Lake Effect Spotlight

Air quality in Milwaukee reached historically hazardous levels last week. And while it’s gotten better, there are still reasons to be cautious. Wildfires in Canada continue to burn across Ontario. Some health experts are advising people to stay vigilant, with the potential for more smoke spreading over the Midwest. 

Dr. Ben Weston is Milwaukee County’s Chief Health Policy Advisor. He joins WUWM’s Eddie Morales to talk about the effects of short- and long-term exposure to wildfire smoke. 

Thousands of airplane enthusiasts are in Oshkosh this week for the annual AirVenture celebration. The festival is put on by the Experimental Aircraft Association, based right here in Wisconsin. It’s the largest festival of its kind, with people flying in from all corners of the world to attend.  

That includes Jessica Cox, a pilot from Arizona who’s in Oshkosh sharing her journey to becoming the world’s first licensed pilot without arms. She’ll also be showing off her Impossible Airplane - the first plane designed to be operated by feet. Cox joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to share more. 

It’s July 1952 in Oconto, Wisconsin. You wake up, stretch, pour some coffee, all while strange sounds filter in from outside. Some witnesses describe sounds like a combination of rubbing on a balloon, and distant rifle fire.

Only it isn’t distant rifles making these sounds - it’s 175 million …. frogs. 

Tea Krulos is a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine, who wrote about the Great Oconto Frog Invasion for this month’s issue. He sat down with Lake Effect’s Sam Woods to discuss the phenomenon, and how little of it is remembered today. 

To mark the beginning of summer, WUWM’s Maayan Silver is looking into the origins of the beloved and unmistakable song “Summertime.”  

She’s joined by Jason McKinney, an opera singer, educator and music director with Milwaukee roots. 

Beyond Our Senses is a new nature documentary that gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world of Bank Swallows. The 30-minute film follows thousands of Bank Swallows as they migrate to Lake Michigan’s bluffs in the spring. It explores how the small birds navigate the breeding season with their unique vision and flight abilities.  

David Busse is the director behind the film and a Milwaukee native. He joins Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez for June's Chirp Chat to talk about Bank Swallows and the making of the film. 

Nicholas Hune-Brown is an editor at a nonprofit online magazine called The Local. It covers health and social issues in Toronto, Canada. Nick has shared how, as an editor, he loves to give new writers a platform. But everything changed when he received a suspicious pitch from a writer named Victoria Goldiee.  

 As Nick took a closer look, it turns out the writer wasn’t who she seemed. Nick joins Lake Effect's Xcaret Nuñez to share his investigation into an AI freelancer — and what it reveals about the future of journalism. 

From our 'AI in the workplace' episode on Tuesday: we look at how artificial intelligence is impacting education. WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal takes us on a trip to Ronald Reagan High School on the city’s far south side.  

For the past 13 years, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been synonymous with the Bucks and the city of Milwaukee. Sadly, last week, he was traded. But even though the Giannis era has come to an end, his impact on the city won’t be forgotten. 

WUWM’s Jimmy Gutierrez shares this essay about the global superstar who put Milwaukee back on the map. 

We look at the tenure of Milwaukee’s last Socialist mayor, Frank Zeidler, and his aggressive campaign to expand the size of the city. We also explore what socialism looks like in Milwaukee today.

Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Hoan became the longest-serving socialist mayor in U.S. history, and redefined life in the city by creating parks, publicly-funded housing and the first modern sewage treatment facility. But it was a tumultuous time for the socialists, who faced local and global pressure over their ideology.