WUWM News

Local health officials are optimistic Wisconsin is on the road to increased supply of the COVID-19 vaccine. They say that’s the only way to get shots in the arms of more high-priority groups. Production is ramping up all over the country on the two vaccines already approved by the FDA and in use. But a new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to receive emergency use authorization possibly as early as this weekend. Greenfield Health Director Darren Rausch said additional doses of the...

A Milwaukee alderwoman wants the city to adopt a “universal basic income” pilot program. The proposal by Ald. Chantia Lewis would supplement low-income families’ wages, so they’re making a living wage. She says cities across the country are beginning to experiment with universal basic income programs, and she wants Milwaukee to do the same. Lewis says she’s modelled her initiative after one in Stockton, California. Under it, the city would put out a call to residents who meet certain...

Wisconsin health officials are creating a statewide COVID-19 vaccination schedule for school employees, in an effort to prioritize underserved communities. Wisconsin Educators And Childcare Workers Next In Line For Vaccine, Beginning March 1 Education and childcare workers are eligible for the vaccine beginning March 1 . Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said Thursday that local health departments are submitting school vaccination plans to the state. “We...

Updated 12:03 p.m. CST Foxconn and Fisker, a California-based electric vehicle company rebooted after a bankruptcy, announced they've signed a memorandum of understanding to build 250,000 electric vehicles (EVs) per year. The cars would be sold in North America and other parts of the world. Just where the EVs would be built has touched off a lot of speculation. Fisker's chairman told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that Foxconn's huge property in Racine County would be an obvious choice....

On Monday evening, Nearby Nature Milwaukee held their second Annual African American Environmental Pioneer Awards celebration to honor people in Milwaukee who are helping to create a healthier and more racially just environment. Sylvia Wilson, program director of Teens Grow Greens , was one of the honorees. LISTEN: Milwaukee Teen Leadership Program Makes Neighborhood Greenhouses Its Home Wilson said when she headed to college she planned to become a lawyer, but she found her passion in...

There's been a shifting of a major COVID-19 vaccination site in the Milwaukee area and more sites are coming — eventually. Some of the locations could help ease racial disparities in vaccinations that include fewer Black and Latino people receiving the vaccine than their percentages in the population. Milwaukee County officials have announced that a county immunization site near Mitchell Airport set up for state-eligible county workers, first responders and law enforcement personnel has...

Now that close to half of Wisconsinites age 65 and older have received at least one shot, the Department of Health Services is opening eligibility to more people in Phase 1b . It's starting with school and daycare employees – an estimated 225,000 people – who will be eligible March 1. DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk explained in a press briefing Tuesday why teachers are getting COVID shots before some other public-facing workers, like grocery store clerks and bus drivers. “This...

A Wisconsin researcher has taken on the grim task of looking at how many years, cumulatively, COVID-19 has cut from people's lives. The answer just for last year, and for the U.S. and 80 other countries with good health statistics, is more than 20 million years. The co-authors of the study came up with their lost life metric by subtracting the age of everyone who died of COVID-19 from the life expectancy in the dead person's country, taking gender into account. One of the authors is...

A few months ago, Wisconsin had one of the highest per capita rates of COVID-19 in the country. Health officials were pleading with people to wear masks, socially distance and practice good hand hygiene. On Monday, the state reported zero COVID deaths and the lowest number of new cases since June. Milwaukee County Emergency Medical Services Director Dr. Ben Weston says the first thing this means is that the community is doing a good job. “The people who are wearing their masks, the people...

A three-year battle between solar energy advocates and WE Energies is back before the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, and the state regulatory agency also known as the PSC, wants to hear your thoughts by Tuesday night. WE Energies, based in Milwaukee, has been blocking an Iowa company, Eagle Point Solar, from going ahead with a plan to install and interconnect its solar panels on about a half-dozen buildings owned by the city of Milwaukee, leasing the panels to the city. WE Energies...

We all know that culturally, there are different ways of communicating. When it comes to Black people, since slavery there has been a reliance on a head nod to communicate safety. To some, it may look like a simple gesture but for Black men especially, it can be a way of saying: “I see you and all is well.” WUWM's LaToya Dennis organized a roundtable conversation with Anthony Courtney, Andre Ellis, Trevis Hardman and Kwabena Antoine Nixon to talk about the head nod. Anthony Courtney founded...

A vaccine milestone has been reached in Wisconsin. More than a million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered. The progress is to be celebrated, according to Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “This is really exciting news, and we have a great team to thank for it. We also still need your patience and your perseverance going forward. It will take more time, but everyone in our state will have the opportunity to get vaccinated,” said...

A local health official is questioning whether the state should delay plans to start giving the COVID-19 vaccine to teachers, childcare workers, and other groups on about March 1. Darren Rausch directs the city of Greenfield Health Department. He said many local health directors continue to worry about insufficient supplies of the vaccine, and have communicated that to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Rausch said seniors are the main group targeted to get the vaccine this month,...

University of Wisconsin System Interim President Tommy Thompson is directing campuses to plan for a mostly in-person fall semester. Thompson wants campuses to get back to as close to normal as possible, by offering at least 75% of classes fully in-person or hybrid. In pre-pandemic times, he said about 80% of classes were in-person, with the rest online. “I want students to come back and enjoy their college years,” Thompson told reporters Thursday morning. “It’s been tough on the students...

Nearly one year into the coronavirus pandemic, adults continue to suffer from mental health struggles brought on by the stresses of COVID-19. Job loss and isolation are among those stressors. Some folks are having trouble sleeping and eating, or they’re drinking more, or using other substances to deal with their worries and stress. That’s what health experts had to say on Wednesday during the state’s Black Legislative Caucus panel discussion about rising mental health struggles in...

Citizen groups are urging a federal agency to ask many questions about a proposal to extend the life of Wisconsin's only remaining nuclear power plant. The two reactors at the Point Beach plant along Lake Michigan, north of Manitowoc, are licensed to run about another decade. But the plant owner, Next Era Energy, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to extend the licenses until about 2050. Milwaukee-based WE Energies used to own Point Beach, and still buys power from it....

The snow depth in Milwaukee is now the deepest it's been in about 20 years — as snow shovelers with sore backs or shoulders can well attest. In most cities, it's up to the property owners to hire a plowing service. Or, they buy a snowblower or a good shovel, and do pavement clearing themselves. But West Allis recently joined the ranks of snowy North American cities that match older, or disabled, homeowners with volunteer shovelers. West Allis has about 60,000 residents. Some people live in...

Millions of people have lost their jobs in Wisconsin during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a massive influx of 9.2 million unemployment insurance claims since last March. For perspective, Wisconsin handled just more than 7 million claims in the previous four years combined. The increase in claims has exposed the cracks in an aging system and has sometimes resulted in people waiting months to get their unemployment checks. Legislators on the Joint Finance Committee took up...

President Joe Biden took the stage at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee Tuesday night in his first official trip as president. He spent much of the CNN town hall meeting discussing the coronavirus, including a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Biden took questions from people in a nearly empty theater, as attendance was limited for the sake of social distancing. He spoke on wide range of topics including a $15 minimum wage, immigration reform, student loan forgiveness and defunding the...

Updated Wednesday at 11:25 a.m. CT The race for Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction is a little less crowded, after voters narrowed a field of seven candidates down to two in Tuesday’s primary election. Unofficial results show Jill Underly with 27.31% of the vote and Deborah Kerr with 26.49%. Meet The 2021 Wisconsin State Superintendent Candidates Underly is current superintendent of the rural Pecatonica School District. She received the endorsement of the statewide...