Milwaukee, WI
Inside the NNS Newsroom: Meet Julius Shieh, our new health reporter | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Hello, Milwaukee!
My name is Julius Shieh, and I am so excited to join you all as the new health reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.
My background
I’m a recent college graduate, I enjoy biking in my free time, and I always appreciate a good restaurant recommendation. I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I spent some time living in Connecticut and Texas before moving to Wisconsin.
I love photography and worked primarily as a photojournalist for a few years, and I enjoy reading.
What you need to know most about me, however, has less do with those things. Instead, it has everything to do with what I love the most about NNS – our readers and our community.
This community is one of the biggest reasons I joined NNS. One of my favorite things about life is being able to listen and learn from everyone around me, and being a part of somewhere as vibrant as Milwaukee certainly allows for that. This city is so much more than just the Brewers, icy winters and traffic on I-94 – it’s a world of its own that has been shaped by the voices and stories of people like you.
What makes a healthy society?
Health, in the most basic sense, is a fundamental need that forms the core of our communities. In the best of cases, it is a beautifully simple question that should be answered, in whole, by those with the power to support and uplift. But as history and reality have shown, the truth about health is often far more complex.
As many of us know, the world we live in does not always prioritize health. Disparities in access and sky-high medical costs serve as barriers that too often block us from getting the health care that we need.
Medical debt, a concept that hardly exists outside of the United States, threatens working class, uninsured and underinsured people constantly. The lead in the water we drink and the pollutants in the air we breathe loom in the background as we go about life, posing a gradual and growing danger to our safety.
Who creates health?
While politicians and institutions may seem like the only ones with enough power to sway the health of our communities, many of the basic necessities we celebrate in our lives today were pioneered and implemented by those around us.
In a community-led effort to address some of the most urgent health needs around them, the Black Panthers were among the first to provide free breakfast for children beginning as early as 1969. The pioneering program addressed hunger and malnutrition, already proven by studies at the time to have a significant impact on children’s health and learning. It was such a successful program that J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, recognizing how widespread its impact was, called it “potentially the greatest threat” to government efforts to dissolve the Black Panther Party, leading to a rapid expansion of federal school breakfast efforts.
As the early years of the AIDS crisis left devastation in its wake, political figures, including then-President Ronald Reagan, found it more convenient to ignore and stigmatize the illness than to address it in any meaningful way. LGBTQ activist groups such as ACT UP took it upon themselves to organize for change, putting together massive demonstrations, including one that shut down the FDA for an entire day.
Actions like this one would later be credited toward helping shift public opinion and forcing the hand of government agencies to pay attention to the crisis and fund medical research.
Why this matters
The health of a community, as history can teach us, is a balancing act. The health resources we need, as a population, don’t always match the resources that we are provided. But what we have today cannot be accepted as a foregone conclusion – the communities and people around us are what can drive health and public needs to grow and flourish like they should.
Today, as much as advancements in medicine and technology have grown significantly, the existence of some of our most fundamental health needs can be traced back to our own communities. Food for children in schools and the development of medications for HIV/AIDS did not come about on their own – they are a product of widespread struggle, organized action and hope for a better future.
For myself, this remains important because it is a reminder of the role and the responsibility that journalists hold. As much as we are here to report on the people and institutions in power, it is even more crucial to listen to our own communities and to hear your stories.
I am so excited for this opportunity to play a role in the health of this city, and most of all, I look forward to hearing from you.
Connect with me
I can’t wait to hear from you and learn about Milwaukee. You can reach me by email by clicking here
Milwaukee, WI
Critically missing Milwaukee man; last seen near Teutonia and Good Hope
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a critically missing man, 33-year-old Nicolas Blakely.
Missing man
What we know:
Blakely was last seen around 9:45 p.m. on Monday, March 9 in the area of Teutonia and Good Hope.
Blakely is described as a male, black, 6’1″ tall, 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue puffy jacket over a white hooded sweatshirt, with tan Nike sweatpants.
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Police tips
What you can do:
Anyone with information is asked to call the Milwaukee Police Department District 4 at 414-935-7242.
The Source: The information in this post was provided by the Milwaukee Police Department.
Milwaukee, WI
10 months after fatal hit-and-run that killed motorcyclist, Milwaukee man charged
Viral video shows alleged car theft confrontation on Milwaukee street
Car theft confrontation in Milwaukee sends stolen vehicle spinning as the suspect escapes on foot.
A 23-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 44-year-old motorcyclist during the summer last year.
Jarvis L. Walker was charged March 7 with four counts: hit-and-run resulting in death, knowingly operating a vehicle without a valid license causing death, fleeing an officer and first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
The crash occurred June 7, 2025, at the intersection of North 76th Street and West Florist Avenue. Walker crashed into Wyman Kemble on his 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and fled the scene, according to a criminal complaint.
Kemble suffered severe injuries in the crash and died at the scene.
Police said nearby security footage video shows Kemble was traveling northbound on 76th Street and had a green light when Walker, traveling southbound on 76th Street, crashed a rental car into Kemble while trying to make a left turn onto Florist Avenue.
Walker then exits the vehicle, grabs a backpack from the backseat and leaves the scene, the complaint said.
But a witness’ cellphone footage shows Walker return, yell something, and turn around and walk away before getting into another vehicle that just pulled over, according to the complaint.
The rental car came back to a person only identified in the complaint with the initials EW. The rental car customer told police that Walker had the vehicle during the time of the crash and Walker called him and told him that he had just been in a crash after a motorcycle ran a red light.
Ten months would pass before investigators zeroed in on Walker to arrest him.
On March 3, police had reason to believe that Walker was in the area of the 7200 block of West Marine Drive, the complaint said. Two undercover officers observed Walker get into an SUV, which exited a nearby parking lot and then immediately pulled over because the trunk was open, the complaint said.
Different officers in full uniform and an MPD squad moved in to try and arrest Walker, who was at the rear of the vehicle in the trunk, according to the complaint.
Walker then made his way back to his seat before one officer activated the squad lights and siren and exited the squad to say “Hey Jarvis, don’t do it” and “Jarvis get out of the car,” the complaint said.
But Walker fled the scene and led police on a nearly 10-mile pursuit in excess of 115 miles per hour, according to the complaint.
Police lost visual sight of Walker’s vehicle near North Teutonia Avenue and North Green Bay Avenue, but Glendale police observed the vehicle traveling southbound on West Green Bay Road and another short pursuit ensued before officers lost sight of Walker again, the complaint said.
Later that evening, Walker’s vehicle was observed unoccupied and running in the 4800 block of North 19th Place, according to the complaint. Police found Walker inside a nearby residence and arrested him.
Walker made his initial appearance in court on March 9, where bail was set at $25,000. If convicted on all counts, he faces decades behind bars.
Wyman Kemble remembered as mother’s rock
Leanne Kemble, Wyman Kemble’s mother, previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time of the crash that Wyman was her oldest child and her “rock.”
She said her son loved the motorcycle he was riding at the time of his death. She described him as one of the most “kind, caring and fun-loving people you’d ever meet.”
Leanne Kemble said her son graduated from Riverside High School, where he played on the football team, and was a graduate of Milwaukee Area Technical College. Volleyball was now his sport of choice, and he played year-round, she said.
“He was always helping people with their car repairs, or just doing odd jobs to help out our neighbors,” she said. “He was an all-around great person. Everybody loved him.”
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Public Schools budget proposals; board meeting Monday
MILWAUKEE – MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius proposed cutting more than 263 non-classroom positions to help bridge a $46 million structural budget deficit.
A special meeting of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors is scheduled to take place on Monday night, March 9, to vote on this proposal.
Shifting resources
What we know:
The district said the reductions, which would take effect for the 2026–27 school year pending school board approval, would save about $30 million.
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“It is an extremely difficult day for us here in Milwaukee Public Schools, but in the end, I’m still hopeful. I’m hopeful for our students, I’m hopeful for all of the employees we have, and every single employee matters to us,” said Cassellius. “This is hard, and we’ll get through it.”
Officials said no classroom teacher positions are being cut to close the budget gap. That said, the district may need fewer teachers where there is lower enrollment. About 40 of the 263 positions being eliminated are already vacant, meaning that not all reductions will result in layoffs. Affected employees eligible for classroom-based roles will be encouraged to apply for available positions.
Cassellius stressed that MPS faces rising costs while receiving a $0 state increase in general aid for 2026-27 public school students. While the recent referendum has helped to support arts, physical education, mental health services, and career exploration, the superintendent indicated it does not make up for the lack of state-funded inflation increase
Proposed reductions
By the numbers:
The approximately 263 position reductions include the following, according to the school district:
- MPS Central Services: About 116 positions from the offices of Academics; Communications; Family, Community, and Partnership; Finance; Human Resources; Operations; Schools office; and the Superintendent’s office
- Non‑classroom school‑based roles: About 147 positions, including assistant principals, deans of students, and implementers.
The Source: Milwaukee Public Schools released information about its proposal.
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