News

Milwaukee veterans inspired by visit to Hero Street as a national model of Latino military remembrance

A group of Latino veterans and community leaders from Milwaukee made a solemn and inspirational visit on June 28 to “Hero Street, U.S.A.” in Silvis, Illinois, a one-and-a-half block neighborhood known for the many Hispanic residents who served in the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War.

Public Health: Abortions have increased in the U.S. as desperate women turn to pills and travel

Abortion is slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states, the legal and political fights over its future are not done yet. It is now been two and a...

Maternal Mortality: Review committees are quietly fighting to save mothers amid political turmoil

Efforts to reduce the nation’s persistently high maternal mortality rates involve state panels of experts that investigate and learn from each mother’s death. The panels, called maternal...

How neurons power new biocomputing platforms built from living tissue as AI devours global resources

A new generation of computing technology is emerging. Not from factories or cleanrooms, but from biological laboratories where human neurons are grown, trained, and wired into living machines. These...

U.N.’s crucial humanitarian aid programs face a clouded future as the world body turns 80

At a refugee camp in northern Kenya, Aujene Cimanimpaye waits as a hot lunch of lentils and sorghum is ladled out for her and her nine children, all born while she has received United Nations...

Remembering the legacy of Summerfield United Methodist Church as a sanctuary of conscience

For more than 170 years, the congregation of Summerfield United Methodist Church served as a moral anchor on Milwaukee’s east side. Founded in 1852 by abolitionists, it was sustained through eras of...

Milwaukee hosts U.S. premiere of film documenting Russia’s brutal war on education in occupied Ukraine

The North American premiere of “War on Education,” the acclaimed documentary about Ukraine by filmmaker Stefano Di Pietro, arrived in Milwaukee on June 1 with a message of urgency and a...

Waiting for Peace: South Korea marks 75 years since North Korea began a war that has never ended

When the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, it was understood to be the first major armed conflict of the Cold War era. Seventy-five years later, the armistice that halted the fighting still defines...

Trump abandons promise to avoid war by inserting U.S. into Netanyahu’s undeclared war with Iran

Donald Trump expressed certainty that his big gamble to directly assist the Israelis delivered a knockout blow to Iran’s nuclear program, even as many supporters and detractors alike were...

Trump outsmarted by Netanyahu over Iran as U.S. stumbles closer to another Middle East war

Donald Trump’s calls for Iran to surrender “unconditionally” have drawn sharp warnings from Tehran and stirred growing fears of deeper U.S. military involvement, as Israeli warplanes continue to...

A guide to understanding what Juneteenth is and how to celebrate the 160-year-old national holiday

It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed, after the Civil War’s end and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation...

Wisconsin dairy farmer files lawsuit claiming Trump is failing to stop discrimination against White farmers

A Wisconsin dairy farmer alleged in a federal lawsuit filed on June 16 that the Trump administration is illegally denying financial assistance to White farmers by continuing programs that favor...

Lessons from Madison: How developers can reclaim urban space from traffic by reducing reliance on cars

Aug 21, 2023

By Chris McCahill, Managing Director, State Smart Transportation Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison The U.S. has a car-centric culture that is inseparable from the way its communities are built. One striking example is the presence of parking lots and...

Politics and profits: Why progressives embrace Disney in the battle with DeSantis over LGBTQ+ rights

Aug 20, 2023

By Steven Gerencser, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University The battle between The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over LGBTQ rights and whether those rights should be acknowledged or taught in schools has spurred an unlikely alliance...

Reagan’s Federalism: How the “rights of states” was confirmed by Georgia’s indictment of Trump

Aug 19, 2023

By Stefanie Lindquist, Foundation Professor of Law and Political Science, Arizona State University For the past 50 years, Republican policymakers and judges have sought to bolster federalism in the United States. Since Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address in 1981,...

Fani Willis: How the most sprawling criminal case was built against Donald Trump in Georgia

Aug 18, 2023

Long before the FBI began investigating Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents or Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to probe the former president, Fani Willis was at work. Just one month after Trump’s infamous January...

Fani Willis: Why the Black female prosecutor faces an unequal burden of both racist and sexist attacks

Aug 18, 2023

By Bev-Freda Jackson, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of Public Affairs On the day he was indicted on financial fraud charges in a New York City courtroom, former U.S. President Donald Trump launched an attack against Fulton County District...

The 4th indictment: Key takeaways of maybe the biggest criminal case against Donald Trump

Aug 17, 2023

The fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet. The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled on August 14 opens up fresh legal ground and exposes more than a dozen of Trump’s allies to new jeopardy. But it also raises familiar legal...

Local Investment: President Joe Biden visits Milwaukee to highlight the success of his economic policies

Aug 16, 2023

President Joe Biden traveled to Wisconsin on August 15 to highlight his economic policies in a state critical to his reelection fortunes, just a week before Republicans descend on Milwaukee for the party’s first presidential debate. His arrival in Milwaukee came...

Policy Violence: Civil Rights leaders decry DeSantis’ defense of whitewashed slavery curriculum

Aug 15, 2023

Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first actions as Florida’s governor. But four years later, as DeSantis eyes the presidency, their hope that the Republican would be an ally on...

War on Woke: DeSantis’ push to rewrite history echoes the ideology of authoritarian countries

Aug 15, 2023

By Rochelle Anne Davis, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Georgetown University; and Eileen Kane, Professor of History, Connecticut College A Florida law that took effect on July 1, 2023, restricts how educators in the state’s public colleges and universities can...

Why the national monument for Emmett Till finally cements his inclusion in the American story

Aug 14, 2023

When President Joe Biden signed a proclamation on July 25 establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, it marked the fulfillment of a promise Till’s relatives made after his death 68 years ago. The Black teenager from...

How the laws to protect Black voters from the Ku Klux Klan are being used hold Trump accountable

Aug 13, 2023

By Joseph Patrick Kelly, Professor of Literature and Director of Irish and Irish American Studies, College of Charleston In the indictment against former President Donald Trump and his role in the January 6 violent attack against the U.S. Capitol, special prosecutor...

Deadly Disaster: Maui residents had little warning before oncoming flames overtook their town

Aug 12, 2023

Maui residents who made desperate escapes from oncoming flames, some on foot, asked why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning system did not alert them as fires raced toward their homes. Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens were...