Policy

Significant numbers of Milwaukee voters were dissuaded from voting on April 7 by the sharp reduction in polling places and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic — with the biggest effects seen among Black voters, according to a study from the Brennan Center for Justice.
In the early 1980s, a new mysterious malady captured the attention of public health professionals. Initially labeled GRID, these clusters of illnesses seemed to largely be an issue only on the East and West coasts. But Wisconsin's government was taking action.
Wisconsin is not the only place where voter roll purges are sparking disputes.
Multiple court cases filed in Wisconsin and across the U.S. ahead of the 2020 presidential election illustrate the tension between maintaining clean and accurate voter rolls and promoting accessibility for all.
More than two dozen Wisconsin communities have witnessed demonstrations demanding greater accountability for police over the week since Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd on May 25.
Short of a cure or effective treatment for COVID-19, something that could take years to develop, state and local health officials in Wisconsin are planning for a future where contact tracing plays a central role in combating the disease.
Everyone is vulnerable to conspiracism, said Ajay Sethi, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. With COVID-19, that's especially true.
A highly contagious disease put the population in a panic. The government's response became politicized. Less affluent neighborhoods bore the brunt of the outbreak. The best medical science of the day was doubted. An aggressive protest against public health enforcement broke out.
Is Wisconsin finding more cases of COVID-19 because more people are becoming infected with the virus that causes it, or because more people are being tested for it? Answers to this question are anything but simple.
"Spanish flu" ultimately killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 across the U.S., including 8,459 people in Wisconsin. History is resonating more than a century later as the state fights a new viral villain that has upended life across the world.