Milwaukee, WI
We asked two people in Milwaukee about the Insurrection Act – here’s what they told us
MILWAUKEE — President Trump is threatening to invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to send military troops to Minneapolis, sparking debate about the scope and appropriate use of the federal law.
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The Insurrection Act gives the president authority to deploy military forces inside the United States, but legal experts say how and when it’s used remains open for debate.
“An extreme use of power, and that’s why it’s only been used 30 times,” said Michael Rosen, a Milwaukee union activist and advocate.
The law has been invoked throughout Rosen’s lifetime, though never during events he attended as a union advocate.
He’s not an expert on the law but a long-time observer. Rosen believes the act can be justified in certain circumstances, pointing to its use during the 1992 Los Angeles riots when state officials requested federal help, or to enforce school desegregation in the South during the 1960s.
“The use of the Insurrection Act is legitimate when the federal law, in this case, desegregation, is being broken and local law enforcement can not and will not enforce the law,” Rosen said.
Watch: We asked two people in Milwaukee about the Insurrection Act – here’s what they told us
We asked two people in Milwaukee about the Insurrection Act – here’s what they told us
In a Truth Social post, Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitator and insurrectionist.” However, Rosen disagrees with this approach.
The Insurrection Act has been used about 30 times by 17 presidents throughout American history.
Patrick Sobkowski, who has a legal background and teaches American history and constitutional law at Marquette University, explains the law’s broad scope.
“It gives the president pretty broad authority to determine whether there is a sufficient domestic emergency,” Sobkowski said.
He notes there’s a reason the act has been rarely used throughout history.
“People from both sides of the political aisle have just kind of accepted as the correct or proper thing to do, and in America, we tend to think that too much power in the hands of one person is not a good thing,” Sobkowski said.
Some legal experts say various versions of the more than 200-year-old law are due for another update to provide more clarity on when it can and cannot be used.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Community members and city leaders celebrated the opening of four new community-powered fridges on the North Side of Milwaukee. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday, Feb. 27, at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, 3624 W. North Ave., to mark the occasion.
The effort to fight food scarcity by opening community-powered fridges comes after several grocery stores closed in the area, creating a food desert.
District 15 Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who saw several grocery stores in his district close over the past few years, served as the event’s emcee.
“We could either complain about the problem, or we could come together to find a solution,” Stamper said.
In July 2025, a Pick ‘n Save on the North Side closed, prompting the opening of a community-powered fridge at Tricklebee Café in the Sherman Park and Uptown area. Since then, several other grocery stores have closed in the area.
This led Stamper, FEED MKE, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and One MKE to open four more community-powered fridges.
Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Café, talked about the organization’s community-powered fridge. About a week ago, the fridge was empty for the first time since its launch, so staff turned to their online community for support.
“Within 20 minutes, a woman came in with bags of food and filled the fridge for less than $100,” Melby-Gibbons said.
The community-powered fridge network is run by residents on a take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can model. Taking a grassroots approach to solving food insecurity in the area, community members provide fresh produce and other healthy food options to ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritious foods.
“Everybody deserves to eat. I can’t go to sleep at night knowing my neighbors are hungry,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
Here’s a list of all the community-powered fridges:
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges
3624 W. North Ave.
Rooted & Rising- Washington Park
3940 W. Lisbon Ave.
Sherman Park Community Association
3526 W. Fond du Lac Ave.
Dominican Center
2470 W. Locust St.
Tricklebee Café
4424 W. North Ave.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Milwaukee Brewers were one of the more active teams in the league this offseason and it was one of the more shocking storylines to follow all winter.
They opted to trade Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets, which was a blockbuster deal, but it was expected. Peralta was on an expiring contract, and the Brewers were unlikely to be able to land a long-term deal with him. Milwaukee would much rather have control of Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams for the next five to seven years rather than a singular year of Peralta.
But they also traded Isaac Collins to the Kansas City Royals and Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. The Collins deal was a head scratcher, but the Durbin deal was the most shocking move of Milwaukee’s offseason.
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The Brewers traded Durbin and two other infielders to Boston in exchange for Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton, and Shane Drohan. Harrison is the biggest addition of the trade. Drohan has already flashed dominant potential this spring. Hamilton, who struggled last season, seemingly has the full belief of Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
David Hamilton could soon become a star for the Brewers
“He’s got so much ability in there, and he’s got experience, and he might be a utility player but I think he can be really good for us. I think he can take his offensive game to a whole other level,” Murphy said when talking about Hamilton, per Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy.
Last season, Hamilton slashed .198/.257/.333 with a .590 OPS and a 63 OPS+. It was his third year in the big leagues and his second full year at the level and he’s yet to post an OPS+ over 100. But he’s still been worth 3.6 WAR over the last two years because of his defense and baserunning. The issue has been his bat. Even when he hit .248 in 2024, his OPS was under .700.
But Murphy seemingly believes Hamilton could take the next step at the plate, which would set him up to be a very good platoon infielder and versatile bat. He has the chance to quietly develop into a star with the Brewers if he can get his OPS over .700 and closer to .750. Obviously, this isn’t going to be easy, but Murphy seems to believe he’s closer to this breakout than many fans assume.
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