Milwaukee, WI
'It was a surprise!' Children's bookstore owner in Milwaukee receives visit from Dr. Jill Biden
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — It’s been nearly two years since Ashley Valentine helped found and open Rooted MKE — a children’s bookstore on Vliet Street that features BIPOC authors.
Since then, she’s built up the space to be a “dream oasis” for Milwaukee’s Black and brown youth, offering one-on-one and small group academic support and coaching while also selling books featuring characters of color.
Valentine, a former public school teacher, said she’s always had the desire to support our future generations.
“School can be a traumatizing place for some kids and for their families, so just offering parents and families another way to access literacy in a space they helped to curate, hopefully it feels safe and welcoming and inviting,” Valentine told CBS 58’s Ellie Nakamoto-White. “Just providing another opportunity for people to be in community and access Black and brown literacy; not as an afterthought, but just the focus of what we do every day.”
Valentine said customers of all ages can get emotional when they see the books offered on her shelves.
“They’re always excited to see brown kids on covers of books because they don’t see that all the time, and parents get emotional [because] that is not something that they had the opportunity to experience when they were growing up,” Valentine said.
She added that she gets people in her store from not only the Milwaukee area, but from the entire Midwest.
And it was on Sunday, March 3, that Valentine got the most surprising customer yet.
“We saw police roaming the area and just assumed maybe there was an emergency somewhere,” Valentine recalled. “Then one of the Secret Service agents came in.”
Valentine said agents began quickly combing through the store and checking out their electronic devices.
“It was scary!” Valentine said, as she and her staff were unsure what was going on.
But then about 20 minutes later, Dr. Jill Biden stepped through the doors.
“What am I doing to even be on the First Lady’s radar?” Valentine asked. “How did I get here?”
Valentine said Biden, who was in town as part of a three-day campaign tour in battleground states, was in the store for about 30 minutes, meeting other shoppers and perusing inventory before she eventually purchased a thank you card and some books.
“It’s just a reassurance that we are doing something that’s important and we are valuable, and even on days where we feel like we don’t know when we’re going to get the next sale, someone is always watching,” Valentine said.
Milwaukee Wave coach Marcio Leite 2025-26 team’s evolution in MASL
See first-year Milwaukee Wave head coach Marcio Leite discuss the roles of younger players and veterans as the 2025-26 MASL season begins.
The Milwaukee Wave had been in the awkward position of trying to sell tickets to the MASL championship series without knowing when it would actually host a game.
The questions were answered late April 19, when the San Diego Sockers beat the St. Louis Ambush in the other semifinal in overtime. Their series didn’t even start until four days after the Wave eliminated the Baltimore Blast with victories in a regulation Game 2 and knockout Game 3 at the UWM Panther Arena.
Now the finals are set for two of the most decorated teams in arena soccer.
The Wave will host Game 1 at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, April 22 and then the series will finish at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California, with Game 2 at 9:30 p.m. April 24 and a potential Game 3 at 9 p.m. April 27.
Three versions of the Sockers have totaled 16 championships in various indoor league with the latest iteration founded in 2009 owning six of those. The Wave has seven.
First-year Wave head coach Marcio Leite has won titles with both franchises.
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Police Department is investigating a shooting that occurred on early Sunday morning on the 4900 block of W. Capitol Drive that left one person injured.
An 18-year-old sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
TMJ4
The police is currently looking for an unknown suspect at this time.
Those with information regarding the shooting are encouraged to contact the Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7360 or contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-TIPS or P3 Tips to remain anonymous.
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MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department requested the public’s help to find 11-year-old Sir’Charles Bason, a critically missing boy who was last seen near Teutonia and Kiley at around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.
Police described Bason as 4 feet, 5 inches tall with a slim build, brown eyes and black, low-cut hair. He was last seen wearing a gray jacket with green lines, dark-colored jeans, tan sandals and carrying gray Nike Jordan shoes.
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What you can do:
Anyone with information on Bason’s whereabouts is asked to call Milwaukee Police District 4 at 414-935-7242.
The Source: The Milwaukee Police Department released information.
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