Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Author at Channel3000.com

Among Wisconsin’s jobless, Black applicants half as likely as whites to receive pandemic aid

Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system buckled for many during the pandemic, with people of color less likely than whites to receive federal help, an audit found.

Jacob Resneck / Wisconsin Watch A federal audit has uncovered what researchers into Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system have long suspected: People of color are less likely to receive jobless compensation than their white counterparts. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development…

‘Toxic work environment’ in Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office pushes employees to the brink

Staffers say county refused action as yelling, insults and unrelenting demands damaged their mental health; alleged behavior causes other counties to cut ties

By Brenda Wintrode Wisconsin Watch The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office in April rehired an unpopular former operations director, prompting his shocked colleagues to make public longstanding complaints that he and his bosses created “a toxic work environment” that top…

‘We’ve got to get gaming out of our blood’: Pandemic shock pushes Wisconsin tribes to diversify economy

Wisconsin tribes contemplate future beyond gaming after pandemic shows risk of overreliance on casinos

This story is part of a collaborative series, “At the Crossroads," from the Institute for Nonprofit News, Indian Country Today, Wisconsin Watch and eight other news partners, examining the state of the economy in Indian Country. This reporting was…

‘Home is here’: Northeast Wisconsin’s surge in diversity forged by opportunity, grit and inclusion

The region's Hispanic, Black, Asian and Indigenous communities boomed over the past decade

Natalie Eilbert and Duke Behnke USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Long Vue remembers eggs being splattered over his parents’ car after he and his family arrived in Kaukauna, Wisconsin in 1980. He recalls the vitriolic shouts from white residents telling them to…

‘It doesn’t have to be this way’: How expanding paid leave could ease working parent woes, labor crunch

The U.S. remains an outlier in failing to guarantee paid family leave. Efforts in Congress and the Wisconsin Legislature have stalled.

By Jenny Peek WPR Chanel Clark returned to work six weeks and one day after delivering her son Thane in 2013. The Madison, Wisconsin, child care provider had coached countless parents on such transitions yet struggled to navigate her own…

Embattled former UW child abuse pediatrician resigns Alaska position

Parents and caregivers say their lives were upended after Dr. Barbara Knox wrongly diagnosed children’s illnesses or accidental injuries as abuse

By Michelle Theriault Boots Anchorage Daily News Brenda Wintrode Wisconsin Watch The embattled head of Alaska’s statewide child abuse forensic clinic — who also left the University of Wisconsin under a cloud of controversy — will soon resign, Providence Alaska…

Wisconsin state parks battered as Lake Michigan shrinks beaches, smashes boardwalks

The state Department of Natural Resources is weighing a fundamental question: Preserve land or let nature take its course?

By Mario Koran Wisconsin Watch/WPR Lake Michigan’s winds and waves have sculpted the landscape of Whitefish Dunes State Park, a must-see treasure along Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. Water delivers fine sand to a shoreline that supports threatened plants like the dune…

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Wisconsin imprisons 1 in 36 Black adults. No state has a higher rate

A new Sentencing Project report confirms the state’s deep racial disparities in incarceration, which one advocate calls ‘a slap in the face.’

Black people comprise 42% of the Wisconsin prison population, but just 6% of the state’s population.

Wisconsin’s special ed system: High stress, sparse state funding

Over the past five decades, state support for special ed has dwindled, and staff shortages and turnover make it difficult to provide required services

From the time she wakes up in the morning until the time she goes to bed at night, Green Bay parent Denise Seibert’s life centers around her son, Tyler

Wisconsin schools called police on students at twice the national rate — for Native students, it was the highest

School officials refer thousands of children to the police each year. In Wisconsin, children with disabilities or who are Black, Latino or Native bear the brunt of it.

This story was produced as part of a collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and USA TODAY.

‘It's criminal’: Milwaukeeans call for speedier lead pipeline removal to cut childhood poisoning

Replacing all Milwaukee lead service lines would take 70 years at current pace. Meanwhile, Wisconsin home lead investigations rarely test water amid focus on paint

Sitting in his North Side Milwaukee rental house, Nazir Al-Mujaahid spoke matter-of-factly about the challenges his son Shu’aib faces, while the quiet 9-year-old lingered in another room.

Will the end of pandemic-related unemployment benefits ease Wisconsin’s worker shortage?

This $300 a week in enhanced benefits has been a lifeline for many left jobless by COVID-19, but it has become the source of a hot partisan debate.

Green Bay resident Jarrett Brown, a labor activist and former union steward, believes there's dignity and pride in work.

A national debt: Should government compensate for slavery and racism?

Evanston, Illinois is compensating victims of housing discrimination. Big questions remain about whether and how reparations should be handled.

Reggie Jackson, a writer for the Milwaukee Independent and the former head griot, or oral historian, at America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, has a long history of military service in his family stretching back to the Civil War.

‘It’s all or nothing’: A small pay bump can cut benefits for Wisconsin workers

A 25-cent raise threatens loss of needed benefits for some low-income families, making it hard to get ahead.

With a workforce shortage affecting some industries, employers are raising wages to attract workers. Low-income workers have a better opportunity to reduce dependence on benefits and increase wages, as long as they find pay high enough to survive loss of benefits caused by the benefit cliff.

Wisconsin cities look to basic income to close racial, other wealth gaps

Following the lead of presidential candidate Andrew Yang, cities in Wisconsin and elsewhere are providing residents a basic income. Will the trend grow?

Towanda Perkins is a single mother with two grown sons. She works as an office manager at a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee.

Raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage would significantly cut poverty. So why is it still $7.25?

Thousands of residents in Wisconsin — many of them people of color — would see a higher standard of living if politicians raised the long-stalled minimum wage.

For 26-year-old Olivia McKnight, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would transform her life.

‘We aren’t a bunch of lazy people’: Rejoining workforce isn’t easy for some who lost jobs to COVID-19

Wisconsin’s jobless are mismatched on openings and skills or struggle with child care or transportation. Others are still waiting on unemployment aid.

Ideally, 65-year-old Karen Miller would return to her old job of digitizing government documents for Data Dimensions in Janesville, Wisconsin. But she can’t.

Long waits for federal rental assistance leave Milwaukee-area residents fearing eviction

Some renters say they waited months to find out whether they qualified for thousands of dollars in emergency help to pay past-due rent. Some are still waiting.

Cow manure predicted to cause most sickness from contaminated wells in Kewaunee County

A new study predicts the incidence of gastrointestinal illness in private drinking wells, identifying manure as the main cause of contamination

The No. 1 factor for acute gastrointestinal illness in Kewaunee County’s private drinking water wells is cow manure, according to a federal study released today. The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of existing regulations aimed at protecting residents from tainted drinking water.

Homeownership gap for people of color in Wisconsin is wide; communities, nonprofits try to close it

Historical redlining, racial covenants and modern-day barriers including lower incomes keep most residents of color in Wisconsin from owning homes

To Greg Lewis, the home was beautiful. Cozy and inviting, it was a two-bedroom house in Milwaukee with a finished basement, two and a half car garage, an attached apartment and a yard.

How a lack of affordable housing crimps lives, economy in northeast Wisconsin

Amber Edwards spent most of the last three years trying to find a place she could afford to live.

Convictions bar Wisconsinites from many jobs, making re-entry ‘a real struggle’

People of color in Wisconsin have higher incarceration rates than whites, which means many jobs and opportunities remain out of reach for them.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Janie Ocejo put her social work education and bilingual, bicultural background to work by supporting Madison’s Hispanic folks through positions at various community organizations.

Ancient human remains unearthed at proposed Kohler golf course site in Wisconsin

The rapidly eroding Lake Michigan shoreline is also raising questions about the future of the controversial project adjacent to Kohler-Andrae State Park

Archeologists have unearthed human remains of Native Americans who lived up to 2,500 years ago during excavations of the Sheboygan County site along Lake Michigan where Kohler Co. wants to build an 18-hole golf course.

Drop out or drown in debt? Many Black students in Wisconsin face stark choices in paying for college

Cutting or eliminating student loan debt would ‘change everything,’ says one Black University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alum struggling with a six-figure debt

When Clint Myrick graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2010, he left with two consequential pieces of paper: a diploma for a bachelor’s degree in music education — and an eye-popping student loan bill.

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Author: Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism