The Green Bay Packers will go on the road to take on the Chicago Bears in the NFL Playoffs for just the third time in the century-old rivalry.

The post The NFL’s oldest rivalry is set for its most consequential matchup in over a decade appeared first on WPR.

A community in rural Brown County is raising the alarm on a possible data center development after several people received offers to purchase their property from a local realtor on behalf of a Delaware-based limited liability company.

The post Mysterious land offers in rural Brown County raise concerns about possible data center appeared first on WPR.

Waukesha-based Generac is opening a new manufacturing plant in Sussex that will employ more than 100 factory workers, the company announced Monday.

The post Generac to add new manufacturing facility in Sussex, more than 100 jobs appeared first on WPR.

A Marshfield-based company founded by a Civil War veteran is in danger of closing and laying off 107 employees next month if its assets aren’t sold.

The post Marshfield-based Prince Corp. could close, lay off 107 employees in February appeared first on WPR.

The U.S. women’s hockey team heading to the winter Olympics has deep ties to Wisconsin, with four current and two former Badgers on the roster and a Fox Valley-native serving as head coach.

The post 2026 US Olympic women’s hockey team features 6 Wisconsin Badgers, Fox Valley native coach appeared first on WPR.

A small business in Mount Horeb recently launched a new cream liqueur that’s already in more than 50 locations across the state.

The post Mount Horeb small business launches cream liqueur made with Wisconsin dairy appeared first on WPR.

The federal government is suing one of the largest health systems in Wisconsin, claiming that it discriminated against an employee by denying a nurse's request for a religious exemption for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

The post Federal government sues Advocate Aurora Health over COVID-19 vaccine policy appeared first on WPR.

A broad majority of Wisconsin banking executives believe the state economy is strong, but enthusiasm is down compared to past surveys. That’s according to a new end-of-the-year survey from the […]

The post Broad majority of Wisconsin bank CEOs believe economy is ‘good’ — but none say it’s ‘excellent’ appeared first on WPR.

A Fox Valley construction company is suing Green Bay and a contractor over concerns about the city’s bidding process for a park pavilion project.  Neenah-based Miron Construction filed the lawsuit […]

The post Miron Construction sues Green Bay over park project bidding process appeared first on WPR.

A bill in the state Legislature would allow for community solar projects outside the control of utility companies and cooperatives, which are currently the only entities in Wisconsin allowed to provide solar power to paying customers.

The post Bill would allow for community solar projects outside utility control appeared first on WPR.

Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN officially came off the air on Monday, almost a month after the nonprofit public affairs network announced it was in desperate need of funding. 

The post Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN is offline, says it’s in desperate need of funding appeared first on WPR.

The state of Texas in a new lawsuit claims Verona-based Epic Systems is running an illegal monopoly and restricting parents’ access to their children’s medical records.

The post Texas sues Wisconsin-based Epic Systems, accusing it of running a monopoly appeared first on WPR.

Midwest Environmental Advocates, a nonprofit law center, filed a lawsuit against the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin Wednesday after the agency denied an open records request seeking unredacted documents. 

The post Lawsuit seeks release of expected energy demand from Meta data center in Beaver Dam appeared first on WPR.

The city of Green Bay this month approved a series of zoning changes aimed at addressing what officials say is an affordable housing crisis.

The post Green Bay adjusts zoning code to address ‘housing affordability crisis’ appeared first on WPR.

A bill in the Wisconsin Legislature aims to incentivize the development of new nuclear power plants through state tax credits and would make nuclear power a high-priority energy source.

The post State bill would give tax credits to new nuclear power plants in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.

A new agreement will allow the city of Two Rivers to continue receiving nuclear energy from the nearby Point Beach Nuclear Plant.

The post Agreement extends nuclear energy for Two Rivers from Point Beach plant appeared first on WPR.

Wisconsin’s state crime labs received fewer total cases in 2024 than in 2023, but took longer on average to turn around DNA casework and toxicology, according to a new report from the state Department of Justice. 

The post State crime labs saw fewer cases in 2024, longer turnarounds for DNA and toxicology appeared first on WPR.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many businesses closed or laid off workers, a massive influx of 8.8 million unemployment claims overwhelmed Wisconsin’s aging unemployment insurance system. 

That created a backlog of hundreds of thousands of claims. Many potential applicants weren’t able to connect to the department’s call center to complete the process, and some Wisconsinites waited months without receiving a single unemployment payment. 

Following those backlogs, the state has made strides to update the system and move away from outdated, decades-old computer systems, said state Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek. 

She said DWD now has a digital portal for people to file unemployment claims and send documents online. The department also uses online chatbots to respond to questions in multiple languages, as well as uses artificial intelligence tools to assist with data entry.

“With these enhancements, the department is now paying 88% of all claims filed within three days or less,” Pechacek said. “That other 12% of claims that go a little bit longer are typically just because we have to do investigations if there’s some discrepancies between what the claimant and the employer are saying.”

In a letter to the Trump administration on Tuesday, Gov. Tony Evers said the administration is blocking nearly $30 million in federal funding to Wisconsin, which could prevent the state from finishing the project and potentially leave it vulnerable to cyberattacks and fraud.

“If the Trump Administration does not reverse course and provide the $29 million Wisconsin expected to receive, the state will not be able to complete its UI system modernization project,” Evers wrote to U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

That funding was part of the American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic recovery law signed by former President Joe Biden, and was being primarily used on anti-fraud measures, according to the governor’s office. Evers’ letter says the U.S. Labor Department “suddenly terminated” the funding in late May. 

The termination halted work on identity authentication tools, a digital employer portal, artificial intelligence enhancements, fraud prevention and cybersecurity tools, according to Pechacek. She said the employer portal was the DWD’s next major rollout and would have made it easier for employers to provide information to the state.

“The employer portal is really one of the largest losses from this federal action,” Pechacek said. “Our employers … have to submit quarterly wage information (and) verify claim information, and some of those components are still very antiquated.”

Evers wrote that the Department of Labor “cited no objections” to those initiatives beyond “an unsupported assertion that they ‘no longer effectuate the Department’s priorities.’”

Pechacek said the state has already spent “slightly over half” of the $29 million. She said those grants were “reimbursement-based,” meaning the state first had to spend the money and then be paid back by the federal government.

“There are seven projects that have now been paused in a variety of different states of completion, so those are sunk costs,” she said. “Without realizing the full modernization effort, we can’t roll those projects out.”

The state appealed the Labor Department’s termination and received a letter from the federal government in late July that “acknowledged the appeal while restating the Department’s earlier basis for termination,” the governor’s letter states.

“The people of Wisconsin deserve systems that function, state of the art, with high integrity and accuracy,” Pechacek said. “We are also going to pursue litigation to reclaim the funds which were rightfully awarded to us already and improperly rescinded.”

In addition to the $29 million in lost funding, the project was using $80 million from a different program under the American Rescue Plan Act, according to a report sent to the Legislature’s budget committee. The document states that the $80 million has not been impacted but is “insufficient to support the full modernization work.”

Pechacek said DWD has also asked the state Legislature to allocate additional state funds toward finishing the effort but said there hasn’t been much movement on that front.

Wisconsin isn’t the only state that’s had federal funding to upgrade unemployment systems clawed back by the Trump administration. In May, Axios reported the White House terminated $400 million of that funding across the country. A July report from state agencies said $675 million in grants awarded to unemployment programs in over 30 states and territories had been terminated.

The U.S. Department of Labor did not immediately respond to WPR’s request for comment. In May, the federal agency told Axios in a statement that the unemployment modernization funding was “squandered” on “bureaucratic and wasteful projects that focused on equitable access rather than advancing access for all Americans in need.”

In the letter, Evers also said failing to complete Wisconsin’s modernization effort would put the state’s unemployment system at risk of becoming overwhelmed again during any future economic downturn. He says that would “create acute hardship for Wisconsin families.”

“It is our obligation to prevent this scenario from coming to pass,” Evers wrote. “I urge you to reverse the decision to defund these critical government efficiency and fraud prevention initiatives.”

Pechacek said the state isn’t reverting back to old technology in the pieces of the modernization that have already been completed in “major areas.” But she said failing to fully finish the effort poses a risk to Wisconsinites because there are still aspects of the system running on an outdated coding language.

“Any time we don’t fully invest in upgrading and reach the programmatic goals that we have set to get fully off of the antiquated systems, we are at risk to be overwhelmed again,” she said. “All of that leads us to be more vulnerable, in a time of significant increase of accessing the system, to the cyber attacks, to fraudulent efforts, to being compromised.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Federal funding cut endangers Wisconsin unemployment system update 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.