Author: WisContext

A detailed report and map released in June 2018 offer compelling evidence that obesity is an even more widespread condition in Wisconsin than health researchers previously understood. And as detailed by zip code, the map indicates that rural areas across much of the state have particularly high rates. This analysis measures obesity using body mass index, a calculation based on a patient’s weight and height, and establishes different levels classified as obese among adults and children. The map’s creators emphasize that they’re not trying to “fat-shame” people who are obese, and there are long-standing concerns about the scientific validity...

Flying the United States flag at half-staff is a custom of honoring select dead that has taken shape over the course of the nation’s history. While it’s a time-honored practice, the reasons for taking the action and protocol governing it have changed considerably, and continue to do so. In the 21st century, it may seem to observers that flags are being flown at half-staff more often. In 2015, flags were lowered somewhere across the U.S. nearly every day of the year. The 9/11 attacks marked a turning point in the practice, as have previous conflicts going back to the...

Wisconsin marked its 170th anniversary of statehood on May 29, 2018. To understand the state’s relationship to federal law and national government, legal scholar Joseph Ranney says it is necessary to look back decades earlier, to a point in United States history when the Constitution was still being drafted with the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance. “The Northwest Ordinance is arguably the most important law passed that affects Wisconsin,” Ranney said. Ranney is a lawyer and visiting professor at the Marquette University Law School and the author of many books, including Wisconsin and the Shaping of American Law, published...

Wisconsin’s wild bees are a small but mighty part of the ecosystem for native plants and agriculture alike. And they’re in trouble. According to the Wisconsin Pollinator Plan issued by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Protection in April 2016, pollinator-dependent crops that include cranberries, apples, cherries and green beans account for over $55 million in annual production around the state. The value of these insect pollinators to native wild plants is harder to quantify. But environmental threats to native bumble bees, such as habitat loss, extreme weather and exposure to pesticides or pathogens, mean that many species...

Just over half of Wisconsin’s counties experienced population growth over 2010-17, based on U.S. Census figures, with counties shaded aqua gaining residents and those shaded blue losing them. Most of the gains are in the central and southern parts of the state, while many rural areas have lost population. It is a time of profound change for Wisconsin’s population — where it is concentrated, where it is moving, which age groups and racial and ethnic origins it reflects, and what kinds of lives all residents are seeking to live. Demographers project that over the next several decades, Wisconsinites will...

Bon-Ton’s bankruptcy means more than 200 of its stores around the U.S. are closing, including a dozen Boston Store and Younkers locations in Wisconsin, as well as corporate offices in Milwaukee. The Bon-Ton family of department stores is the most recent casualty in the decline of malls around the country. The number of malls built in the United States has grown stagnant over the last decade, and online retailers like Amazon have challenged their role as hubs for both shopping and social gathering. Bon-Ton’s bankruptcy and the impending closures of the stores it operates — under seven different names...