Lake Effect Spotlight

Milwaukee is fortunate to have some historic movie theaters still in operation - from the Oriental and Downer on the city’s east side, to the Avalon in Bay View. But the city was once home to many lavish movie palaces – with seats for thousands of movie goers.   For decades, these theaters lined the streets of downtown Milwaukee - but now, only a few remain. To learn more about the rise and fall o...

Samer Ghani first started photographing Milwaukee musicians and concerts in 2016. By 2019, he was a full-time photographer and had become as much of a fixture in the local music scene as the artists he was capturing.   From Brandi Carlile to Buffalo Nichols – Ghani has thousands of images that capture the magic of live music in venues of all sizes. His new photobook, “Memories of a Street Cat,” is...

WUWM is committed to covering issues our listeners say are top priorities. That includes the economy. As part of that coverage, we’re exploring how the changing economy is impacting Wisconsinites with different financial needs.  We’ve heard from a small business owner, a farmer, and someone looking for work. Now we’ll hear from someone looking for housing. Sharol Britton is 57 years old. In Novemb...

Homeownership is an important part of economic stability for people, neighborhoods and cities. But for many in Milwaukee – owning a home feels out of reach. WUWM has been exploring solutions in our series, Seeking Solutions: Keys to Homeownership.   Today, we’ll tell you about a family business on the city’s northeast side. They’ve created a model for building more affordable and sustainable homes...

College students in many degree programs are required to take foreign languages. But one listener asked WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal whether colleges in Milwaukee offer African languages to fulfill that requirement.   In her reporting, she found that the nearest African language programs are at UW-Madison. Even though Madison offers several African languages, federal cuts are putting pr...

The CBS reality show “Survivor” is now in its 50th season. The show has changed since it first aired in 2000, but the basic premise is the same. A group of people live together on an island. They have to survive with very little food, living outdoors in shelters they make themselves.   Each week, the tribe votes out another person. People lie and manipulate, trying to make it to the end for the ch...

In this special edition of Lake Effect Spotlight, we bring you a story from Radio Milwaukee about the Black Caucus at the state Capitol. There are 11 Black members of the state legislature, and 10 are members of the Caucus. 

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...