Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

$13M MPS project gets committee OK

Four north side schools, which could ultimately welcome more students if neighboring schools are shuttered, are on track to get $13 million worth of renovations by this fall, under a plan approved Feb. 10 by a Milwaukee School Board committee. The...

Officials share proposals to prevent food deserts

Recent grocery store closures have rocked the north side of Milwaukee, where growing food deserts – areas where quality food is difficult to find – have left entire neighborhoods without ready access to food. “When Pick ‘n Save closed on 35th Street,...

Two presidents with sliding poll numbers

A ht this point in his presidency four years ago, Democrat Joe Biden’s job rating was tumbling. He would never recover. Is Republican President Donald Trump headed down the same path? In the latest national poll by Marquette Law School, 42% of adults...

UW loses federal research funding

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has lost at least $27 million in federal research money since President Donald Trump upended the funding landscape in academia. It’s the first time the state flagship has put a price tag on its losses since the...

Hot times in winter

Each week in the winter, no matter the cold, Jennifer Bartolotta heads to McKinley Marina with a goal. “I’m gonna sweat out all the things that no longer serve me,” she said, watching the sun rise over Lake Michigan around 7 a.m. one early winter...

Burger King franchisee ordered to pay teens $237K

MADISON - The operator of more than 100 Burger King franchises in Wisconsin has been ordered by the Evers administration to pay more than $237,000 in unpaid wages to its teen employees after state officials found nearly 2,000 child labor law...

U.S.-Russia nuclear restriction expires

WASHINGTON – A 15-year-old treaty that restricted how many nuclear weapons the United States and Russia can maintain has come to an end, as experts warn that no new agreement could portend a new arms race not seen since the Cold War. The New START...

Procell shows redemption can’t promise forgiveness

In America, there’s no such thing as redemption if you are a minority. No matter how long ago your crime was or how earnestly you repay your debt to society, there will always be a cloud hanging over your head. Just ask Adam Procell, who was forced to...

Milwaukeeans mobilize as ICE operates in Minnesota

Following the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota, many Milwaukee residents have felt called to prepare their own communities for a potential increase in immigration enforcement, and to support those...

Lazar faces time crunch in Supreme Court race

Warning signs for conservatives have emerged quickly in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, with the liberal candidate raising 10 times more than her Republican-backed opponent. Campaign finance reports filed in mid-January showed Democraticbacked state...

Doctors who fled Ukraine trying to get careers back

Sasha Druzhyna knows transplants. As an anesthesiologist and perfusionist in Kyiv, Ukraine, Druzhyna used specialized equipment to keep patients’ all about blood pumping during heart transplants and keep donor organs alive until they reached their...

Connect wotm tme Journal Sentonel

By the time February rolls around, most everyone’s thoughts turn to spring. In the newsroom, we’re already looking toward summer – specifically, the arrival of our class of summer interns. We are reviewing applications, conducting interviews and...

High Life replacement plan draws questions

The possible replacement of downtown’s Miller High Life Theatre with a 650-room hotel tied to Baird Center is drawing questions from public officials who oversee the venues. That recommendation is within a new study commissioned by the Wisconsin...

Kewaunee nuclear plant plans to restart

The eNewspaper is an electronic copy of your print newspaper. Enjoy every page by going to jsonline.com/enewspaper or scan this code on your mobile device. You will also find late news and sports in the bonus sections. Check it out today! The company...

Trump, Noem slammed over Pretti gun comments

The fatal shooting of Green Bay native Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis has divided many along familiar faultlines, but it’s galvanized one group: gun owners. Those who own and carry firearms in Wisconsin and elsewhere have criticized...

Milwaukee saw fewest births on record in 2025

In step with global and national trends, Milwaukee logged its lowest number of births on record in 2025, with under 7,400 babies born in the city last year. As of Jan. 5, Milwaukee had recorded 7,343 births in 2025, though that number will likely be...

President ‘to look into’ reducing agents

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Jan. 26 said President Donald Trump agreed to consider reducing the number of immigration agents in Minnesota and will ensure state officials can independently investigate the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by...

Could Milwaukee be next ICE target?

The roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents roving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro are less than a day’s drive from Milwaukee. And when they surged into Chicago in the fall, they were even closer, a couple hours away. For U.S. Immigration and Customs...

AT WORK IN WAUPUN

Governor’s race has numerous ways it could make history

Every election makes history in its own way, and the 2026 midterms will be no different. This is a look at what stands out historically about Wisconsin’s biggest elections this year, and how they could break new ground. We’ll start with the November...

Marquette admission swag features a tasty twist

M h hilwaukee Pretzel Company workers twisted hundreds of dough logs into pretzels, baked them in the oven, then placed the trays in front of industrial-size cooling fans. By day’s end, each Bavarian soft pretzel was popped into a box, along with a...

Invasive mussels have now overtaken four Great Lakes

Last August, Lauren Isbell dove around Mott Island Dock at Isle Royale National Park, plucking invasive zebra mussels from the lakebed – sometimes with her fingers, other times with a credit-card sized piece of plastic attached to a lanyard on her...

Federal cuts stall professor’s epilepsy research on the verge of a breakthrough

Avtar Roopra was riding high about a year ago. The University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientist was on the verge of a big breakthrough in epilepsy treatment. His lab found a drug used to treat arthritis halts damaging seizures in mice with epilepsy...

‘They’ve worked so hard. They’re so close.’

The Milwaukee-area refugees passed their naturalization exams and were days away from swearing allegiance to the United States at an oath ceremony. It was the last step to becoming U.S. citizens. Then the news came: Their ceremonies were...

Woodland Pattern focuses on arts in Bay View area

A Milwaukee cultural center focused on poetry and other artistic expressions is moving from its longtime home to Bay View – expanding its mission while joining that neighborhood’s literary landscape. • Woodland Pattern has operated in the Riverwest...

Reducing the gap

At the age of 2, Jodel “JoJo” Allenwalton, a happy, exuberant and by all appearances very smart boy, loved books, could spell his name and had memorized the answers to his first lessons in basic addition. He would rattle off colors – purple, orange,...

‘I’d rather take him over the money’

When Myangel Thomas thinks of her father, Keishon Thomas, she looks to the sky or points to her heart. That’s where Myangel’s mother, who shares the same name, says her father is now. It’s been nearly four years since Keishon died while in Milwaukee...

Expats see capture of Maduro as necessary start to future

W h haukesha restaurant owner Francisco Mohamed remembers his native Venezuela before the economy collapsed, when foreigners visited the oil-rich country and life was easier. ● And, as inflation skyrocketed under the leadership of President Nicolás...

Some farmers worry that farm aid won’t be enough

MADISON – After a year of navigating tariff trade wars, farmers are banking on a promised $12 billion in aid from the Trump administration. The question for Wisconsin growers now: Will the money be enough to save operations facing steep payments on...

Maduro’s grip on power ends

Nicolas Maduro ruled Venezuela with a heavy hand for more than 12 years, presiding over deep economic and social crises and resisting pressure from domestic opponents and foreign governments for political change. His rule abruptly ended on Jan. 3,...

REIMAGINING LIFE WITH DEMENTIA

A hrow of footprints followed John and Terri Cooper, both 70, as they carefully navigated an icy road near Sheboygan. They stopped at a row of concrete slabs. “This is our house,” John said, waving at the first snow-covered block. ● “It’s pretty big,”...

On the horizon

One of Milwaukee’s biggest ongoing development stories of 2025 concerns a high-profile project that’s ground to halt – which ties directly to another big story. Meanwhile, two of the city’s bestknown sports venues, American Family Field and the...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026

There is no print edition of the paper today, but you can find today’s puzzles, comics, national news and sports here in the eNewspaper.

Ariens Nordic Center could forge Olympic biathletes

BRILLION – A company that makes snowblowers in the heartland of farm country might very well give us the next Wisconsin Olympic star – and spur on generations of growth for the sport of biathlon. • Ariens, the snowremoval equipment manufacturing...

Homicide victims’ families mourn at annual vigil

With days left before the end of the year, over 140 people have been murdered in Milwaukee this year, a rise from two years of declining homicides. The increase comes as violent crime and nonfatal shootings dropped significantly throughout the year....

Disabled crime victims fight to save a legal lifeline

For the past five years, Nick Battiola called his Disability Rights Wisconsin victim advocate, Pam Malin, any time he felt on the verge of a breakdown, whenever memories of the caregiver who became his abuser flashed through his mind. Malin always...

A donor, a surgeon and God

For 26 years, long before there was the blue medical tent, we had one man – towel over shoulder, medicine bag in hand – running onto the field. Whenever a Green Bay player went down with an injury – and all of Packer Nation held its collective breath –...

STRANDED AND ON THE HOOK

Wisconsin residential and business utility customers owe nearly $1 billion on “stranded assets” — power plants that have been or will soon be shut down. • That total will likely grow over the next five years with additional coal plants scheduled to...

Report flags China’s missile buildup

WASHINGTON – China is likely to have loaded more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles across its latest three silo fields and has no desire for arms control talks, according to a draft Pentagon report which highlighted Beijing’s growing...

Gesu Church completes $10 million renovation

Parishioners of the Church of the Gesu at Marquette University will be celebrating Christmas in a spruced-up worship space. Now comes the second half of the parish’s renewal: reaching out more to the neighborhood around Gesu, especially by serving...

The Rep is thriving. What’s its secret?

Milwaukee Repertory Theater could hardly have scripted a better conclusion to 2025. In October it unveiled the remodeled and upgraded Checota Powerhouse Theater, the centerpiece of an $80.1 million fundraising campaign so successful it funded several...

Free airplane hangar — with a catch — at Mitchell

Facebook Marketplace, the social media giant’s digital equivalent of a garage sale, has gained a reputation for the eclectic items people hawk on the platform – furniture, cars, clothes, even aircraft. But Waukesha resident Ryan Luetzow’s listing...

Judge Dugan found guilty in split verdict

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty of a felony count of obstructing federal agents seeking to make an immigration arrest outside her courtroom, a precedent-setting case that has been closely watched nationally and drawn passionate...

A rogue judge, or good public servant?

Hannah Dugan is a judge who took the law into her own hands or she was a hard-working public servant struggling to follow unclear guidance from the chief judge. Those sharply different views of Dugan emerged in closing arguments delivered Dec. 18 in...

Chief judge texted Dugan day of courtroom arrest

Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley testified that he texted Judge Hannah Dugan immediately after he learned a defendant in her courtroom had eluded federal agents. “My message was pretty short: Give me a call,” Ashley testified Dec. 17 in...

Dugan case could be most public of judge’s career

As Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan’s obstruction trial gets underway, attention from across the nation will turn to an ornate courtroom on the third floor of the federal courthouse downtown. But don’t expect the atmosphere in that courtroom to be...

One year after shooting, Madison is still recovering

Dr. Adam Brinkman heard only the echo of his footsteps as he made his way down the stairs from his clinic to the emergency room on the morning of Dec. 16, 2024. Each step advanced a surge of thoughts that boiled down to one: What am I going to do when...

HOUSING FOSTER HOPE

Aaron Whitlock grabbed a pair of fresh white Nikes to match the pink sweatshirt and acid-wash jeans laid out on his bed in his new apartment. Whitlock’s senior year at Washington High School was a month away, but that wouldn’t stop him from choosing...

‘Devastating’ fire totals Bass Bay Brewhouse

Initial assessments show Bass Bay Brewhouse, S79 W15851 Aud Mar Drive, is a total loss after a massive fire broke out on the property in the early morning hours of Friday, Dec. 12, the Muskego Police Department said in Facebook post. Muskego police...

‘I would describe this as a scar on the Driftless’

GENOA - Many people in Wisconsin’s Driftless region abide by a shared ethos: love for their small communities, respect for the land and a desire to live away from disruption. In their eyes, a high-voltage power line proposed to cut through the area...

Black, retro yellow plates unveiled

It was a long road to bring blackout license plates to Wisconsin. First, a constituent who saw the black-and-white design explode in popularity in Iowa alerted a lawmaker. Two years in a row, he introduced a bill and got public hearings, but momentum...

Wright home to undergo $800,000 restoration

Acentury-old Milwaukee home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright is undergoing an $800,000 restoration. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block Inc., a nonprofit that preserves the Wisconsin-born architect’s Milwaukee homes, is beginning work on...

Buffalo herd helps tribe to connect with history

Tribal leaders from across Turtle Island (North America) converged on the Menominee Reservation this fall to celebrate the return of buffalo to the tribe. • The Nov. 20 event drew chairpersons and council leaders from different tribal reservations,...

Rogue buoy

Rogue buoy gathers first data on winter ice, waves Winter is a quiet time for Great Lakes research, at least out on the water. Research vessels remain secured to their docks; most monitoring equipment is ashore. But last winter, a basketball-sized...

From El Salvador to Milwaukee and back. The story of an immigrant seeking safety

After 14 years in Wisconsin, the last four months of it in the public eye, Yessenia Ruano is back in her native El Salvador. She’s far from the young woman who escaped harassment from gangs. She has a husband and their twin daughters with her. She has...

Worth the wait

It’s been more than four years since Steve Tilton told city officials about plans to build a new lighthouse for one of Milwaukee’s most unusual homes. That work is now finally underway, and should be done by year’s end at the boat-shaped home, known...

A CELEBRATION OF MILWAUKEE

A big Hollywood movie premiere with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars made its way to Milwaukee’s east side Dec. 2. Hugh Jackman was at the Oriental Theatre, along with filmmaker Craig Brewer, for the Milwaukee premiere of their new movie “Song Sung...

South side residents urge railroad company to address illegal dumping

Rats, cockroaches and piles of trash are frequent sights for some neighbors living near Pulaski Park on South 15th Place on Milwaukee’s south side. The alley behind their homes and the train tracks beside the alley have become an illegal dumping...

MPS wraps lead-paint work at 100 schools

On the day before Thanksgiving at Milwaukee’s Congress School off the Lincoln Creek parkway on the city's west side, students were out for fall break but the school was abuzz. Workers in yellow wove painting carts around desks, applying final touches...

Crime victim assistance hurt by push against DEI

This fall, dozens of nonprofit leaders across Wisconsin gathered to write their federal grant applications with one major consideration in mind: mentioning any programs tailored for people of color or LGBTQ+ people could put a target on their...

DUGAN CASE SET FOR TRIAL

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan appeared in federal court on her obstruction charges on Nov. 26, as both sides argued details of jury selection, audio recordings that could be crucial, and who will take the stand at trial. It was the first time...

‘This is just so hurtful’

In its final year, St. Rita Catholic Church drew about 150 worshippers a week. But at its final Mass, it was full to the brim, about 1,400 people packed into pews and lining the walls. “This hasn’t happened in decades,” said Dave Grunwaldt, director...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

There is no print edition of the paper today, but you can find today’s puzzles, comics, national news and sports here in the eNewspaper.

Shopping

The holiday shopping season “came really fast” for Jazzmin Rogers and her family this year. Browsing the toy section at a Kohl’s store in Brookfield, Rogers was looking for a birthday gift for a young family member. “Stuff is really expensive now, so...

Big role in fire department for aging fleet’s mechanics

During a recent shift meeting at the Milwaukee Fire Department’s Fiebrantz Avenue repair garage, shop manager Aaron Nash rattles off the day’s tasks. One truck that went through August’s historic floods needs work. Another needs lighting replaced. And...

'WE WANT TO TELL YOU'

As Paul McCartney belted out “Carry That Weight” at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, I wrapped my arm around my son Aiden’s chest and felt his heart beating so fast, it seemed like it could burst. Aiden, 14, is obsessed with the Beatles. To know that...

Trial

“It reinforces a belief, maybe, that the system doesn’t work and doesn’t work for sexual violence, in particular,” he said. The judge’s decision caused months of fallout. The man who had pleaded guilty still has not been sentenced, as his attorneys...

Cuts to MCTS bus routes may create transit deserts

Nick Czaplewski relies on the bus every day. Czaplewski, 40, was legally classified as blind when he was a teenager after being diagnosed with a genetic eye disease. A blind spot in the center of his vision prevents him from driving, leaving him...

Student use of campus food pantries soars Even before benefits delay, visits outpacing past years

Milwaukee Area Technical College student Jordan Jones knows how to stretch — both on the basketball court and with his food assistance benefits. Jones, 20, said he gets about $300 in monthly benefits to feed him and his father. The assistance was...

THE LEGEND LIVES ON

A half century after the Great Lakes’ most famous shipwreck came to rest on the floor of Lake Superior, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s grip on the public imagination has waned little. • It sank on the second day of its final voyage of the season, in the...

County restores some services; transit cut questions remain Budget includes funds to mitigate route reduction

Milwaukee County’s Board of Supervisors adopted a $1.4 billion 2026 budget on Nov. 6, including amendments that sought to scale back some of the sizable cuts to transit and health and human services initially proposed. During a three-hour meeting, the...

OFFERING HOPE

Every evening for the past week, Cassandra Ortega has collected large Amazon boxes and grocery bags left on her porch by family, friends and community members. The boxes and bags are filled with items like canned soups and vegetables, packages of...