Milwaukee, WI

What Milwaukeeans need to know about the RNC, including road closures, parking, venues and more

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2024

Press Room

What Milwaukeeans need to know about the RNC, including road closures, parking, venues and more

Milwaukee has been preparing to host the 2024 Republican National Convention for two years.

From Milwaukee’s selection as the RNC host city to organizers’ final preparations for the convention, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel journalists have been reporting on various aspects of the RNC. The convention, which will take place in downtown Milwaukee next week, is expected to bring about 50,000 visitors to the city.

Below is a guide to the convention and its widespread impacts on our city, featuring coverage from our reporters. Click on the in-line links in each section to learn more about a topic.

What road closures and parking restrictions will be in place during the RNC?

Though the convention runs from July 15 to 18, you should expect driving and parking restrictions in the days before and after the RNC as well. Numerous downtown Milwaukee roads will be closed due to the convention between July 11 and 19. Widespread street parking restrictions will also be in effect between July 5 and 21.

From Sunday morning to Monday morning, the Hoan Bridge, which connects Interstate 794 between Van Buren Street and Carferry Drive, will be closed to traffic. And the following roadways will be closed throughout the week of July 14:

McKinley Avenue / Fond du Lac Avenue ramps for Wisconsin Highway 145
I-794 eastbound ramp at James Lovell Street
Kilbourn Avenue Tunnels

How will the RNC affect public transportation?

Multiple Milwaukee County Transit System bus routes will be disrupted or follow detours between July 11 and 19, including the East-West Bus Rapid Transit CONNECT 1. There will also be disruptions to the County’s paratransit service, Transit Plus, for riders with disabilities.

Bublr Bikes, Milwaukee’s bikeshare system, will shut down seven of its stations between July 11 and 19. The stations are all located downtown in and around the security perimeter.

Milwaukee’s Hop streetcar will run on a normal schedule from 5 a.m. to midnight and arrive every 15 minutes.

Where can’t I go downtown during the RNC?

A two-tiered security perimeter will surround the main convention venues. An extensive list of items are banned from the security zone and surrounding demonstration areas.

The vehicle security perimeter stretches roughly from West Cherry Street on the north to Clybourn Street on the south and from North 9th Street on the west to the east side of the Milwaukee River. Residences and businesses inside the vehicle security perimeter will be accessible to the public, and pedestrians and cyclists will be able to freely enter the vehicle security perimeter from any area. Vehicles, including rideshare and food delivery drivers, must enter through one of the vehicle screening points. Restrictions will begin at 2 a.m. on July 15.

The pedestrian restricted perimeter stretches from West McKinley Avenue on the north to just past West Wisconsin Avenue to the south. The area encompasses Pere Marquette Park on the east side and stretches past North James Lovell Street on the west. The pedestrian restricted perimeter will be accessible only to credentialed or ticketed individuals, such as convention attendees or volunteers.

The boundaries of the security perimeter include a portion of the Milwaukee River. From July 14 to 19, no commercial or recreational boats will be allowed on the Milwaukee River from Cherry Street to Michigan Street, and road bridges in this area will remain down during the convention. Multiple boat rental companies will halt operations during the conventions.

When and where are protests during the RNC?

There are two designated protest zones for the convention: one on the north side near Fiserv Forum and another on the south side near Baird Center.

Both areas will have a speaker’s platform. On the north side, the platform will be at Haymarket Square at West McKinley Avenue and North King Drive, and on the south side, the platform will be at Zeidler Union Square.

The protest zones are both outside the hard security zone for the convention, which prompted pushback from activists who were planning to march closer to Fiserv Forum. After a month-long legal battle over the designated protest zones, the activist group preparing to march on the RNC announced a route that complies with the U.S. Secret Service’s security perimeter.

The group plans to gather in Red Arrow Park at 10 a.m. on July 15, the first day of the convention. There will be a rally at 11 a.m., followed by the march at 12 p.m., according to organizers.

Check out the map below for a newly announced march route, as well as our guide to protest rights for the RNC. For more insight into how the city plans to police the convention and protests, check out our breakdown of Milwaukee police’s “rules of engagement” for tear gas, pepper spray and other policing strategies.

Which restaurants and bars will be open during the RNC?

If you’re inside the convention, make sure to check out Convention Fest at the Baird Center, which will showcase 100 local vendors each afternoon of the RNC. Featured businesses include Immy’s African Cuisine, Slo’ Motion BBQ, Scrima’s Pizza from Waukesha and Ainnie’s Sweets, among many others.

If you’re hoping to stay out late during convention week, here’s our rundown of bars and restaurants taking advantage of the state’s new law allowing Milwaukee-area businesses to stay open until 4 a.m. on RNC nights.

For visitors, check out this guide for an overview of the best restaurants and bars across the city.

What is the RNC schedule?

The RNC recently released its official Master Event Calendar for delegates and guests. Events run Sunday through Thursday and include an invite-only welcome party at the Henry Maier Festival Park, official convention sessions, affinity group receptions, lectures, film screenings and late-night parties.

RNC events will take place at various Milwaukee landmarks, including the Bradley Symphony Center, Harley-Davidson Museum, Pfister Hotel, Mitchell Park Domes and Lakefront Brewery.

How to watch the RNC

The convention venues are closed to all but delegates, politicians, media members and volunteers. However, there are plenty of ways to watch the RNC. Numerous platforms will stream the convention, including the Journal Sentinel. FOX News Media will also have coverage across all of its platforms.

What is the RNC?

The Republican National Convention is a multiday event at which delegates will officially select the party’s nominees for president and vice president. Former President Donald Trump is the party’s presumptive nominee. He is expected to accept the presidential nomination, and name a vice president, during the convention at Fiserv Forum.

Things to do in Milwaukee during the RNC

From extended museum hours to local farmers markets and festivals, there are many non-convention things to do in Milwaukee during RNC week. Check out our list of Milwaukee’s “postcard-worthy views” or try to find some of the 100 objects that make Milwaukee.

More: Have questions about how the RNC will affect you? A new city website answers them.

More: Here’s a look at the political billboards popping up around Milwaukee ahead of the RNC

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Milwaukee, WI

Black joins Giannis, KPJ as out, How To Watch Orlando Magic-Milwaukee Bucks Lineups, Injuries, Betting Lines & More

Published

7 hours ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

Black joins Giannis, KPJ as out, How To Watch Orlando Magic-Milwaukee Bucks Lineups, Injuries, Betting Lines & More

The Orlando Magic put together one of its strongest efforts of the season in Minnesota on Saturday, squashing one of the West’s best 119-92. They’ll look to continue a road win streak that began in L.A. with wins over the Clippers and Lakers.

Milwaukee also won on Saturday, pulling away from the Utah Jazz 113-99 to snap a two-game skid that coincided with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s return from a 14-game absence due to a calf injury.

Antetokounmpo’s presence was necessary deep into the fourth quarter due to the game being tight, so that prevents him from participating in this one. Kevin Porter Jr. is also out.

The Magic are even with the Miami Heat atop the Southeast Division, although they hold a tie-braker since they have defeated Miami all four times they’ve played. The Magic’s upset of Minnesota has pushed them up to sixth place in the East.

Orlando is 14-15 on the road 20-19 against Eastern Conference foes. Milwaukee is 15-16 at home and 19-23 against Eastern Conference competition.

Vitals – How to Watch Magic at Bucks

Game date, time and location: Sunday, March 8, 8:10 p.m. EST, Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida (Magic), FanDuel Sports Wisconsin (Bucks)

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game/AM 740 WYGM (Magic), WTMJ (Bucks)

Magic look to extend road win streak to four by ending Bucks’ run

The Orlando Magic (34-28) visit the Milwaukee Bucks (27-35) in the third and final matchup between these teams this season.

The Magic last won a season series from Milwaukee in 2011-12, but have gone 14-35 since, which includes an upset loss (116-108) in the final game prior to the break. Cam Thomas, having just been signed after getting his release from the Brooklyn Nets, scored 34 points to complement a Kevin Porter Jr. triple-double (18 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists), so the Bucks are still in position to win this year’s series 2-1 if it can pull an upset on Sunday night.

The Bucks have opened up a 77-57 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1989-90. Milwaukee won the first nine matchups.

Betting Lines (via DraftKings)

Spread: Magic -6.5 (-112), Bucks +6.5 (-115)

Moneyline: Magic -218, Bucks +180

Total: 216.5 (Over -112, Under -108)

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

PROJECTED STARTERS

MAGIC

F Tristan da Silva

F Paolo Banchero

C Wendell Carter Jr.

G Jalen Suggs

G Desmond Bane

BUCKS

F Ousmane Dieng

F Pete Nance

C Myles Turner

G Ryan Rollins

G AJ Green

INJURY REPORT

MAGIC

Anthony Black: Out – Low Back Strain

Jonathan Isaac: Out – Left Knee Soreness

Franz Wagner: Out – Left High Ankle Sprain Injury Management

Jase Richardson: Out – Lower Back Spasms

Alex Morales: Out – G League (Two-way)

Colin Castleton: Out – G League (Two-way)

BUCKS

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Out – Right Calf Injury Management

Kevin Porter Jr.: Out – Right Knee Swelling

Kyle Kuzma: Out – Thoracic Spine Contusion

Taurean Prince: Out – Neck Surgery Recovery

Cormac Ryan: Out – G League (Two-way)

Alex Antetokounmpo: Out – G League (Two-way)

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee living has become unaffordable for too many people | Opinion

Published

19 hours ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

Milwaukee living has become unaffordable for too many people | Opinion

In the first half of 20th Century, Socialists helped make Milwaukess an affordable, comfortable, well-governed place. Now, there’s been a fundamental change to the character of this city.

Ryan Clancy
| Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee is facing a housing affordability crisis, with some estimates suggesting a household needs $134,000 to live comfortably.
Median rent in the city has increased by 28% between 2020 and 2024, significantly impacting renters.
The author advocates for expanding the “Right to Counsel” program, which provides attorneys for people facing eviction.
Proposed solutions include banning discrimination against Section 8 voucher recipients and establishing stronger tenant protections.

Life in Milwaukee is unaffordable for too many people, and it’s getting worse. We’re a city that used to be an affordable, comfortable, well-governed place to live. Socialists helped make it that way in the first half of the 20th century through deep, sustainable investments in public infrastructure and public programs. Neoliberalism, though, has undone much of the strength of our world class city.

Now, after multiple recessions, decades of defunding infrastructure and services at the state, county and city levels, and now with an economy thrown into chaos by President Trump, Milwaukee has become one of the twenty most expensive cities in the country. By some estimates, a household now needs at least $134,000 in income to live comfortably here.

That’s a fundamental change to the character of this city, one that deeply worries me — as both a Milwaukeean and a legislator representing much of our city.

Change in city’s character hitting renters hard

This is hitting renters hard: between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2024, Milwaukee’s median rent went up a staggering 28%. And this didn’t happen accidentally. We have a system that’s been made to work very well for landlords and real estate interests, who’ve made rent control and habitability inspections effectively impossible here. Unsurprisingly, that means rents are going up while housing quality goes down. It’s difficult to be a tenant in Wisconsin.

Housing isn’t like most other things we buy and budget for. People invest emotionally in the places they live and the people they live alongside. Homeowners build equity too while getting predictable housing costs, at least under most mortgages. But an East Side apartment that used to cost $1200/mo is not replaceable by a house in Oconomowoc that costs the same – very different people prefer one to the other, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.

We must keep this top of mind while making housing policy. Most people don’t want to leave their neighborhoods, especially the close-knit ones in our district. They want to stay where they’ve already put down roots, whether as a homeowner or a renter. When a family leaves, it’s too often because they can no longer afford to live here. That’s a problem that can’t be solved by zoning changes alone – it’s not a bad thing if some communities want to allow more back cottages and even duplexes and triplexes, but that simply isn’t enough, and isn’t a viable solution for many neighborhoods.

We can do much more to keep Milwaukeeans in their homes.

A Right to Counsel — providing attorneys for people facing eviction – is a proven way to do that: I led the successful effort to make it law in Milwaukee County back in 2021, and it’s since kept thousands of people in their homes, given them extra time to seek rent assistance, and sealed misleading eviction records to help renters keep renting. Expanding Right to Counsel statewide is a core part of our tenant protection package, but securing permanent funding for the existing program here in Milwaukee is critical.

Since its creation, Milwaukee’s executive leadership has attempted to defund the program – which has thankfully been saved by votes by the Common Council and Milwaukee County Board. This is despite the clearly positive results for tenants and landlords alike, and despite every dollar spent on the program saving us $4.66 in other costs. A statewide, well-funded program can build on and sustain that legacy, ensuring that Milwaukee residents — and folks across the state — will benefit from the stability that Right to Counsel creates.

Ban discrimination against Section 8 voucher recipients

We’re also proposing to ban discrimination against Section 8 voucher recipients, to establish stronger protections for tenants organizing for better living conditions, to lift arbitrary restrictions on inspections for lead and for other profound habitability issues, and to enact other key protections that blunt the worst practices of small and big landlords alike.

These protections are urgent and necessary because real estate interests and landlords are aggressively fighting to make things harder for tenants. Just before the end of the session, they pushed AB 202, a bill that would undermine some of the very few protections for tenants in Wisconsin law. Very few of my colleagues who are landlords recused themselves – that’s an obvious conflict of interest, but it’s the norm in a legislature where tenants’ needs come last.

The underlying problem in our housing system is a deep dependence on capital, not democracy, to choose where and when we build new housing. When the federal government raises interest rates, it makes both private and public housing funding more expensive, so developers build less. When rent forecasts go down, developers build less — putting the lie to the notion that private housing builders and landlords are somehow at odds.

Our long term goal must be housing as a human right. That means social housing or public housing for people who want them, but also transparency and accountability for private landlords, an end to exploitative, uncapped rent extraction, and an effective ban on low quality housing. In the meantime, better protecting tenants will help all of us.

Rep. Ryan Clancy represents the 19th District in the Wisconsin Assembly. He is also a former Milwaukee County Supervisor.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee Bucks injury report: Is Giannis playing tonight vs. the Jazz?

Published

1 day ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Milwaukee Bucks injury report: Is Giannis playing tonight vs. the Jazz?

The Milwaukee Bucks host the tanking Utah Jazz tonight, March 7, at Fiserv Forum in a must-win game that also sees the Bucks on a four-game losing streak. They have also lost five of their last seven games to fall further out of the postseason picture in the Eastern Conference.

“‘Cause this league, anything can happen,” Bucks guard AJ Green said after the team shot around Saturday morning. “We’ve lost four in a row. Somebody else can lose four in a row, we win four in a row and we’re right back there. So just control the controllables, focus on us.”

The Bucks are 26-35 overall and even with Giannis Antetokounmpo returning to action this week, the offense has continued to struggle. The team has scored fewer than 100 points in four of those five losses. Milwaukee’s defense, one of the poorest in the league all season, has remained sievelike as well, allowing 120.1 points per game in over the last seven.

Utah would appear to be a good team to break a losing streak against, as the Jazz are efforting to finish with one of the league’s worst records. At 19-44, they have the fifth-worst mark in the league. If their pick falls out of the top eight in May’s NBA draft lottery, it will go to Oklahoma City as part of a 2021 trade.

That said, the Jazz have the seventh-best scoring offense in the league and young guards in Keyonte George (24 points per game) and Ace Bailey (12.4) that could give the Bucks trouble. Utah does own the league’s worst scoring defense, however.

Is Giannis playing?

Yes.

The Bucks superstar is no longer on the injury report after returning from a nearly six-week absence due to a right calf strain. Antetokounmpo is playing under a minutes restriction, however, and logged just under 26 minutes in his first two games on March 2 and March 4.

Is Doc Rivers retiring?

On March 5, Rivers’ former ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith said on a SiriusXM radio that the Bucks’ head coach was going to hang it up after the season.

Following his team’s practice on March 6, Rivers issued somewhat of a denial.

“No, I’m not getting into that,” Rivers said. “That’s something that’s; I think he feels that way, but not from me.”

Smith offered his take on Rivers’ future when he was asked if Ja Morant would be helped by being coached by the Hall of Fame finalist if he were to be acquired by the Bucks in the offseason.

“It’s not gonna be Doc Rivers because Doc Rivers is gonna retire at the end of this season,” Smith said. “Doc Rivers has been coaching for close to 25 years, this is it for him. He’s gonna step away.”

NBA playoff standings

The Bucks are out of the postseason picture entirely. Here are the play-in standings in the Eastern Conference heading into game play on March 7:

No. 7: Miami (35-29): The Bucks and Magic have split the season series 1-1. Milwaukee travels to Miami on March 12.

No. 8: Orlando (33-28): The Bucks and Magic have split the season series 1-1. The Bucks host the Magic on March 8.

No. 9: Atlanta (32-31): The Bucks and Hawks have split the season series 1-1. Milwaukee travels to Atlanta on March 14.

No. 10: Charlotte (32-32): The Bucks own the tiebreaker over the Hornets having won the season series 3-1.

No. 11: Milwaukee (26-35): The Bucks have had better luck against the play-in teams to date, as they are just 5-14 against the top six seeds in the conference.

“I think you can look at (the standings) and just see what it is but you gotta then come back to the now,” Green said. “We have a game today. How can we get better today? What do we need to work on. We gotta win today. Just keep controlling what we can and worry about ourselves.”

Taurean Prince, out (neck surgery)
Kevin Porter Jr., out (right knee swelling)

Bucks probable starting lineup

Guards: AJ Green, Ryan Rollins
Forwards: Ousmane Dieng, Giannis Antetokounmpo
Center: Myles Turner

What time is the Bucks game?

The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. CT.

What channel is the Bucks game on?

The game will be simulcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and WMLW The M with Lisa Byington, Wesley Matthews and Melanie Ricks on the call.