Lake Effect Spotlight

While news about ICE’s actions in the twin cities has slowed recently, operations continue. Those operations have also spilled over the state’s border into western Wisconsin. Over the past few months – agents have been detaining people and in some cases, children. To date, this is the most widespread ICE operation in Wisconsin.  Last month, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Sophie Carson spent t...

Wisconsin is experiencing a surge in sauna culture — new businesses are popping up in parks, on shorelines and in backyards. But heat bathing has been a part of the Upper Midwest culture for over a century — and it’s largely thanks to the Finnish immigrants who settled along Lake Superior.   Bridget Fogarty is a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and she recently visited a few saunas to...

Life as an immigrant is commonly clouded by fear and uncertainty. The federal crackdown on immigration this past year has only increased those feelings for immigrants living in our area.  Freelance writer Barbara Miner wanted to share the lived experiences of some Milwaukee immigrants, who make up about twelve percent of the city’s population. Her article in this month’s Milwaukee Magazine shares...

Wisconsin voters will be choosing a new justice for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court this year. The April 7th election comes after elections in 2023 and 2025 altered the ideological makeup of the court, giving liberal-leaning justices the majority.   The ideological makeup will not be influenced by this election, but that doesn’t mean the race won’t have a long-term impact on how big cases are de...

The United States is at war with Iran. Oil prices have surged as the war enters its second week. Iran has named the hard-line Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader. It signals defiance from Iran’s leadership amid heavy US and Israeli bombardment.  WUWM’s Maayan Silver talked with Iranian students at UW-Milwaukee about how their families are affected and why they support int...

The country’s largest collection of contemporary craft art can be found right here in Wisconsin – at the Racine Art Museum. The museum has thousands of pieces from ceramics and fibers to metals and jewelry. And every spring the RAM hosts a Peeps exhibition. Yes – Peeps – the brightly colored bird and bunny marshmallow treats you see in stores in the spring.  The museum’s Peeps exhibition opens nex...

In February of 1975, four women in Milwaukee found themselves at the height of their careers as business executives. However, they were just a handful of leaders and there was a glaring need for more women to be elevated and advocated for in the workplace. To help change the narrative and landscape for women, they formed the group known today as TEMPO.  The founding members’ hope was to create a s...

This Sunday is International Women’s Day. And to celebrate, we passed the mic to two organizers from Milwaukee’s International Women’s Day Coalition.   For this month’s group chat, Kayla Patterson and KJ Johnson talk about what womanhood means to them and why the fight for reproductive justice continues. They also highlight the events the coalition has planned for this International Women’s Day we...

2024 was a big year in politics in Wisconsin and across the country. Donald Trump was running for a second term against former President Joe Biden...who ended up dropping out of the race.   In the summer of 2024 the Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee, which brought Trump and other Republican leaders to the state. Just ahead of that, we got a group of conservative-leaning voters t...

Starting this weekend the Milwaukee County Transit System will shorten some routes at the edges of its ridership area. Riders will also need to wait longer for their buses at some stops.  That’s because the Milwaukee County Transit System reduced service to some routes to help deal with a 14 million dollar budget deficit. You may remember that bus fares went up by 75 cents at the beginning of this...

Several Wisconsin companies are suing the Trump administration to get back some of the money they lost due to tariffs. Companies began filing lawsuits back in December in the U.S Court of International Trade.   That was before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned many of Trump’s tariffs last month. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ricardo Torres has been following this story. He spoke with WUWM’s...

The cold has returned to Milwaukee and the water is slowly icing over once again. But if you stare out at Lake Michigan, you’ll see flowing water in the not-so-distant horizon. And there’s a good reason for that, as artist and educator Geo Rutherford can tell you.   Rutherford is an educator and content creator based here in Wisconsin, whose work focuses on bodies of water. Her TikTok, geodesaurus...

March is around the corner — which means it’s almost nesting season for Barred Owls!  For the second year, the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center will give people a look into the lives of Barred Owls with a nest box camera. Lindsay Focht is the raptor program director at Schlitz Audubon. She says the live stream is part of the nature center’s Barred Owl Monitoring Project.   Focht joins Lake Effect’s X...

More and more people of all ages are using AI for companionship.   Some states are trying to require periodic reminders to users that the chatbots are not real people. In New York, those reminders would appear in the conversation every three hours. But some researchers say those reminders could harm users’ mental health.  UW-Milwaukee associate professor Linnea Laestadius took that position in a r...

What’s your go-to cocktail order? Well, if you’re in Milwaukee or somewhere in Wisconsin, there’s a good chance it’s a brandy old-fashioned. But even where the old fashioned reigns, Milwaukee has a strong cocktail bar scene where you can get endless combinations of cocktails.   For cocktail writer and author Robert Simonson, Wisconsin has always held its own in the cocktail world – even when he mo...

During February we’ve been exploring how winters are changing in Wisconsin in our Thin Ice series. We’ve looked at the impact on ice fishing and storm water management.  Today, WUWM environmental reporter Susan Bence looks at new data from Climate Central on just how much winter temperatures and even the length of the winter season is changing. 

Many Midwesterners have worn a pair of ice skates to hit the rink or a frozen pond in the winter. But have you ever tried a skating ribbon?  It’s essentially an ice skating trail in the woods and the first one opened up in Wisconsin last winter. It’s called “The Glide” and it’s at Boulder Junction Winter Park — an outdoor winter recreation area. And for this month’s Wandering Wisconsin, we’ll help...

This year marks 100 years of recognizing Black people's contributions to the United States with Black History Month. It began as Negro History week in 1926. The Association for the Study of African American Life & History was established in 1915 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who is often referenced as the Father of Black History. In honor of the milestone year, WUWM’s Race & Ethnicity Reporter...

You don’t have to fly to Italy to see Olympic-level skiers. They’re coming to Wisconsin this weekend.  As the largest ski marathon in North America, the American Birkebeiner promises to attract over 10,000 people to Hayward Wisconsin for a celebration of cross country skiing. Starting tomorrow and running through Sunday, there are several races for kids, dogs, and yes, Olympic-level skiers. But th...

The library is more than just books, and our Books and Beyond series with Milwaukee Public Library showcases just that. We share resources, book recommendations, and some cool stuff you might not know about. For this edition of Books and Beyond, we’re learning about an early literacy program called ABC Academy offered at the Central Library Branch.  This program hopes to help fill Milwaukee’s lite...

Milwaukee native Malik Johnson is a grammy-nominated cellist, composer and music producer. He recently added the title of Artist in Residence at Milwaukee’s Betty Brinn Children’s Museum.   Johnson became the museum’s first artist-in-residence last year and returns to the role this year to continue connecting with children and families through music. He spoke with Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez about...

'Group Chat' is when we hand over the mic to community members and let them share their stories and experiences.  This Group Chat is all about falling in love. And while that might conjure up images of young couples making wrinkle-less eyes at each – this conversation is about loving later in life. As people get older, they can lose their friends, family and partners. But some seniors still want t...

Data centers serve as the foundation of the internet. With tech companies like Microsoft investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence, even larger data centers are being built and proposed around world.  In Wisconsin, projects like the Vantage data center in Port Washington have stirred controversy. In Mount Pleasant, Microsoft is building what it calls “the most advanced data center i...

There are many ways to observe and celebrate Black History Month, including a trip to the movie theater. Milwaukee Film curated a month-long lineup to recognize Black History Month.  Ty Williams is the Black Lens Programmer for Milwaukee Film, and he handpicked a variety of films you can see on the big screen that reflect Black icons in fiction. They’re all a part of the series “Afrofuturism: Fate...

In case you missed it, Bad Bunny put on a halftime show that doubled as a love letter to Puerto Rico during last weekend’s Super Bowl. Here in Milwaukee, Puerto Rican businesses have been taking inspiration from the artist’s ascent to the big stage.   Last month, West Allis coffee shop Aroma Cafe began serving Bad Bunny lattes. The drink is inspired by coquito , the coconut cocktail usually made w...