MILWAUKEE — New details continue to unfold from the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) about lead investigations at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

“How are you guys just now finding out? You should have done this in the summertime before these kids came into the school,” MPS parent, Paradice Xiong said.

MHD said that during visual assessments this week, officials identified significant lead hazards at Starms Early Childhood Center, Fernwood Montessori School, and LaFollette School. As a result, all three schools will close starting Monday, March 17, to allow for necessary cleaning and remediation.

“We are very strained for resources,” Tyler Weber with MHD said.

TMJ4’s Megan Lee asked Weber if he considers this a crisis.

“This keeps elevating to that level for us, and we’re very nervous with the more schools we go into,” he said.

TMJ4 learned that the Environmental Protection Agency has joined the investigation efforts. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are assisting as well.

“They bring another perspective,” Weber stated. “More hands-on deck to help us, and then just a different body with a different group of experience and different authority for us to share ideas and challenges on how to navigate this together.”

Weber said having experts from other entities will help in the investigations.

“Schools are very large facilities. We are a program that is trained on residential properties. So we’re going into this a bit wide opened,” Weber said.

MHD has identified seven schools within MPS that contain lead hazards and three students with elevated lead levels due to exposure at school.

“We’ve got buildings that are close to 100 years old, and we have thousands of students in these old schools, and it’s going to keep happening,” spouse of an MPS teacher, Paul Smith said.

His wife works at Fernwood Montessori School, one of the schools that temporarily closed for lead hazard remediation.

I’m worried, we have an aging infrastructure here in Milwaukee,” Paul Smith said.

TMJ4’s Ryan Jenkins

MHD and MPS are encouraging families to attend a free lead screening clinic from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 15 at Bradley Tech High School.

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MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee woman is grieving as her brother sits in jail, accused of killing her son.

Fatal stabbing

What we know:

Prosecutors say 35-year-old Kendrick William’s uncle, 62-year-old Patrick Riley Jr., stabbed him to death.

Riley Jr. is now charged with first-degree reckless homicide. It happened just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, at a home near 18th and Hopkins.

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The backstory:

Carolyn Mallett owns the home but said her son, who was a father of two, and her brother lived there together. She said her son called complaining his uncle wouldn’t clean up. Minutes later, it was her brother on the line.

Riley Jr. told police his nephew came on the porch talking “crazy” to him. That’s when he says his nephew slapped him in the face and he blanked out.

Prosecutors say Riley Jr. Admitted to picking up a folding knife and stabbing Williams once. He then walked to a neighbor and asked her to call 911 and his sister.

Williams died on the scene.

A mother speaks out

What She’s Saying:

“My brother called me saying, ‘he on the floor,’ and I said, ‘you bet not been done did something to my baby,’ and then he hung the phone up,” she said. “I already knew he didn’t slap you because you would really have to do something to him.”

Mallett is living with a pain she wishes on no one.

“It’s like losing two people, my son and my brother,” she said. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat.”

In court

What’s next:

A judge ordered a competency exam for Riley Jr.

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A cash bond was set at $150,000. He’s due back in court on April 7.

Mallett said she will be in the courtroom.

• T-Pain is staging Wiscansin Fest at the Rave in Milwaukee for the fourth consecutive year June 14.
• T-Pain will again headline, with Feid, Keyshia Cole, Pusha T and DJ Diesel (NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal) among the 17 acts on the bill.
• Wiscansin Fest festivities also will include a car drifting event for the first time, called Wiscansin State Fear, on June 13 at the Milwaukee Mile.

T-Pain is coming back to Wiscansin in Wisconsin.

The Grammy-winning rapper and singer Thursday announced the fourth edition of his annual Wiscansin Fest at the Rave in Milwaukee — this year, dubbed “Back to Wiscansin Fest” — on June 14.

T-Pain will again headline, with Colombian singer Feid; R&B artist Keyshia Cole; and veteran rappers Pusha T, Wale and Jermaine Dupri among the 17 performers taking over multiple rooms at the Rave.

Two acts with other Milwaukee shows on the books — DJ Diesel, better known as NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, and rapper NLE Choppa — are making their own appearances at Wiscansin Fest. (Diesel is doing a post-Brewers game concert at American Family Field Sept. 18, while Choppa will open for Lil Baby at Fiserv Forum June 24.)

A couple of Milwaukee artists — Djay Mando and local rapper NileXNile — are also on the bill, with two acts yet to be announced.

And for the first time, Wiscansin Fest festivities include a bonus event, Wiscansin State Fear, June 13 at the Milwaukee Mile at Wisconsin State Fair Park. The Friday the 13th event will feature car drifting and other track events orchestrated by T-Pain’s Nappy Boy Automotive, along with carnival rides, games, karaoke and more.

T-Pain first teased the return of Wiscansin Fest Wednesday with a social media video showing him getting out of a DeLorean — similar to the one from the “Back to the Future” movies — outside the front doors of the Rave, and sporting sneakers similar to the self-lacing pair Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) wears in “Back to the Future Part II.”

T-Pain started Wiscansin Fest in 2022 as a nod to one of his most famous lyrics, from his 2008 hit “Can’t Believe It,” in which he rhymes “mansion” with “Wiscansin.” The Florida rapper has gotten a lot of mileage from that creative choice, launching a “Wiscansin University” merch line, complete with funny fake-college website, in 2018.

And last month, he joked on social media that he had renamed Wisconsin “Wiscansin,” poking fun at President Donald Trump signing an executive order requiring the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America on official maps.

In 2023, T-Pain also told the Journal Sentinel he plans to open a real-life Wiscansin University, a music school, in the Milwaukee area, although details have yet to be revealed since.

Tickets, priced between $73 and $168, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at the box office (2401 W. Wisconsin Ave.) and therave.com. Two-day passes covering both Wiscansin Fest and Wisconsin State Fear also go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for $108.

Back to Wiscansin Fest lineup

• T-Pain
• Feid
• Keyshia Cole
• Pusha T
• Wale
• Jermaine Dupri
• DJ Diesel (Shaquille O’ Neal)
• NLE Choppa
• Kash Doll
• Drezzy
• Prof
• DurandBernarr
• Armani White
• Djay Mando
• NileXNile
• Two acts to be announced