buying single-family homes in the state.
“We know that there’s an access and affordability crisis in housing right now,” lead bill sponsor Sen. Sarah Keyeski, D-Lodi, told Wisconsin Watch in an interview, calling it a nationwide problem. “And as a state legislator, I want to see if I can do something about that crisis locally.”
Hedge funds pool money, generally from wealthy investors, and invest it in a range of markets seeking to make a profit, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That sizable pool of cash “really gives them almost unlimited power to buy what they would like at prices that are often out of reach for a typical purchaser,” Keyeski said.
Hedge funds’ ability to outbid other prospective home buyers, especially individuals, increases housing costs and prices out middle class families, Keyeski argued.
While the Democratic lawmaker acknowledged the practice of investor-backed groups gobbling up houses isn’t widespread in Wisconsin, she noted that groups with deep pockets bought more than a thousand houses in the Milwaukee area beginning around 2018.
Three companies, VineBrook Homes, SFR3 and Highgrove Holdings, owned about 1,500 homes as of the end of 2022, according to a 2023 analysis from John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education.
VineBrook and SFR3 together owned almost 1,200 homes, deploying a “buy-to-rent” business model, Johnson said. However, in some instances, they were willing to flip their recently purchased homes. SFR3 paid about $2 million for 23 properties, Johnson found, later selling them for a total of $4.2 million.
Vinebrook now owns 703 properties, and SFR3 is down to 188, Johnson told Wisconsin Watch in an email.
There was an increase in investor-backed groups buying single-family homes in 2024, though still at a lower rate than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from RedFin, a real estate brokerage and mortgage company. In the fourth quarter of 2024, for example, investor-backed groups bought 17% of the American homes sold in those three months.
The share of homes owned by large investment groups in the Milwaukee area was 14.9% in the last three months of last year, RedFin found, lower than the national average.
The increase in investor purchases was focused on single-family homes, RedFin found, as interest from deep-pocketed groups waned for townhouses, condos and multifamily properties.
Keyeski sees her bill as “a preemptive move” to protect other Wisconsin communities, she said.
The legislation also fits into a larger package of bills from Democratic lawmakers seeking to bring down costs for Wisconsin residents, Keyeski said.
The bill currently has 42 cosponsors — 41 Democrats and one Republican. But she said she has heard a positive response from both Democratic and Republican voters about the bill and is hopeful the legislation could get a hearing this session.
Legislative Republicans have so far not introduced any bills seeking to curb housing costs, according to a Wisconsin Watch review of legislative proposals. Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, who chairs the Senate Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues and Forestry, did not respond to questions about whether Keyeski’s legislation would get a hearing this session.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The Joint Finance Committee has wrapped up its budget listening sessions around the state, and lawmakers will soon begin writing their own two-year budget for 2025-27, likely after throwing out Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ budget recommendations.
The public hearings — held in Hayward, West Allis, Wausau and Kaukauna — were attended by hundreds of residents who voiced their budget concerns and requests to the Republican-controlled committee.
Here are three of the budget-related issues that attendees raised most frequently.
Education funding
Education was the top concern at all four hearings, with many attendees voicing support for more higher education and K-12 school funding. Many residents also called for increased special education funding.
The Legislature reimbursed a third of Wisconsin school districts’ special education costs in the 2023-25 state budget. Private voucher schools receive up to 90% reimbursement of special education costs through a special program. Evers has proposed a more than $1 billion increase in special education reimbursements to meet a 60% coverage level in this year’s budget.
Multiple attendees said their public school districts have transferred thousands of dollars from their general funds to their special education funds to cover costs that have not been reimbursed. Others urged lawmakers to raise the special education reimbursement level to either 60% or 90%.
“Special education is mandated, it is regulated, and more than that it is important to our students and our staff,” Josh Viegut, assistant superintendent of the Wausau School District, told lawmakers in Wausau. “This year, our district will transfer over $10 million from our general education fund to our special education fund. By increasing the reimbursement rate to 60%, you would have a great impact on all students.”
A record number of public school referendums were held statewide last year, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, largely because inflation has exceeded the Legislature’s increases in per pupil revenue limits. Of the 94 questions on the ballot in February and April alone — the most in an odd-numbered election year since 2007 — 62 were operating referendums that asked taxpayers to raise their own property taxes to pay for daily school operations like utilities, routine maintenance and staff salaries.
“The state’s chronic underfunding of our public schools led Wauwatosa to recently pass its first operating referendum — the only way to prevent devastating cuts to our beloved teaching staff and programming,” a parent told the committee in West Allis. “Other school districts haven’t been so lucky.”
Last month, the state Supreme Court upheld Evers’ line item veto used in the 2023-25 state budget, in which he set in state law an annual increase of $325 in public school spending per student for the next 400 years. Republicans have criticized the decision and may seek ways to sidestep the governor’s veto power in this year’s budget.
As the federal government cuts funding to higher education, Republican lawmakers have pushed back on Evers’ $856 million budget request for the UW system. Wisconsin currently ranks 43rd out of 50 in state spending on public universities.
“This underfunding puts us at a disadvantage in the war for talent to retain and attract new students, faculty and future innovators,” Rocco Paulson, a student at UW-Superior, told the committee in Hayward. “This funding will directly support affordability — ensuring tuition remains stable … and making sure the possibility of raising our tuition doesn’t fall upon me and my fellow students.”
Health care
Other attendees raised concerns about federal threats to Medicaid, telling lawmakers how even a small cut to funding could greatly affect their respite care centers, disability care centers, in-home care programs and more.
“If anything would happen to any part of the Medicaid program, we would probably end up closing our doors, and we have 55 participants that come there every single day,” an attendee from the Balsam Lake Endeavors Adult Development Center told the committee in Hayward.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives last month passed a revised budget resolution that would require the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut spending by $880 million over the next 10 years. Medicaid programs like BadgerCare, Family Care and IRIS provide coverage to 20% of Wisconsin residents, 38% of the state’s children and 60% of nursing home patients, according to the Department of Health Services.
An attendee from Washburn providing in-home care for a disabled individual expressed concerns that the Family Care program will face federal cuts.
“Any reduction of support for this program will make it impossible for me to continue providing care for this person … the person will once again become homeless and without care,” he told the committee. “Is the state prepared to house and care for these individuals?”
Evers’ budget request would accept federal Medicaid expansion and would add 897,000 low-income people to the state’s program. Wisconsin is one of 10 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has defended that decision as insulating the state from the federal government scaling back Medicaid reimbursements.
Child care
Residents also used the public hearings to express concerns regarding child care access in Wisconsin, with many supporting Evers’ $480 million funding request for Child Care Counts — a pandemic-era program that helps providers cover costs.
Affordable and accessible child care has been a persistent issue across the state. Wisconsin is losing hundreds of child care providers every year, according to the Department of Children and Families.
In 2023, the JFC voted to end state funding for Child Care Counts. With the program set to run out of funding at the end of June, 25% of child care providers may close without continued Child Care Counts funding, according to a recent DCF survey. Many others say they would have to raise their tuition rates.
Chris Phernetton told the committee in Hayward that she owns one of only two licensed child care centers in Burnett County. She said her center’s small margin of profit last year was only possible because of the Child Care Counts program.
“We raised our tuition rates in January to try to make up for the 50% cut to Child Care Counts, but as we feared, enrollment quickly dropped. Families in Burnett County can’t afford the new rates,” she said. “When families can’t find care, they can’t work.”
A mother of two young kids told the committee the cost of child care is overwhelming. Her children’s care center often closes early due to lack of staff “because it’s hard to find teachers to work for less than a livable wage,” she said.
“If we lose state support for child care, I don’t know what families like mine will do,” she said. “Like so many others, we face tuition hikes when we can barely afford unexpected early pickups … all because there simply aren’t enough teachers to stay open.”
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