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Category: State news

Journal Sentinel’s Main Street Agenda town hall meeting discusses inflation. Here’s what we learned.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Yes, inflation has gone down, says Menzie Chinn, a UW-Madison economics and public affairs professor. But there’s a catch. He said that, though the rate of prices going up has slowed, it doesn’t mean prices are coming down. “Prices are flattening out,” Chinn said. “They are not going up as fast as they were, but they are still going up.”

J. Michael Collins, UW-Madison professor at La Follette School of Public Affairs and School of Human Ecology, said inflation hits people differently across the state, with one in four saying they’ve had trouble meeting expenses, especially rent, which can be a third to half of a person’s income.

The Main Street Agenda project uncovers top issues among Wisconsin residents

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Wisconsin Public Radio

The Main Street Agenda is a project done in partnership between the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. La Follette Director Susan Yackee told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” the project aims to get people from different political backgrounds talking with one another.

“We need to be able to talk to each other to get to the mission of the La Follette School, which is evidence-based policymaking,” she said. “That oftentimes takes political compromise and we just can’t get to political compromise if people aren’t talking to each other anymore.”

Watch our Main Street Agenda town hall meeting on inflation

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Journal Sentinel partnered with the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Public Radio on the Main Street Agenda, a 2024 election project designed to focus on the issues Wisconsin voters care about most. Panelists included Menzie Chinn, professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Economics at UW-Madison, and . J. Michael Collins, professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs and School of Human Ecology at UW-Madison.

Change is on the Air: New series explores state of Wisconsin talk radio ahead of November election

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Wisconsin Watch

In a new series, student journalists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by Wisconsin Watch State Bureau Chief Matthew DeFour, explore all of those changes. The students who collaborated on this series include: Benjamin Cadigan, Hallie Claflin, Meryl Hubbard, Ray Kirsch, Frankie Pica, Ashley Rodriguez, Andrew Schneider, Sophia Scolman, Paige Stevenson and Omar Waheed.

Far from the border, immigration a top GOP issue in swing state Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Trump regularly invokes anecdotes about immigration and crime. But despite some high-profile individual cases, University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist Michael Light says research shows increased immigration is not tied to higher crime rates.

“Criminologists have been studying the issue of immigration and crime for over a century and, generally speaking, what we find is that immigrants tend to have lower crime rates than native-born U.S. citizens,” he said. “It’s a fairly consistent finding.”

Voters in Wisconsin are weighing which candidate better understands their economic anxieties.

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The New York Times

The middle class is an amorphous concept that neither candidate has really defined. But one thing is clear, said Katherine Cramer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — the days when “middle class” meant “stability” are long gone.

“Now, there’s just so much precarity in terms of people not being sure of whether the jobs that they’re currently in are going to be there in the future,” Cramer said. “They’re not sure of their ability to maintain their standard of living, whether it’s meeting their mortgage payments or rental payments.”

Wisconsin has among the lowest kindergarten vaccine rates in the U.S. That worries doctors

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dr. James Conway, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and medical director of UW Health’s immunization program, said the personal convictions exemption tends to be applied loosely.

“It’s been allowed to be interpreted as, basically, if you don’t want it, you don’t have to get it,” he said.

Wisconsin family farms increasingly relying on off-farm employment to supplement income

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Wisconsin Public Radio

The economic relationship between Wisconsin family farms and the rural communities that surround them is changing.

UW-Madison agricultural and applied economics professor Steve Deller said that smaller farms are struggling to generate enough income to support themselves, so families are more often turning to off-farm employment to help pay the bills.

State estimates around 40 percent of private wells contain pesticides

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Trade associations for corn, soybean, potato and vegetable growers in Wisconsin were either unavailable or didn’t respond to requests for comment. Russ Groves, chair of the Department of Entomology at UW-Madison, said detections of pesticides are unfortunately a logical outcome in areas where agriculture is more intense on the landscape.

“Those are the tools that we have relied upon so that we don’t have real significant economic losses for a producer or an industry,” Groves said.

Wisconsin’s air quality continues to improve, UW-Madison professor says

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Earlier this year, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency tightened air quality regulations across the United States.

University of Wisconsin-Madison environmental studies professor Tracey Holloway told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that these regulations are the tightest they’ve ever been. And that means our air is the cleanest it’s ever been.

The high stakes of mapping the Midwest

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In These Times

The Princeton Gerrymandering Project described the Wisconsin district lines as ​“some of the most extreme partisan gerrymanders in the United States.”

How extreme? In 2012, while 48.6% of voters backed Republican candidates for the Wisconsin Assembly, Republicans ​“won” 60 of 99 seats. There was ​“no question — none — that the recent redistricting effort distorted the vote,” explained University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Kenneth Mayer.

Attending college in Wisconsin and unsure how to vote? Here’s our Election 2024 student voter guide

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

College students can play a pivotal role in a swing state like Wisconsin, where elections are often won by razor-thin margins.

Voting rules can be confusing to navigate — and even more so for college students, most of whom live at a new address each school year. Here’s a guide on what to know, where to register and how to vote:

2 years after fall of Roe, Democrats campaign on abortion rights, ‘freedom’

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Wisconsin Public Radio

During an interview with WPR, UW-Madison Professor of Sociology Emerita Myra Marx Ferree said when Roe fell, “it was like this bucket of cold water poured on the public consciousness” and Americans began seeing the abortion issue as far deeper than simply having a choice.

“It’s fundamental, it’s freedom, it’s rights. It’s respect for you as a human being. It’s justice,” said Marx Ferree. “Freedom is not about buying coats or shoes or taking a vacation or not taking a vacation. Freedom is about determining the course of your life.”

Survey: Demand for child care outpaces providers’ capacity

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Hilary Shager, author of the report and associate director of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, said not having enough staff was a primary reason for not expanding capacity, mostly among group providers. She said providers pointed to low compensation as one of their top issues.

Voter frustration fueled by lack of policy details on issues like health care, climate

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The town hall meeting featured a panel discussion with two faculty members from the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison who focus on climate change and health care policy, Morgan Edwards and Yang Wang, and Laura Olson, chief business development officer at Eneration, a subsidiary of Gundersen Health System that helps health care companies reduce their energy costs.

Chancellor Mnookin reflects on free speech, student housing, protest violations during media roundtable

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The Daily Cardinal

A lot has been on University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s plate since the spring.

Between a 12-day pro-Palestine encampment and juggling the university budget process, she’s had to carefully tread an upcoming election with a student body that has divided perspectives. Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor sat down with campus media Tuesday to discuss free speech efforts, the affordable housing shortage and protest culture.

Wisconsin students failing reading exams, and so are future teachers

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The Capital Times

In 2020, UW-Madison and the Madison Metropolitan School District created a task force to study effective ways to teach literacy. Around that time, test scores showed about 80% of the school district’s students were failing to read proficiently.

Beverly Trezek, a UW-Madison professor who specializes in reading, said university administrators used the research to adjust courses. They added more instruction on topics like spelling and writing, and added opportunities for prospective special education teachers to teach reading in schools, she said.

Higher prices are burden for Wisconsin families. Senate candidates outline their remedies.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A scientific survey of nearly 4,000 Wisconsin residents by the UW Survey Center helped identify the top issues heading into the fall election. Throughout the year, we’ve been publishing opinion pieces from faculty at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison, our partner in the Main Street Agenda, exploring the public policy behind those issues.

State lawmakers remain divided on UW-Madison encampment

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Daily Cardinal

While Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, told the Cardinal she acknowledges protest is a tool for change, law and regulations remain an important principle for protesters to follow. “You can certainly exercise your right to free speech and right to assemble without tents in a camp… there is protest and then there’s civil disobedience,” Subeck said. “Actions have consequences, so whatever it is the protest is about when they choose to set up an encampment such as these students did, there are consequences that can come with that.”

Wisconsin’s low-wage workers have seen gains in recent years, but challenges remain

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Wages for the lowest-paid workers in Wisconsin have risen faster than pay for higher earners in recent years, but workers still face challenges.

That’s according to the new “State of Working Wisconsin” report from the High Road Strategy Center, an economic think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The report is released annually around Labor Day to provide insights into how workers are doing in the economy.

UW tuition promise programs finding success, but need funding

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Wisconsin Public Radio

For years, national surveys of students and families have shown the cost to attend college heavily influences where high school students choose to enroll. Educators in Wisconsin have taken that seriously.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison launched Bucky’s Tuition Promise in 2018. The program covers a student’s tuition for four years if the family has a household income of $65,000 or less.

Wisconsin’s prison population swells as other states limit incarceration

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PBS Wisconsin

Extended periods of supervision after release from prison do little to improve public safety, according to Cecelia Klingele, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor of criminal law. The long terms “may interfere with the ability of those on supervision to sustain work, family life and other pro-social connections to their communities,” she wrote in a 2019 study examining 200 revocation cases.

“Fewer, more safety-focused conditions will lead to fewer unnecessary revocations and more consistency in revocation for people whose behavior poses a serious threat to public safety,” she added.

Main Street Agenda is hitting the road to hear from Wisconsin on issues that matter to you

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Main Street Agenda is here to help you navigate these times. It is an election-year project designed to provide information and civil conversations about the issues Wisconsin voters care most about. The topics come from a UW Survey Center survey, WisconSays, that asked residents about the top issues they face.

Wisconsin voter ID law still causing confusion, stifles turnout in Milwaukee, voting advocates say

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“It’s a small factor compared to not liking the candidates or not caring about the outcome,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Elections Research Center. His university colleagues published a 2017 study on the effect of the law.