A hilarious and heartfelt crime comedy cross between a Telenovela and a Wes Anderson movie that takes a playful look at mother-daughter relationships.

Taj Pearsall (second from left) and Alderman Robert Bauman cut the ribbon at the grand opening for Buffalo Boss, 540 N. 27th St. Photo taken Sept. 28, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

Taj Pearsall was all smiles Thursday afternoon as he cut the ribbon for his new restaurant, Buffalo Boss. The chicken-focused eatery, located along busy 27th Street, is the second Milwaukee location for the chain, which also has operations in Brooklyn and Orlando.

The building, 540 N. 27th St., with its block-letter signage and gleaming windows, looked much different just one year ago. “This property has been vacant and blighted for probably the last 20 years,” said Alderman Robert Bauman at the grand opening ceremony.

He commended Pearsall for restoring the structure, which was boarded up for more than a decade.

“We wanted to put something here that’s going to be long-lasting, sustainable and that the community could be proud of,” Pearsall said in a previous statement. “It checks off all the boxes for us.”

The new restaurant, which has been serving a limited menu for the past several weeks, following its Sept. 11 soft opening, debuted its full slate of menu items on Sept. 28.

Offerings include gluten-free and non-GMO Buffalo-style chicken wings, plant-based wings, hand-breaded chicken tenders, shrimp, wraps, sandwiches and bowls, along with sides such as fries, cheese fries, sweet potato fries and yellow rice.

Wings, traditional or boneless, are marinated for 24 hours and flavored with a choice of dry rub or sauce. A dozen varieties range from mild to blazin’ BBQ, topping out at the hottest option — N-Sinerator.

Guests can further customize their order by mixing sauces and requesting an additional char on their wings; an extra two minutes for crispy or up to six minutes to “burn ’em.”

The restaurant also offers fountain drinks, desserts and housemade bleu cheese dressing — available for purchase by the two-ounce cup or 16-ounce jar.

The no-frills restaurant is designed with efficiency in mind. In place of face-to-face ordering, guests place their orders using kiosks, then pick up the food from a service window. A small dining room contains a handful of tables, with additional seating on the outdoor patio — at least until the temperature starts to drop.

Orders can also be placed online or by phone, at 414-779-2677. Delivery is available via third-party delivery services including Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash.

Buffalo Boss maintains a location at Sherman Phoenix Marketplace, 3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave., where it has operated for the past four years.

The Near West Side restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Photos

2021 Photos

Mayor Cavalier Johnson (right) and Police Chief Jeffrey Norman address the media in November 2022. File photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee Police Department finds itself the source of a multi-million-dollar mistake that, at the very least, would have allowed the city to consider adding dozens of police officers over the next four years.

An MPD administrative employee failed to submit a $15 million federal grant application in time. A “technical error” was encountered just hours before the deadline. The funding, part of the COPS grant program, would have paid for approximately 50 officers for three years, with the city required to fund the positions for a fourth year.

Officials in MPD and Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s administration have downplayed the error by noting that the city wasn’t guaranteed to receive the grant and that under Act 12, which enabled the forthcoming city sales tax, the city can’t count grant-funded positions towards its required minimum staffing levels and could have turned down the grant. But MPD sought the grant before Act 12 was negotiated and Johnson has, at several points in recent years, supported using COPS grants to hire officers.

Citing an ongoing personnel investigation into an unnamed administrative employee, MPD has declined to provide details on what exactly went wrong. “At the appropriate time, this information will be provided,” said Heather Hough, MPD chief of staff, to the Public Safety & Health Committee Thursday morning. She accepted responsibility for the issue, though she wasn’t the individual directly making the grant submission.

“I assure you that mechanisms have been put in place by the department to make sure this never happens again,” she told the committee. That includes moving the city’s internal deadline for any grant forward by five days.

But council members weren’t pleased that they didn’t learn about the May issue until radio host Mark Belling broke the news last week. The Mayor’s Office and Fire & Police Commission were previously informed of the issue.

“In this case, I did not communicate the incident to the council when it occurred. That was a judgment call I made,” said Hough. “This was not [Chief Jeffrey Norman]’s decision.”

The chief of staff, a former assistant city attorney, said the city thought the issue with its application “could be resolved” after the unspecified error was discovered that same day and was in contact with the U.S. Department of Justice. The city also relied on its federal congressional delegation to no avail.

The mayor and budget director Nik Kovac made no mention of the grant issue when briefing Urban Milwaukee on the budget last week. But they did discuss COPS grants.

“Act 12 does create a disincentive to apply for future COPS grants, which we are not doing in this year’s budget,” said Kovac, not mentioning that the city already had attempted to acquire a COPS grant for the budget.

“We applied for COPS grants in the past because, prior to Act 12 at least, it made sense for us to allow the federal government to cover the costs for three years or whatever it was, but now there is a disincentive to do that,” added Johnson. “I don’t want to leave money on the table at the federal government because of what’s happening with Act 12.”

Johnson said the city would be seeking changes to Act 12, including the grant-funding issue. But that issue at least appears less urgent now, given that the city didn’t even successfully apply for the grant. If the city had known the grant was a possibility it could have negotiated to make sure the state law supported it before it was passed.

Milwaukee last received a new COPS grant in 2022, which Johnson touted as a key to maintaining police staffing. In 2020, Johnson, then council president, negotiated alongside then-alderman Ashanti Hamilton to ensure the council accepted a COPS grant when the legislative body initially voted to reject it.

Council members’ responses to the news varied.

“This was eventually going to come out, so the idea that we would wait several months to alert the council just doesn’t make sense,” said committee chair Alderman Scott Spiker.

“I will own the decision-making I did for the department,” said Hough.

“This is incredibly refreshing that someone actually takes accountability, and I thank you Heather for that. You’re a real person and that’s great,” said Ald. Mark Borkowski.

“You’re a kind guy. You’ve never been that kind to me on the floor,” said Ald. Khalif Rainey to Borkowski.

Under Johnson’s proposed 2024 budget, the MPD sworn strength will increase by 15 members, from 1,630 to 1,645, as part of a plan to run three 65-member recruiting classes. The recruiting classes are, according to city officials, the largest the city could support.

The Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

County Executive David Crowley 2023 State of the County. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley‘s $1.3 billion 2024 recommended budget is loaded with firsts.

It’s the first budget since the passage of Wisconsin Act 12 and first since the authorization of an additional 0.4% sales tax; it’s the first budget since 1992 to lower property taxes for county residents; it’s also the first budget in more than a decade to make investments instead of cuts, and it does so without the help of federal stimulus funding.

“It’s a new day in Milwaukee County,” the county executive said during his annual budget address Thursday morning.

Fiscal Cliff Avoided

In years prior, the county’s annual structure was driving it toward budgetary disaster. By 2027, it was expected to leave the county without local funding for cherished public services like the parks and transit systems.

The looming, unprecedented budget deficit was often referred to as a “cliff” that the county would eventually go over. Following the passage of Act 12 and with new sales tax revenue and an additional $8.1 million million shared revenue in 2024, the county sees a $31 million budget surplus.

“The first surplus projected in the budget in over two decades,” Crowley said.

County budget officials estimate there will be another surplus in 2025 and the deficits will return in 2026, though they will pale in comparison to the deficits projected for the county without the assistance of the additional sales tax revenue.

Taxes

“I am proud to announce that the 2024 budget includes the largest property tax reduction in Milwaukee County history,” Crowley said.

The 2024 recommended budget decreases property taxes by $24 million, translating to an approximately $100 tax reduction for median-value home owners.

Crowley’s administration built the recommended budget with approximately $84 million in new sales tax revenue. The new stream of revenue is being applied to the county’s unfunded pension liability and to paying down pension obligation bonds. Previously, the county relied upon property tax revenue to make the payments.

Using sales tax revenue for the bonds allowed for property tax relief, and the remainder will free up an estimated $49 million in property tax revenue that is being driven into other areas of the budget.

Housing and Human Services

“We are utilizing this new fiscal flexibility to invest in key priorities that will advance the health, safety, and prosperity of Milwaukee residents,” Crowley said.

Once again, Crowley’s recommended budget includes funding for new housing initiatives, including $4 million for suburban affordable housing projects, $1.5 million for the county’s homeless outreach team and $200,000 for housing vouchers for county residents being released from the Community Reintegration Center (CRC), formerly known as the House of Correction.

“It is our job to ensure that people who into our facility leave in a better position from when they entered and helping people find stable housing ensures better outcomes and decreases recidivism rates,” Crowley said.

The budget also includes a major restructuring of the county’s Department of Child Support Services. Crowley is proposing to move the department under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Most of the department’s budget is funded by the state and federal government, so rather than a cost-saving measure, the move is intended to bolster the DHHS policy called “No Wrong Door,” which aims to facilitate access to the breadth of health and human services for residents no matter where they come in contact with the system.

Criminal Justice

Under the proposed budget, people incarcerated by the county at either the jail or the CRC would see their minutes of free calls to family and friends more than triple from 120 minutes a month to 390. The proposal relies on using surplus revenue to replace the commission the jail and CRC would otherwise receive from phone calls. The commission adds up to nearly $2 million annually.

“Research shows individuals who maintain regular communications with their loved ones have more positive outcomes occur upon their reentry back into society,” Crowley said.

The county would also invest $1.6 million in pre-trial mental health screenings. “We know that oftentimes, people are unable to access mental health services before a negative outcome occurs,” Crowley said. “This investment provides our criminal justice system with the tools to treat underlying mental health challenges instead of only utilizing incarceration as a solution.”

The Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO) would receive a $7.4 million budget increase under Crowley’s budget. The majority of the funding, approximately 70%, is an increase only on paper. Approximately $5.4 million for fleet, radio, laundry and information management services the department already uses is moving from a central county account and into the MCSO budget.

The MCSO would receive $1.3 million for contractual increases in deputy pay, $1.08 million for raises for corrections officers and public safety officers instituted in 2023 budget. There is also $674,000 allocated for additional corrections officer raises.

The county is understaffed for corrections officers in both the jail and the CRC. MCSO leadership has repeatedly insisted that staffing is the primary challenge facing the jail and contributing to the poor conditions there. There were two deaths within the jail so far in 2023 and two in 2022.

Transit

The Milwaukee County Transit System is facing a fiscal cliff of its own. A $20 to $25 million budget deficit was projected for 2025 when the system was to run out of federal stimulus funds released during the COVID-19 pandemic and would need to absorb a 2021 state funding cut fully.

“The Milwaukee County Transit System was one of the program areas most at risk before the actual funding solution,” Crowley said.

Crowley’s budget puts $16 million in property tax funding into the transit system budget in 2024 to support operations. This allows the system to conserve federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), pushing off the fiscal cliff by spreading the funding over three years and giving county officials time to work on a solution.

For transit security, the proposed budget follows the advice of MCTS and county transportation officials and adds $1.9 million to the county’s contract with private security provider Allied Universal Services. The funding would increase the number of security officers and hours worked.

But the board recently endorsed a recommendation to end the county’s contract with AUS and replace it with a new county-controlled and maintained security force called Transit Rangers.

Parks

Milwaukee County Parks sees a boost in Crowley’s proposed budget with both an increase in funding for parks staff and a near doubling of funding for major infrastructure projects.

The department has a fraction of the full-time staff it once had to maintain the system of more than 15,000 areas of parkland. It also has a massive backlog of infrastructure needs and maintenance that estimates put somewhere near half a billion.

The department would receive $3 million for 18 new full-time positions and $23 million in funding infrastructure and other major projects.

Pension and Pay

With the pension reforms authorized by the Milwaukee County Board in July, county employees will see their pension contribution rate go down and, coupled with a 2% raise, county employees are expected to see a take-home pay increase of nearly 5%.

“The success of Milwaukee County would not be possible without our dedicated employees,” Crowley said. “We can all agree that they are truly the lifeblood of the County and they are doing phenomenal work to execute our shared vision and helping to make Milwaukee County the healthiest in Wisconsin.”

Robbie Robertson. Photo by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com, (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Stories about unlikable celebrities keep the internet buzzing and give people a dubious sense of certainty about someone they’ve never met. In Robbie Robertson’s case, who passed away in August, this phenomenon has made it difficult to write about a guy who was an incredibly gifted artist. Can you talk about the artist and not consider the person? It’s not like stories about Robertson approached the tawdry levels of Jerry Lee Lewis or Michael Jackson, it’s been more of a whispering campaign about ethical tests some feel he didn’t pass.

Most of the stories about him were set in stone when his bandmate and hillbilly muse Levon Helm took him to task in his memoir, accusing him of stealing royalties and claiming the songs were written by everyone in that seminal band, The Band. Robertson had his say when he wrote his own memoir.

The royalty story goes back to a time when Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel offered their publishing rights to Robertson to fund expensive heroin habits. This would have deprived them of their writer’s share and while it may seem exploitive, they probably would have sold them to someone else anyway. As for authorship, as much as Roberstson benefited from the group’s unique sound, he was alone with his guitar when these songs were born. This is not to say he was a wonderful guy. All I know is his work represents a high water mark for Rock & Roll, a genre that has known its share of unlikable geniuses, including his one-time boss, Bob Dylan, and it should be considered on its own merits.

So Robertson was complicated, but what he did wasn’t. He dropped a large dollop of authenticity into a music culture at a time when it was veering towards silly. Just look at the clothes bands were wearing in 1968. The rest of the rock world was tie-dyed and bell-bottomed and flouncy was the rule of the day. Much of the music was dressed up in post-Sergeant Pepper psychedelia. The Band, on the other hand, seemed to have ordered their threads from an early 20th century Sears catalog, and it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine some of their songs being played back then. It may seem odd to accuse show biz of showing off, but The Band knew the difference between costumes and disguises. Their very existence called BS on a scene that was well supplied with it.

By the second album, The Band, an absolute milestone that’s easy to call the best of their careers, Robertson was dropping his characters all over the American landscape. The stories were period pieces, some set in something like the present day while others were timeless. Robertson reached all the way back to the Civil War, to tell the story of Virgil Caine in “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” (video link below) a crushingly sad picture of a divided America, as relevant today as it was 50 plus years ago. The record was packed with gems like the rollicking “Rag Mama Rag” and the wistful “Whispering Pines.” “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” is another gritty throwback, this time to what seems to be The Great Depression. The singer (Danko) is wondering what was so great about it — he’s lost his crops to drought, his barn to a fire and finally finds hope in the “Union.” Dark and spooky as its chorus (sung by Levon), it may be the best song on an album full of greatness.

There are plenty of hints to Robertson’s greatness. He was half Jewish and half Native American, but so were a lot of other folks. Raised mostly by his mother, he also had an uncle he visited in New York who, if he wasn’t a gangster, certainly ran with them. He left Toronto at the tender age of 16 when he was recruited by Ronnie Hawkins for his stinging and economical guitar work. Transported to Arkansas, he got a crash course in everything Greil Marcus called “Old Weird America.”

The genre now called Americana simply wouldn’t exist without The Band and Robertson’s songs. They laid the groundwork and reached a summit of artistry others can only aspire to. Given 50 years to do so, it’s high time for someone to join them up there — but don’t hold your breath.

Hearing is believing, and here are 10 songs that would make converts of just about anybody:

Strawberry Wine
Helm at his nasal-ly finest, co-written with Robbie.

Whispering Pines
More dream than song, Richard Manuel’s falsetto is a thing of beauty.

Rag Mama Rag
Just about the itchiest groove ever laid down — it’s just barely in control.

To Kingdom Come
The second song on their first album, but they already had me at Tears Of Rage.

Mystery Train
Did I mention Robertson was a vicious guitar player? The way he tears into this Junior Parker classic is just vicious and it also features a great double vocal from Levon and Paul Butterfield.

It Makes No Difference
Three things Robertson could do well, burn you with his guitar, lift you with a big chorus and turn a phrase: “And the dawn don’t rescue me no more…”

The Shape I’m In
Rick Danko at his best with snaky lead work from Robbie and funhouse organ from Garth.

Chest Fever
Strange, beautiful, rockin’ and, by the way — listen to 1999 by Prince and ask yourself if he might have heard this.

Somewhere Down The Crazy River
Robbie’s voice, rarely heard, is a smokey baritone narrating this noir-ish ballad, but he sings well on the chorus where he’s joined by Milwaukee’s own Sam Llanas.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Recently this one has been reconsidered and labeled unwoke by some. That’s just misguided and a little over-zealous. Listen and try not to be moved. There is no defense of racism or slavery to be found, just an admission there are humans suffering on both sides of any war. This song will outlast all of us.

Art, Life, Legacy exhibit at Milwaukee Art Museum. Photo taken Sept. 27, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

The Milwaukee Art Museum‘s newest featured exhibition includes themes of struggle, sacrifice, hunger and loss, but also of faith, family and generosity.

The collection, which highlights Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Baroque period, is as much a reflection of 17th-century Dutch society as it is of the lives of its collectors, Isabel and Alfred Bader.

Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader features 76 works assembled by the Baders, who, in life, were patrons and supporters of the museum.

“Dr. Alfred Bader’s extraordinary story and the principles by which he lived are intrinsically linked to the paintings that the Milwaukee Art Museum has the privilege of presenting in Art, Life, Legacy,” said Tanya Paul, exhibition curator and the inaugural Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art. “This exhibition reflects Isabel and Alfred’s legacies as dedicated connoisseurs, researchers and educators, and extends their profound impact on the museum and the Milwaukee community.

The exhibition will be on view in the museum’s Baker/Rowland Galleries from Sept. 29, 2023 through Jan. 28, 2024.

Paul began work on the exhibition in 2019, but said the project has been taking shape in her mind for much longer — since she began working with the museum more than a decade ago.

The curator had a personal relationship with the Baders, and made regular visits to their apartment, where the collection was previously displayed. “A lot of these paintings are like old friends to me,” she said.

During a Wednesday morning media tour of the exhibition, Paul highlighted a number of works, drawing parallels between the paintings’ themes and Albert Bader’s life; from tragedy — the early loss of his family and a year spent in a Canadian internment camp, to triumph — graduating from Harvard University, settling in Milwaukee and founding Aldrich Chemical Company. Throughout it all, he remained steadfast in his Jewish faith.

“A lot of these themes really tell the story of Alfred Bader’s life, as well as telling the story of the picture itself,” Paul said. “So it becomes like a portrait of the collector.”

The exhibition opens with a series of paintings depicting biblical scenes, mostly drawn from the Hebrew Bible. The collection also explores themes of family, journey and sacrifice, all of which were fundamental elements of Alfred Bader’s life, said Paul.

Gillis Neyts‘ “Landscape with Tobias and the Angel, with a View of Antwerp in the Background,” depicts an intimate religious scene amid the countryside around the city of Antwerp. The painting’s copper background lends a luminosity to the overall work, which was completed in the 1660s.

Another painting, “Profile Head of an Old Woman (‘Rembrandt’s Mother’),” portrays a highly-detailed character study of an old woman, with a particular focus on skin texture and fabric. The work was completed circa 1630 by Rembrandt contemporary Jan Lievens.

The exhibition also includes five works by or attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn, who is widely regarded as the greatest artist of The Dutch Golden Age.

“The thing that I like to warn people to do when they go through this exhibition, is to do what Alfred would have wanted people to do, which is to look closely, ask questions and — most importantly — enjoy. These pictures are beautiful, they are engaging, they are deep and varied and they tell a story,” Paul said.

Alfred Bader became a member of MAM in 1952, and is credited with shaping the museum’s European art program. In addition to donating works of art to the museum, he served as an advisor and made his curatorial debut with The Bible Through Dutch Eyes (1976).

Together with Isabel Bader, who was herself an educator and proponent of increased access to the arts, Alfred Bader co-curated The Detective’s Eye: Investigating the Old Masters (1989). The couple have two sons.

Alfred Bader passed away in 2018 at the age of 94 and Isabel Bader passed away in 2022 at the age of 95. In spring 2023, Bader Philanthropies and the Milwaukee Art Museum inaugurated the Isabel and Alfred Bader European Art Program Endowment Fund in their honor, at which time the position of Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art was also made permanent.

“Art deepens our understanding and connection to our shared humanity, a belief that led Isabel and Alfred Bader to be longstanding supporters of the Milwaukee Art Museum,” said Marcelle Polednik, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, in a statement. “This exhibition is an opportunity to celebrate the Baders’ incredible legacy and share their unrivaled ‘joy of collecting’ with our community.”

Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader will be accompanied by a 192-page scholarly catalog featuring 100 images and several essays to provide greater context for the exhibition.

For more information, visit the Milwaukee Art Museum website.

Photos

Looking east down E. Wisconsin Avenue from Jefferson St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee will play host to two walks during the annual Worldwide Photo Walk day on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Veteran photographer David Bernacchi will host a Downtown walk that starts at 9 a.m. at 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave. The walk will return to the market by noon. A second walk will take place on the East Side.

The free event was created in 2008 by Scott Kelby, a Florida-based professional photographer and Adobe Photoshop expert.

“The concept of a photo walk is simple. Photo walks are created by walk leaders in cities all over the world. Walkers meet up at a pre-designated location to spend a few hours socializing, capturing images, and sharing with like-minded people. At the end of the Photo Walk, most groups convene at local restaurants or taverns to share their images and experiences over food,” said Kelby in announcing the 2023 event.

The volunteer-led walks offer the opportunity for amateurs, enthusiasts and professionals alike to see Milwaukee from new angles and exchange strategies and techniques.

Urban Milwaukee will publish some of the best photos from the Downtown walk following the event.

The East Side walk, organized by Melynda Benjamin, will start at 10 a.m. at the parking lot at 1410 E. Belleview Pl. and end at noon in front of Crossroads Collective food hall, 2238 N. Farwell Ave. It will include a greater focus on nature, including a walk through the Rotary Arboretum, than the Downtown walk.

Registration is not required, but it is suggested to enable the organizers to plan the walks. The walks are free to attend, but Kelby is encouraging donations to The Springs of Hope Kenya ministry.

Additional information on the international event, including a map and history, is available on the Worldwide Photo Walk website.

Individuals can follow the event by searching for posts with the tag “#WWPW2023” on different social media platforms.

UAW members taking part in the strike against GM, Stellantis and Ford rally in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood on Wednesday. The rally drew supporters from the Milwaukee County Labor Council. An automotive parts distribution center in Bay View is one of the plants on strike. Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner.

United Auto Workers members on strike against the three Detroit-based auto manufacturers are looking for wage gains to make up for years of stagnation and concessions the union made a decade and a half ago to rescue the industry from collapse, labor leaders say.

Wisconsin UAW workers joined the walkout last week at two parts distribution plants, one in Hudson and one in Milwaukee. On Wednesday, labor activists rallied outside the Stallantis MOPAR plant in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood in support of the strikers.

“They’ve lost ground since the Great Recession and the government bailout that happened for two of the Big Three,” Pam Fendt, president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, which organized the rally, told the Wisconsin Examiner.

Meanwhile, the auto companies — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) — have bounced back, she said. “They’ve seen their profits soar,” said Fendt. “Millions have been spent on stock buybacks. CEO pay has soared, but the workers are not making as much money as they were” before the 2008 downturn.

While President Joe Biden went to Michigan Tuesday to express his support for the union, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive David Crowley were on hand at the Milwaukee rally Wednesday

“I think it says that they understand what workers are facing and they want to be helpful and lend their voice to that side of the bargaining table,” Fendt said.

The Stallantis MOPAR plant has about 100 employees, members of UAW Local 75. They, along with employees at the GM parts distribution center in Hudson, joined the strike on Friday, Sept. 22 — two of 38 parts facilities that the UAW decided to target in the first weeks of the walkout that began Sept. 15.

Steve Frisque is president of UAW Local 722, which represents the Hudson facility’s 81 hourly workers. “We want to get wages elevated and we want to get our cost-of-living [adjustment] back,” Frisque told the Wisconsin Examiner Wednesday.

There were “a lot of things we gave up back in 2008-09,” when General Motors went through bankruptcy, he said, “with the idea that once the company got economically viable again, we could get those things back. That just hasn’t materialized.”

Local 722 represents another 42 employees at a Ford parts warehouse in Menomonie that is not on strike, although that could change. “We won’t know that until Friday morning,” Frisque said. On Friday UAW leaders will announce the latest round of plants that will be affected.

This year’s strike marks a departure from the union’s long-standing strategy of picking one strike target among the Detroit Three, then negotiating a contract to set a pattern across the other two automakers.

This year Shawn Fain, the UAW’s new president, is calling the strike against all three manufacturers while carrying it out step by step.

“The plan was this time to basically have the three companies bid against each other” to settle a new agreement, said Frisque.

“It’s more of a strategic approach — hit them where they don’t know where it’s coming next.”

Rolling out the walkout piecemeal also makes it possible for the UAW to stretch out the strike fund that helps support members who have walked off the job, he observed.

“Wages have been stagnant for years,” Frisque said. “They’re starting at $17 an hour. In the Hudson area you can go to Aldi’s and make more than that.”

Union members also want to get rid of lower wage tiers that have reduced starting wages, wage progression and wage ceilings for newer hires, Frisque said.

“Inflation is up 18.6%,” Frisque said. “Our wages have gone up 6%. They’re making record profits. They need to share it with their employees.”

The signs that there could be a walkout this year were visible as far back as Fain’s election in March. It was the first time UAW leadership was chosen by a direct vote of the union rank-and-file rather than by delegates to the union’s convention.

“I knew by what he ran his campaign on that there was going to be a much better chance of us going out on strike,” Frisque said. Fain’s pitch to members in the runup to the vote was “more forceful and pushing things for the membership.”

The local union has been urging its members to prepare for a walkout since the settlement that ended the 2019 strike.

“We’ve been telling our people since the last contract, you need to save your money,” Frisque said. “The relationships, at least with GM, have been getting more contentious over the years. Our people have been sort of expecting this coming up.”

Frisque said union members hope for a resolution that meets their demands for a better deal.

“We want to get back to work. We want to get parts out to our customers,” he said. “But there comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand.”

Wisconsin joins UAW auto strike as workers seek to recoup past givebacks was originally published by the Wisconsin Examiner.

Outside the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development building in Downtown Madison. Steven Potter/WPR

Wisconsin is receiving over $11 million in federal funds to modernize technology used in the state’s unemployment system, which struggled with long backlogs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state Department of Workforce Development announced the grant award Monday. The agency says the money will be used in ongoing efforts to create a more modern and adaptable computer system to handle the state’s unemployment claims. Over time, the department says the project will entirely replace the “existing, antiquated mainframe” with a flexible, cloud-based system.

In a statement, DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek said the agency continues looking for ways to improve the speed and accuracy of unemployment payments, and to make the system easier to navigate.

“We look forward to investing these funds in additional efforts to overhaul our state’s decades-old unemployment insurance infrastructure and benefits delivery system,” she said.

DWD has been working on a long-term project to modernize the state’s unemployment insurance computer system since 2021, after working to find short-term fixes in 2020. Officials said the “outdated” system slowed processing unemployment claims during both the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coupled with staffing shortages, that led to major backlogs of claims at the onset of the pandemic and left some Wisconsinites waiting months without receiving a single unemployment payment. In late June 2020, DWD had yet to process 509,000 claims it received between March and June, representing 151,000 people, according to Wisconsin Watch.

Jim Chiolino, the department’s Unemployment Insurance Division administrator, said the pandemic created the perfect storm to overwhelm the state’s unemployment system. The agency saw historically low unemployment claims turn to historic highs “in a matter of days” when businesses shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“We had tons of calls coming into a system that wasn’t prepared to receive it,” he said. “We had 7 million calls incoming a month, and this was people who wanted to file for benefits and weren’t getting paid, or they weren’t able to talk to folks. We went through a lot of pain at that time.”

Jason Stein is the research director for the Wisconsin Policy Forum and recently published a study on how the state’s unemployment fund survived the pandemic. He said Wisconsin experienced unemployment delays during the Great Recession, but did not take action to “comprehensively” address the issue.

“We learned a lesson during the Great Recession, and we didn’t act on that lesson,” Stein said. “We can lay that at the feet of both political parties, leaders on both sides of the aisle. The hope would be that this time — when we’ve once again learned the lesson — that we do build a more robust system and that we don’t get kicked by a mule the third time.”

Chiolino said the department has made progress in addressing the technical issues it encountered during the pandemic. He said the computer system used for processing claims was first developed in the 1970s, but the agency is slowly transitioning to a modern cloud-based system with more flexibility.

“We’ve got some of the parts of that done already,” he said. “It’s mostly behind the scenes where that’s happening at the moment.”

Chiolino said the rigid computer program used by DWD made it difficult to implement pandemic-era federal programs, like the one that allowed self-employed people to become eligible for unemployment benefits.

“The old system is a monolith,” he said. “It’s one piece that you have to dig through code to find in order to change.”

Chiolino said the new system allows web developers to easily “plug in” pieces for new government programs that can be turned on and off when the programs expire.

“It’s going to be incredibly more flexible than (it is) currently,” he said. “We’re working on the bones of that right now. We’re putting into place some of the most complex pieces of it.”

He said DWD’s unemployment division has returned to pre-pandemic staffing levels with fewer than 600 employees. But Chiolino said the agency learned how to “staff up quickly” during the pandemic and can do so again if needed.

“We’ve got contacts at these call centers, and we know how to do that quickly,” he said. “We had to develop the expertise. It’s here, and it’s documented for if there’s any — knock on wood — future major event that causes the sort of problems we’ve seen, or even a short-term economic downturn.”

He also said the near record-low unemployment Wisconsin’s experienced for more than a year has allowed DWD to reassign “subject-matter experts” within the department to work on the system overhaul.

“It’s been serendipitous, but it’s been great for the work that we’re getting done,” he said.

Listen to the WPR report here.

DWD says it’s making progress updating technology that contributed to unemployment backlogs was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Wausau School District. Rob Mentzer/WPR

Wisconsin school district superintendents wouldn’t need a license or specific educational training under a GOP-proposed bill.

The measure is an attempt to solve the high turnover rate among school district administrators and give local residents control of their schools, supporters say.

But opponents, including the state Department of Public Instruction, warn not having a licensed individual managing a school district could open districts up to countless liabilities with no option for recourse.

Current law requires that to be eligible for a district administrator license, the applicant must hold a teaching license or pupil service license, hold a principal license and have completed at least six semesters of teaching experience or six semesters of pupil services experience, including 540 hours of classroom teaching experience.

State Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Racine, said allowing school boards to appoint a lay person gives school districts more options.

“This bill is about giving school districts another tool and not mandating anything into practice,” Wittke said during a public hearing on the bill Tuesday. “So, therefore, more flexibility as we’re trying to improve performance in this day and age is something I’m very much in support of.”

Wittke said a manager, chief financial officer or community leader could handle leading a school district since district administrators don’t oversee classrooms.

A report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found between 2009 and 202, there were 811 instances of superintendent turnover across 427 districts. This equates to 16.2 percent of districts experiencing a superintendent transition each year on average.

Still, Jennifer Kammerud, DPI’s director of the Licensing, Educator Advancement and Development Team, says changing the law would be harmful to students, educators and public schools in the state.

“While the department understands that school boards will look to hire the best, most qualified individual, this bill breaks the state’s promise to the public that individuals in these positions possess a certain set of experiences, knowledge, skills, dispositions and abilities to serve the public and oversee the schools students are entrusted to every day,” Kammerud said.

Kammerud said not having a prepared and experienced administrator would hurt rural districts the most because those superintendents wear many hats.

“As you can imagine, school district administrators in small schools are doing everything from special education to business services to principal to curriculum and instruction, to human resources, to teacher,” Kammerud said. “They are responsible for the implementation of all state and federal laws.”

Barb Sramek, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, said as of this week, all the superintendent positions in the state are filled.

“We contend that licensure is worth preserving,” Sramek said. “Superintendents must possess a range of skills to do their jobs well. Not only do they need to know the fundamentals of teaching and human development, but they also must manage complex public institutions that serve everyone. There’s no other institution with such importance to our youth.”

Milwaukee Public Schools has been exempt from state law and able to hire an unlicensed district administrator for more than 30 years.

In the 1990s, Superintendent Howard Fuller, who was and continues to be one of the most highly regarded leaders, led the district without a DPI license. Fuller is a distinguished professor emeritus of education at Marquette University. He has Ph.D. in sociological foundations of education from Marquette.

Wittke gave the example of Fuller while making the case for the bill, but Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, called the example “cherry-picking.”

Larson said allowing school boards to choose a superintendent would be similar to letting the community pick the next doctor.

“What I think is we should have high standards across the board, instead of trying to deconstruct public education because we fear what comes out of public schools,” Larson said.

When asked by lawmakers if a different bill should be written to take away MPS’s ability to hire a non-licensed administrator, DPI said yes.

“The department is here in opposition to the bill because it is bad policy,” Kammerud said, “regardless of the district it applies to.”

Listen to the WPR report here.

Wisconsin school administrators wouldn’t need state licenses, experience under proposed bill was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Two Good THC gummies. Photo courtesy of Indeed Brewing Company.

Indeed Brewing Company is going green — but not in the way you might think. The brewery, known for its craft beers, recently introduced a new experience to its Walker’s Point taproom: THC.

Packages of Two Good THC Goodies are now available for purchase in the taproom, 530 S. 2nd St. The gummies, flavored with dried lavender and lemon peel, contain two milligrams each of full-spectrum, hemp-derived THC and broad-spectrum CBD.

The mix provides a gentle buzz — ideal for non beer-drinkers or those avoiding alcohol, said Ryan Bandy, director of experience for Indeed.

“It’s just a really cool option,” he said, noting that the two-milligram concentration is a good starting point for most newcomers. “If you want more, you can always have more than one.”

Each Two Good package contains 10 gummies, for a total of 20 milligrams of THC per pack.

The Minneapolis-based brewery already has a flourishing THC program in place at its Minnesota taproom. The state legalized the sale of hemp-derived THC edibles in August 2022. Indeed was quick to act, debuting its first THC-infused drink shortly thereafter. The Minneapolis taproom now offers a line of sparkling beverages and gummies containing between two and 10 milligrams of THC.

After finding its footing in the world of cannabis edibles, Bandy said the company was ready to roll out its product in Milwaukee.

“We already had the brand and we already had the ideas,” he said. The final step was to find a local partner to produce the gummies. The Kind Oasis, a CBD and Delta-8 THC shop on the East Side, fit that role.

The Kind Oasis, along with TerraSol and numerous other Milwaukee shops, are able to legally sell THC products due to the 2018 Farm Bill, which reclassified hemp, making it legal to grow and consume in Wisconsin so long as the plants only contain up to 0.3% Delta-9 THC.

Bandy pointed to similarities between craft beer and cannabis cultures. “It’s super connected,” he said. “People in the craft beer world have generally always been very accepting and open to the cannabis world, and vice versa.”

The new arrival also harkens back to the early days of craft beer. While working as a bartender more than a decade ago, Bandy said many of his customers had never visited a taproom or tasted small-batch brews.

“A lot of us breweries back then have been people’s first experience with craft beer,” he said. Now, the cycle is set to repeat with the introduction of THC. “I think that’s kind of fun for us to be that  first step for people again, like we were for craft beer.”

For now, the two-milligram, lavender lemon gummies are the only option for Milwaukee, but the selection is likely to expand with additional flavors and concentrations in the future. The lineup, however, won’t include drinks — at least not anytime soon.

Under the current law, Indeed has found it very difficult to produce drinks with THC that are up to par in terms of quality and consistency for its Wisconsin customers, Bandy said.

“But we’ll definitely be looking at other gummies, and specifically other flavors,” he said.

The taproom at Indeed Brewing Company is open Monday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A hilarious and heartfelt crime comedy cross between a Telenovela and a Wes Anderson movie that takes a playful look at mother-daughter relationships.

Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ at 3rd Street Market Hall. Photo taken April 6, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ is sparking new growth on the Northwest Side. The barbecue concept plans to open its first stand-alone restaurant at 6807 W. Brown Deer Rd., according to a license application.

Similar to its existing location within 3rd Street Market Hall, the upcoming restaurant will operate as a counter-service establishment, offering slow-smoked meats, sandwiches and sides for carryout only. It will also be cashless.

Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ got its start amid the early days of the pandemic, operating as a ghost kitchen out of Waukesha’s Point Burger Bar. From there, owner Jack Holt acquired a food truck and began serving at Jazz in the Park and other local events. The restaurant also has a catering department.

Before delving into barbecue, Holt spent more than two decades in the restaurant industry, working a variety of management positions at establishments including Mo’s, A Place For Steaks, Ward’s House of Prime, Point Burger Bar and MECCA Sports Bar and Grill.

Eventually, he found his niche in smoked meats and went the whole hog — training under pitmasters in Texas, Tacoma and Milwaukee. After absorbing everything he could from his instructors, Holt said he added a personal twist to each recipe, carving out his signature style of barbecue.

Holt is planning to complete a series of minor commercial alterations — including a fresh coat of paint and new kitchen equipment — ahead of the restaurant’s opening.

The 1,865-square-foot space, located within a shopping center, is already set up for food service, having previously housed a Pizza Hut restaurant and, more recently, Harold’s Fish & Chicken.

Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ will join a series of retail tenants in the 35,412-square-foot building, including a post office, gym, smoke shop and several salons. The building was also previously the site of Brew City Sports Lounge and Martini Bar, which was later replaced by Retox Martini Lounge.

An affiliate of Sequoia Baceline LLC owns the building.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. File photo by Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch.

I’ve lost count of how many times Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has changed his stance on whether Republicans would impeach recently elected Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz. Republicans are scared to death she could join three other liberal justices to overturn the gerrymandered maps that gives them a huge advantage in elections. In their fear of losing office, they are trying every tactic, no matter how questionable its legality or constitutionality.

Even before Protasiewicz was elected to the high court, Republicans were threatening she could be impeached, and her thundering, 11-point margin of victory only served to increase their fright and toughen their demands that she recuse from the redistricting case or face impeachment. 

There were numerous problems with this legal ploy. First, the idea that Protosiewicz stated an opinion that might prejudge her decision on a redistricting case by calling the state’s legislative maps “rigged” was flat wrong, as Urban Milwaukee Data Wonk columnist Bruce Thompson has documented. It was a statement of fact that can be easily proven.

Second, even if Protasiewicz had expressed an opinion, there’s no precedent for throwing a justice out of office for doing so. Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn once compared homosexuality to bestiality, slammed Planned Parenthood as “a wicked organization” and wrote that “Christianity is the correct religion, and those who “contradict it… are wrong.” Yet he has maintained that those statements would not require his recusal on cases about abortion, gay rights or religion. And there has been no action to remove him from office.

As the Wisconsin Judicial Commission wrote in a decision dismissing Republican complaints against Protasiewicz (another questionable GOP ploy), past court cases have determined that justices and judicial candidates have the right to state opinions on political questions and can’t be prosecuted for this.

Third, even if Protasiewicz had violated the Judicial Code of Conduct, that is not an impeachable offense under the Wisconsin Constitution, as a story by Wisconsin Watch explained. The constitution states that Impeachment is intended for “corrupt conduct in office or for the commission of a crime or misdemeanor,” as the Legislature’s nonpartisan attorneys wrote in a memo. Even if Protasiewicz had stated an opinion, that would not amount to “corrupt conduct,” which historically has meant “bribery.”

The state constitution actually provides a quite different remedy for removing justices who violated the Judicial Code of Conduct, which is called “address” and that requires a two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly. But Republicans don’t have a two-thirds majority in that house, so they instead have been pushing impeachment, which requires only a simple majority. More legal trickery.

Fourth, even if they ignored the clear language of the Constitution to impeach Protasiewicz, Republicans had no intention of finding her guilty in the Senate (which would allow Gov. Tony Evers to appoint a replacement judge), but to simply delay taking action, forcing Protasiewicz to step down from the court while awaiting a trial that might never happen. This, too, is a tactic for which there is no legal precedent in Wisconsin.

The sheer outrageousness of the Republicans’ legal trickery led Democrats in Wisconsin to launch a $4 million, multi-pronged campaign to fight the GOP’s impeachment effort. Given a past poll showing 72 percent of Wisconsin voters want a nonpartisan commission to draw the legislative and congressional district maps instead of elected officials, such a campaign by Democrats was not something Vos could take lightly.

So the ever ambidextrous Assembly Speaker dropped the idea of impeachment and announced the Republicans would support an Iowa-style, nonpartisan commission to draw legislative maps. But the bill gave power to a majority of the Legislature (or a bipartisan majority including one Democrat) to amend the maps created by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau. The earlier Democratic proposal had required a three-fourths vote of the Legislature to assure a truly bipartisan decision. So Gov. Evers threatened to veto the bill that Vos and the Assembly passed.

Without missing a beat, Vos shifted strategies again, offering perhaps his most bizarre ploy, to convene a secret panel of former Supreme Court justices to advise Republicans on impeaching Protasiewicz. Yes, we’re back to impeachment.

Vos told WISN-AM that he was “asking a panel of former members of the state supreme court to review and advise what the criteria are for impeachment and to be able to go to the next step of this process.”

The idea that there is some mystery to what the criteria is for impeachment is nonsense, and Vos knows it. The state Constitution could hardly be clearer: the official must be guilty of a crime or misdemeanor or of corruption (and the only judge in state history found guilty of corruption was for bribery). Protasiewicz is guilty only of getting elected.

To compound the silliness, Vos has refused to disclose the names of the panel’s three members. This has set off a search mission by the media to call ex-justices and so far only David Prosser has confirmed he agreed to serve, as the AP reported. Does Vos actually have three members on the panel? Or even two? No one knows.

But the one known member, Prosser, donated $500 to support Protasiewicz’s opponent in the April election and as a justice refused to recuse on cases involving a law he helped pass as a legislator, the AP noted. Prosser was also involved in an infamous incident where he faced a complaint filed with the Judicial Commission accusing him of strangling Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. Prosser said he put his hands on her and didn’t apply pressure and a divided Supreme Court took no action on the incident. This is the man whom Vos wants to advise him on the proper ethics required of justices.

On Monday the liberal watchdog group American Oversight filed a legal complaint in Dane County Circuit Court to prevent this legal panel from meeting in private, arguing that is a governmental body and therefore must meet in public.

The hardball tactics of Vos are easy to deride: a punchy column for The Bulwark by veteran Wisconsin journalist Bill Lueders caricatures the Assembly Speaker as “peevish, petulant, reflexively retributive. It is governance by temper tantrum.”

But Vos is also a tough tactical strategist, as the column shows. As led by him, the whole approach of the Republicans is to keep up the pressure on Protasiewicz and use every possible method of attack. Merely the threat of impeachment, which they have repeatedly used against Protasiewicz, is intended to intimidate her (and elections commission leader Meagan Wolfe), as Bruce Thompson has argued.

The other part of the strategy is to keep the other side guessing on what comes next. Just as Democrats were launching ads decrying an impeachment effort, Vos declared that was no longer being pursued.

He is playing for time and looking for any way to take down Protasiewicz. I don’t think he will succeed, but Democrats underestimate him at their peril.

Urban Milwaukee: The Store, 755 N. Milwaukee St., Milwaukee, WI.

This weekend, we’re holding a big sale for Urban Milwaukee members!

To show our appreciation to our  members who support us and love Milwaukee, we are offering a gift to all Urban Milwaukee members: 20% off everything at Urban Milwaukee: The Store this weekend, starting on Friday, Sept. 29.

Our sister business oozes Milwaukee pride.

Clothing, puzzles, drinkware, magnets, candles, pins, buttons, books, etc., etc., etc.; it’s all there for you.

People’s Flag of Milwaukee t-shirt? You bet. Better yet, a People’s Flag of Milwaukee. Yup.

Love Milwaukee’s great public spaces?

How about a Jazzmine in the Park candle? Or Bradford Beach (On A Good Day) candle? We’ve got you covered.

Milwaukee puzzles? You’ve got options. But we’re partial to this one.

This deal is exclusive to Urban Milwaukee members and runs Friday, Sept. 29 through Sunday, Oct. 1. Shop in-person or online.

In-Person Hours

• Friday – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Saturday – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sunday – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Members looking to take advantage of the discount can see a special code on the Members Giveaways page (members must be logged in to see the offer), which can be used when checking out online.

Want 20% Off, But Not a Member?

To receive your special 20% discount on all purchases at our store this weekend (normally 10% off for members), simply sign up to become an Urban Milwaukee member for just $9/month or $99/year. In addition, your membership will gain you access to an ad-free website with improved photo browsing and free tickets to marquee events, when available, with your membership.

So join us as a member today and shop local at UrbanMilwaukeeTheStore.com

Jada Jackson and Joseph Brown, Jr. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

The new Milwaukee theater season exploded last week with some catchy new titles – Run Bambi Run and Laughs in Spanish – but the most exhilarating and demanding of the pack is a tongue twister (try saying it fast a few times) whose meaning is almost inexplicable. Splash Hatch on the E Going Down is also an intriguing, almost stream-of-conscious environmental confrontation for audiences on our society’s hopes and challenges.

Splash Hatch opens the Next Act Theatre’s first full season under new artistic director Cody Estle, who helped choose the play by Kia Corthron and hired a sympathetic director, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, to steer some attractive and well-meaning actors in a challenging production through Oct. 15.

The central character, Thyme, prattles reams of information about pollution and environmental hazards — nearly hypnotizing us with her facts and commitment, though the acting is too often declamation rather than the charged sincerity that should dominate.

Still, the actress, Jada Jackson, is arresting, talented and personable whether spouting data, doing baby exercises, fighting with her girlfriend or cuddling with her husband. We increasingly sympathize with her character: Thyme is a smart pregnant teenager from the Harlem ghetto whose wordy birth ritual week by week envisions her baby’s natural bathtub coming-out party (the splash hatch of the title) as her personality fights against the white social standards that keep her poorer black community enveloped in pollution and doctor-ordered drugs (the E of the title refers generally to the New York City subway line that separates as well as connects communities).

Her parents, often well played by Kristin E. Ellis and James Carrington (both veterans at Next Act), bring their own lessons of living and acceptance (don’t blame the whites) and hope (look at the stars). Her constantly pregnant and derisive teenage friend, amusingly, winningly and then frighteningly played by Malaina Moore, offers a sarcastic counterpoint.

Her less literate and painfully young husband, a difficult role for Joseph Brown, Jr., goes along with her dreams. In fact, they sometimes seem in a race over who can rush faster to throw up in a hidden bathroom. She remains an enthusiastic hurler with morning sickness while he is being unknowingly undone from a childhood spent eating lead paint and his adult work in a lead abatement construction job that he hangs onto simply for future health benefits.

Actor Brown does best while lying still or listening, which is often his role around the talkative Thyme, who is slow to realize how sick he is. But the husband’s role is the least satisfyingly developed in the ensemble.

All this is just one of the ironies Corthron is playing with – what people willingly or unknowingly ignore just to handle life. The production style is abstract: A checkerboard floor and a back wall of window panes and one roving neon light bar are the only constants to suggest New York City while apartment bed, hospital bed, bathtub, table, rugs and TV trays are scooted in and out by the cast operating as stagehands.

You have to listen carefully to realize how much power and observation playwright Corthron has invested – and then wish the director and the playwright had better helped the actors with some pruning.

But it is shocking how a portrait of ghetto hopes and dreams that was created more than two decades ago still strikes us as a persistent challenge, hardly dented by any efforts to improve the situation.

The play’s maturity is reflected in the sense of dread that hangs over the audience as Thyme’s due date comes closer, but the playwright had the wisdom to mix our dread with reminders of almost celestial optimism.

Next Act tends to attract a socially conscious audience – many elderly on the afternoon I went – though the play toys with the exuberant hope of youth struggling to remain confident in an environmentally poisonous world.

The acting styles needed in this barrage of ideas and emotional shifts would destroy more seasoned performers. The challenge is how to talk constantly to each other and often directly toward the audience while keeping the humanity of the characters at the forefront. While the play it too long and sometimes tries to artificially force our involvement, it is rewarding for those who listen carefully and accept the human intentions underneath the density.

Splash Hatch on the E Going Down Gallery

Dominique Paul Noth served for decades as film and drama critic, later senior editor for features at the Milwaukee Journal. You’ll find his blogs here and here.

City of Milwaukee workers process envelopes and ballots for the 2020 presidential recount. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Five months out from the first election of 2024, lawmakers heard public testimony Tuesday about a slate of voting-related bills.

Under the bipartisan proposals, attacks on election workers would become a felony; election workers would have access to whistleblower protections; and voters would receive text message updates about the status of their absentee ballots.

The proposal about protecting election workers comes after civil servants faced increased harassment and threats after the 2020 presidential election, when many people falsely accused workers – especially in swing states like Wisconsin – of participating in voter fraud and stealing the race from former President Donald Trump.

“Election workers are the backbone of successful elections and deserve to operate without fear for their personal safety or job security,” said André Jacque, R-DePere, who co-authored the bill, at a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

It would also make it a Class I felony to intentionally harm an election worker. Currently, most forms of battery are Class A misdemeanors, but this bill would provide special protections for election workers.

It would also make certain information about election officials private to prevent doxing, or the sharing of personal information about a person online.

And it offers whistleblower protection to election workers who lawfully report what they reasonably believe to be voting irregularities or fraud.

The ACLU of Wisconsin has registered in opposition to the bill because of that component.

“ACLU-WI has concerns with the bill as currently drafted, as the process for ‘lawfully reporting’ is not outlined, and the terms ‘reasonable belief’ and ‘irregularities’ are not defined,” their lobbying brief states.

The bill is supported by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Counties Association and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

Threats and harassment of poll workers has increased since 2020. A 2022 survey from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found that nearly three-quarters of election officials have reported increased threats, and one-fifth reported being “somewhat or very unlikely” to stay in their jobs through the 2024 election.

Lawmakers on Tuesday also heard testimony about a proposal to create a texting service for absentee voters.

As proposed, voters could opt into a service that would alert them when their absentee ballot application had been received, and another when the ballot itself was received.

The texting service would be folded into the existing MyVote Wisconsin system. It would not tell voters if there is a problem with the absentee ballot in need of curing.

The bill’s author, Rep. David Steffen, R-Green Bay, said he hoped that the service could eventually be fleshed out to include more information. He said the priority is to increase transparency and convenience as soon as possible.

“People have certainly found that absentee ballot is a safe, positive, efficient way to vote in Wisconsin, and it has grown in popularity in use,” he said. “One of the things so that we can do as a state — and sometimes it’s rare that we can actually do this — is that we can provide a higher level of customer service, and increase the level of transparency and security.”

The proposal is supported by a wide range of voting rights groups, including All Voting Is Local Action, Common Cause in Wisconsin, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and Secure Democracy USA.

It is also supported by disability rights groups, who say that absentee voting is particularly important to people with disabilities.

“Many (voters with disabilities) are not drivers or may have reasons related to their health that makes it difficult for them to vote in person,” said Barbara Beckert of Disability Rights Wisconsin. “And we often hear from people (about) their anxiety about wanting to make sure that that request gets in on time and most important that their vote is counted.”

Listen to the WPR report here.

Legislation to protect election workers moves forward at Wisconsin Capitol was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Heather Weininger, executive director of Right to Life of Wisconsin, speaks to reporters Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Advocates are urging district attorneys in two liberal counties to prosecute the people who provide abortions.

A coalition of anti-abortion groups made the plea during a news conference Tuesday afternoon, eight days after Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin restarted abortion services in the state.

But starting last week, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is once again offering abortions at one clinic in Madison and another in Milwaukee.

The group is citing a July ruling, in which Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper declined to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to block prosecutions of abortions under the pre-Civil War law.

In that order, Schlipper pointed to a 1994 state Supreme Court decision and said the 19th century law actually bans feticide rather than consensual abortions.

Planned Parenthood’s Madison and Milwaukee clinics are both in counties where Democratic DAs — Ismael Ozanne in Dane County and John Chisholm in Milwaukee County — have previously pledged not to prosecute abortion providers. But on Tuesday, Heather Weininger, executive director of Right to Life of Wisconsin, accused the elected DAs of flouting the law.

Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, answers questions during a press conference Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

“Now is not the time to be selective in which laws we enforce and which laws we don’t enforce in Wisconsin,” Weininger said. “Violence begins in the womb and can end today.”

The lawsuit over abortions under Wisconsin’s 19th century law is still ongoing in Dane County Circuit Court, and Pro-Life Wisconsin State Director Dan Miller noted Schlipper has not issued an injunction to bar prosecutions of abortions.

Wisconsin’s law makes clear that the women who get abortions are not the ones who can or should be prosecuted, said Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin.

“We would be looking at those who are performing the abortions at Planned Parenthood, and any of those who are, you know, aiding and abetting them, whatever medical staff is there,” Sande said. “Planned Parenthood is perpetrating this crime, this violation of the law, and they are to be held accountable — not the mother seeking the abortion.”

Chisholm, Milwaukee County’s top prosecutor since 2007, did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. Ozanne, Dane County’s DA since 2010, told Wisconsin Public Radio Tuesday his position has not changed.

Prior to the overturning of Roe, elective abortions were available in three Wisconsin counties — Milwaukee, Dane and Sheboygan.

In Sheboygan County, Republican DA Joel Urmanski has said previously he would enforce a statewide ban. Officials with Planned Parenthood Wisconsin said earlier this month they’re working to resume abortions at the Sheboygan clinic, which previously offered medication abortions.

Planned Parenthood officials also said they’re operating under restrictions that were in effect under Roe. That includes a 24-hour waiting period, a mandatory ultrasound law and a ban on abortions at least 20 weeks after conception.

Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed the lawsuit over Wisconsin’s abortion ban just days after the fall of Roe. The case is likely to eventually make its way to Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, where liberals have held a 4-3 majority since Aug. 1.

Listen to the WPR report here.

Anti-abortion groups urge DAs in Milwaukee, Dane counties to prosecute abortion providers was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Janet Protasiewicz and Meagan Wolfe.

This year’s spring election included a statewide race between Janet Protasiewicz and Daniel Kelly for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Although the court is nominally nonpartisan Kelly received substantial support from Republicans and Protasiewicz from Democrats.

The graph below shows the number of votes and the percentages for each of the candidates in the 8th Senate District. As the graph shows, the 8th District vote in both races was very close. Both winners received less than 51% of the vote.

It appears that about 1,200 Knodl voters supported Protasiewicz, enough to give her the majority in the district. (Statewide, she received 55.5 percent of the vote.)

2023 Vote in 8th Senate District

In 2016, no Democrat even bothered to run in the district. By comparison, the district has become increasingly competitive in recent years. An effort to reverse this trend can be seen in the so-called “least change” maps created by Republicans following the 2020 Census. Despite the claim that it represented the least change over the 2011 redistricting, the architects removed several increasingly Democratic wards in the 8th District. This includes all of Glendale, one ward each in Brown Deer and River Hills, as well as the district’s last two wards in the City of Milwaukee.

Second, defying the usual rule of thumb that legislators in competitive districts tended to be more moderate than those in districts heavily dominated by one party, Knodl took the lead in threatening Supreme Court Justice Protasiewicz with impeachment unless she recused herself from cases challenging the Wisconsin gerrymander. Given his record, this is unsurprising. While he was in the Assembly, he was one of 15 Wisconsin Republican representatives signing a letter asking Vice President Mike Pence to postpone the January 6th opening and counting of the electoral votes. The letter falsely claimed that:

There are extensive and well-founded accusations of electoral administration mismanagement and deliberate and admitted violations of explicit election laws enacted by state legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Knodl’s impeachment threat has been taken up by Robin Vos, the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly. However, Republican enthusiasm for impeachment is not limited to targeting Protasiewicz.

Five Republican Assembly members, two of whom signed the letter to Pence, have proposed the impeachment of Meagan Wolfe, the Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Their proposed Assembly Resolution lists 15 articles. The list is largely a set of issues that the MAGA crowd disagrees with, such as:

• The use of drop boxes to return absentee ballots.
• The relaxation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic of the requirement that Special Voting Deputies visit long-term care facilities. This came at a time when these facilities were refusing visitors to protect their especially vulnerable patients.
• The acceptance of grants from organizations such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life aimed at improving the management of elections particularly in response to the pandemic, and
• So called “Ballot curing” to add missing witness addresses on absentee ballot envelopes.

The underlying theme of most of these articles is that the Elections Commission and Wolfe made voting too easy, inviting illegal voting. They offered no evidence for these claims. Oddly, considering this theme, they also object to Wisconsin’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an inter-state compact aimed at updating the voter lists when people move and thus a help to preventing voter fraud.

In the case of the Assembly Resolution against Wolfe, none of the 15 articles can be described as “corruption, crimes, or misdemeanors.” The authors of the resolution tacitly recognize that fact. They never use any of those three words. Instead, they repeatedly accuse Wolfe of “maladministration,” a word they use 27 times.

Protasiewicz’ choice to participate in cases involving the Wisconsin gerrymander does not rise to the level of either corruption or a crime or misdemeanor. I think that the impeachment threat from Vos and Knodl makes it impossible for her to recuse. To do so would be widely regarded as rewarding blackmail. The Legislature would conclude that such blackmail works and use the threat of impeachment for future disagreements with the court.

A New York Times article reports that Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine, believes that Brett Kavanaugh misled her with private assurances that he would not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, assurances he did not keep:

“I am a don’t-rock-the-boat kind of judge,” the justice told the senator in a discussion on Roe, according to notes from a meeting before his confirmation.

“Start with my record, my respect for precedent, my belief that it is rooted in the Constitution, and my commitment and its importance to the rule of law,” he said, according to contemporaneous notes kept by multiple staff members in the meeting. “I understand precedent and I understand the importance of overturning it.”

The expectation that justices should not express any opinions on possible issues invites this kind of signaling. The desire that judges not prejudge cases is understandable. But demanding that they have no opinions on public policy issues simply promotes hypocrisy.

In threatening to impeach a Supreme Court justice, Vos and other Republicans are threatening judicial independence, inserting themselves into court decision making. In threatening to impeach Wolfe, they seek to undermine a carefully balanced bipartisan election commission and the decisions it makes. If this strategy works, we are likely to see more instances where the Legislature uses impeachment or the threat of it to override court decisions or elections commission policies that it opposes.

Milwaukee County Jail and Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

An inquiry launched by the Milwaukee County Board into the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MSCO) and the Milwaukee County Jail has largely run off the rails.

Supervisors began working on an audit of the MCSO and the jail early in 2022 following a string of deaths at the facility. Ultimately, the board adopted a resolution making a large request of records and reports on policies, organizational structure and potential solutions moving forward.

Conflict Begins Immediately

The issue was supposed to come under the purview of the board’s Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services, chaired by Sup. Ryan Clancy, But shortly before the documents related to the inquiry were made public, Clancy found himself in hot water for saying law enforcement work has “neither dignity nor value.” Clancy defended the statement in the media.

Then, once the reports responding to inquiry became public, Clancy quickly released a public statement characterizing the response from the sheriff as “predictably and disappointingly, an empty grab for more money, and a stark refusal to engage with policies surrounding the many in-custody deaths that continue to happen.”

In response tot this attack, Sheriff Denita Ball responded with one of her own.

“It is abundantly clear that Supervisor Clancy does not intend to engage with this report in good faith,” Ball said. “Instead of debating with a supervisor who feels that the tireless work of our dedicated Law Enforcement and Correctional personnel, has no ‘dignity or value,’ we will continue working with our partners across our community to ensure safety in the jail and promote peace and security in our neighborhoods.”

Argument, Public Comment Runs Out The Clock

When the MCSO report finally went before a judiciary committee for the first time, discussion of any of the material in the report was bogged down by time constraints and familiar disagreements over the sheriff’s budget.

Under Clancy, the committee collected ample public opinion in a freewheeling, back-and-forth manner, with members of the public giving testimony, then MCSO officials being called up afterward to respond to the testimony. This included testimony from a still grieving Kerrie Hirte, who is the mother of Cilivea Thyrion, who committed suicide in the jail in 2022. It also included statements and questioning directed at the MCSO that ranged from critique to invective.

Engagement with the report or jail policies was cut short by the disagreement between MCSO officials and Clancy. The MCSO says that chronic understaffing is the number one challenge facing the jail and that solving the problem is paramount to addressing the crisis of deaths in the jail. Clancy disagrees that staffing is the primary problem and characterizes the MCSO’s position as a “grab for more money.”

The committee spent three and a half hours on the report, largely collecting public comment. It followed approximately four hours of testimony and discussion on other items before the committee. The meeting was ended when public comment was exhausted, as county board staff had been kept after-hours to keep the meeting running.

Board Divided Over How to Proceed

After Clancy’s derogatory comments on law enforcement and the initial judiciary committee meeting, Sup. Tony Staskunas publicly called for Clancy to be removed as chair of the committee.

A week later, when the full board met, supervisors sought to take the item out of the control of Clancy’s committee.

Sup. Shawn Rolland sought to move the report to the Committee on Audit for the board’s next meeting cycle in December, “Certainly, I know some people have concerns about the venue and the leadership, and I think those are warranted,” he said. “But I also think further conversation about this [the MCSO and jail deaths] is warranted as well.”

Clancy warned that removing the report from the committee he chairs would make the board, “complicit in any future deaths that are going to happen and that continue to happen in this institution.” He said his committee spent hours collecting questions from the public and that the answers should be heard in that committee.

Sup. Deanna Alexander, who co-chairs judiciary with Clancy, said, “Although I serve in leadership, and alongside and generally in support of the chairperson of that committee, I do not recommend that this item be sent to that committee [judiciary] at this time.”

“Yes, maybe the last meeting got a little bit out of control,” said Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, who serves on the judiciary committee. “But we are dealing with very emotional [issues] and people are being emotional, because it’s a very emotional subject.” Martinez said the item could be “more controlled” next time.

“I mean, let’s be honest, it was a disaster,” said Sup. Steve Taylor.

Sup. Staskunas said Clancy’s “agenda basically, is to stick it to the Sheriff’s Department. It’s not a matter of correcting things for him with the Sheriff’s Department. It’s for making points.”
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Sup. Sequanna Taylor reminded her colleagues that there were family members of people who have died in the jail watching their meeting, and asked her colleagues to practice the decorum they often preach.

“The idea that the sheriff’s department would be as unresponsive in a report that has stakes as high as these are — this is literally a matter of life and death — is personally frustrating, admittedly,” Clancy said, “and clearly very frustrating to the dozens of people who showed up to speak in public in judiciary.”

Sup. Peter Burgelis pushed to have the board take up the issue during a meeting of the whole body, removing it from the traditional committee process. “I think it’s not the responsibility of one particular committee or the other to handle this,” Burgelis said. “I think this is the responsibility for each and every county board supervisor.”

The board ultimately voted in favor of this proposal from Burgelis. Clancy released a statement after the meeting supporting the move “despite the repeated attacks on my character and office.”

That meeting will be led by Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson.

“My opinion and experience with this issue is informed by the fact that I grew up in the poorest zip code in the state: 53206,” Nicholson told her colleagues. There are two sides to the issue, she noted, and “I don’t agree with either one of them. I’m somewhere in the middle where most of us are. I think these personal attacks are distracting from the work that needs to be done to reform our criminal justice system.”