#WISCONSIN

[mothrealm]

last night’s walk.

[discrepancybot]

It's National Dairy Month. And they don't call Wisconsin "The Dairy State" for nothing.

June is National Dairy Month

To commemorate National Dairy Month we are showing a farm to table progression of a glass of milk. The first three images, from the 1910s, come from the Roman B.J. Kwasniewski Photographs and can be accessed through the Milwaukee Polonia digital collection. The last photograph is from the James Blair Murdoch Photograph Collection, it is dated 1938 and shows Mr. and Mrs. Edw. Maske enjoying their milk. This photograph can be accessed through our digital collections.

Man stands next to dairy cattle in milking stalls, 04/01/1918, Kwasniewski: “On Farm”, A04210

Man standing with Gridley Dairy milk jugs, [undated], A00176

Man inside horse-drawn dairy delivery wagon, [undated], Wagon reads, “Distributors Kieckhefer’s Certified Milk”, A07096

Man and woman drinking milk, 11/09/1938, Golden Guernsey Dairy, UWMMSS131_0668

[archi-playground]

[sigridstumb]

I spent six hours yesterday driving the entire width of Wisconsin. I saw:

A massive wind farm.

Multiple solar farms and buildings with solar panels.

A pagan supply store with the progress pride flag in the window.

A billboard saying "No More Billionaires!"

The rural heartland ain't a monolith.

Of course I also saw a lot of MAGA stuff. But Wisconsin isn't a discrete thing, it is millions of individual people with nuance and detail and difference. So are "rural America," "the South," and "red states."

Don't castigate people for where they live. Help folks working for change.

[prinsesapagibig]

[interestingtimesss]

i looked this up to see where it happened (wisconsin), and the details are horrific.

nobody asked for it, but here's the mural of the great fire from the peshtigo fire museum

[ruigiraccoon]

[coochiequeens]

Re-eclect Democratic state Rep. Shelia Stubbs

Effort comes after murder of 19-year-old Sade Robinson in Milwaukee

By Evan Casey  June 23, 2025

Rep. Shelia Stubbs speaks during a press conference Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

A Wisconsin lawmaker is renewing her push to create a state task force on missing and murdered Black women after the high-profile murder of a Milwaukee woman last year.

Democratic state Rep. Shelia Stubbs, a Black lawmaker from Madison, first introduced a bill to create the task force three years ago. She introduced the bill again last year, but it failed to get a vote in the Senate. She’s now trying for a third time after the death of 19-year-old Sade Robinson, who was killed by a man she met for a first date.

“Three years is three years too long,” Stubbs said. “How many victims have we lost waiting on time?” 

Robinson went missing after she went out to dinner and drinks with Maxwell Anderson on April 1, 2024. Earlier this month, a jury found Anderson guilty of killing and dismembering Robinson.

Stubbs said she’s built a relationship with Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, and has spoken with her often over the past few months. Stubbs was in the courtroom when the guilty verdict was read.

“It was just a moment of … thankfulness, a moment of feeling like our prayers were answered,” Stubbs said of the verdict. 

Standing outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse moments after the jury convicted Anderson, Scarbrough said she’ll be working with Stubbs to get the task force started in Wisconsin. 

“We’re pushing for the missing and murdered task force,” Scarbrough said during a press conference. “It’s mandatory.” 

“The state definitely needs it for our BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] women, for all women,” she added. 

Sade Robinson. Photo courtesy Milwaukee Police Department

A 2022 investigation by The Guardian found that an average of five Black women and girls were killed every day in the United States in 2020. The National Crime Information Center found that in 2022, more than 97,000 Black women and girls were reported missing.

A 2024 report in the Lancet found that in Wisconsin in 2019 and 2020, “Black women aged 25–44 years were 20 times more likely to die by homicide than White women.”

Stubbs called those statistics “alarming.”

“This is the state that I live in,” Stubbs said. “This is the state I’m raising my 15-year-old in.” 

The main goal of the task force, Stubbs said, would be to, “investigate systemic causes of violence against African American women and girls.”

“I want to really look at the policies from law enforcement that they’re using to search for these missing families,” she said.

Stubbs also wants to improve data collection in the state around the issue. 

“But most important, we need to develop aid to victims [and] their families in our community,” Stubbs said.

The task force would have law enforcement members, legal experts, experts in the field of gender-based violence and representatives from organizations that provide aid to Black women. It would also have survivors and victims of gender-based violence or their family members. 

Stubbs said the “victims” would be the most important people on the task force. 

A group of supporters and family of Sade Robinson gathered outside of the Milwaukee County Courthouse on June 6, 2025. Evan Casey/WPR

Stubbs said the first time she introduced the bill, it did not have bipartisan support. The second time she introduced the measure, it had the support of Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, and Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona — who both signed on as cosponsors.

After the bill was introduced last year, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin Executive Director Monique Minkens said the task force would be a “step in the direction of saving lives.”

But after the bill passed in the Assembly, it was not taken up for a vote in the Senate after some pushback from former Sen. Duey Stroebel. 

Schraa is no longer in office. James was not available for comment.

Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget included funding for a staff member for the task force, which would be housed in the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention, according to the budget proposal. But the powerful Joint Finance Committee removed that provision in the budget.

In a statement, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said he supports the creation of the task force.

“I fully support action by the state legislature to create and provide the resources needed for a task force on missing and murdered African American women and girls,” Kaul wrote in the statement. “It’s critical for this task force to have adequate state funding so the task force has the resources it needs to help effect meaningful change.”

In an interview with WPR, Stubbs said she’s not yet sure when she’ll officially reintroduce the bill for the task force. 

“But I am going to say this very loud and clear: We are going to fight until this bill becomes law across the state of Wisconsin,” Stubbs said.

Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

[karathysworld]

Wisconsin Natural Beauty

[reasonsforhope]

"Tilia is a vest-wearing conservation dog that the 444-acre [Mequon] nature preserve relies on for vital conservation and restoration work.

The dog’s responsibilities include sniffing out invasive and endangered species in the prairies, forests, and wetlands of Mequon.

Conservation dogs have become more commonplace in wildlife organizations, tapping into their astonishing scent-detecting abilities.

“Dogs in general already have up to 200 million olfactory sensors,” Cory Gritzmacher, the director of operations at the nature preserve, told Wisconsin Life.

Humans, on the other hand, have about 5 million.

“[Dogs are] already set up and designed for scent detection,” Gritzmacher added. “It’s really just finding a dog that’s motivated, that wants to do it on a regular basis and is excited to do it.”

Tilia was the pup for the job.

One of her main roles is to detect wild parsnip, an invasive species that staff removes once it is found on the property.

Compared to humans, Tilia can find parsnip in its first year, while it’s still close to the ground and camouflaged by other plants. This is vital, since parsnip will start to spread rapidly by the time it reaches its second season in the preserve. 

Studies show that the estimated damage caused by invasive species has cost the United States around $120 billion annually, as it impacts agriculture, recreational industries, and wildlife management. 

By catching invasive species that take hold of local flora and fauna early, Tilia achieves something no humans can.

“The best trained volunteers or staff in the world won’t even be able to find what a canine can,” Gritzmacher said. “That’s the pretty impressive part of it. And who doesn’t want to go to work with a dog?” ...

Tilia began training as a puppy, and now nearly seven years old, she’s a pro at scent detection — which all started with some treats hidden in cardboard boxes...

“As she continues to hit on the correct scent, then she gets rewarded. So, she’s going to get paid again. We do our work, we get paid. She does her work, she gets paid.”

Tilia can also spot Blue-Spotted and Easter Tiger Salamanders, which are endangered in the area. Her other scents include Wood Turtle and Garlic Mustard.

Of course, her workload remains balanced with time off. Her official owner is the director of Mequon Nature Preserve, who is happy to embrace her as the family dog when she’s not out sniffing.

But Gritzmacher, who trains and works alongside Tilia, adores her, not only for her companionship, but for the miracles she is able to work as an asset to Wisconsin’s conservationists.

“Canines are going to start to play a huge role in the conservation field just because of their amazing detection skills,” Gritzmacher said, “especially when resources are limited, staff is limited and you have to search potentially thousands of acres or miles.”

In fact, Tilia was joined by a partner in crime a few years ago: Timber, another chocolate lab who is actually the offspring of Tilia’s sister.

By following in her pawprints, Timber’s “powerful nose will be a key tool” in the preserve’s “land restoration efforts,” according to its website.

“For years, scientists have tried to replicate the power and efficiency of the canine nose,” Mequon Nature Preserve adds on a webpage for Tilia and Timber.

“The results keep coming back the same: The canine nose is second to none. Coupled with an insatiable desire to work and serve, Tilia and Timber help us find things humans often can’t.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, December 2, 2024

[thosemotivationalquotes]

Friendly reminder that almost half of the states in the U.S. have same day registration! This means you can go to the polling center for your location, register there, and cast your vote same day. So if you are over 18, are a U.S. citizen, and live in one of the states listed below, it is not too late to register and vote! I’m going to put notes for some of the states where voting is extra important due to the political climate of the state. *Please note that every state has its own rules and requirements for same day registration and voting, some are only for early voting, or have very specific ID requirements. Make sure to research your state specifically before showing up to the polls

California

Colorado

Connecticut

D.C.

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Iowa - recent polls indicate state could flip from red to blue

Maine

Maryland

Michigan - swing state! Could go red or blue!

Minnesota

Montana

Nevada - swing state! Could go red or blue!

New Hampshire

New Mexico

North Carolina - swing state! Could go red or blue - same day registration allowed only for early voting

North Dakota - voter registration not required

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin - swing state! Could go red or blue

Wyoming

You can go here for more info on voter registration

I also have a huge list of voting resources here

[the-alpine-glow]

Cheesestrogen, Cheesestosterone

[liberalsarecool]

C'mon, Wisconsin. Elect Susan Crawford!

#WisconsinSupremeCourt

[prinsesapagibig]

[destiel-news-network]

(Source 1, Source 2)