Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

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...

The line of motorcycles at the entrance to Harley-Davidson, Inc.’s 115th anniversary celebration at Milwaukee’s Veterans Park is at least a dozen deep. Riders of all ages grin and rev their engines at the sight of a radio microphone. A man with an impressive gray handlebar mustache flashes a grin and a blonde 20-something woman gives a thumbs up. The mood of the party is joyful. The riders have come from all over the world to celebrate a company that has given them what many say is more than a hobby — it’s a way of life. “The motorcycle,...