A train derailment in Dodge County spilled crude oil but caused no injuries. It is the second derailment in just over two years in the same area.

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There have been over 13,000 damage reports from residents in southeast Wisconsin, according to the most recent Impact 211 data.

The post ‘We have no AC and no hot water’: Milwaukee County residents still cleaning up from weekend storm appeared first on WPR.

The head of the policymaking board for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said the agency has been facing a “slow, insidious loss of resources” that’s resulted in the loss of hundreds of positions over more than two decades.

The post Wisconsin DNR has lost 500 positions since 2003, causing permitting delays appeared first on WPR.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson joins city health department officials on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, to give updates about the flood recovery efforts. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Milwaukee County continues to process the aftermath of a historic flooding that swept through the area  last weekend. Although much of the flood water, which exceeded 10 inches in some areas, has receded, emergency shelters are still  providing services to people displaced by the extreme weather, and community clean-up efforts continue. 

At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Cavalier Johnson said residents should call 211 to report property damage, which he called an important  step towards achieving an official disaster declaration, which in turn could provide additional resources. Johnson said local officials continue to work with state and federal partners to access resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and noted a recent visit to the city by Gov. Tony Evers. 

“We’re asking for the federal government to do their part and issue some relief to the folks here in Milwaukee with some assistance from FEMA,” Johnson said. The city continues to wait for President Donald Trump’s administration to respond to Milwaukee’s calls for support. Johnson encouraged residents to report downed trees, abandoned vehicles, standing water and to check on neighbors or loved ones. 

The mayor praised Milwaukeeans for “stepping up,” helping senior citizens to clear out basements and  clearing out storm drains. “We really appreciate the efforts of people all across our city who are stepping up to make this a safer place for everybody as we work to get through the aftermath of the storm,”  he said. “We’re a resilient city, we always have been, we always will be, and we will get through this together.”

Johnson was joined by Mike Totoraitis, commissioner of the Milwaukee Health Department. Totoraitis said that calling 211 “is your best connection to resources at this point,” noting that “there are some large wait times on 211 during those peak hours.” Like the mayor, Totoraitis said that calling 211 is also one of the best ways to essentially convince the federal government to send assistance. “We know that many people have lost water heaters, furnaces, furniture, personal effects, there is a lot of damage that has happened,” he said. “Drive through neighborhoods across the city and see just debris and items out on someone’s driveway. So this is a critical moment to get those damage reports in, and then we’re also using that to help prioritize where we’re going to bring additional resources.”

Working with the Red Cross and other partners, Totoraitis said that the city is deploying hundreds of cleaning kits and other supplies. Meanwhile, the health department is monitoring signs of disease. Totoraitis said residents should assume any standing water in the streets or in homes is contaminated with sewage and avoid it. 

The Red Cross has established two shelters, one on the near North Side and another on the South Side, to help people displaced by the flood. Dozens of people sought assistance from the shelters, a Red Cross worker told Wisconsin Examiner. The two locations have recently been consolidated into one shelter now operating out of Marshall High School, according to a Red Cross worker.

On Monday, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley thanked first responders, Evers, and the National Guard for assisting. “I know this is an incredibly challenging and devastating time for many of our residents, but I’m inspired seeing neighbors helping neighbors, businesses stepping up to support those in need, and the tireless dedication of our first responders and emergency management personnel,” said Crowley. “Milwaukee County is a strong and resilient community, and I know that by coming together, we will persevere.” On Tuesday, Crowley walked through storm-damaged neighborhoods near Brown Deer with officials from the county’s Office of Emergency Management.

On Wednesday, Wisconsin Policy Forum released a report warning that severe flooding could become more frequent. “Over the past 45 years Wisconsin has seen a dramatic increase in damage caused by flooding, as the climate has warmed, extreme rains have become more common, and urban development has continued,” the report states. “Increased flooding in turn has resulted in larger payouts on flood insurance claims, as well as increased federal and state payments for disaster recovery. With projections suggesting that continued climate change will further increase the likelihood of extreme rains, federal, state, and local governments will need to deal with the consequences.” 

The report shows that during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, flood insurance damage claims for property in Wisconsin exceeded $40 million. Severe floods that struck Milwaukee in 2008 caused nearly $50 million in flood insurance damage claims. “Current projections show that the frequency of heavy rain events and the potential for devastating floods will continue to grow over the coming decades,” the report states. “Property owners, along with state and local governments, will be on the hook for the costs of cleaning up and rebuilding after these floods occur. As costs grow, they may begin to stress state and local budgets, especially if state leaders decide to cover a growing share of the rebuilding costs. In addition, there are some questions about the federal government’s long-term commitment to covering these costs, which may push additional costs onto the state.” 

Taking care of each other

Many people are continuing to wrap their minds around the scale of the flood damage. When Evers visited Milwaukee County, he was joined by Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) on a tour of  the area Vining represents. Wauwatosa produced some of the most dramatic images of flood damage, with most of Hart Park seemingly underwater and overflowing wetlands in the County Grounds natural area. 

Vining said in a statement that “the damage is serious, and the pain across the community is real. Let’s be good neighbors and take care of each other during this difficult time.” 

Anne Tuchelski, a 29-year-old lifelong resident of Milwaukee in the Bay View neighborhood, saw people stepping up to help one another as a summer’s-worth of rain fell in the middle of the night last weekend across Milwaukee. Tuchelski realized something was wrong after her neighborhood’s main intersection was completely flooded. “I’ve never seen it like this,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. “My gutters were just pouring out and just slamming on the pavement…I’ve never seen this before.” 

Tuchelski’s 85-year-old grandmother, who has also lived in Milwaukee for her whole life, had never seen such a storm before either. Tuchelski drove to her grandmother’s house in the middle of the night to check on her. The water was rising dramatically. 

“That was really the kicker, was that it was happening in the middle of the night,” she said. Driving down the darkened, flooded roadways, Tuchelski saw people stranded in their cars. From 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. she used her SUV to offer people rides and to push stalled vehicles out of the water, “helping wherever I could.”

Tuchelski recalled one woman whose car was stranded in floodwater near the freeway. She’d left home to pick up her son, and needed her car to go to work in the morning. Tuchelski tried to get her to understand that her vehicle was flooded, and that the tow truck she’d decided to wait for likely wouldn’t come because of the scale of the disaster. 

“It was just really heartbreaking to see her try to come to terms with the fact that the next day is going to change greatly,” Tuchelski said. She offered her a ride, but the woman refused. “It’s like she wasn’t grasping that nobody can come right now. Everybody’s overwhelmed, everybody’s doing their best, and the car’s gone. And you’re standing in the middle of the intersection at 3 o’clock in the morning. She just couldn’t grasp it, and I ran into multiple people like that who just could not grasp it.”

Another person Tuchelski encountered was in a U-Haul truck attempting to move their things, and seemingly unable to accept that it was all already gone or ruined. “I kept saying to her, ‘You have to leave it,’ and she’s like, ‘My stuff, my stuff,’ and I was like, ‘We can’t. It’s underwater.’ So it was just a repeated thing with people, where they just could not come to terms with leaving their belongings behind for their own survival, and their own well-being.” 

Tuchelski herself lost many family tapes, pictures and dresses in the flood. Tuchelski’s family has lived in Milwaukee for over a century. Her grandmother’s basement is still flooded, and so is Tuchelski’s aunt’s basement. “My grandmother’s home has raised five generations of family,” said Tuckelski. “And just to see things float by and be damaged, it was really heartbreaking … Things that make our family, and have recorded these moments, and have become important to us, just floating by.”

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Blue Heron Captain Rual Lee invited WPR’s Robin Washington on the mission to report on the scientists’ work for “Morning Edition.”

The post A rescue mission and deep-water study aboard the mighty Blue Heron appeared first on WPR.

The new children’s book “Saving Our Sturgeon” tells the history of one of Wisconsin's oldest fish and how it was brought back from the brink of extinction.

The post New children’s book chronicles the near extinction, restoration of Wisconsin’s lake sturgeon appeared first on WPR.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is accepting submissions for Game Bird Observation through the end of August and Operation Deer Watch until Sept. 30. 

The post State recruits citizen scientists to track wildlife populations appeared first on WPR.

The Bad River tribe and environmental groups are urging an administrative law judge to overturn key permits for Canadian energy firm Enbridge as it seeks to reroute an oil and gas pipeline around the tribe’s reservation.

The post Hearing begins on challenge to key permits for Enbridge’s project to reroute Line 5 appeared first on WPR.

Dozens of people packed into a room at Northwood Technical College in Ashland for the first day of hearings in a case challenging the DNR's decision to approve a permit for the reroute of the Line 5 oil pipeline. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

In more than five hours of public testimony on Tuesday in Ashland, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s case began against a planned extension of the Canadian energy company Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline through northern Wisconsin. 

For decades, Line 5 has run from Canada across northern Wisconsin, through the Bad River reservation. In 2023 a federal judge ordered that the pipeline’s section on the reservation be shut down. Since 2020, Enbridge has been working on a plan to reroute the pipeline, which runs from far northwest Wisconsin 645 miles into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac and across the U.S. border into Canada near Detroit. It transports about 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily.

The proposed new route would move the pipeline upstream of the reservation, which tribal members have argued doesn’t alleviate the environmental risks the pipeline poses to them. 

Tuesday’s hearing was the opening day of testimony in the tribe’s case against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ decision to grant permits for the Line 5 reroute. The case was argued before the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Division of Hearings and Appeals, which gives parties the ability to challenge regulatory decisions by state agencies. Four weeks of hearings are scheduled in both Ashland and Madison. The final decision by DHA can be appealed to a state circuit court. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also weighing its own permit decision on the reroute. That decision is appealable through the federal court system. 

Before the hearing started Tuesday a line of people wound through the parking lot of Northwood Technical College. At the start of the day, the hearing room was packed, with an overflow crowd  forced to watch a livestream from an auxiliary room. 

Many of the people in attendance wore t-shirts stating “Support Line 5” or representing area unions. Tribal activists grumbled that Enbridge had chartered a bus to bring in supporters. 

The pipeline reroute has already sparked hours of public comment and thousands of written comments. The DNR’s initial permit decision drew more than 32,000 written comments and an Army Corps of Engineers hearing on its permit decision in May drew two days of additional public input. 

The day began with opening statements from the tribe’s attorneys, Clean Wisconsin — a non-profit environmental organization which has intervened in the case — and the DNR. 

DNR attorney Michael Kowalkowski said that the department is confident the project will not result in “adverse” effects to the environment or local water after one of the “most comprehensive environmental reviews” in agency history. 

But Stefanie Tsosie, an attorney for the tribe, said the proposed reroute “is not a solution.” She noted that the hearings were occurring as the wild rice harvesting season in the region begins. Wild rice is an important piece of the tribe’s culture and the wetland habitats the rice is a part of are a crucial layer of defense for the area’s waterways — including Lake Superior — against pollution from runoff and flooding. Tsosie said any errors in construction or accidents after the pipeline is operational could irreversibly damage the wild rice. 

“The band is here taking a stand,” Tsosie said, because if an oil spill occurs and the environment is harmed, “the band has nowhere else to go.”

Evan Feinauer, an attorney for Clean Wisconsin, said the project poses far too much environmental risk for the DNR’s permit approval to stand, adding that a “spill of any meaningful size would be catastrophic” to the Lake Superior watershed. 

While many opponents of Line 5 did testify, a large majority of the comments came from supporters of the project. Supporters of the project argued that they believe Enbridge’s plans do enough to protect the environment while providing an economic boost to the region and hundreds of construction jobs. 

Even though the pipeline carries oil and natural gas from Canada through the U.S. and back into Canada, many area residents testified that shutting down the pipeline could raise their own energy prices and make it harder to obtain the propane they use to heat their homes. 

The project “will generate direct economic activity, it will create 700 union construction jobs, stimulate local spending and provide contracts for businesses,” said Anna Rademacher, a representative of the regional economic development organization Area Partnership for Economic Expansion.

While the hearing Tuesday drew hours of public testimony, the meat of the case is yet to come with the parties bringing their arguments for and against the DNR’s permit decision in later court dates. 

After the hearing, Tsosie told the Wisconsin Examiner the hearings Tuesday were a good baseline before the substantive parts of the case are heard.

“Obviously this is still really a contentious issue,” she said. “There are people who we saw today speak very passionately about protecting the water resources and protecting the area, and we saw people who we’ve seen before talk about the economic impacts. But this proceeding, the contested case proceeding, we’re really looking at the permit details, we’re looking at the evidence, we’re looking at baseline data, and so I think this is a good setup, but we still have four weeks of the case left.”

The case is set to continue in Madison Sept. 3 with additional public testimony. The beginning of the parties’ arguments is scheduled to begin Sept. 4.

Experts say that more severe wildfire seasons — and the smoke that comes with them — are a product of climate change. That means there will likely be more summers like this one on the horizon.

The post Is air pollution from wildfire smoke the new normal for Wisconsin? appeared first on WPR.

People arriving at one of Milwaukee's drop-off centers with all manner of debris from the August 2025 floods. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

A line of cars filled with mattresses, downed tree limbs, chairs, dressers, and rugs could be seen outside a Milwaukee Department of Public Works (DPW) drop-off center on Lincoln Avenue Monday morning. Inside, long dumpsters were being filled with the ruined remains cleared out of roadways and people’s homes after flood waters blanketed swaths of Milwaukee County on Aug. 9 and 10. 

Mayor Cavalier Johnson joined DPW Commissioner Jerrell Kruschke at the dump site to provide updates about the flood response Monday. “Some of these stories that we’re hearing are truly, remarkably sad,” said Johnson, recalling that the first message he received was from his uncle, whose basement was filled with water. From the North Side to the South Side, west towards Wauwatosa and east towards Lake Michigan, the flood quickly engulfed roadways and homes. 

“So my thoughts are with everybody, everybody who is dealing with issues trying to clear out a basement, folks that are enduring power outages, trying to sort out, figure out what to do with the car that has been flooded through,” said Johnson. “We’re working through the process of obtaining some disaster declarations so we can bring the appropriate aid to those citizens who have been affected by the downpour.”

Gov. Tony Evers has activated the Wisconsin National Guard to assist efforts in Milwaukee County. It’s unclear at this time what role, if any, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will have in Milwaukee, as the level of damage needs to meet a certain threshold in order for the agency to be activated. The agency has also been threatened with funding cuts and possible shutdown by the Trump administration. 

Johnson stressed that the weekend storm, which dropped over 10 inches of rain in some areas, was extremely rare. Timmerman Airfield recorded over 14 inches of rainfall. “I think I said the other day that last time something like this happened was about a decade or so ago,” the mayor said. “I certainly hope that a storm like this is not visited upon this city for at least another millennium,” he continued, referring to the weekend storm being called a “thousand year flood.” Kruschke echoed the mayor’s comments about the rarity of the massive flooding over the weekend. Johnson said he’d heard on the news that it dropped essentially “a summer’s-worth of rain” in a single storm. 

Yet research on climate change has long-predicted that Wisconsin would experience increased rain, more intense storms, and greater risks of flooding. In late 2020, a report from UW-Madison and state health workers warned that climate change in Wisconsin would mean more rainfall over fewer days, which would likely cause flooding. The report noted that the weather changes could have a cascade of health effects including heat stroke from increased heat (which also fuels more powerful storms), asthma and insect-borne diseases. In 2021, severe storms downed hundreds of trees in Milwaukee County. The following summer, communities across Wisconsin experienced heat waves, heavy rainfall, high winds and tornadoes over a couple of days, during which time people died from heat stroke, or after being swept away in flood waters during heavy rainfall. By 2022, global CO2 levels exceeded 400 parts per million, a red line which scientists warned would spur even worse effects.

Answering a question from Wisconsin Examiner about the climate trends, Kruschke said that heavy rainfalls have been documented for a long time, and that DPW is relying on historical data. Kruschke said that the city was not prepared for the volume of rain that fell so quickly. As for whether the city can adapt to future weather patterns, Mayor Johnson said, “I’ve been thinking about this since this storm happened.” 

Johnson praised the DPW’s work with the Milwaukee Metro Sewerage District (MMSD) to create infrastructure to capture rainfall when it hits the ground. “So when you look at our construction projects in the city of Milwaukee, when you see bioswales in the street, that’s to make sure that we keep rain out of sewers. That’s to make sure that we keep rain out of people’s basements. When you see MMSD working to make improvements at the parks in order to capture more rainwater there, that’s in order to make sure that we plan for events like this. When folks are going out to install rain barrels in their neighborhood, that’s in order to make sure that we stop things like this. When you have folks out in the city, like they were during this flood event, making sure that the sewer grates are clear so that water is better able to get into the sewers and not in people’s basements, all of these things play a role, and all of these things make a difference.” 

Johnson said the city will continue investing in “green infrastructure” from roadway design to the creation of outdoor classrooms that, in addition to providing experiential learning to K-12 students, also capture rain. “There’s a lot of work that’s going into this,” said Johnson. “I just imagine what this would’ve turned out if we hadn’t done that work over the past number of years. I mean, who knows how many hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of gallons of storm water that we were able to capture that didn’t end up in the streets, that didn’t end up in people’s basements.”

The city and county are continuing to assess the full scale of the damage, including how many homes have been affected and people displaced. Monday morning, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office stated in response to an inquiry from  the Wisconsin Examiner that there had been no deaths directly linked to the flooding. However, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Harbor Patrol did find a 49-year-old Native American man, identified as Juan Carlos Sierra Campos, who drowned in Lake Michigan on Sunday morning. An investigation is ongoing. 

Kruschke said the public works department  will continue working normal hours (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and operate special trash disposal procedures for people clearing out damaged or ruined property. Fees will be waived for city drop-off centers, with the centers operating free of charge until Aug. 17. Drop-off centers will also be open Mondays, when they would normally be closed. The drop-off centers are located at 3878 W. Lincoln Ave. and 6600 N. Industrial Road. 

A small number of street sweepers are out on the roadways, and some communities  are deploying dump trucks and other vehicles to assist. DPW is also offering special pick-ups for storm-damaged material. Among the items that will not be accepted are  explosive or flammable products, propane tanks, large gas appliances, fluorescent light bulbs, wet or oil-based paint and material or vehicles from contractors or businesses.

Libraries, including the West Allis Library, are offering WiFi and computers for people unable to use their own. Cars that were swept away or abandoned during the floods may have been towed to alternate locations so as to not overwhelm the city’s usual tow yards. The city does not have a count of the number of cars towed or abandoned. Overnight parking enforcement will be suspended Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Residents are encouraged to avoid wading through flooded areas or standing water. The possibility of contaminated water or hidden debris makes wading unsafe. The Red Cross has also opened two shelters for people who have been displaced by the flooding. The shelters are located at the Washington Park Senior Center (4420 W Vliet St.) and at Holler Park (5151 S. 6th St.). 

People gather near the bridges in the Wauwatosa village to observe the still rushing flooded river and storm damage. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Neighborhoods across Milwaukee County are continuing to recover from record-shattering flooding over the weekend. Inundated basements, entire portions of Wauwatosa seemingly underwater, people fleeing the Wisconsin State Fair which shut down early amid rising floodwater and reports of cars literally floating away down roadways all followed the torrential downpour which began Aug. 9. 

The National Weather Service recorded 5.74 inches of rain Saturday, eclipsing the  previous single-day record for Milwaukee of 1.64 inches of rain. Meteorologists say that Saturday was Milwaukee’s second wettest day in 154 years of record keeping. Additional rainfall brought the total up to nearly 7 inches, with some areas expected to get over 10 inches of rain. Researchers have long-warned that increased and more intense rain and flooding would be among the ways climate change would manifest in Wisconsin. 

Casey Serrano, a resident of Milwaukee’s North Side left the home she shares with her boyfriend around 8 p.m. Saturday about an hour after the rain started. When she returned around 1 a.m., she saw water in the basement “coming out of our main sewer drain that was covering maybe a quarter to a third of our basement, maybe an inch deep.” During the night, the water rose to nearly 2 feet of “brown runoff from the street,” she said.

Serrano woke up to find there was no  power in her home. “Our immediate street is not flooded, and did not flood last night,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. “But the streets surrounding us flooded pretty heavily.” When she went out on  Silver Spring Drive to get supplies, she saw “within like a 20-block radius of our house there were cars that had clearly floated down Silver Spring.”  

“Thousands in Milwaukee are facing flooding after last night’s storms,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson wrote on X. “Avoid flooded roads — moving water is dangerous. City crews and first responders are working nonstop. Neighbors are stepping up to help neighbors.” The mayor posted that the city was coordinating with Gov. Tony Evers and Milwaukee County on emergency aid and shelters. “Milwaukee is strong,” Mayor Johnson posted. “Together, we’ll get through this.” 

Across Milwaukee County, emergency responders were overwhelmed as the flooding created a cascade of issues with natural gas, debris and power outages. “Very busy night for [Milwaukee Fire Department] & many other FD’s!”, Milwaukee Fire Department Chief Aaron Lipski posted on X. “Over 600 responses between 8pm-7am: numerous fires, water rescues, & many other weather-related emergencies.” 

 

Video shared with Wisconsin Examiner by Casey Serrano, a City of Milwaukee resident who experienced severe basement flooding after the storms on August 9th and 10th, 2025.

 

Online videos showed  cars trapped on flooded roadways and highways. People attending one of the final days of the Wisconsin State Fair were filmed wading through water to leave the fairgrounds. Around 10 p.m. on Sunday the sky began to light up with a new wave of lightning, heralding more rain. Over 18,000 people reportedly lost power during the storms. 

“Flooding is still an active emergency situation across Milwaukee County, and we are expecting more rain today and into this evening,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a press statement Sunday. “I strongly urge our residents to stay cautious, stay informed, and refrain from traveling. Check  in on your neighbors and loved ones, especially older adults, and seek out emergency assistance if needed. I am thankful for our first responders, law enforcement partners, social services workers, and neighbors who are lending a helping hand during a challenging time. We will get through this together, Milwaukee.”

Local officials are warning residents not to walk into floodwater, as it may be contaminated or be near downed electrical wires. In some areas, the water had strong currents capable of sweeping people away. Those cleaning up debris are encouraged to wear gloves and proper protection, and residents are encouraged to limit water usage (such as by holding off on washing dishes or doing laundry) to reduce the risk of wastewater backing up into basements. 

The suburban city of Wauwatosa produced some of the most dramatic images of flooding throughout the county. According to the Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD), over 500 calls were received by their dispatch center with issues ranging from flooded out basements to blocked storm drains to traffic incidents due to standing water. WPD says there have been no reports of serious injuries, though several major roadways and intersections remain affected and impassable. 

Hart Park, near the Wauwatosa Village, is closed, and police are encouraging people to avoid the area. Sunday afternoon, many people were seen walking through the village area and parts of Hart Park to observe storm damage. Large debris was strewn along the railroad tracks, and reports indicate that the Menomonee River flowing through Hart Park rose from a little over 1 foot high to over 14 feet in a matter of hours. Sunday afternoon the water level was still high, with rushing water ripping through the park continuing to damage green spaces and concrete bike paths. Wauwatosa squad cars used loudspeakers to declare the area closed due to a state of emergency. 

 

Video posted to social media of the flooding in Wauwatosa by Bobby Pantuso, including drone footage by Pantuso (shared with permission).

 

Traffic control issues were also reported by the Waukesha Police Department, with the Fox River also under close observation. Waukesha Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Capt. Nicholas Wenzel said in an email statement that the department was “dealing with flooding across the county,” and that no injuries or missing persons had been reported.

For Serrano, the flood is an unprecedented experience. She anticipates costly repairs, including ripping out wood paneling in her house. 

Serrano is also concerned about what the flooding means for the city. “I think that my main concern is that the city is completely unprepared to deal with this, and I think it’s really willful on their part to be honest,” she said. Serrano, who used to work  for the city’s sewage department creating and analyzing data maps, thinks city budget and staffing cuts have adversely affected emergency preparedness. She blames Act 10, which has limited public employees’ collective bargaining rights since 2011, arguing that it  has contributed to staffing shortages and out-dated technology for city departments most responsible for preventing floods, and dealing with their aftermath. 

 

 

Act 12, which mandates that staffing and funding are maintained for the Milwaukee Police Department, also exacerbated the imbalance between police and  other departments including  Public Works, she said. 

“At any point, the Common Council could stand up for residents of this city — especially residents of the North Side,” Serrano said,  “and say we’re not going to deal with this anymore. We are going to fully fund these departments so that they have the right materials and the right resources to fully staff themselves, to fully hire.” 

 

 

 

A group of residents want a judge to require a Portage County farm to conduct more protective groundwater monitoring, saying a settlement reached between the farm and state regulators weakened oversight.

The post Residents want Portage County farm to conduct better groundwater monitoring appeared first on WPR.

Workers install solar panels on the roof of a low-income household in California. On Thursday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wrote a letter to the EPA urging the Trump administration not to cancel the Solar for All program. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Gov. Tony Evers wrote to the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, urging the Trump administration not to cancel Wisconsin’s $62.4 million grant to install solar energy systems for low- and moderate-income households.

Evers’ letter to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin followed a New York Times report earlier this week that the agency was preparing to cancel the $7 billion federal “Solar for All” grant program. “Solar for All” was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act passed by congressional Democrats and signed by then-president Joe Biden.

“To be clear, attempting to terminate Solar for All grants has no legitimate purpose or justification,” Evers wrote. “Beyond that, doing so will also negatively impact Wisconsinites and our state, causing increased energy bills for Wisconsinites and hurting efforts to improve air quality, boost resilience, and create good-paying jobs.”

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has put out a request for proposal seeking an implementer for the state’s program, called “PowerUp Wisconsin.” Bidders were to submit a notice of their intent to bid by this past Monday, Aug. 4, and final proposals are due on Friday, Aug. 29.

According to the WEDC’s work plan for the project, Wisconsin’s grant would add rooftop solar power systems to 1,038 households in single-family homes and 2,200 more households in 24 multifamily homes. The plan also calls for 10 community solar projects that could serve an additional 4,239 households.

Evers told Zeldin in the letter that since Wisconsin’s $62.4 million grant was awarded in April 2024, the WEDC has worked with local governments, solar installers, utilities and housing developers to draw up the state’s program guidelines. The program would reduce Wisconsin’s reliance on out-of-state energy and save households up to $500 a year on their energy bills, Evers wrote.

The governor wrote that lowering costs has been “a top priority” for his administration.

“While the Trump Administration claims to share this priority, terminating Wisconsin’s Solar for All grant would have the exact opposite effect, preventing Wisconsin families and households from seeing the direct savings offered through PowerUp Wisconsin,” Evers wrote.

The Evers administration and the Wisconsin Department of Justice have joined a number of lawsuits to block Trump administration executive orders and unilateral actions to cut funding approved by Congress.

Evers’ letter appeared to leave open the prospect for more litigation. “At a time when energy demand continues to increase, it is unfathomable for the Trump Administration to unnecessarily — and potentially illegally — terminate funding for a program designed to deploy affordable, renewable energy systems,” Evers wrote.

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The toxic plant that killed Socrates thousands of years ago is becoming more prevalent in the Midwest. 

Poison hemlock is an invasive biennial plant that has tall, smooth stems with fern-like leaves and clustered small white flowers. It can grow up to eight feet tall. 

Meaghan Anderson, an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomist, said the plant is becoming more widespread due to several factors.

Those factors include unintentional movement of seeds from one place to another by floods, mowing equipment and animals. Hikers inadvertently transport seeds on their shoes or clothing.

Changing ecology could also be contributing to spread. For example, Anderson said tree loss in parts of eastern Iowa from the 2020 derecho made room for the plant. Cedar Rapids estimates it lost about 65% of the overall tree canopy that existed before the derecho flattened trees with hurricane-force winds.

“The loss of so many trees and opening of canopies has likely allowed for many weedy species to gain a foothold in areas they were not in the past,” Anderson said.

Since the plant was first introduced to the U.S. in the 1800s, hemlock has made its way into every state, except Hawaii. 

Scott Marsh, an agricultural weeds and seed specialist with the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said though the plant is widespread across the country, it’s generally more common in central parts of the United States. He said it is slightly less abundant in the southeast and northeast parts of the country.

Mark Leoschke, a botanist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Bureau, said poison hemlock likes moist soils and benefits from “disturbed areas,” like roadside ditches, flood plains, and creeks or rivers, where running water can carry seeds downstream.

“It just benefits from periodic disturbance, and it is the way it can grow and maintain itself,” Leoschke said.

Anderson said the plant also favors areas along fences and margins between fields and woodlands.

Generally, the plant isn’t a threat to lawns and residential yards, Leoschke said, because lawns are typically mowed regularly, which keeps the plant from maturing.

A ‘highly toxic’ plant

Poison hemlock — which is known by its scientific name conium maculatum and is native to Europe and Western Asia — starts growing in the springtime and is a dangerous plant. 

“The most serious risk with poison hemlock is ingesting it,” Anderson said. “The plant is highly toxic and could be fatal to humans and livestock if consumed.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, every part of the plant — from its stem to its leaves, as well as the fruit and root — is poisonous.

The leaves are especially potent in the spring, up to the time the plant flowers.

The toxic compounds found in the plant can cause respiratory failure and disrupt the body’s nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Anderson said it is possible for the toxins in poison hemlock to be absorbed through the skin, too.

“Some of the population could also experience dermatitis from coming in contact with the plant, so covering your skin and wearing eye protection when removing the plant is important,” she said.

Poison hemlock can also be fatal if consumed by livestock. 

According to USDA, cattle that eat between 300 and 500 grams or sheep that ingest between 100 and 500 grams of hemlock – less than a can of beans – can be poisoned. Though animals tend to stay away from poison hemlock, they may eat it if other forage is scarce or if it gets into hay. Animals that ingest it can die from respiratory paralysis in two to three hours. 

Jean Wiedenheft, director of land stewardship for the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said no one should eat anything from the wild unless they know exactly what they are ingesting.

The carrot family of plants, including poison hemlock, can be particularly treacherous. Water hemlock, a relative of the poison hemlock native to the U.S., is also toxic. Giant hogweed, another member of the carrot family, can grow up to 15 feet tall with leaves that span two to three feet. Marsh said that if humans get sap from the plant on their skin and then go into the sun, it can cause third-degree burns. Wild carrot, another invasive also known as Queen Anne’s Lace, is generally considered safe or mildly toxic.  

Managing the plant

Poison hemlock is a biennial plant, which means it takes two years to complete its life cycle. 

Removal strategies vary depending on where in the life cycle the plants are, where the plants are located, how abundant they are, what time of year it is and the ability of the person trying to manage the plant.

For example, Anderson said flowering plants generally need to be cut out and disposed of as trash. However, Anderson said that using herbicides on the hemlock when the plant is growing close to the ground in its first year is often more efficient and more effective in eradicating the plant.

In some situations, mowing can be an effective option to manage isolated infestations of poison hemlock as well, she said.

“Since (they’re) a biennial species, if we remove plants prior to producing seed, we can eliminate the possibility of new plants or increasing populations of these plants,” Anderson said. “Any location with poison hemlock will need to be monitored for several years.” 

Successful hemlock management comes back to prevention.

“We often talk about the species this time of year because the white flowers atop the tall stems are very obvious on the landscape, but the species exists for the rest of the year as a relatively unassuming rosette of leaves on the ground that people don’t think of until they see the flowers, when it is too late for most effective management strategies,” Anderson  said. “Every time a plant is allowed to produce seed, it adds to the soil seed bank and creates more future management challenges.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

Wisconsin Watch is a member of the Ag & Water Desk network. Sign up for our newsletters to get our news straight to your inbox.

‘Highly toxic’ hemlock widespread in Midwest — and spreading is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A federal agency has granted approval for two northern Wisconsin energy projects under a fast-tracked permitting process in line with President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency earlier this year.

The post Federal approval granted to northern Wisconsin projects under Trump administration’s fast-tracked process appeared first on WPR.

A researcher surveys wild rice on the Pine River. (Wisconsin SEA Grant)

Through executive orders and the Republican reconciliation bill signed into law in July, the administration of President Donald Trump has cancelled or proposed the cancellation of about $75 million in grants and loans meant for climate-focused projects in Wisconsin, according to data collected by the environmental policy group Atlas Public Policy. 

The cancelled projects include money for the state’s Department of Military Affairs to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change and a grant for the Milwaukee-based water quality non-profit Reflo, Inc. to help children in the city learn about sustainability and the environment. 

Since taking office in January, Trump and congressional Republicans have attacked federal government efforts to address climate change by slashing programs and withholding money. Many of the projects that have lost money in Wisconsin were aimed at marginalized communities such as Native American tribes and Milwaukee’s Black residents — putting them in Trump’s crosshairs because of his aversion to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 

Through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the administration of President Joe Biden targeted billions of dollars to help communities undertake projects meant to help transition to renewable sources of energy, restore local waterways and make homes more energy efficient. 

Under Trump, that money has been clawed back as Republicans have become even more hostile to efforts to address climate change. For example, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents much of northern Wisconsin and is considering running for governor next year, has spent a significant amount of time fighting the construction of solar energy in the state. 

“The loss of this funding represents a profound missed opportunity for Wisconsin, especially for its most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities,” says Jaclyn Lea, an associate at Atlas Public Policy. “These canceled projects would have supported investments in communities building energy efficiency, workforce development, and climate resilience. The impact of these cancellations will be felt across the state, slowing progress on critical environmental and resilience efforts.” 

Milwaukee energy efficiency

Among the projects that have lost their funding is a grant program under the Inflation Reduction Act to help the city of Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office work with non-profit organizations to help residents of the city’s predominately Black north side and predominately Latino south side connect with programs to make their homes more energy efficient. 

About $200,000 of the $1 million grant would have supported energy audits of 250 homes in the two neighborhoods. Many of the aging homes in the city have problems with old electrical systems, causing energy bills to rise for some of the city’s poorest residents and posing a fire risk. The program would have also helped connect residents with programs to weatherize their homes and remediate lead contamination. 

Erick Shambarger, Milwaukee’s director of environmental sustainability, says the program would have helped the city’s lowest income residents —  who are at the greatest risk of environmental harms —  lower their energy costs while helping the city as a whole cut emissions. 

It was rolled back as part of the tax- and spending-cut mega-bill that congressional Republicans passed this summer and Trump signed into law on July 4. 

“We also have to do a better job of maintaining and improving our existing housing stock,” Shambarger says. “And this was one tool that we had to try to do that, and it got pulled away. And then now you look at all of the other things that the big, ugly bill did in terms of eliminating tax credits for energy efficiency and all of the rest. And so this isn’t just one [decision], there’s a real pullback at the feds to support low- to moderate-income households.” 

He adds that the grant program project highlighted the ways it would help minority communities because that’s what the Biden administration was looking for, but he doesn’t think the program should be controversial. 

“At the end of the day, we are trying to help the people that need the help the most, help them save on their energy bills and help them get their families stabilized, and create better environments for kids, and better environmental conditions for kids to have a better chance in life,” he says. 

Shambarger says that political instability is one of the greatest obstacles to addressing climate change. The instability caused by the Trump administration taking back money the federal government had already promised to deliver makes it more difficult for industries and businesses relying on more predictable government action, he adds. 

“It is just very, very frustrating just to not have the consistency of policy that we need to address the climate crisis,” he says. “It should be frustrating for every American, including our contractors, who have to plan for the future, who have to hire workers with skill sets, and all of that takes time to set up training programs for new industries. It takes time to build partnerships for the financing for all of this.”

Shambarger is particularly frustrated by the federal government canceling contracts in midstream. 

“It’s one thing to say ‘wind down this contract, and maybe you don’t get renewed, and you have time to adjust,’” he says, “but to just terminate stuff without notice, without looking into the particulars of what our program was achieving is really, really disruptive.”

The effects of climate change are here, Shambarger says. Wisconsin and the Midwest have faced days of poor air quality because of wildfires across Canada this summer. Floods have continued to get worse every year. 

Meanwhile, lower-income working Americans are getting less help, “and that’s too bad, because this country, in order for it to really be great, we’ve got to make sure that we are providing really safe and affordable housing that is climate resilient,” he says.

Global warming continues to heighten risks, from wildfire smoke in the Midwest air to floods and wildfires threatening cities, “and all of that threat is not going away,” Shambarger says. “We just appeal to all levels of government to recognize that there is something we can do about this … It’s a benefit to all Americans.”

Brothertown Tribe wild rice restoration 

Another project cancelled by the Trump administration is a $3 million grant meant to help researchers at the University of Wisconsin work with the Brothertown Indian Nation to restore wild rice habitat in the Lake Winnebago watershed and study the effects of that restoration on the lake’s water quality. 

While the project would have helped the tribe connect with a plant that many of the state’s tribes view as sacred, it would also have served as a wetland restoration project on the drinking water source for hundreds of thousands of people in the Fox River valley. Wetland restoration is a major tool for improving water quality because wetlands can serve as a sort of filter to block potentially harmful nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrates from running off of farm fields and into the water system. 

“There’s over 200,000 people that rely on Winnebago alone for drinking water, and we know the positive impact of having better health for that water,” Jessica Ryan, the tribe’s vice chair, says. “And the community has been trying to improve the water quality for a long period of time in that area. But there’s, there’s a long way to go yet. There’s tremendous negative impacts that have happened from prior generations. So we need to keep our foot on the gas.” 

The grant was meant to fund five years of rice seeding and studying to see if the rice population can be increased and if that increase can improve the quality of water, both for drinking and for supporting populations of fish such as sturgeon and waterfowl such as geese and ducks. The grant was designed as a collaboration between indigenous and western methods of science and involved a number of the state’s tribes as well as local groups and farmers.

“We’d like to have the support of all of the state and the federal politicians to support us because we see the similarities in these interests,” Ryan says. “We see how it lifts up the entire community. Regardless of whether we’re American Indian or not, we have this common core value of looking after the land and the water.”

Those values are shared by local farmers and by the large tribal communities in the area — along with the Brothertown, the Oneida, the Stockbridge and the Menominee, she says. 

The Brothertown Indian Nation began in 18th century New England as a community of Christian Native Americans. The tribe later moved west to Wisconsin to avoid the conflicts over land that pushed out most of the East Coast’s native populations. The tribe settled east of Lake Winnebago. 

But in 1838 the federal government then tried to force the tribe out of Wisconsin and into Kansas. Looking for a way to prevent the government from taking their land, the tribe requested the allotment of their land and U.S. citizenship. Members believed that this would allow private ownership of their land and protect the tribe. 

But unbeknownst to the members, this agreement terminated the federal government’s recognition of the tribe — ending its status as a sovereign nation. The tribe continues to work toward once again being recognized by the federal government. But Ryan says that the Trump administration’s cancellation of the Brothertown grant was especially painful because it was another promise to the tribe broken by the U.S. government. 

“The federal government, in my opinion, has an opportunity to make it, to do the right thing, and they have chosen not to do the right thing,” she says. “They’ve chosen to do the opposite. And I don’t know what’s behind that decision making, right? Like, I don’t know if it’s a political decision, if it’s a racial decision, I don’t know what that is, but to us as the recipients who worked diligently, we’ve complied with all that’s been expected of us. We followed the rules, right? And the application process, it was a competitive process. We were selected. And to have the government again unilaterally go back on its word, it’s pretty devastating.” 

Because the tribe isn’t recognized, it has very little resources. All of its budget comes from charitable support, grants and what the tribe can make selling crafts at its store. It can’t cover the work that was supposed to be covered by a $3 million grant. For now, the tribe has kept one person on its payroll to keep collecting data through the project and is hoping for volunteers to help with the additional work. 

“We had so much good in mind that we were going to do with the funds that would benefit far more than just us,” Ryan says. “This was going to have a tremendous positive impact on the entire community within the watershed. It’s not just something that was going to look after our people or a small group of people. This was intended to have a statewide positive impact.”

The research the tribe wants to continue collecting “is something that can be used on a larger model for the entire region,” Ryan says.  “This is a long-term ecological restoration effort, and we are three years into this project, and it’s a really critical, pivotal moment.”

When a grand, old tree is cut down, it can take generations to replace it. Now, Madison officials are trying to protect those trees with updated rules for construction projects.

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In a new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota are recommending that wake boats stay in deeper waters when wake surfing to avoid any harm to the lake bottom and water quality.

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The Upper Midwest was contending with the worst air quality in the country Thursday. And, for much of the day, Milwaukee had the worst air quality of any major U.S. city, according to a ranking from IQ Air.

The post Wisconsin air quality among nation’s worst as Canadian wildfire smoke spreads appeared first on WPR.