Author: Staff

From invasion to liberation: Sergi Mykhalchuk earns 2 Milwaukee Press Club awards for his images in Irpin

From invasion to liberation: Sergi Mykhalchuk earns 2 Milwaukee Press Club awards for his images in Irpin

Posted by | May 13, 2023

Somewhere in Ukraine, at an undisclosed location along the frontlines, Sergi Mykhalchuk received a Facebook message from Milwaukee that his work documenting Irpin’s evacuation and later liberation had won two journalism awards. On May 12, the Milwaukee Press Club awarded Milwaukee Independent’s Mykhalchuk for excellence in visual journalism in two categories, “Best Photo Essay or Series” and “Best Feature Photograph.” The images documented the early days of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the aftermath when those forces were driven from the Kyiv region and Milwaukee’s sister city. > READ: Images from the frontlines: Sergi Mykhalchuk photographs the...

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Governor Evers signs legislation to increase penalties for carjacking and reckless driving in Wisconsin

Governor Evers signs legislation to increase penalties for carjacking and reckless driving in Wisconsin

Posted by | May 11, 2023

Governor Tony Evers signed a pair of bipartisan bills on May 10 that would increase penalties for carjacking and reckless driving. The bills come as part of a Republican-backed push to crack down on dangerous driving across the state but particularly in Milwaukee, where Mayor Cavalier Johnson has called rising rates of reckless driving a crisis. “Reckless driving and other dangerous behaviors are putting our kids, families, and communities at risk all across our state, and we must do more at the state level to address dangerous behavior on our roads,” said Governor Evers. “I’m proud the first enacted...

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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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