Milwaukee, WI
How a Milwaukee Teenager’s Bedroom Became a Worldwide Micronation
READ MORE FROM OUR “HIDDEN MILWAUKEE” FEATURE HERE.
Once upon a time – Dec. 26, 1979, to be specific – 14-year-old Robert Ben Madison declared his bedroom in his house on Prospect Avenue to be a sovereign nation, the Kingdom of Talossa. He named himself, King Robert I, as sole resident. Rather than becoming a passing childhood fantasy, the kingdom slowly grew.
Madison’s friends soon joined his kingdom and began to create a system of government, a flag, media (a handwritten newsletter titled Støtanneu) and, most impressive, their own Romance-based language that has developed tens of thousands of unique words over the last 46 years. By 1995, Talossa had a couple dozen citizens, many of whom participated and created their own political parties.
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Talossa is an early example of what researchers like Chris Roth call “micronations.” Roth, a Milwaukee author who also has studied microstates and separatist movements, says micronations are “usually done for fanciful or hobbyist reasons rather than serious ones,” but motives and types range widely, from avant-garde artist experiments to right-wing militias.
“It allows small people to feel very big and that they’re part of something substantial,” Roth adds. “It’s an escape in many cases.” Some micronations claim a small sliver of land, like Madison did with his bedroom; some are online “cybernations.”
The internet changed Talossa forever. Legions of “cybercitizens” from around the world joined Talossa’s “Old Growthers” (original citizens). Internet infighting led to a separatist group who formed a Republic of Talossa in 2004. It was, to use a Talossan term, ’n aviecă – a slap in the face – to its founder.
“They … eventually decided they wanted to win all the elections so they just declared themselves the ‘real Talossa’ and deleted everyone’s accounts,” Madison says. It’s an incident referred to as “The Great Theft” in a 194-page report by Madison titled The Kingdom of Talossa.
Those loyal to Madison tried to regroup, but on July 4, 2011, he declared that Talossa was dissolved and “reunited” with the U.S. Being shut out of his kingdom, Madison says, was “the most catastrophic event of my life.”
Talossan Tariffs?
With the tariff wars raging, King Txec says he invited President Donald Trump to submit an oath of fealty to his kingdom. No response on that, or Talossa’s sanctions – refusing to drink American beer – in response to U.S. immigration policy. The monarch says he hasn’t ruled out “counter-tariffs” if threatened.
What Madison calls the “fake Talossa” has continued on, and since last November has been ruled by King Txec I (pronounced Zheck), a public school teacher in Riverside, California, who joined Talossa about 12 years ago after stumbling across a Wikipedia entry.
Talossa claims all of Milwaukee as its territory, divided into provinces and referred to as the Greater Talossan Area. Its cybercitizens even cheer on our local team but refer to them as the Maricopa Brewers, named after the province in which American Family Field is found. King Txec rules about 200 citizens, working closely with the seneschal (prime minister).
“I could never become president, or the king of England, but in Talossa I can write laws. It’s a way to experience things you don’t get to do in real life,” King Txec says. He admits “being referred to as ‘Your Majesty’ is a bit weird.”
As for Madison, a king without a kingdom, he still calls Talo … uh, Milwaukee home and designs roleplaying wargames like Death in the Trenches, a WWI-inspired strategy title.
This story is part of Milwaukee Magazine’s October issue.
Find it on newsstands or buy a copy at milwaukeemag.com/shop.
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West Allis Fire demonstrates using Narcan for opioid overdoses
West Allis Fire Department Assistant Chief Armando Suarez Del Real illustrates how a Narcan nasal spray kit is administered in the event of an overdose.
The number of Milwaukee County residents who died from a drug overdose fell for a third year in 2025, which county officials say is a promising sign that more money spent on harm reduction, treatment and prevention efforts is working.
New data released April 21 show 387 overdose deaths across the county last year, down about 43% from their peak in 2022.
“The work is paying off,” Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County’s chief health policy adviser, said at a news conference, touting the county’s vending machines stocked with Narcan and drug testing strips, as well as a state-sponsored data collection system that helps local health departments understand when and where overdoses occur.
Still, the hundreds of county residents who lost their lives last year to a drug overdose means that work isn’t close to done, officials say – especially as the drug landscape continues to change, presenting new challenges.
“We can’t let our foot off the gas quite yet,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Drug mixing continues to drive lethal outcomes
Milwaukee County’s decline in overdose deaths is a trend mirrored across the state and the country, following years of climbing fatalities that were deemed a public health crisis.
The county will spend $111 million in opioid settlement funds over the next several years and is already putting what it has received to use, focusing on “reaching residents where they are,” said Jeremy Triblett, prevention integration manager with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services.
That includes initiatives like the harm reduction vending machines and also knocking on doors, providing county EMS workers with Narcan and seeking the opinions of people who use drugs to shape the county’s strategy.
But officials say they still see a concerning trend of combinations of drugs leading to overdose, particularly fentanyl being cut with stimulants such as cocaine. These mixes of drugs make it harder to reverse an overdose, said Dr. Wieslawa Tlomak, Milwaukee County’s chief medical examiner.
Nearly a third of all autopsies the medical examiner’s office conducted in 2025 were deaths by drug overdose, Tlomak said, and the majority involved multiple drugs. Data show the most common combinations were fentanyl and cocaine, cocaine and alcohol, and opoids and fentanyl.
Methamphetamines are also involved in more overdose deaths than a few years ago, Tlomak said.
For drug users, not knowing exactly what’s in the drug they are getting is one of the most dangerous elements of the current drug landscape, she said.
Fatal drug overdoses were most common among American Indian and Alaska Native residents in 2025, the data show, followed by Black residents. About two-thirds of fatal overdoses were in men, and the median age of death from an overdose was 49, a number that’s been climbing steadily since 2018.
Triblett said the county is focusing on how substances interact with cultural norms in different communities and that a community advisory board is convening to develop harm reduction messaging for specific populations. His team will also host a door-knocking event June 12 to reach new people across the county with prevention and treatment resources.
Madeline Heim covers health and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@usatodayco.com.
Drone video shows dug‑up yard at former Michael Lock home
Drone video shows a dug‑up yard at a Milwaukee home once owned by Michael Lock, following a police search for possible homicide victims.
Milwaukee police on Monday, April 20, began digging up a home once owned by notorious Milwaukee drug dealer Michael Lock.
The dig marks another chapter in Lock’s long criminal history in Milwaukee, which has included convictions for homicide, drug dealing, kidnapping, torture and running a prostitution ring.
As of 6 p.m., April 20, police had partially dug up the concrete driveway and yard in Lock’s former home. Lock has been convicted of murders of other drug dealers whose bodies were found under concrete slabs at a different home he owned.
As the dig continues, here’s what to know about Lock:
Who is Michael Lock?
Lock was the head of a murderous criminal organization known as the “Body Snatchers” and one of the leading criminal operators in Milwaukee until his 2007 arrest.
Over the course of a decade, Lock’s organization sold large volumes of cocaine, tortured and killed other dealers, prostituted women across the Midwest and ran a mortgage fraud scheme.
A jury convicted Lock in July 2008 in the homicides of two drug dealers in 1999 and 2000, whose remains were found in 2005 under concrete slabs in the backyard of a home once owned by Lock at 4900 W. Fiebrantz Ave. He has also been found guilty of running a prostitution ring, various kidnapping and drug dealing charges and mortgage fraud.
Where is Michael Lock now?
Lock is is serving multiple terms of life in prison at Waupun Correctional Institution without the chance of parole.
Where are Milwaukee police digging on April 20?
Milwaukee police confirmed they are executing a search warrant at the home on 4343 N. 15th St. in Milwaukee’s north side. City tax records show the property is owned by Shalanda Roberts, formerly Shalanda Lock, Michael Lock’s former wife.
Why are police digging up the yard of Lock’s former home?
There has long been suspicion on the part of law enforcement that there are additional bodies buried under the yard. In 2011, police dug another Milwaukee yard looking for remains.
In that warrant 15 years ago, investigators said at least four victims are buried somewhere in Milwaukee. Before that, police had dug a half-dozen other yards. Police have found no remains in the other digs.
Who lives at the property now?
It is unclear if anyone currently lives at the North 15th Street property. Shalanda Roberts told the Journal Sentinel she owns the property where police are digging, but it is a rental and she lives out of state now.
She said she has no information on the dig and has not spoken to her former husband in years.
Read the Journal Sentinel’s past coverage on Michael Lock
The Journal Sentinel documented the case against Lock in a five-part investigative series, “The Preacher’s Mob,” published in 2009.
You can read the series below:
Marvin Bynum, adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School, was named to BizTimes Milwaukee’s list of Notable Leaders in Law.
Bynum, shareholder and real estate attorney with Milwaukee-based Godfrey & Kahn, teaches a course on real estate transactions at Marquette. He has experience with a range of property types, from sports facilities to manufacturing plants and office spaces, and works to help clients navigate transactions including development, financing, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and low-income housing tax credit-financed projects.
Notable Leaders in Law is part of BizTimes Milwaukee’s Notable series, which recognizes leaders in the southeastern Wisconsin business community.
Six alumni were also named to the list:
- Jim Brzezinski, managing partner and CEO of Tabak Law
- Adam R. Finkel, partner at Husch Blackwell
- Jeremy Guth, shareholder and attorney at O’Leary-Guth Law Office S.C.
- Keith Kopplin, shareholder at the Milwaukee office of Ogletree Deakins
- Isioma Nwabuzor, associate general counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Modine Manufacturing Co.
- Joe Pickart, partner at Husch Blackwell
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