Milwaukee, WI
BLEST Hub at Marquette is working to support Milwaukee students from middle school to a higher education
MILWAUKEE — The BLEST (Black and Latino/Latina Ecosystem and Help Transition) Hub at Marquette was developed partly from the experiences of Marquette Ph.D. scholar Raúl López.
The BLEST Hub goals to enhance “life outcomes for Black and Latino/a college students within the Milwaukee space by strengthening areas, initiatives, and connections that assist our youth during times of transition from center college via post-secondary completion and/or fulfilling secure employment,” in keeping with the web site.
López stated rising up on Milwaukee’s south aspect he confronted boundaries “navigating establishments of upper schooling, navigating areas like highschool, navigating a segregated metropolis.”
He used these challenges to tell his present work as a Ph.D. scholar. He began his program in 2020 engaged on a undertaking that will finally grow to be the BLEST Hub.
But it surely’s not only for the Marquette group. The hub additionally companions with UW-Milwaukee (UWM), MATC, MPS, and native, grassroots organizations to assist Black and Brown Milwaukee college students overcome boundaries to schooling.
He helped develop a mapping system as an example the assets accessible within the Milwaukee group and the way they’re working to deal with a number of the wants of scholars of coloration.
“From entry to varsity, entry to monetary assets or educational assets,” López stated. “We discover that a number of the assets academically have an effect on a scholar’s pathway to varsity. So if they do not have entry to tutoring or easy stuff like testing or ACT prep, that basically can impression a scholar’s entry to as an instance a spot like Marquette or UWM or some other establishment within the metropolis.”
The Hub can also be devoted to understanding, figuring out, and serving to to search out options to the gaps in companies supplied to younger individuals in Milwaukee.
BLEST Hub school advisor Gabriel Velez pointed to disparities with regards to the punishment of Black and Latino/a college students at Milwaukee faculties.
“If you’re 6, 7 or 8 as much as a excessive school-aged child and also you’re going through suspensions, expulsions, particularly at undue charges, that is sending a message to you about what your future is like academically and the place you belong. It is telling you, you do not belong in these instructional areas,” Velez stated of the results of discrepancies in punishment at faculties.
Velez additionally famous one of many points the BLEST Hub analysis highlighted was an absence of sustainability for tasks and initiatives geared toward supporting Black and Latino/a college students.
“One of many points has been type of an absence of sustained accountability,” Velez stated. “Each every now and then there are actually attention-grabbing initiatives, there’s coverage that comes into place, or there’s actually progressive issues at a metropolis degree when it comes to authorities, however there actually is not a number of group and a way of constructing on every factor.”
That is the place the mapping system is available in, serving to to attach organizations already doing the necessary work of supporting Black and Latino/a college students in Milwaukee and ensuring college students learn about these varied assets.
Velez stated one of many positives to come back from the analysis is that they’ve seen “the Latino, Latina inhabitants, when it comes to these which have been coming from Milwaukee and accessing increased schooling, has been rising. I feel that speaks to a number of the actual power of the south aspect organizations and a number of the faculties.”
The BLEST Hub can also be working to assist Marquette in its objective to grow to be a Hispanic Serving Establishment, which is outlined as an undergraduate scholar inhabitants that’s 25% Hispanic.
López stated which means “fostering group for our college students and making them really feel like they’re a part of one thing greater.”
Velez stated that the college is nicely on its approach, however must transcend simply creating areas or teams which might be welcoming to Hispanic and Latino college students.
“A part of the problem is that these are simply areas nonetheless. If we actually need to be a Hispanic Serving Establishment and never simply an establishment with Hispanic serving area, we have to to consider how we will convey that extra broadly throughout the campus,” Velez stated.
Finally, the BLEST Hub is working to make sure all college students have a way of belonging in Milwaukee’s studying establishments and communities.
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A street takeover was held at the intersection of South14th and West Burnham streets
On June 8, a street takeover was held at South 14th and West Burnham streets. Hundreds congregated at the intersection to watch cars squeal tires or do donuts.
The Milwaukee Common Council on Sept. 23 unanimously passed new legislation addressing street takeovers, including fines for those who attend them.
The legislation states that no person should knowingly be present at a street takeover, which are gatherings in the public roadway as participating vehicles do burnouts and donuts. The events happen suddenly, with organizers turning to private messaging apps, and one event can be attended by hundreds.
Any person at a street takeover is now subject to a fine between $300 and $1,000, according to the legislation.
- Spectators: $500 to $1,000 fine
- Operators or organizers: $400 to $1,000 fine
- Passengers: $300 to $1,000 fine
Those who attend more than one in the same year will receive a minimum $1,000 fine. And the municipal court can impose community service related to traffic safety and default of payment could result in jail time, the legislation states.
The legislation defines a “spectator” as someone knowingly present for the purpose of viewing, encouraging, recording or otherwise attending a street takeover. This includes people filming or livestreaming the event on social media.
In recent weeks, Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Common Council members signaled an intent to pass legislation as police reported responding to hundreds of takeovers this year. The mayor’s office said Sept. 23 that he plans to sign the legislation.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic said at the Common Council meeting that she wanted to be “careful” that this legislation will not result in enforcement for “pop-up, organic gatherings” that she sees in her district, which includes Bay View, sometimes surrounding political actions.
“We should be able to go in our streets and voice our support or discontent with anything. That is quite different than what (we) … seek to stop,” she said. “I feel we have a delicate balance here to stop this poor behavior but still allow … open free speech at any time.”
Street takeovers returned to the forefront over Labor Day weekend, when police received about 15 calls related to them. Those took place throughout the city, including downtown, and police arrested three people. The department also issued 26 citations and towed six vehicles.
Milwaukee police previously told the Common Council the police task force responsible for the takeovers was paused Labor Day weekend to deal with violent crime on Water Street.
30th annual Milwaukee zoo bike ride
Nearly 700 cyclists rode through the Milwaukee County Zoo before opening hours for the Ride on the Wild Side fundraiser on Sunday, Sept. 14.
MILWAUKEE – Hundreds of riders pedaled through the Milwaukee County Zoo on Sunday morning, Sept. 14, for the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s 30th annual Ride on the Wild Side.
What we know:
Organizers said nearly 700 cyclists participated, including some who took on a special 30-mile ride to mark the 30th year of the event. The big draw: a chance to ride bikes inside the zoo before it opened to the public.
“This is the one time a year you can come with your two wheels or four wheels, if you needed training wheels,” said Katie Krecklow with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee. “We have some brave souls today that decided to do a 30 mile ride today to celebrate 30 years.”
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Families described the early-morning ride as a unique experience, with animals just beginning to emerge into their exhibits.
“I think being early in the morning and you just see it from a different perspective – the animals are just coming out,” said Heather Anderson, who attended with her family.
In addition to the bike rides, participants enjoyed activities, like face painting, an obstacle course, and, of course, plenty of animal sightings.
Local perspective:
“Getting to see all the animals when they are coming out and the baby monkeys,” said Claire Anderson. “A lot of animals, like peacocks, like to walk around, and bears and elephants.”
These true stars of the show fuel the heart of the event.
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“We love supporting the zoo,” Heather Anderson said. “We live close and we come often through the year and we take part in their summer camps and family programs.”
Why you should care:
This year’s event raised more than $50,000, money that will go toward supporting zoo operations, conservation efforts, and the society’s mission of teaching children empathy for animals.
“The Zoological Society is the nonprofit partner of the Milwaukee County Zoo, so we take on a lot of the fundraising to try to help the zoo do what they do best, which is care for the animals,” Krecklow said.
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News.
MILWAUKEE – The last of six men charged in what Milwaukee County prosecutors described as a prostitution ring pleaded no contest and was fined on Friday.
Pleas and sentencings
In Court:
Court records show 56-year-old Christopher Riegg, an investment banker, pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. He was fined $1,500.
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Prosecutors initially charged all six men with misdemeanor pandering solicitation. One of the six, 55-year-old Travis Schwantes, was charged with additional crimes.
Schwantes, a former public defender who once ran for a judgeship, pleaded guilty to one felony and two misdemeanors in August. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail, two years of probation and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.
Court records show 60-year-old William Green, a former attorney, pleaded guilty to pandering solicitation and was sentenced to nine months of probation in June.
In July, 51-year-old Milwaukee firefighter David Ornstein pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and was fined $600. George Easton, a 77-year-old retired municipal judge, pleaded guilty to two such counts and was fined $1,000 in May.
Leroy Stewart, a funeral director in Oak Creek, pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. The 54-year-old was fined $1,200 in April.
The backstory:
Hundreds of pages of search warrants were unsealed last December, and FOX6 News learned the investigation into the prostitution ring began years earlier.
The scope of what investigators uncovered included accusations of extortion. It centered on an apartment building at 29th and Kilbourn in Milwaukee.
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Dig deeper:
A woman, Roya Sedghi, was charged in fall 2023 with keeping a place of prostitution. Court records said she billed herself as the “Iranian Princess.” Records show Sedghi registered “Iranian Princess Fetish Services LLC” with the state in March 2022.
Court records show it all began to unravel a month later when a woman came forward to investigators in Dodge County, detailing what happened, and with whom, in that apartment building.
Sedghi pleaded guilty in October 2024 to keeping a place of prostitution. She was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of extended supervision.
The Source: FOX6 News referenced documents filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, as well as Wisconsin Circuit Court records, for this story.
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