Author: Correspondent

“Go back to your country,” was the last thing Deep Rai, an India-born U.S. citizen heard as he stood in the driveway of his suburban Seattle home before being shot in the arm by a white man. This is a common sentiment shouted by white men who have perpetrated hate crimes against U.S. citizens, white men who view citizens like Rai as impostors simply because of the color of their skin. As a child of Indian immigrant Sikhs, we have heard the same words shouted at our mothers and fathers who wears a turban and salwars. This type of...

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has been notifying riders that Route 57’s JobLines extension into Waukesha County will cease operations on August 24, 2019, due to the end of its temporary funding. While Route 57 will no longer make stops in Menomonee Falls or Germantown, it will continue to provide the same daily service within Milwaukee County, connecting northwest-side residents to the increasing number of jobs in and around the sports entertainment district, and the rest of Downtown. The revised routing runs between the Intermodal Station and the intersection of Lovers Lane Road and Silver Spring Drive, including...

Milwaukee County earned another feather for its cap: 15,000 acres of its parks system were recognized for their “immense” value to migratory birds and designated as the state’s 93rd “Important Bird Area” during a July 25 ceremony at Lake Park. Officials from the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative, a collaboration of more than 180 groups working to conserve native Wisconsin birds, presented the designation at a ceremony event, that included a live raptor show featuring Lindsay Obermeier, director of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center’s raptor program, and Nicco, a broad-winged hawk and Tskili – a great horned owl. The site...

USA Triathlon announced on July 22 that Milwaukee has been selected to host the 2020 and 2021 Toyota USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships with the 2020 event set for August 7 to 9. USA Triathlon, in partnership with Toyota and the City of Milwaukee, also announced that beginning in 2020, the Age Group Nationals sprint-distance race, which previously did not require qualification, will now be qualification-based. Special qualification opportunities for both the sprint- and Olympic-distance events are available for participants at the 2019 Toyota USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Cleveland. As USA Triathlon’s largest and longest-running...

In light of recent discoveries concerning the contamination of drinking water and groundwater across the state, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has initiated a new voluntary PFAS testing program. The DNR will ask 125 municipal wastewater treatment facilities to begin sampling and analyzing water flowing in and out of the facilities for PFAS compounds to gain a better understanding of how and where PFAS contaminants could be entering the air, land, and waters of the state before ultimately ending up in public and private drinking water. PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of human-made chemicals used for decades...

The University of Wisconsin System announced recently that it is assessing student behavioral health needs and existing services at its 13 universities with an eye toward recommending additional approaches early next year. Three System work groups led by six senior student affairs officers will make the recommendations. The UW System has already begun taking stock of services provided on campuses and collecting ideas for improvements. “With a wealth of expertise on campus, our institutions are already providing a range of behavioral health services to students,” said Andrew S. Petersen, Board of Regents President. “We want to replicate what works...