Milwaukee Is About to More Than Double Housing for Homeless Veterans. Here’s Why That Number Matters More Than the Ribbon-Cutting.
Thirty-two. That’s how many single-room units Vets Place Central on Milwaukee’s west side has had for nearly 30 years. Right now, the nonprofit that runs it — the Center for Veterans Issues — is housing 74 veterans inside a building designed for far fewer, which means many of them are doubled up in rooms meant […]
40 Tiny Homes, One Northwest Side Lot: Inside Milwaukee’s Bet on Ending Veteran Homelessness
Forty tiny homes are going up on a seven-acre lot on Milwaukee’s northwest side, and if you served, you should care about this project even if you’ve never needed anything like it yourself, because it’s a test of whether this country has actually learned anything about how to house veterans instead of just talking about […]
Milwaukee County Flooded Twice in Nine Months. The Recovery Deadline Nobody’s Talking About Is 25 Days Away.
If you live in Milwaukee County and your home took on water this past April, I need you to hear this clearly, because I don’t think it’s gotten the airtime it deserves: you have until August 31 to apply for FEMA Individual Assistance. That’s it. Twenty-five days from today. And if you’re one of the […]
UWM Is Folding Its Veterans Center Into a Shared Hub. Student Vets Have Seen This Movie Before.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is merging its Military & Veterans Resource Center into an eight-group shared student hub. Administrators call it consolidation. The veterans who rely on it call it a warning sign.
Sixteen Years Old and Sentenced to Life: What Wisconsin’s Commutation Hearings Ask Us About Redemption
Two of the twelve people up for commutation hearings this month were sentenced to life at 16 and 17. Milwaukee’s reentry housing network is racing to make sure redemption has somewhere to land.
Neither Party Owns the Economy Anymore, and Independent Voters Are Taking Notice
New Pew Research data shows Americans split almost evenly between the parties on economic trust, with independent, exhausted voters left looking for someone who will talk about grocery and rent prices honestly instead of scoring political points.
Milwaukee’s Crime Numbers Are Actually Good News. Here’s Why Nobody’s Celebrating.
Milwaukee’s homicide rate is down 30% this year and city leaders are crediting relationship-driven prevention work over policing alone — with five Milwaukee-tied commutation hearings this month showing what happens when reform gets paired with results.
Twelve Names, One Board, and Wisconsin’s Quiet Test of Redemption
There’s a hearing happening in Madison on August 21 that most of the country will never hear about, and that’s exactly why UNJ is covering it. Wisconsin’s Commutation Advisory Board will convene to review twelve applications for commutation — a form of executive clemency that can shorten or modify a criminal sentence — with five […]
Wisconsin’s Commutation Board Gets Its First Real Test — And Milwaukee Is Watching
Five people with Milwaukee ties go before Wisconsin’s reestablished Commutation Advisory Board in August — the first real test of whether the state’s redemption machinery can actually move. Marcus Hart on what’s at stake beyond the hearing room.
Voting Rights After the VRA: Why Black Churches Are Doing the Job Washington Won’t
Earlier this month, the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc. — one of the oldest and largest historically Black denominations in the country — opened a Center for Social Justice steps from the U.S. Capitol, directly across the street from the Supreme Court. The placement isn’t subtle, and it isn’t supposed to be. NBCUSA President Boise […]