10 days only: See our documentary, ‘Los Lecheros’ (Dairy Farmers) online or on demand
Welcome to the fifth edition of our selective weekly roundup of top news stories we think Wisconsin residents, or people who care about the state, need to know about.
A special treat: For 10 days only, click here to view our first documentary online, as part of a digital showcase of the Meet the Press Film Festival in Collaboration with the American Film Institute.
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and New York filmmaker Jim Cricchi’s Twelve Letter Films co-produced “Los Lecheros (Dairy Farmers), which explores rising tensions over undocumented dairy workers since the election of President Trump.
The 21-minute documentary premiered this week at the Meet the Press/AFI event and was shown last night at DOC NYC, the nation’s largest documentary film festival.
Prefer to lean back and watch the film? The digital showcase is available on Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV. Just download the NBC News app and dive into the Meet the Press category within the app.
If you’re a cable subscriber, you can find the digital showcase on most set-top boxes within the on-demand function. Just open the NBC section; Los Lecheros is listed in the MTP Film Festival.
More plans are in the works for showings of the film, so please stay tuned!
Also of note in this WisconsinWeekly: A new WCIJ story, part of our Documenting Hate project with ProPublica. Experts told us hate and bias incidents across the state are on the rise. Some blame President Donald Trump’s fiery anti-Muslim, “Build the wall” rhetoric. Others say the hate goes back nearly two decades, when the U.S. Census Bureau began projecting that sometime this century, whites would no longer be the majority population.
Who produces WisconsinWeekly? Andy and Dee J. Hall, a couple who founded the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Andy is the executive director and Dee is the managing editor.
Across Wisconsin, recent rises in hate, bias incidents spark concern
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism — Nov. 12, 2017
Hate and bias incidents are rising in Wisconsin. Our latest Documenting Hate story details anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-Native American incidents and identifies hate groups across the state.
Whistleblower accuses Epic of government fraud in lawsuit
The Cap Times — Nov. 11, 2017
A whistleblower suing Epic Systems claims that the company knew about an error in its billing software that allowed health care providers to be reimbursed twice for the same service. Filed under the federal False Claims Act, the complaint claims that the error has caused hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent bills to be submitted to Medicaid and Medicare.
GOP tax plan in trouble after Republican senator says he won’t back it
Washington Post — Nov. 15, 2017
The Republican tax plan suffered setbacks after Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he wouldn’t back it. Johnson said he opposed the plan because it benefited large corporations at the expensive of smaller companies.
Wisconsin leaders quietly ease way to condemn private property for pipeline expansion
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Nov. 9, 2017
In its latest addition to its ongoing Oil and Water project, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that despite support for property rights, Wisconsin’s Republican leaders have made it easier to condemn private land for a Canadian pipeline expansion.
Climate change is here: Wisconsin is seeing earlier springs, later falls, less snow and more floods
The Cap Times — Nov. 15, 2017
Wisconsin is becoming “less cold,” according to University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. Wisconsin’s wildlife, ecosystems and recreation industries have experienced or will soon face significant changes — including loss of sport fish, snow and ice cover and an increase in severe storms — unless climate change is slowed or reversed, scientists warn.