Author: Wisconsin Public Radio

Carthage College professor Kevin Crosby and his team of students in Kenosha are hoping the data they gather from sending an experiment into space will help them solve one of aerospace engineer’s greatest problems: how to measure fuel in zero gravity. A rocket launched Crosby’s scientific package in January. Three plastic tanks containing different amounts of water were outside of earth’s atmosphere for about four minutes. Space crafts have to tow extra fuel, and that can cost millions of dollars. “So there was this famous moment on the moon landing,” Crosby said of the July 1969 Apollo 11 moon...

Student groups at University of Wisconsin schools say legislation protecting free speech is not needed because a 2017 Board of Regents policy already does that. On August 13, Republican state lawmakers, including state Representatives Cody Horlacher, R-Mukwonago and Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester and state Senator Chis Kapenga, R-Delafield, began circulating a bill for co-sponsorship that directs the Board of Regents to implement disciplinary measures for students and staff that engage in disorderly or violent actions against a speaker on campus. “Campuses across the country have erupted in protest, including violent riots, as the growing debate...

Wisconsin lawmakers and activists clashed this week over potential changes to state gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings in Ohio and Texas last weekend. The killings have spurred renewed conversation about the role of state regulations in curbing gun violence, with state Democrats largely pushing for new restrictions while Republicans argue state laws are sufficient. The conversation happened as the state marked the seventh anniversary of a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek that killed six people. Governor Tony Evers on August 5 called for lawmakers to take up new restrictions, including universal...

Governor Tony Evers predicted that Foxconn will continue to fall short of hiring goals at its Mount Pleasant manufacturing facility. In an interview that aired July 9 with CNBC, Evers said his administration now has clarity on the project. Foxconn will likely hire 1,500 people next year. That was compared to 1,800 under the plan the company laid out, which would eventually hire up to 13,000 workers in the state, Evers said. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Gov. Tony Evers said Foxconn is expected to begin production at its new factory next year with fewer workers than initially...

Republican state lawmakers are proposing a resolution that would limit the veto powers of Wisconsin governors less than a week after Democratic Governor Tony Evers issued 68 partial vetoes of the state budget. The proposal, sponsored by Senator David Craig, R-Big Bend, and Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, R-New Berlin, would bar the governor from making any vetoes that increase state spending. Evers used his veto pen to increase K-12 education spending in the budget by about $65 million. The governor’s spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, dismissed the proposal as the action of “sore losers” who “want to change the rules every time...

The City of Milwaukee announced on June 26 that its streetcar, The Hop, will remain free for riders through 2020. Ridership fees were expected to go into effect after November 2019, but David Windsor, a project engineer with the city of Milwaukee, said charging people will likely result in a 20 to 40 percent decline in ridership. Windsor cited Kansas City, Missouri, which found its streetcar was more successful when ridership remained free of charge. The $124 million Milwaukee streetcar began its operations in November. Ridership for The Hop exceeded expectations in November and December at about 76,000 each...