From the Article:

Customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service will pay more for electricity in 2025 and 2026, after the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Thursday approved rate increases for both utilities.

The utilities, both owned by WEC Energy Group, applied for the rate hikes in April, citing a need to ramp up forestry efforts to ensure reliability and costs from construction of renewable energy and natural gas facilities.

We Energies’ request sparked backlash that led to customers protesting the proposed rate hike in downtown Milwaukee last month. The utility had already hiked rates in 2023 and 2024.

At Thursday’s meeting, commission chair Summer Strand said the commission sought to balance the need for safe, reliable and environmentally responsible utility service with affordability.

“My approach to these rate cases is measured and seeks to maintain stability and balance through a fair, gradualist approach,” she said. “Rate shock and major changes in any direction do have significant impacts on all parties.”

Strand also said she was “disappointed” that WEC Energy Group partially attributed the need for a rate increase to “disadvantaged communities struggling to pay their bills” and the company’s partnership with labor unions.

From the Article:

On Monday, Riverwest coffee shop The Daily Bird, 818 E. Center St., announced it was closing its doors. “We have made the difficult decision to close our doors starting tomorrow, 11/04/2024,” read a social media post. “While we hope to reopen as soon [as] possible, we’re unsure of when that will be.”

Well, “when that will be” turns out to be two days. On Wednesday, The Daily Bird announced it will reopen on Thursday.

“WE’RE BACK WE’RE BACK WE’RE BACK,” reads a new social media post. “Tomorrow, 11/07/2024, we’re reopening! We can’t wait to welcome you back! Thank you for your patience and support while we took a little break. Stoked to see y’alls face again!”

The post goes on to explain that “100% of bumper sticker sales will be going to recoup lost wages.” Also, likely in response to various comment sections: “The cafe is still yellow, we’re still not Fuel, and we’re still going to be closing at 2 p.m.”

From the Article:

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Thursday to approve a budget amendment that provides key funding for a plan to save, renovate and expand the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory Domes.

The amendment codifies a financial commitment of $30 million to be paid over six years with a future start date to be determined. The funding is not included in the 2025 county budget.

You can read about the details of the Domes Reimagined plan – a partnership between the Friends of the Domes, Milwaukee County Parks and Madison-based real estate developer The Alexander Company – in this article.

The $134 million plan – which would restore the threatened Domes, build an addition and add amenities like a children’s garden, cafe, expanded gift shop and nature learning center – was presented to the board in September and th board’s Finance Committee unanimously approved the budget amendment at its October meeting, sending the matter to the full Board of Supervisors.

“The Domes have been facing an existential crisis for years,” said Christa Beall Diefenbach, executive director of Friends of the Domes. “Today’s vote changes that. We now have a path forward that ensures The Domes remain a horticultural oasis for generations to come.

From the Article:

Brewing giant Molson Coors, the parent company of Miller Brewing Company, confirmed Wednesday it will shutter its 10th Street Brewery near downtown Milwaukee and the historic Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls.

The closures are a cost-cutting move for the publicly-traded company, which reported a quarterly net sales decrease of 7.8% and a 39.1% drop in quarterly income to $331 million.

They also come as the brewing giant is about to end a long-time brewing agreement with Pabst.

“Following the end of a large contract brewing agreement and amid an ongoing canning line investment project at our Milwaukee brewery, we’ve made the decision to close two of our smaller brewing operations in Wisconsin and centralize statewide production at our main site in Milwaukee,” said Chief Supply Chain Officer Brian Erhardt in a statement. “While never easy, these choices are made with much thought and consideration to position Molson Coors for continued success in Wisconsin and beyond.”

Molson Coors will continue to make the beers produced in each brewery at its State Street Brewery, the large Milwaukee brewery in the Miller Valley, and other breweries across the country. In a state-subsidized move, Molson Coors made several investments and job relocations to support the brewing and administrative functions at Miller’s historic headquarters. The brewing conglomerate, legally created in 2016, is headquartered in Chicago, but has more than 1,100 employees in the Miller Valley.

From the Article:

City of Milwaukee officials are ready for the city to take center stage in the 2024 election.

With Wisconsin viewed as a pivotal swing state, Milwaukee could deliver the decisive votes to decide the state’s winner. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit Monday morning against the city for what it alleges is improperly restricting observer access to polling places (detailed in a subsequent article).

Milwaukee, as it has in several past elections, is expected to finish processing and report its absentee ballots after midnight. Given the size of the Democratic-leaning city and its use of a centralized absentee-counting facility, the city’s absentee reporting will likely give a major late-night boost to Kamala Harris.

As they attempted to do in 2020 amidst a sea of conspiracy theories about ballot printing, late-night dumps and machine manipulation, city officials are attempting to explain to the public how the process works proactively. That includes emphasizing that the votes it will report last are almost entirely already in hand.

“As of this morning, we have over 105,000 absentee ballots,” said Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez in a press conference Monday morning. That includes 67,735 in-person early votes. Additional absentee ballots are expected to continue to arrive by mail or via drop boxes. “They will continue to come in until 8 p.m. on election day.”

There is a cap on how many ballots the city could receive back. According to Wisconsin Elections Commission data, the city has issued 113,487 absentee ballots. That’s down from the approximately 169,000 absentee votes cast in the pandemic-altered 2020 election. The city’s late-night absentee reporting in that election pushed Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump, which seen as suspicious by some supporters of Trump, who had spent that campaign demonizing absentee voting. In 2024, Democrat and Republican candidates alike have pushed for early voting, leading to the city surpassing Gutiérrez’s earlier estimate of 80,000 absentee votes in the city.

From the Article:

More than 1.5 million Wisconsinites have already cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election. Wisconsin’s top elections official says the state is poised to set a new record for early in-person absentee voting.

All told, more than 41 percent of all active, registered voters in Wisconsin have already cast absentee ballots, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Of those, nearly 950,000 were in-person absentee ballots, which were cast in clerks offices or early voting sites.

During a Monday briefing, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said there have been nearly 645,000 mail-in absentee ballots requested by voters for the presidential election.

“To kind of contrast that, in 2020, the volume of by-mail absentee ballots set records,” Wolfe said. “This year, it appears there’s a record number of in-person absentee ballots that were cast.”

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, absentee voting exploded during Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election. That year, WEC data shows nearly 1.9 million ballots were returned. Of that total, there were just 644,843 people who cast early, in-person absentee ballots.

From the Article:

Milwaukee could see expanded service to Chicago after the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) received $72.8 million in federal funding that will be funneled toward boosting freight rail capacity.

The funding will go to the Muskego Yard bypass project, which will upgrade and reconfigure routes to create less traffic between commuter and freight trains. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) announced the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation this week.

When completed, WisDOT said it will give the railway the ability to increase service to eight daily round trips between Milwaukee and Chicago. Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service currently runs seven daily trips between the cities.

"Along with the completion of the Milwaukee Airport Rail Station project in 2026, WisDOT will be able to implement eight daily round trips between Milwaukee and Chicago, allowing more customers to use this high-demand corridor," WisDOT said in a statement provided to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Upgrading the railway and creating a two-track mainline would allow freight trains to bypass the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. This would minimize passenger delays and free up track capacity, a news release says.

Additionally, funding would go toward replacing or rehabilitating approximately five bridges along the Milwaukee-to-Chicago route.

“In many ways, the future of rail in Wisconsin hinges on a successful Muskego Yard bypass project,” WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman said in the release. “We’re thrilled to receive this pivotal funding that will significantly reshape our rail infrastructure plans in the coming years.”

Funding will come from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, which invests in railway projects around the country.

From the Article:

We know who Brett Favre and Buzz Aldrin will vote for on November 5. We know who Liz Cheney and Cardi B will vote for on November 5. But who will Milwaukee’s homegrown power-walking and oft-shirtless superhero, the Milverine, vote for on November 5?

According to his Instagram account, Milverine is voting for Kamala Harris.

“Princess and me both endorse this message,” reads the caption to a Thursday night post of a pro-Harris sidewalk stencil. (Princess is Milverine’s dog.)

From the Article:

As part of the America Amplified project, WPR is among dozens of public radio stations reaching out directly to voters and answering their questions.

Some voters had questions about how elections are run in Wisconsin and what measures are in place to ensure election security.

The following answers are compiled from sources including the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Wisconsin laws and interviews with current and former Wisconsin clerks.

From the Article:

For a year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has operated without a leader at the helm, and some former agency heads say Gov. Tony Evers may be waiting to see whether the election changes prospects for state Senate confirmation of his next appointee.

It’s the longest the agency has been without a DNR secretary in more than two decades, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. Former DNR Secretary George Meyer said he can’t recall any significant gap in the office in more than 50 years.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Meyer said.

Meyer was the last secretary appointed by the Natural Resources Board before former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and the Legislature stripped the board of that power in 1995. Meyer served as DNR secretary from 1993 until 2002, and Thompson reappointed him to the position in 1998.

Meyer said the year-long vacancy is at the heart of a political battle between the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled Senate, which has rejected 21 Evers’ appointees. They include eight appointees fired last fall, as well as Evers’ appointee to the Public Service Commission in January.

“Hopefully, something will break after the election if the governor feels he needs a different legislature to work with,” Meyer said.

From the Article:

It will be easy to roll up to your polling place in Milwaukee on election day.

Dockless electric scooter provider Lime and bike-sharing nonprofit Bublr Bikes will both provide free rides on Nov. 5.

It’s part of a longstanding practice from both entities. Lime reports having provided more than 90,000 free or “low-cost” rides on election days in more than 12 countries. Bublr has made free rides available for several years on election day.

Lime riders will be able to get up to two free rides to or from a polling police by using the code “VOTE2024” in the Lime smartphone application. The offer is already in effect to promote early voting.

Because Bublr operates a dock-based system, its free rides are a bit more wide open. The first 30 minutes of any ride are free on election day. Individuals can take advantage of the offer by downloading the BCycle app, creating a Bublr Bikes account and checking out a bike. Those with questions can call 414-931-1121. The free rides are sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

“As a community-supported bikeshare, we believe it’s our responsibility to offer free rides to the polls for residents of greater Milwaukee. Having access to a vehicle should not be a factor in casting your ballot; we hope Bublr Bikes can alleviate that burden,” said Bublr Bikes Executive Director Laura Bolger.

From the Article:

Early in his construction career, Ryan Olson was on a site near Minneapolis. An old farmhouse stood in the path of the crew’s project. He took the controls of a 40-ton excavator. A couple swings of the bucket later, it was game over for the farmhouse, and game on for Olson’s new career path.

“It kind of piqued my curiosity and my interest in wrecking things,” he says. “I got my first opportunity to destroy something with a medium-sized piece of equipment, and I was hooked.”

Fast forward 26 years and Olson has the impressive title of senior director of demolition, operations and business development for Veit, a 96-year-old Minnesota company. In recent years Veit has expanded operations to Wisconsin and become the go-to as Milwaukee’s appetite for destruction has grown.

These are no humdrum buildings but places that formed core memories for legions of Milwaukeeans: the Bradley Center, former home of the Bucks; McCormick Hall, the beer-can shaped dormitory at Marquette; two towers that formed part of Northwestern Mutual’s Downtown campus; and many others. 

Next on its hit list: the rotting carcass of Northridge Mall. Veit in June won a contract to raze the sprawling complex for $10.7 million. It comes as the city took ownership of the property after decades of legal wrangling following the mall’s closure in 2003. Since then, it’s sat empty and unused, a magnet for graffiti artists, drugged-out temporary residents and critters. 

The Northridge project shows the company’s work isn’t always flashy. The main task will come with months and months of preparation, including clearing out asbestos and other nasty leftovers.