A video still image shows Ann Jacobs sitting in an office with wood shelves filled with books, plants and other items in the background, with a video graphic at bottom including the text Ann Jacobs and Commissioner - Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Elections

Wisconsin election officials fear voter confusion over 8th Congressional District special and regular elections

Wisconsin Elections Commission officials voted to provide more details to voters than normal to avoid confusion about a ballot that will have both a special and regular election for the state's vacant 8th Congressional District seat that will be held in November 2024.

May 16, 2024

Brian Schimming on Wisconsin voters and Republicans in 2024
Brian Schimming on Wisconsin voters and Republicans in 2024

Elections

Brian Schimming on Wisconsin voters and Republicans in 2024

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming discusses the state's importance in the 2024 election and turning out voters for former President Donald Trump as the RNC in Milwaukee approaches.

May 16, 2024

Books with library labels and binding fill tall wood bookcases that line one side of a room with painted concrete-block wall and overhead fluorescent lighting, with signs mounted on ceiling panels that read Action, Relationships and Classics, with a shorter wood and metal book case in the foreground.
Books with library labels and binding fill tall wood bookcases that line one side of a room with painted concrete-block wall and overhead fluorescent lighting, with signs mounted on ceiling panels that read Action, Relationships and Classics, with a shorter wood and metal book case in the foreground.

Education

A surge in book challenges has Wisconsin school districts scrambling to keep pace

An attempt to ban over 400 books in Elkhorn schools left administrators pondering different approaches to assessing titles listed in challenges, while school librarians point to current book review and recommendation systems as effective.

May 15, 2024

Tim Carpenter stands and gestures with both hands as other state senators sit at wood desks arranged in a semi-circle while other staff sit and stand at a wooden legislative dais, in a room with marble masonry and pillars, large paintings, and a second-story observation gallery.
Tim Carpenter stands and gestures with both hands as other state senators sit at wood desks arranged in a semi-circle while other staff sit and stand at a wooden legislative dais, in a room with marble masonry and pillars, large paintings, and a second-story observation gallery.

Politics

Wisconsin Senate Republicans vote to override nine Evers vetoes on PFAS funds, other bills

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to override nine vetoes of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a mostly symbolic action that Republican candidates may use on the 2024 campaign trail.

May 14, 2024

An aerial photo shows trees with mostly green and some yellow leaves, along with many with no leaves, on land located along the shores of and among different islands in the channels of a river, with tree covered bluffs on the opposite shore under a clear sky.
An aerial photo shows trees with mostly green and some yellow leaves, along with many with no leaves, on land located along the shores of and among different islands in the channels of a river, with tree covered bluffs on the opposite shore under a clear sky.

Economy

Utilities start work on transmission line crossing in Mississippi River wildlife refuge

ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative have started construction on the final mile of the contentious Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line where it crosses the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge near Cassville.

May 14, 2024 • Southwest Region

A metal container standing on four legs with a text graphics that starts with the line On July 8 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned most absentee ballot drop boxes in the state at its top stands on a concrete slab next to a garden plot, with a brick building with a metal sign reading Fire Station No. 3 and multiple garage doors in the background.
A metal container standing on four legs with a text graphics that starts with the line On July 8 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned most absentee ballot drop boxes in the state at its top stands on a concrete slab next to a garden plot, with a brick building with a metal sign reading Fire Station No. 3 and multiple garage doors in the background.

Elections

Rural Wisconsin voters face hurdles aside from the ballot drop box ban

As the Wisconsin Supreme Court considers whether to again allow absentee voters to cast their ballots in drop boxes, local clerks explain how the 2022 ban has made election administration more complicated.

May 14, 2024

A metal box with a closed door, locking mechanism, and decal with star graphics and the words Insert Ballot Here stands in front of an out-of-focus wall.
A metal box with a closed door, locking mechanism, and decal with star graphics and the words Insert Ballot Here stands in front of an out-of-focus wall.

Courts

Wisconsin Supreme Court hears challenge to state’s 2022 ballot drop box ban

Liberal justices who control the Wisconsin Supreme Court show signs in oral arguments of being willing to overturn the high court's July 2022 ruling that said state law doesn't allow for absentee ballot drop boxes to be placed anywhere other than in election clerk offices, halting their use in the state.

May 13, 2024

Two kayakers paddle in the calm waters of a lake, with the skyline of a city in the background with the Wisconsin State Capitol dome at center, with a haze from smoke obscuring the clarity of the buildings.
Two kayakers paddle in the calm waters of a lake, with the skyline of a city in the background with the Wisconsin State Capitol dome at center, with a haze from smoke obscuring the clarity of the buildings.

Environment

Wildfire smoke from Canada blankets upper Midwest for a second straight year

Smoke from fires burning in British Columbia and Alberta had settled over parts of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issuing health advisories for multiple counties across the northern two-thirds of the state.

May 13, 2024

Frederica Freyberg sits at a desk on the Here & Now set and faces a video monitor showing an image of Dr. Julie Owen.
Frederica Freyberg sits at a desk on the Here & Now set and faces a video monitor showing an image of Dr. Julie Owen.

Politics

‘Here & Now’ Highlights: Douglas McLeod, William Gardner, Jane Graham Jennings, Dr. Julie Owen

Here's what guests on the May 10, 2024 episode said about campus protests over Gaza, decriminalizing cannabis on Ho-Chunk Nation lands, falling federal funding for crime victim services, and the disputed diagnosis of "excited delirium."

May 13, 2024

A large exterior panel sign shows the words Emergency and Hospital with arrows pointing left.
A large exterior panel sign shows the words Emergency and Hospital with arrows pointing left.

Health

Cyberattack forces Ascension health system to divert ambulances and take records offline

A cyberattack on the Ascension health system, which operates in 19 states across the U.S. including Wisconsin, forced some of its 140 hospitals to divert ambulances, caused patients to postpone tests and blocked online access to medical records.

May 13, 2024