I’m Hope Karnopp, and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning.

It’s going to be chilly for the Brewers’ home opener today, with temperatures feeling like the mid-30s by first pitch. It should stay dry for Election Day tomorrow, though western parts of the state could see rain and snow. Meteorologists are tracking the potential for more strong storms Wednesday.

Why tomorrow’s election is a referendum on Trump

Wisconsin voters will elect a new Supreme Court justice tomorrow. But the April election is much more than a state-level race — it represents a referendum on President Donald Trump and his first 20 weeks in office, Molly Beck and Daniel Bice report.

Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate, has leaned heavily into Trump’s endorsement and joined him for a “tele-rally.” A spokesman for Susan Crawford, the liberal in the race, said Schimel “resorted to being fully at the mercy of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, said Schimel’s strategy has never been tried before in Wisconsin, making it “risky.”

“It probably will mobilize some Trump voters who don’t normally vote in spring elections, but also is likely to mobilize Democrats who are extraordinarily opposed to Trump, but perhaps not otherwise intense about the court race,” Franklin said. “So is mobilization or counter-mobilization the greater effect?”

Can We Energies demand backpay on a faulty meter?

Sharon Saxelby, who is retired and on a fixed income, got a We Energies bill for $926 in January. After calling We Energies three times, she was told she owed nearly $700 in backpay due to a “bill irregularity.” She contacted our Public Investigator team, who looked into the matter.

We Energies discovered in December that the “wrong meter” was installed for Saxelby’s Brookfield condo. That meter had recorded just 75% of the electricity used for “the last few years,” a spokeswoman said. Now, We Energies is demanding Saxelby pay for the additional electricity she used over the past two years because of a state law.

Although Saxelby owns her condo, she doesn’t own or control the electricity meter and says it’s unfair for her to pay for We Energies’ mistake. We Energies says customers should know this is a “a very rare case, and the overwhelming majority of our 2.2 million meters work exactly as they should.”

Gina Lee Castro also breaks down whether back billing is legal, and how a similar situation was resolved in the 1970s.

Don’t miss these

Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on X at @hopekarnopp.

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Sarah Cole joined FOX6 WakeUp with what you need to know about Realtors Home and Garden Show, including gardening and green spaces, a raffle, and even puppy cuddles!

MILWAUKEE – Lead is virtually invisible to the naked eye, but its negative impacts are hard to miss. The topic is heavy on the minds of people across Milwaukee amid a string of recent school closures due to unsafe lead levels.

What they’re saying:

Metcalfe Park Community Bridges said lead has been an issue for decades. Now, the group is trying to alleviate the issue right in people’s homes.

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“Lead, as we know, causes so many issues,” said Melody McCurtis, the group’s deputy director. “It messes with our minds, our bodies, and all of those different things.”

Concerns about lead are flowing throughout the city of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Health Department recently identified seven schools with unsafe lead levels. Three of those schools remain closed for cleanup and renovations.

Lead filter giveaway

Local perspective:

McCurtis said she speaks from experience; she had lead poisoning as a kid. Now, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges is looking to help people lose the lead in their water by filtering it out at home.

“These lead filtration systems will help folks have some type of drinking water at home, where that means is not contamination by lead,” she said.

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On Saturday, the group hosted an event in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood. Roughly 60 people signed up to receive free filters.

“We’ll know that by hooking them up to the kitchen sink that it’s running through, being purified,” neighbor Latisha Bully-White said.

“I think it’s important because it starts off at home,” said neighbor Monifa Johnson.

Lead water filter for Metcalfe Park Community Bridges giveaway

Citywide attention

What’s next:

McCurtis said the decades-long issue needs to come to an end, and they’re pushing the city for long-term solutions while turning to filters for a short-term fix. 

“You don’t want lead in the body, lead does not belong in our bodies. We should not be drinking it,” she said.

Metcalfe Park Community Bridges will be going door-to-door, McCurtis said, to get more people to sign up for filtration systems. She said they will get the filters on April 18 and teach people how to use them shortly after.