GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WBAY) — Severe thunderstorms moved through northeast Wisconsin on Wednesday afternoon, leaving thousands without power and causing widespread wind damage.

According to poweroutage.us, as of 4 p.m. Fond du Lac County has 2,900 customers without power and Dodge County is at 3,600.

A tornado warning for Fond du Lac County expired last hour, but severe thunderstorms continued across the region with large hail, high winds and heavy rainfall. Trees and branches were reported down across the area.

Rain began in Grand Chute as winds picked up just after 2 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning issued for the area warned of 80 mph winds and asked residents to take shelter and move away from windows to an interior room.

The storms produced widespread wind damage across Oshkosh, where 1,400 customers were without power. WPS reported more than 3,000 customers without power in Winnebago County.

The Detroit-set detective series from creator and star Diarra Kilpatrick debuted in 2024.

Diarra is coming back to Detroit.

“Diarra From Detroit” will return for its second season on July 29 on Paramount+, the streaming network announced Wednesday.

The eight-episode season will debut with two episodes and will follow with new episodes every Wednesday through Sept. 9.

Diarra Kilpatrick, half-sister of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, is the creator, writer, executive producer, and star of the series, which follows her adventures as Detroit detective Diarra Brickland.

From the official show description:

“Season two finds Diarra Brickland trying — unsuccessfully — to have a hot girl summer without getting wrapped up in yet another deeply unserious and extremely dangerous Detroit mystery. This time around, what starts as a seemingly harmless furniture recovery mission quickly spirals into a triple homicide investigation, a citywide treasure hunt and another trip deep into Detroit’s criminal underbelly. As Diarra attempts to sort out her messy relationship status, she instead finds herself going undercover with a secret society, starring in a Tubi movie, chasing urban legends, dodging gang warfare, and uncovering secrets buried beneath the city itself. Because of course she does.”

• Milwaukee Public Schools will begin transporting students on 50 new electric buses this fall.
• The district plans to add another 100 electric buses over the next three years.
• Funding comes from federal pandemic relief aid and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants.
• Officials aim to reduce costs, lower carbon emissions, and help decrease childhood asthma rates.

Beginning this fall, thousands of students will catch rides to and from Milwaukee Public Schools by electric bus.

At an event June 8, MPS unveiled the arrival of the new electric buses, 50 of which will transport about 6,000 students starting this September. MPS officials said its transportation partners will add another 100 electric buses to service by the 2028-29 school year.

Once all 150 electric buses are on the road, about 22% of buses used to transport MPS students will be electric, according to figures provided by David Fifarek, MPS senior director of transportation services.

The initiative is fully funded through federal pandemic relief aid and about $40 million in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a district spokesperson said. The district’s transportation providers are constructing charging infrastructure and will cover the cost of electricity, which district leaders said will help MPS save money.

MPS officials said the initiative is meant to cut costs amid rising fuel prices and to help reduce the city’s childhood asthma rates. The electric buses will additionally push MPS closer toward achieving its goal of reducing the district’s carbon emissions by 45% over the next four years, said Superintendent Brenda Cassellius.

According to the EPA, diesel exhaust is a significant contributor to climate change, as well as childhood asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

In 2024, Milwaukee had the nation’s highest rate of asthma-related emergency department visits, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reported. Across the U.S., public school children are about twice as likely to have asthma as their school-aged peers.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are particularly studying the link between air pollution and asthma-related visits to school nurses in MPS.

Cassellius said each electric bus will replace a diesel bus, resulting in “fewer emissions at bus stops, near our schools and in the communities our families call home.”

Ben Schutzman, CEO of Highland Electric Fleets, which provides the vehicles, said “replacing just five diesel school buses with electric buses can reduce the risk of pediatric asthma for approximately 1,500 students.”

“In a city where asthma remains a huge concern, that is a very meaningful step forward,” Cassellius said.

There are also financial benefits as MPS seeks to tighten its budget amid broader fiscal challenges, Cassellius added. With fuel prices soaring nationwide, school districts have incurred extra transportation costs.

From March to June, the district said in a statement, MPS spent about $800,000 in diesel surcharges, which are additional fees that bus contractors charge districts to offset higher gas prices.

“That kind of volatility makes it harder to budget and harder to invest where it matters most,” Cassellius said. “This initiative is helping us change that and will allow us to bring more stability to our transportation costs.”

At a School Board meeting in May, MPS interim Chief Operating Officer Michael Turza said the district expects to save money by making the switch, with daily operating costs decreasing because electric buses do not rely on fuel.

The district does not own the buses. MPS Chief Financial Officer Aycha Sawa told board members that the district’s bus vendors instead purchase the buses, and MPS reimburses them under the federal grant.

Contractors who receive the funding must operate in the district for five years, Fifarek said. The companies are also installing charging infrastructure at local bus terminals, which he said creates a long-term investment that could support further expansion of electric buses.

MPS now joins a growing number of school districts in Wisconsin and across the country that are transitioning to electric transportation.

Fifarek said MPS may seek additional EPA grants to increase the number of electric buses in the future.

Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions for the Journal Sentinel. Contact: khuynh@gannett.com. Follow her on X: @_kaylahuynh.