Milwaukee, WI
Why tomorrow’s election is a referendum on Trump
I’m Hope Karnopp, and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning.
It’s going to be chilly for the Brewers’ home opener today, with temperatures feeling like the mid-30s by first pitch. It should stay dry for Election Day tomorrow, though western parts of the state could see rain and snow. Meteorologists are tracking the potential for more strong storms Wednesday.
Why tomorrow’s election is a referendum on Trump
Wisconsin voters will elect a new Supreme Court justice tomorrow. But the April election is much more than a state-level race — it represents a referendum on President Donald Trump and his first 20 weeks in office, Molly Beck and Daniel Bice report.
Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate, has leaned heavily into Trump’s endorsement and joined him for a “tele-rally.” A spokesman for Susan Crawford, the liberal in the race, said Schimel “resorted to being fully at the mercy of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, said Schimel’s strategy has never been tried before in Wisconsin, making it “risky.”
“It probably will mobilize some Trump voters who don’t normally vote in spring elections, but also is likely to mobilize Democrats who are extraordinarily opposed to Trump, but perhaps not otherwise intense about the court race,” Franklin said. “So is mobilization or counter-mobilization the greater effect?”
Can We Energies demand backpay on a faulty meter?
Sharon Saxelby, who is retired and on a fixed income, got a We Energies bill for $926 in January. After calling We Energies three times, she was told she owed nearly $700 in backpay due to a “bill irregularity.” She contacted our Public Investigator team, who looked into the matter.
We Energies discovered in December that the “wrong meter” was installed for Saxelby’s Brookfield condo. That meter had recorded just 75% of the electricity used for “the last few years,” a spokeswoman said. Now, We Energies is demanding Saxelby pay for the additional electricity she used over the past two years because of a state law.
Although Saxelby owns her condo, she doesn’t own or control the electricity meter and says it’s unfair for her to pay for We Energies’ mistake. We Energies says customers should know this is a “a very rare case, and the overwhelming majority of our 2.2 million meters work exactly as they should.”
Gina Lee Castro also breaks down whether back billing is legal, and how a similar situation was resolved in the 1970s.
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Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on X at @hopekarnopp.
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Community members and city leaders celebrated the opening of four new community-powered fridges on the North Side of Milwaukee. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday, Feb. 27, at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, 3624 W. North Ave., to mark the occasion.
The effort to fight food scarcity by opening community-powered fridges comes after several grocery stores closed in the area, creating a food desert.
District 15 Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who saw several grocery stores in his district close over the past few years, served as the event’s emcee.
“We could either complain about the problem, or we could come together to find a solution,” Stamper said.
In July 2025, a Pick ‘n Save on the North Side closed, prompting the opening of a community-powered fridge at Tricklebee Café in the Sherman Park and Uptown area. Since then, several other grocery stores have closed in the area.
This led Stamper, FEED MKE, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and One MKE to open four more community-powered fridges.
Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Café, talked about the organization’s community-powered fridge. About a week ago, the fridge was empty for the first time since its launch, so staff turned to their online community for support.
“Within 20 minutes, a woman came in with bags of food and filled the fridge for less than $100,” Melby-Gibbons said.
The community-powered fridge network is run by residents on a take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can model. Taking a grassroots approach to solving food insecurity in the area, community members provide fresh produce and other healthy food options to ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritious foods.
“Everybody deserves to eat. I can’t go to sleep at night knowing my neighbors are hungry,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
Here’s a list of all the community-powered fridges:
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges
3624 W. North Ave.
Rooted & Rising- Washington Park
3940 W. Lisbon Ave.
Sherman Park Community Association
3526 W. Fond du Lac Ave.
Dominican Center
2470 W. Locust St.
Tricklebee Café
4424 W. North Ave.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Milwaukee Brewers were one of the more active teams in the league this offseason and it was one of the more shocking storylines to follow all winter.
They opted to trade Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets, which was a blockbuster deal, but it was expected. Peralta was on an expiring contract, and the Brewers were unlikely to be able to land a long-term deal with him. Milwaukee would much rather have control of Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams for the next five to seven years rather than a singular year of Peralta.
But they also traded Isaac Collins to the Kansas City Royals and Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. The Collins deal was a head scratcher, but the Durbin deal was the most shocking move of Milwaukee’s offseason.
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The Brewers traded Durbin and two other infielders to Boston in exchange for Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton, and Shane Drohan. Harrison is the biggest addition of the trade. Drohan has already flashed dominant potential this spring. Hamilton, who struggled last season, seemingly has the full belief of Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
David Hamilton could soon become a star for the Brewers
“He’s got so much ability in there, and he’s got experience, and he might be a utility player but I think he can be really good for us. I think he can take his offensive game to a whole other level,” Murphy said when talking about Hamilton, per Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy.
Last season, Hamilton slashed .198/.257/.333 with a .590 OPS and a 63 OPS+. It was his third year in the big leagues and his second full year at the level and he’s yet to post an OPS+ over 100. But he’s still been worth 3.6 WAR over the last two years because of his defense and baserunning. The issue has been his bat. Even when he hit .248 in 2024, his OPS was under .700.
But Murphy seemingly believes Hamilton could take the next step at the plate, which would set him up to be a very good platoon infielder and versatile bat. He has the chance to quietly develop into a star with the Brewers if he can get his OPS over .700 and closer to .750. Obviously, this isn’t going to be easy, but Murphy seems to believe he’s closer to this breakout than many fans assume.
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