Midwest
Wisconsin ski park faces lawsuit after allegedly firing employee for sharing Bible verses on social media
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A Wisconsin snow park is facing a federal lawsuit that accuses it of firing a Christian employee for posting Bible verses on his personal social media account.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a complaint against Crystal Ridge Ski Area, LLC, formerly known as The Rock Snowpark, a winter sports park and summer events venue in Franklin, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. Their complaint alleges the park discriminated against a former employee who worked there from January 2, 2022 to June 12, 2023.
During his time of employment, the Rock Snowpark employee “frequently posted religious messages” including Bible verses, on his personal social media account, the suit states. On June 9, 2023, Rock Snowpark’s Operations Manager met with the individual and expressed concern that his posts “were discriminatory to gay people,” and asked him to refrain from posting these statements. When the employee asked if he could still post Bible verses, the manager gave approval, the suit says.
Three days later, the employee posted another Bible verse on his personal social media and was terminated the same day.
A federal lawsuit filed by the EEOC claims a Christian employee was told to refrain from posting Scripture on social media that was discriminatory toward gay people. (iStock)
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The EEOC complaint states the employee did not identify his workplace or claim to be representing the views of his employer on his social media account. His posts were not directed at any employee of Rock Snowpark and the park did not receive any complaints about the posts, the complaint claims.
The employee had worked for the company for a year and a half before his termination, during which time he received bonuses and was promoted for his excellent performance, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC filed the suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement, the complaint explains. The park is accused of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.
The commission is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction restricting Crystal Ridge from engaging in “any employment practices which discriminate on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII.” The commission asks the court to order the park to implement new policies to ensure equal employment opportunities “regardless of religion.” The complaint also asks for the employee to receive backpay and compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged harms caused.
The EEOC lawsuit asks for the Wisconsin snow park to provide compensation and damages to an employee who was fired over alleged religious discrimination. (Getty Images/IStock)
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The commission is requesting a jury trial in the case.
“All employees have the right to earn a living free from discrimination based on their religious beliefs,” EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas said in a press release. “While employers must remain alert to potential harassment in the workplace, religious statements made outside of work that do not reference or impact anyone in the workplace do not constitute unlawful harassment.”
Crystal Ridge Ski Area told Fox News Digital it had not yet been served the legal complaint but rejected the allegations.
“First, we want to make clear that we, as an employer and member of the community, treat all of our employees and customers equally and with respect, regardless of who they are and what they believe,” the park said. “We also expect all of our employees to similarly respect each other and the customers that we are here to serve.”
“Second, we want to make clear that the internal employment decision that apparently led to the EEOC’s lawsuit was not made on the basis of the employee’s religious beliefs. Rather, it was a business decision based on performance issues and policy violations,” they added, saying they had no further comment on the matter.
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Detroit Pistons fans answer: What’s the score going to be tonight?
With Detroit on the brink of elimination in Game 5 against Orlando, fans take their best guess at the final score.
How are Detroit Pistons fans feeling, with their team — the No. 1 seed in the conference — down 3-1 and facing elimination against the Orlando Magic on their home court Wednesday night?
It’s a touchy subject.
“We don’t want to talk about that,” said Sandy Maizi of West Bloomfield.
His brother-in-law, Dominic Dallo, summed it up with a phrase his son James, 10, coined when he was in preschool: “Ner-cited.” Nervous… but also excited, he explained.
Certainly, it wasn’t the position fans expected to be in by Game 5. To advance, the Pistons must now win three games straight, including at least one in Orlando. But many were still keeping the faith ahead of tip-off.
“We’ll win tonight,” said Brandon VanBeekom of Traverse City. “Just take it one game at a time.”
He and his wife, Randi, took their kids Liam, 8, and Oliver, 11, out of school early Wednesday to drive down to Detroit for the game. The kids thought they were leaving school early for a dentist appointment.
“I figured it out,” Oliver said. His teacher giving him two days’ worth of homework on his way out the door for his “dentist appointment” was a big clue. His parents, both in the car decked in Pistons gear, was the other.
It was the first playoff game for both boys.
It was also the first playoff game for first cousins James Dallo and Noah Maizi.
Their dads also conspired during the school day to bring them to the game, noticing online during the day that tickets were cheaper than some regular-season game seats in the same area. They told their kids as soon as they got home — do your homework, we’re going to the game. They were both pumped. It didn’t bother them a bit the team was down 3-1 in the series.
“I was happy,” Noah said.
“Excited,” James said. “Ready.”
Michael Parks of Grand Rapids brought his 8-year-old grandson Marquell to the game. Marquell said he was excited and ready to see “dunks.”
Parks, on the other hand, was, in a word, “worried.”
His friend Arica Deans, however, said she was feeling “great.”
“We’re going to do this,” she said.
Dearborn residents and friends Tristan Crandall and Christian Alvarado had technical feedback for the team, expecting to see more production from the bench, and more support for Cade Cunningham.
But they both had to admit, they were nervous.
“I’ll always have belief in us, no matter what,” Crandall said.
They both noted they had seen the team through its hardest times, and would continue to be there no matter what.
“We’ve seen the worst,” Alvarado said. “But we always have hope.”
jpignolet@detroitnews.com
A look at flooding in Downtown Milwaukee by Milwaukee School of Engineering
Sewer caps were bouncing from the corner of Kilbourn Avenue and Milwaukee Street by Milwaukee School of Engineering as a storm went through downtown Milwaukee
After a month of historic rainfall in Milwaukee, the city’s Department of Public Works is introducing two measures aimed at assisting in flood prevention.
The city will transition to bagged leaf pickup in the fall and will implement a set monthly street sweeping schedule on the city’s “exception streets” that allow parking on both sides.
The new leaf bagging policy changes Milwaukee’s current leaf collection policy of asking residents to rake leaves into the street for pick-up.
Leaders from the Department of Public Works discussed the measures and fielded questions from council members at the city’s Public Works Committee meeting April 29. Many of the questions were related to concerns over flooding across the city, and what more could be done to stop it.
Several council members voiced frustrations shared by residents in their districts who have repeatedly experienced flooding that impacts their homes and workplaces.
“When we add up all of this pain and suffering, there is a major impact to the city of Milwaukee,” said Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who represents the 14th Distrtict.
Milwaukee City Engineer Kevin Muhs said city leaders are still working out logistics for the changing protocols for leaf pick-up and street sweeping, but wanted to give residents a heads-up that the new measures will be coming.
The new leaf pick-up will start in the fall, while the change in street sweeping schedule will likely take at least a year to fully implement – and potentially as long as three years – as it will require paying for and installing new signage across 25% of the city, Department of Public Works Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke said.
The street sweeping change will be a gradual roll-out, impacting some streets before others, Department of Public Works spokesperson Tiffany Shepherd said. Vehicles that illegally park during the monthly street sweeping on the “exception streets” will be ticketed and towed.
The announcement of the new measures come after a record-breaking April rainfall for Milwaukee. From April 1-28, Milwaukee logged 9.39 inches of rain surpassing its April record – from NOAA data available since 2000 – of 7.38 inches, set in 2013.
April storms caused about 2.7 billion gallons of sewer water to flow into local waterways and Lake Michigan – a part of Milwaukee’s Deep Tunnel system that prevents backups in resident basements, Kruschke said.
The changes to leaf pick-up and street sweeping aim to reduce a contributing factor to flooding, since leaf debris can clog sewer drains and catch basins.
Kruschke said that during 2025-26 leaf pick-up, the city collected 13,569 tons of leaves – about 1,500 tons more than the previous year. However, he said, DPW crews were not able to access leaves in many areas of the city where vehicles are permitted to park on both sides of the street.
He pushed back against the notion that the city isn’t doing enough for leaf clean-up and other types of flood prevention.
“Our staff has been working around the clock, 12-hour days, pretty much nonstop, basically since October,” Kruschke said.
“Mother Nature has not been our friend in April, period,” he said.
In addition to rolling out changes to leaf pick-up and street sweeping, the Department of Public Works is partnering with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District on projects throughout the Milwaukee area, and continues to seek opportunities to improve stormwater management, Muhs said.
“We’ve not just been sitting around. … Obviously, the Deep Tunnel is the most siginificant initial investment in managing water drain routes in the city’s history, but that type of work is continuing to happen,” Muhs said.
Kevin Shafer, MMSD executive director, said among those projects is the construction of a 30-million gallon stormwater basin at North 35th Street and West Capitol Drive that, along with two other basins completed in 2018, will slowly drain water from major storms into Lincoln Creek. Another project underway, in partnership with Milwaukee County, is carving a basin in Jackson Park to store floodwater before it moves into the Kinnickinnic River.
Each project costs $40 million to $50 million, Shaker said. MMSD began accelerating them after the city’s August 2025 record-breaking rainfall.
“We’re going to need them six, seven years from now,” he said.
Still, Shafer acknowledged that Milwaukee’s recent severe rainfall totals from April 2026 and August 2025 are more than the city’s infrastructure has been able to handle.
“We’ve got great partnershps throughout the communities, but 15 inches of rain, 7 inches of rain – there’s no system in the country that can handle that much rainfall,” he said.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.
Eight-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves will return to the metro Sept. 22 to headline Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. May 8 through Axs. American Express card holders have access to a presale starting at 10 a.m. May 5.
A Texas native, Musgraves spent years trying to establish herself, self-releasing several albums and competing on the long-forgotten “Nashville Star” in 2007. In 2012, she finally landed a deal with Mercury Nashville and hit the road with Lady Antebellum. Her 2013 major-label debut, “Same Trailer Different Park,” earned rave reviews and adoring fans thanks to Musgraves’ likable singles, including her breakthrough “Follow Your Arrow,” the rare country hit about tolerance.
Her second album, 2015’s “Pageant Material,” covered similar territory, but Musgraves took a bold move toward pop music with 2018’s widely acclaimed “Golden Hour.” It went on to win all four of its nominated categories at the Grammy Awards, including album of the year and best country album.
In 2021, Musgraves released “Star-Crossed,” which examined her painful divorce from fellow country singer Ruston Kelly. She opened her first arena tour at the former Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul the following year. “I Remember Everything,” her 2023 duet with Zach Bryan, entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, making it the first country duet to do so since “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
On Friday, Musgraves will issue “Middle of Nowhere,” an album that finds her “leaning intentionally into open space and traditional western elements, and as always, earnestly examining the human experience.”
It features collaborations with Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings and Gregory Alan Isakov. She has invited three Texas mariachi brothers who were recently detained and released by ICE to open for her this weekend at a series of shows in her home state.
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