News about WCIJ
Jim Malewitz named Wisconsin Watch investigations editor
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After a nationwide search, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has chosen Jim Malewitz, a veteran of nonprofit journalism, as investigations editor.
The Cannabis Question
‘I’m still discriminated against’: Wisconsin lawmakers propose easing burdens on marijuana offenders
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Proposals could help those with past arrests or convictions seek jobs and other opportunities; experts say the existing expungement law is hard to navigate.
Immigration
How undocumented immigrants became the backbone of dairies — and how to keep the milk flowing in America’s Dairyland
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Farmers, experts say reliance on immigrant workers, many of them in the U.S. illegally, will continue unless dairies — and Congress — make significant changes.
Documenting Hate
Memorial near Wisconsin synagogue defaced with swastikas, pro-Trump graffiti
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A memorial near the Gates of Heaven synagogue in Madison was spray-painted with swastikas and pro-Trump messages in large red letters hours before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Immigration
A Syrian family settles in Wisconsin, just before U.S. refugee pipeline closes
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Some worry about President Trump’s immigration policies; local officials assure immigrants they will not be targeted.
Children Left Behind
Affordable rent, stable housing help some residents succeed
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Stable housing plays a key role in ensuring academic success.
Children Left Behind
Apartment learning centers seek to shrink achievement gap for children and adults
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Community learning centers in Madison and Milwaukee offer a promising method of shrinking academic achievement gaps.
Failure at the Faucet
Lead poisoning would trigger tap water test under proposal
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Two Democratic lawmakers want the state Department of Health Services to investigate drinking water as a possible source when children are lead poisoned. The proposal also greatly lowers the blood lead levels that would trigger an investigation.
Municipal Wells
Downtown Madison built on coal ash
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Before coal ash was more regulated, companies dumped tons of it in low areas of the Isthmus and elsewhere. Whether it has contaminated Madison’s water is unclear.
Invasive Species
Water-cleaning crustacean devoured by new predator in Lake Mendota
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Daphnia, tiny crustaceans in Lake Mendota that graze on algae, and their good works are in danger. Each year their population is now crashing in the late summer as they are decimated by a voracious new predator called the spiny waterflea.
digesters
How to make a digester profitable: Veggies and poker chips
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The greenhouse and its veggies are one example of a new cottage industry popping up across the country to capitalize on the waste energy, methane gas and the nutrient-rich solids that are emitted from a digester.
Cold Cases
Madison cold case gets warmer
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The investigation of Andrew Nehmer’s 1986 murder highlights both the opportunities that new technologies present for solving old crimes and the challenges posed by degraded evidence, vanishing witnesses and fading memories.