Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

Less than 24 hours after a recording became public of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos blaming a coronavirus outbreak in Racine County on “immigrant culture,” critics have responded with calls for the GOP leader to resign or apologize. On the recording of a phone call last month with Governor Tony Evers, Vos blamed high numbers of COVID-19 cases in Racine on immigrants, which are predominately Latino. “I know the reason, at least in my region,” Vos said in the recording, “it’s because of a large immigrant population where, you know, it’s just a difference in culture where people are living...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is allowing circuit courts to resume jury trials and in-person hearings as long as they create plans to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Some courts are beginning to hold proceedings while most will likely take time to get up and running. The Supreme Court suspended most in-person hearings in March and jury trials were not to be held until after May 22. On May 29, the state’s high court said circuit courts could resume proceedings if they submitted plans for the chief judge’s approval that include requirements for face coverings of everyone present, as...

While statewide social distancing restrictions are no longer in place after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the Evers administration’s “Safer at Home” order last week, public health officials are urging people to act individually to help keep the new coronavirus at bay. They are reminding people to continue washing their hands and to stay at least 6 feet away from others. And there is also a push for people to cover their face in public places like buses and stores. But there have been mixed messages on whether to wear a mask. Initially, people were told not to...

A new state grant program for minority-owned businesses will give a boost to Wisconsin’s small companies affected by COVID-19 closures. The Ethnic Minority Emergency Grant program will give applicants $2,000 grants out of a total fund of $2 million. It’s available to what the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) is calling “micro-businesses,” which are those with five full-time employees or fewer. “Ethnic minority micro-businesses were some of those that were falling through the cracks” of other state and federal relief efforts,” said Maysee Herr, director of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. Herr spoke on a call Monday with...

As the pandemic moves from public health crisis to partisan flashpoint, the debate over the coronavirus response in the United States is becoming increasingly nasty and, in some cases, violent. It is not just the clusters of gun-toting protesters at state capitols. In sporadic incidents across the country, disputes over emergency measures have turned into shootings, fistfights and beatings. Stories abound of intimidation over masking. And armed right-wing groups have threatened contact tracers and people who they say “snitch” on neighbors and businesses violating health orders. Researchers who study the links between polarization and violence stress that these incidents...