Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot seven times in the back last summer by a Kenosha police officer, has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the officer. Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced in January he wouldn’t charge any of the officers involved in the August 2020 shooting of Blake. The shooting sparked days of protests and destruction in Kenosha. Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, who is white, shot Blake while two other officers were trying to arrest him for an outstanding sexual assault warrant. Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. In November, state...

In late February, Foxconn executives announced plans to begin manufacturing electric vehicles for California-based start-up Fisker Inc. Both companies said the collaboration will “revolutionize the automotive industry.” They compared their work to the scientific discoveries of Isaac Newton. And hinted they could even manufacture the cars here in Wisconsin. The partnership announcement is the latest for the Taiwanese mega-manufacturer. It follows a string of high-profile announcements that have been abandoned by Foxconn or that have severely underperformed the company’s promises. There were the coffee kiosks, which promised “a cutting-edge, cloud-based, robotic retail platform” for caffeine sales. There were the...

Major gaps in broadband access plague rural areas of Wisconsin where hundreds of thousands of people are going without high-speed internet. Yet, local governments might play a unique role in identifying underserved areas and connecting internet providers to programs that can help pay for broadband infrastructure. The findings are part of a report from research firm Forward Analytics that examined data on broadband deployment from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for 2019, the most recent data available. The report found more than 430,000 people, who make up 25 percent of the state’s rural population, lack access to high-speed internet....

Governor Tony Evers will include a proposal in the next two-year budget to legalize recreational marijuana, as part of plan to generate more than $165 million each year for rural schools and underserved communities. The proposal to tax and regulate marijuana similar to alcohol sales is likely to be shot down by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has opposed efforts to legalize marijuana in the past. Thirty-six states have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana and 15 states are regulating recreational use of marijuana, including neighboring states Michigan and Illinois. Governor Evers said in a statement that the proposal would provide...

The city of Waukesha’s $286 million plan to pipe in water from Lake Michigan has hit another snag in its decades-long effort to provide residents with safe drinking water. The Village of Waukesha has filed a lawsuit against the city that aims to shut down construction of the water diversion project within its village limits. The hearing will take place on February 11 in Waukesha County Circuit Court. Great Lakes governors approved the city of Waukesha’s controversial request to divert 8.2 million gallons of water from Lake Michigan per day as its drinking water source in 2016 after years...