Wild rice, or manoomin in the Ojibwe language, is culturally significant to northern Wisconsin tribes, and Wisconsin regulators are anticipating an increased wild rice harvest this year.

The post Wisconsin’s wild rice harvest is expected to be up this year appeared first on WPR.

Storms and heavy rainfall have caused power outages in some parts of the state Thursday morning.

The post Storms cause power outages across southeast Wisconsin  appeared first on WPR.

We examine the potential fallout from proposed changes to the Head Start program, increased danger as students return to school, a tornado that devastated a Wisconsin bus contractor, and updates from NAPT and TSD Conference.

Parker Muirbrook, strategic sales director at EverDriven, discusses new research and real-world examples that show how alternative transportation assists both district financials and student needs by providing safe and consistent school transportation.

Read more about special needs.

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Conversation with EverDriven. 

 

 

Stream, subscribe and download the School Transportation Nation podcast on Apple Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Spotify and YouTube.

The post (STN Podcast E322) Building Trust: Alternative Transportation Supports Consistent Education Access appeared first on School Transportation News.

Scientists say the strengthening El Niño is likely to be the largest ever recorded, increasing the chances of a warmer fall and winter in Wisconsin.

The post Strong El Niño may bring greater chances of warmer fall and winter in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.

A neighborhood that had been untouched that morning is now a sea of debris. The community is in the early stages of what could be a years-long recovery.

The post ‘Our whole neighborhood, it’s gone’: Fox Valley still picking up the pieces from tornado appeared first on WPR.

Last week, the drought monitor report issued severe drought conditions for parts of north central Wisconsin. And little rain is in the forecast, according to a Rhinelander based meteorologist.

The post Severe drought conditions expected to worsen in northern Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.

School bus rooftop snow and ice removal is about more than legal compliance, it’s about keeping students, drivers and the public safe while keeping transportation operations running on schedule.

Many school transportation departments recognize the benefits of automated rooftop snow removal. The challenge is justifying the investment.

Between labor costs, overtime, delayed routes, staffing shortages, employee safety and equipment utilization, the true cost of manual snow removal isn’t always easy to quantify.

In this webinar, Scraper Systems by Rite-Hite experts and a transportation customer break down the operational and financial costs of manual rooftop snow and ice removal and show you how to evaluate the return on investment of automation.

You’ll leave with practical ROI tools, real-world insights and the data you need to build a stronger business case for automated rooftop snow removal within your organization.

Brought to you by Scraper Systems by Rite-Hite

 

REGISTER BELOW:

 

Featured Transportation Director:

Daniel Boyea
Assistant Director of Transportation
Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk (RCS) Central School District, New York

A 25-year industry veteran, Daniel oversees operation and maintenance of a 53-bus fleet with a dedicated team of 60 transportation professionals. In previous roles, he maintained a fleet of 217 school buses and managed a team of 13 mechanics. Daniel has served as President of the Capital Chapter of the New York Head Mechanics Association for the past six years, training mechanics across the region. He’s a certified School Bus Driver Instructor and a 19-A Certified Examiner. Daniel has been featured twice in School Transportation News magazine, including as their Garage Star in August 2021.

More Speakers:

Fin Livingston
Director of Product Management for Exterior Solutions
Scraper Systems by Rite-Hite

Fin’s deep expertise in rooftop snow removal automation, fleet safety and operational productivity has helped customers for more than 30 years. He leads Rite-Hite’s development of solutions designed to improve safety and performance in transportation, logistics, and fleet and school bus operations. Fin entrusted his four children to school bus operators for the entirety of their education, giving him a profound personal appreciation for safe, reliable student transportation.

 

Mike Shelton
Business Development Manager for Exterior Solutions
Scraper Systems by Rite-Hite

Mike helps transportation and fleet operators get the most out of their equipment. With his passion for customer success and automated solutions, he collaborates with industry experts to take your snow removal capabilities further. Mike’s experience in industrial safety gives him opportunities to partner with customers to identify equipment, technology and data solutions to improve safety, productivity and operational efficiency.

 

Jackie Germer
Inside Sales Representative
Scraper Systems by Rite-Hite

Jackie helps school bus and truck fleet operators across North America improve winter safety, productivity and operational efficiency. For the past decade, she’s been a driving force in fostering the Scraper Systems customer network, working directly with transportation directors, fleet managers, contractors and operators to get their insights and advocate for solutions to their challenges. Jackie’s passion is born of the practical, on-the-ground considerations of Scraper Systems customers to improve safety, reduce labor demands and maintain winter readiness.

The post (Free Webinar) School Bus Rooftop Snow Removal: ROI Tools to Help Decide Which Method is Right for You appeared first on School Transportation News.

A relief drive in Milwaukee County is just one way Wisconsinities are lending a helping hand to those impacted by the EF-3 tornado, which caused widespread damage.

The post Here is how people are helping those impacted by tornado that ripped through Menasha area appeared first on WPR.

Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency Tuesday after a tornado and storm ripped through homes and businesses in the Menasha area. A resident and business owner share their stories of damage.

The post Menasha residents face rebuilding homes, businesses lost in minutes appeared first on WPR.

Local leaders are still trying to determine the full scale of destruction that a tornado left in its wake when it hit the Fox Valley area Monday.

The post Fox Valley leaders still determining scale of tornado destruction appeared first on WPR.

National Weather Service says the tornado travelled 12 miles across communities with wind speeds of up to 140 mph.

The post Cleanup underway in Menasha after tornado hits Appleton area  appeared first on WPR.

Staff with the National Weather Service assessed the damage on Monday afternoon.

The post Widespread damage in Menasha and Appleton area after tornado appeared first on WPR.

Communities that ask for federal assistance when climate disasters hit can’t count on that help to arrive. That increasingly common reality was reviewed in a recent report by Wisconsin Policy Forum, which focused on the historic floods in the state last August, finding that federal aid to help rebuild public infrastructure damaged by the record-breaking storms fell short of what was needed. 

The report took a close look at the Milwaukee area, where 14.6 inches of rain set Wisconsin’s all-time record for the largest rainfall in a 24-hour period. “As a result, the Menomonee, Milwaukee, and Kinnickinnic rivers all overflowed, and rainwater flooded homes, streets, businesses, and schools in low-lying areas. Recovery efforts continue today and have been expanded to address the impacts of another massive storm that hit the area in April 2026.”  Those storms earlier this year also dropped record-breaking amounts of rain in Green Bay and Wausau, and caused historic flooding along the Wolf River basin in Shiocton, New London, and Porterfield. Researchers have long warned that increased risks of flooding and more severe storms would increase in Wisconsin due to climate change, which the administration of President Donald Trump has downplayed and dismissed as a hoax. 

Not only did the August storms fill up basements and damage homes, but there was also extensive damage to roads, parks, bridges and other public infrastructure. In and around Milwaukee, damage to public property owned by the county property, public schools, the city of Milwaukee and 18 other localities came to at least $34.7 million. That included $10 million each for Milwaukee’s public school and sewage district, as well as $1.4 million in damage calculated by county officials, half of which was road-related damage. City officials estimated $1.7 million in damage, plus $5 million in additional costs related to cleaning up debris. Wauwatosa, one of Milwaukee County’s surrounding suburban communities, estimated $6.8 million in damage to city parks, roads and buildings. 

All in all, about $240 million in damage to private and public property was left behind by the August storms in the Milwaukee-area. After deploying the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Trump administration approved $210 million in aid to help individuals rebuild, but would not provide funding to support local governments, despite multiple requests from state and local leaders. 

Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers immediately declared a state of emergency after the August storms, requesting a federal major disaster declaration for Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Door, Grant, and Ozaukee counties. Evers made the request both for individual and public assistance, the Wisconsin Policy Forum report notes. Over 26,000 individual damage reports were received throughout the state as the damage was being assessed. FEMA concluded that the 2025 flooding was “sufficient in severity to warrant a disaster declaration in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Ozaukee counties but only authorized assistance to individuals and said that aid to public entities was not warranted based on the severity of the disaster,” the report states. “This meant that only individuals in these counties would be eligible for assistance and that governments have not received aid.”

It is rare for the federal government to approve one form of disaster aid while denying another, according to the report, with only 2.7% of named disasters since the year 2000 resulting in individual assistance being approved but public assistance being denied. In 2008, when severe storms and flooding hit the Milwaukee area, the federal government approved $4.5 million in assistance to local governments, as well as another $10.3 million when severe storms hit in 2010. “Milwaukee County has also received $6.1 million to help with costs associated with snowstorm cleanup since 2000,” the Wisconsin Policy Forum noted.

Earlier this month, $22.6 million in assistance was provided to several counties. President Trump used the allocation to promote Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany as a candidate for governor of Wisconsin. 

Local governments have tried to pick up the slack, but at a high cost. Normally the state distributes $1 million to $3 million to local governments to cover disaster costs, but in 2025 the damage was so extensive that $16.9 million was needed to cover damage claims, the highest annual amount in records going back to the year 2000. “This was due both to the extent of the flooding in August 2025 and the denial of federal funding that potentially could have covered at least some of these costs,” the report states. Nearly 46,000 residents in Waukesha, Washington and Milwaukee counties applied for the individual assistance following the August storms, and as of June aid has been distributed to 36,800 of eligible applicants. 

Protecting against the effects of climate change 

Some local governments including  Milwaukee County have undertaken policies to help adapt to the effects of climate change. “The sewage district has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into flood control systems in the area, including concrete infrastructure like the Deep Tunnel system as well as green infrastructure efforts such as wetland preservation, the reduction of hard surfaces such as concrete that create runoff, and other methods to limit the speed and volume of flood waters,” the Wisconsin Policy Forum reports. Without those measures, the August floods could have been “much worse,” according to the Policy Forum. “However, it’s clear from the two storms in the last 10 months that there are still thousands of structures in the area that are vulnerable to flooding.”

Recovering from disasters causes hardship. And more frequent severe weather is likely to bring on more disasters, even as, the Policy Forum found, “the availability of federal disaster relief has become more difficult to predict.” When the federal government decides to reject local communities’ calls for help, “state residents have limited recourse beyond petitioning FEMA and Congress to provide assistance.”

The report recommends that state leaders authorize additional funding to pay for disaster relief using state tax revenue. Attempts to do this by Evers and other lawmakers have previously been  rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature. State and local leaders could also make investments in flood control and mitigation efforts and expand green infrastructure. Developing community-based insurance policies to address “these unpredictable and increasingly likely disasters” is another solution the Policy Forum suggests. 

“State and local leaders have limited control over when and where floods strike, but they can be prepared to respond when they occur,” the report concludes. “They can also reduce flood risk by investing in infrastructure that slows, stores, and redirects water.” Even these efforts may still be overwhelmed by the scale of disasters. And with the federal government demonstrating that, for whatever reason, aid isn’t guaranteed to come, Wisconsin may need to become “more self-sufficient” in responding to future disasters. 

As another heat dome settles across the state, raising temperatures in some places to the high 90s or even 100s, emergency planning groups like those in Madison are making sure that cooling centers are available for residents and that people know what to do to cool down.

The post Wisconsin communities face another round of extreme heat this week appeared first on WPR.

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The temperatures in Christina Joann Rainey’s home reached 82 degrees recently.  The single mother from rural Carroll County in West Tennessee has paid to repair the 16-year-old home air conditioning system in the house she inherited from her grandparents multiple times, but it’s now beyond saving. She can’t afford the estimated $7,500 price tag to replace it.

As the National Weather Service warned of extreme and major heat risk in Tennessee this month, Rainey began calling any agencies and organizations she could think of to seek help. But she said she struggled to find programs available in her area that she is eligible for, other than loan opportunities that she believes will be too financially burdensome in the long run.

Rainey and her 15-year-old daughter sought relief by sitting in the car or traveling to a nearby Dollar General to get lemonade and temporarily cool off. But Rainey said she worries about being away from home for too long because of her Australian shepherd and 13-year-old cat. Rainey has been trying to keep them cool with cooling pads.

“I’m scared that if I leave, they could have heat stroke,” she said.

As high temperatures and humidity spiked “feels like” temperatures to more than 110 degrees in some areas of Tennessee, the National Weather Service urged people to stay indoors, hydrate and use air conditioning as “fans may not be adequate.”

But for an estimated 49,722 Tennessee households, air conditioning is not an option. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in May estimated that about 2% of state households have no access to any kind of air conditioning. 

In other parts of the Mississippi River basin, the share is still higher. In Arkansas, almost 3% of homes lack AC. In Minnesota and Ohio, the estimate approaches 4%. And in Wisconsin, over 7% of households do not have air conditioning. 

A day after suffering through those extreme temperatures, a local air conditioning technician loaned Rainey a window unit, providing some relief. 

“I’m so thankful for that, because he didn’t have to do that, and that was free of charge,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

Resources and support programs vary at local level

Lack of air conditioning is a growing concern for health officials across the Mississippi River basin.

In the Milwaukee area, where about one in 10 homes lack air conditioning, heat indexes soared over 100 degrees during a recent hot spell. Health officials say many homes without AC are in places that have been identified as most vulnerable to hazards like heat, due to compounding factors such as poverty, lack of transportation and poor housing quality.

“Lack of air conditioning is not an isolated issue — it overlaps with so many other issues. Heat is a multiplier of existing vulnerabilities,” said Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County’s chief health policy adviser. “That’s the reason why individuals living in these communities feel heat so much differently.”

Christopher Uejio, a professor at Florida State University who did his own estimate last year of residential air conditioning in the U.S., said the census estimates may overestimate air conditioning prevalence in rural areas and underestimate it in cities, based on the data that was used. Still, he said, it’s important to have this kind of data available.

“When I lived in Wisconsin, we had one to two extreme heat events per summer. You could just open the windows, put up a box fan, and you’d be fine,” Uejio said. “As these heat events get longer and more protracted, more expensive adaptations have to be considered.”

Resources available to people without access to air conditioning vary at the local level.  As temperatures hovered in the 90s in Tennessee in early July, an online tracker published by the Tennessee Emergency Management Authority showed nine cooling centers open across the state.

Programs providing free fans, air conditioning window units or other weatherization assistance also vary. A summer cooling program in Nashville provides free fans or air conditioning units to eligible older county residents, families with children under age 6, and disabled residents with medical conditions affected by extreme heat from May 1 through Aug. 31. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Home Uplift program helps eligible households make their homes more energy efficient by sealing gaps, insulating ductwork and replacing aging air conditioners. Participants in the program must meet income qualifications, live in a single-family home that meets certain requirements and be a customer of a local power company that participates in the program. 

When Rainey checked her eligibility for the Home Uplift program, she received a message that TVA is not accepting applications in her area.

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Health recommended reaching out to county governments and local emergency management agencies for resources.

A deeper look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s experimental data

The U.S. Census Bureau released its experimental Local Air Conditioning Estimates dataset in response to requests for more detailed information on air conditioning access as an indicator of heat vulnerability, according to the bureau’s website.

The dataset includes information from American Housing Surveys from 2019 through 2023, along with data from the American Community Survey from the same period.

Air conditioning access is not directly measured in the American Community Survey. While the American Housing Survey does ask if a home has an air conditioning unit, this survey wasn’t designed to be used at a granular geographical level. The U.S. Census Bureau used a machine learning model and the American Housing Survey data to “determine if a household in the ACS potentially lacks an air conditioning unit,” according to the bureau’s methodology. 

The margin of error for Tennessee’s estimated 49,772 households without air conditioning is plus or minus 3,972 households.

This data may also fail to capture the circumstances of people like Rainey, who may have had working air conditioning at the time that data was collected, but no longer do. It also does not consider other factors that might limit access to air conditioning, like the cost burden of operating window air conditioning units.

Rainey said her mother is in a similar situation — her home air conditioning is no longer in working order and uses window units sparingly because of the electricity cost.

“Before it got this hot, she was trying to avoid (using) it because it gets so bad on electricity … but I think this last week or so, she’s had to use it because she didn’t have a choice. She was using fans and doing everything she could,” Rainey said.

Madeline Heim of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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

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

Census model estimates more than 800,000 Mississippi River basin households lack air conditioning 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.

The U.S. has had a busy tornado season so far, and the majority of the storms are blasting through the Midwest, east of what’s traditionally thought of as Tornado Alley.

The post Tornadoes are breaking records in Midwest states as Tornado Alley moves east appeared first on WPR.

The "super" El Niño the world is facing will mean a warmer winter in Wisconsin, but also potentially more pests, diseases and world-wide hunger.

The post How effects of a ‘super’ El Niño will feel in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.

Many people in southern Wisconsin are still without power three days after a serious and sudden storm resulted in extensive damage, downed power lines and the deaths of three children.

The post Children who died in Geneva Lake storm were 10, 7, 6 appeared first on WPR.

Three children died and seven other people are injured after a boat capsized Friday in rough weather on Geneva Lake, according to local and state authorities.

The post 3 children dead, other passengers rescued after boat capsizes in Geneva Lake appeared first on WPR.

Two members of the Wisconsin Heat Health Network joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to discuss how communities can respond to extreme heat events and how individuals can stay safe

The post Extreme heat is becoming more common. Here’s how experts say you should prepare appeared first on WPR.