Two miles south of the Republican National Convention, Milwaukee residents trickled into The Cooperage for an event offering a break from the nonstop politics taking over downtown.

More than a dozen local artists and business owners set up booths with their merchandise, while a DJ spun music for the attendees. 

The free event was hosted by the Great MKE Block Party, which has been producing events to “connect the Milwaukee community in acts of joyful rebellion during the week of the RNC,” according to the group’s social media. 

Vendor Liz Koetting, who co-edits a quarterly zine titled “This Is A Zine for Queer Professionals,” said she’s been seeking out events and spaces unaffiliated with the RNC throughout the week. 

Apprehensions about the event have brought her circle of LGBTQ+ Milwaukeeans closer together, she said.

“People in my community are stressed about people who vote against our rights coming into our city,” Koetting said. “It makes the city feel like not a safe space.” 

Devin Billingslea, a volunteer with the Great MKE Block Party, said the group curated over 50 events during the past week, including drag shows, karaoke, markets and fashion shows, with the ultimate goal of providing Milwaukeeans a safe, joyful place to escape the intensity of the convention. 

Two attendees, cousins Kylie and Maureen McFadden, said they’ve been avoiding downtown and the RNC. They showed up to bring business to a part of town they love, knowing that most around the city aren’t getting the increased business promised by local officials.

They weaved between a number of vendor booths set up, including Alicia Clark’s booth, selling laser cut jewelry and sun catchers under the brand Lux Candela Studio. 

Clark said she plans to donate a portion of her proceeds to Street Angels, a local group that supports Milwaukee County’s unhoused population. She’s received enough donations to contribute $22 to the organization for every purchase at her station.

The events of Tuesday — when five police officers from Ohio shot and killed a man living in a tent encampment near downtown — are fresh in her mind.

“Because the unhoused population has been so affected by the RNC in so many ways, between displacements and disconnection from resources, I thought they could use some extra help this week,” she said.

Abstract art vendors Sue McVey and her wife Tracy Apps participated in the Coalition to March on the RNC’s protest earlier in the week, particularly in support of the Palestinian people, LGBTQ+ communities and abortion rights.

“I really love the joyful rebellion because everything is really heavy right now,” Apps said. 

At The Cooperage, McVey was clad in a dress showcasing the Palestinian flag.  

Chloe Longmire, owner and founder of Chase My Creations, also said she sought out RNC counter-programming in the spirit of protest, since she was out of town during larger protests earlier this week. Longmire’s business creates social justice apparel with slogans like “Pro Roe AF” and “Take a Hike Racists.”

“I know how unsafe and unsettled a lot of people, especially Black people, feel with the RNC being in town,” Longmire said. “But the RNC is not what Milwaukee is about. Being anti-racist, speaking up for marginalized groups — this is what Milwaukee is all about.”

(MILWAUKEE BREWERS) – The Milwaukee Brewers today announced the team’s 2025 regular-season schedule, which begins Thursday, March 27 against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The home opener is slated for Monday, March 31 against the Kansas City Royals at American Family Field.

Milwaukee will open on the road for a fourth consecutive year, continuing its longest stretch beginning the season away from home since a 10-year run from 1996-2005.

The Brewers will face the Yankees on Opening Day for the fourth time in franchise history. Milwaukee hosted New York at County Stadium in 1976 and traveled to Yankee Stadium in 1977 and 1979. It will be the earliest Opening Day game (March 27) in team history, which previously was March 28 in 2019.

Following the opening series in New York against the Yankees (March 27, 29-30), the Brewers will host the Kansas City Royals (March 31-April 2) and Cincinnati Reds (April 3-6) for the first homestand of the season.

Starting in 2025, teams will play two, 3-game series against their rivals instead of two, 2-game series. The Brewers will face the Minnesota Twins from May 16-18 at American Family Field and from June 20-22 at Target Field.

In addition to the Royals and Twins, the Brewers will host the Detroit Tigers (April 14-16), the Athletics (April 18-20), Houston Astros (May 5-7), Baltimore Orioles (May 19-21), Boston Red Sox (May 26-28) and Los Angeles Angels (Sept. 16-18) in Interleague Play.

Along with the Yankees, Milwaukee will play road Interleague games in 2025 against the Chicago White Sox (April 29-May 1), Tampa Bay Rays (May 9-11), Cleveland Guardians (May 12-14), Seattle Mariners (July 21-23), Toronto Blue Jays (Aug. 29-31) and Texas Rangers (Sept. 8-10).

The team’s longest road trip of the season will come April 21-May 1 with 10 games in 11 days against the San Francisco Giants (April 21-24), St. Louis Cardinals (April 25-27) and Chicago White Sox (April 29-May 1). The Brewers have just one additional road trip of over 6 games next season, a 7-game stretch against the Cincinnati Reds (Aug. 15-17) and Chicago Cubs (Aug.18-21).

Milwaukee’s longest homestand of 2025 is 10 games from June 6-15 against the San Diego Padres (June 6-8), Atlanta Braves (June 9-11) and St. Louis Cardinals (June 12-15). Along with the opening homestand of the season, the Brewers will play one additional 7-game homestand at American Family Field against the San Francisco Giants (Aug. 22-24) and Arizona Diamondbacks (Aug. 25-28).

For the full schedule, please click here. Home and road game times will be announced at a later date. Game dates are subject to change.

Rachel Maddow and other top MSNBC hosts have been using an LED screen to cover the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee from the liberal network’s studio in New York City, according to a report.

Maddow, who has been leading the network’s coverage of the GOP convention this week, has repeatedly appeared on air with the backdrop of the convention behind her, leading casual viewers to assume she was on the ground in Milwaukee. But Maddow and many of her colleagues, including Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid and other MSNBC anchors have not been inside the convention hall or even in the same city, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

“Instead, they were broadcasting from a studio in Midtown Manhattan, as a live feed of the convention floor was projected onto an LED screen behind them,” the Times report reads.

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“The arrangement — which several veteran television news producers described as unorthodox — has created something of a trompe l’oeil effect. A casual glance at the screen would suggest that MSNBC’s top anchors were covering the convention in person,” the article continues, using a French phrase referring to highly realistic-looking but visually deceptive artwork.

MSNBC did previously announce last week that Maddow and other top political anchors would not travel to Milwaukee for the convention. Instead, the network sent Stephanie Ruhle, who hosts “The 11th Hour,” and daytime host Katy Tur, per the Times.

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A number of reporters and correspondents from NBC News were sent to Milwaukee for live reporting, including “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, “Nightly News” host Lester Holt and correspondent Jacob Soboroff, who clashed with Donald Trump Jr. during an interview on the convention floor in an exchange that went viral. MSNBC is NBC’s left-leaning cable arm.

While the New York City-based MSNBC anchors did not tell viewers that they were in Milwaukee during live broadcasting, “they have mentioned their location sparingly throughout many hours of evening coverage,” according to the Times report.

Rachel Maddow sits with a panel of colleagues on night two of the RNC.

An MSNBC spokesman told the Times that at “the top of every broadcast, hosts identify themselves as being in New York or at MSNBC headquarters.” But critics say the live video feed of a bustling convention behind them sends a different impression to viewers tuning in throughout the night.

“News organizations need to be very careful and very transparent about what they represent and how they represent it,” former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno told the Times. “It can feel like a frivolous thing — oh, well, gee, we’re just using the pictures behind them — but there’s something profoundly important here. If news organizations don’t represent where they are clearly, then how is the audience to have faith and confidence in the actual content of the reporting?”

LIVE UPDATES: REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

Maddow began the 7 p.m. ET broadcast Monday saying that she and her colleagues were “at MSNBC headquarters. About two hours later, she told a correspondent that ‘we say hi here from MSNBC HQ in New York.’ On Tuesday at 8 p.m., Chris Hayes welcomed viewers by saying, ‘Good evening from New York,’” the report stated.

At one point Monday, a side-by-side box on NBC of Guthrie and Psaki, on the parent network to give analysis, suggested to viewers that both were on-site, but only Guthrie was actually in Wisconsin.

The MSNBC spokesperson replied “no” when asked by the Times whether he feels the LED screen could be misleading.

Screengrab: Rachel Maddow and Jen Psaki covering night two of the GOP convention on MSNBC.

While the Times does not attribute the anchors’ absence at the convention to financial constraints, it did note the steep price tag that comes with covering the event live and how several networks cut back on their convention coverage plans compared to 2016.

Former President Trump will officially accept the 2024 Republican nomination on Thursday.

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MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.