Wisconsin Watch

Enbridge estimates an August gas leak on its Line 5 pipeline in northern Wisconsin will cost at least $15.1 million.

Its federal accident report says emergency response accounts for nearly $10 million of those costs, with another $5 million tied to public and private property damage and repairs. The cause of the incident remains under investigation.

Click the link in the comments to read more from our partners at Wisconsin Public Radio.

The Milwaukee Police Department isn't using generative AI today — but it has already adopted rules for how the technology could be used in the future.

As police and prosecutors weigh AI tools that could help draft reports, defense attorneys and civil rights advocates are raising questions about accuracy, bias and accountability in criminal cases.

Read more from Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service at the link in the comments.

Degrees, bootcamps, apprenticeships, stackable certificates, employer-direct pathways. The alternatives to a traditional four-year degree are multiplying faster than anyone can evaluate them — and the stakes couldn't be higher for the students betting their futures on them, the employers trying to hire from them, and the communities whose economic mobility depends on getting this right.

The question isn't whether the credential landscape is changing. It’s whether your city and the state are keeping up.

Join Wisconsin Watch and Open Campus for a free event focused on how Wisconsin communities are navigating this new landscape.

Register today: https://events.wiscotix.com/e/the-new-pathways-shaping-wisconsins-workforce

The event is presented by Ascendium with support from The Joyce Foundation.

As Milwaukee develops a new community policing plan, city leaders are looking to Baltimore for lessons on what works — and where the approach can fall short.

Devin Blake of Neighborhood News Service explores four takeaways from Baltimore's experience and how they compare with what the Milwaukee Police Department says it's already doing.

What do you think effective community policing looks like?

Read more at the link in the comments.

President Donald Trump's promise of a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if his preferred candidates win this fall's congressional elections violates Wisconsin's election bribery law, Jeff Mandell of Law Forward argues. But because Trump is unlikely to face legal consequences, Mandell writes that voters must ultimately decide what they will tolerate from their leaders.

What do you think?

Click the links in the comments to read the full guest opinion — and learn how to submit your own column for consideration.

Layla Merrifield, president of Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, will join us to discuss the New Pathways Shaping Wisconsin's Workforce on Oct. 6 in Madison.

Register for the free event today: https://events.wiscotix.com/e/the-new-pathways-shaping-wisconsins-workforce

Hosted by Wisconsin Watch and Open Campus, the event is presented by Ascendium with support from The Joyce Foundation.

Last year, the Trump administration announced that most programs that receive federal funding would need to start checking the immigration status of every person they serve, reversing decades of precedent.

This week, a federal judge tossed out those rules, saying the government had violated federal law because it hadn’t given notice or the opportunity for public comment.

The decision means millions of Wisconsinites — immigrant and native-born — won’t have to jump through hoops to prove their legal status before attending classes, seeing a doctor or receiving assistance at a food pantry.

Read the story, paywall-free, at the link in the comments

For four decades, Literacy Green Bay has helped immigrants and refugees start new lives by teaching them English as a second language.

But the nonprofit took a major blow when the Trump administration slashed federal funding and gutted refugee resettlement programs.

As a result, Literacy Green Bay reduced classes from 15 to eight, stopped offering free child care and has a 300-person waitlist.

Read more about how the organization is “rebuilding." Story link in the comments.

Long-term care jobs are expected to grow exponentially over the next 10 years. But leaders of nursing homes and home health agencies are already experiencing workforce shortages, leading them to turn people who are seeking care away.

They say changes to federal immigration policy have made it even harder for them to fill workforce gaps.

Read more reporting from Astrid Code at the link in the comments.

This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of five news outlets.

Extreme weather events have real costs, according to local elected officials, researchers and community members. Property damage, rising insurance premiums and tax hikes affect property owners and taxpayers. Recreation suffers. Health worries mount.

Jean Marsch, a village of Allouez trustee, said she wants to see more government funding allocated to help communities deal with flooding and runoff.

Village officials encourage residents to do their part by using rain barrels, keeping leaves and grass clippings off the street and avoiding fertilizers with phosphorus.

“Everybody has a role to play in maintaining the safety and health of our community,” Marsch said. “We all have a role to play in doing what we can.”

Follow the link in the comments to read more reporting from Ann Meyer of the Green Bay Press Times.

This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of five news outlets.