Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee protest group slams RNC demonstrations plan, vows to march its own route

Published

1 year ago

June 21, 2024

Milwaukee protest group slams RNC demonstrations plan, vows to march its own route

Hours after the demonstration areas for next month’s Republican National Convention were unveiled Friday, the most prominent group planning to protest the event slammed the plan and vowed to march its own route.

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, rejected the city’s plans for demonstration areas at parks on the north and south ends of a “hard” security zone that will encompass the primary convention sites of Fiserv Forum on the north down to the Baird Center on the south.

“It’s completely insulting for them to offer either of those parks because they’re not within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum,” Flores said at a press conference outside the federal Courthouse where earlier discussions failed to produce a resolution to the group’s lawsuit against the city over its plans for demonstrations.

On Friday, representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, city and Milwaukee County announced the location of the demonstration areas and a march route in addition to the boundaries of a hard security zone that credentials will be needed to enter for the July 15-18 event.

Of note was the inclusion of Pere Marquette Park in the hard security zone, a move the Secret Service had previously resisted despite pressure from Republicans to do so. The city had been expected to designate the space just west of the Milwaukee River and two block from Fiserv Forum as a demonstration area, causing consternation for Republicans, the Coalition and nearby businesses for different reasons.

Two demonstration areas will instead be located at Haymarket Square on the north side of the hard zone and at Zeidler Union Square on the south side.

A demonstration march route will be on the south side of the hard zone, beginning and ending at Zeidler Union Square.

“We believe we provided premier access on both the south and the north side,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Chief of Staff Nick DeSiato said.

He pointed to the area where the march route will take demonstrators directly up to the fence outside the Baird Center, where media from around the nation and globe will be working.

On the north side, he said, demonstrators will be close to Fiserv Forum, where primary convention activities will take place. Former President Donald Trump is expected to formally accept the party’s nomination in the arena during the convention, setting up a rematch of the 2020 race for the White House between Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden.

The northern demonstration zone is also by an area where delegates will be entering, DeSiato said.

Citing the group’s lawsuit, he said he could not speak to how the city would respond if anyone chose to march a route different than the one designated by the city.

It’s difficult to gauge how many people will choose to demonstrate at the city’s designated areas because the city does not ask how many people are expected to accompany the applicant, he said. About 100 applications have been filed with the city to demonstrate during the RNC, he said.

“We also suspect that just like any national convention, there’ll be some ad hoc demonstrating,” he said. “And if you’re lawfully demonstrating on a sidewalk, you can lawfully demonstrate on a sidewalk. If you’re lawfully demonstrating on public property, you can lawfully demonstrate on public property.”

Flores vowed to march a route the group expects to release soon, saying it will be a “family-friendly protest.” And while he said the group does not plan to try to march into the hard zone, the group won’t be limited to the sidewalk, either.

Flores said he expected thousands of people to be part of the group’s march, making it unsafe to try to squeeze onto the sidewalk.

As for the group’s plans to march its own route, he said, “If MPD is serious about what they’re saying, then we shouldn’t be worried about any type of arrest and honestly, I’d encourage them to not even show up.”

At an earlier press conference, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said police would seek to be patient and communicative, though he said there would be limits.

Friday’s back and forth was the latest in a monthslong debate over the city’s plans for demonstrations during the convention.

Representatives of the Coalition to March on the RNC met with officials on June 17 in an ultimately failed effort to resolve the federal lawsuit the group brought earlier this month over the city’s demonstration plans.

The group is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which on Friday also criticized the demonstration plans and the size of the downtown hard zone.

“The large size of this zone makes it more critical than ever that the City take steps to allow for effective opportunities for expression and assembly by those with differing viewpoints,” Tim Muth, staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said in a statement.

He also said the inclusion of Pere Marquette Park in the hard zone “cannot be justified” and “represents an impermissible concession to the Republican National Committee, which did not want to see or hear demonstrators near its convention.”

Republicans previously argued that locating a demonstration zone at Pere Marquette Park would force convention attendees to walk right by protestors, creating a “mandated confrontational area.”

Secret Service RNC Coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino cited the RNC’s rental of the Milwaukee County Historical Society building on the park’s southwest corner as the reason it was included in the perimeter.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com. Tristan Hernandez can be reached at thernandez@gannett.com.

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Milwaukee, WI

Brisa Do Mar restaurant in Milwaukee’s Third Ward has closed

Published

4 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Brisa Do Mar restaurant in Milwaukee’s Third Ward has closed

Brisa Do Mar, a Mediterranean and Italian restaurant along the Milwaukee River, has quietly closed after a year and a half in business.

Chef-owner Ramses Alvarez confirmed that, after a busy summer led to a slow September and October, he decided to close his restaurant in early December.

“It was a difficult decision for a lot of reasons. I didn’t want to close,” Ramses said in a phone interview. “The restaurant was so beautiful and the best thing that happened to me, but it was very temperamental. I did everything possible, but we were not successful with trying to make enough revenue for us to say, ‘OK, it’s worth it.’”

The spacious, 300-seat restaurant, located at 509 E. Erie St. in Milwaukee’s Third Ward neighborhood, was previously home to Riverfront Pizzeria Bar & Grille. That restaurant closed in February 2024 after 20 years in the space.

Alvarez and partner Shannon Rowell opened Brisa Do Mar in its place on May 2, 2024. Just before opening his restaurant, Alvarez, who previously owned Dia Bom in the Crossroads Collective food hall and the Brew’d Burger Shop food truck at Zócalo Food Truck Park, said operating a restaurant in that prime RiverWalk location was an “opportunity of a lifetime.”

He said the restaurant’s proximity to the river and the Henry Maier Festival Park Summerfest grounds made for very busy summers, with multiple festivals drawing visitors who stopped in. Unfortunately, those busy summers did not translate to winter, when Brisa Do Mar struggled to attract repeat customers.

Brisa Do Mar’s varied menu included Mediterranean-inspired salads, pasta dishes, wood-fired entrees and both Neapolitan and brique-style pizzas, utilizing the wood-fired oven left by Riverfront Pizzeria. It also had 12 draft lines for beer, wine and cider, and served a lineup of specialty cocktails.

In summer, the 274-square-foot riverfront patio was an attraction for diners and boaters who could tie up on adjoining boat slips to dine at the restaurant.

Alvarez said he is stepping away from the restaurant business to focus on a new creative endeavor: producing Reels and other user-generated content for a digital marketing agency that creates content for restaurants and hotels worldwide.

“I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of our families, friends and guests that walked through our doors and supported us, to all the media in Milwaukee that have shown us so much love,” Ramses said in a statement. “The city of Milwaukee has been very, very good to me, the people here and their kindness.”

“I have spent 27 years in Milwaukee working in the culinary world, feeding Milwaukee families, supporting nonprofit organizations and giving back to the community that received me with arms wide open,” he concluded. “Adios Milwaukee.”

Renner Architects, developers of the Hansen’s Landing building where Brisa Do Mar is located, is seeking a new tenant for the 6,000-square-foot space. Interested parties should call (414) 273-6637.

This story was updated to add new information.

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Milwaukee, WI

Critically missing Milwaukee man; police seek public’s help

Published

16 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Critically missing Milwaukee man; police seek public’s help

article

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a critically missing man last heard from more than a month ago.

What we know:

Police say 53-year-old William Riley was last heard from on Nov. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. His exact location at the time is unknown.

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Riley is described as a Black male with a thin build, standing 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 162 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. Police say Riley was last seen on foot.

What you can do:

Authorities urge anyone who may have seen Riley or has information about his whereabouts to contact the Milwaukee Police Department’s District Four at 414-935-7242.

The Source: The Milwaukee Police Department

Missing PersonsMilwaukeeNews

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Milwaukee, WI

Wauwatosa West rises in area boys basketball rankings with team of the week nod

Published

1 day ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Wauwatosa West rises in area boys basketball rankings with team of the week nod

Wisconsin Lutheran remains the top-ranked team in the Milwaukee area high school boys basketball rankings.
Arrowhead, Greendale and Oak Creek joined the top-10 rankings this week.
Wauwatosa West was named team of the week after securing three wins, including two in conference play.
Several key matchups are scheduled for the upcoming week, including Brookfield Central at Wauwatosa West.

After some early-season nonconference bouts, Milwaukee area high school boys basketball teams began to get into the meat of their schedules last week with conference contests to establish the early pecking order.

One such battle was in the Southeast Conference between last week’s No. 2 team Racine Park and then unranked Franklin, which went 66-53 to the Sabers. Another notable pair of finals were the top-10 matchups for Wisconsin Lutheran last week, as the Vikings beat Slinger (68-46) and New Berlin West (69-20) to maintain their hold on the top spot while dropping the latter to others considered this week. Arrowhead, Greendale and Oak Creek join the top 10 in place of Greenfield, New Berlin West and Milwaukee Academy of Science.

Dropped from the others considered this week are Germantown (1-2), Golda Meir (3-2) and Howard Fuller Collegiate (3-2), as Kenosha Indian Trail, Franklin and Whitefish Bay fill up their vacated spots among top-10 considerations.

Here are our full area rankings, others considered, team of the week and matchups to watch this week.

AREA RANKINGS

Team (W-L), last week

Wisconsin Lutheran (4-0), 1
West Allis Central (4-0), 3
Wauwatosa West (5-1), 4
Kettle Moraine (5-0), 5
Brookfield East (5-0), 7
Arrowhead (5-0), –
Slinger (3-1), 6
Racine Park (3-1), 2
Greendale (5-0), –
Oak Creek (4-0), –

Others considered: Franklin (2-1), Greenfield (3-2), Hartford (3-1), Homestead (3-1), Lake Country Lutheran (3-0), Kenosha Indian Trail (3-0), Milwaukee Academy of Science (3-2), Milwaukee Lutheran (5-0), New Berlin West (3-1), Whitefish Bay (4-1).

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Wauwatosa West

The Trojans picked up a trio of well-balanced and hard-fought wins last week, including two in conference play to place themselves firmly among the early leaders for the Greater Metro Conference title again. On Dec. 9 in a 75-50 win over Germantown, junior 6-foot-5 forward Jalen Brown flirted with a triple-double with 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead a 20-assist night for the team. Senior 6-5 forward Matthew Kloskey added 21 points, three rebounds and three assists, and senior 6-2 guard/forward Messiah Chambers was also in double figures with 11 points. Junior 5-10 guard Max Gogin was lights out from three off the bench, scoring 15 on five-of-five shooting from distance. Kloskey led the way in the Dec. 12 win of 74-63 over crosstown rival Wauwatosa East, scoring a team-best 26 points while hauling in eight boards. Freshman 5-10 guard Logan “Bear” Collins added 20 points, while Brown had 17 to go along with seven boards and five assists. Tosa West got another standout effort off the bench from junior 6-6 forward Kason Mangum in a 73-62 victory over Catholic Memorial to close out the week Dec. 13, as he scored a team-leading 18 points with seven boards. Kloskey and Collins each added a dozen points with the former adding seven rebounds, while senior 5-9 guard DJ Hennings had 10 points as well. Eight different Trojans scored in the last win of the week, which rounded out a sweep for the current GMC co-leaders with Brookfield Central and Brookfield East.

COMING UP

Milwaukee Bradley Tech at Milwaukee Juneau, 7 p.m. Dec. 18: Two of the area’s 25 boys basketball players to watch this season as highlighted by the Journal Sentinel square off, as Bradley Tech’s Jakari Smith visits Gonzaga commit Dooney Johnson and Juneau.

Brookfield East at Germantown, 7 p.m. Dec. 19: The first of two intriguing GMC battles taking place on Friday features two teams that finished within two games of the conference title last season and are looking to take the next step this year.

Brookfield Central at Wauwatosa West, 7 p.m. Dec. 19: The reigning conference co-champions in the GMC have unfinished business in their first meeting of the 2025-26 season, especially on the Lancers’ end. Brookfield Central was knocked off, 63-58, by Wauwatosa West in the Division 2 sectional semifinal last season as the latter would go on to win the state title.

Franklin at Arrowhead, 3 p.m. Dec. 20: The Sabers knocked off one top-10 team last week and could make a strong case for inclusion in our final rankings of the calendar year with another win against the Warhawks.

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