Author: Wisconsin Watch

As solar energy has become more popular and cost-effective, this once fringe renewable source is now at the center of an energy turf war in Wisconsin. At issue is a project in which an Iowa-based renewables company wants to partner with the city of Milwaukee to power seven municipal buildings with solar. Eagle Point Solar would help to finance the city’s project, taking advantage of federal tax breaks that local governments do not qualify for. Eagle Point is suing the public utility, We Energies, for refusing to connect a series of solar arrays to each other. We Energies says...

Governor Tony Evers is considering enacting an obscure 30-year-old early release program and halting re-incarceration of offenders for rule violations to reduce Wisconsin’s growing prison population. Governor Evers has expressed optimism about his ability to accomplish a major campaign promise: to reduce by 50 percent the state’s prison population, which is on course to hit an all-time high of 25,000 inmates by 2021. While 31 states saw decreases in their prison populations from 2017 to 2018, Wisconsin is not one of them. Currently, Wisconsin’s prison system is 33 percent above capacity, with 18 of the state’s 20 adult prisons...

Two researchers trudged on snowshoes through feet of snow on a wooded trail this past March, dragging a small plastic sled full of equipment. The snowshoes of scientist Carl Watras were rigged with rubber from bicycle tires to bind the webbed contraptions to his feet. His research assistant, Jeff Rubsam, ran ahead to guide the sled down a steep, snowy slope towards a frozen lake. Watras descended, planting one long leg slowly after another. Watras has been making this trek for 32 years. He studies how the neurotoxin mercury accumulates in lakes and in Wisconsin’s fish. Watras and Rubsam...

After analyzing data of Wisconsin residents with cases beginning between 2010 and 2015, it was found that those who had lawyers were more than six times as likely to be allowed to stay in the country as those without. Nearly 55% of those with lawyers were allowed to stay compared to 9% of immigrants without lawyers. Nationally, the picture is similar: Immigrants without lawyers had an average success rate of less than 8%. Cases that began since 2015 were omitted from the analysis because so many of them have not yet been decided. Aissa Olivarez works for the Community...

Public support for cannabis is growing, but GOP lawmakers mostly oppose the plan by Governor Tony Evers to legalize medical cannabis and possession of small amounts. Gary Storck has been here before. For decades, Storck, a longtime medical marijuana advocate from Madison, has been pushing the state Legislature to legalize his medicine. Storck suffers from glaucoma. He uses cannabis to slow progression of the disease, which is gradually robbing him of his sight. The first big moment was in 2002, when statewide polling found that 80.3 percent of Wisconsinites supported medical marijuana. Storck was ecstatic. When he first heard...

NextGen believes its multi-million dollar effort helped increase turnout among voters ages 18-35, but experts say that cannot be tied to one group or strategy. Borna Riazi, 19, said his parents and teachers “never really” pushed him to vote. Riazi did not see voting as something that had a direct impact on his life. Plus, he described himself as “too lazy.” “I wish you could just show up to a place and just vote,” Riazi said. “Like, no pre-registration, no nothing.” But being a student on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus before the 2018 midterm elections put voting directly...