Wisconsin Watch

Wisconsin Watch's Matt Mencarini reports the story about how voting access in Wisconsin has plummeted compared with other states — from fourth best in 1996 to 47th in 2022. However voter turnout remains high because of the work of community groups such as Black Leaders Organizing Communities in Milwaukee. Originally published on May 2nd, 2023.

In Milwaukee County, government and nonprofit officials have in recent years bolstered resources for eviction prevention, Jonmaesha Beltran reports for Wisconsin Watch. But little, if any, aid is available to help residents retain or reclaim their possessions following an eviction. Originally published on April 25th, 2023.

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Phoebe Petrovic. This is Petrovic’s second story examining the laws and rules that allow publicly financed voucher schools to expel certain children for immutable characteristics, including having a disability or identifying as LGBTQ+. Originally published on May 20th, 2023.

Wisconsin Watch reporter Zhen Wang found evidence that prisoners in China’s central Hunan Province were forced to make Milwaukee Tool-branded work gloves under grueling conditions, earning pennies each day. A supplier for Milwaukee Tool subcontracted work to the prison, two former prisoners said in separate interviews conducted in Mandarin. A self-identified salesperson of the supplier told Wang i...

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Phoebe Petrovic, who reveals that voucher schools must accept students with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students for admission — but can expel them based on those same inherent qualities. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Instruction called the situation “unfortunate,” but said the agency is powerless to enforce anti-discrimination laws for st...

The story follows up on a Wisconsin Watch report from last month that highlighted the decades-old process of lawmakers making anonymous objections to agency funding requests and then not scheduling a public meeting to discuss the objection, something a legislative lawyer said might have violated state law. This story was reported by Wisconsin Watch's Jacob Resneck. Originally published on April 19...

A story dispelling the speculation that Republicans could simply remove Supreme Court justices because they disagree with their decisions. One way the Legislature could do so is impeachment, which only requires a majority of the Assembly and a two-thirds majority of the Senate, which Republicans have. However, impeachment is reserved for civil officers who commit crimes or acts of corruption. A ju...

The story is based on documents filed with the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, federal court documents unsealed at the request of Wisconsin Watch, a patient complaint filed with Aurora St. Luke’s, and interviews with the whistleblowing surgeon and seven other doctors who worked with obstetric gynecological surgeon Dr. Scott Kamelle. Kamelle and the hospital declined comment e...

Previous legislative attempts to help innocent purchasers have fallen through, in large part due to lack of funding, Erin Gretzinger of Wisconsin Watch reports. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a fresh bill— this time with new potential funding options. Separately, Gov. Tony Evers proposes to broaden eligibility for funding to individuals who can show they thoroughly investigated...

Thousands of Wisconsinites have been “adjudicated incompetent” to vote under state laws designed to protect mentally incapacitated people from having someone else fill out their ballot, Zhen Wang of Wisconsin Watch reports. Disability rights advocates and legal experts disagree over whether — and to what extent — certain people with mental disabilities should lose their voting rights. Originally p...

A story about the unprecedented amount of money being spent on next Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The story notes the top 41 donors to Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign each giving the maximum $20,000 gave more than the more than 25,000 donors who gave $50 or less. Meanwhile former Justice Daniel Kelly’s campaign only has about 3,800 donations of less than $50, yet his billionaire back...

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Phoebe Petrovic. American Principles Project PAC has poured at least $796,000 into digital advertisements and peer-to-peer messaging supporting Kelly, Petrovic found. The PAC has targeted trans people in elections nationwide for at least two years and fits into a much larger anti-trans movement. Originally published on March 31st, 2023.

The story explains the role of precedent on the court through conflicting decisions related to the medical malpractice cap reported by Wisconsin Watch's Matt Mencarini.

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Matthew DeFour, who is investigating gaps in the state’s process for ensuring that people deemed “incompetent” to vote by a court are removed from voting rolls. In this story, DeFour reports that Dane County has discovered 95 people who voted in recent years despite being on a state list of ineligible voters. DeFour also found two people who have voted m...

Wisconsin automatically restores voting rights of people who have committed felonies once they are “off paper,” meaning they’ve finished probation, parole or extended supervision — a process that can last years, Jonmaesha Beltran reports for Wisconsin Watch. But many formerly incarcerated people don’t realize they can vote once their eligibility is restored, advocates told Beltran. Originally publ...

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Phoebe Petrovic. Petrovic analyzed more than 400 ads in the three-week period between Feb. 22 and March 14, finding advertising that boosted Protasiewicz and blasted Kelly was running 23-to-1 against Kelly. But that changed in recent weeks, as outside groups poured money into the race with a flurry of new ads favoring Kelly, according to the Wisconsin De...

A story reported by DeFour and Wisconsin Watch’s Matt Mencarini. DeFour’s package outlines how the court has become increasingly fractured in the past 20 years, even among justices who agree on the outcome of a case. That leaves an opening for a liberal majority — if Judge Janet Protasiewicz wins — to revisit previous cases. In the second story, DeFour and Mencarini explain the cases that liberals...

Wisconsin Watch's Jacob Resneck reports on a story about how the state’s Joint Finance Committee has increasingly used its secretive “pocket veto” to thwart land acquisitions and other state spending requests. The committee may be violating state law, but Gov. Tony Evers has been reluctant to challenge a process that has been in place for decades under both Republicans and Democrats. Originally pu...

A story in Wisconsin Watch's Democracy on the Ballot series in which Matt Mencarini reviewed every election fraud prosecution since 2012 and found not only a small number of cases, fewer than 200, but the majority of them are related to felons voting while still on probation. The Wisconsin Watch review also found racial disparities in election fraud cases are more pronounced than in the overarchin...

A recent study highlighting the potential dangers of “forever chemicals” has raised questions about the health effects of consuming Great Lakes fish, Bennet Goldstein of Wisconsin Watch reports. But oversimplifying the risks and underplaying health benefits can have consequences for populations that rely heavily on eating fish — such as Ojibwe nations that center fish in their culture and traditio...

Immigrant advocacy groups have long pushed to repeal Wisconsin’s 16-year-old ban, saying doing so would expand the state’s tight labor force and boost public safety, reports Jonah Chester, a WPR reporter embedded in the Wisconsin Watch newsroom. Gov. Tony Evers’ budget would do just that, but the Republican-controlled Legislature is unlikely to advance the idea. Republicans say the spending plan s...

Though long sought by environmental and health advocates as a way to make drinking water safer, the regulations may increase water rates in PFAS-contaminated communities as utilities upgrade filtration technology or drill for cleaner water sources, Bennet Goldstein of Wisconsin Watch reports. Originally published on March 15th, 2023.

Bennet Goldstein of Wisconsin Watch joined a fishing excursion in Lake Superior while reporting on the central role of fishing to the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and other Ojibwe communities in the Upper Midwest. States spent a century disregarding or rejecting treaty rights — fining or arresting tribal citizens who exercised them, Goldstein reports. A series of court rulings, startin...

The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Phoebe Petrovic in collaboration with Sheboygan Press reporter Maya Hilty. In late 2022, Petrovic and Hilty obtained more than 200 pages from the three sexual harassment probes from 2021, which resulted in discipline and counseling for 12 male and female officers. The internal investigations started with complaints from two female officers that semi-nude...

"The story was reported by Wisconsin Watch’s Matthew DeFour, who reveals that problems at the agency’s call center began before Gov. Tony Evers took office, yet GOP lawmakers have for at least four years rejected Evers’ calls to beef up staff at the agency to meet the needs of license applicants. In 2022, Evers used federal pandemic relief funds to build up the DSPS call staff, but that money runs...