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For two decades, one Milwaukee father has been pouring into other fathers on the North Side through his nonprofit, which provides free courses meant to teach them about parenting, manhood and becoming role models. 

Terron Edwards is founder of Fathers Making Progress, which supports Milwaukee fathers with parenting skills, case management, mentorship and more. He launched the organization after previously doing work at New Hope Project focused on advocating for working poor non-custodial parents as well as fatherhood-related work at Northcott Neighborhood House. 

“The work I was doing at Northcott became a passion for me,” Edwards said. “Being a dad saved my life.”

Edwards, a father of five, said growing up was challenging because his father was killed. The pain he felt made him make poor decisions until he became a teen father.

“I decided that I wasn’t going to leave my son the way my father left me,” he said.

Understanding what the program has to offer

After receiving training in various fatherhood curricula, Edwards launched his first 12-week class in 2005, which was later called “Fathers Building Fathers.” 

Participants learned three modules that focus on manhood, navigating different relationships and traditional parenting lessons like discipline, stages of child development and more. 

“We have an alumni network that is made of longtime guys and support groups that focus on different topics, and sometimes there’s no topic,” Edwards said. “Sometimes it’s the opportunity for folks to have a safe space to talk through stuff.”

The organization began as an independently funded movement but was incorporated as a nonprofit during the pandemic in 2020.

Building brotherhood through vulnerability

Demetrius Simmons, 27 and a father of seven children, participated in 2019 before the program became the nonprofit Fathers Making Progress.

“I made a promise to all my kids that I wasn’t going to miss out on any days, I was going to be there and take my role as a father seriously,” he said.

Simmons said he loved how the initiative showed him what brotherhood was and created a safe space. 

“That’s a space to be vulnerable without judgment,” Simmons said. “I found that unique because a lot of times the world doesn’t show us the other side of places you can go and there will be people who will understand you.” 

Simmons had his first child at 18 in 2016, which resulted in him choosing to work and gain experience and provide over school. 

“By the time I had my second child, I had a system down packed,” Simmons said. “Then I got married and had a third child and was able to correct some of my mistakes I made from my first two.”

Chris Harris, 39 and a father of four, participated in the organization in 2011 after being invited by Edwards to attend a session. 

During Harris’ first visit he saw men sitting in a circle and venting about their personal situations. 

“That was very interesting to me because I had never seen that before,” he said. “I’ve been a member ever since.”

Harris describes his fatherhood as great even though it comes with its challenges. 

“Life is full of challenges so you can’t escape those with being a parent,” he said.

Building stronger generational cycles

Edwards’ other focus with Fathers Making Progress is ensuring that fathers develop strong generational cycles, which help them pass down patterns, behaviors and beliefs to the next generation. This can help them maintain a steady relationship with their child. 

One way to build strong generational cycles is through having a good coparenting system. 

“We have to be serious about coparenting, especially with the fact that marriage is already on a decline and divorce is on the rise,” Edwards said. “Dads can have all the tools in the world, but if they don’t have the access because of bitterness and other things then our work doesn’t mean anything if relationships aren’t strengthened.”

Harris said one of the challenges the organization helped him overcome was raising his children in different homes.

“They helped me to understand what it takes to be a better co-parent and how to do it effectively without leaving the other parent out,” he said.

Fathers Making Progress also builds stronger generational cycles through an initiative called “Boys to Leaders,” where men from his organization visit local schools to offer intergenerational workshops, mentorship and other free services.

“We help young men quantify what positive manhood is and what healthy relationships look like,” Edwards said.

Taking in all the lessons and sharing advice

Simmons said his greatest lesson is knowing that being a present father is everything.

Simmons remembers the emotions he felt after missing the birth of his middle son due to incarceration.

“That’s what really made me open my eyes up to a lot of stuff about fatherhood,” he said. “For the other two, I was actually there to cut the umbilical cord, but I wasn’t there for my other child and it made me feel some type of way.”

Simmons said he’s raising two bonus children who are from broken homes, but with support from the organization, he’s confident in not making the same mistakes again. 

Edwards also said that being present is his top lesson. 

“We don’t have all the answers and we don’t have to be the richest, but to show up intentionally for our children will mean the world to them,” Edwards said. 

He advises fathers to develop an understanding of what their beliefs and values are so they can pass it to their children.

“It’s essential that you are living by those as closely as possible,” he said. 

For co-parents, Harris advises them to learn how to work together before the baby is born to avoid confusion and disorganization.

“That’s going over child care, work schedules and things of that nature,” he said. 

Simmons, now a facilitator for Fathers Making Progress, wants young fathers to know that they shouldn’t let their situation define who they are. 

“You can always make your situation better,” he said. “What you put out in the world is what the world is going to give, so try your best to put as much good stuff in the world so you can receive just as much.”

Interested in participating or learning more?

If you are a father interested in taking free courses through Fathers Making Progress, click here to submit a request. 

The course will include meals, activities, gifts and more. 

Click here to view and sign up for other initiatives through the organization that spark your interest. 

‘Being a dad saved my life’: How a Milwaukee fatherhood program is changing the narrative is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988.” 

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Jared and Jamie Weigelt share the story of their son Landen’s sextortion and suicide in an effort to educate northeast Wisconsin students, teachers and law enforcement officers about the signs of the scams and ways to report it.  
• Since Landen Weigelt died in 2023, sextortion cases in Wisconsin have skyrocketed.  
• From 2024 to 2025, the number of cases nearly tripled, according to the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. 
• Families are not sitting on the sidelines: They’re speaking to schools, advocating for legislation to protect victims, and some are suing social media companies. 
• Lawmakers passed five bills into law in 2025 to provide recourse for victims and allocate more state resources to responding to sextortion cases.

In a hotel conference room in Appleton, Jamie and Jared Weigelt prepared to tell the story of their son’s death to a waiting group of police officers. In the three years since 17-year-old Landen Weigelt died, they’ve shared this story with countless schools in northeast Wisconsin. 

It’s not easy to relive that day, but they won’t stop anytime soon. 

On Feb. 7, 2023, Landen Weigelt spent the day at Oconto High School, where he was a junior. He was a football and varsity basketball player, popular among his peers, got good grades and had plans for a career as a counselor. 

An employee of the school district, Jamie Weigelt worked in Landen’s building. The day before, a few students came up to her and said something seemed off about Landen.

“Some kids had said that he just didn’t seem himself,” Jamie Weigelt said. “I went down and I talked to him. He told me everything was fine, everything was great.” 

The next afternoon, Jamie found her stepson in his bedroom after he had taken his own life. 

“At first, it really did look like he was sleeping,” she told the group of officers. “It was not until I got closer that I realized something was seriously wrong. … I grabbed his sweatshirt and shook him, but there was no response, and it was at this point that I screamed and grabbed my phone. I knew that I wasn’t calling 911 to save him, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

She learned Landen exchanged nude images with a scammer on Snapchat, who threatened to share them widely if he didn’t pay hundreds of dollars. Landen begged the suspect not to release photos, but they continued to demand money and told Landen they would ruin his life.

“I’m sorry but I think I would rather kill myself,” Landen had responded. 

He was the victim of a crime known as sextortion, something Jamie Weigelt had never heard of before. In the years since Landen’s death, cases have skyrocketed. In Wisconsin, sextortion cases nearly tripled in a single year. The state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received 650 online tips related to sextortion in 2025, an increase from 230 in all of 2024. 

Now, the Weigelts and other victims’ families are devoted to raising awareness about the dangers of this deadly crime. Their efforts, in tandem with law enforcement and state lawmakers, have led to increased outreach in schools, more legal protections for victims and additional resources for the state Department of Justice to respond to sextortion tips.

What is sextortion?

Victims of sextortion — often but not exclusively teens — are solicited or coerced into sending explicit photos to an individual online and then blackmailed into sending more money or more images. In most cases, the perpetrator will create one or more fake accounts posing as teens the victim’s age, sometimes offering nude images first before asking for images in return. Generative artificial intelligence has also increasingly played a role in perpetrators carrying out sextortion schemes without even having to receive a nude image. 

In 2025, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received an average of 137 reports of financial sextortion a day and noted that at least 36 teenage boys had committed suicide as a result of being sextorted. 

Parents, lawmakers act

In Wisconsin, families of victims teamed up with lawmakers to develop specific legislation that addresses sextortion. Last year, sextortion was classified as a felony in Wisconsin under “Bradyn’s Law,” named in honor of Bradyn Bohn. The 15-year-old from Kronenwetter died by suicide in 2025 after being sextorted, and his parents have been key in advocating for increased legislation. 

This April, Gov. Tony Evers signed five new laws providing more recourse for victims and funding for the state to respond to sextortion crimes. Among them, 2025 Wisconsin Act 215 allows victims’ families to file a wrongful death lawsuit if their family member’s suicide was largely due to sextortion, in addition to allowing victims to file a civil suit for monetary damages.

The bills also provided an increase of $400,000 per year in the 2025-27 biennial budget for the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which receives and responds to tips of suspected online child sexual exploitation. The legislation adds four full-time positions to the team — two criminal analysts, one outreach specialist and one digital forensic analyst — and requires the task force to run a public awareness campaign regarding online safety for children. 

The number of tips coming into the task force is “staggering,” said commander Jesse Crowe, and can cause mental health issues among his staff. As of May 21, 2026, they’ve received over 7,400 CyberTips so far this year with over 300 related to sextortion — which means their one part-time and three full-time criminal analysts are tasked with responding to nearly 1,500 tips per month.

“We really needed the resources based on our numbers,” Crowe said, “and this is a very, very good step in the right direction to get the resources that we need.” 

Having a designated outreach specialist will allow the rest of his team to focus solely on their caseload, rather than having to fit outreach in between cases. 

“This person will be dedicated to really working with communities, working with law enforcement to get more of our messages out there – not only about sextortion, just about how to use the internet responsibly,” Crowe said.

They hope to have the new task force members onboarded by the end of July. 

How tips are submitted

Although tips can be self-reported through report.cybertip.org, many are sent by electronic service providers — such as social media companies. 

Part of the exponential increase in tips over the past two years is because of the federal REPORT Act, which required electronic service providers to report online sexual exploitation of children starting in May 2024.

Self-reporting is also increasing, with NCMEC’s CyberTipline reporting a 100% increase in reports directly from victims in 2025. Experts say this is a positive result of heightened awareness because perpetrators rely on victims being too afraid to speak up. Crowe believes the state’s increase in CyberTips can be partially attributed to outreach efforts in addition to social media companies complying with reporting requirements. 

Once tips are received by NCMEC, they’re assigned to each state based on the location of the suspects and victims. Crowe’s team uses IP addresses, phone numbers or open records requests to determine which sheriff’s offices should receive tips. 

Brian Slinger is the Internet Crimes Against Children supervisor for the Brown County Sheriff’s Office. Once he receives a tip, his main priority is to locate the child and make contact as soon as possible. He relies heavily on partnerships with school districts, including school resource officers. 

“We will usually involve the school resource officers as quickly as we can to make contact with the child to ensure that they’re safe because that’s the number one goal,” Slinger said.

What parents can do

The main message that Crowe, the Weigelts and other advocates emphasize is to develop an open line of communication between parents and children. 

“We tell kids at a very early age, hold my hand to cross the street, wear a helmet, wear a seat belt, and that’s ingrained in them,” Crowe said. “If we start that conversation about safe, appropriate internet use when they’re young, it’ll just be a normal function of them growing up.” 

Becky Wright is the program director at HER Alliance, a nonprofit organization in Green Bay that works with people who have experienced sex trafficking. The organization does outreach presentations to school districts in Brown County about digital safety, healthy relationships and online exploitation.

“I think one of the biggest reasons criminals are using sextortion to target kids is because it causes them to completely panic,” Wright said. “They don’t know what to do because there’s money involved, and they realize they may have made a mistake in the conversation.” 

As a parent of a 12-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter, Wright has regular discussions with them about online safety. Each night, they return their phones to her bedroom to charge. 

“I’m monitoring and looking at their phone, usually on a weekly basis, just looking through photos and search histories,” Wright said. “But again, it’s also because I’m aware of what can happen, and they know that, and we’ve had a lot of discussions about that.”

Efforts underway

Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, authored several of the recently passed laws, but wrote in a statement to Wisconsin Watch that they’re “only a few spokes in the broader wheel of kids’ online safety.” 

She pointed to other bills that came out of the Assembly Speaker’s Task Force on Protecting Kids, including Assembly Bill 962, which would require age verification on social media platforms. 

Bohn’s parents, Luke and Brittney Bird, testified in support of the bill, but it failed to pass in the Senate last year among concerns of privacy rights violations. The Birds also joined a wrongful death lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for failing to protect their children, emphasizing a growing effort to hold social media companies accountable for children’s safety. 

Justin Patchin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, has a different proposal: safe sexting strategies. He outlined tips in a recent paper such as not including identifying features or sending suggestive images rather than explicit nude images. Patchin said there needs to be a less fear-based approach to sexting, which is in line with the state’s list of best practices for prevention programs.  

“Teens engage in sexting because it’s developmentally somewhat normative,” Patchin said. “We tell them not to engage in these behaviors, and in fact, some police officers threaten them with arrest.”

Teens who engage in sexting and find themselves victims of sextortion may then feel trapped. 

“Now you’re backed into a corner, right?” Patchin said. “That you’ve done this illegal thing, technically, because you’ve created and distributed child porn, and so now you feel helpless.”

Although possessing or distributing explicit images of a minor is still illegal under Wisconsin’s child pornography laws, minors generally won’t be charged when images they send are used to extort them – they are seen as victims of a crime in Wisconsin, Crowe said. However, children and teenagers can be charged if they create images and send them without coercion or prompting. 

According to Patchin’s research, only 24% of teens he surveyed said they engage in sexting. But among those who do, about half the time, that image is shared with someone beyond the original sender or they’re the victim of sextortion.

“In the last few years, the international bad actors have gotten into the game,” Patchin said. “They’ve gotten good at targeting vulnerable youth. If you look at case studies of this, if you look at the media reports, a lot of these – especially boys – who have been targeted in the last few years, are popular. They have a lot going on for themselves. They have a lot to lose.” 

Oconto Police Chief Kassie Dufek said over the years that she’s presented Landen’s story with the Weigelts, she’s only seen victimization increase, despite efforts from the DOJ or families. Real change would require social media apps “having significant restrictions.”  

“Our search warrants are signed by a judge that say you must give us this information by this date,” Dufek said. “They don’t comply because they know that they have these big time lawyers … it’s more of a fight for us than it’s worth because we don’t have the time, we don’t have the resources. They do.” 

‘The word is out’

Jill Yindra, who lost her son to sextortion-related suicide, said she and her husband hosted an awareness night in March with over 700 attendees in Mishicot. She recently received a call about a 15-year-old student from a local high school who contacted authorities after being targeted by someone on Instagram. 

“AI imagery was used, threats were made, demands for money, and that perpetrator had also friended mutual friends of the first victim,” Yindra said. “So when this individual realized what this was and what the dangers were, they called authorities right away, and they were able to stop it.” 

Seeing that her and her husband’s advocacy efforts were working gave her hope.

“It warmed our hearts,” Yindra said. “We just don’t ever want another family to go through what we are going through. It’s absolutely horrific.” 

The perpetrators of sextortion schemes depend on the victim feeling alone and ashamed of their mistake — which is why it’s important to inform the public that this is a scam where international criminals systematically target and manipulate teens.

“We’ve had the hard conversations with our kids, but these are career criminals,” Yindra said. “It’s sad, and it’s unfortunate, but we live in a cruel world, and we need to be proactive with it, because this crime goes like wildfire when we remain silent.

“But if you speak up, you talk, you educate, and advocate, things will slow down,” she said. “And now it’s obviously working, because the word is out.”

Data reporter Hongyu Liu contributed to this report.

This story was updated to include the name of the 2026 School Resource Officer Training Conference in photo captions and to clarify that Jamie Weigelt is Landen Weigelt’s stepmom.

‘The word is out’: Wisconsin families turn grief into action as sextortion cases rise is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Click here to read highlights from the story

• Wisconsin has fewer remaining lead water pipelines than previous estimates, suggesting officials may be able to eliminate them faster and at lower cost than expected.
• New inventory requirements have given regulators and utilities their clearest picture yet of where lead pipes remain and where more investigation is needed.
• Federal regulators now require water systems to replace all lead service lines by the end of 2037 because no level of lead exposure is considered safe, especially for children.
• More than 181,000 Wisconsin service lines (12% statewide) are still classified as unknown because many communities lack complete records and must verify pipe materials through inspections and outreach.
• Federal infrastructure funding has provided major support for lead line replacement projects across Wisconsin, but officials expect available funding to decrease in the coming years.

Wisconsin may be closer than previously thought to eliminating lead water pipes. About 164,000 municipal and community lead water service lines still need replacement with safer materials, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of water system data reported in April. That’s roughly one of every 10 municipal and community water lines statewide. 

The estimate includes confirmed lead lines — roughly 146,000 across 137 municipal and community water systems — and an estimated share of service lines with unknown materials that are statistically likely to contain lead, based on EPA methodology.

Some data gaps remain, including some water systems that did not file a report on time.

Still, the total is far below previous government estimates as more complete inventories more clearly show where lead pipes remain, part of a nationwide effort to reduce exposure to the toxic metal linked to serious health risks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2025 — before many water systems completed or updated their inventories — that nearly 180,000 water lines in Wisconsin were made of lead, a sharp drop from its 2023 estimate of over 256,000.

“We may be able to remove all (lead service lines) faster, fully, and forever – sooner and at a lower price tag than expected,” Erica Galante-Johnson, senior lead service line replacement policy analyst at Environmental Policy Innovation Center, wrote in a report comparing the lead service line estimate before and after new inventory data became available. 

Why replace lead service lines?

Once a popular material for water service lines, lead was banned by regulators for such purposes in Wisconsin and nationwide beginning in the 1980s due to concerns about potential lead exposure. 

“There is no safe level of exposure to lead,” the EPA’s website says. 

Children are especially vulnerable to lead, since even low levels of exposure can lead to behavioral and learning problems. High levels of lead in blood can cause seizures, coma or death. Adults exposed to lead are more susceptible to cardiovascular and kidney problems.

Water systems limit risk by treating pipes with chemicals that reduce corrosion, but failures such as Flint, Michigan’s crisis a decade ago show how those safeguards can break down, exposing residents to lead. 

That’s why federal regulators now require aggressive replacement timelines. 

Municipal and community water systems must replace all lead or galvanized pipes before the end of 2037. Some Wisconsin cities, like Madison and Stoughton, have already replaced all lead pipes. Many others, including Eau Claire, Milwaukee and Wausau, have projects underway to replace them at no or low cost to homeowners.

At least 29 municipalities in Wisconsin have received more than $159 million through 2025 to replace lead service lines through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by then-President Joe Biden.

The EPA in May announced an additional $94.3 million Wisconsin allocation under the 2021 law. 

Biden’s EPA revised its Lead and Copper Rule, tightening monitoring requirements and establishing  timelines for replacing lead pipes. 

The first step: requiring water systems to document what’s underground.

More complete information helps identify where lead lines are concentrated, said Ann Hirekatur, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ lead and copper section manager.

The inventories are more than a bureaucratic exercise. Federal rules now tie them directly to replacement requirements.

Wisconsin water systems previously needed only to report estimates of their lead service lines to the state Public Service Commission.

Biden’s EPA changed that. Water systems were required to submit an initial inventory by October 2024, listing the best available information about each water line. That gave DNR officials line-by-line records for the first time, Hirekatur said.

By Nov. 1, 2027, water systems must improve those records by trying to identify service lines of currently unknown material and documenting connector materials. After that deadline, any service lines with an unknown material will be treated as lead, and water systems must start replacing at least 10% of lead lines under their control each year. 

The new regulations require digging through historical documents — or even digging up pipelines one by one — to confirm the material and location. 

The more rigorous process revealed more lead service lines in some communities than previously thought. That includes Whitefish Bay, which documented more than 56% of service lines as lead during the first draft of its inventory.

Locating pipelines can be challenging

Despite the new inventories, regulators still have yet to identify the materials in more than 181,000 Wisconsin service lines, or 12% of all statewide.

As of April, 312 of 610 Wisconsin municipal water systems identified materials in every service line. About 60% of systems recorded 5% or fewer pipelines as unknown material. 

Meanwhile, 102 municipal water systems reported more than half of their lines as unknown, with 12 yet to submit inventories. 

“Some systems kept good records, and some systems don’t have any records at all,” Hirekatur said.

Water system managers must show their work in documenting the makeup of service lines. 

The best evidence is a “tap card” that describes the pipe’s primary features and installation history.

But many communities never preserved those records because they were not required to do so.

The city of Lancaster illustrates that challenge. Water system officials started looking for lead pipes in the 1990s, and they initially found only two and about 50 others whose material was unknown. But the DNR initially marked more than 1,700 out of the city’s 1,845 lines as unknown because the verification documentation fell short of standards.

The utility didn’t save old paper inspection records, said John Hauth and Jamie McCartney, the retiring and incoming directors of public works, respectively.

Calling DNR representatives “very helpful,” Hauth said his inventory is now getting into “pretty good shape.” 

“We send it to them, they will highlight areas and send it back and say, ‘OK, well, you know you need to explain this better, or you need to match this up,’” Hauth said.

Gathering evidence

At the DNR’s suggestion, Hauth and McCartney used construction records to rule out neighborhoods built after lead was banned from new pipeline construction and found water meter replacement records to fill in some blanks.  

The managers submitted a revised draft, still under DNR review, that labeled fewer than 400 service lines as unknown. The city plans to verify the remaining resident-owned lines through door-to-door visits and use hydro-excavation equipment to check city-owned lines.

“We’ve only got the few that we know of,” Hauth said. “I think it’s gonna be manageable.” 

Josh Hyndman, Mount Horeb’s former water system manager, also has experience with thin documentation. The village started replacing lead pipes in 2011 and compiled its inventory as early as 2021 to apply for a DNR lead line replacement grant.

“We went down into our basement and started pulling out all the old records,” Hyndman said. “ I found a construction date that was from January of ’78, and it spelled out that everything would be three-quarter-inch copper for all businesses.”

That helped Hyndman determine that all service lines installed after 1978 were copper, reducing the number his team had to inspect or excavate.

In 2024, Hyndman left Mount Horeb for a job in Whitewater. Mount Horeb now has just one lead service line remaining, beneath a vacant lot. He said the inventory process was much easier in Whitewater because the city maintains comprehensive records for each line. As of April, Whitewater had 16 lead service lines and plans to replace all but one serving an abandoned water tower by the end of 2027.

Most unknown service lines are located on the private side of the water system, Cathy Wunderlich said. She is project manager and principal technologist with the engineering firm Jacobs, which the DNR contracted through 2028 to help local water systems finish their inventories. The service is free, with the costs covered by a federal grant.

Lead and copper are rarely used for water lines over two inches in diameter, so they’re more commonly used in private-side pipes instead of the public side, Wunderlich explained. 

Although municipal water systems do not own the private side of service lines, they must document them. That requires permission and access from property owners. 

A more cost-effective approach encourages residents to submit evidence, said Shawn Kerachsky, CEO of Community Infrastructure Partners, which used federal grants to contract with Wausau and Racine to inventory and replace the lead lines.

“This is not an engineering and construction problem,” Kerachsky said. “It’s a public health issue that happens to be solved through very simple engineering and construction, but world-class communication outreach and logistical planning.”

His company promoted the “Equiflow” campaign when helping Wausau complete its inventory — partnering with local organizations to encourage residents to identify their water lines by uploading photos or allowing technicians to inspect them. The approach helped Wausau reduce its share of unknown service lines to about 30%. 

The DNR also offers grants to help water systems educate residents about inventory and replacement projects.

What’s next?

Water systems will ultimately use the data to apply for federal grants and loans to fund lead service line replacements. 

“We encourage water systems to replace them as soon as possible, because it’s in the best interest of public health,” Hirekatur said. “Right now, there’s more money available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, and once that gets used up, there’ll be a lot less funding available.”

The DNR will announce which projects it will select for federal pipeline replacement funds by year’s end. The program offers loans with a 0.25% interest rate, far below market rates, and principal forgiveness. The department expects to have some funding available in 2028, but much less than previous years.

Wisconsin’s lead pipe count is falling. But the search isn’t over. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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As school lets out for students across Wisconsin, more time will be spent at home, and many families will look to prepare quick and affordable meals.

“During the summer, many families experience disruptions to their normal routines, which can make healthy eating more difficult,” said Carmen Baldwin, community nutrition manager for the Hunger Task Force. 

Disruptions in healthy food habits during the summer include increased grocery costs and less structured meal times, which lead to unhealthy snacking, limited access to healthy foods and more.

Here are some tips and recipes to try with your family over the summer.

Simple at-home recipes

According to Children’s Wisconsin, children should eat three meals and approximately one to three snacks a day. 

In case you’re looking for healthy meal ideas, Baldwin and community nutrition educator Leah Kostos manage a collection of recipes with the Hunger Task Force, which includes foods like vegetable lo mein, parmesan chicken burgers, chili pasta and more. 

When making healthy food choices, Baldwin suggests paying attention to serving size, added sugars, sodium and fiber on the nutrition labels as a guide.

“A simple tip is to compare similar products and choose the option that has more fiber and less added sugar and sodium,” she said.

Baldwin also encourages families to ensure children stay hydrated since weather will be warmer and activity is increased. 

“Water, milk and fruits with high water content help prevent dehydration,” Baldwin said. 

Foods with calcium, electrolytes, vitamin D and iron serve as an additional support for growth and staying full and active during the day.

For more balanced meals with fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, click here to view the Hunger Task Force’s full collection of recipes.

Making mindful food choices

Bridgett Wilder, founder of Perseverance Health & Wellness Coaching and nutritionist contracted with the Milwaukee County for nutrition and behavioral health programs, wants adults and children to understand why they eat the way they do. 

“A lot of the time when we have a cultural preference, that’s sometimes associated with highly salted foods, soul food and other recipes,” Wilder said. “I’m more about sustaining a healthy lifestyle.”

To help create positive experiences around food, Wilder takes existing recipes and transforms them into something healthier. 

“If we’re making greens, we can stop putting pork in it and add smoked turkey instead,” she said. “It’s like tweaking it to keep people engaged in healthy eating and also having people still enjoy food that’s culturally relevant.”

Click here to watch Wilder make healthy recipes like sweet heat potatoes, watermelon cucumber salad and banana pudding parfait. 

For nutrition education, collaborative menu planning, emotional eating support and other nutrition and behavioral services, Wilder can be emailed at perseverancewellness@gmail.com.

Wisconsin experts share meal ideas and tips for families during summer break is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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After 35 years renting her home, a leaky and unkept roof forced Farina Brooks and her husband to move into a hotel.  

It wasn’t a rash decision. For three years, Brooks said, she pleaded with the property management company to fix the roof as water damage spread and conditions inside the home worsened. 

City inspectors eventually came, issuing citations and fines. Still, she said, little changed.

“We kept getting the runaround,” Brooks said.

Eventually, she and her husband entered Milwaukee’s rent abatement program. Even that failed to improve conditions, she said.

Now, she said, the couple is burning through their savings to pay for a hotel room while searching for stable housing in an increasingly expensive rental market.

Brooks said the situation was not always this way. 

“For the 30 years or so (the landlord) was good, you know, she handled things,” she said. 

But in recent years, she said she learned the woman had developed dementia and was placed under a conservatorship, a change Brooks believes coincided with the property’s decline.

Her story reflects a growing frustration shared by many Milwaukee tenants confronting deteriorating housing conditions and asking a question that local officials hear constantly: Why can’t the city force landlords to fix problems with their properties?

City response is limited

According to Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke, the answer lies in a complicated mix of state law, property rights and limited local authority that has steadily narrowed the city’s oversight powers on rental housing during the past decade.

The city has powers to do certain things, but not others, Goyke said. 

“The federal government can limit what states can do, and the states can limit what municipal governments can do.”

State Sen. Dora Drake said Wisconsin law requires landlords to maintain rental properties, including making necessary structural and plumbing repairs and complying with local housing codes. But, she said, tenants often face barriers when conditions deteriorate.

“Under most circumstances, a tenant may not refuse to pay rent entirely unless the conditions are so poor as to force a tenant to move out,” Drake said. “If the conditions in the rental premises are poor where the tenant’s health or safety is affected, or the tenant is unable to use part of the premises, the tenant is entitled to reduce the amount of rent proportionately.”

Much of Milwaukee’s housing enforcement is controlled by Wisconsin state law, particularly by legislation passed between 2013 and 2017 that limited how municipalities regulate rental housing.

One major change, specifically state statute 66.0104, pushed cities into complaint-driven inspection systems – meaning inspectors cannot proactively inspect properties for violations unless someone files a complaint.

“The Department of Neighborhood Services can’t just walk up and down the street and say, ‘That house, that house, that house,’ ” Goyke said.

Instead, the city relies heavily on tenants and neighbors to report unsafe conditions to the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Drake said the current system leaves too many renters vulnerable before problems are addressed.

“We need more accountability measures and preventative measures and standards to prevent those situations from getting so bad with tenants,” she said.

Complaint-based enforcement

When tenants report unsafe conditions, Department of Neighborhood Services inspectors investigate and may issue written orders that require repairs within a specified time frame.

If the violations are not addressed, the city can issue citations and pursue penalties in municipal court. Unpaid judgments can eventually become liens on the property.

But that process can take a long time, especially for a city balancing thousands of complaints with limited staff and funding, according to Goyke.

He said many residents get frustrated because they expect immediate intervention.

The city can escalate serious or repeated violations into lawsuits in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. In extreme cases, courts can appoint a receiver to take over management of a property.

Under receivership, a court-appointed manager can collect rent and use it to make repairs if a landlord has failed to maintain safe conditions.

“It’s a very heavy hammer for the landlord,” Goyke said. “Somebody else is going to step in and fix (the properties) for you.”

Tenant fears and limited options

Housing advocates have long argued that complaint-driven enforcement creates another problem: potential retaliation or displacement of tenants. 

Many tenants won’t report poor conditions out of fear.

Goyke said those fears are real, particularly for tenants living in severely deteriorated buildings who worry they could lose housing if the property is condemned.

“I feel terrible that people are placed in a position where they feel they need to live in unsafe conditions because it does beat living outside,” he said.

He encouraged tenants to report violations to DNS and to explore programs such as rent withholding and rent abatement.

Under Milwaukee’s rent withholding program, tenants continue paying rent, but the money is held by the Department of Neighborhood Services until repairs are completed. Rent abatement, meanwhile, allows tenants to reduce rent payments when serious conditions affect habitability.

Legal and service organizations, including the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Legal Action of Wisconsin and Community Advocates, can help tenants understand their rights and options.

Property rights and bad landlords

Residents also frequently question why landlords with poor track records are still able to purchase additional properties, Goyke said.

Goyke said cities generally cannot interfere in private property transactions unless the city has a legal interest in the property, such as unpaid taxes or code enforcement judgments.

“If we do not have an interest in the property, we can’t stop it,” he said.

That limitation stems from long-standing American property rights protections, he added.

“It is not a shortcoming of some ordinance that could be tweaked,” Goyke said. “That question goes to core property rights in America.”

Drake said she has co-authored proposals aimed at expanding rent abatement protections and shielding renters from landlord retaliation.

 “We know it happens,” Drake said. “Whether it’s Berrada or other properties that are known to have these stories, those are things that we can do.”

Berrada Properties owns more than 8,000 units and has been named in lawsuits by both tenants and the city attorney. 

Drake also said the state should expand access to legal representation for tenants facing eviction or living in unsafe housing.

“We can create an office of civil legal aid to provide a right to appointment of counsel at the state’s expense for tenants in eviction actions,” she said.

Community action

Brooks said she was pushed to leave her home by her daughter and several local community leaders. 

“They told me you cannot live here,” she said. “The final straw for me was when water started coming in through the light fixtures.” 

Brooks said community leader Ajamou Butler shared a post about her situation that garnered support from the community and helped pay for her first several days in the hotel. 

She said local leaders including Butler, Vaun Mayes and state Rep. Sequanna Taylor have supported her through the move. Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and Community Advocates have supported her search for accountability and a new home. 

“It was hard accepting help, but it reminded me of how the community shows up,” Brooks said. “This made me worry for the people that don’t know who to call or have people to show up.” 

Goyke encouraged residents to vote and stay engaged politically and also emphasized on-the-ground organizing and collective action to address housing issues.

He pointed to local organizations like Common Ground, the Community Development Alliance and the RON Coalition as examples of groups working to improve housing conditions.

“There’s a lot more that people can do individually that make an impact,” he said.

Goyke described a boarded-up house on his own block that has sat vacant for years, saying neighbors could potentially organize fundraising efforts to help support redevelopment.

“Don’t wait for somebody else to solve your problems,” he said. “There’s a ton of energy in trying to figure out how to do this, and it’s a great time for people to get involved.” 

Drake said stronger tenant protections are part of the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus agenda this year.

“We know that at the state level, we need to do more to ensure that we’re protecting tenants’ rights,” she said.

Policies make it harder for Milwaukee tenants to demand repairs is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Dane County ended a four-year program that distributed pipes and smoking supplies to reduce overdose deaths and disease transmission among people who use drugs.
• Public health officials said the program increased visits from people seeking overdose reversal medication, fentanyl test strips and other harm reduction resources.
• County officials halted the program in March after questions arose about whether distributing pipes violated Wisconsin paraphernalia law.
• People who relied on the free supplies say they may now buy pipes elsewhere, use makeshift devices or inject drugs they previously smoked.

Dane County has ended an initiative to prevent overdose deaths by giving out pipes. 

Four years ago, public health officials started giving people pipes and other supplies to reduce health risks associated with smoking drugs. 

The program was part of the department’s broader efforts to reduce harms of drug use. For decades, syringe service programs across the country have provided harm reduction supplies to people who inject drugs. Though controversial, these programs reduce hospitalizations and overdose deaths while increasing participation in drug treatment.

But in recent years people have increasingly smoked drugs rather than injecting them. Adapting to that trend, harm reduction providers, including Public Health Madison and Dane County, began offering smoking supplies.

The pipe handouts worked. More people visited health officials to receive overdose reversal medication and other resources to prevent drug-related illnesses and injuries. 

But the program was likely illegal under Wisconsin law, which allows injection supplies, not smoking materials. 

Staff stopped offering smoking supplies in March. Spokesperson Morgan Finke cited a need to re-evaluate the program after the risk of COVID-19 transmission from shared pipes sharply declined and federal guidance on harm reduction shifted.

The department still offers injection supplies and other harm reduction items not intended for smoking.

“While syringes are classified as disease prevention materials under state law, smoking supplies have less clear protections,” Finke wrote in an email to Wisconsin Watch.

Halting the distribution of smoking supplies is already having an impact.  

People who previously received pipes from the health office said they will buy similar supplies at smoke shops and gas stations, use makeshift pipes made from foil and soda cans or inject drugs they would have smoked, according to records and interviews obtained by Wisconsin Watch. 

Others said they would likely stop visiting public health altogether. 

Why did health officials hand out pipes?

Wisconsin opioid overdose deaths hit a record high in 2022, topping 1,450.

Officials found more evidence of smoking than injecting at fatal overdose scenes across the U.S. in 2022, a shift from years prior, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Although it still carries overdose risks, evidence shows smoking instead of injecting reduces the spread of diseases like hepatitis, HIV and bacterial infections and abscesses. It may also lower overdose risks. Regular access to new pipes can reduce how often people share pipes or use broken and unsafe materials, according to a national research study that included 2024 survey data from Public Health Madison and Dane County.

Public Health Madison and Dane County offered evidence-based resources to prevent disease and overdoses, including sterile needles, fentanyl test strips and overdose reversal medication. But the office primarily served people who inject drugs, the department’s medical director, Dr. Jonathan Temte, wrote in a 2022 letter explaining why the office would start ordering smoking supplies.

“People who use drugs by means other than injection have no reason to visit,” Temte wrote.

Temte is a family medicine physician and University of Wisconsin-Madison associate dean of public health and community engagement. He advises the health department on a limited basis.

When staff asked Temte to approve adding smoking supplies to the department’s syringe service programs, they told him Wisconsin law allowed it, Temte recalled. He focused on whether medical evidence supported the initiative. 

Health research overwhelmingly supports harm reduction, he said.

Adding smoking supplies addressed two major issues: Health officials needed to get life-saving resources to people who smoked drugs. And without access to safer smoking supplies, people were more likely to share pipes or use materials that cause cuts, burns and infections.

Monthly visits jumped nearly 30% once department offices began regularly offering filters, mouthpieces and two kinds of pipes.

Even with increased visits, the department distributed 3.7% fewer syringes between 2021 and 2023.

But despite the public health benefits, Wisconsin paraphernalia laws criminalizes smoking materials.

A woman visited a public health office and asked for a pipe in early April. When she found the office no longer distributed them, she asked for syringes, according to emails obtained by Wisconsin Watch. Staff asked if she would inject the drugs she usually smokes. She said yes. Without a pipe she would dissolve powdered drugs in water and inject them.

Why did the program end? 

The city-county agency was likely the state’s only syringe service provider that publicized pipes online, according to a 211 list of syringe service programs.

While reporting a feature highlighting the seemingly unique initiative, Wisconsin Watch emailed Madison City Attorney Michael Haas on March 23 to ask how the department could legally distribute pipes. 

The email was forwarded to public health staff, records obtained by Wisconsin Watch show. The public health agency redacted correspondence related to the email, citing attorney client privilege. 

The next day, a public health supervisor instructed a staff member to remove smoking supplies from an internal tracking system. By the end of the week the department’s website no longer mentioned safer smoking supplies.

Wisconsin’s paraphernalia law bans equipment used, designed or intended for inhaling a controlled substance. Possessing paraphernalia carries a penalty up to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail. 

Dane County lowered local penalties for drug paraphernalia citations in 2023. County sheriffs and local police have continued to fine and charge people for possessing smoking materials similar to those health officials distributed.

Madison police cited paraphernalia possession in around 350 arrests in 2025, department records show.

“Public health programs must follow federal, state and local law,” Finke told Wisconsin Watch. “While we continue to evaluate disease transmissions within the community and evolving guidance from federal agencies, we have currently removed smoking supplies from our offerings.”

But the medical evidence supporting the service has not changed “one iota,” Temte said. “It’s just one more (example) of the politicization of public health.” 

The smoking supply rollback came as harm reduction lost support from federal leaders.

The Biden administration spent millions on harm reduction efforts but prohibited spending grant dollars on pipes after reporting on the potential distribution of safer smoking kits went viral and drew criticism.

The Trump administration announced in 2025 a “clear shift away from harm reduction and practices that facilitate illicit drug use and are incompatible with Federal laws.”

Federal health leaders wrote in April that federal dollars cannot be used to buy “drug paraphernalia or supplies that promote or facilitate drug use” including pipes, injection supplies and fentanyl test strips.

The city-county’s harm reduction program focuses on reducing overdose deaths and preventing disease transmission, Finke said. 

“We will continue to engage with and educate policy makers to ensure that federal and state policy evolves consistent(ly) alongside the growing evidence base supporting effective substance use prevention and harm reduction strategies.” 

Opioid overdoses have dramatically declined since 2023, but overdose deaths involving stimulants have increased. People who smoke stimulants, like methamphetamine and cocaine, are at a growing risk for overdose, said Giavana Margo, Wisconsin program manager for Vital Strategies, a national nonprofit working to reduce overdose deaths.

“There’s a lot to be celebrated, and we’re still losing way too many lives to overdose,” Margo said.

What happens now?

Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and 15 other states allow syringe service programs to distribute pipes, according to a comprehensive review of paraphernalia laws. 

Wisconsin’s paraphernalia laws only exempt smoking supplies associated with tobacco consumption. 

But Wisconsinites can still buy pipes typically used to smoke illegal drugs, several advocates and people using drugs told Wisconsin Watch. Gas stations, local shops and online sellers advertise the glassware as tobacco products, decorations or household items.

Standing outside the department’s East Madison location in late-April a woman who identified herself as Ashley said she received pipes from the office for years. Without the free pipes, people will buy them at nearby stores for around $8 or “improvise” makeshift supplies, the 39-year-old said.

She visited public health for pipes whenever one broke, usually about twice a month. Staff asked whether she had enough fentanyl test strips and wanted to help her “stay as safe as possible,” she said. She can still go to the office to get things like condoms, bandages, injection supplies and tampons. 

“It helps when you’re homeless like I am,” she said. 

Most people who received harm reduction supplies from health officials in 2024 left with fentanyl test strips and overdose reversal medication, a survey of more than 250 program participants shows. Respondents reported feeling safer and no longer needing to steal smoking supplies after the visits.

Still, a quarter of respondents said they weren’t sure or would likely stop visiting the offices if smoking supplies vanished.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included captions that misidentified the source of screenshots from a harm reduction pamphlet. The pamphlet was produced in response to a public records request submitted to Public Health Madison and Dane County.

Dane County ends safer smoking program that conflicted with Wisconsin law is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Milwaukee’s homelessness crisis is growing more visible, but advocates say there are still signs of progress. 

A few years ago, Milwaukee leaders said the city was on track to end family homelessness. Since then, the number of people who are homeless has grown. Organizations on the front lines and others working on the issue still say Milwaukee has quietly become an example of how coordinated prevention efforts can work during a larger national crisis. 

“When we talk about ending family homelessness, it doesn’t mean no family will ever experience homelessness,” said Krystina Kohler, impact manager at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “It means we’ve built a system that can respond quickly, prevent homelessness when possible, and rapidly connect families back to stable housing.”

Rising homelessness

Data collected through the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness shows more people are entering Milwaukee’s homeless service programs than exit it.

The 765 people who entered homeless service programs in 2025  had been without stable housing for an average of 88 days; 77% were homeless for the first time.

Ten percent became homeless again within a year.

According to David Nelson, chair of the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, the totals include people living in shelters and those sleeping in cars, abandoned buildings or other places not meant for habitation. 

“On any given day, we have 750 shelter beds in our city,” Nelson said. “Beginning in November through the end of March, we have an additional approximate 250 shelter beds, which (are) our winter warming rooms.”

Even with the extra capacity, he said beds are almost always full. 

Nelson said official homelessness figures fail to capture the full scope of housing instability because many people who temporarily stay with friends or relatives are not counted until those arrangements end.

“What we don’t count (are) people who are doubling up,” he explained. “If you let me stay on your couch through the winter, it’s not counted as homelessness. But the minute you say, ‘You gotta go,’ suddenly I become homeless.”

Sister MacCanon Brown is president and CEO of MacCanon Brown Homeless Sanctuary. She said her organization’s welcome center at 2461 W. Center St., which distributes clothing, food and household necessities and offers showers to people in need, saw 4,600 people in 2025.

Why homelessness is increasing

Most people leaving homeless service programs have no documented housing destination, making it difficult to know whether they are securing stable housing or eventually returning to homelessness, Nelson said. The percentage of people transitioning into permanent or temporary housing remains mostly unchanged.

Nelson said the end of pandemic-era federal housing assistance contributed to the rise in homelessness.

“During the Biden-Harris administration, we were sheltering people in hotels, and that was paid for by the federal government,” he said. “That funding is no longer there, and so you can see this gradual increase and then the spike in the number of people having to go back to homelessness.”

Other economic pressures are pushing more residents toward instability, especially low-income renters already struggling with rising housing costs.

“The people who are most squeezed are the people who are most vulnerable,” Nelson said. “Those at the lower ends of the economic spectrum are sometimes paying 50% and 60% of their income just to keep an apartment.”

People over 65 are now the fastest-growing age group entering Milwaukee’s homeless services system.

“It’s the fastest growing population in the country,” Nelson said. “If they go on Social Security, they are suddenly on a fixed income. The numbers don’t meet.”

Kohler said senior homelessness is becoming a major concern for local providers.

“Older adults experiencing homelessness for the first time in their lives is something that should never happen in our community,” she said. “They’re often widowed, on fixed incomes and one emergency away from losing housing.”

NNS has reported on housing crises among younger adults and families and seniors recently. 

Kohler said she hopes homelessness initiatives expand beyond families to include seniors, single adults and people exiting facilities.

Nelson added that eviction records can trap people in long-term instability.

“The eviction stays on their record for a long time,” Nelson said. “Landlords can use CCAP and see there was a legal proceeding against them. Suddenly they’re charged first, last and middle month’s rent.”

Brown said that many of the housing unstable people she sees were renters. 

“The lack of landlord regulation, the evictions and the prices have a lot to do with increased homelessness,” she said. “Some type of landlord regulation is crucial in keeping people housed.”

There have been assumptions by some that homelessness may be tied to migration from outside the city. But nearly everyone enrolled in Milwaukee’s homeless services programs during 2024 and 2025 was from Milwaukee County, according to local data.

Prevention efforts have worked

Kohler said Milwaukee’s prevention efforts increasingly focus on helping families before they lose housing entirely.

“We’re trying to get ahead of the trauma of homelessness,” she said. “Sometimes a family just needs help with a car repair, utility bill or mediation with a landlord before a housing crisis begins.”

She pointed to partnerships with schools and even animal welfare organizations as part of Milwaukee’s early intervention strategy.

“If a family is surrendering a pet because of housing instability, we can now connect them to services immediately,” Kohler said. “That’s a unique approach here.”

Though homelessness overall has risen, Kohler said Milwaukee has seen family homelessness remain relatively stable, or even decline, compared with many similar cities nationwide.

“Nationwide, family homelessness has increased dramatically, but Milwaukee is one of the only peer cities that has stayed relatively flat or even slightly decreased,” she said. “That’s because of intentional investments in prevention services and rapid rehousing.”

Working together to address homelessness

Organizations across the city continue working together through the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, which includes nonprofits, universities, faith organizations, outreach teams and local government agencies coordinating resources and services.

“We have a really rich and robust system in our city,” Nelson said. “Homelessness is not a choice. It’s not something people choose to be in.”

Kohler said Milwaukee’s coordinated response system has become a model for other communities.

“Right now, there are no families on the literal homelessness list searching for shelter,” she said. “If a family is identified as needing emergency shelter, they should have immediate access to beds.”

She said Milwaukee’s collaborative approach deserves more recognition.

“The providers here are doing amazing work,” Kohler said. “Other communities are reaching out to Milwaukee to model what we’re doing.”

Kohler said Milwaukee’s response shows progress is possible even during a growing national housing crisis.

“Milwaukee is actually an example of success inside a larger crisis,” she said. “There’s still tremendous need, but we’ve shown that prevention and rapid response can work.”

She encouraged residents facing housing instability to seek help early by calling 211 and connecting with local support services before a crisis escalates.

“Keep calling and keep advocating for yourself,” Kohler said. “Sometimes resources open up quickly, and that early connection can prevent homelessness entirely.”

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 homelessness rises despite some prevention successes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Women and girls find refuge from trafficking inside a nondescript building on Morrow Street in Green Bay.

They can attend support groups, eat a warm meal, take a shower, get new clothes or access community resources. 

But whatever they do, it’s their choice. 

“(Case management) is designed to make sure that every single woman and girl reaches independence. It’s their way. It’s on their terms,” said Carly McClure, operations director for HER Alliance. “We are just here to offer the support needed along that way to help them become the best version of themselves.”

The nonprofit organization formerly known as Awaken has served 251 women and girls since June 2022, according to the organization’s most recent Impact Report. In addition to directly supporting survivors, HER Alliance offers education sessions for the community about the dangers of human trafficking. 

‘Uphill battle’

Trafficking is abuse, McClure said, and the survivors who seek help at HER Alliance make several attempts to leave their situations for good, similar to people in domestic violence situations. 

“The uphill battle that everybody is facing in this position is, first of all, societal stigma,” McClure said. 

In 2025, the organization provided 4,908 units of service. A unit of service, for example, could be a meal, a call to the warmline or a referral to a community resource, among others, McClure said. 

Community members in general tend to think trafficking starts with a stranger kidnapping someone, and while that does happen, it’s not common, McClure said. 

“Trafficking begins with the grooming process. It’s happening to our children online more often than not now, and a trafficker is typically targeting someone that already trusts them,” she said. “So familial trafficking in Wisconsin is one of the highest forms of trafficking that we see.”

The intake process at HER Alliance happens in a quiet, private room with cozy furniture. The conversation is different for every person because needs vary, McClure said. 

Generally, staff ask questions to learn if a person’s basic needs are being met: 

• Do they have safe housing?
• Do they have access to food? Clothing?
• Are they employed?
• Are they in school?

Each person decides what support – if any – the person wants from HER Alliance, McClure said. Staff can connect people to community organizations to meet their specific needs, though local nonprofits also refer people to HER Alliance. 

The Brown County Jail refers many clients. HER Alliance has a full-time outreach case manager who spends most of her time working with women and girls at the jail, McClure said. 

Varying degrees of help

The organization operates what it calls a warmline – a 24/7 phone line staffed by a HER Alliance case manager. An important distinction, McClure said: The warmline is not a crisis line. 

“The warmline is available for people to call if they need (nonemergency) help, or if they’re already in contact with us and have already had an intake (session) – that number is for their use,” she said. 

Some people call the warmline just once, seeking advice or resources. 

Others seek additional help. HER Alliance offers weekly peer-to-peer support groups in a space that looks like a living room. There are couches, comfortable chairs, a TV, plants, a bookshelf and more. 

Clients can schedule one-on-one appointments with a case manager, or drop in during designated hours depending on their needs. 

A small kitchenette with a coffee station, a toaster oven and a refrigerator sits in the back of the building. Volunteers supply meals weekly, and frozen meals are always available. 

Clients can take a shower in one of the facility’s two restrooms, or “shop” a small boutique filled with gently used clothing, outerwear and shoes. Women and girls who complete an intake session and receive services get a punch card to shop the boutique, McClure said. 

“So if they have an interview coming up, or they’re going to school, or they just need new clothes, or they need new shoes, this is available to them throughout the year,” she said. 

Getting involved

Carmen Van Schyndel first learned about HER Alliance in 2024, during a TAT Freedom Drivers Project event co-hosted by her employer, Breakthrough. She remembers walking through an exhibit in a semi-trailer focused on the stories of trafficking survivors and their experiences. 

Prior to that, Van Schyndel thought human trafficking was something that happened in big cities like Chicago, not around Green Bay. 

But the experience “hit home,” she said. 

Van Schyndel spoke with HER Alliance staff at the event and started learning more. She joined the organization’s Advisory Board and later its Board of Directors. She now serves as the board secretary. 

She hopes to one day measure success by seeing the number of people HER Alliance serves decline. That will be a signal that the organization’s education, advocacy and community outreach efforts are making a difference.

“There’s still a need. There are still people that are not getting help who need it,” Van Schyndel said. “We still need to grow, but I think over time, as we really watch those numbers, I hope that those numbers go down, and those will be really good signs we’re making an impact in the community.”

What’s next?

HER Alliance acquired space next to its office in 2025, and it has big plans for it, McClure said. 

The programming area that looks like a living room will move as a result of the expansion, and McClure said they plan to add a full kitchen with an oven – an upgrade from the kitchenette and the toaster oven they currently use. 

“Now we’re kind of waiting on some grants to finish developing this space,” she said. 

Find resources

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, contact HER Alliance: 

• HER Alliance warmline: (920) 333-1701
• Email HER Alliance through the “Get Help” page on its website.

How to help

Want to raise awareness about human trafficking, volunteer your time or donate to HER Alliance? Here’s how: 

• HER Alliance holds education sessions on human trafficking throughout the year, though they take a break in the summer. Email info@heralliance.org to learn when the sessions will start in the fall, or keep an eye on the HER Alliance events calendar. 
• Volunteer with the organization: Fill out an interest form online. 
• Donate to HER Alliance through its website here. 

This story is part of Community at Work, an ongoing feature series focused on community organizations that make a difference in northeast Wisconsin. Who should we feature next? Email jzvandenhouten@wisconsinwatch.org.

HER Alliance combats human trafficking one person at a time is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

More older residents in Milwaukee are facing homelessness, according to findings from a yearlong study funded through a grant from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, which included Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin. 

Community Advocates is a social service agency that provides a number of services, including those related to housing. 

Researchers examined why older people are at risk for homelessness and what changes need to be made to keep them housed. 

“Older adults used to be stable and now there’s instability,” said Erin Cronn, director of nursing for the City of Milwaukee Health Department. 

The breakdown

The study showed that the majority of Milwaukee’s homeless older adults are Black males between 55 and 65, who have a high school diploma or some college. 

According to Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin, their homelessness was due to a loss of income, family conflict or health challenges. 

Matt Raymond, supportive housing programs director for Community Advocates, said intakes of people 62 and older have doubled and sometimes tripled over the last 10 or so years.  

Raymond said that many of the older adults had never been homeless and that accessibility to resources for them can be difficult. 

“This is many of their first time experiencing homelessness and having to navigate a system that can be complex and nuanced,” Raymond said. 

To help get older adults the housing resources they need, Cronn said, there needs to be a better way of sharing important information. 

“A lot of information is disseminated in electronic ways and there’s a lot of isolation, so word of mouth doesn’t always work,” Cronn said. 

The study also revealed that many older adults would prefer for all services to be in one place and have better transportation and more places to stay.

Understanding the hard truth

Although the study highlighted promising solutions, Emily Kenney, director of strategic initiatives and transformation at the Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services, said there’s still no housing system, which is why older adults struggle. 

She believes that homeless shelters, housing programs and landlords should be functioning under one system instead of operating separately. 

“When you think about the criminal justice system, health or behavioral system, those systems work together with you from beginning to end, but not for housing,” she said. 

She said this gap causes a lack in prevention support for older adults and only assists people when they’re already homeless. 

“When I was running a coordinated entry system, what I heard all day was people were on the brink of losing their housing and needing resources, and the only solution was to come into a homeless system first,” Kenney said.

Homelessness and the health care system

Family medicine specialist Dr. William Calawerts said he’s received older patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health challenges but can’t help if they don’t have stable housing.

Without a home, older adults can’t take their medicine or attend doctor appointments, which will make them more ill, he said. 

“Their health issues are usually extremely complex and serious, but oftentimes we’re not able to address that adequately in the outpatient setting,” he said. 

Cronn said health can mean different things to homeless older adults compared with health care professionals.

For older adults, it means having safe housing, clipped nails, ability to wash their hands or having clean and dry clothes, but professionals may see health as traditional doctor visits, he said.

“As a practitioner, it’s hard to prioritize health and the folks we’re seeing because their version of what their needs are is different than what we’re seeing,” Cronn said.

Calawerts said when he’s training medical students about homeless patients, he teaches them to take their time, have compassion and treat them beyond their illness.

“We try to tell them that you’re a human first and a physician second,” Calawerts said. “I think we’ve lost the humanism component in a lot of things we do.”

Affordable housing challenges

Kenney raised concerns about housing programs that give out vouchers to help with paying rent but have been a contributing factor to older adult homelessness.

She said developers are using loans to build houses, and the way the loans get paid off is through rent. 

“Developers can’t offer rent at a price people need because the tax credits they get aren’t enough,” Kenney said. “The people who get the vouchers have already entered the homeless system.” 

As a result, Raymond said some older adults have been moving into permanent supportive housing. These programs help homeless individuals get their own long-term place and additional services to help.

Community Advocates refers some of its intakes to Autumn West Safe Haven, an apartment on Milwaukee’s North Side that gives homeless or mentally ill individuals a place to stay short term until they find stability.

According to Community Advocates, 36 individuals who were homeless or mentally ill received services and housing through Autumn West Safe Haven, while 101 individuals who were chronically homeless and living with a disability received immediate help in 2025.

“Over the last few years at Autumn West Safe Haven, we’ve gone into outreach community centers to offer on-site telepsychiatry care to our residents and established a relationship with Advocate Aurora to bring in their mobile clinic on a monthly basis,” Raymond said. 

Hopes for the future

Overall, community leaders want people to know that existing organizations need to make their population broader and do a better job at synthesizing resources, even though it may take time. 

“There’s no reason for Milwaukee not to be at the forefront fighting this nationally,” Kenney said. 

Calawerts also mentioned the resilience of older adults, having heard many success stories of them getting through mental health, homelessness, unemployment and other challenges. 

“Those stories are the ones that give me hope, and with more robust services that are connected in these spaces, we can see more of those successfully,” Calawerts said.

Health care professionals and leaders want change as more older Milwaukee residents become homeless  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Flood Hope 500 organizers are raising concerns about the city of Milwaukee’s policies and calling for changes as residents continue to face flood recovery challenges.

The group was created by a group of community organizers to help North Side residents with disaster relief after flooding. 

Flood Hope 500 organizers Vaun Mayes, Aziz Abdullah, Montreal Cain and JaQai Ali help residents with water pumping, debris removal and mold remediation and provide other flood recovery support.

“We’re always dealing with a situation where the government moves slower than the people,” Abdullah said. “Flood Hope 500 shouldn’t exist.” 

With backgrounds working with youths and younger adults, the organizers were able to also include individuals between the ages of 13 and 25 to volunteer and get compensated for their work.

Abdullah said after the latest flood that Milwaukee lacks innovation and the financial capacity to come up with quick solutions. 

“The mayor in New York had the fiscal capacity to hire residents and pay them $30 an hour to stop at neighborhoods and shovel snow,” he said. 

When disasters occur, Abdullah thinks the city should be open about its capacity and give its residents the opportunity to help.

Then, work to reallocate funds from sources like the American Rescue Plan Act, funds from property tax levies and more.

“For Flood Hope 500, we catalyzed our own money and resources before anybody ever gave us a dollar,” Abdullah said. “We were just showing up because we knew people needed help.”

Abdullah said he went to Ozaukee County during the August flood to purchase four water pumps, and a local donor also pitched in to help. 

Mayes said there were times when Flood Hope 500 had to complete unfinished work by the city or other organizations.

“You have some residents who may have started with an organization, but then that organization didn’t complete all the work, so we had to go in and pick up where they left off,” Mayes said.

Creating better systems and partnerships

Mayes, also founder of ComForce MKE-Disaster Relief Division, said he feels like the city of Milwaukee hasn’t put much thought into investing in disaster relief, despite the recurrence of severe weather. 

“I don’t want them to drop the ball, so I would encourage them to be more inclusive and open to having things in place when it comes to this,” he said. “So we’re not scrambling every time this happens.”

He said there should be a shared system or database developed where flood relief tasks are tracked across all organizations because it can be hard to determine which homes have been helped or not during the recovery phase. 

“You have bigger organizations that are doing their own thing and have their own listing of people that they help,” Mayes said. 

Abdullah also said that the city should build more trusted partnerships with organizations that can assist in emergencies.

Abdullah said that Flood Hope 500 drew financial support from organizations that saw its collaborations and also that they were involving youths in efforts. Among them were the Brewers Community Foundation and Mental Health America.

Other financial support comes from Safe & Sound Inc., the fiscal operator that manages the organization’s finances and gives reimbursements.

He said both are an example of how collaborations can draw financial support and quick problem solving. 

“The city doesn’t have an agile structure to respond to those mechanisms and measures,” he said.

‘Volunteering is more of a privilege today‘

Abdullah said he recalls when people used to have more time and stability to help each other. Today, many residents don’t have the support they need, so it becomes harder to help others, he said.

“Volunteering is more of a privilege today,” he said. “The people who are closest to the issue also are experiencing the highest level of disenfranchisement, disengagement and divestment that we’ve seen in modern history.”

Mayes said there are people who mean well and want to help when disasters occur but can’t always do that without compensation. 

“If you get people in the mindset to only work when they get paid for it, that kind of does a little bit of a disservice,” Mayes said. “When dealing with certain things like disaster relief, it must be done carefully.”

Getting involved

If you are a youth or young adult interested in becoming a part of Flood Hope 500, click here to register.

According to Mayes, participants can receive $50 for a half day or $100 for a whole day. 

Individuals who want to donate can give monetarily or supply industrial garbage bags, water pumps, gloves and other supplies.

Contact Mayes at 262-289-0412 or email comforcemke@gmail.com to arrange a time to drop off supplies.

If you are a North Side resident in need of assistance from Flood Hope 500, click here.

Disaster relief organizers push for changes in Milwaukee’s flood response is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As of this week, animal welfare organizations say they’ve completed the process of getting 1,500 beagles out of a Wisconsin-based facility that bred them for scientific research.

That process has involved a nationwide network of volunteers and veterinary professionals, said Amy Good, the director of marketing and development for the Dane County Humane Society.

“It has been a tremendous couple days so far, going into Ridglan every single day, bringing the beagles back,” Good said. “Then seeing so many staff and volunteers welcoming them with open arms, giving them those first snuggles, taking them out.”

On April 30, two nonprofits — Big Dog Ranch Rescue and The Center for a Humane Economy — announced they had purchased 1,500 dogs from Ridglan Farms for an undisclosed price.

Even after that deal, Center for a Humane Economy CEO Wayne Pacelle estimates there could be about 500 dogs still in Ridglan’s custody, though he said advocates don’t know the exact number. He said the Big Dog Ranch Rescue and The Center for a Humane Economy still hope to buy any remaining dogs in the coming months.

Hundreds of the Ridglan Farms dogs are expected to be adopted in Wisconsin, while the rest will go to homes out of state, advocates said.

The Dane County Humane Society is among the groups caring for some of the dogs. In all, that organization will stage a total of 500 Ridglan Farms beagles before they’re ready to be adopted out.

So far, the level of interest in adoptions has been explosive.

Fifty of the beagles will be adopted out through the Dane County Humane Society. But, as of Friday, roughly 1,300 people had filled out interest forms asking to take in one of the dogs, Good said.

“The reality is, there’s more people willing to adopt and foster these dogs than we have dogs,” Good said. “We’re really grateful for people’s willingness to open their arms.”

Ridglan Farms was the second-largest beagle breeder in the country, and activists have alleged that the facility has been guilty of animal abuse dating back nearly a decade. Ridglan Farms has denied those allegations.

A settlement between Ridglan Farms and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will have the facility give up its state-level breeder license by July to avoid criminal charges.

In March, a group of animal rights activists broke onto Ridglan Farms property and took 22 beagles out.

In April, activists attempted another raid at Ridglan, but were met with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray after law enforcement officials said some of the protestors acted violently. That confrontation resulted in more than two dozen arrests, according to the Dane County Sheriff’s Office.

The fate of the Ridglan Farms beagles has made international news and attracted intense interest on social media.

During a news conference at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison on Tuesday, pop star Debbie Gibson and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler each snuggled Ridglan Farms beagles and joined advocates in calling for an end to scientific testing on animals.

Veterinary technian Danielle Fendrich was among the volunteers who traveled from out of state to care for the dogs.

She was part of a team that helped with medical exams on Tuesday afternoon from an area set up in a barn at the Dane County Humane Society.

As Fendrich worked with a wriggly puppy, she gave the dog occasional squirts of spray cheese to make the exam more pleasant.

“I think a lot of these dogs have very little handling,” said Fendrich, who lives in northern California. “So we want to make it as positive as possible for their first experiences around humans. Sadly, a lot of them lived pretty much their entire life in a kennel.”

Earlier this week, the Wisconsin Humane Society held events in Milwaukee and Green Bay, where about 20 dogs each will be rehomed.

Angela Speed is with the Wisconsin Humane Society and was in Milwaukee for the first transport of dogs. She told WPR dogs rehomed from research facilities require patient, quiet households to thrive.

“Some dogs may be very fearful, some may be curious,” Speed said. “But it can take dogs days, weeks, months or even years — depending on their individual personalities — to really learn what it’s like to be a beloved family member.”

Speed said of the roughly 130 dogs the Humane Society plans to transport this week, 90 will be immediately placed in foster homes. The other 40 will stay at Wisconsin humane societies or other shelters. But they’ve had hundreds of inquiries from people interested in adoptions.

“We’re talking about dogs who have lived in cages their entire life,” Speed said. “Everything is new. A toy, a treat, a collar, a leash, walking on grass or exploring with their nose. It’s a beautiful transformation to be part of.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

Welfare organizations complete transfer of hundreds of Ridglan Farms beagles is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Wisconsin leads the nation in reported fall deaths among older adults, with more than 1,800 in 2024.

• The reasons aren’t fully clear but may include how local officials report deaths, graying demographics and Wisconsin’s culture of alcohol use.

• Many falls can be prevented — and Wisconsin is a leader in that work.

• Programs from ballroom dancing to parkour help older adults build strength, balance and confidence.

About a dozen gray-haired adults line the playground fence at Madison’s Warner Park. Standing on narrow wood planks, they balance on the balls of their feet.

“Calves are burning, woo!” someone yells. The class stops to shake out their legs. Participants, most in their 60s or 70s, step back onto the boards and lift their heels off the ground — one of several movements in the class to help build muscle to prevent falls and practice parkour.

Alice Morehouse, 70, hits the playground’s blue, rubber surface. She shifts her weight to her left side and pushes herself up onto her toes. An instructor reminds everyone to flatten their hands — a tip Morehouse already picked up during two years in Parkour for Seniors classes. 

She drops to the ground and confidently springs back up twice more. 

“When I first started, I went home, drank a cup of coffee and took a nap,” Morehouse tells a classmate. “Now I only need the coffee.”

Sitting on a swing, holding two Jenga blocks in the form of a “T,” Morehouse says she has tried other workout classes. But parkour is “way, way more fun,” she adds while pushing off the ground.

She found the class in the Madison School and Community Recreation program guide and signed up in 2024. Instructors design the classes to build fall resiliency and strengthen muscles that support balance.

Wisconsin has the nation’s highest reported death rate from falls among older adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. More than 1,800 older Wisconsinites died from falls in 2024.

It’s not clear why Wisconsin stands out. Without firm evidence, experts point to several possible factors, including how local officials report deaths, graying demographics and Wisconsin’s culture of alcohol use.

But one thing is certain: Many falls can be prevented.

Wisconsinites are national leaders in fall prevention work. A local nonprofit trains people across the country to provide an evidence-based course, Stepping On, recommended by the CDC. Oshkosh health care providers started a “Mugs-for-Rugs” event to get older adults to trade hazardous throw rugs for free local coffee. Madison area advocates and experts developed a network of balance-enhancing classes, including ballroom dancing and parkour. 

Still, the number of fall-related EMS calls in Wisconsin increased between 2023 and 2024, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Falls made up more than 20% of 911-related ambulance runs in 2024. 

Stepping On is offered in 43 Wisconsin counties, including Dane. Madison residents can also access a wide range of additional classes. Still, falls remain a leading cause of injury deaths in the county. 

To change those numbers, advocates say they need to reach more older adults. But that costs money. Attempts to dedicate state dollars toward fall prevention failed in the Legislature. 

Parkour for Seniors grew popular enough this year to add a Thursday morning class. Morehouse has gained confidence since joining. 

“I’m no longer afraid to fall because I know I’m going to do it, and I know how,” she says. “And I’m much, much stronger.” 

Her favorite part of the class is watching participants have fun. 

She stands in a circle with the others, stretching. 

“Have we talked about grapefruit in our armpits yet?” asks Shelby Copeland, a parkour instructor and former “American Ninja Warrior” contestant. 

The group looks confused before Copeland explains the warmup. She tells everyone in the circle to pretend they placed two grapefruits inside their armpits. “See if you can juice them using just your shoulders,” she instructs the group.

“What do we do with the juice?” someone asks. 

“Citrus deodorant!” another attendee jokes.

‘Every senior should take this class’ 

“How’s everybody doing with their exercises?” facilitator Marcy DeGreef asks the Stepping On participants.

“I’m thinking about it,” 89-year-old Gary Geller responds after a brief pause. 

“We work together on that,” adds Jim Jenkins, 79.

The small group of older adults laugh before reviewing exercises that reduce fall risk. Heel-toe walks help with balance. Knee lifts build strength. They can easily do these at home. TV commercial breaks are long enough to finish several sit-to-stands, someone says. Another attendee says she practices side steps while waiting for hot cocoa to heat in the microwave. 

It’s the last of seven weekly classes. They’ll return to the Jewish Social Services building in three months to check in. Before they leave, DeGreef runs through some of what they learned: Vitamin D supplements can help with bone health; trained professionals should install grab bars in the bathroom; they should clean shower mats regularly so they don’t lose their stick; proper footwear is a must. The attendees should talk with their doctors and pharmacists about how their medications affect balance. They should also consider regular bone density screenings and get their vision checked.

“We just had our eye exam,” Geller says. “They went from 20/20 in my right eye to 20/40 to 20/25.”

“He’s getting better instead of worser,” his wife Denny quipped. 

As the review wraps up, Geller offers an endorsement: “Every senior should take this class.”

Stepping On reduces falls by more than 30%, says Jill Renken, executive director of the nonprofit Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, which licenses the program and helps distribute its curriculum nationwide. 

But expanding the class and other prevention efforts in Wisconsin requires more funding to train instructors and run awareness campaigns that reach more participants, Renken says.

Earlier this year, Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, and Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, introduced bills to set aside money for the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging and community emergency medical initiatives. 

The Assembly unanimously approved Snyder’s proposals in February, but they stalled in the Senate — failing to reach Gov. Tony Evers’ desk before lawmakers wrapped up work for the year. 

Snyder says the proposals died due to Senate Republicans’ concerns about funding, including $600,000 for community EMS and $400,000 for fall prevention across the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years. Neither James nor Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, responded to questions from Wisconsin Watch about the failure of the bills.

Snyder plans to bring the proposal back next session, which starts in 2027. That’s if he’s reelected later this year. 

“I’m hoping that next session we can actually get a substantial amount of money for fall prevention,” he says.

An antidote to loneliness

For Jim Jenkins, the class has already prevented a fall.

The day before the final class, he noticed a raised edge in the floor while leaving a restaurant. Paying close attention to his surroundings, he climbed over it.

“Six weeks ago, I probably would have just blundered through there and on down,” he says.

The classes have helped him avoid injury and loneliness, Jenkins says. His wife died more than a year ago, and he now lives alone. Stepping On gave him a social outlet, he says. He plans to take as many classes as he can.

“I wish I was going to be seeing everybody every week,” Jenkins says as the class wrapped up its final spring meeting. 

He and others exchanged emails to plan extra outings. 

Where to find fall resources

The nonprofit Safe Communities works to reduce injury-related deaths, like falls, in Dane County and keeps a list of fall prevention resources on its website and hosts community events focused on fall prevention. 

The Madison School and Community Recreation program guide lists classes — like Parkour for Seniors —- that help people build fall resiliency. People can register online or get assistance by calling 608-204-3000. 

AgeBetter provides free home safety assessments for older adults in Dane County. Elsewhere in Wisconsin, residents can ask their Aging and Disability Resource Center about local home safety resources. 

Fallsfreewi.org lists schedules and locations for Stepping On across the state.

Parkour for Seniors? Classes help older Wisconsinites build strength, community — and prevent deadly falls is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Housing instability for young adults in Milwaukee is a growing problem. Looking for solutions, young adults, residents and leaders gathered at Wellpoint Care Network in late April to discuss systemic gaps and realities young adults face with renting and homeownership. 

“Homeownership is a privilege when it shouldn’t be,” Tamia Abney, youth-coordinated entry liaison at Pathfinders, said.

The convening challenged members to think of possible solutions to the young adult housing crisis.

Basic needs aren’t being met

A 2024 Wisconsin Policy Forum study revealed that half of Milwaukee renters are using at least 30% of their income to keep a roof over their heads. 

In 2024, the average monthly rent in Milwaukee was $1,177. Workers in common jobs like fast food, retail, nursing assistants and other occupations earn between $28,000 and $44,000 a year and can only afford approximately $720 to $1,100 in rent, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. 

“Those are important jobs that make up most of our society,” Abney said. “The income isn’t meeting the needs to pay for their living.” 

During the convening at Wellpoint Care Network, Mayor Cavalier Johnson said there are young people who have decent jobs and still struggle with affordable housing.

“When you make that first good job out of college and make a certain dollar amount, everybody thinks you have it when that’s not the case,” Johnson said. “I lived it, too.”

Milwaukee housing shortage

One reason for the high rent prices in Milwaukee is that the number of people needing homes is growing faster than the number of housing units available. 

According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, Milwaukee’s households increased by 17,335 between 2010 and 2024, but only 11,038 housing units were available, leaving an underproduction of 6,297 units. 

“There’s a shortage for low-income families because somebody else has already snatched it away from them,” said Carl Mueller, founder and chairman of Mueller Communications.

The mayor, who declared 2026 the year of housing in Milwaukee, said the city is working to increase housing supply so rent can become cheaper and change how tax dollars are being used to support young professionals.

“We still invest in affordable housing, but what we’ve done now is open it up to make investments in workforce housing, so young professionals don’t end up in situations where they’re spending 30% of their income, too,” Johnson said. 

Mueller and other community members suggested the city build developments similar to NeuVue and ThriveOn King, which bring housing and community resources together. 

Additional challenges

Another reason for the local housing shortage is that residential projects take the longest to get approved.

According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the median time it takes for a Milwaukee building project to go from zoning to final building permit approval is 145 days, but for residential projects it takes about 224 days. 

Johnson said when he came into office, he challenged the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services to speed up the permit process.

“I think if we had been more aggressive and if we had cut more red tape over the years, then a lot of the development that’s happening in some of the surrounding communities would have happened in the city,” Johnson said. 

Johnson added that Milwaukee’s zoning policies need to be updated so more properties can be built. 

“We haven’t had a whole-scale zoning policy since John Norquist was mayor,” he said.

A need for a better quality of living

Al Smith, chief operating officer at Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity, said youths, families and young adults are living in places with high rent prices but are experiencing poor conditions – lead issues and infestations among them. 

“Some are paying up to $1,500 a month for places they don’t want to live in, but it was the only option they were left with,” Smith said. “We need a better quality of housing stock.”

Iasia Sawyer, 21, a member of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council and participant of the Youth Transitioning to Adulthood program, said she’s already in her second apartment and has faced ongoing challenges with her landlord over mold and pipes.

Smith said more young adults and families in stable housing would bring an increase in graduation rates and other benefits. 

“When I think about education or even kids having to switch schools constantly, there’s no stability in that,” he said. 

Johnson recalled how traumatizing it felt when he had to attend six Milwaukee Public Schools throughout his childhood because of housing instability. 

“As mayor, I’m working to make sure that more kids in Milwaukee have the stability that I didn’t have growing up,” Johnson said. “It’s not just about housing support; you guys are also providing the foundation for everything else in life.”

Homeownership can be attainable for young adults

Smith said he found it disheartening to know there are some who have no desire to become a homeowner. 

“If you’ve seen multiple generations of your family that were only renters and never owned a home, they don’t think homeownership is a possibility for them,” he said. 

He said the best way to encourage young adults into homeownership is through community support to address credit, bankruptcies and other barriers so they can make the adjustments to become eligible to buy a home.

Smith said Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity is teaching individuals how to financially prepare for homeownership. 

According to Smith, it takes about $275,000 for the organization to build a home, and families who participate in the program only pay about $150,000 for their first mortgage. The program provides additional financial support to help keep monthly payments affordable.

“You’ll also get the benefit of building wealth and equity into that,” Smith said. 

Sawyer said she wants young people navigating adulthood to know that although finding stable and quality housing is a challenge, it can be attainable. 

“There are people who are ready to give up because they don’t have the right support around them for their situation,” she said. “Now it’s about moving forward.”

Milwaukee’s housing crisis leaves younger adults and families struggling to find stability is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Isaac Solis knows all too well how taking a pill bought off the street can lead to tragedy. 

His son Isaac Solis Jr., known as “Bubba,” died in 2019 after taking what he thought was the prescription drug Percocet. 

Instead, it was a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can kill in trace amounts.

Since then, he’s been on a mission to help prevent others from losing loved ones through his “One Pill Kills” awareness campaign. 

His message is being amplified in time for Fentanyl Awareness Day, observed nationally on April 29, through three billboards that feature his son. The billboards direct residents to the 1pillkills.org website and social media pages and include the message: Together We Will Save Lives.  

“It’s about spreading awareness obviously that even one pill can kill you, one line can kill you,” Solis said. “If one family sees it and reaches out to their loved one and one life is saved, that’s our goal.” 

Two of the billboards can be seen off of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee near West Becher and South Fourth streets, and the other is a north/south display on South 27th Street and West Morgan Avenue. The billboard near West Becher will be up for eight weeks and the one on West Morgan for four. 

Solis’s campaign has utilized several billboards over the years to increase community awareness on fentanyl. 

The message on the first billboard, he said, was very aggressive.

“Our grief was a bit more raw at that time,” Solis said. 

Another billboard featured photos of individuals who lost their lives to fentanyl. 

“Eight families put their angels up there,” he said. 

Drop in overdose deaths

Fentanyl has fueled the opioid epidemic nationally and a rise in overdose deaths. 

The drug had devastating impacts on Milwaukee County, which experienced multiple years of record high drug overdose deaths in the 2010s and 2020s. Those totals peaked at 674 in 2022 and 667 in 2023, according to data from the Milwaukee County Overdose Dashboard. Most of the deaths were caused by fentanyl alone or in combination with other substances.

Since then, the number of fatal overdoses has fallen. Last year 387 died, with 236 of those cases involving fentanyl. 

County Executive David Crowley credits increased funding for opioid prevention and collaboration for the decrease. 

“Thanks to the investment of opioid settlement dollars, increased access to free harm reduction supplies, and efforts to eliminate the stigma surrounding substance use disorder, fewer people are dying of overdose, which means more opportunities for treatment, recovery and a path forward,” Crowley said in a statement.

Fentanyl still a major problem

While Solis said the drop in fatal overdoses is great, it’s also concerning. 

“The troublesome part is we don’t know what amount of people are addicted to fentanyl and using it daily,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do.The closer we get to zero deaths, the better.” 

He said fentanyl products continue to evolve and get more potent, and it can be in powder or liquid form, and even in vapes. 

“It can be hidden in something but you can have no idea what,” Solis said. “There’s always a threat of it being in any type of drug.”

Working together

Like Crowley, Solis credits collaboration for the progress made in addressing the opioid epidemic. He partners regularly with Team HAVOC, a grassroots South Side group. 

Rafael Mercado, founder of Team HAVOC, said Solis’ story and “One Pill Kills” message are having an impact. 

“He does a lot to bring awareness by way of billboards, social media and pop-ups,” Mercado said. “He has lost a son to this, so he knows firsthand the pain and suffering a family goes through and the ripple effect of addiction on a family.”  

Solis also partners with Samad’s House, a Milwaukee-based sober living home and behavioral health clinic dedicated to supporting women. He said he’s working with Tahira Malik, founder and chief operating officer of Samad’s House, to help organize a Walk for Lives event on July 11. Walk for Lives is a nationwide movement to raise awareness about those who died from fentanyl. 

Solis said he wishes he could do even more but knows that ending the fentanyl crisis won’t happen quickly. 

“The problem didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s not gonna be any one group, not any one solution. Together we will save lives.”

---

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

‘One pill can kill’: A Milwaukee father turns grief into a warning about fentanyl is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The mayor’s office and the Milwaukee Department of Public Works are defending the city’s parking enforcement during last week’s flooding. 

From April 15 to April 16, the city issued 4,666 parking citations, according to data provided by the Department of Public Works, or DPW. 

Officials said enforcement is still necessary during extreme storm-related conditions. 

“Severe weather events make it particularly important for people to obey the posted parking restrictions,” said Jeff Fleming, spokesperson for Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “During rain events, quite a number of parking restrictions are in place to enable full street cleaning.” 

Fleming also said flooding can be exacerbated when street cleaning is impeded by parked vehicles.

South Side resident Jacob Quinones said he was too busy dealing with the flood to worry about parking. 

“My basement flooded, and I was late to work because of getting towed,” he said. 

Parking enforcement looked much different during the historic storms on Aug. 9 through Aug. 10, which also caused severe flooding throughout the city. 

According to DPW data, 991 citations were issued on those days, which occurred over the weekend.

Behind the numbers

The 4,666 parking citations issued on April 15-16 include all standard parking enforcement activity, said Tiffany Shepherd, DPW marketing and communications officer. 

Citations were issued earlier on Wednesday before the storm and after conditions improved on Thursday, she said.

She said officers did adapt during the most intense conditions. 

During a peak storm window, from roughly 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., parking enforcement continued but focused on responding to complaints, resulting in 141 tickets, said Shepherd. 

She said safety concerns limited enforcement during that time.  

“Our staff is not going to be driving through flood waters or anything like that. That’s just not safe,”  Shepherd said. “For those two hours where things were really bad, no tickets were being issued.”

Response in August

During the August floods, there was a period when parking enforcement was formally suspended and staff redirected to flood-related work, said Lisa Vargas, administrative specialist with DPW, in an email.  

Overnight enforcement was also formally suspended in the days following the storm, from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14. Enforcement was not suspended as a result of last week’s storms. 

Staff assisted stranded or abandoned vehicles, conducting 88 free relocation tows, Vargas said. During last week’s floods, four free relocations were provided.

‘It cost me $566’

When Quinones’ car was towed near his home on South 13th Street and West Ohio Avenue, he said it left him with no real alternatives. 

“It’s my only form of transportation,” he said. “It cost me $566 plus a favor from a friend for the ride to the tow lot.” 

Quinones said being ticketed and towed while also dealing with flooding created a great deal of stress. He said the city needs to rethink its approach.

“If severe weather is on the horizon, keep your meter maids and parking checkers safe at home,” he said.

The importance of parking enforcement

Shepherd emphasized that although most enforcement took place before and after flooding conditions, weather is still not an excuse to park irresponsibly.  

“What you’re going to find out is the majority of these tickets don’t have anything to do with anyone being affected by the flood,” she said. “Just because there was bad weather, you can’t block a hydrant.”

Appealing citations

The mayor’s office has no plans to forgive tickets issued during last week’s floods, but residents do have an option to appeal. 

“The appeal process is pretty straightforward, so we do not have plans for any blanket amnesty,” Fleming said. 

People can go through the appeals process if the flood was pertinent to the ticket, and the city will look at that on a case-by-case basis, Shepherd said. 

More parking information can be found on the city’s website. 

Data shows stark difference in Milwaukee parking enforcement between August and April floods is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On the streets of Milwaukee, Carter Wilkins and his mom, Carlicia Wilkins, can be spotted picking up aluminum cans or handing out bagged lunches and hygiene items. They do it as an act of kindness for the homeless and to help grow a new organization called Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc. 

In March, Carter, 9, founded Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc., a nonprofit that focuses on environmental awareness. The organization uses collected aluminum cans to help fund and support individuals experiencing homelessness in Milwaukee. 

“I was so happy when I turned in my first bag of cans,” Carter said. 

The idea started when Carlicia Wilkins was on a car ride.  She was reflecting on the passing of Carter’s dad in 2020 and about experiencing homelessness three years ago and sleeping in her car.

“This is our reality five years later, and I wanted to figure out how I can continue to make Carter’s life better,” Carlicia said. “He’s a gamer and asks for (Fortnite) V-Bucks, so I figured I could teach him responsibility and how to make his own money while gaining a purpose because it’s not about the money for us.” 

Carlicia wanted to show Carter how to use the money to help others. 

According to the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing & Homelessness, about 885 Milwaukeeans were experiencing homelessness in 2024. 

“Homelessness can be on the street, sleeping on somebody else’s couch, living in someone’s basement or living out of your car,” Carlicia said. “If you are somewhere that’s not yours, then that’s homelessness.” 

After discussing the idea with Carter, he wanted to get started as soon as possible.

Day-to-day collecting

Carter, a Sherman Park resident, typically spends an hour after school collecting aluminum cans from sparkling water, energy drinks, beer and more while his mom pays him $10 an hour out of her own pocket.

“We pick a block and go around neighborhoods,” Carter said.

Once a month Carter and his mom take the collected cans to All Scrap Metal Recycling Inc., 3330 W. Fond du Lac Ave., to recycle them for cash.  

“Everything that we need is already around us,” Carlicia said. “We throw things away when it could really bring financial gain.”

Carter said he recently made $73 after filling five bags of aluminum cans in one month. The bags weighed 90 pounds. 

“My goal was about 60 pounds of cans at first,” he said.

Preparing food and essentials for the homeless

Once he receives the cash, Carter goes to local stores to pick up food and hygiene items to make care kits and cold bag lunches for the homeless. 

The kits typically include dental products, socks, wet wipes, deodorant, hair care, towels and soap. 

The lunches include water, fruit, a snack and sandwich. 

At the beginning of April, Carter and Carlicia gave away 25 bag lunches and 20 care kits to the homeless across Milwaukee’s North and South Sides. 

“I was nervous at first when I did my first aluminum can turn-in, but the more I started collecting, then I got more comfortable,” Carter said.

Witnessing the impact

Dier Vaughn, a family friend who volunteers to help the organization, said he’s never seen a duo like Carter and his mom come up with a concept like this. 

“You don’t see many young kids who are motivated to give back to their own community,” Vaughn said. 

From picking out the organization’s name to shopping for essentials, Vaughn has witnessed the process since day one. 

“I really love how Carter and Carlicia actually go out to talk to people to see what they want and need instead of buying what they think people need,” he said. 

Vaughn said Carter has qualities of a community activist and always has a willingness to listen and show empathy.

Carlicia describes Carter as a go-getter since she’s been giving him the space to lead with the initiative.

“He’s getting better at telling other youth about his initiative,” Carlicia said. “I’m learning to let him be a kid and have a voice with entrepreneurship at the same time.” 

The initiative was meant to teach Carter and other youths about work ethic, financial literacy, communication skills, responsibility and more. 

For youths eager to make a difference in their community but are unsure of where to start, Carter said the first step is being open to trying new things. 

“You don’t have to try everything, but at least try one thing,” he said.

Helping out the new organization

Carter and Carlicia said their long-term goal is to find more youths ages 9 through 14 to help Carter on his mission. 

“Carter’s big cousins joined him and were so excited that they couldn’t stop,” Carlicia said.

Youths who join him will receive a reward like monetary pay or get treated to a social outing like roller skating, Chuck E. Cheese and more. 

The next volunteer opportunity for youths to help Carter and Carlicia is 4 p.m. Friday, April 24. The youths can crush cans before they turn them in at the scrapyard. 

Also, Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc. is in need of board members, sponsors and community leaders. 

“We’re looking for people and local leaders who may know more about homelessness and can possibly give us more information,” Carlicia said. 

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For more information

Other ways residents can help Carter and Carlicia is by donating hygiene products and food or by saving aluminum cans at your home that they will come pick up. 

Items can be sent to Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc., P.O. Box 90104, Milwaukee, WI 53209

To get involved or for any questions, you can reach Carlicia at 414-506-2523 or email community@cartercancollect.com.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Meet a Milwaukee kid turning aluminum cans into cash to help the homeless is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Click here to read highlights from the story

• Methadone is highly effective at reducing illicit opioid use and overdoses.

• The federal government sets minimum standards for clinics to prevent misuse, but Wisconsin imposes more than a dozen additional requirements on providers.

• As a result, patients may wait longer to begin treatment, make daily trips to clinics and take more time to reach an effective dose.

• Many other states have eased their rules, expanding access without compromising patient safety.

After years of opioid use, Bob saw three paths ahead: jail, death or methadone.

The 70-year-old Stevens Point resident chose methadone, which he has stuck with for more than half his life. He credits the treatment for his long career and ability to raise two daughters. Now retired, he sits in a recliner holding a sheet of paper with a list of old friends; he’s written “OD” next to the names of several loved ones killed by drugs.

Methadone is highly effective at reducing illicit opioid use and overdoses, experts say. It reduces drug cravings, prevents withdrawal and can provide stability without a mind-altering high.

More than 10,000 Wisconsinites used methadone treatment in 2024 to recover from opioid use disorder. But state regulations make accessing treatment more difficult for those patients, providers and researchers say.

The federal government sets minimum standards for clinics providing methadone treatment aimed at preventing misuse. Wisconsin adds more than a dozen more restrictive requirements, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

For patients, the state’s laws can mean waiting longer to enroll in treatment, daily drives to the clinic — even on weekends and holidays — and waiting longer to reach an effective dose.

Two years after the federal government relaxed its rules, Wisconsin’s landscape remains largely unchanged. Providers and researchers want Wisconsin to catch up with newer standards adopted by other states, including Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. 

The Department of Health Services is reviewing Wisconsin’s rules, but it’s unclear what will change or when.

Long drives for methadone treatment 

Bob wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and starts the 40-minute drive to his treatment clinic. Years ago, he left that early to make it to work on time. Now, he just likes to beat the crowd.

Wisconsin Watch is identifying people who use methadone by first name only to protect their private health information. 

Bob tries not to pee before starting the drive. He knows clinic staff will likely send him into the bathroom with a cup as soon as he arrives. It’s been two decades since he used drugs or alcohol, but he takes the drug test all the same.

Next, he walks up to a clinic window, where someone hands him 13 plastic bottles of a cherry red liquid. Bob locks the medications inside a box he brought from home. A staff member watches as he swallows another dose.

He’ll do it all again in 13 days. The treatment saved his life, but it keeps him tied to this time-intensive routine — and to a clinic in another town. 

“Methadone is like having a pair of golden handcuffs,” he says.

Unlike other medications, methadone cannot be picked up from a pharmacy. Only 31 locations across Wisconsin are approved to provide medication-assisted opioid treatments including methadone, according to the state health department.

At the state’s northernmost clinic in Wausau, patients traveled an average of 31 miles, one way, to their clinic in 2024.

Wisconsin allows fewer take-home doses 

Methadone can be fatal if misused. To prevent people from overusing it or selling it, the federal government limited the number of take-home doses patients receive. 

Early in the pandemic, the federal government allowed states to relax take-home rules to limit crowding at clinics — and many states did so. Studies later showed higher patient satisfaction and feelings of being respected without a significant increase in misuse.

In making the pandemic exceptions permanent in 2024, federal regulators wrote that the previous standards “can pose disruption to employment, education and other daily activities for patients, and several of the criteria reflect outdated biases that promote stigma and discourage people from engaging in care.”

But Wisconsin’s take-home regulations remain stricter than the federal minimums from before the pandemic.

The federal standard allows patients like Bob to take home 28 doses at a time. Wisconsin allows only 13.

Wisconsin patients must visit their clinic seven days a week until they complete a month in treatment and meet other criteria not required by the federal government. It takes a year in Wisconsin to qualify for the number of take-home doses providers in other states can offer patients after two weeks. 

Random callbacks disrupt routines

State rules also require clinics to regularly “call back” patients, like Bob, who have more than two take-home doses. The callbacks are intended to help providers make sure patients are not selling or misusing take-home doses. 

Between visits, Bob’s provider often calls and tells him to arrive at the clinic within 24 hours with all 13 methadone bottles. If he doesn’t, he has to go back to daily clinic visits. 

Federal rules do not require callbacks. In a 2024 report, federal regulators said providers should “consider the disruptive nature of random callbacks.”

It’s hard to make plans knowing you might have to change them any moment, Bob says. “I want to be normal again.”

Rules changes under review 

Wisconsin is an outlier whose policies are overdue for an update, said Sharel Rogers, CEO of Addiction Medical Solutions and Vin Baker Recovery. She also serves as president of the Wisconsin Association of Treatment for Opioid Dependence.

Rogers was among several providers who backed a bill last month to update state rules. The measure was introduced right before the legislative session ended and was not expected to pass, but supporters hoped it would push regulators to act.

Wisconsin health officials are considering changing opioid treatment regulations, but without legislative action, the process could take years.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services aims to ensure state regulations support access to “high-quality, evidence-based care for those who need it,” wrote Elizabeth Goodsitt, a spokesperson for the agency.

The agency started the state’s “intentionally thorough” rulemaking process last year to bring state regulations “closer in alignment with current federal regulations,” Goodsitt said.

The agency is still drafting proposed changes. They would be subject to public hearings and lawmaker approval in a process that ensures input from providers, advocates and patients, Goodsitt said.

The health department declined to answer detailed questions. Staff plan to review enrollment and take-home requirements, according to a document submitted to the Legislature. It’s not clear if other discrepancies, like callbacks, lab testing or dosage levels, will be addressed.

Opioid treatment providers should be carefully regulated, but Wisconsin’s current rules create barriers for patients, Rogers said.

“I’m just amazed at these patients every day, what they will do for their own recovery,” she said.

Recovery under tight restrictions

Timothy overdosed three times before starting treatment. 

After nine months in Marathon County jail, he relapsed unaware of his lowered tolerance and the strength of the drug supply in 2022.

Within a couple of months, he started methadone.

“Some people don’t get out of that. A lot of people don’t,” Timothy said. “I’m grateful.”

Opioid overdose deaths dropped by more than 42% in Wisconsin between 2023 and 2024, according to the state health department. Still, opioids killed 815 people in Wisconsin in 2024, compared with fewer than 300 deaths two decades earlier. 

Rising overdose rates are driven in part by fentanyl, a more potent opioid. Patients with a history of fentanyl use typically need higher methadone doses, said Dr. Hillary Tamar, who oversees Wisconsin treatment providers as a medical director for Community Medical Services. 

Wisconsin rules prohibit providers from giving new patients a starting dose above 30 milligrams of methadone. That limit is outdated in the fentanyl era, Tamar said. The average dose at most Wisconsin clinics in 2024 was above 100 milligrams. 

Updated federal limits allow providers to start patients at 50 milligrams or higher, based on their clinical judgment. A higher starting dose can help patients avoid withdrawal and reach a stable dose sooner, Tamar said. 

Federal regulations also give providers greater ability to decide whether a patient may benefit from fewer visits.

“The regulations in Wisconsin bind us to creating a one size fits all plan, and that is just not how humans work,” Tamar said.

Despite attending regular counseling and dosing in-person daily for four years, Timothy still doesn’t qualify for a single take-home dose in Wisconsin. 

That’s because he started using cannabis while undergoing chemotherapy around the time he started methadone treatment. Now in remission, he is working with his counselor to stop using cannabis, but it still prevents him from receiving take-home doses in Wisconsin.

In other states, marijuana use does not bar patients from receiving take-homes, Tamar said.

Last month, Timothy received two take-home methadone bottles while visiting his daughter in Florida.

Before leaving Wisconsin, he worked with staff at his clinic to set up a week’s worth of visits with a Florida provider. He was surprised when the new clinic told him he would receive take-home doses over the weekend.

When at home in Wisconsin, Timothy doesn’t mind the daily clinic visits. But when he’s with his daughter, they remind him of his past mistakes. 

For two days he mixed his medication with apple juice and celebrated his 45th birthday with his family without stopping at the clinic.

He said it was the best time of his life.

‘Golden handcuffs’: Wisconsin methadone rules limit access to opioid treatment is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

For Samantha Gamble and Ishon Arnold, this week’s rain only exacerbated issues they were already having in their home. 

Despite reporting their unsafe living conditions in their Lincoln Creek home a few weeks ago, they have had rain pouring in every room for the past two nights. Their upstairs ceiling buckled, and they have buckets everywhere. 

“The first night it got really bad,” said Arnold at a news conference Thursday. “Then the second night it got worse.” 

They are not alone.

Severe thunderstorms and flooding across Milwaukee this week have left some residents with waterlogged cars, no food, damaged homes and a difficult cleanup. 

Another round of severe thunderstorms is forecast for Milwaukee County on Friday night, and a flood watch for flash flooding is scheduled from 1 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. 

Although the full extent of the damage is still unknown, local government leaders and neighborhood groups are preparing to help with the aftermath. Other Milwaukeeans are looking ahead to see how these disasters can be avoided in the future. 

Neighbors helping neighbors

VIA Community Development Corp., which works on community, housing and economic development projects in Silver City, Clarke Square, Layton Park and Burnham Park, reported several Milwaukee neighborhood areas had experienced flooding. 

“Our team is actively connecting with neighbors and business owners to check on their homes, storefronts and properties to better understand the extent of the impacts and identify where support may be needed most,” said Christian Oliva, marketing communications manager of VIA CDC. 

Both VIA CDC and Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, a community and social justice organization focused in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood, encourage neighbors and business owners to report any issues — including flooding, property damage, power outages and fallen trees — to the Milwaukee Department of Public Works, their alderperson’s office and their local neighborhood organization to track damage.

Melody McCurtis, the deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, said neighbors experienced flooding in streets and basements, cars getting stuck in high water, property damage from wind and mudslides in some areas. 

“Flooded streets and detours have made it difficult for our team and neighbors to physically reach residents who need support, limiting our ability to respond as quickly and directly as we would like,” she said. 

Flooding advice

If you or someone you know is still recovering from last August’s floods, the United Methodist Committee on Relief shared some tips. 

How to get FoodShare replacement benefits

Residents who receive FoodShare benefits and lost food because of the storm may be eligible for replacement benefits. To submit for the reimbursement, FoodShare recipients should fill out the Request for Replacement FoodShare and/or Summer EBT Benefits form. 

Requests must be submitted within 10 days of the weather event.

Help available in Amani neighborhood

Amanda Clark with the Dominican Center, which has served residents in Amani for over 30 years, said Amani residents should reach out if they need help. 

“We may not have all the answers, but we’ll do our best to assist and connect residents to resources,” she said. “They don’t have to try to figure this out alone.” 

How HACM residents can get help

Folks living in Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee properties can notify their property manager about any issues. If they aren’t available, then they can contact the 24/7 public safety dispatch center at 414-286-5100.

How to report property damage

Residents who wish to report property damage may contact IMPACT 211 or complete the online form from 211 Wisconsin.  

IMPACT 211 connects residents to services like housing, food, mental health support, and crisis counseling. It is supporting the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management by collecting reports of property damage caused by flooding such as water/sewage in basements, collapsed walls and lightning-related incidents.

“IMPACT has turned on our local disaster switch this morning as Milwaukee County is now activated for disaster relating to the flooding event,” said Vickie Boneck, the director of marketing and communications with IMPACT 211, on Thursday. 

Looking ahead

Oby Nwabuzor is the founder of Envision Growth, a public health-driven real estate development firm. She put together a legislative framework that breaks down five specific actions organized by what can happen right now at the Common Council level with no state approval needed, what can move this budget cycle at the county and state level and what needs to be built and introduced in 2027.

“The storm is weather, but who floods, how badly, and whether it happens again at the same scale is a policy problem, and we have the data to prove it,” she said in a Facebook post. “What we do not have is legislation, and that is what I put together.” 

Neighborhood assistance

Oliva said VIA CDC’s home improvement matching grant program may be able to assist neighborhood homeowners with necessary repairs.

Metcalfe Park Community Bridges is mobilizing support to repair the Northstar Healing Space’s fence, which was destroyed in the storms, and gather clean-out supplies, air purifiers, dehumidifiers and volunteers to help reduce neighborhood residents’ exposure to mold.

Recovering from vehicle damage 

Since Monday, Milwaukee residents have faced dangerous commutes as some were forced to leave their vehicles stranded while others may have been trapped inside their vehicles because of flooding caused by recurring heavy storms.

According to the Milwaukee Fire Department, the North Side of the city was impacted the most, and the fire department responded to approximately 50 calls for water rescues because of submerged vehicles on April 14.

If you are driving and happen to come across a street with flooding, the Milwaukee Fire Department and Tiffany Shepherd, marketing and communications officer for the city of Milwaukee, urge drivers to avoid driving through flood waters.

If a driver’s vehicle is stuck in the middle of an intersection, Shepherd said to report it by calling the Department of Public Works at 414-286-2489 so that a representative can assess the situation and possibly relocate the vehicle. 

What to do if your vehicle is under water

When your vehicle has been submerged in water, the American Automobile Association recommends drivers to never start their vehicle as its main parts like the battery, transmission and engine are damaged, even though they may not look like it.   

“Unless every part is thoroughly cleaned and dried, inside and out, problems caused by corrosion can crop up weeks or even months after the flooding,” AAA said.

It’s best to have your vehicle inspected and repaired right away by AAA or another auto repair shop of your choice. 

Navigating automobile insurance 

Drivers should also contact their insurance company immediately about comprehensive coverage in their auto insurance policy to determine next steps with repairs and costs. 

Comprehensive coverage is a type of insurance that pays for the damage done to your vehicle like flooding, fire, theft and more. 

The cost of repairing flood damage can easily exceed a car’s value, depending on the make and model, according to AAA. 

Dealing with basement flooding

Department of Neighborhood Services Commissioner Jezamil Arroyo-Vega gave tips for what to do if your basement flooded:

• If you’re a renter, call your property manager or landlord first. If they don’t respond, then call the Department of Neighborhood Services.
• High-level waters in basements can affect electrical breakers and can be dangerous for residents. Do not enter a flooded basement with electrical appliances until those waters have lowered. 
• Don’t use any electrical equipment that was submerged in water, including the water heater, washing machine, dryer or any other appliances in the affected area. These can create serious hazards including a fire risk. 
• Once the water has lowered and it’s safe to enter your basement, document the damage by taking photos for insurance. 
• Don’t attempt to restore your own breaker box or water heater. Call a licensed electrician or plumber.
• Check your house for structural damages. Signs of a compromised foundation include various sizes of cracks. A foundation contractor can help identify problems and create a repair plan. Search for contractors approved to work in the city of Milwaukee here.
• If you experienced more catastrophic foundation damage, such as a wall collapse, call the Department of Neighborhood Services immediately. The department will send out an inspector as soon as possible. Not only is this necessary for determining the safety of your home, but the inspection could be necessary for insurance claims. 

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PrincessSafiya Byers, Alex Klaus, Meredith Melland, Chesnie Wardell and Jonathan Aguilar contributed to this story.

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.

Here’s what Milwaukee residents facing storm damage should know is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Common Ground and its new branch, Tenants United, are leading efforts to hold private landlords accountable, starting with David Tomblin of Highgrove Holdings LLC. 

Highgrove Holdings is an out-of-state landlord with more than 260 properties, mostly on Milwaukee’s North Side. A significant number of homes are reportedly vacant or boarded.

Common Ground and Tenants United documented dozens of violations and examples of neglect, from mildew and mold to broken windows and holes in the ceilings.

Now both groups alongside other advocates and Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke have set out to “evict” Tomblin, owner of Highgrove Holdings, from control of his properties through a novel lawsuit filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. 

A complaint filed by the city of Milwaukee is asking a judge to appoint a third-party receiver to manage Highgrove’s portfolio if hundreds of alleged nuisance and code violations are not fixed within 60 days. If granted, it would effectively strip Tomblin of operational control over his Milwaukee properties.

“The point of this is to get them to comply,” Goyke said. “No one should need to be sued to be code-compliant. It shouldn’t come to this, but if this is what it takes, so be it.”

Tenants United

Last August during unprecedented storms, Ebony Martin’s ceiling fell in. Not only was she hospitalized as a result of the collapse, but she said her property management company, Highgrove Holdings Management, never fixed the leaks. 

Stories like hers led Common Ground and Tenants United to get involved.

Tenants United formed several years ago during a campaign against the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. 

The group’s advocacy for Housing Authority residents led to a change in leadership and some operations. 

Charlene “Peaches” Bell said she initially joined Tenants United as a resident of the Housing Authority because she saw a need for change and accountability. She’s still there because the need is still there. 

“We have to help each other,” Bell said. “They say it takes a village. What kind of world will we have if we don’t do this now?”

The strategy

Tenants United members said Highgrove Holdings has accumulated hundreds of code violations and leads the city in orders for lead abatement. They also pointed out rising delinquent property taxes and ongoing legal disputes with lenders and investors. 

Tomblin, who previously lived in California and now resides in Washington, has marketed Milwaukee as a profitable market for investors. He cited strong returns tied in part to Opportunity Zones, federally designated areas intended to spur redevelopment.

Nearly 100 tenant leaders and community advocates gathered on March 26 alongside Goyke to announce a legal campaign targeting Tomblin’s company. 

Tenant leader Kiante Shields, who helped launch the campaign, described the lawsuit as a turning point in holding corporate landlords accountable.

“This is about drawing a line,” Shields said. “If you neglect hundreds of homes, there are consequences, not just fines, but losing control.”

What comes next

The lawsuit now heads to circuit court, where a judge will decide whether to order repairs or appoint a receiver to take over management.

Advocates say the case could set a precedent for how Milwaukee and other cities handle large-scale landlord neglect.

“This isn’t just about one landlord,” Shields said. “It’s about changing the system.”

‘This isn’t just about one landlord’: Tenants United pushes to improve housing conditions in Milwaukee is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday signed legislation that would give raises for the first time in a decade to permanently and totally disabled people receiving worker’s compensation.

The bill, which includes other changes to the worker’s comp system, was passed by the Assembly (97-0 vote) in January and by the Senate (32-1) in February. Both chambers are majority Republican.

The bill would help people like 65-year-old Bob Hurley, who suffered a back injury in 1982, at age 22. While helping build a car wash, he fell 15 feet from a forklift and “landed flat on my back in a concrete pit.”

Through four surgeries, Hurley continued working for 17 years before being declared PTD. 

Hurley, now living in Minnesota, said he receives $2,900 in monthly worker’s comp benefits. He said his only other income is $2,600 monthly in Social Security benefits. Without cost-of-living adjustments in his PTD payments, “it gets harder and harder every year,” he said.

Wisconsin Watch reported in September that more than 300 permanently and totally disabled recipients haven’t received a raise in their worker’s comp benefits since 2016.

The bill would also make these changes for PTD recipients:

• Make an estimated 210 more PTD recipients eligible for raises. Currently, only PTD recipients injured before Jan. 1, 2003, are eligible for raises. The bill would change that date to Jan. 1, 2020.

• Raise the maximum weekly benefit for PTD recipients by 57%, from $669 to $1,051.

• Give PTD recipients annual raises, with the amounts set shortly before taking effect. The raise amounts would vary based on when the recipients were injured and their earnings at the time. 

One example, provided by the state Department of Workforce Development: A PTD recipient injured in 1985 and receiving $535 a week would get a 57% increase to $840. The increase would amount to nearly $16,000 per year.

Big raise on its way for permanently and totally disabled workers as Tony Evers signs worker’s comp bill is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.