WUWM

It was dinnertime, and Mitz Erickson was in a pickle. The young mother from Cudahy, Wis., needed to get dinner on the table and she wasn’t an enthusiastic cook. But while wandering the aisles of her grocery store, a memory came to her — creamed, chipped beef on toast. It's a dish her mother would make for her and her siblings long ago in Nebraska as a young military wife.

It was “Navy, army-type food back in the day, and I think it crept its way into American households just as a quick, easy, inexpensive food to make,” says Erickson.

Aug. 12 is World Elephant Day. But for these intelligent, social and compassionate creatures, the statistics are grim. In 1980, there were around 1.3 million elephants in Africa. By 2012, there were less than of half that number remaining. There are only between 40,000 and 50,000 Asian elephants left.

A traveling exhibit aiming to get people to sign up for a huge medical research program is making its way around the Milwaukee area. It’s an outreach initiative for the effort known as All of Us.

All of Us is a National Institutes of Health program that began during the Obama administration. It's trying to recruit 1 million people nationwide to allow a body measurement, blood pressure reading, and give blood and urine samples that can be privately analyzed to accelerate health research.

When we think of the Tuscany province in Italy, many people picture rolling hills and mountains, dotted with small towns and farms. Few of us picture ghosts, ghouls, and other supernatural occurrences.

But the Garfagnana region of Tuscany is known for just that. And it’s this eerie reputation that inspired Paul Salsini’s latest book, The Ghosts Of The Garfagnana.

The world of entertainment has been democratized with the advent of more accessible and affordable equipment, but Hollywood remains the ultimate destination for aspiring filmmakers. Wisconsin natives Nick Sommer and Drew Rosas followed the stars out West themselves after graduating from UWM's film school. And their experience became the inspiration for their eventual Web series, Shangri-LA.

Humans first left Earth 59 years ago, landing on the moon nine years later. Since then, we’ve orbited the Earth, sent rovers to Mars, and sent people to live on the international space station. And it won’t be too long before we make the journey to Mars to begin our extraterrestrial colonization.

Democratic state lawmakers are pushing for new legislation to combat sexual abuse by clergy by changing the mandatory reporting law. They're also reintroducing a bill that would remove the statute of limitations for sexual assault that occurs during childhood.

Debbie McNulty is a childhood sexual assault survivor. She was standing in the Wisconsin Senate Parlor Wednesday with other survivors, as lawmakers unveiled a proposal to combat abuse by clergy.

Does the way apes communicate tell us something about how human language developed? That’s what researchers at the Racine Zoo are hoping to find out.

Some sounds the researchers have recorded include territorial calls from two white-handed gibbons protecting their turf. That's according to researcher Dr. Angela Dassow, biology professor at Carthage College. She's been studying the communication patterns of gibbons for years.

According to the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health, 11 rural hospitals in Wisconsin stopped routinely delivering babies in the past 10 years. It’s even worse outside of the state — 56% of rural hospitals in Wisconsin still perform routine deliveries, but nationally it’s only 40%.

Human trafficking affects millions of people around the world, including in Milwaukee. And federal law views human trafficking as a contemporary form of slavery, says U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger, of the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

“It’s a horrific crime particularly because it involves the exploitation of another human being’s liberty and inflicts lasting damage to its victims,” he explains.

Human trafficking has two forms: sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

The Morning Glory Art Fair takes place Aug. 10-11. The nationally recognized juried fair is in its 45th year and showcases artists and craftspeople from around the country. This year, even more artists were invited to show their work — the fair moved to the plaza in front of the Fiserv Forum.

You know the drill. Shoes and belts off, laptops out of your bag, 4 ounces or less of liquids. Flying has lost whatever romance it once had.

But what’s the deal with batteries? Why can’t you put them in your checked baggage? Lake Effect essayist Judy Steininger explains:

Wisconsin has some of the most pronounced education gaps between black and white students. In 2012, a group of suburban Milwaukee school districts, along with Concordia University in Mequon, launched a collaboration to address those racial disparities — the Closing the Achievement Gap Consortium.

People with physical disabilities may now be better able to use the Bublr bike-share system in the Milwaukee area. A pilot program announced Tuesday will add some adaptive cycles to the mix of bikes available.

Shirin Cabraal had polio as a child and now as an older adult can only walk with the aid of a walker. She's very happy that one of the new Bublr adaptive bikes is a two-person side-by-side tricycle. With the aid of another rider, Cabraal says she hopes to go exploring.