Wisconsin

These WI Cities Could Be Ghost Towns By 2100: New Study

Published

2 years ago

February 12, 2024

These WI Cities Could Be Ghost Towns By 2100: New Study

WISCONSIN — Thousands of U.S. cities, including some in Wisconsin, are in danger of becoming ghost towns by 2100 due to a multitude of issues, ranging from the decline of industry to lower birth rates to the impacts of climate change, according to a study published recently in the journal Nature Cities.

These and other factors could cause further erosion in the populations of about 15,000 cities nationwide — in every state but Hawaii and the District of Columbia — making them virtual ghost towns with only a fraction of the population they previously had, according to the study.

Overall, the researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago found that population projections for 2100 suggest that nearly half of 30,000 cities nationwide could experience population losses of between 12 percent to 23 percent, and in 27 percent to 44 percent of the populated area.

In Wisconsin, the study said areas around Milwaukee, Green Bay, Wausau, and Superior could all see massive population drops.

But the Madison area will likely see increases.

Depopulation creates enormous, unprecedented challenges for planners, including possible disruptions in basic services like transit, clean water, electricity and internet access, the authors wrote.

Urban planning now is based on growth, but nearly half of U.S. cities are depopulating, senior author Sybil Derrible, an urban engineer at the University of Illinois Chicago, told Scientific American.

“The takeaway is that we need to shift away from growth-based planning, which is going to require an enormous cultural shift in the planning and engineering of cities,” Derrible said.

The authors said the exit from cities for the suburbs creates additional strain and possibly limits “access to much-needed resources in depopulating areas, further exacerbating their challenges.”

Also, they added, immigration could play a vital role in reversing the trend, but also that “resource distribution challenges will persist unless a paradigm shift happens away from growth-based planning alone.”

The Northeast and Midwest are the most likely regions to see big population losses, with Vermont and West Virginia the hardest hit, with 80 percent of cities between the two states expected to shrink.

Five states — Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi and New Hampshire — could see population declines in about three-fourths of their cities, according to the study.

Around 40 percent of cities are growing, including New York City, Chicago, Phoenix and Houston. Most of the places projected to see population growth by 2100 are located in the South and West, according to the study.

Most previous studies were based on big cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, “but that doesn’t give us an estimation of the scale of the problem,” lead study author Uttara Sutradhar, a doctoral candidate in civil engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago, told the Scientific American.

The study was based on U.S. Census data from 2000 to 2020, data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and five future climate scenarios, called the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. That model shows different ways demographics, society and economics could change by 2100, depending on how much global warming the world experiences, according to Scientific American

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Adds Robert Steeples to 2026 Coaching Staff

Published

6 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin Adds Robert Steeples to 2026 Coaching Staff

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has added Robert Steeples to its 2026 coaching staff, head coach Luke Fickell announced on Tuesday. Steeples will serve as cornerbacks coach for the Badgers, moving Paul Haynes to oversee the entire secondary.

“Bringing Robert Steeples to Wisconsin is a great addition to our coaching staff,” Fickell said in a statement. “He has seen the game at every level – Playing professionally, coaching at the high school and collegiate level. Our players and staff will love working with him and we’re excited to get him here.

“With the addition, we will be moving Paul Haynes to a role that will allow him to work with our entire secondary to strengthen our unit.”

Steeples spent the last two seasons at Iowa State as a defensive analyst. Prior to his two seasons with the Cyclones, Steeples coached cornerbacks at LSU from 2022-23. The St. Louis native played collegiately at Missouri and Memphis. He went undrafted in 2013, but spent four seasons in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, and Dallas Cowboys.

“Wisconsin’s commitment to excellence and rugged style of play gives me the opportunity to work with the type of student-athletes that can benefit most from my style of coaching,” Steeples said in a statement. “The defensive structure and culture that Coach Fickell and Coach Tressel have implemented complements the guys on the island – the corners. The defensive staff is full of experience, great leaders, but most importantly great human beings – which makes for a fantastic environment for growth. I’m excited to get into the trenches with the guys and do my part. The opportunity ahead is a blessing.”

Steeples will inherit a Wisconsin cornerback room that currently returns two key performers from the 2025 season — redshirt freshman Omillio Agard and true freshman Cairo Skanes.

Steeples is the second off-season hire for the Badgers, joining offensive line coach Eric Mateos, who came over from Arkansas.

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The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2 and the insider rumblings are already heating up for Wisconsin! There’s not a better time to join the fastest-growing UW team site. New members can sign up and enjoy insider access for just $1!

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

Published

18 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who almost killed her sixth-grade classmate to please the fictional horror villain known as Slender Man was ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital Tuesday after she escaped from her group home last month.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner granted a state Department of Health Services request to revoke 23-year-old Morgan Geyser’s release privileges. Geyser told the judge through her attorney, Tony Cotton, last week that she would not fight revocation. Wagner then approved the request during a short hearing.

Cotton didn’t immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.

Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered her on. A passing bicyclist discovered Leutner, who barely survived. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man enough that he would make them his servants and wouldn’t hurt their families. Both of them were eventually committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25 years.

Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Wagner granted Geyser conditional release this past September despite warnings from state Department of Health Services officials that she couldn’t be trusted.

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Geyser was placed in a Madison group home. Authorities say that on Nov. 22 she cut off her GPS monitor and fled the state with a 43-year-old companion. Police arrested both of them the next day at a truck stop outside Chicago, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.

Geyser’s companion told WKOW-TV that the two of them became friends at church and had been seeing each other daily for the last month. Geyser decided to escape because she was afraid the group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the companion said.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

MILWAUKEE – The FBI calls it an online crime against kids – perpetrators convincing kids to send sexual images of themselves and then blackmailing them.

Online crime against kids

The backstory:

The reality is settling in. This will be Brittney Bird’s first Christmas without her son, Bradyn Bohn, since he was born. That is because just nine months ago, the 15-year-old died by suicide, just hours after telling his family good night.

“This winter has been pretty heavy,” Bird said. “This will be a lot of first this year.”

Bird said Bradyn was the kind of kid who would always try to make you launch. The teen had a lot of friends, played sports, did well academically, and had big plans for the future.

“Definitely a kid who we were just so proud of,” Bird said. “Bradyn never struggled with or suffered from mental illness or depression or anything of that nature so immediately we knew, you know something’s wrong.”

Once police went through Bradyn’s phone, she said it came out he was the victim of the cyber crime, sextortion.

What is sextortion?

What we know:

“Sextortion is a form of online child exploitation where a child is coerced by a perpetrator to send compromising images,” said Jesse Crowe from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sent out a public service announcement on sextortion.

Officials say suspects often pose as someone else online. While exchanging messages, they convince a child to send images of themselves. Once they have explicit images of the child, they use the photos or videos to blackmail the child into sending even more images, money or ask for sexual favors.

FBI data, change in Wisconsin law

Dig deeper:

The FBI said victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, but any child can be a target.

This crime led to at least 20 suicides between October 2021 and March 2023.

In the months after Bradyn’s death, change would come to Wisconsin. Earlier in December, Gov. Tony Evers signed Bradyn’s Law. It creates a new crime of sexual extortion in Wisconsin. It aims to ensure harsh penalties for those who exploit children online.

“It will bring, hopefully statewide, eventually nationwide attention to where every family is having this conversation with their kids,” Bird told FOX6 News.