Author: Correspondent

Transit Progress: First battery charging station installed for Milwaukee County’s East-West BRT line

Progress continues on Milwaukee County’s innovative East-West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line with the installation of the first charging station at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. The planned 9-mile, regional, modern transit line operated by the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is scheduled to begin service in June 2023, connecting to major employment, education and recreation destinations through downtown Milwaukee, Milwaukee’s Near West Side, Marquette University, Wauwatosa, and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. The new BRT route will come with two battery-electric bus (BEB) charging stations – one at each end of the line. The first is...

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Governor Evers plans to invest millions to improve access to clean drinking water across the state

Governor Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), announced a new $10 million grant program on August 17 to support the replacement, reconstruction, treatment, or abandonment of contaminated private wells. The program, based on the state’s Well Compensation Grant Program, will expand eligibility beyond the current Well Compensation Program to support more private well owners and increase access to clean drinking water. With this $10 million investment and expanded eligibility criteria, it is estimated the program could help well owners address contamination in approximately 1,036 additional wells. “Whether it’s our kids in our schools, families...

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Expanded plan by Governor Evers aims to help working families with tax cuts offset by massive budget surplus

Governor Tony Evers announced a new plan on August 23 to provide support to working families and address rising costs due to national inflation. The governor’s announcement comes in anticipation of new revenue projections, set to be released by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR), which are expected to far exceed estimates from the beginning of the year. Wisconsin will end the fiscal year with more than $5 billion in state coffers, including having the highest-ever positive GAAP balance in state history of $1.2 billion for the 2021 fiscal year, and the state’s “rainy day” fund at the highest...

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Milwaukee’s City TV Channel now broadcasting programs with closed captioning in Spanish

Viewers of broadcast televised programming on the Milwaukee City Channel are now able to access bilingual closed captioning, according to City Clerk Jim Owczarski. As the City Channel is broadcast in English on CC1 (standard) and in Spanish on CC3 (secondary), viewers at home can switch to CC3 on their remote control to have Spanish captions, Owczarski said. The City Channel recently activated automated closed-captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. The system also performs translation into Spanish at no additional cost. Owczarski noted, however, that automated translation was still in its infancy. “Our staff was able to...

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Mental Health Complex to permanently close as County fully transitions to community-based care

The Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Behavioral Health Services (BHS) announced on August 15 that the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex and Psychiatric Crisis Services (PCS), located for more than 40 years at 9455 W. Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa, would permanently close its doors September 9. Services would be transitioned to the new Mental Health Emergency Center, Granite Hills Hospital, and other community-based services. The highly anticipated transition to the state-of-the-art Mental Health Emergency Center marks the next phase in the redesign of Milwaukee County’s behavioral health system, which began more than a...

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Governor Evers slams latest delay by Republicans over releasing funds to treat opioid abuse in Wisconsin

Governor Tony Evers and Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Josh Kaul slammed Republicans on August 17 after the Wisconsin State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) delayed a plan to use the first tranche of Wisconsin’s $31 million in National Prescription Opiate Litigation (NPOL) settlement funds to combat the state’s opioid epidemic. The funds were awarded as part of agreements that Attorney General Kaul entered into with pharmaceutical companies, settling the state’s legal claims. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) received its first $6 million payment on July 29 to begin using immediately, while the remaining...

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