This story is part of a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and The Appeal. 

Four decades ago, a newspaper investigation described Milwaukee’s municipal legal system as “cash register justice.” Thousands of impoverished residents with mental health or substance use issues languished in county jails due to unpaid civil violation fines, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Responding to the outcry from The Milwaukee Journal’s 1985 investigation, the city stopped automatically jailing residents who failed to pay civil fines and expanded its Court Alternatives Program. As a result, Milwaukee sent people like Sue Eckhart to court, where they could help low-income residents and those with mental health problems by offering alternatives to incarceration. 

Eckhart has managed the alternatives program for decades, providing assessments, screenings, and referrals to treatments or community service for those facing civil violations, such as illegal parking or loitering.

Since 2015, the program’s vendor, currently JusticePoint, Inc., has served 705 people with mental health issues, 80% of whom resolved their cases without paying a fine, wrote Eckhart, the organization’s program director, in an email to Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and The Appeal. The nonprofit says it’s served 11,000 total clients during the last eight years.

Although the organizations providing those services changed over time, the core staff — Eckhart and her colleagues — stayed put. But in May, Eckhart suffered a “gut punch” when the city terminated her organization’s contract before it expired in 2024.

Officials provided little explanation as to why and did not line up another vendor to take over what many see as vital work to curb mass incarceration. 

“I never saw that coming at all,” Eckhart said in an interview.

In a last-ditch effort to seek answers, JusticePoint sued the city on July 10 — a day before the city’s cancellation took effect. A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge quickly granted a temporary restraining order, allowing JusticePoint’s services to continue as the dispute unfolds in court. 

But the prospect of eliminating — and not replacing — JusticePoint’s services has stirred confusion and deep concerns among those serving some of Milwaukee’s most vulnerable residents.

At a time when numerous states and cities are taking steps to reduce pretrial detention, advocates in Milwaukee say attempting to halt the city’s court alternatives program is a step in reverse.

“It is shocking that Milwaukee Municipal Court would suddenly cancel the contract for such an invaluable program,” wrote a coalition of 24 local organizations in May after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the city’s plans. They added that the court had provided no information on what would happen to the hundreds of people JusticePoint currently serves. 

One of JusticePoint’s clients is Quintin Walls, a 42-year-old father of six, who owed $100 for a civil violation. He has received services from the organization three times now, starting when he received parking tickets while living in his car. Over the years, the organization connected him to community service to pay off his fines and to resources that led him to secure housing.

The coalition urged the mayor and the city’s Common Council to save the program, but officials say neither has control over the contract. The council funds but does not oversee the program, allocating $487,000 for JusticePoint’s services this year.

Two Municipal Court judges, Phil Chavez and Valarie Hill, recommended terminating the contract before a third judge, Molly Gena, was elected in April, city officials said during a June Common Council subcommittee meeting. It would have been illegal and unenforceable if the council had directed the court to rescind the termination notice, Assistant City Attorney Kathryn Block said at the subcommittee meeting. 

Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, who represents the city’s East Side, called the court’s decision “fishy” and “quite troubling.” 

Brostoff and Alderman Michael Murphy, who represents Milwaukee’s West Side, later told Wisconsin Watch they were concerned about the court’s lack of transparency.

Court officials declined to answer questions from Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and The Appeal, citing the pending lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson declined to comment for this story, but added that Johnson “was not involved in any decision-making” regarding the contract.

Nick Sayner, JusticePoint’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said he’s troubled by the lack of transparency from officials.

“The court’s silence and the city’s silence tells you that you should be concerned that there’s something else going on here,” Sayner said.

Judges ‘lost faith’ in JusticePoint

Judges Chavez and Hill told Chief Court Administrator Sheldyn Himle they “lost faith” in JusticePoint over the longstanding practice of sharing citations with attorneys at Legal Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to people with low incomes, according to a May 15 email between Sayner and Himle.

The city attorney’s office had advised JusticePoint to share citations during pilot phases of a program to help people with low incomes find legal representation, Sayner wrote to Himle.  

“It is not clear to me how we were to know we should have ceased this activity prior to receiving your feedback,” Sayner wrote. “Once we were notified by your office to end this activity, we stopped providing that information immediately.”

Sayner also told Himle that JusticePoint hadn’t received broader feedback from the court for several years, but was open to it as long as the program’s principles remained consistent. 

Legal Action of Wisconsin attorneys were not aware of any past issues with sharing citations, said Susan Lund, an attorney with the nonprofit. Her firm receives identical copies of citations through police department open records requests and said she did not know why JusticePoint’s information sharing would be a problem. 

(Legal Action of Wisconsin separately sued the Municipal Court in July, alleging the court failed to record hearings on judgments and case reopenings as required by state law.) 

In a May 15 letter, the city’s purchasing department informed Sayner it was terminating JusticePoint’s contract, effective July 11. JusticePoint had not delivered unspecified “possible solutions” following a May 5 meeting, the letter said. 

Eckhart, whose office sits on the second floor of the Municipal Court building, said she was mortified upon learning the news. 

“‘Oh, my God, what are our clients going to do?’” she said she thought. 

The city terminated the contract under a “convenience” clause, rather than for cause, allowing it to be canceled for any reason as long as the city gave JusticePoint 10-days written notice. If it had terminated for cause the city would have had to give JusticePoint 30 days to fix any alleged deficiencies.

“At no point was JusticePoint informed that failure to respond with possible solutions would result in the termination of the contract,” Sayner and fellow co-founder Edward Gordon wrote to the purchasing division.

Plan to replace JusticePoint’s services is unclear 

Speaking at a June subcommittee meeting, Himle said the court planned to continue the Court Alternatives Program without JusticePoint. She did not clearly answer how that would happen without a new contractor. 

“The judges have made some decisions on how to continue as best they can through referrals they may make,” Himle said.

James Gramling, Jr., a retired Municipal Court judge, said in an interview it was unreasonable to expect judges to make such assessments from the bench, particularly in cases unfolding on Zoom.

“The judges seem to think they’re going to be able to identify from the bench people that have addiction, mental health issues and refer them to some agency. Good luck with that — it’s not workable,” Gramling said. 

As a judge, Gramling would assess the needs of defendants and then rely on one of Eckhart’s case workers to perform a full screening outside of the courtroom, Grambling detailed in a letter to the Common Council. Defendants would often be directed to perform community service or receive counseling or treatment. 

“Many thousands of people are processed without individual treatment by the court,” Gramling wrote. “And many of those defendants are disadvantaged members within our community: the poor, those addicted to drugs and alcohol, those suffering from mental health issues.”

Nearly 60% of JusticePoint participants participate in community service. The program’s alcohol and substance abuse program serves more than 90% of participants, as do its mental health services, according to the city budget.  

Gena, the newest of the three Municipal Court judges, said terminating JusticePoint’s contract would make her job “a lot harder.” Speaking at the June meeting, the former Legal Action of Wisconsin managing attorney said she could order people to pay fines but can’t address root causes that will send many people back to court.

“It was indicated that maybe the other judges have a plan — I don’t,” she said. 

JusticePoint’s lawsuit argues termination lacked good cause

In its lawsuit, JusticePoint argues the city violated the Wisconsin Fair Dealership law, which protects “dealers” — typically business owners — whose economic livelihood could be imperiled by “grantors,” who, through a contract, grants dealers the ability to sell or distribute goods or services. The law prohibits a grantor from terminating a relationship with a dealer without good cause, proper notice and the ability to fix any issue at hand. 

“The City seeks to terminate — abruptly, unilaterally, and without good cause — JusticePoint’s relationship with the City,” the lawsuit argues. “Worse yet, the City has not contracted with another vendor to provide these critical services to the people of Milwaukee.”

The Circuit Court granted JusticePoint a temporary restraining order to maintain its contract as the case plays out. A hearing on that order is scheduled for October 5.

‘Thank you for being so kind to me.’ 

Eckhart has collected countless stories of people her colleagues have helped over the decades. She recalled one man who bathed in a pond outside of the Municipal Court building and had racked up many citations while struggling with alcoholism. Eckhart’s team connected him to a treatment service and resolved his tickets.

She said she later saw him with frostbite on his feet during the winter and gave him a pair of heavy socks. He later returned to thank the team. 

“And I’ll never forget that,” Eckhart said.

Then there was Theodora Athans, whose photo appeared in The Milwaukee Journal’s 1985 “Justice Denied” series that revealed how the court created “debtor’s prisons” within the Milwaukee County’s criminal justice system.

Athans lived with schizophrenia and the Milwaukee County Circuit Court found her to be a “danger to herself.”

But Eckhart said her team found Athans housing and the woman later volunteered for the alternatives program.

“Thank you for being so kind to me,” Eckhart recalled Athans later saying when Eckhart visited her while she was sick in the hospital.

“The people we help, I don’t think would get help anywhere else,” Eckhart said, “and that’s the part that bothers me.”

JusticePoint offers incarceration alternatives in Milwaukee. Two judges tried to cancel its contract. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

After Esther Grams purchased her first business, she thought 2020 would be her year. 

It wasn’t.

She navigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic like other business owners, and during that time, she realized she might have to relocate.

That year, Gov. Tony Evers revived a plan to widen a 3.5-mile segment of the Interstate 94 East-West Freeway corridor in Milwaukee between the Marquette and Zoo interchanges from six to eight lanes — calling it one of the state’s “most congested and dangerous roads.”  

The plan would demolish the current home of Central Bark Milwaukee Westside, her franchised doggy daycare center near the freeway.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has tried to expand the 60-year-old freeway stretch between 16th and 70th Streets for over a decade, and in a previous plan, Grams’ business was slated for demolition. 

Grams is among six business owners in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley who are in limbo — waiting for the state to finalize the $1.2 billion project and enter negotiations for real estate acquisitions. One home will also be demolished as well. 

Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation want to expand the interstate to decrease traffic congestion, high crash rates and repair aging infrastructure. But the highway cuts through the city, and opponents say the expansion will disproportionately disrupt Milwaukee’s West Side neighborhoods that the highway shaped six decades ago. 

More than 20% of households near the corridor lack a car, and project critics say Wisconsin should invest more money in public transportation and less on expanding highways. 

Through its News 414 collaboration, Wisconsin Watch spoke with five people who live and work in Milwaukee’s West Side neighborhoods about how the expansion would affect them, and reviewed more than 50 testimonials and 100 public comments submitted to the state transportation department. While some residents support the expansion, many said it could either worsen or fail to address quality-of-life issues, such as noise from extra vehicles rushing down the highway and pothole-ridden local streets. 

Meanwhile, expansion opponents endorse an alternative plan to repair the freeway without adding additional lanes while also boosting public transit investment. 

“It’s unfortunate that the Department of Transportation and Gov. Evers have sidestepped the impacts to neighborhoods in favor of a quicker commute from suburbs to downtown,” said Milwaukee County Supervisor Peter Burgelis, who represents the neighborhoods near the freeway corridor. 

Business owners near I-94 in limbo

Since 2004, residents have dropped their dogs off at Central Bark Milwaukee Westside, which sits on the corner of West St. Paul Avenue and North 25th Street near I-94.

The dog daycare was among 11 businesses originally slated for demolition in the state’s previous expansion plan in 2016, which called for creating a “double decker” freeway and adding one additional lane to each side.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker halted the project in 2017, citing cost concerns before Evers revived his version. Construction is expected to begin in 2025.  

Evers wants to modernize the 27th Street interchange near I-94 by adding left- and right-turn lanes to increase its capacity, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Grams managed the daycare and other Central Bark locations for 12 years before purchasing the franchise in 2019 from an owner looking to downsize. Grams said she likes her current location’s convenience for long-time customers who mostly live in the suburbs. 

She knew about the possibility of the freeway project when purchasing the building but figured she had a few years to plan. She has been searching for new locations since late 2020. 

“I’m like a super planner. I try to plan everything out like super far in advance,” the 30-year-old said, adding that planning is difficult because she lacks a timeframe of when she’ll have to move.

Moving might allow Grams to expand and grow her business, she said, but it could also displace loyal customers, and she wonders how the dogs will adjust to a new facility. She wants to keep existing customers by staying in the Menomonee Valley area, but her franchise agreement limits her relocation options.   

Also facing demolition: Badger Ford Truck Center, a Ford dealership.

Badger Ford has operated near West St. Paul Avenue in Menomonee River Valley for 58 years. Its president told the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2021 that he would rather not move, and he had researched alternative sites years ago in response to the original plans to expand the highway.  

The dealership declined Wisconsin Watch’s interview request. 

Other businesses awaiting final decisions on the highway expansion to negotiate compensation for their properties include MKE Junk Junkies, a junkyard; Milwaukee Dog Training Club, which operates inside of Central Bark Milwaukee Westside; and a former Red Star Yeast warehouse and a private storage facility. 

Menomonee Valley Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to redeveloping the Menomonee River Valley, has praised the state’s decision to proceed with the project and said it hoped the businesses could relocate in the area.

The nonprofit did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s request for comment.

Burgelis said cutting off access during construction to 27th and 35th Streets, another interchange the state wants to modernize, will devastate small businesses in the area.

“The project is going to have real impacts to small businesses,” Burgelis said, adding that he hopes effects will not ripple to the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation did not respond to questions for this story, but it shared a statement with Wisconsin Watch that said: “We remain committed to developing infrastructure solutions that benefit the public for decades to come.”

“We’ve listened to the community and stakeholders, and their feedback played an important role for modifications to the preferred alternative,” the statement said. 

Asked for comment, Evers’s office referred Wisconsin Watch back to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which said in an additional statement: “The Evers administration and Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) care deeply about the impact of our infrastructure projects,” adding that the state remains committed to minimizing community impacts.

“The I-94 East-West Corridor Study is still undergoing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, including active public involvement currently underway for the Supplemental EIS to help determine the final configuration of the project,” the statement said.

Highways shape Milwaukee neighborhoods

Freeways have a long history of plowing through Black- and brown-majority neighborhoods nationwide. That includes I-94, said Christine Donahoe, an ACLU of Wisconsin staff attorney.

The 3.5-mile freeway stretch at issue cuts through seven different neighborhoods: Avenues West, Merrill Park, Piggsville, Johnson’s Woods, Bluemound Heights, Story Hill and Menomonee Valley. Each was shaped by highways and some still feel the impact of “white flight” from decades past, according to a City of Milwaukee analysis.

The communities were cohesive and thriving before the state built the highways through them, Donahoe said.

The interstate cut a racial boundary through Milwaukee and prioritized the movement of people and goods from the city’s white suburbs to its downtown, said Amanda Merkwae, the advocacy director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, during a public hearing about the expansion in 2022.

One neighborhood the highway overlooks is Johnson’s Woods, a quiet area between South Hawley Road and South 70th Street. It was established in the late 1800s and transformed in the 1950s when Milwaukee County razed a strip of its northern blocks to build I-94. 

Today, a metal gate separates the early-20th-century bungalows and two-story duplexes that sit near the freeway’s eastbound entrance ramp at 68th Street.

To upgrade the ramp, the state plans to demolish one residence, a 1960s ranch-style house that a mother of four and her husband rented for four years. The family did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s requests to comment. 

The state’s original 2016 plan would have demolished three residential homes on the northern edge of Johnson’s Woods and five others. 

“I’m glad that it’s only one, wish it was zero,” Burgelis said.

Sound barriers could reduce highway noise

One woman who has lived on the northern edge of Johnson’s Woods for 27 years shared concerns about noise pollution linked to the increasingly busy freeway corridor.

“I wish they put a wall up there if they’re not going to do nothing else — at least put a wall because it’s kind of noisy,” said the 72-year-old woman who declined to give her name.

Michelle Jacobi, a music instructor living nearby, agrees and wants a sound barrier for safety reasons, such as preventing dangerous action from the highway from spilling into her neighborhood. She recalled an incident in which a gunman shot a Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy following a 2 a.m. traffic stop just south of I-94. A passenger and driver fled the car and ran into the neighborhood, where the passenger reportedly shot the deputy before fatally shooting himself. 

“I think the sound barrier would have prevented that,” Jacobi said. 

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to build six noise barriers on both sides of the freeway. But property owners and residents must first vote on a barrier plan at a public meeting during the project’s final design, according to the department. 

Barriers could limit the noise from additional traffic, but they could also obstruct the views of neighborhood residents, “and it’s not it’s certainly not the same neighborhood that it was before that gets installed,” Burgelis said.

John Linn, a nearly 30-year Story Hill neighborhood resident, agrees. He likes being able to view the American Family Field parking lot from his house. 

“I just like an unobstructed view, and I’ve seen some of the sound barrier walls, and I just don’t I don’t think that’s attractive,” Linn, 65, said. “I think it makes the neighborhood look walled in.”

Linn said if the project keeps the current roadbed elevation around the neighborhood, he doesn’t see a point for the barriers. 

Milwaukee residents want fixes to local streets 

Numerous residents have complained about deteriorating local streets around the east-west corridor.

While Jacobi said she leans toward “being okay with” the expansion, she also wants a focus on filling the potholes lurking on neighborhood streets — including one in front of her house.

Other residents agree. 

“The quality of the freeway roads is probably just acceptable,” said Carlos Vasquez, who uses I-94 daily and has parents who live in Johnson’s Woods. “But the (local) streets are terrible. It’s hard to find one street where the whole street is like where you’re not just bumping around.”

More than one-third of major roads in Wisconsin are in fair or below roadway condition and likely to deteriorate over the next 10 years, according to a 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers report. 

The I-94 expansion would not focus on local roads, which lie outside of the state transportation department’s jurisdiction. Cities are generally responsible for maintaining their own streets, although state and federal funding sometimes helps. 

Opponents tout ‘Fix at Six’ alternative 

“Fix at Six” signs remain scattered throughout east-west corridor neighborhoods. That’s the name for an alternative plan — supported by a range of civil rights, environmental and health advocacy groups — to repair the existing six lanes of the highway stretch at issue while alleviating congestion by adding a rapid transit bus line and creating safer paths for cyclists. 

Dan Adams supports that option. He has lived on the border of the Piggsville and Merrill Park neighborhoods for 12 years and has criticized the highway widening plan since its earliest days.

The state transportation department rejected keeping the highway at six lanes after a 2016 department-commissioned study said the option would not effectively accommodate future traffic volumes in 2040.

But years of  research shows that widening highways can increase traffic volume by encouraging more people to drive.  

In a decade advocating for alternatives, Adams said he’s become “fairly jaded” and “just resigned” that the state would widen I-94 no matter what. 

“What we as neighbors said, what people at their community meetings said — it was just a foregone conclusion that they were going to extend it regardless of any other findings or input from the community,” Adams said. 

Residents widely agree that I-94 needs some reconstruction, but the neighborhoods surrounding it also need improvements, Adams said.

“We need some investments from the state to improve connections from our neighborhood, which is completely surrounded by the freeway, to surrounding neighborhoods and surrounding amenities,” Adams said, “and we also need investments in those amenities, whether it’s the parks or the bike trails or transit. And there’s just never any response. It’s just silence.”

The state transportation department plan includes additional bike lanes and a one-time $25 million funding for public transportation, but activists say more is needed at a time of deep fiscal challenges for the Milwaukee County Transit System that threaten service for thousands of bus riders.  

“You can always find a billion dollars for highway expansion,” Gregg May, the transportation policy director at 1000 Friends Wisconsin, said during a 2022 public hearing. “But when the Milwaukee County Transit System is facing a fiscal cliff, we can’t seem to find the money for that.” 

Jonah Chester contributed to this report. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

How would widening Milwaukee’s I-94 affect residents near the highway?  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Wisconsinites who experience eviction sometimes lose more than a home. 

Those who can’t afford to move and store their belongings may lose them, too — adding to the financial and emotional toll of displacement.

In Milwaukee County, where landlords filed for more than 200 evictions in the first week of April alone — about half of those filed statewide — government and nonprofit officials have in recent years bolstered resources for eviction prevention. But little, if any, aid is available to help residents retain or reclaim their possessions following an eviction. 

What happens to a tenant’s stuff during and after an eviction? Here’s what to know. 

Eviction requires judge’s signoff

First, remember that a landlord can’t remove a tenant without a judge’s order. 

It is illegal for a landlord to file for an eviction before giving a tenant a notice, usually of five or 28 days. 

When tenants face an eviction, housing advocates suggest they talk to their landlords, apply for rental assistance and find legal support. Milwaukee County residents can visit EvictionFreeMKE.org to find resources, including free legal representation and information about their rights as a tenant. 

Check language in lease 

Milwaukee County is among jurisdictions that used to require any landlord to hire a moving company to assist a county sheriff’s office with eviction. But a 2013 state law made such requirements dependent upon leasing language. 

Under that state law, landlords may dispose of items however they want to — without hiring a mover — if a lease specifies that landlords won’t store left-behind items. There is one exception: prescription medication and equipment. A landlord must hold those items for seven days and return them at a tenant’s request. 

If the lease doesn’t explain how the landlord will handle left-behind property, Milwaukee County landlords must hire one of the two moving companies approved by the sheriff’s office. 

Executing an eviction 

When the sheriff executes an eviction, a tenant who comes to the door gets about 15 minutes to gather their belongings and leave, said Tom Brittain, president of Eagle Movers, one of the bonded moving companies in Milwaukee County certified for eviction-related moves. Sometimes tenants aren’t there when the sheriff arrives. In either case, the sheriff decides what goes with the moving company, according to Brittain.

The movers do not take items the sheriff declares as junk, such as dressers with missing drawers, stained beds or insect-infested furniture, Brittain said. Due to safety concerns, the company also leaves clothing that’s on the floor or dirty. A landlord can ask the movers to place “junk” items on the curb for garbage collection.

State law requires the sheriff to mail a notice to the tenant’s last known address within three days of the removal of possessions. The notice must tell tenants where they can retrieve their possessions. 

Landlords and tenants must pay the moving company. In some counties, the moving company’s monthly storage can cost more than the tenant’s rent. Eagle Movers charges landlords $220 per hour for five movers and a truck, Brittain said. The company charges tenants $30 per month for every 100 cubic feet plus a $60 labor charge, Brittain said.

If items go unclaimed for two months, Brittain notifies the tenant by phone, email or letter that their belongings will be sold. About 60 to 70% of people reclaim their belongings, Brittain said. 

“I’ve always looked at us as kind of a lifeboat for tenants,” Brittain said.

Currently, there aren’t any programs that assist people with funding to rent trailers or U-Haul vans to move their belongings. But Heiner Giese, an attorney who represents the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, said there should be.

“They’ve given (millions) to pay for lawyers to help tenants, which is all well and good. They can get a delay or they can get the case dismissed,” Giese said. ”But jeez, you know, they should take some of that money, a very small amount of it and they could really do some good by having a fund available for tenants.”

What happens to pets during an eviction?

Sometimes tenants manage to remove their belongings before the sheriff arrives but struggle to find a place for their pets. 

Surrendering a pet to an animal shelter can be difficult due to a lack of capacity. Karen Sparapani, executive director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, has seen cases in which a tenant will return to their former rental every day to feed the animal until the sheriff executes the eviction. In other cases, pets are left to starve, said Sparapani. 

The sheriff calls Sparapani’s office to pick up animals left behind during an eviction, typically dogs over 40 pounds and many cats, Sparapani said. 

The agency will put pets up for adoption if they go unclaimed for more than eight days.

“We can work with somebody who has time to find a place, and we work with them on fees too,” Sparapani said.

Pet owners who return must pay a boarding fee of $20 a day, plus a $25 impound fee for a licensed animal and $35 for unlicensed animals, Sparapani said. Any necessary vaccines or other treatment will add costs. 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Wisconsin eviction process: What happens to a tenant’s property? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on March 30, 2023 with additional information related to bus fare changes.

Milwaukee County is modernizing its bus fare collection system, aiming to make transit equitable for residents. 

Bus riders can pay for their fares through WisGo, a new fare collection system, starting Saturday, April 1.

Everyone with a plastic WisGo card or the Umo mobile app will ride for free after reaching daily, weekly and monthly caps. Riders currently paying with an M-card have through the end of September to transition to the new system. 

Milwaukee County leaders gathered on Wednesday to announce the launch of WisGo and its partnership with Waukesha County, which is joining the fare collection system. Leaders touted a system that’s equitable for riders and predicted it would help return ridership to pre-pandemic levels. 

“Historically, only those who could afford to pre-purchase discount passes to ride the bus got the best value. But with WisGo, these inequities are being addressed through fare capping. Now, everyone pays the same rates no matter how many times they ride,” County Supervisor Priscilla Coggs-Jones said in a news release. 

Milwaukee County, like public transit systems across Wisconsin, has faced a years-long slide in ridership and revenue that only worsened as remote work options expanded during the pandemic. While Milwaukee County ridership is recovering from the lowest pandemic-era numbers, it’s still lagging behind its earlier status. 

The new fare collection system is powered through the Umo Mobility platform and is used around the world in places such as New York and London.

The technology has made transit in those cities easier to navigate as ridership recovers from the pandemic levels, said Bonnie Crawford, Umo’s vice president and general manager.

“People expect technology. We’re used to connecting to technology in all of the ways that we engage in our neighborhoods, whether that’s paying for your coffee or buying your groceries, and this is really that next step for Milwaukee County and the region,” Crawford said. 

Riders can scan their phone or WisGo card on tap-and-go validators onboard buses, which will determine how many times a rider has paid a fare and automatically deduct the lowest amount owed. The validator will also tell riders if their fund balance is low.

Riders will also be able to use WisGo cards and the Umo app on Waukesha Metro Transit buses. Waukesha County is the first to join the regional fare system.

“Transit is something that’s extremely important for a big segment of our population. It gets a lot of people to work; gets them to the doctor; it gets them to the grocery store; and without it, I don’t know how we would really function,” said Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, adding that the two counties aim to make transit efficient. 

Under WisGo, riders will immediately see lower costs.

The regular fare — for ages 12 to 64 — will be $2 per ride, down from $2.25. Under WisGo, it will be capped at $4 per day, $19.50 per week and $72 per month.

The reduced fare — for ages 6 to 11, 65 and older and those with qualifying disabilities — will be $1 per ride, down from $1.10. It will cap at $2 per day, $11 per week and $32 per month under WisGo. Learn more about reduced fares here. 

M-Card or cash riders will continue paying regular per-ride fares of $2.25 or reduced fares of $1.10 until the transition period ends Sept. 30. After that, the cash fare will drop to $2 per ride or $1 under the reduced fare.  

“The way that you’re going to get riders on board is to ensure that no rider is left behind, and that’s really a commitment we have here in Wisconsin and throughout the world,” Crawford said. 

The Umo Mobility app will replace the RideMCTS app. The app connects to other modes of transportation like Uber and provides real-time tracking of Milwaukee County and Waukesha County buses. It accepts credit and debit cards, along with Apple Pay, Google Pay and WisGo cards. 

The WisGo card is an alternative to the Umo app and will replace the M-Card. The cards will be sold and available for reloading at nearly 100 locations, such as supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores.

M-Card users can exchange cards for a free WisGo card from April 1 through June 30. After that, the card will cost $2. Reduced fare riders will receive a WisGo card in the mail. Riders with Commuter Value Passes and U-Passes are automatically enrolled in WisGo.

Riders will not be able to store value on the M-Card starting Aug. 31, and the Milwaukee County Transit System will stop accepting the card on Sept. 30. MCTS CONNECT, Milwaukee County’s bus rapid transit service that launches June 4, will not accept M-Cards. 

Riders can still pay with cash on all bus routes, but those paying cash will not qualify for fare caps.

Regular fare replacement for WisGo cards will cost $2, and reduced fare replacement cards will cost $5.

Ambassadors will assist riders with downloading the Umo app or getting a WisGo card. 

For more information

Virtual and in-person sessions explaining the program are slated for April 6, April 22 and April 28. You can sign up at RideMCTS.com/Community.

You can also visit the following resources for information on WisGo:

RideMCTS.com/WisGo: Timeline and overview of WisGo

RideMCTS.com/UmoApp: How to download the Umo app

RideMCTS.com/WisGoLocations: Where to pick up a free WisGo card through June 30

RideMCTS.com/TopThingstoKnowAboutWisGo: Quick tips

RideMCTS.com/ReducedFare: For minors, seniors, and persons with a disability

RideMCTS.com/TPReducedFare: For Transit Plus riders who use the bus

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Milwaukee County to cap bus fares under new system. Here’s what to know.  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Nearly 4.6 million people in the U.S. were barred from voting due to a felony conviction in 2022. That includes more than 65,000 people in Wisconsin, according to The Sentencing Project, an advocacy and research group.

Neighboring Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois are among 22 states that automatically restore the voting rights of people convicted of a felony upon their release from prison.

That’s not the case in Wisconsin, where those convicted of treason, bribery or a felony must first serve their full sentences or be pardoned.

Wisconsin automatically restores voting rights once a person is “off paper,” meaning they’ve finished probation, parole or extended supervision — a process that can last years. That person must re-register before voting.

It is a felony to vote while under correctional supervision for a felony. After each election, the Wisconsin Elections Commission checks a list of people who voted  and a list of those who are prohibited from voting while under supervision. 

A Wisconsin Watch investigation examining illegal voting found that in the last decade, more than half of election-related crimes involved people who voted or registered to vote while still “on paper.”

Some of those cases stemmed from confusion, which is common even among probation officers, Wisconsin Watch found.

Although state law requires the Department of Corrections to inform formerly incarcerated people in writing when their voting rights are restored, activists say some people remain unaware.

“We most often find somebody who has completed their sentence, but they’ll say, ‘Well, I committed a felony, so I can’t vote.’ And they don’t realize that they can now vote because their sentence is completed,” said Marianne Oleson, executive assistant of Ex-incarcerated People Organizing of Wisconsin, which advocates to end mass incarceration.

If you’re formerly or currently incarcerated and thinking about voting, here’s what you need to know. 

Who should I ask? 

Ask before you register. You can contact your parole or probation officer, Department of Corrections or the Wisconsin Elections Commission to see if you’re eligible to vote. 

Can I vote if I was convicted of a misdemeanor? 

Yes. You can exercise your right while you’re in jail or “on paper” for a misdemeanor, the ACLU of Wisconsin advises, as long as the misdemeanor is not related to treason or bribery. If you’re in jail and eligible to vote, you can request an absentee ballot. 

Can I vote if I was charged, but not yet convicted of a felony? 

Yes. You lose your right to vote only once you are convicted of a felony and then only until your felony sentence is completely served.

If I can’t vote, what else can I do to make a difference? 

Educate your friends and family about policies and issues that affect you, said Oleson, who cannot vote until 2040.

“We call it voting with conviction,” Oleson said. “Make sure you’re helping them understand what they need to do to get registered and vote.” 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Can formerly incarcerated people legally vote in Wisconsin? It depends. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.