WUWM

The International Joint Commission, or IJC, may not be an organization you’ve heard much about, but it’s got an important job. It keeps track of how well the United States and Canada are doing in protecting the Great Lakes.

The IJC was created over a century ago to avoid conflict over all waters shared by the United States and Canada.

Wisconsin public education advocates are planning a 60-mile march to Madison this weekend to call for more state support of school districts. Organizers say Republican legislators’ plan to increase K-12 funding by about $500 million in the state biennial budget falls far short.

Instead, they support the much larger $1.4 billion spending boost proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

A couple of years ago, Milwaukee-area realtor and writer Kathleen Davis was on the verge of sending her oldest child off to college. And that got her to wondering whether childhood and adolescence had truly prepared him for the independence that he'd soon have. The result was her book You Never Told Me That! A Crash Course in Preparing Your Kids for Independence.

Kewaunee County residents will gather at the county fairgrounds Thursday evening to learn from a scientist why so many of their wells have been contaminated.

Mark Borchardt is a USDA microbiologist who's been studying the problem for years. In 2017, more than 60% of randomly selected Kewaunee County wells contained fecal microbes. They can come from humans – through septic systems – or animals.

The rivalry between Miller and Budweiser is nearly as old as the beers themselves. However, the century-old fight took a new turn earlier this year when Anheusuer-Busch premiered an ad at the Superbowl attacking MillerCoors' use of corn syrup in two of its flagship beers.

The history of this competition — and its modern incarnation — is documented in this month's Milwaukee Magazine. The article, "The Big Beer Battle," was written by Matt Piper.

If you've noticed your health care costs going up, you're not alone. Even some members of the medical community say they're concerned about rising costs, and hope more data will lead to less expensive options, or at least smaller price hikes. 

The most basic medical moment — when patient and health care provider are discussing solutions — is too often under stress, says Linda Syth. She's of the Wisconsin Medical Society and was at a health care conference in Green Bay Wednesday.

The Latino population faces many challenges when it comes to barriers to care for addiction — including English proficiency, lack of insurance, and the stigma surrounding the issue. But the programs at Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, including its Alcohol and Other Drug Addiction (AODA) and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), are especially geared toward the population it serves.

For many Americans, when they mention Independence Day, they’re talking about when the forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But for African Americans, a different date signifies independence: June 19, 1865. 

The date has been referred to as Freedom Day, Black Independence Day, or most commonly, Juneteenth. 

Morris Berg — known to longtime baseball fans as Moe Berg — was a catcher who later caught secrets from enemies of the U.S. during World War II.

A documentary about Berg's life in sports, and espionage, titled, The Spy Behind Home Plate is now playing at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee.   

Work on the Foxconn complex in Racine County is well underway, and people who live in the area still have strong feelings about it. The Taiwanese electronics giant is building a massive LCD screen factory in Mount Pleasant, and has promised up to 13,000 jobs.

The plant is expected to open next year. But the size and other plans for the project have changed, causing some people to doubt the jobs promise – and to question the huge taxpayer investment.

Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says the federal government should be spending more money on scientific and biomedical research.  

So, recently, she helped introduce a bill called the "American Cures Act". It would annually increase spending by at least 5% at the: National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense Health Program, and Veterans Medical and Prosthetics Research Program. 

This year marks the centennial anniversary of a dark chapter in American History. In the summer of 1919, race riots and massacres spread to dozens of cities throughout the country in a series of events that would come to be known as Red Summer. 

Although hundreds were killed and entire communities destroyed, few Americans know much about these events that rocked the nation. 

Mario Quadracci studied at Berklee School of Music in Boston. And for years, whenever he had the chance, the guitarist was found in his basement studio, experimenting. The goal always was to try to replicate what he heard in his head.