Lake Effect Spotlight

If you go to a natural history museum almost anywhere in the world, you can expect to see dioramas displaying how animals live in the wild. Dioramas have become integral to museums, transporting visitors to unfamiliar landscapes through art and science. But did you know that it started right here in Milwaukee?  

The Milwaukee-style diorama revolutionized how museums curated their exhibits, and the original diorama lives on at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Dr. Ellen Censky is the president and CEO of the museum, and she joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to talk about the museum’s long history with dioramas. 

A new documentary looks at what students with different faith backgrounds can learn from each other. The film focuses on an ambitious teacher and his students in a World Religions class at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois.  

It’s showing at the Milwaukee Film Fest and ahead of that WUWM’s Maayan Silver speaks with filmmaker Allison Walsh and producer Lily Qi about the project, and what it’s all about. 

We all know about Smokey Bear — the iconic mascot for wildfire prevention. But do you know about Torchy Timberloss? He’s Wisconsin’s very own fire mascot who recently came out of retirement. Torchy is a devilish looking flame that dates back to the 1950s.  

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says Torchy’s image has evolved over the years. Nowadays, he’s focused on spreading the message that not all fires are bad. Catherine Koele is a wildfire prevention specialist, and Michele Witecha is a prescribed fire specialist, with the Wisconsin DNR.  

They join Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez to share Torchy’s story and the benefits of prescribed fires. 

John Gurda is perhaps best known as the chief historian of the City of Milwaukee. His documentary series and book The Making of Milwaukee have become vital resources in understanding the city’s history.  

But Gurda’s impact on Milwaukee has been broad and varied. In fact, his work can be seen in neighborhoods throughout the city, on lampposts and in homes. John Gurda joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers to talk the City of Neighborhoods and the posters that represent them. 

Later this week WUWM will begin a series about an out of state landlord that’s being sued by the Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office.  

Lake Effect’s Sam Woods and Jimmy Gutierrez will explore how some of David Tomblin’s tenants have joined together to fight for their housing rights, and how the city is backing those residents trying to loosen Tomblin’s grip on the 260 properties he owns. Here’s Sam and Jimmy with what you can expect.

Conservationists are celebrating the return of sturgeon to the Milwaukee River – 20 miles upstream from Lake Michigan. 

It’s the first time one of the giant fish was documented in Ozaukee County in more than a century. Sturgeon disappeared from the river because of things like overfishing and degraded habitat. The discovery of the sturgeon so far from Lake Michigan signals a milestone in a sturgeon restoration project that’s been underway for 20 years. 

WUWM environmental reporter Susan Bence is joined by Andrew Struck, the director of planning and parks in Ozaukee County to explain how this happened.

WUWM has been addressing barriers to homeownership in Milwaukee and the possible solutions in our series, Keys to Homeownership. One local program is working to make housing more attainable – and affordable - for early educators. For teachers or childcare providers, the salary can range from thirty-five thousand dollars a year up to about 70 thousand.  

Now, I don’t have to go into statistics for anyone to recognize that the current inflated housing market makes owning a home extremely difficult for early educators.  

That’s why the Community Development Alliance created the Early Childhood Education Homes program. They build homes on vacant city lots that cost about $105,000. The goal is to not only improve housing security - but also improve retention and recruitment of Milwaukee teachers and early educators.  

Wisconsin’s spring election was yesterday. Voters elected liberal-backed candidate Chris Taylor to the state supreme court. She won by a wide margin over conservative-backed Maria Lazar. And there were local races in many parts of the state. To give us a rundown on some of the results, Lake Effect's Joy Powers chats with WUWM editor Emily Files, who leads our voter guide project.

The Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee recently released the Women's Well-Being Index. This data-driven report provides both a state-wide outlook and one of Greater Milwaukee on how women are faring across areas such as safety, health, economic security, education and more. 

The study was made in collaboration with the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison using publicly available statewide data. To help break down the data and share how it could be used to build more equity, Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski is joined by Mary Beth Collins, the Executive Director of the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies. 

Tomorrow's election comes after the elections in 2023 and 2025 altered the ideological makeup of the State Supreme Court. Liberal-leaning justices now hold the majority. 

The ideological makeup will not be influenced by this election, but that doesn’t mean the race won’t have a long-term impact. WUWM’s Maayan Silver is joined by Barry Burden, politics professor at UW-Madison, to find out what’s at stake in this election.