Pope Francis: The First Latin American pontiff who ministered with a humble style dies at 88
Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died on April 21. He was 88. Bells tolled in church towers...
Frustration with AI failure loops pushes Milwaukee professionals to build damage control protocols
The rapid adoption of large language models like GPT has brought unprecedented capabilities to users seeking everything from editorial writing assistance to image generation. But alongside this convenience has come a persistent pattern of system unreliability,...
Oklahoma City bombing survivors worry that after 30 years Americans still have not learned the lesson
Thirty years after a truck bomb detonated outside a federal building in America’s heartland, killing 168 people in the deadliest homegrown attack on U.S. soil, deep scars remain. From a mother who lost her firstborn baby, a son who never got to know his father,...
Loss of legitimacy: When a U.S. president nullifies the constitutional law that gives him presidential power
This AI-generated image is a photorealistic editorial illustration and not an actual photograph. It was created to support a journalistic commentary as a political cartoon. The office of the presidency is not a birthright. It is not a crown. It is not held by force,...
Why the unchecked power and tactics of ICE under Trump have earned comparisons to secret police
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not a secret police force, not yet. But recent actions taken by ICE under Donald Trump’s regime raise urgent and unavoidable parallels. In just the span of two weeks, ICE unlawfully deported a Maryland father with...
“Bridge of Spies” showed a nation ruled by law while Abrego Garcia’s case reveals a nation ruled by Trump
“You’re Agent Hoffman, of German extraction? My name is Donovan, Irish, both sides, mother and father. I’m Irish. You’re German. But what makes us both Americans? Just one thing. One. One. One. The rulebook. We call it the Constitution, and we...
Weaponizing identity: Trump’s undocumented registry requirement parallels Nazi-era laws against Jews
A new federal requirement, implemented on April 11 under Donald Trump’s second term, mandates that all undocumented immigrants living in the United States must register with the federal government or face penalties including fines, detention, and deportation. While...
Lego model of Milwaukee’s Pabst Mansion unveiled to connect younger audiences with historic landmark
A white-brick Lego replica of Milwaukee’s historic Pabst Mansion was unveiled on April 10 as part of a new initiative to draw younger audiences to the 19th-century landmark and celebrate contemporary creativity alongside the mansion’s Gilded Age legacy. The...
Lost Cause myth: How modern whitewashing of Robert E. Lee influences racial politics in Milwaukee
Symbols of the mythic reverence for Robert E. Lee could easily be found in public spaces across the country until 2020, when the Black Lives Movement gained nationwide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with statues of marble and bronze, plaques provided a...
Tariffs made the Republican’s Great Depression worse while Trump’s high tariffs could trigger the next one
In the early days of the Great Depression, U.S. Representative Willis Hawley, a Republican from Oregon, and Utah Republican Senator Reed Smoot thought they had landed on a way to protect American farmers and manufacturers from foreign competition: tariffs. President...
Trump’s attack on the National Archives is designed to conceal his crimes from historical records
As Trump moves to eviscerate the federal government with astonishing speed, he has wreaked havoc on one agency long known for its nonpartisanship and revered for its mission: the National Archives and Records Administration. The independent agency and its trove of...
Attacks on the “Black Smithsonian” by Trump are seen as an effort to whitewash racism in U.S. history
President Donald Trump’s order accusing the Smithsonian Institution of not reflecting American history notes correctly that the country’s Founding Fathers declared that “all men are created equal.” But it does not mention that the founders...
