How Wisconsin Watch is overlaying disruption from Washington

Contents

Reporting that prioritizes your questions and ideas Prioritizing context over pace Collaboration

Studying Time: 3 minutes

Again in February I shared our newsroom’s plan for overlaying President Donald Trump’s return to the White Home. As famous then, whether or not you like or loathed the disruption in Washington, it promised to deeply have an effect on our lives in Wisconsin.

And it has.

5 months later, Washington’s whirlwind remains to be churning — whether or not it’s the dismantling of the Division of Schooling, canceled or frozen grants, tax cuts that disproportionately profit the wealthy or newly enacted work necessities which might be anticipated to kick individuals off of Medicaid.

Right here is an replace on how we’ve leaned into our strengths in maintaining communities linked and knowledgeable throughout exhausting information cycles. We promised:

Reporting that prioritizes your questions and ideas

That features Addie Costello’s tip-inspired characteristic about Madison’s Yahara Home, which focuses on constructing relationships and job alternatives for adults with severe psychological sickness — a mannequin proven to work. Costello explored how Wisconsin might broaden assist for such packages and the way federal cuts to Medicaid might jeopardize entry.

We’ve additionally targeted on information you need to use, similar to this story from Devin Blake of Milwaukee Neighborhood Information Service, which defined individuals’s rights as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers conduct sweeping arrests.

Prioritizing context over pace

When Milwaukee County Circuit Court docket Choose Hannah Dugan was arrested in March for allegedly serving to a person with out authorized standing evade federal immigration authorities, we amplified every day updates from our trusted companions on the Related Press whereas contemplating what our particular experience might add to the dialog. The outcome: this context-rich story from Jack Kelly about how Dugan’s arrest echoed the arrest of a Massachusetts decide in 2019.

This method has formed how we’ve lined tariffs, frozen funding and disrupted packages. We’ve examined native impacts to grownup schooling college students, AmeriCorps volunteers, native farmers, people who find themselves homeless and a program that teaches about Milwaukee’s historical past — simply to call a couple of.

It has additionally knowledgeable our protection of Trump’s self-described huge bill-turned legislation, together with what provisions imply for Medicaid recipients and individuals searching for workforce coaching. Our reality briefs in partnership with Gigafact have helped readers perceive which claims in regards to the invoice have been true.

Collaboration

As at all times, we’ve continued to distribute our reporting totally free, group up with different newsrooms on huge tales and amplify the good work of our companions.

In June, Wisconsin Watch’s Natalie Yahr collaborated with Erin McGroarty of the Cap Instances to convey you the story of Miguel Jerez Robles, a McFarland man who was among the many first individuals swept up in a wave of arrests inside immigration court docket buildings. The story illustrated the volatility and randomness of the nation’s immigration processes — and the aggressiveness of Trump’s method. We detailed Jerez’s detention and, shortly after publication, his shock launch.

We moreover republished a pair of tales from The nineteenth about Yessenia Ruano, a Milwaukee trainer’s aide and mom of dual U.S.-citizen daughters who hoped to keep away from a compelled return to El Salvador — 14 years after arriving in Wisconsin. The most up-to-date story illustrated Ruano’s farewell to Milwaukee as she and her youngsters left somewhat than risking detention.

In the meantime, we’re nonetheless rounding up high headlines in our Wisconsin Weekly e-newsletter, the latest of which included a WPR story about Trump’s proposal to ax the U.S. Chemical Security Board, which investigated a 2018 refinery explosion in Superior that injured dozens of employees and compelled residents to evacuate.

We wish our protection to give you actionable data — and make it easier to digest an important storylines with out feeling overwhelmed.

Tell us how we’re doing. Please maintain shaping our reporting by sending your ideas, questions and suggestions. When you don’t hear from us instantly, please do know that we learn every thing you ship.