Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s outgoing Governor, signed a sweeping package of Republican-written legislation on December 14 that restricts early voting and weakens the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general, brushing aside complaints that he is enabling a brazen power grab and ignoring the will of voters. Walker signed the bills just 24 days before he leaves office during an event at a state office building in Green Bay. He was urged by Democrats and Republicans, including Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers and former Republican Governor Scott McCallum, to reject the legislation. Walker, who was defeated by Evers for a third term,...

Black Americans living in Milwaukee and Racine are making half of the median income of their white counterparts and are nearly 12 times more likely to be imprisoned than white residents. Based on those outcomes, Milwaukee and Racine have been ranked second and third, respectively, as the worst cities for black people to live in by 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware-based financial company. 24/7 Wall St. looked at eight measures to assess race-based gaps in socioeconomic outcomes in each of the country’s metropolitan areas. “Disparities in socioeconomic measures exist to some degree nationwide,” the report states. “However, in certain...

Democratic state lawmakers pushed back on November 9 against efforts from Republican leaders to limit the power of Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers before his inauguration. Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, of Juneau, said earlier in the week GOP leaders are considering changes to state laws in a lame duck session. Those proposals include bills that would limit Evers’ ability to appoint people to certain state boards or make changes to rules related to Wisconsin’s voter ID law. Democrats say that isn’t acceptable. Speaking to reporters in Madison, Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said it’s lawmakers job to work with...

Dane County Democrats turned out big to defeat Governor Scott Walker on November 6 while thousands of Waukesha County Republicans stayed home when Walker needed them the most. There are always different ways to slice and dice election results, but the margins in those two counties were major factors in keeping Walker from winning a third term and sending Democrat Tony Evers to the governor’s office. Dane County’s margin proved especially consequential in a statewide race that was decided by fewer than 31,000 votes, according to unofficial results. Evers defeated Walker by more than 150,000 votes there, which was...

Milwaukee County still has the highest poverty rate in Wisconsin, according to a new supplemental report following up on the 2016 Wisconsin Poverty Report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty. The poverty rate statewide currently sits at around 11 percent, but in Wisconsin’s most populous county, rates reach up toward 18 percent, the report states. “We’ve seen this for a long time,” said Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty. “There have been other areas during the Great Recession where poverty was almost as high, but Milwaukee is consistently long-term high poverty...

Almost 1,200 health, human services, and education providers from 17 states gathered in Milwaukee from September 26 to 28 for a conference hosted by SaintA to discuss the root causes of trauma and how to help the communities who have experienced or are experiencing such events. “The Healing Trauma, Healthy Communities Conference” continued the call to treat collective trauma as a public health issue. “(Trauma) has a role in how your mind and body develop and the type of stress that your body is under,” said Michelle Sieg, marketing and communications director at SaintA, a family-centered, foster care, education...