Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

A 173-year-old abortion ban in Wisconsin could go back into effect as early as this summer if a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court takes effect, but questions over the ban’s enforceability are already looming. The ban, approved by the state Legislature in 1849, makes providing an abortion a felony, with penalties of up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The statute has been unenforceable since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade. However, Politico reported that the nation’s highest court may be poised to...

Joel Brammeier likes to think of water infrastructure as the “circulatory system of a thriving community.” It is buried and unseen but so vital and interwoven to a functioning body. But there are consequences when that system reaches its limits. Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, is worried about how sewage systems can hold up with increasing levels of rain over time. Specifically, he mentioned the overflowing of older infrastructure that collects both wastewater and stormwater. In the short term, Brammeier said sewage overflowing into lakes or rivers means people can’t swim there or there might...

Buoyed by federal relief funding, Wisconsin’s arts and culture organizations are showing signs of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. The report, called State of the Arts, follows a 2020 Policy Forum report that called the pandemic an “existential threat” to arts organizations. In the latest update, researchers found employment in the arts sector recovered significantly in 2021, and is showing preliminary signs of further recovery in 2022. “It is a generally encouraging picture,” lead author Joe Peterangelo said. “There’s still some challenges that arts and culture in Wisconsin are...

Wisconsin, along with the rest of the world, will face economic repercussions from the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a quartet of current and former U.S. ambassadors who have ties to Wisconsin. During an online forum hosted by WisPolitics on April 20, the ambassadors say the conflict will realign global trade policies, which could also create opportunities for Wisconsin farmers. Those speaking at the event included Tom Barrett, the current U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg and former mayor of Milwaukee; Mark Green, the former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania who now leads the nonpartisan Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.;...

America’s growing Hispanic population could help decide races in key swing states such as Wisconsin. Republicans are looking to attract Latino voters with a new initiative in key swing states ahead of this November’s elections, including Wisconsin. Operación ¡Vamos! is a seven-figure investment by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “Republicans have made inroads with Hispanic Wisconsinites by connecting with them over the issues that matter — the economy, education, and safer communities,” said Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Paul Farrow in a statement. Geraldo Cadava is a professor of history and Latina and...

Postal workers in Wisconsin are optimistic that a new law overhauling the U.S. Postal Service and injecting more than $100 billion into the service will help put an end to years of instability in the service. A bipartisan bill to address the financially strapped service will save money by reducing USPS’s health care costs and eliminating a burdensome federal requirement that the service pre-fund retirees’ expenses. The bill also makes six-day delivery a matter of law, after some cost-cutting plans could have ended Saturday service, a plan that was announced and then rejected in 2013. “If this bill didn’t...