WUWM News

Many children in the Milwaukee area have started the school year with remote learning. But not all parents have the ability to stay home and supervise.

So, some child care programs are adapting to facilitate virtual learning. One of them is the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee, which has been running child care programs throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

>>School Year Starts Virtually For All MPS Students

Election clerks across the presidential battleground state of Wisconsin rushed to mail absentee ballots Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the state Supreme Court lifted a temporary freeze on sending them while it considered a legal challenge.

“Oh, we're busy,” said Wendy Helgeson, the Town of Greenville clerk who also serves as president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association.

Kenosha's mayor has announced the goals of a community improvement plan following last month's police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, and the unrest that followed. Blake was severely wounded when shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer.

Vice President Mike Pence made a campaign stop in Janesville, Wis., on Monday. It was the second time this month that he’d visited the state, with President Trump expected in Marathon County on Friday. 

As the crowd chanted four more years, Pence told supporters in a hotel ballroom that Wisconsin is a must win. 

“And the road to victory runs right through Wisconsin,” Pence says.

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak in Janesville Monday. His campaign appearance comes a few days after a Trump administration appointee, Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Mark Menezes, traveled to the Janesville-Beloit area. Menezes’ visit highlighted the potential of more federal funding for two companies involving in making radioisotopes used in diagnosing medical problems. 

Some highly engaged naturalists — including those at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center — are piloting a project called Yardversity to lure people to the outdoors as well as fuel research about the natural world.

READ: Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center Strikes On A Formula That Works

Many medical centers use a radiation-releasing element called a radioisotope to help diagnose and treat health problems. Friday, a high-ranking member of the U.S. Department of Energy will visit two southern Wisconsin companies involved in making the radioactive isotopes.  The Trump administration official is expected to highlight support of a program to reduce dependence on foreign imports. 

Thursday was World Suicide Prevention Day. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley marked the date by unveiling an expansion of a program designed to prevent deaths from suicide. He says the numbers are growing at an “unsettling” rate.

“The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office stated that current trends show we will likely surpass last year’s numbers for suicides, stating that there were 23 suicides last month alone," he says.

Many people lack access to food to sustain their families. The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the struggle. According to a recent Feeding America study, food insecurity could impact up to 1 in 3 adults and 1 in 2 children in the U.S.

Milwaukee-area organizations and individuals are stepping up to help fill the food gap.

The latest Marquette Law School Poll shows the race between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is tightening.

The poll surveyed about 800 registered voters and nearly 700 likely voters over a three-day period toward the beginning of September. It shows Biden leading Trump among likely voters by four percentage points, 47-43, which is within the margin of error of about plus or minus four percentage points. That’s a bit tighter than the August poll, which showed Biden ahead by five points at 49-44.

Milwaukee’s outgoing health commissioner is beginning to say her goodbyes, including to the city’s board of health.

On Tuesday evening, Jeanette Kowalik met virtually with the group for the last time. She was vocal about how much progress the public health team has made and about the myriad challenges she faced as a female Black commissioner of health.

The telecommunications industry continues to promise faster wireless service with a technology known as 5G. Cables and antenna towers related to 5G are now being installed in neighborhoods in part of the Milwaukee area. But a Milwaukee alderperson says she's getting  many complaints about how the work is being done — complaints that an analyst says should worry a lot of communities.

One place the cable is going in, is along S. Delaware Avenue in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood. 

Whether college campuses can stay open safely during this pandemic is becoming more uncertain as the fall semester gets underway.

On Monday, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent an urgent directive to undergrad students: limit your social activity for the next 14 days or risk campus shutting down.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris spent Labor Day visiting Milwaukee.

Harris met with Jacob Blake and his family. Blake is the African American father who Kenosha police shot in the back seven times two weeks ago. She then made stops at a local union chapter and spoke with representatives of the city's Black and brown communities. 

As Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaigned in the Milwaukee area Monday, Republican incumbent Mike Pence was in La Crosse.

It being Labor Day, Pence offered an optimistic view on what's happened since 22 million U.S. jobs were lost during the spring, as part of economic cutbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.