Wisconsin
‘Rain, rain, go away’: NE Wisconsin farmers asking for a break from Mother Nature
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WBAY) – Northeast Wisconsin farmers are asking for the rain to stop, as it’s hurting their chances of planting and harvesting their crops.
This comes after a drought was declared last year due to the dry conditions farmers were facing.
Last year, farmers were concerned that it was too dry for their crops hoping for more precipitation. This year the amount of rain we’ve gotten might be too much of a good thing.
Mark Petersen of Petersen Dairy Farm says he hasn’t been able to consistently get out onto his fields because of the weather. Many of the crops he has planted are under too much moisture, while crops waiting to get put into the ground may not make it in time. He says he’s heard multiple farmers complain about this year’s season as they remain at the mercy of round after round of rain.
“We’ve still got some dry hay to harvest yet and that’s a nightmare,” says Petersen. “We can’t do it because of the weather forecast. It should’ve been harvested optimum the last week of May so we’re getting a month late and it’s getting overly ripe and feed quality is not worth a darn at this point.”
Last year, farmers were dealing with the effects of a flash drought in late May that turned into a full drought in late June and lasted until about March of this year. Around April, heavy showers started to help farmers, but now it has become too much rain for them to plant and harvest their crops.
Regional crops and soil educator Kevin Jarek says that soil typically has 25% pore space and 25% moisture. When he was gathering soil samples in March, the percentage of moisture was between 16 and 23%, which Jarek says is unheard of for that time of year.
“For that number to be down at 16, 20, 23% during a time when the soil should have been the wettest, we were sincerely worried about ‘Are we going to have moisture to grow our crops if we plant them in the ground’,” says Jarek.
Jarek says farmers can plant cover crops, which will help benefit soil health and control erosion, but it may not be enough.
“It’s going to be too late to try and plant corn and soybeans and have those crops reach maturity, so we do the best we can,” says Jarek.
Jarek says farmers do have insurance and preventative planning payments that are available during times like this, but says it doesn’t come close to replacing what a farmer has lost.
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The Wisconsin Badgers were extremely well represented at the most recent UA Next Camp.
In total, seven future Badgers competed at the May 24 UA Next Camp in Chicago, IL.
Shockingly, two of the seven recruits in attendance aren’t Wisconsin natives. Knowing how well represented Luke Fickell’s class of 2027 is with in-state talent, it was great to see the likes of quarterback Jack Sorgi (Indiana) and defensive lineman David Hill (Illinois) make the trip to Chicago.
The complete list of Wisconsin players who were at the camp can be found below:
- QB Jack Sorgi
- EDGE Isaac Miller
- IOL Hunter and Reece Mallinger
- DL David Hill
- OT Cole Reiter
- OT Ethan McIntosh
Of those seven, Reiter is the team’s highest-ranked recruit.
Notable absences included:
- Four-star running back Kingston Allen
- Four-star tight end Korz Loken
Nonetheless, Wisconsin received a ton of praise from Billy Tucker, the director of the UA All-America game.
Currently, they still have the No. 17-ranked class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion.
(WLUK) — Warm, sunny weather is expected to continue in Northeast Wisconsin’s forecast, but small storm chances can still pop-up as summerlike conditions settle in.
Weather conditions can change quickly this time of year, with summer heat fueling thunderstorms. As temperatures rise, warm and humid air lifts into the atmosphere, eventually cooling and condensing into clouds. That process continues throughout the day, allowing clouds to form thunderstorms.
Often isolated, these storms are often called “pop up storms” because they can form quickly. Unlike larger storm systems typically triggered by fronts or low-pressure systems, pop-up storms are fueled by heat and humidity. The hotter and muggier it is, the more energy is available for storms to develop.
However, not every hot summer day ends up turning stormy, but when heat and humidity are high enough, summer afternoons can quickly shift into thunderstorms.
A forecasts can indicate when conditions are favorable for thunderstorms, but pinpointing the exact location a pop-up storm will form is difficult because of how small and fast they develop.
This leads to sharp differences in the weather over short distances, meaning one neighborhood sees a downpour while another neighborhood just a few miles away stay dry.
The extended forecast often show a scattered storm chance rather than widespread rain to account for the possibility of pop-up storms.
MPS staff protest budget cuts, layoffs and for cost-of-living raises
Milwaukee Public School staff protest budget cuts, layoffs and for cost-of-living raises
Wisconsin teacher unions have seen the nation’s largest drop in strength since 2012, according to a new study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
The Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education think tank, ranked Wisconsin 36th among 50 states and the District of Columbia for teacher union strength, falling 18 spots from its previous 2012 study. The rankings factored in union resources and membership, involvement in politics, the state’s labor and bargaining policies, policy wins and losses, and the perceived influence of teacher unions in the state.
The report said teacher unions across the nation are weaker than they were over a decade ago, with the percentage of teachers who are union members declining in all but four states.
In Wisconsin, membership declined from 98% in 2012 to 45% in 2025, a nearly 54 percentage point decrease and the largest drop in membership nationwide. The state ranked 43rd overall for union resources and membership compared to 13th in 2012.
The report attributed the decline in membership to Act 10, the state’s 2011 law signed by then-Gov. Scott Walker that essentially ended collective bargaining rights for public employee unions in Wisconsin.
In an email, Fordham Institute researcher Meredith Coffey said most of the data in the 2012 study predated the law, and it’s unlikely the initial report fully captured the effects of Act 10. She said the change in Wisconsin’s overall rank understates the impact of the law.
“In other words, the estimated change in rank between 2012 and today is arguably conservative,” Coffey said.
The study also found Wisconsin teacher unions’ financial resources are limited compared with unions in other states. After adjusting for cost-of-living differences, Wisconsin unions have the seventh-lowest annual revenues per teacher.
Wisconsin also ranked 44th for its labor and bargaining policies. Public-sector unions are limited to negotiating for raises capped at the rate of inflation under Act 10.
The report said just five states – Idaho, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia – have enhanced collective bargaining rights since 2012.
Wisconsin teacher unions ranked 25th for their political involvement, specifically in elections and campaigns. In 2020 and 2022, the Fordham Institute found, the state’s teacher unions sponsored the second-highest number of state and local political ads in the nation.
About 70% of Wisconsin candidates endorsed by state-level teachers unions won their elections in 2024, according to the data.
The state’s teacher unions additionally ranked 26th in policy wins and losses, which the Fordham Institute measured by analyzing the extent to which Wisconsin policies align with union priorities.
In perceived influence, the organization ranked Wisconsin’s teacher unions 24th. Researchers said they measured this through a survey of people with knowledge of education policymaking in each state, including lawmakers, journalists, state education administrators and members of teacher unions, among others.
Overall, the study found the strongest unions are concentrated in Democrat-led, more affluent states, while the weakest are concentrated in Republican-led, poorer states.
The report said the strongest teacher unions are in Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Hawaii. The weakest teacher unions are in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina and Mississippi.
Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions for the Journal Sentinel. Contact: khuynh@gannett.com. Follow her on X: @_kaylahuynh.
Kayla Huynh‘s reporting is supported by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association.
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