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 […]
Author Archives: Jonmaesha Beltran / Wisconsin Watch
Jonmaesha Beltran joined the Center in January 2023 as a Roy W. Howard fellow. She graduated from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism. While completing her degrees at ASU, she's been a social justice reporter for Cronkite News, an investigative reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and a Pulliam Fellow for The Arizona Republic. In 2020, she won an Arizona Press Club Award and a Society of Professional Journalists Regional Mark of Excellence Award for her reporting on the experiences of street medics during the Black Lives Matter protests in Phoenix.
Posted inEconomy
How would widening Milwaukee’s I-94 affect residents near the highway?
Milwaukeeans discuss potholes, noise pollution and public transit shortcomings as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation advances a $1.2 billion project to widen the I-94 East-West Freeway corridor.
Posted inHealth & Welfare
Wisconsin eviction process: What happens to a tenant’s property?
What Milwaukee renters and those statewide should know about their possessions after an eviction.
Posted inEconomy
Milwaukee County to cap bus fares under new system. Here’s what to know.
The Milwaukee County Transit System is launching WisGo, a new fare collection system that Waukesha County Transit will also accept.
Posted inGovernment
Can formerly incarcerated people legally vote in Wisconsin? It depends.
What people with criminal convictions should know about voting rights in Wisconsin.