MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is debating the future of the I-794 interchange in downtown Milwaukee, presenting four options to the public during Thursday’s meeting that drew hundreds of attendees.

WisDOT has spent the last few years examining alternatives for I-794’s future, narrowing down to four distinct options.

The first option involves the total removal of I-794, which would open space for retail, recreation, and housing development in downtown Milwaukee.

The second option would replace the current structure in kind, reconstructing I-794 while maintaining its existing footprint.

Watch: WisDOT’s I-794 Interchange Study draws differing opinions from Milwaukee locals

Community provides input at I-794 Lake Interchange Study open house

The remaining two options are freeway improvement plans that would keep the structure but consolidate it to reduce its overall footprint.

“Highways running throughout neighborhoods no longer work,” said Montavius Jones, a member of the volunteer group Rethink 794, which advocates for the total removal option.

“The removal of 794 will unlock so much potential, so much opportunity as far as jobs, housing opportunities, new retail opportunities, new amenities, new green space,” Jones said.

Many opponents of the removal option worry about increased travel time and traffic coming into downtown from I-94 and the Hoan Bridge.

However, Ryan Breaker, who lives in South Milwaukee and frequently uses I-794, doesn’t share those concerns.

“The improvements to the city are massive, I think the potential is massive, I believe the concerns are going to largely end up being unfounded,” Breaker said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

For some stakeholders, the potential changes raise concerns about preserving local history.

Chuck Lazzaro is advocating for Pompeii Square, a memorial located under I-794 that commemorates the Pompeii Church, which was demolished to accommodate the highway’s construction in the 1960s.

“It was put there by our club to remember the church and our roots of the Italian community that was in the third ward,” Lazzaro said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

Lazzaro worries that a large construction project on I-794 could leave the memorial with the same fate as the church it represents.

“We want to make sure whatever option they pick here does not affect our monument,” Lazzaro said.

Any plan chosen will need to go through environmental review and approval before WisDOT can identify funding availability. Construction is not anticipated to begin until the 2030s.

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Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.

As a non-musician, I can only imagine how difficult it is to take the two disparate elements of songwriting — music and lyrics — and make them seamless, as though they burst into existence simultaneously and instantly merged harmoniously.

That’s always been my way of identifying a “good” song. Not even a song I like, necessarily, but one where you give a nod to the artist because the craftsmanship is on point.

To clarify, I do like the track we’re premiering here: “Soft Side” from Milwaukee shoegaze-ish five-piece Standstill. I think you’ll like it, too, because the quintet really nailed the fit between their economical lyrics (48 words in the entire song) and instrumentation that doesn’t rely solely on vibes — a trap easily sprung in the shoegaze/dream pop genre.

As the band put it in their bio, “Standstill believes that a song is an experience and their sound can create an escape — their dream world.” The opening moments of “Soft Side” make that happen by easing you into another realm via gentle synth and Aliya Moore’s beckoning vocals that introduce a relationship living in the middle ground between what is needed and what actually exists:

Open wide, collect the rain
Stay inside, it’s all the same
I will lay this bed I’ve made
Twin-sized frame, I fan your flames 

“There is a tension that happens when we expect more from someone who can’t meet our needs or give us more,” the band explained. “In this song, there is a self-awareness that the protagonist is engaging in something that isn’t good for them, but they do it anyway. This one-sided relationship can make us stretch too far, become jaded, lose our softness and turn us cold.

“This song ends with the protagonist choosing themself and doing what they know they needed to do a long time ago.”

Standstill don’t need a wheelbarrow of lyrics to get the point across because of how the music carries the narrative just as effectively. Moore sings about saying goodbye as the song builds, recedes slightly and then busts loose, led by a tension-relieving guitar part. It’s an emotional pressure valve and satisfying conclusion to a listening experience you can get lost in for a little under four minutes.

Take that time to enjoy “Soft Side” using the player at the top of the page, or catch it on 88Nine throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m). The track will also be part of Standstill’s self-titled debut EP set for release this Friday, May 30, and they’ll celebrate that same day with a show at The Pocket in Riverwest.

MILWAUKEE — Sade Robinson’s mother Sheena Scarbrough prepared for this trial mentally and spiritually.

“I’m ready to get this process started. I want the demon fully held accountable on all the charges of what he did to my baby,” Scarbrough told WTMJ host Jessica Tighe.

Opening statements in the high-profile trial against 34-year-old Maxwell Anderson started May 28th.

Anderson is accused of killing and dismembering Scarbrough’s 19-year-old daughter after a first date in April 2024. He’s charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse, and arson.

The gruesome nature of Robinson’s death shocked the community and forever changed her family. Parts of the young woman’s body were found scattered across Milwaukee County. Another part was discovered along the lakeshore in Waukegan, Illinois.

Scarbrough says she still doesn’t have all of her daughter’s remains.

“We don’t have my baby’s head– her crown. We still don’t have my baby’s head and her crown,” Scarbrough explained.

She also wants more answers.

“(Sade’s) death certificate reads homicide by unspecified means. There is no cause of death on my daughter’s death certificate,” Scarbrough revealed.

This mother’s pain is unimaginable for most.

“It affects you physically, not just mentally and spiritually, but physically. It’s very heavy. It’s very heavy and draining,” she said.

Scarbrough plans to be in the courtroom every single day, sitting in the front row. She knows she’ll never get her daughter back, but she wants Robinson’s killer to pay.

“What punishment do you think he should get if convicted,” Tighe asked.

“He needs to get the same form of punishment as what he did to my baby,” Scarbrough answered.

Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, but Scarbrough says that’s what she would want if the state did.

“Justice for my baby, justice for my family, justice for me and her father. I want that demon to fully feel and pay for the pain and the suffering and the torture he did to my daughter,” Scarbrough said.

Robinson was set to graduate from MATC in May 2024. She had planned to enlist in the U.S. Air Force and had hopes of eventually joining the FBI.

The trial in Milwaukee County is expected to last two weeks.

Sheena Scarbrough talked with Wisconsin’s Midday News in February and discussed the foundation she created to honor her daughter. Listen to the podcast and learn how “Sade’s Voice Foundation” is working to protect other missing people and crime victims.