Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

Milwaukee city officials announced on Tuesday plans to build the largest solar energy system in the city’s history. The 8-acre project will be located close to General Mitchell International Airport, roughly 10 miles from downtown Milwaukee. “This project is a real win for Milwaukee, for the planet and for national security,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said during the announcement at the field’s future location. The city is partnering with We Energies for the solar project — most of the electricity used in the city comes from the electric services company based in Milwaukee. “We are honored to be a...

The number of motor vehicle crashes and deaths in Wisconsin have increased far greater for African Americans than white and Hispanic residents, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. From 2013 to 2018, the motor vehicle crash fatality rate for black Wisconsinites more than doubled, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013, 31 African Americans died from motor vehicle deaths. The worst year was in 2017, when 79 African Americans died, according to the CDC data used in the report. In 2018, the last year CDC data was available, 63...

People in Wisconsin are going to the library for different reasons, and libraries are serving them in different ways, thanks to the technological changes of the last two decades. A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum used data from the state Department of Public Instruction to find that overall, about the same number of people went to the library in 2018 as they did in 2000. But while visits in cities and towns dropped, visits in rural areas grew by 40 percent. Study author Ari Brown said libraries are an especially valuable resource in rural areas. “There are...

The number of people who were homeless on a single night last year declined in Wisconsin, while the nation saw an overall increase. According to a report released in mid-January, the findings came as state lawmakers remain at odds over funding to address homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found 567,715 people across the country were homeless on a single night in January in 2019, which increased 2.7 percent from 2018. In Wisconsin in 2019, an estimated 4,538 people were homeless — the vast majority of which reside in...

It is a recognition that advocates say is overdue, and a step toward full veteran status for about one thousand Wisconsinites. Hmong fighters in Laos partnered with U.S. forces beginning in the early 1960s and extending through the Vietnam War. They aided U.S. fighter pilots and served in CIA military strikes now known as the Secret War. After the war and because of their service, the U.S. accepted Hmong refugees. Nearly five decades later, they are owed greater recognitions for their service, said state Sen. Roger Roth. “All I know is that its time has come,” Roth said. The...