WUWM

WUWM is partnering with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee PBS and the Milwaukee Public Library on an initiative we call Listen MKE. Its goal: help Milwaukee’s north side residents get the information they want and need. More specifically, we want to better understand what's most important to people who live in these Milwaukee neighborhoods and help fill information gaps.

On Thursday, people took to the streets again to protest Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisolm’s decision Wednesday not to criminally charge Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah. 

Mensah fatally shot 17-year-old Alvin Cole after being dispatched to Mayfair Mall for a disturbance earlier this year. Cole had a gun and Mensah has said he believed Cole shot at officers. Cole was Black, as is Mensah. 

It’s been a summer full of protests calling for racial justice and advocates fighting for diversity and a seat at the table. The Milwaukee Art Museum is welcoming a new position aimed at making art relevant to more members of the community and engaging with Milwaukeeans.   

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukeeans continue to hold events — in person and virtually — to celebrate the many things this city has to offer. This October, as COVID-19 cases are at record highs, many events are entirely virtual, outside, or strictly regulating access through sign-ups and reservations.

The number of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin hit another record single-day high Thursday, with more than 3,000 positive tests.

Due to recent increases, Gov. Tony Evers announced this week that the alternate care facility at state fair park would be opening as surges threaten the state’s health care systems. Evers also issued an executive order for businesses to reduce occupancy to 25% capacity.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was in Waukesha Thursday to talk with families who are unhappy with virtual learning and have switched their children to different schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

School choice – or providing alternatives to traditional public schools – is a central part of DeVos’ platform. At the Waukesha roundtable event, DeVos said the pandemic has made the case for school choice even stronger.

Award-winning author and illustrator John Rocco is perhaps best known for his cover art on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and other children's books. But about 20 years ago, Rocco worked at a company called Digital Domain doing special effects for a little film called Apollo 13, which he says sparked a deeper interest in the many complexities of how we get people into space.

Updated Friday at 4:18 p.m. CT

A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a decision to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots by six days in battleground Wisconsin, in a win for Republicans who have fought attempts to expand voting across the country.

If the ruling stands, absentee ballots will have to be delivered to Wisconsin election clerks by 8 p.m. on Election Day if they are to be counted. The ruling makes it more likely that the results of the presidential race in the pivotal swing state will be known within hours of poll closing.

In the spring of 2016, residents of Flint, Mich., were experiencing one of the country’s most devastating water crises. Flint-native Mari Copeny decided to do something about it. She wrote a letter to then-President Barack Obama which led to the president traveling to Flint and sitting down to talk with Mari. 

What might be most remarkable is that Mari was just 8 at the time. Now 13, she’s launched into a life of activism.