Wisconsin
This western Wisconsin city is among the 50 best places to live in the country, Money says
Kwik Trip’s 140-acre La Crosse food production and distribution campus
Kwik Trip’s La Crosse operations include two bakeries, a dairy, a kitchen that prepares pizza, burritos, take-home meals and salads, warehousing and distribution.
If you’re looking to move to Wisconsin, the state’s most populous cities might come to mind as the best places to live. But don’t count out smaller gems scattered across the state: La Crosse was recently named as one of the 50 best places to live in the U.S., according to Money, a personal finance website.
The western Wisconsin city, which sits on the Mississippi River, offers a host of outdoor recreation activities and a bustling arts and culture scene. Both facets were key to landing the city a spot on the list.
The list, which Money had been compiling for more than 30 years, took a more holistic approach this year. Along with weighing numerical factors like affordability, school quality and job market health, the digital magazine researched cities across the country to find places “with a palpable spirit, nurtured and sustained by engaged citizens and receptive public officials,” according to its methodology.
La Crosse was the only Wisconsin city named among the top 50 this year, and Money did not select a city from every state.
Here’s more on why La Crosse is great place to live and which other cities made the list.
What makes La Crosse a great place to live?
La Crosse’s balance of outdoor offerings, nightlife and arts, and strong local economy all make it a great place to live, according to Money.
The city offers plenty of hiking and biking trails, along with boating and fishing excursions on nearby rivers and lakes. In the winter, residents can enjoy the steepest vertical slope in Wisconsin at destination ski resort Mt. La Crosse.
La Crosse is also home to several museums and a particularly bustling art gallery scene. Arts and culture take center stage in its year-round festivals, with the city’s IrishFest and Oktoberfest both coming up in the next few months.
For younger residents, La Crosse, which houses three universities, has consistently been named among the most economical college towns in the U.S. The number of college students also makes for robust nightlife, and more than a dozen breweries and wineries are based in or near La Crosse.
Finally, La Crosse is notably more affordable than larger Wisconsin cities. The city enjoys a median home price of about $265,000, while median home prices in the Milwaukee area are north of $400,000. And with Kwik Trip and Old Style beer headquartered in the city, La Crosse boasts a stable local job market with a 2.2% unemployment rate.
Which other cities made the list?
Several other Midwestern cities made the list alongside La Crosse. Here are some of the best places to live in Wisconsin’s neighboring states:
- Detroit
- Ferndale, Michigan
- Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Prairie Crossing, Illinois
- Northfield, Minnesota
Wisconsin
Wisconsin lawmakers renew effort to extend Medicaid coverage for new moms at risk of postpartum complications
Wisconsin is one of only two states that does not offer a full year of Medicaid coverage to certain low-income mothers after they give birth, a distinction that a group of GOP state lawmakers again is seeking to change, despite opposition from a key Republican leader.
Most of the state’s lawmakers have again signed on to a bill authored by Republicans that would allow low-income mothers who make more than the poverty level to stay on BadgerCare Plus, the state’s largest Medicaid program, for a full year after giving birth, instead of only two months.
The only other state that does not offer a full year of coverage is Arkansas, according to the KFF, a health policy research group.
For months after giving birth, women are still at risk for a range of life-threatening, post-pregnancy complications, including heart conditions, clotting disorders, postpartum depression and more. Statewide, a third of the 63 pregnancy-related deaths in the three years from 2020 to 2022 occurred more than two months after giving birth, said Arielle Exner, legislative director at the state’s Department of Health Services.
In addition, women with high blood pressure or other conditions who lose health coverage midway through the postpartum period could see their conditions worsen to the point they become chronic or threaten their long-term health, supporters said during a Wednesday hearing on the bill before the state Senate Committee on Health.
In the last few years, most states without a year-long coverage period for postpartum women have approved it, making it part of their Medicaid programs. In red-leaning states, Republicans promoted the extension of coverage as a central part of their pro-life agenda, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
“We as a state are unfortunately behind on this issue,” said state Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, an author of the Wisconsin bill, at Wednesday’s hearing. “We have a chance to do better for our moms, our kiddos and our families as a whole.”
In Wisconsin, similar bills have been introduced in the last two legislative sessions, only to stall in one or both chambers.
Last session, a state Senate bill to extend coverage passed by a 32-1 vote, but the bill never made it to a floor vote in the Assembly, even though a majority of the Assembly had signed onto the bill as co-sponsors.
At the time, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, opposed the bill, saying during a Q&A in 2023 “we give away too much free stuff” and that after pregnancy, women could sign up for a private health plan on the marketplaces set up through the Affordable Care Act.
“We want to encourage people to leave the public sector and enter the private marketplace as quickly as we can, not keep them on Medicaid even longer than they already are,” he said at the time.
Pregnant women whose household income is three times the poverty level or less qualify for BadgerCare Plus during pregnancy and for about two months after. Currently, only mothers who make as much as the poverty level or less qualify to stay on BadgerCare Plus beyond that second month.
Donna Rozar, a former state representative and an author of last session’s legislation to extend coverage, said new mothers shouldn’t have to worry about health coverage.
“If you have a two-month-old baby, the last thing you want to do is change insurance programs,” she said at Wednesday’s hearing on this session’s bill.
Supporters of the bill stressed that having to switch health insurance soon after birth could lead to a break in coverage when patients are between plans or to disruptions in care if patients have to switch doctors.
For women going through mental health challenges, such as postpartum depression, on top of it all, it can be even tougher.
“It is hard to access health care. It’s even harder to access mental health care,” said Kathleen Hipke, a licensed clinical psychologist who spoke at Wednesday’s hearing. “Trying to find new health care providers, navigate wait times – by the time these things happen, we’ve already exceeded the 60-day period.”
Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, has included an extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage in previous biennial budget proposals, only for Republican lawmakers writing the state budget to remove the year-long extension from consideration.
Asked at a news conference last month whether a bill to extend postpartum coverage would get a vote in the Assembly this year, Vos said he thought it “unlikely.”
“Our caucus has taken a position that expanding welfare is not a wise idea for anyone involved,” Vos said.
But many Republicans in the state Assembly and the Senate, in fact, are co-sponsors of the bill. Like in previous legislative sessions, the bill was authored by Republicans, among them Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, who was standing behind Vos when he made those comments last month.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Snyder said he hoped Wisconsin passed the legislation before Arkansas, the only other state without the extension.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Snyder said. “The bill is not partisan in my mind. … I’m into helping people, my constituents, and if we can’t get something like this done, then I don’t know what I’m doing in the Legislature.”
If the bill passes, it would mean about 5,000 more women per month would be covered by BadgerCare Plus, Exner, the DHS legislative director, said. The annual cost of implementing the extension would be about $18.5 million in state and federal funds. Of that total, about $7.3 million would come from the state, she said.
About one in three births in Wisconsin were covered by BadgerCare Plus or another Medicaid program in 2023, Exner said.
On Wednesday, longtime supporters of the legislation, including medical professionals with the Wisconsin chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, reiterated that the bill would likely save lives.
Amy Domeyer-Klenske, an OB-GYN in Madison who spoke on behalf of ACOG, recounted a patient who suffered worsening high blood pressure and a life-threatening blood clot after delivery and who required blood thinners and frequent adjustments to her medication that were necessary beyond two months postpartum.
“When we see women who lose their coverage who are newly requiring these medications, we worry as physicians about what will happen to them, their risk for things like heart disease, stroke and death in the upcoming year and beyond,” she said. “We are failing to cover mothers like this across Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin
Joann plans to close 16 Wisconsin stores, a change from what the retailer said in January
Almost 70% of the Joann fabrics and craft stores in Wisconsin are now set to close, a stark change to a month ago, when the company, which recently filed for bankruptcy, made no mention of store closings in the state.
After filing for bankruptcy in January, the national retail chain has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to authorize the closure of about 500 stores across the U.S., including 16 in Wisconsin, according to a statement from Joann on Wednesday.
The company first filed for bankruptcy in March 2024 but was able to keep its stores open by going private, despite owing $1 billion in debt at the time. However, the 82-year-old company still owes more than $600 million in debt and has faced lagging sales and inventory issues, according to CNN.
The January announcement from the company had initially excluded any mention of closing Joann stores in Wisconsin, but Wednesday’s announcement changes that.
Which Joann stores in Wisconsin are closing?
A total of 16 Joann stores are closing in Wisconsin, including four in the Milwaukee area, according to the announcement.
- Fond du Lac: 806 W. Johnson St.
- Janesville: 2700 N. Pontiac Drive
- Madison: 2021 Zeier Road
- Pewaukee: 2020 Silvernail Road
- Cudahy: 5656 S. Packard Ave.
- Brookfield: 16800 W. Bluemound Road
- Menomonee Falls: N78 W14531 Appleton Ave.
- Watertown: 401 Bernard St.
- Plover: 1150 Meridian Drive
- Lake Geneva: 600 N. Edwards Blvd.
- Beaver Dam: 1645 N. Spring St.
- Marshfield: 1919 N. Central Ave.
- Marinette: 2400 Roosevelt Road
- Oshkosh: 1226 S. Koeller St.
- Racine: 2629 S. Green Bay Road
- Sheboygan Falls: 4079 Highway 28
Which Joann stores in Wisconsin will remain open?
The company has a total of 23 locations in Wisconsin. The following will remain open:
- Greenfield: 4950 S. 74th St.
- Appleton: 720 N. Casaloma Drive
- Green Bay: 2777 S. Oneida St.
- Onalaska: 1220 Crossing Meadows Drive
- Wausau: 226830 Rib Mountain Drive
- Eau Claire: 4045 Commonwealth Ave.
- Wisconsin Dells: 121 Commerce St.
A full list of Wisconsin locations can be found on the company’s website.
How many Joann stores are closing? How many are staying open?
The closure of 500 stores will represent an almost 60% reduction in the craft retailer’s brick and mortar spaces, of which there are currently 850, according to its website.
In its Feb. 12 statement, the chain wrote that the closures would contribute to “right-sizing our store footprint” and ensuring the best path forward for the company.
“This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our Team Members, our customers and all of the communities we serve,” Joann said in the statement. “A careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the Company determined which stores should remain operating as usual at this time.”
When will my Joann store close?
Information on when the Joann stores will close was not included in the announcement.
Maia Pandey contributed to this report.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
Wisconsin
Marquette-Wisconsin volleyball match is coming back to Fiserv Forum on Sept. 17
Marquette volleyball will play Florida Gulf Coast in NCAA Tournament
The Golden Eagles earned a No. 5 seeding and will play Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA Tournament first round.
Big-time college volleyball is coming back to Fiserv Forum.
Marquette will play host to Wisconsin in the arena on Sept. 17, the schools announced on Tuesday.
The teams faced each other at Fiserv in Sept. 2023 in front of 17,037 fans, the largest crowd to see an in indoor NCAA volleyball match.
UW was the nation’s No. 1 team at the time and earned a 28-26, 20-25, 26-24, 25-18 victory over the Golden Eagles.
Fiserv Forum also played host to the State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase, which included UW and several other highly ranked teams.
UW has dominated the series with MU, winning 24 of 25 matches. The Golden Eagles’ lone victory came in 2019.
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