Lafe Effect

Wisconsin recently passed its biennial state budget. Despite some major disagreements, Gov. Tony Evers signed the Republican-authored budget last week. But the budget is not without controversy on both sides of the aisle.

David Lee of Imagine MKE and Jeffrey Morin from MIAD speak on what is needed to support an equitable arts career pipeline in Milwaukee.

There is sure to be more national media attention on Milwaukee as a result of the Bucks' success. But recently, ESPN’s First Take hosts referred to Milwaukee as a "terrible" city.

Every month, Adam Carr from the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service joins Lake Effect to talk about community events in Milwaukee. With summer in full swing and more Milwaukeeans getting vaccinated, there are more opportunities to do things in person around the city this month.

June was a month marked by a lot of celebrations, including LGBTQ Pride Month, the Bucks’ playoff run and Juneteenth. But we also saw a rise in crime and the continuation of partisan battles. To unpack some of these issues, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes answers your questions.

Summer in Milwaukee is synonymous with festival season, but the COVID-19 pandemic put everything on pause last year. Now as things are starting to return to normal, we’re beginning to have more opportunities to get together as a city and celebrate our community.

Wisconsin has a long history with France that extends to its very foundation as a state. That relationship continues through business, educational, and cultural ties. France's Ambassador to the U.S., Philippe Etienne, recently visited Wisconsin to reinforce those ties and talk about how diplomacy has changed under the Biden administration.

Although the Fight for 15 movement is nearly a decade old, there isn’t a single state with a minimum wage that high. And while the majority of states do have a minimum higher than the federal standard, Wisconsin is not among them. A new fact sheet released by COWS found that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would mean a pay raise for at least 30% of Wisconsinites.

All Wisconsinites 16 and older are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. But there are a lot of lingering questions about what vaccination will really mean for our community. As the dean of the College of Nursing at UW-Milwaukee, Kim Litwack has been fielding a lot of these questions and she joins Lake Effect to answer a few of them.

Send for Me: A Novel uses the real letters of Wisconsin-based author Lauren Fox's great-grandmother to show the life of a Jewish woman trapped in Nazi Germany after her daughter was able to escape.