Author: Staff

Milwaukee community mourns migrant deaths in Brownsville after SUV driver hits crowd at bus stop

Milwaukee community mourns migrant deaths in Brownsville after SUV driver hits crowd at bus stop

Posted by | May 8, 2023

Milwaukee Independent was embedded with a delegation from Forward Latino for a fact-finding mission to the Mexico-United States border, that started at City of Brownsville in June 2022. Nearly a year later on May 7, at least seven people were killed and up to ten were injured after they were struck by a vehicle while waiting at a city bus stop outside of a migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas. In June 2022, team members with Forward Latino met with immigrants, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, numerous relief agencies, and faith leaders on both sides of the border,...

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Striping of a new dedicated bus lane for Milwaukee County’s BRT begins installation across downtown

Striping of a new dedicated bus lane for Milwaukee County’s BRT begins installation across downtown

Posted by | Apr 25, 2023

As Milwaukee County’s first-ever Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line enters the final construction stage, streets along the downtown route will undergo a visual transformation by being painted with dedicated lane stripes. The dedicated bus lanes, a collaboration between MCTS and the City of Milwaukee, are a significant component of the modernized transit route that keeps bus schedules fast and reliable, similar to train or light rail service. MCTS battery electric buses will deliver high-frequency service, with 10-minute headways at peak times along the route. The BRT line, called MCTS CONNECT, begins service on June 4, 2023. “Modernizing public transit...

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20 Days in Mariupol: Milwaukee Film Festival screens Ukrainian documentary that won praise at Sundance

20 Days in Mariupol: Milwaukee Film Festival screens Ukrainian documentary that won praise at Sundance

Posted by | Apr 24, 2023

The visceral documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” produced by the Associated Press and Frontline (PBS) was awarded the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition Audience Award in January. It will be showcased locally during the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival on April 27 at the Avalon Theater. The film, which made its world premiere at Sundance, offered a first-person view of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine. It is told through the perspective of Ukrainian-born director and Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov. “I want to thank everyone who believed in us...

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Homes MKE: Initiative begins renovating vacant City-owned houses to build stronger neighborhoods

Homes MKE: Initiative begins renovating vacant City-owned houses to build stronger neighborhoods

Posted by | Apr 20, 2023

City of Milwaukee officials, elected leaders, and local stakeholders formally kicked off the Homes MKE initiative on April 19 in the North Division area of the Lindsay Heights neighborhood. In 2021, Mayor Cavalier Johnson and members of the Milwaukee Common Council allocated $15 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to the Department of City Development (DCD) for Homes MKE. “Growing up in Milwaukee, I experienced the effects of housing insecurity like many residents and families currently are. This is personal for me, so I am proud the Department of City Development is working with the Milwaukee Common...

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Terracotta and Photogrammetry: How UWM’s Historic Preservation Institute uses new tech to save the past

Terracotta and Photogrammetry: How UWM’s Historic Preservation Institute uses new tech to save the past

Posted by | Apr 14, 2023

The Pabst Mansion is currently seeking permission from the City of Milwaukee’s Historic Preservation Commission to deconstruct and preserve its 1893 terracotta pavilion. While a decision is not expected until a May 1 meeting, the complex process of digitally documenting the structure is already underway. Built with terracotta as a temporary interior structure for the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, the pavilion was added to the Pabst Mansion as an auxiliary airing porch in 1895. Italian for “baked earth,” terracotta has been used by artisans and architects in everything from cookware to the ornate facades of Cathedrals...

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Detour Ahead: Wisconsin Policy Forum’s report rings alarm for state action on local transit funding

Detour Ahead: Wisconsin Policy Forum’s report rings alarm for state action on local transit funding

Posted by | Mar 30, 2023

The independent research group, Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF), released sobering findings on March 30 concerning Milwaukee County’s fiscal cliff and the massive impact it will have on a key quality of life service relied on by thousands of residents: the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS). The WPF report found that MCTS could face a gap as large as $25.6 million in 2025, and more than $40 million by 2028, without prompt action. MCTS provides a critical source of mobility for the most vulnerable county residents and is a vital cog in the regional economy. Whether harmful impacts to those...

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