Local experts say – and national data supports – that winter brings a broad set of safety risks, including risks that disproportionately affect older adults and young children.
Dangers include hypothermia and frostbite, falls inside and outside the home and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Here are more details about those dangers and how to prevent or minimize them.
Slips and falls
Children and older adults face higher risks for falls and injuries. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service file photo)
In 2024, emergency medical personnel in Wisconsin responded to more than 140,000 fall-related calls, accounting for about 21% of all 911-related ambulance runs statewide, according to DHS data.
Older adults are disproportionately affected.
According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults face a higher risk of falling due to chronic medical conditions that can limit circulation, balance or mobility, including arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
The Milwaukee Health Department urges residents to prepare for icy conditions as temperatures fall and to clear snow and ice from walkways to help prevent falls.
The National Institute on Aging recommends using ice melt products or sand on walkways, using railings on stairs and walkways, avoiding shoveling snow yourself when possible and wearing rubber-soled, low-heeled footwear.
Christine Westrich, emergency response planning director for the Milwaukee Health Department, said social isolation adds another layer of risk for older adults.
“Either their friends or relatives have passed away, and they have over time socially isolated themselves,” Westrich said.
The onset of hearing loss and dementia are risk factors for increased isolation, she added.
Hypothermia and frostbite
Two people walk down North 27th Street in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Age can affect how the body handles cold exposure.
This winter, there have already been roughly 10 fatalities where cold temperatures may have played a factor, said Michael Simley, a medicolegal death investigator manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Extreme temperatures can also worsen existing medical emergencies, Simley added.
A heart attack, for example, is serious under any circumstances, he said. But, he added, it becomes even more dangerous when it happens in a hostile environment like when it is very cold.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
With colder temperatures comes increased use of furnaces and other heating systems – and with that, a higher risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Increased use of appliances and other items that burn fuels and other chemicals, such as furnaces, portable generators, stoves and chimneys, helps account for the higher risk, according to the CDC.
Carbon monoxide is odorless and invisible, and symptoms such as headache, dizziness and nausea may be overlooked or mistaken for other illnesses.
“We’ve recently had two outbreaks with families of four (members) or greater,” Westrich said. “In one case, they didn’t have working heat and brought a charcoal grill inside. … In another, it was a malfunctioning furnace.”
In both situations, she said, there were no working carbon monoxide detectors.
DHS says carbon monoxide detectors should be installed on every level of the home.
Renters should be especially vigilant, Westrich said.
“Oftentimes, what might get overlooked in the lease, it’ll say the renter is responsible for the battery replacement in those devices,” she said. “Sometimes tenants aren’t aware of that, or it’s hanging high in the ceiling – you forget it’s even there.”
Resources
The Milwaukee Health Department maintains cold weather guidance with general information and tips.
For non-emergencies that are not crimes, the Milwaukee Police Department says residents have a number of options, a spokesperson for the department said in an email.
Residents can request a welfare check by calling 414-933-4444.
People seeking shelter, warming centers or other basic needs can call 211.
Those experiencing emotional distress or mental health struggles can call or text 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Westrich and Simley both emphasized the same core message about being mindful of the people in your community.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
For nearly two weeks following Election Day in 2024, former U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde, a Republican, refused to concede, blasting “last-minute absentee ballots that were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m., flipping the outcome.”
Hovde earlier this year told Votebeat that he believes there are issues at Milwaukee’s facility for counting absentee ballots, but he added that he doesn’t blame his loss on that. He didn’t respond to a request for comment in December for this article.
In Wisconsin’s polarized political landscape, Milwaukee has become a flashpoint for election suspicion, much like Philadelphia and Detroit — diverse, Democratic urban centers that draw outsized criticism. The scrutiny reflects the state’s deep rural-urban divide and a handful of election errors in Milwaukee that conspiracy theorists have seized on, leaving the city’s voters and officials under constant political pressure.
That treatment, Milwaukee historian John Gurda says, reflects “the general pattern where you have big cities governed by Democrats” automatically perceived by the right “as centers of depravity (and) insane, radical leftists.”
Charlie Sykes — a longtime conservative commentator no longer aligned with much of GOP politics — said there’s “nothing tremendously mysterious” about Republicans singling out Milwaukee: As long as election conspiracy theories dominate the right, the heavily Democratic city will remain a target.
Milwaukee voters and election officials under constant watch
Milwaukee’s emergence as a target in voter fraud narratives accelerated in 2010, when dozens of billboards in the city’s predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods showed three people, including two Black people, behind bars with the warning: “VOTER FRAUD is a FELONY — 3 YRS & $10,000 FINE.”
Community groups condemned them as racist and misleading, especially for people who had regained their voting rights after felony convictions. Similar billboards returned in 2012, swapping the jail bars for a gavel. All of the advertisements were funded by the Einhorn Family Foundation, associated with GOP donor Stephen Einhorn, who didn’t respond to Votebeat’s email requesting comment.
Criticism of Milwaukee extends well beyond its elections. As Wisconsin’s largest city, it is often cast as an outlier in a largely rural state, making it easier for some to believe the worst about its institutions — including its elections.
“One of the undercurrents of Wisconsin political history is … rural parts versus urban parts,” said University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political scientist and former Democratic legislator Mordecai Lee. As the state’s biggest city by far, “it becomes the punching bag for outstate legislators” on almost any issue.
“People stay at home and watch the evening news and they think if you come to Milwaukee, you’re going to get shot … or you’re going to get run over by a reckless driver,” said Claire Woodall, who ran the city’s elections from 2020 to 2024.
Election officials acknowledge Milwaukee has made avoidable mistakes in high-stakes elections but describe them as quickly remedied and the kinds of errors any large city can experience when processing tens of thousands of ballots. What sets Milwaukee apart is the scrutiny: Whether it was a briefly forgotten USB stick in 2020 or tabulator doors left open in 2024, each lapse is treated as something more ominous.
Other Wisconsin municipalities have made more consequential errors without attracting comparable attention: In 2011, Waukesha County failed to report votes from Brookfield when tallying a statewide court race — a major oversight that put the wrong candidate in the lead in early unofficial results. In 2024, Summit, a town in Douglas County, disqualified all votes in an Assembly race after officials discovered ballots were printed with the wrong contest listed.
“I don’t believe that there is anywhere in the state that is under a microscope the way the city of Milwaukee is,” said Neil Albrecht, a former executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.
Black Milwaukeeans say racism behind scrutiny on elections
Milwaukee grew quickly in the 19th century, built by waves of European immigrants who powered its factories and breweries and helped turn it into one of the Midwest’s major industrial cities. A small Black community, searching for employment and fleeing the Jim Crow South, took root early and grew substantially in the mid-20th century.
As industry declined, white residents fled for the suburbs, many of which had racist housing policies that excluded Blacks. That left behind a city marked by segregated schools, shrinking job prospects and sharp economic divides. The split was so stark that the Menomonee River Valley became a shorthand boundary: Black residents to the north, white residents to the south — a divide Milwaukee never fully overcame.
The result is one of the most segregated cities in the country, a place that looks and feels profoundly different from the overwhelmingly white, rural communities that surround it. That contrast has long made Milwaukee an easy target in statewide politics, and it continues to feed some people’s suspicions that something about the city — including its elections — is fundamentally untrustworthy.
The Rev. Greg Lewis, executive director of Wisconsin’s Souls to the Polls, said the reputation is rooted in racism and belied by reality. He said he has a hard enough time getting minorities to vote at all, “let alone vote twice.”
Albrecht agreed.
“If a Souls to the Polls bus would pull up to (a polling site), a bus full of Black people, some Republican observer would mutter, ‘Oh, these are the people being brought up from Chicago,’” he said. “As if we don’t have African Americans in Milwaukee.”
Election workers count votes using a tabulation machine during Election Day on Nov. 5, 2024, at Milwaukee’s central count facility at the Baird Center. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
After former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes — a Black Milwaukeean and a Democrat — lost his 2022 U.S. Senate bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Bob Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, emailed constituents saying Republicans “can be especially proud” of Milwaukee casting 37,000 fewer votes than in 2018, “with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.”
The message sparked backlash, though Spindell rejected accusations of racism. Asked about it this year, Spindell told Votebeat he meant to praise GOP outreach to Black voters.
Milwaukee organizer Angela Lang said she finds the shifting narratives about Black turnout revealing. “Are we voting (illegally)?” she said. “Or are you all happy that we’re not voting?”
History of real and perceived errors increases pressure on city
The scrutiny directed at Milwaukee falls on voters and the city employees who run its elections.
Milwaukee’s most serious stumble came in 2004, when a last-minute overhaul of the election office contributed to unprocessed voter registrations, delayed absentee counts and discrepancies in the final tally. Multiple investigations found widespread administrative problems but no fraud.
“It was hard coming in at that low point,” said Albrecht, who joined the commission the following year, saying it gave Milwaukee the reputation as an “election fraud capital.”
In 2008, the city created a centralized absentee ballot count facility to reduce errors at polling places and improve consistency. The change worked as intended, but it also meant Milwaukee’s absentee results — representing tens of thousands of votes — were often reported after midnight, sometimes shifting statewide margins.
That timing is largely a product of state law: Wisconsin is one of the few states that prohibit clerks from processing absentee ballots before Election Day. For years, Milwaukee officials have asked lawmakers to change the rule. Instead, opponents argue the city can’t be trusted with extra processing time — even as they criticize the late-night results all but unavoidable under the current rule.
Proposals to allow administrators more time to process ballots — and therefore report results sooner — have repeatedly stalled in the Legislature. The most recent passed the Assembly last session but never received a Senate vote, with some Republicans openly questioning why they should give Milwaukee more time when they don’t trust the city to handle the ballots with the time it already has.
“The late-arriving results of absentee ballots processed in the city of Milwaukee benefits all attempts to discredit the city,” Albrecht said.
Without the change, to keep up with other Wisconsin municipalities, Milwaukee must process tens of thousands of absentee ballots in a single day, a herculean task. “The effect of not passing it means this issue can be kept alive,” said Lee, the UW-Milwaukee political scientist.
Some Republicans acknowledge that dynamic outright. Rep. Scott Krug, a GOP lawmaker praised for his pragmatic approach to election policy, has long supported a policy fix. This session, it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
Krug said a small but influential faction on the right has built a kind of social network around election conspiracy theories, many focused on Milwaukee. Because the tight counting window is part of the fuel that keeps that group going, he said, “a fix is a problem for them.”
2020 marked the shift to ‘complete insanity’
Albrecht said that while Milwaukee had long operated under an unusual level of suspicion, the scrutiny that followed 2020 represented a shift he described as “complete insanity.”
That year, in the early hours after Election Day, Milwaukee released its absentee totals, but then-election chief Woodall realized she’d left a USB drive in one tabulator. Woodall called her deputy clerk about it, and the deputy had a police officer take the USB drive to the county building. The mistake didn’t affect results — the audit trail matched — but it was enough to ignite right-wing talk radio and fuel yet more conspiratorial claims about the city’s late-night reporting.
The scrutiny only intensified. A joking email exchange between Woodall and an elections consultant, taken out of context, was perceived by some as proof of fraud after Gateway Pundit and a now-defunct conservative state politics site published it. Threats followed, serious enough that police and the FBI stepped in. Woodall pushed for increased security at the city’s election office, saying that “there was no question” staff safety was at risk.
A similar dynamic played out again in 2024, when workers discovered that doors on absentee tabulators hadn’t been fully closed. With no evidence of tampering but anticipating backlash, officials zeroed out the machines and recounted every ballot. The fix didn’t stop Republicans, including Johnson, from suggesting something “very suspicious” could be happening behind the scenes. Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, errors in other Wisconsin communities, sometimes far more consequential, rarely draw similar attention. Take Waukesha County’s error in 2011 — a mistake that swung thousands of votes and affected which candidate was in the lead. “But it didn’t stick,” said UW-Madison’s Barry Burden, a political science professor. “People don’t talk about Waukesha as a place with rigged or problematic elections.”
In recent years there was only one substantiated allegation of serious election official wrongdoing: In November 2022, Milwaukee deputy clerk Kimberly Zapata was charged with misconduct in office and fraud for obtaining fake absentee ballots.
A month prior, she had ordered three military absentee ballots using fake names and sent the ballots to a Republican lawmaker, an effort she reportedly described as an attempt to expose flaws in the election system. Zapata said those events stemmed from a “complete emotional breakdown.” She was sentenced to one year of probation for election fraud.
“We didn’t hear as much from the right” about those charges, Woodall said.
More recently, the GOP has raised concerns about privacy screens — a curtain hung last November to block a staging area and, earlier this year, a room with frosted windows. Republicans seized on each, claiming the city was hiding something.
Paulina Gutiérrez, the city’s election director, told Votebeat the ballots temporarily kept behind the curtain “aren’t manipulated. They’re scanned and sent directly onto the floor,” where observers are free to watch the envelopes be opened and the ballots be counted.
But the accusations took off anyway. Even Johnson, the U.S. senator, suggested the city was “making sure NO ONE trusts their election counts.”
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
Judge Hannah Dugan leaves court in her federal trial, where she faces charges of obstructing immigration officers. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
The gallery was packed shoulder-to-shoulder Monday morning as Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan entered the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman not as a judge, but as a criminal defendant. Dugan is accused of obstructing federal agents in their efforts to arrest a Mexican-born man who was in the country without legal authorization, and who appeared in Dugan’s misdemeanor criminal court back in April. If convicted in what Adelman signaled would be no more than a week-long trial, Dugan could face six years in prison.
Attorneys on both sides of the trial painted very different pictures of Dugan during their opening statements, which can include statements which do not have to be demonstrated by evidence.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation.
Opening statements from prosecutors lasted nearly an hour, with the lawyers saying that Dugan “knew what she was doing was wrong.” Repeatedly, prosecutors pointed to courtroom audio transcribed by the FBI which captured Dugan saying, “I’ll get the heat,” when talking to her courtroom staff about how to respond to the fact that immigration agents were waiting in the hallway to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a man appearing before her on misdemeanor charges of battery and domestic violence.
Prosecutors called the Milwaukee County Courthouse “a safe place where arrests are routine,” allowing federal agents to confront targets who have passed through security screening and are unarmed. An arrest team of six federal agents from the FBI, DEA, Border Patrol, and ICE wearing plain clothes and carrying concealed weapons were attempting to blend into the normal hustle and bustle in the courthouse. Prosecutors said that an FBI agent told a Milwaukee sheriff’s deputy, who was serving as a bailiff for Dugan’s courtroom, that they were there to arrest Flores-Ruiz. “Everything was proceeding in a routine way,” prosecutors told the jury, until the court clerk told Dugan that agents were in the hallway for an immigration arrest.
Jurors watched mute video compiled from security cameras showing Dugan, accompanied by fellow Circuit Court Judge Kristela Cervera, walking down the public hall in their judge robes to find out what the agents waiting outside the courtroom wanted. Both judges can be seen pointing to the chief judge’s office, with agents then following Cervera to consult with Chief Judge Carl Ashley.
When Dugan returned to her courtroom she called Flores-Ruiz first out of the at least 33 cases she had on the docket, setting a court date and telling Flores-Ruiz he was welcome to attend remotely over Zoom. After that, prosecutors allege that Dugan and her court staff directed Flores-Ruiz to an exit in the courtroom which led to a non-public hallway. At the end of the hallway Flores-Ruiz could either take a staircase leading down to the fifth floor, or go through a door which led back out to the public hallway where agents were waiting.
People gather to sing and show support for Judge Hannah Dugan on Thursday, Dec. 11, ahead of Dugan’s federal trial. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Flores-Ruiz and his attorney exited through the door and walked right past the federal agents. Some of the agents trailed Flores-Ruiz to the elevator, while the rest of the arrest team left Ashley’s office. Cameras outside the courthouse captured agents running down a sidewalk after Flores-Ruiz and his attorney.
Dugan is accused by prosecutors of “dividing” the arrest team by directing them to the chief judge. They say that Dugan had “strongly held views” about immigration enforcement in courts which led her to “cross the line,” and that the now-suspended judge had “orchestrated” Flores-Ruiz’s “escape from federal law enforcement.”
Prosecutors claimed Dugan told Cervera to keep her robes on during the interaction, and that Cervera and Flores-Ruiz’s defense attorney Mercedes De La Rosa were both uncomfortable with Dugan’s wishes to confront the agents.
Dugan’s defense team emphasized that the door Flores-Ruiz used to exit the courtroom was just 11 feet from the courtroom’s main entrance. They also discussed the upheaval the Trump administration’s deportation operations had caused at the Milwaukee County Courthouse before the interaction with Dugan. ICE arrests had occurred in late March and early April, alarming county judges. The defense displayed emails from courthouse personnel they said demonstrated the “paranoid” atmosphere at the courthouse and which described concerns about people not showing up to court and suspicious vehicles parked outside that looked like they belonged to federal law enforcement.
Courthouse was developing a policy on ICE
At the time of Flores-Ruiz’s arrest, Chief Judge Ashley was drafting a policy on how to respond to immigration enforcement coming inside the courts. Judges had been invited to a training presentation on the matter which Dugan was unable to attend, but she had been briefed on its main points.
The Milwaukee County Courthouse (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
The draft policy noted that administrative warrants of the type federal agents presented to arrest Flores-Ruiz are not treated the same way as judicial warrants. Whereas a judicial warrant would give the agents full access to the building, administrative warrants limit them to the public areas of the courthouse. Court staff were also instructed to direct immigration officers to their immediate supervisors, which Dugan appeared to be doing by directing them to Ashley, her attorneys said, adding that the chief judge needed to be notified if a warrant is executed.
Ashley had also issued a press release after the rash of ICE arrests saying in part that “the court must remain a safe haven,” Dugan’s attorney Steven Biskupic noted, as images of courthouse emails, messages, and press releases were presented to jurors on two screens. Dugan did not obstruct the agents, or give direction to anyone else to do so, her attorneys argued.
Federal agents testify
Three federal agents took the stand Monday and gave lengthy testimony, starting with Erin Lucker of the FBI. Lucker was not involved with the immigration arrest, but helped gather and analyze video and evidence to charge Dugan. Using audio from courtroom microphones, Lucker created a transcript and timeline of events from the time Dugan first approached the agents until Flores-Ruiz was arrested outside.
The audio was very poor in places, and Judge Adelman reminded the jury that the audio is evidence, not the transcript, and that if they could not understand what is said on the audio, they were not allowed to rely on the transcript instead. In a portion of the audio, Dugan can be heard talking to court staff about the exit to the hallway, with a voice saying “down the stairs,” though some of what’s being said was inaudible. Prosecutors also said that the alleged victims of the domestic violence and battery charges Flores-Ruiz faced were kept waiting in the courtroom to wonder what happened after he left.
FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, a member of the immigration ERO arrest team, leaves court Monday after testifying during the trial of Judge Hannah Dugan. Behind him is ICE supervisor Anthony Nimtz. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
In response to questions from Dugan’s defense attorneys, Lucker said she had no firsthand knowledge of the courthouse itself or what business there usually looks like. She had not participated in an arrest team like the one assembled for Flores-Ruiz, she said. She also responded to the defense that she wasn’t aware that before January 2025 immigration enforcement officers did not, as a matter of policy, target people for arrest at courthouses.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that a video Lucker helped produce shows a walkthrough of Dugan’s courtroom and the non-public hallway outside ends with the filmer walking down the stairs, not taking the entrance to the hallway which Flores-Ruiz took. Lucker said she hadn’t walked down those stairs, and was unaware that to get out of the building you’d need to pass by multiple security checkpoints.
Testimony revealed that federal agents had been surveilling Flores-Ruiz at his home and followed him to the courthouse. Defense attorneys questioned why a traffic stop wasn’t made. The task force agents used an encrypted Signal chat which they’d named the “Frozen Water Group” to communicate about the ICE operation.
FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, one of the plain-clothes agents on the arrest team, testified that he had only been on the ERO team since February when the team came for Flores-Ruiz in April. Baker said Dugan “divided” the arrest team by leading members into the chief judge’s office, and that when he talked to Dugan “she seemed to be angry at that point.” When he went to Ashley’s office, Baker said he wasn’t told where he was going or why. He was informed that Flores-Ruiz had left the building either by a text or phone call from another agent.
On Tuesday, Baker will be questioned by defense attorneys.
Abortion-rights advocate Kristin Hady helps a car navigate past protesters toward A Preferred Women’s Health Center of Atlanta in Forest Park, Georgia, in August 2023. Independent clinics are facing fresh challenges, and at least 23 more closed this year, bringing the total to 100 since the Dobbs decision. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
When Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinics temporarily paused abortion services in October because of a new law halting federal Medicaid reimbursements, patients turned to the state’s two independent clinics for care.
Demand at Affiliated Medical Services in Milwaukee quadrupled, according to clinic director Dabbie Phonekeo.
“It happened all of a sudden. We were all scrambling to figure out what we needed to do and how we were going to accept all patients,” Phonekeo said.
The staff secured additional funding to meet need before Wisconsin’s Planned Parenthood clinics resumed abortions, adapting under a law that bans certain reproductive health care providers from receiving federal funding until July 2026.
“This was a reminder of why it’s so important to have independent clinics and abortion access overall,” Phonekeo said.
At least 23 independent clinics have closed this year, according to a report released Tuesday by Abortion Care Network, compared with 12 last year.
Most were in states with abortion-rights protections, the report found.
Independent providers face less recognition than Planned Parenthood and ongoing barriers to funding. Donations to abortion clinics and funds have waned, leading to more out-of-pocket costs for patients, States Newsroom reported last year.
Independent clinics provide 58% of all abortions nationwide, while Planned Parenthood provides 38%, hospitals 3%, and 1% occur at physicians’ offices, according to the latest Abortion Care Network findings.
Medication abortion, allowed during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, has been a focus of abortion-rights advocates and opponents this year. But independent clinics are more likely to offer legal procedural abortions after that.
More than 60% of all U.S. clinics that offer abortion care after the first trimester are independent, 85% that provide abortion at 22 weeks or later are independent, and all clinics that perform the procedure after 26 weeks are independent, according to the report.
“While both medication and in-clinic abortion are safe and effective, people may need or prefer one method over another,” the report states. “This is especially true for patients for whom it’s not safe or feasible to terminate outside the clinic — including those experiencing intimate partner violence, minors without support at home, people experiencing homelessness, and patients who cannot take time off from work or caretaking.”
The latest clinic closures come more than three years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision forced many to cease operations: 100 independent clinics closed between 2022 and 2025.
Affiliated Medical Services in Wisconsin is one of the few independent abortion providers that was able to reopen after closing the day the nation’s highest court overturned federal abortion rights on June 24, 2022.
The clinic reopened in March 2024 a few months after a Wisconsin judge ruled that a 19th century abortion ban was invalid, Wisconsin Examiner reported.
Phonekeo said people were initially hesitant to book appointments at the clinic.
“Most of our patients that we saw had asked, ‘Is this legal? Am I going to go to jail if I have an abortion today? Can we do this in Wisconsin?’ So I think a lot of patients were still afraid to be seen,” she said.
Some anti-abortion groups have urged the Trump administration to disqualify Planned Parenthood as a federal vendor, States Newsroom reported in November.
Nearly 50 Planned Parenthood clinics closed this year due to federal health officials’ cuts to Title X and Medicaid. At least 20 closed since a federal “defunding” provision that halts Medicaid funds for reproductive health care providers that offer abortion and received more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023 took effect, according to a tally released on Nov. 12 by the national organization.
Some of the clinics that closed did not offer abortion. And under the law, federal funding only covers abortions in extreme circumstances, so the Medicaid reimbursement ban primarily affects patients who go to Planned Parenthood for other services, like birth control, cervical cancer screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Some independent clinics offer non-abortion care, too, but many don’t accept Medicaid, clinic directors said at a Wednesday news briefing.
Amber Gavin is the vice president of advocacy of operations at A Woman’s Choice, an organization that has three clinics in North Carolina and one each in Florida and Virginia. She said staff members at the Charlotte location have seen an uptick in patients seeking STI testing and related services.
Karishma Oza, chief of staff at DuPont Clinic in Washington, D.C., also said providers there have seen an increase in patients who are uninsured or underinsured since the Medicaid ban, which mostly affects Planned Parenthood, took effect.
Phonekeo said the Wisconsin clinic hasn’t dealt with more demand for reproductive health care services beyond abortion. Still, Affiliated Medical Services offers birth control pills, IUDs, STI testing and treatment, miscarriage care and even follow-up care for medication abortion provided through online-only clinics such as Hey Jane.
While all three clinic leaders said they don’t accept Medicaid, they offer sliding-scale payments for people who cannot afford the full cost of care.
“We’re more than just abortion providers,” Phonekeo said.
This story was originally produced by News From The States, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
A new vision for passenger rail is on track in southeastern Wisconsin. The MARK Rail project — short for Milwaukee Area-Racine-Kenosha Passenger Rail — has officially launched, replacing the long-discussed KRM commuter rail proposal with a faster, more focused intercity rail plan connecting Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Chicago.
The MARK Passenger Rail Commission held its inaugural meeting on Dec. 5, 2025, at Racine City Hall, where members adopted bylaws, elected officers and approved the next step in seeking federal funding. This marks a fairly significant milestone in a decades-long effort to restore passenger rail to the Lake Michigan shoreline.
“We believe this is a really transformative option for this region,” one project consultant said during the meeting. “It connects Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee to a world-class economic region and cultural center to jobs, education, redevelopment and attracting new businesses.”
New name, new approach
This is not just a rebranding of the KRM proposal. Instead, MARK Rail is a strategic shift from a commuter model to intercity passenger rail, in line with new federal funding opportunities.
Unlike KRM, which envisioned multiple local stops, MARK Rail will prioritize speed and direct service between urban hubs. This change not only improves travel time but also positions the project for funding through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program, which supports intercity rail.
Federal funding pathway chosen
After reviewing options, the commission chose to pursue funding through the FRA’s Corridor ID program, rather than the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program, which had been used in past KRM planning. The Corridor ID program offers a higher federal match, more technical support and a phased development structure.
“The Corridor ID program has a lower local match and allows us to build capacity over time,” said Wendy Messenger of DB Engineering & Consulting. “It’s a better fit for this project and gives us more flexibility with service design and coordination.”
According to documents shared at the meeting, the federal share under the FRA program can reach 90% during early phases, compared to 60% under FTA’s New Starts.
The newly formed MARK Passenger Rail Commission replaces earlier planning bodies such as the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority and the KRM Steering Committee. Its structure and purpose are outlined in the proposed bylaws, which were adopted at the Dec. 5 meeting.
“The purpose of the Commission is to advance the public interest by pursuing the development, implementation, and provision of passenger rail service,” the bylaws state.
The commission is governed by representatives from the cities of Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha, with Racine Mayor Cory Mason as chair, former Revenue Secretary Peter Barca as vice chair, and Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman as secretary/treasurer. Each seat will be elected annually.
The bylaws allow for both regular and special meetings and permit in-person, virtual or hybrid formats to improve public access.
Partnership with Metra moves forward
Since the proposed rail line would share the Union Pacific corridor currently used by Metra’s UP-North line, coordination with Metra is essential. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the MARK Commission and Metra was introduced at the meeting, laying the groundwork for collaboration on scheduling, fares, equipment and infrastructure planning.
“Metra and the MARK Commission will work together to develop the Operations Plan that is mutually agreeable,” the MOU states. It also specifies that Metra’s support beyond standard duties may require a reimbursement agreement.
The MOU confirms that Metra will not be the operator, but will be a key stakeholder because of its current presence along the corridor and its expertise in rail operations.
Next steps and timeline
The commission voted to authorize preparation of an application for the next Corridor ID grant cycle, expected in early 2026. If selected, the project would then move into the Service Development Plan phase, followed by preliminary engineering, environmental review and, eventually, construction.
“We’re already doing a lot of the work now,” said Clayton Johanson of DB. “There will need to be refinements, but we’re in a really great position to continue to advance.”
The full timeline could stretch over several years, with local match funding becoming necessary starting in Step 2 of the Corridor ID process. Officials have discussed using remaining funds from Racine’s federal planning grant to help meet those needs.
A regional vision focused on cities
One strategic decision behind the project’s current direction is its urban focus. By centering the effort in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha, the commission is avoiding the jurisdictional and political complications that kept KRM from becoming a reality.
This includes sidestepping debates over governance authority — particularly since regional transit authorities are no longer permitted under Wisconsin law. The MARK Commission, on the other hand, is legal under state statutes and modeled after similar rail commissions elsewhere in Wisconsin.
This story was originally published by Racine County Eye and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will move its Milwaukee processing operations from a downtown building owned by the Milwaukee School of Engineering to a site on the Northwest Side, an ICE spokesperson said in an email to NNS.
A spokesperson for the General Services Administration, the real estate arm of the federal government, said the GSA “remains focused on supporting this administration’s goal of optimizing the federal footprint, and providing the best workplaces for our federal agencies to meet their mission,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to NNS.
Students and others protest in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building leased from the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Oct. 31, 2025. The protests have taken place every Friday at 9 a.m. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Demonstrators have been calling on the university to cut ties with the agency.
MSOE officials say the university inherited the federal lease when it purchased the building in 2023 and does not have the legal authority to remove ICE.
Alan Madry, professor emeritus at Marquette University Law School, said there is no question the federal government has eminent domain authority in such situations.
The federal government has the legal power to take or use property for public purposes even if a private landowner or local government objects.
A ‘phased’ transition
In a statement to NNS, ICE said the transition “will follow a phased approach to ensure a smooth and efficient process” and that the agency “remains committed to maintaining continuity of operations as the office becomes fully operational.”
Processing centers are typically used to conduct interviews and sometimes hold people for the short term rather than overnight detention.
The ICE spokesperson did not provide a timeline for the move, but said the new location at 11925 W. Lake Park Drive will operate as a processing center, not a detention facility.
In a statement, Jeremy McGovern, spokesperson for the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services, said the city has no additional inspections scheduled for the Lake Park Drive site and that the certificate of occupancy is already in place.
Because the federal government is not subject to local zoning and permit requirements, McGovern said, the city cannot determine when the site becomes active and has limited knowledge about the federal timeline.
Protests continue
Noah Dinan, left, and Steve Szymanski protest in front of the building used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 31, 2025. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
The university says it intends to use the Knapp Street building for academic purposes once ICE leaves. But Noah Dinan, a sophomore studying software engineering at the school, said the lack of clarity about the move raises troubling possibilities.
The transition could take years, or ICE could expand its Milwaukee operations rather than relocate, said Dinan, who is a member of the university’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
The organization has circulated petitions, contacted alumni and joined the weekly Friday protests.
Dinan also pointed to the financial incentives of leasing to ICE.
According to the General Services Administration’s September 2025 lease inventory, the federal government is paying the university about $2.1 million per year to occupy the Knapp Street site through April 2028.
Despite the news that ICE has plans to transition from Knapp Street to its new property, Dinan said he and other students plan to continue protesting.
“Our campaign is one of sanctuary,” Dinan said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
As red sand filled the cracks along the sidewalks in front of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, community members stood in quiet solidarity as drums beat.
The pouring of red sand marked another year of remembrance and healing for missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives, referred to as MMIWR.
The symbolic act of pouring sand was part of the HIR Wellness Institute’s ninth annual Community Activated Medicine & Red Sand Events on Nov. 14.
HIR Wellness, located at 3136 W. Kilbourn Ave., was founded in 2017 by Leah Denny, who serves as CEO. The organization provides a range of free mental health, wellness services and additional programming for the Indigenous community. The Electa Quinney Institute, where the event was held, was founded in 2010 to support the Native American community on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Started in 2017, the event has provided a sacred space for community grief and collective healing in honor of MMIWR through art, storytelling and community care.
Each year, the HIR Wellness Institute collaborates with the Red Sand Project to host the event. The Red Sand Project was designed to raise public awareness about human trafficking and modern slavery, using the red sand to represent those who have fallen through systemic cracks.
A person walks down a path in between posters that have statistics about missing and murdered Indigenous women. One poster stated that 45.6% of American Indians/Alaska Native women in Wisconsin have experienced sexual violence.
Analia Ninham, a member of Daughters of Tradition, an Indigenous youth group at the HIR Wellness Institute, offers attendees a cleansing sage.
Malia Chow blows into a conch shell in all four cardinal directions as part of a Native Hawaiian tradition.
The RedNationBoyz, a Milwaukee-based youth and community drum group, performs.
Marla Mahkimetas, a Menominee water educator and artist, speaks about losing her daughter-in-law to human trafficking and her family’s healing journey since.
“Trauma is not a life sentence.”
Marla Mahkimetas
Dr. Jeneile Luebke, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, speaks to attendees about her research on gender-based violence in the Indigenous community.
“We got to cry and say her name.”
Malia Chow
Malia Chow, community healer with the HIR Wellness Institute, speaks about losing her twin sister to violence.
Shanna Hickman and her daughter, Ziraya Sunn, listen to a woman tell the story of how their sister was killed due to domestic violence.Hanna Jennings, an intern with the HIR Wellness Institute, hands out a bag containing red sand, tissues and community resources.The RedNationBoyz, led by one of the founders, Isiah Nahwahquaw (second from left), performs.
Monique Valentine writes the name Anacaona, a ruler of Jaragua (modern day Haiti), who was executed by the Spanish in 1503 and has become a symbol of Indigenous resistance.
Flower Harms pours red sand from the Red Sand Project, which was started by Molly Gochman in 2014 to bring awareness to human trafficking and modern slavery.
Red sand fills a crack during the ninth annual Community Activated Medicine & Red Sands Event.Rachel Fernandez, co-chair of the Wisconsin Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Relatives Task Force, pours red sand along a crack in the sidewalk.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Tim Scott was shocked when he was laid off in May as the executive director of Nearby Nature, an organization that works to reconnect Black people to nature by offering nature education classes and introducing residents to new outdoor experiences.
Instead of letting the sudden change deter him, he doubled down on his commitment to help Milwaukee residents experience the outdoors.
Scott is opening Urban Nature Connection, a community-based nonprofit dedicated to reconnecting Black and Brown communities with nature.
The organization’s mission is to promote the physical, spiritual and mental health of outdoor activities such as birding, gardening, biking, hiking and fishing.
Finding a new purpose
According to Scott’s wife, Theresa Scott, he has always been an outdoorsman.
“He has always enjoyed walking or spending time in the park or outdoors,” Theresa Scott said.
Tim Scott spent most of his career in construction work.
He’s also done some coaching and marriage counseling but said he found a new purpose when he took the role at Nearby Nature.
“This is my passion, this is my healer, I owe nature my life to tell you the truth,” Scott said.
His wife agrees.
“I think this is a great second career for him,” she said. “It’s better for his mind and his body.”
Scott said he now knows the importance of pushing nature as a healing mechanism, especially for those who don’t have access to mental health services.
“We all experience trauma in different ways,” Scott said. “But we don’t all have access to the same mental health services. Being out in nature really saved me when I was experiencing my own crisis.”
By connecting people with nature, Scott hopes to help others find their own healing.
In addition to outdoor activities, the organization will focus on indoor gardening, programming and advocacy of green space.
Over the next few months, the focus will be on getting people outside even during the colder months.
“A lot of our work will be advocacy,” he said. “So, we will center advocacy through every season.”
Scott says he plans to partner with other agencies to host wellness events, community discussions and group walks.
To keep up with Urban Nature Connection, you can follow its Facebook page here.
“What he wants to do here is truly a movement,” Theresa Scott said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
This honor, presented as part of National Philanthropy Day, recognizes leaders whose work advances Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) in the philanthropic and nonprofit community.
NNS was celebrated alongside other changemakers on Nov. 20 during a special event that spotlighted individuals whose generosity, leadership and commitment are shaping a stronger, more connected southeastern Wisconsin.
In the nomination, the writers highlighted NNS’s mission-driven journalism that amplifies underrepresented voices, deepens public understanding and builds bridges across Milwaukee’s most diverse neighborhoods.
NNS has continued to model what equitable, community-centered journalism looks like in practice: reporting that listens first, collaborates deeply and informs with heart and integrity.
Smith, the executive director of NNS, is an award-winning journalist who served as the managing editor for news at USA TODAY before returning to Milwaukee.
Smith also worked as the deputy managing editor for daily news and production at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he oversaw the breaking news hub and production desks and was the key point person for print story selections and workflow.
In a classroom turned barbershop on the third floor at Milwaukee’s Rufus King International High School, students sit for a haircut and talk about academics, sports and the latest trends with English teachers Cameron LeFlore and Emmanuel Johnson.
They’re the latest clients of The Shop in 310, a free on-campus barbershop club for Rufus King students. LeFlore said the cuts help young men feel more confident.
“Then they don’t need a hat or hoodie,” he said. “They can just walk with their head held high.”
The idea for the shop started when LeFlore brought his clippers to the school, hoping students would want a haircut.
Johnson, who was recently hired at the school, decided to collaborate with LeFlore once he learned they both had an interest in barbering.
Checking out the new club
The Shop in 310 opens daily at 3:30 p.m. except Thursdays. Among the regulars at The Shop in 310 are Rufus King juniors Elijah Ramirez and Demontrey Cochran.
Ramirez, 17, moved from Chicago to Milwaukee three months ago and was nervous about trying out a new barber for the first time in 10 years.
“I was scared at first, but then I gained confidence and trust in Mr. LeFlore,” Ramirez said.
He was pleased with the results of his first mid-taper cut.
“It came out better than I expected,” he said.
Since then, he’s gained opportunities with photographers and notices how his cut stands out.
Cochran, 16, is a student in LeFlore’s class and was excited to support the club.
“I really wanted to see how this would turn out,” Cochran said.
Ramirez and Cochran each encourage their peers to give it a try.
“Every man can vouch that after they get a haircut, they are going to feel good and that they can conquer the world because of their haircut and confidence from it,” Cochran said.
Clippers used at The Shop in 310 sit on a desk at Rufus King High School. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Financial relief for families
The Shop in 310 initially charged $10 per cut, but after being approved by the Office of Administration at Rufus King as an official club, the trims became free.
“If your child starts off as a freshman coming here, you’d be saving thousands by the time they’re a senior,” LeFlore said.
Before joining Rufus King, Johnson offered free cuts to students at Marshall High School, where he taught previously, and felt glad to do it.
“Back then, cuts were $25 to $30. Now barbers are charging $40 and up,” he said.
Cochran typically spends $35 for a mid-taper cut at his barber. Since coming to The Shop in 310, he’s been able to save money and also values how accessible it has been for his peers.
“There’s a lot of people I know who don’t even have barbershops near them, so it takes them a long time to finally get a cut,” he said.
LeFlore and Johnson use the club’s Instagram to post haircut tutorials for students interested in learning how to cut their own hair at home.
“I try to take a holistic approach and think back to what I would’ve wanted when I was in high school,” LeFlore said.
Demontrey Cochran, 16, gets a haircut from English teacher Emmanuel Johnson at Rufus King High School. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Visiting The Shop in 310 is more than just receiving a haircut for Ramirez and Cochran. It’s a place to feel welcomed.
“At first I saw them as just English teachers,” Ramirez said. “I like their communication and ability to understand what I’m specifically asking for.”
Beyond the sounds of clippers, Cochran sees the barbershop as peaceful, chill and liberating.
“As long as everything is appropriate this is a non-judgment zone,” he said.
Practice leads to improvement
LeFlore and Johnson are self-taught barbers who learned the skills on their own before bringing clippers into the classroom.
Johnson started off cutting his youngest brother’s hair as a favor while receiving feedback from his mentor Thomas Mclern, a barber with more than 30 years’ experience.
“While cutting my brother’s hair I realized that cutting hair was one of the best ways for me to serve the community,” he said. “Cutting hair is now an art for me.”
LeFlore’s path to barbering began after watching a friend cut his own hair, inspiring him to do the same.
“I told my friend to send me all the products I needed, then I went and brought everything,” he said.
LeFlore said it used to take an hour and a half to complete a haircut, now it’s only 20 minutes.
Tapping into diverse hair types
As their skills improved by cutting five to 10 heads a week, Johnson and LeFlore became more versatile.
Having already worked with diverse hair types at Marshall High School, Johnson was able to adjust to the needs of Rufus King students.
“At Marshall, I was exposed to different hair types and hair thinness, so at Rufus King, I learned quickly and had no problem,” Johnson said. “Every now and then when I get a hair type that’s not my own, it’s still a learning experience.”
Though LeFlore was nervous about cutting different hair textures, he practiced on his dad, whose hair is straighter, and watched YouTube videos to become better.
“I took my time and it turned out OK, but it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be,” he said. “I learned that straighter hair is easier, you just have to be more precise.”
Cochran said he has interest in cutting his own hair after graduating high school.
“I want to purchase my own barber kit eventually, and that should save me at least $100 a month,” he said.
Johnson and LeFlore want people to know that whether it’s cutting hair or something different, practice is key.
“Whatever they’re looking to pursue, they need to find like-minded people who do the same things and practice together,” Johnson said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Milwaukee residents still facing recovery challenges from the August flood have until Wednesday, Nov. 12, to apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration physical disaster loans.
To begin the process, you must apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov or call 800-621-3362.
Ald. DiAndre Jackson sent an email on Thursday informing residents that they need to apply for FEMA assistance separately even if damage was previously reported to 211, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District or a damage assessment team in late August. Disaster Survivor Assistance teams will also be present at pop-up locations in Milwaukee’s affected communities to help survivors with the FEMA process and provide updates.
Residents can visit any location, and no appointments are required. Click here to view the Milwaukee County Disaster Survivor Assistance location calendar.
Submitting documentation to FEMA
While applying, you must provide the following:
Contact information
Social Security number
A general list of damage and losses
Annual household income
Insurance information
Bank account information for direct deposit
Your address at the time of disaster and where you’re currently residing.
Important reminders
Before applying for FEMA, you must file an insurance claim.
According to the Milwaukee County executive, FEMA will not pay for things that your insurance already covers. However, if your insurance doesn’t cover all your essential needs or is delayed, you can ask FEMA for extra help.
The City of Milwaukee Office of Emergency Management also reminds residents that FEMA provides funds for mold removal as part of disaster aid.
Through FEMA’s Clean and Sanitize program, residents can make a one-time payment of $300 for mold removal, too.
Mold will keep growing until steps are taken to eliminate the source of moisture.
Click here for more information and guides to mold remediation.
Applying for the Small Business Administration loans
Homeowners can get up to $500,000 to fix or rebuild their primary home, and renters can borrow up to $100,000 to repair or replace personal property.
This loan is not for second homes or vacation houses, but if you are a rental property owner you may qualify.
Businesses and nonprofits can apply for a physical disaster loan to borrow up to $2 million for repairs to property or real estate. The deadline to apply is also Nov. 12.
For help on the application process, you can walk in or schedule an appointment at the Business Recovery Center-Summit Place, 6737 W. Washington St., Milwaukee.
Hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Wisconsin is among a coalition of states suing the federal government over new restrictions on disaster relief grants, increasing pressure on the Trump administration from battleground states.
Eleven states and the governor of Kentucky have filed a lawsuit this week against the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The lawsuit takes issue with two grants: the Emergency Management Performance Grant and the Homeland Security Grant Program. FEMA placed a hold on EMPG funding until states provide their population as of Sept. 30, 2025, and the plaintiffs argue that states do not keep such up-to-date census information. The federal agency also reduced the number of years that states must complete their grant activities to be reimbursed from three years to one.
“These grants go towards efforts and equipment that help protect Wisconsinites’ safety,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “The federal government shouldn’t be imposing new, unlawful conditions that hinder the use of these funds.”
In a statement to NOTUS, FEMA said it “implemented additional requirements on its grant programs” at the direction of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“This is yet another example of a lawsuit trying to obstruct President Trump’s agenda and the will of the American people,” the statement said. “They are part of a methodical, reasonable effort to ensure that federal dollars are used effectively and in line with the Administration’s priorities and today’s homeland security threats.”
The lawsuit alleges that the administration did not properly follow legally mandated procedures to put these additional burdens of information on the state. Much of the funds are already accounted for in states’ budgets, the lawsuit said. For example, in Wisconsin, the funds go toward the state incident management team and statewide communications and warnings and maintain the state emergency operations center, the lawsuit said.
“Our emergency management and first responder teams worked around the clock in the weeks following Hurricane Helene, and these funds were critical to their work,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in a statement. “We’re in hurricane season right now, and without these funds, we’ll be left with fewer resources to help people during the next storm that hits North Carolina.”
The lawsuit is led by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon are also participating in the suit. Several of the Trump administration’s moves around FEMA have ended up in court. In September, another coalition of blue states successfully sued over the administration’s decision to withhold homeland security funds from blue states.
“The Trump Administration should be working with states to keep our residents safe,” Nessel said in a statement about the litigation. “Instead, the White House continues again and again to pull the rug out from under us, putting the safety of our communities in jeopardy.”
North Carolina lawmakers have expressed frustration in recent months with FEMA. Sen. Ted Budd placed a hold on all DHS nominees because of FEMA delays. Budd announced that he would lift at least one hold on the nominee for DHS general counsel, James Percival, once western North Carolina received the approved funds.
This story was produced andoriginally published by NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute. This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The Assembly.
Jack Daly, who was convicted and senttoprison last year after pleadingguilty to defrauding thousands of conservative political donors out of money — including a scheme claiming to draft former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to run for the U.S. Senate — has emerged from federal custody to quietly re-establish himself as a top Republican Party campaign fundraiser.
A NOTUS investigation found that dozens of federal-level Republican political committees — including the Republican National Committee, numerous congressional committees and campaign operations tied to President Donald Trump — have together spent nearly $18 million on digital fundraising, donor lists and other services from Daly’s latest political consulting firm, Better Mousetrap Digital, according to Virgin Islands corporatefilings and Federal Election Commission records.
Daly established Better Mousetrap Digital in September 2023, around the time he surrendered his North Carolina law license, accepted notice of disbarment and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and lying to the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Daly “targeted vulnerable victims, including a woman with Alzheimer’s and elderly veterans.” A judge in December 2023 sentenced Daly to four months in prison, a $20,000 fine and nearly $70,000 in restitution payments.
Federal Bureau of Prisons records indicate Daly exited federal custody in June 2024. He is scheduled to remain under supervised release until mid-2026 and is currently petitioning a federal court to vacate his conviction.
Daly, through his attorney, Brandon Sample, declined to answer a series of questions from NOTUS about his legal history, experiences in prison and Better Mousetrap Digital’s operations and business model. Daly likewise declined to comment about whether Better Mousetrap Digital clients are aware of his legal situation and whether he’s ever lost business because of it.
But when asked by NOTUS about their contracts with Daly’s Better Mousetrap Digital for fundraising and data services, several Republican political committees said they will stop, or have stopped, working with the firm.
Among them: the Republican National Committee, which has paid Better Mousetrap Digital more than $1 million since September 2023. This includes payments as recently as last month, on Sept. 17 and Sept. 30, totaling nearly $15,000 for a “list acquisition,” according to FEC records.
“Services from this vendor originated more than two years ago under a previous leadership team, and currently the RNC does not have an ongoing business relationship with them,” RNC Communications Director Zach Parkinson told NOTUS. “The RNC runs one of the largest digital fundraising operations in the conservative ecosystem, which regularly works with a wide range of outside vendors for services. All RNC activities are conducted in full compliance with the law.”
The Mullin Victory Fund — a joint fundraising committee composed of Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s Oklahoma campaign committee, the senator’s Boots Political Action Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee — has spent about $66,000 with Better Mousetrap Digital since September 2023, FEC records indicate.
The Mullin committee’s most recent payment to Daly’s firm came last month, on Sept. 30 — $4,969 for “list rental fees,” per FEC records.
“We were not aware of this, and will not use them moving forward,” Mullin’s campaign committee said in a statement to NOTUS when asked if it was aware of Daly’s legal history.
Meanwhile, the reelection campaign of Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican of Wyoming, has spent about $122,000 on “fundraising fees” with Better Mousetrap Digital since 2023, including more than 30 transactions this summer and autumn, according to FEC records through September.
When asked why it works with Daly’s company, Hageman’s campaign told NOTUS that “we have advised all vendors to cease any sub-vendor relationships with the referenced company.”
The 1776 Project PAC has paid Better Mousetrap Digital about $151,000 since September 2023, with its most recent payment coming on June 30, for “fundraising consulting agency fees” totaling about $111,000, according to the most recently available FEC records.
“The 1776 PAC has never spoken to Jack Daly,” PAC spokesperson Mitchell P. Jackson said. “He was a digital vendor that worked for a vendor, who we no longer work with. In other words, Daly was a vendor of a vendor that we no longer use.”
NOTUS attempted to contact more than three dozen other Republican political committees about their payments to Better Mousetrap Digital, which range from the low four figures to well into seven figures.
The federal-level committees of the Republican Party of Florida and West Virginia Republican Party acknowledged NOTUS’ inquiries but provided no answers to requests. The Republican state party committees in Arizona, California, Iowa, Minnesota and Texas, which also do business with Better Mousetrap Digital, did not respond to repeated messages.
Nor did several of Better Mousetrap Digital’s most lucrative federal clients, including the NRSC (more than $5.2 million in spending since September 2023), Trump National Committee JFC (nearly $3.6 million in spending) and the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee (nearly $1 million).
Congressional reelection committees that have recently used Better Mousetrap Digital and that did not respond to requests for comment include those of Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The campaigns of Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Byron Donalds, Jimmy Patronis and Kat Cammack of Florida also did not respond, nor did those of Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Ronny Jackson of Texas.
Better Mousetrap Digital also does some state-level political business. In New Jersey, for example, state campaign finance records indicate Republican political committee Elect Common Sense has spent more than $155,000 with Better Mousetrap Digital, mostly on “fundraising fees.” Kitchen Table Conservatives, a New Jersey super PAC in part led by former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway that’s supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli ahead of next week’s election, has spent more than $7,000.
On his LinkedIn page, Daly describes himself as a “prominent and prolific digital fundraiser for more than one thousand clients (GOP candidates/committees and conservative/MAGA causes)” and a “leading digital fundraiser for President Trump & Congressional Republicans.”
Better Mousetrap Digital describes itself as the “premier digital fundraising consulting firm for Republicans. With decades of experience spanning from state house campaigns to the White House, we bring unparalleled expertise and dedication to our clients.”
On its website, the firm advertises Donald Trump for President, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the RNC as clients, alongside the committees’ logos.
Prosecutors accused Daly and fellow attorney Nathanael Pendley of raising more than $1.6 million for a political committee, known as Draft PAC, that promised to convince Clarke, the former Milwaukee County sheriff, to run for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin ahead of the 2018 midterm election.
Clarke, who did not respond to requests for comment for this article, never ran for the Senate and maintained he never had intentions to do so, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Daly was operating a “scam PAC.” Federal prosecutors said Daly and Pendley kept fundraising anyway, in part for their personal benefit, and lied about their activities to federal officials.
In a letter to NOTUS, Sample — Daly’s attorney, who leads the Washington, D.C.-based Criminal Center LLC law firm — wrote that “a guilty plea is an admission only to the essential elements of the charged offense, and nothing more.”
While Daly “respects the freedom of the press,” Daly “will not tolerate the publication of any material that misrepresents the narrow scope of his plea, repeats as fact the government’s unproven and rejected allegations, or otherwise defames him,” Sample wrote.
Sample also emailed a copy of the transcript of Daly’s Dec. 15, 2025, sentencing hearing before U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller, with several passages highlighted.
Among them is a statement from Daly’s former attorney, Matthew Dean Krueger, that Daly’s crime is “a very limited offense.”
Krueger also told the court that “the government suggests that the defendants put each of these prospective donors at risk. No, it is the other way around. It’s the donor that put themselves at risk by subscribing or submitting a contribution.”
Daly is now in the midst of a monthslong court proceeding in which he is fighting to have his conviction vacated.
In a Sept. 30 request for an evidentiary hearing, Sample argues in a filing with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin that Daly received “substantively incorrect advice” from his previous attorneys and was in “profound turmoil over his plea” — and therefore unable to make a “knowing and intelligent decision during the critical window when his right to withdraw that plea was absolute.”
In his 2023 plea agreement, Daly “acknowledges, understands and agrees that he is, in fact, guilty of the offense” of which he was charged. “The defendant admits that these facts are true and correct and establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
At Daly’s December 2023 sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Knight argued that “Mr. Daly has pled guilty to a year-long criminal conspiracy to lie to the FEC and to defraud donors. So the idea that somehow it’s inaccurate to suggest that there’s a multi-year course of criminal conduct, that’s literally the offense of conviction. That is beyond dispute at this point, and any suggestion to the contrary should just be flatly rejected.”
As uncertainty surrounds Wisconsin’s SNAP program, also known as FoodShare, some community members are finding ways to support others in their time of need.
Wisconsin’s FoodShare program serves more than 700,000 Wisconsin residents. FoodShare is funded through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. SNAP benefits across the country are at risk during the government shutdown.
After the Trump administration said it planned to to freeze payments to SNAP on Nov. 1, two federal judges on Friday ruled the administration must draw from contingency funds to keep aid flowing during the shutdown.
But those rulings may be appealed and benefits may be delayed.
Here are some things you can do if you live in Milwaukee and want to support anyone who might become impacted by FoodShare delays.
What you should know
The Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee is in a position to provide resources to those impacted, according to Reno Wright, advocacy director for the nonprofit.
“We do know that November payments are going to be delayed, but that eventually they will have access to those November benefits,” he said.
People can go to HungerTaskForce.org and access the “Get Help” page, and from there they will be able to find the nearest meal site or food pantry to them and their families, Wright said.
You can also follow the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ FoodShare update page.
What’s being done
Food drive
The city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Public Schools and other partners launched a citywide food drive to help residents impacted by the federal shutdown and a pause of FoodShare benefits.
Collaboration to support food pantries
Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin and Nourish MKE are collaborating with the groups to collect nonperishable food and monetary donations to support Milwaukee food pantries.
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges has been organizing around food needs and access through advocacy and opening community fridges.
To keep up with or support Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, you can follow the group’s Facebook page.
Advocacy efforts
The Hunger Task Force’s Voices Against Hunger is encouraging people to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, into helping.
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has the authority and the resources to prevent an interruption in benefits by using SNAP contingency funds, transferring funds from other departments and issuing clear guidance to state agencies. The tools to make sure families do not go hungry during this holiday season are available, and what is needed now is immediate administrative action and political will,” an email blast from the group stated.
Wright said the Hunger Task Force’s Voices Against Hunger is a statewide platform where information is sent out to let people know about things that are going on at the state and federal level, including federal nutrition programs like FoodShare.
“We are all deeply concerned about the millions of families who will be impacted by the possible delays in SNAP benefits,” she said. “In times like these, community becomes crucial.”
Sisson’s tips on how you can help your neighbors:
Reach out to your local food bank to see if it is accepting donations of time, food or money. All are going to be crucial.
Share your favorite low-cost meal plans and recipes.
Share a simple list of free hot meal sites, pantry hours and community fridges in your city. Keep it updated and easy to reshare.
Stock and restock community fridges and neighborhood pantry boxes.
If you own or manage a business, create a pantry shelf or offer shift meals and grocery stipends.
Others advocates said you can:
Keep up with your neighbors and help where you can.
Offer rides to pick up food for those in need.
Volunteer at your neighborhood food pantries.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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ICE agents arrested roughly 75 immigrants at or near its Milwaukee office between January and July of this year, mostly those without a past criminal conviction or a pending criminal charge.
The arrests of one Venezuelan couple reflect an apparent shift in ICE’s interpretation of protections for asylum seekers. Officers are now detaining even immigrants who don’t have removal cases in immigration court.
A Venezuelan couple arrested Oct. 23 during a routine check-in at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s downtown Milwaukee office are attempting to continue their asylum cases while detained — one in ICE’s Dodge County detention facility and the other in a Kentucky facility.
The arrests reflect an apparent shift in ICE’s interpretation of protections for asylum seekers, posing new risks for those waiting for immigration officials to hear their cases.
Diego Ugarte-Arenas and Dailin Pacheco-Acosta fled Venezuela in 2021, crossing the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, by November of that year and encountering border patrol officers, according to an ICE spokesperson. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have made the same journey in the last decade, of whom at least 5,000 have settled in Wisconsin.
Milwaukee immigration attorney Ben Crouse, who took on the couple’s case after they were detained, told Wisconsin Watch that border patrol officers initially provided Ugarte-Arenas and Pacheco-Acosta with notices to appear in immigration court. Critically, those notices didn’t provide a date or time for their future hearing, preventing the immigration court system from opening removal cases against them.
“There was a lag time between the Supreme Court saying they had to have times and dates on the notice to appear and DHS actually communicating with (the Department of) Justice to put things on calendars,” Crouse noted.
The couple then made their way to Wisconsin and filed for asylum, a legal protection from deportation for immigrants fleeing persecution. Their joint application cited their involvement in the political opposition to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as grounds for asylum, Crouse said.
Immigrants can take two paths to claim asylum in the U.S.
Ugarte-Arenas and Pacheco-Acosta filed for “affirmative” asylum, managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and generally open only to those without removal cases before an immigration court. Without complete notices to appear, Crouse noted, the couple’s cases had not yet reached the court, opening the door to this pathway.
Immigrants with open removal cases apply for “defensive” asylum with an immigration court judge.
At least 100 immigrants with Wisconsin addresses have entered the defensive asylum process between January 2020 and August of this year, court records show. Most came from Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela. Between 2019 and 2024, immigration court judges in Chicago — the court with jurisdiction over most Wisconsin cases — denied roughly 40% of asylum petitions, according to data collected by the nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Under the Biden administration, immigration authorities began correcting incomplete notices to appear, enabling them to move asylum applications from the affirmative process to the defensive process. That swap rarely landed asylum seekers in detention, Crouse said.
Ugarte-Arenas’ and Pacheco-Acosta’s arrests are part of a broader shift in ICE’s attitude toward asylum. Multiple Milwaukee-area immigration attorneys say the agency is now detaining immigrants after terminating their affirmative asylum case.
An ICE spokesperson did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s questions about its new approach.
“ICE does not ‘randomly’ arrest illegal aliens,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Being in the United States illegal (sic) is a violation of federal law. All aliens who remain in the U.S. without a lawful immigration status may be subject to arrest and removal.”
Navigating the asylum process from ICE detention is logistically difficult, Crouse noted. Scheduling a brief phone call can take days, he said, and attorneys must rely on faraway sheriffs’ offices to ferry paperwork to and from their clients.
“Tiny little things take days to fix,” he added.
ICE’s shifting approach to asylum is not limited to affirmative cases.
In recent months, the agency has also begun filing motions to dismiss the immigration court cases of defensive asylum seekers, said Milwaukee immigration attorney Marc Christopher. Once the immigrants’ cases are dismissed, ICE can place them in “expedited removal” proceedings — a fast-moving process that does not require a hearing.
In some cases, Christopher said, “they dismiss a case in court and ICE is waiting right outside. Or they wait until they come to a check-in and arrest them there.”
ICE agents arrested roughly 75 immigrants at or near its Milwaukee office between January and July of this year, more than at any other Wisconsin site listed in agency arrest records during the period. Most of those arrested at the office, including Ugarte-Arenas and Pacheco-Acosta, had neither a past criminal conviction nor a pending criminal charge.
The Milwaukee office also includes a “holding room” in which an average of six people were detained at a time as of June, according to Vera Institute of Justice data.
“I just hope that we’re able to help someone get through the grief process because it is a journey,” Allen said.
Her son, Amareon Allen, was shot and killed in 2021.
Processing loss and moving forward
Gathered outside on a warm morning in late September, boot camp participants received small envelopes and carefully opened them.
Butterflies emerged.
Each butterfly moved at its own pace, some eagerly taking off while others clung to the envelopes, grass, clothing or hands of the people releasing them.
The activitysymbolizes the act of releasing lost loved ones but also overcoming challenges, according to Kimber.
When Kimber lost her son, Maurice Grimes Jr., to gun violence in 2019 and went through a divorce, she said she felt angryand like she had nothing to live for.
“I found healing in spaces where I could connect with people that experienced some of the grief that I did,” Kimber said.
Trying to stay strong
Monette Harmon, a funeral director apprentice and certified death doula with Neka’s Funeral & Cremation Services, speaks during a mock funeral held as part of the Grinding & Grieving Bootcamp. (Meredith Melland / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
The boot camp combines the sharing of personal experiences with speeches and resources about mourning and financial planning.
“I’m here to turn my tragedy into triumph and to be around other people that’s going through something,” Kamid Everett said.
Everett’s 14-year-old son, Bryant Triplett, was shot and killed in December 2024 at North 21st Street and West Concordia Avenue in Milwaukee while she was already recovering from her mother’s death from lung cancer.
She said she tries to stay strong for her family, but things like the back-to-school season and trying Bryant’s favorite food, sushi, remind her of him.
“He didn’t get a chance to leave his mark on the world,” she said.
Techniques and tools for navigating grief
During the boot camp, participants used art therapy techniques to express their emotions, including coloring a mask to reflect how the outside world sees them versus how they actually felt inside.
Rochell Wallace, one of the event’s speakers, colors a jack-o’-lantern drawing as part of the art therapy activities at the Grinding & Grieving Bootcamp. (Meredith Melland / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Some of the speakers created affirmations or “I” statements to comfort and empower the audience.
Monette Harmon, a funeral director apprentice and certified death doula with Neka’s Funeral & Cremation Services, led a mock funeral in front of a casket adorned with flowers, candles and photos.
She reminded attendees they had the right to grieve, to rest and practice self-care and to not lie about their feelings.
“People can’t help you if you can’t be honest,” she said.
Daniel Harris, a gospel and rap artist, wrote a bookabout griefand askedparticipants to record audio on their phones as they repeated messages like “I am a storm survivor” after him.
“There’s going to be times when you’re going to need words of encouragement when no one is around,” he said.
Everett said Harris’ message of surviving the storms of grief resonated with her.
“His whole message was just everything to me because you got to keep going, and then people don’t know what you’ve been through because we always try to hide what we’ve been through,” Everett said.
Monette Harmon, a certified death doula, speaks to attendees about her own experiences with grief at the Grinding & Grieving Bootcamp at The Missing Peace Community Collective in Milwaukee. (Meredith Melland / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
The organizations plan to continue to provide grief services and offer their own events.
Babett Reed, executive director of The Missing Peace Community Collective, said she hopes to open a rage room in the space. She thinks the community needs more events like the boot camp.
“Every month, we need to have a place where we can go and be healed and be able to talk to someone,” Reed said.
Butterfly’s Sacred Journey offers resources and events using art therapy, books and journals to support grieving children.
The Amareon Allen Foundation’s Next Chapter Resource Hub & Healing Circle meets from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every fourth Saturday of the month at rotating locations. It also hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas givebacks for families impacted by gun violence.
As October comes to an end, the threat of missing FoodShare and WIC benefits looms for people across Wisconsin and across the nation.
In an Oct. 10 letter, Sasha Gersten-Paal, director of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s development division, said: “SNAP has funding available for benefits and operations through the month of October. However, if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the nation.”
Nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites receive food and nutrition assistance through FoodShare.
Here are some things you can do if you live in Milwaukee and may be impacted by a lack of food resources in November.
Food resources
If you or someone you know needs emergency food, call 2-1-1, or visit the IMPACT 211 website here.
Hunger Task Forces’ Mobile Market : Operating as a grocery store on wheels, the Mobile Market provides healthy and affordable food options to families. The Mobile Market offers 25% off all items beyond Piggly Wiggly’s prices.
Community-powered fridges: In September, Tricklebee Café, One MKE and Metcalfe Park Community Bridges opened a community-powered fridge. Several more are planned to open.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Angel Perez, 65, has been fishing the waters of Milwaukee for more than 25 years. Everyday during his breaks from work at the Harley-Davidson Museum, he comes down to his fishing spot underneath the Sixth Street Viaduct and casts away. One day, Perez caught seven bluegills in the Menomonee River. Perez says that everyone needs to have something to help them relax, and for him, it’s fishing.
Perez said he was introduced to fishing early in his life by several mentors while growing up in the Wrigleyville neighborhood in Chicago. Now, Perez hopes to be a mentor for kids in Milwaukee, and that’s why in 2026 he plans on starting a camp called Urban Fishing with Angel.
Perez walks to a fishing spot on the north side of the Harley-Davidson Museum.
Perez baits his hook before fishing the Menomonee River, where he hopes to catch trout, bass, bluegill and even salmon as they make their run.
Perez wears polarized sunglasses to help him see fish better in the Menomonee River.
Perez shows the bait and hook setup that he primarily uses while urban fishing.
A bluegill is pulled out of the Menomonee River by Perez.
Perez reflects on his love for fishing as he casts out.
“It kept me out of trouble, and I was always a sports guy. But fishing, something about it for me. I love it.”
Angel Perez
Perez poses for a portrait at his fishing spot on the north side of the Harley-Davidson Museum.
Perez inspects a bluegill that he caught in the Menomonee River in Milwaukee on Oct. 6. Perez has been urban fishing in Milwaukee for more than 25 years and says he has noticed that the fish in the river are looking much healthier than in the past.Perez shows a photograph of a fish he caught on the Menomonee River. Perez has caught large trout, bass and carp all within city limits.
Perez inspects a bluegill that he caught in the Menomonee River. Perez has noticed that the colors on the fish look more vibrant and no longer are covered in warts like they used to be in the past.
Perez removes a hook from the mouth of a bluegill. Perez usually catches and releases the fish that he reels in.
Perez catches a bluegill from the Menomonee River. Perez hopes to launch his urban fishing youth camp in 2026. His goal is to meet with students, provide rods and teach youth of Milwaukee how to fish in the hopes that they can feel more connected to nature.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Thousands of protesters across the state joined the second wave of nationwide “No Kings” protests on Saturday.
The protests were held in cities and rural communities in all parts of Wisconsin. Protesters said they hoped to bring attention to what they call an authoritarian power grab by President Donald Trump.
In Milwaukee, crowds at Cathedral Square Park chanted and marched. Many held signs making fun of the president; some wore costumes — a frog suit, an inflatable Cookie Monster — joining a trend that began during protests of immigration raids in Portland, Oregon. There were many American flags, upright and upside down, along with flags of other nations.
Chad Bowman, a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community or Mohican Nation, donned a ceremonial ribbon shirt and part of his dancing regalia. Bowman says he is proud to be an American.
“I’m Native, and I believe in this country,” Bowman said. “I believe in democracy, and Trump and his cronies are ruining it.”
Protesters march in opposition to President Trump on Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
A Milwaukee protester wearing an inflatable unicorn costume and swinging an American flag said she dressed that way “because it’s ridiculous to suggest that we’re criminals, or illegal or terrorists.” She said her name was Mary but declined to give her full name, fearing retaliation for her participation in the protests. She said she has family members who are federal employees who are not working due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
“They can’t stand not being able to do what they are … passionate about doing for the American people,” she said.
In Madison, thousands marched from McPike Park on their way to the state Capitol. Many carried American flags as a marching band played.
Joe Myatt of Janesville holds a sign reading, “Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void and of no force,” from Thomas Jefferson’s 1798 Kentucky Resolutions. (Sarah Lehr / WPR)
Joe Myatt of Janesville carried a sign bearing a quote from Thomas Jefferson. He said he’s concerned about the “shift towards authoritarianism” in the U.S. and around the world.
“Basically, Trump’s trying to consolidate as much force into the office of the presidency and he’s violating the Constitution by doing it,” Myatt said.
Parto Shahidi of Madison said she showed up at the protest to support freedom and democracy. Shahidi said those rights are the reason she came to the U.S. from Iran 30 years ago.
“I became a U.S. citizen just for that,” she said. “And if I want to lose it, I will go back home — there is no freedom there.”
A protester chants and holds a sign before an anti-Trump march, Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
A protester makes a sign during an anti-Trump protest, Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
And as in Milwaukee, many protesters posed for photos in inflatable get-ups. That included multiple people dressed as frogs, and Leo Thull of McFarland, who wore a hot dog suit.
“Seeing America slowly descend into fascism is terrifying,” he said. “But with fascists like these, I feel like the greatest power we have is to be more ridiculous than they are. That’s why I’m dressed up as a hot dog today.”
Leo Thull of McFarland dons a hot dog suit at Madison’s protest to “be more ridiculous than they are,” he says. (Sarah Lehr / WPR)
Donna Miazga of Waunakee carried a sign that said “They blame immigrants so you won’t blame billionaires.”
She said she’s been disturbed to by “Gestapo”-like images of arrests by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who “take people without due process.”
“I feel like it’s just about splitting us in two and fostering hate toward people who are even the slightest bit different,” Miazga said of the Trump’s approach to immigration.
As in the case of earlier protests, communities throughout the state hosted demonstrations and marches. National organizers boasted that more than 2,700 events are planned nationwide, including in Wisconsin from Superior to Kenosha.
Protesters gather in opposition to President Donald Trump during a No Kings Protest on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
In Appleton, hundreds lined the streets of downtown. Organizers said nearly 1,000 people attended in the Door County community of Juddville. In the Wausau area, as many as 1,000 protesters lined Rib Mountain Drive. Protesters demonstrated in Janesville, Spooner, Waupaca and Rhinelander, among dozens of other locations.
In Rice Lake, which has a population of about 9,000, more than 700 people attended a rally, said organizer Mark Sherman — including some in frog, unicorn, shark and fairy costumes.
“We had a fun, peaceful, beautiful rally on a beautiful day,” said Sherman, 76, of Rice Lake.
He noted that he and a fellow Rice Lake organizer are both veterans, and said they were moved to get involved because of the oath they took to defend the U.S. Constitution.
Protesters gather in opposition to President Donald Trump during a No Kings Protest on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
Protesters gather before an anti-Trump march, Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
Organizers of the rallies include labor unions, local Democratic Party chapters and aligned advocacy groups. The national organizers say the goal of the protests is to build a nonviolent movement to “remind the world America has no kings and the power belongs to the people.”
Republican leaders including House Speaker Mike Johnson have called the events “hate America rallies.” On social media, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden called the event “Election Denier Fest 2025.”
People gather during a No Kings protest in opposition to President Trump on Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
Protesters gather in opposition to President Donald Trump during a No Kings protest on Oct. 18, 2025, at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee. (Angela Major / WPR)
Editor’s note: WPR’s Rob Mentzer contributed to this story.
For over 30 years, Ruby Johnson-Harden and her husband fostered Milwaukee youths in need of temporary homes.
Though fostering is time-consuming and sometimes challenging, Johnson-Harden said she understood the need for children to have a safe place to go and for their parents to get the support they need.
“It is definitely hard to give children back even when you know the intention is to give them back,” she said. “But you think about it, and there is always another kid that needs somewhere to go.”
Though the number of children being removed from their homes is decreasing, the foster care system in Milwaukee, and in Wisconsin in general, is under growing strain.
Advocates say the problem isn’t strictly a shortage of foster homes, but a mismatch between the needs of many children entering care and the level of support, training and resources that foster families have to provide what’s needed.
Few feel equipped enough or are willing to take on teens and children coping with trauma, behavioral health challenges or emotional dysregulation, according to foster care advocates.
Shortage of proper placements
“In Milwaukee, we have enough foster homes and other placement providers for children. Everybody is placed,” said Jill Collins, ongoing services section manager for the Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services. “But we don’t necessarily always have the right match for children.”
She said that because youths with mental health or behavioral needs are harder to place, some children are placed in group homes or residential care facilities where professionals are better equipped to meet their needs.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ data dashboard, 7,000 children are placed in out-of-home care annually. That includes kinship care, foster care and other residential facilities.
According to the dashboard, the older a child is when entering the system, the less likely it is for the child to be placed in a home.
In 2024, there was an average of 515 children aged 12 years or older in out-of-home care. Of these older children, 275 (53%) were placed in a family-like setting, 146 (28%) were placed in congregate care, and 94 (18%) were in other care.
Ninety percent of children aged 12 and under were placed in family-like care.
“I had few teens,” Johnson-Harden said. “Usually they’ve already been through so much that they are kind of set in their ways. It’s harder for them to open up.”
Ruby Johnson-Harden has been fostering for three decades. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
DeShanda Williams-Clark, chief program officer at Pathfinders, works with many young people who are already a part of the child welfare system.
“They’ll come in if they don’t feel safe in their placements,” Williams-Clark said.
She said the young people Pathfinders serves can have a number of nuanced concerns that can fall through the cracks. Some are experiencing homelessness or are survivors of trafficking and exploitation, she said.
“(The youths) have given feedback and say, well, I don’t feel safe being at my group home because my group home is publicly listed,” she said. “Or we’ve had children say, ‘I know this family is receiving a check for me because they’re reporting that I have worse behaviors or that I need medication.’ ”
What’s being done
The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families is working to reduce the number of children in out-of-home care through its Putting Families First initiative.
The initiative focuses on keeping families together by supporting them in-home with resources and services. In situations where families can’t stay together, the initiative emphasizes relying on people already in the child’s or children’s network before resorting to foster care.
As a result of this approach, there has been a decline in the number of children who are removed from their homes and taken into foster care, said Emily Erickson, director of the Bureau of Permanence and Out-of-Home Care at the agency.
“We have been focusing on solutions that are community-based, that can support parents in healing and growing while they continue to parent their children in their homes safely,” Erickson said.
She said the program utilizes a mix of formal and informal support networks to help provide safety but allows children to stay in their homes because research shows a lasting negative impact once relationships are severed.
Additionally, DCF funds the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness program for youths who have aged out of foster care.
According to Williams-Clark, the program not only helps young people who have aged out of the child welfare system find housing, but it also supports them through the entire process.
The program gives young people a choice regarding independent living, she said.
“Then we give them wraparound care and support by making sure they have access to socially integrate into the communities that they want to live in, helping them to set goals for education and their academics, getting them connected to income and employment programs, and then just really working on those life skills,” Williams-Clark said.
How you can help
Advocates suggest several ways you can help.
One way is to consider fostering.
“The need is great. Especially for teens and siblings,” said Jane Halpin, a recruitment consultant with Community Care Resources, a private foster care agency.
She said it can become difficult because it’s time-consuming, but you won’t be alone. Community Care Resources offers around-the-clock support to those who foster through the agency.
Williams-Clark said people need more education around fostering to help destigmatize the work of the child welfare system.
Wisconsin Department of Children and Families officials suggested being a support system for family and friends who may be in need and considering specialized training to become a foster parent who can care for older youths or children with higher needs.
They also encourage local organizations, churches and individuals to support foster families and children, not just through financial means but also by offering practical help and emotional support. They also encourage the use of community resources to support families before involving the child welfare system, to minimize trauma.
Johnson-Harden said the rewards of fostering are immense.
“Fostering kids, to me, is about the joy of showing up for children in your community,” she said. “It’s about supporting a family and doing your best to lessen any trauma they’ve already experienced.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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