Sarah Lehr

Why is there so much asparagus growing along the side of the road in Wisconsin? One Wisconsin resident reached out to WHYsconsin with a crop-related mystery that's been puzzling her ever since she was a child. To get to the root of her question, WPR hopped in the car with a plant...

A WPR listener wanted to know: Why is there so much asparagus growing by the side of the road in Wisconsin? www.wpr.org/culture/aspa...

City of Madison clears civil rights director of discrimination claims The City of Madison has cleared Civil Rights Director Norman Davis of violating city policies, after multiple employees alleged he discriminated against them on the basis of gender and disability.

www.wpr.org/news/madison...

Republican Eric Toney is running again for Wisconsin attorney general Republican Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney is running again for Wisconsin Attorney General.

www.wpr.org/news/republi...

Wausau board: Mayor violated ethics policy when he removed ballot drop box Wausau Mayor Doug Diny caused an uproar last year when he donned a hard hat to cart away an absentee ballot drop box that had been placed outside City Hall.

www.wpr.org/news/wausau-...

Religious leaders denied request to deliver communion to detainees at Broadview facility Hundreds of people joined a delegation of Catholic priests and nuns marching to the Broadview detention site to hold communion, but they were turned away with no reason given. A total of 15 protesters...

www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Feds arrest WGN staffer, slam into resident’s car in Lincoln Square Federal immigration authorities rear-ended a car while the driver was still inside after making arrests in Lincoln Square on Chicago’s North Side.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Court-appointed referee recommends Michael Gableman lose law license for 3 years A court appointed referee is recommending that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman lose his law license for three years because of several ethics violations during his failed inves...

www.wpr.org/news/court-a...

Faced with Medicaid cuts, Planned Parenthood to pause abortions in Wisconsin Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says it's working to schedule as many appointments as possible before it hits "pause" on abortions starting Oct. 1.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says it plans to "pause" abortion appointments starting Oct. 1 to avoid losing millions of dollars in Medicaid funding.
www.wpr.org/news/medicai...

Microsoft data centers will use up to 8.4M gallons of water each year, records show Microsoft’s data centers in the village of Mount Pleasant will require up to 8.4 million gallons of water each year, according to data released Wednesday.

www.wpr.org/news/microso...

Following Kirk assassination, Van Orden bill would cut off federal funds when employees 'celebrate political violence' Free speech advocates say the bill is likely unconstitutional and the government shouldn't decide which groups get federal funding based on employees' private comments.

www.wpr.org/news/followi...

Wisconsin village's voters unseat trustee after anti-fluoride vote, controversy Voters in DeForest have agreed to oust a trustee mid-term following a special recall election Tuesday. Those results could eventually lead to fluoride being restored to the village's water supply.

www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

Citizen scientists discover wreck of Lake Michigan 'ghost ship' The F.J. King sank 139 years ago. A group of maritime enthusiasts chartered a boat to try and find its wreckage.

This summer, a group of citizen scientists rented a tour boat and took it on Lake Michigan.
They were able to uncover something that no one else was able to find, despite more than a century of looking. www.wpr.org/news/citizen...

3 compete in DeForest recall election following vote to remove fluoride from water Three candidates are facing off in a special election in DeForest that follows a years-long dispute involving police reports, a burner email account and Facebook fights over dental hygiene.

3 candidates are facing off tomorrow in an election that could lead to the ouster of a trustee serving in suburban Madison.
The village-wide vote follows a years-long dispute that's involved police reports, a burner email account and Facebook fights over dental hygiene
www.wpr.org/news/defores...

3 compete in DeForest recall election following vote to remove fluoride from water Three candidates are facing off in a special election in DeForest that follows a years-long dispute involving police reports, a burner email account and Facebook fights over dental hygiene.

www.wpr.org/news/defores...

'Wave Parties' bid goodbye to Wisconsin's summer, tourists - Wisconsin Life As summer comes to an end, tourists begin to leave Wisconsin’s northwoods. Every year on Labor Day, people line Highway 51 and wave to the tourists as they head home. These “wave parties” are a way of...

wisconsinlife.org/story/wave-p...

Lawsuit from Ho-Chunk Nation accuses online platform of illegal sports betting in Wisconsin The federal complaint accuses Kalshi of false advertising and of breaking laws that regulate gambling.

www.wpr.org/social-issue...

Justice Rebecca Bradley will not seek reelection, setting up wide open Wisconsin Supreme Court race In a statement sent to WisPolitics, Bradley said she is seeking to "rebuild the conservative movement."

www.wpr.org/news/justice...

Criminal case against Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan will move forward, court rules The case against Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan will move forward following a federal court ruling. Dugan is accused of helping a man evade ICE by ushering him through a side door of her courtroo...

www.wpr.org/news/crimina...

A Wisconsin shipwreck was lost for 138 years until a boater spotted something unusual More than a century ago, a cargo ship ran into a rocky outcrop while fog engulfed Lake Michigan. Its wreckage remained lost, until a Door County tour guide spotted something unusual.

www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

Bernie Sanders to WPR: Democrats must stand with working class Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will campaign in Wisconsin Saturday for Rebecca Cooke in the 3rd Congressional District.

www.wpr.org/news/bernie-...

'Hell on Earth': Venezuelans deported to El Salvador mega-prison tell of brutal abuse Deported under a little-known wartime law, more than 130 Venezuelans were sent from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Now released, several tell NPR they endured beatings, sexual a...

www.npr.org/2025/07/27/n...

Tony Evers won't seek reelection, setting up wide-open race for Wisconsin governor Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has announced he won't seek reelection, a bombshell decision that shakes up Wisconsin politics ahead of the 2026 election.

www.wpr.org/news/tony-ev...

Wisconsin public media outlets react as funding cut heads to president's desk The Senate passed the funding cut Thursday morning, and the House of Representatives gave its final approval in a 216-213 vote early Friday, sending it to the president's desk.

www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

Milwaukee bans delta-8 THC sales to people under 21 People under the age of 21 will no longer be able to buy hemp-derived THC products in Milwaukee, under an ordinance passed by the city's Common Council on Tuesday.

www.wpr.org/news/milwauk...

Wisconsin village of Winter hit heat index of 111 degrees during June heat wave The village of Winter in Sawyer County witnessed the state’s highest heat index of 111 degrees Fahrenheit during a heat wave late last month.

It's literally called "Winter." But a village in northern Wisconsin recently hit the highest heat index in the whole state. www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

As politicians cast blame, facilities assisting homeless veterans set to close Two facilities assisting Wisconsin veterans who don't have housing are set to close at the end of September due to ongoing deficits and a political battle over state funding.

www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

Have you seen more fireflies this year? People in southern Wisconsin could be seeing more fireflies this summer as lifting drought conditions improve habitat for the insects, according to a UW-Madison entomology professor.

www.wpr.org/news/wiscons...

What's next in the legal fight over abortion rights in Wisconsin? A recent state Supreme Court decision could be just the beginning of a broader legal fight to expand abortion access in Wisconsin.

This month the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down a more-than-century old state law that criminalized almost all abortions.

But that long-anticipated decision could be just the beginning of a broader legal fight to expand abortion access in Wisconsin. www.wpr.org/news/whats-n...

Experts, Dems say new voting maps laid groundwork for Wisconsin budget compromise Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been touting their wins in a bipartisan budget signed into law Thursday. Some political analysts, and many Democrats, say the budget deal might not have come a...

www.wpr.org/news/new-vot... “With the slimmed-down (Republican) majority, they had to lean on Democrats because they could not pass the budget with just their own members, and that transformed the negotiations compared to what we’ve seen in previous budgets."

BUT there was a high-profile exception. In 1969, a cop arrested a Milwaukee doctor. In the years leading up to Roe, his case led to a partial overturn of the 19th century abortion ban. From @robertmentzer.bsky.social and me www.wpr.org/health/wisco...