Wisconsin
Weather experts urge safety going into peak tornado season in Wisconsin
With extreme weather on the rise, experts are urging Wisconsin residents to be prepared going into what’s expected to be the peak season for tornadoes.
According to the National Weather Service, there have been around 20 confirmed tornadoes in Wisconsin this year as of Tuesday. That includes three tornados in Rock and Jefferson counties Sunday evening, two tornadoes in the villages of Edgar and Unity last week and the first reported tornadoes ever recorded during the month of February in Wisconsin.
“We’ve had multiple not only tornado warnings, but confirmed tornadoes, especially in southern Wisconsin — that seems to be the area that’s certainly been hit the hardest,” said Mark McGinnis, a certified consulting meteorologist.
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This spring has seen a series of devastating tornadoes in the Midwest and south. Over Memorial Day weekend, at least 21 people died in tornadoes in Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes a year, according to ReadyWisconsin. Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee/Sullivan office, said it’s still too soon to predict if Wisconsin will hit that number this year, but she didn’t rule it out.
“It’s still early in the summer. Our peak time for tornadoes in Wisconsin is June,” Cronce said.
Tornado activity has shifted away from the Great Plains, or “Tornado Alley,” toward the Midwest and Southeast, according to an April study.
Andrew Beckett, a spokesperson for Wisconsin Emergency Management, said now is the time for residents to be prepared and have safety plans going into the summer months.
“Weather in Wisconsin can be unpredictable, and the past few months have really shown that,” Beckett said.
“It really just shows that people need to be prepared, that they need to be aware of what the weather could be producing on any given day and they need to be ready to take action in order to protect themselves,” he added.
Wisconsin has seen warm and wet weather in recent months. The state officially had the warmest winter on record in 130 years. The latest climate outlook shows parts of Wisconsin are likely to be warmer this summer as well.
“We’re warmer and wetter than normal. And now that we’re into the warmer months of the seasons, we’re moving into summer, when you’re warmer and wetter. It’s much more conducive for thunderstorms,” McGinnis said.
Tornadoes can form when warm, moist air toward the ground mixes with a downdraft of cooler air, creating an unstable spinning vortex.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has called this year the most active tornado season since 2017. There have been just over 700 confirmed tornadoes in 2024 so far, according to preliminary statistics. The center said that’s due to “unusually warm temperatures” that have caused “storm systems which have frequently spun off tornadoes.”
“We’re not even in the peak severe weather season yet,” Kurt Kotenberg, the warning coordination meteorologist of the National Weather Service in Green Bay, said after surveying damage from the Edgar and Unity storms.
“If you haven’t made a plan to make sure you have a way to receive warning information and a place to shelter if we start issuing tornado warnings or severe thunderstorm warnings, this is definitely a reminder to start making those plans and being ready,” Kotenberg said. “We have several more months ahead of us where we could see severe weather and tornadoes here in Wisconsin.”
Beckett said “planning is key” in order for people to stay safe in extreme weather. That includes making sure you can received weather alerts on your phone or a radio that sends out National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration alerts.
He also said people should check the weather every day through local media and keep an eye out for storms.
“Having that information is really critical to ensuring that you have an expectation of what the day is going to offer and what you might need to do in order to stay safe,” Beckett said.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
Wisconsin students enrolled in short-term, workforce training programs will soon be able to use federal grants to pay their tuition.
Millions of low-income students rely on Pell Grants to pay for college, including more than 70,000 in Wisconsin. The awards have long been limited to courses that span a minimum of 15 weeks or 600 “clock hours.”
The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed into law this summer will extend Pell Grant eligiblity to include short-term nondegree programs as short as eight weeks beginning July 1, 2026. The expansion is the largest in decades, making programs previously paid out of pocket – from truck drivers to machinists to nursing assistants – more affordable to students.
These types of programs are mostly offered by community and technical colleges, which have long lobbied for the change. They are studying their programs and deciding which need adjustments ahead of the eligibility expansion.
“Opening up financial aid and making financial aid policy more flexible and relevant to how folks are accessing workplace today, I think it has the potential to be really exciting,” said Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield. “How do we bundle these skills? How do we construct these programs and get students a credential that’s very relevant to their field that could potentially provide a great on-ramp to a further credential later on?”
Some education policy experts have reservations about the financial aid expansion and whether it will deliver for students. There’s concern about online training programs and for-profit institutions, some of which have a pattern of predatory practices and poor graduation outcomes. Research also shows short-term programs lead to less upward mobility and lower long-term earnings for students than associate or bachelor’s degrees.
“There is a big risk here,” said Wesley Whistle, the higher education project director at New America, a left-leaning think tank. “An eight-week program is really easy to crank out lots of people. You could have a lot of low-quality programs that don’t lead to much. Students could waste their time, exhaust their Pell eligibility and be left without the right skills to succeed in the workforce. That’s my worry.”
Short implementation timeline, outcome requirements among Workforce Pell challenges
Advocates say the proposed regulations approved Dec. 12 by the federal education department include accountability measures to prevent programs from taking advantage of students and wasting taxpayer money.
The programs must be run by an accredited institution of higher education, and be offered for more than one year before being approved. States must track outcomes, requiring programs meet a 70% completion and job-placement rate, and demonstrate they lead to in-demand, high-wage jobs.
The law includes no additional funding for states to take on the new role of approving individual programs, a worry of Whistle’s.
The tight timeline is also a concern to him. States could quickly throw together an approval process and never again look at it. Whistle advocated for states to start with a pilot approach and reassess in the coming years. He also suggested they creatively leverage state funding to target specific programs that serve high workforce needs.
“This could actually be a moment where we have laboratories for democracy,” Whistle said. “To see what works and what doesn’t.”
Merrifield said technical colleges are working closely with the state Department of Workforce Development on program approvals. She said she’d love to see the expansion in place for fall 2026 but it may realistically take a little longer than that.
Wisconsin technical colleges take stock of programs
State technical colleges already have some programs that will qualify for the expanded financial aid. But they are considering which ones to revamp.
Take the certified nursing assistant program, Merrifield offered as an example. Students pursuing their registered nursing degree earn their CNA as part of the program. But some students aren’t in the RN program and are seeking only their CNA.The program is 75 hours, which is not enough to meet the new financial aid criteria.
Do technical colleges keep the program short, meaning students continue paying out of pocket? Or do they overhaul it, add skills that hospitals and medical facilities may be looking for and allow students to qualify for Pell Grants?
“There’s potential to re-examine why is it that we package skills the way that we do,”Merrifield said. “What is it that employers are really loooking for in the marketplace?”
Merrifield said manufacturing and agriculture programs may also be ripe for revamp.
Milwaukee Area Technical College has identified eight technical diploma programs that will qualify for a Pell Grant under the expansion, said Barbara Cannell, the executive dean of academic systems and integrity. The programs include nail technician, office technology assistant, real estate broker associate, truck driver training, IT user support technician and food service assistant.
MATC has a number of other programs, mostly certificates, that are too short to qualify for the expansion, she said. College officials are deciding whether to keep the programs as-is or tweak them to allow students to qualify for Pell Grants.
Both Cannell and Merrifield see the Pell Grant expansion as a way to make work-force training more accessible to nontraditional students.
“This opens the door to populations of students who just never saw themselves in that way before,” Merrifield said.
Kelly Meyerhofer has covered higher education in Wisconsin since 2018. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A more than $4 million multistate settlement was reached with Menards Wednesday over deceptive rebate advertising and price gouging, Wisconsin officials announced Wednesday.
Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said the settlement resolves claims that Menards falsely marketed its merchandise credit check program, also known as the Menards’ 11% Rebate Program, and allowed price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wisconsin will receive $750,000 in the settlement, according to DATCP.
“Figuring out how much you’ll have to pay to buy something should be straightforward,” Kaul said. “It shouldn’t be an adventure.”
Investigators involved in the multi-state lawsuit, which included Illinois and Minnesota, reviewed several aspects of Menards’ sales practices.
Wisconsin officials said investigators reviewed allegations that Menards’ use of the 11% off rebate program falsely claimed a point-of purchase discount, when the home improvement chain only offered in-store merchandise credit for future use, among other advertising claims.
Officials also investigated price gouging on four-gallon bottles of purified water at two locations in Wisconsin, including in Johnson Creek.
As part of the settlement, Menards will need to follow several advertising and sales practices. The terms, noted by DATCP, are as follows (wording theirs):
- Not advertising or representing that any program that offers store credit for making purchases at Menards provides consumers with a point-of-purchase discount;
- Clearly and conspicuously disclosing material limitations of the rebate program and disclosing all applicable terms and conditions of the rebate program in a readily available manner;
- Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely submit rebate application forms and receipts online;
- Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely redeem their rebate for online purchases;
- Clearly and conspicuously disclosing that Menards is doing business as Rebates International;
- Allowing consumers at least one year from the date of purchase to submit a rebate claim;
- Updating their online rebate tracker with information about the rebate claim within 48 hours of the application being input into Menards’ system;
- Updating their online rebate tracker with additional information about the rebate, including updates about returns affecting the rebate; and
- Not engaging in price gouging during a period of abnormal economic disruption.
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Common Council 2026 budget
Union members and city workers gather at Milwaukee City Hall to demand higher raises for workers as the Common Council votes on the 2026 budget.
With consumers still concerned about affordability, nearly two dozen states across the country will raise their minimum wage next year.
The minimum wage will increase in 19 states and 49 cities and counties on Jan. 1, 2026, plus four more states and 22 municipalities later in the year, USA TODAY reported, citing an annual report from the National Employment Law Project.
Wisconsin’s minimum wage has not changed since 2009, when the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25.
But will it be one of the states raising its minimum wage in 2026?
Here’s what to know:
Is Wisconsin increasing its minimum wage in 2026?
No, Wisconsin is not one of the states increasing its minimum wage in 2026.
What is Wisconsin’s minimum wage?
Wisconsin’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s the same as the federal minimum wage.
What states are raising their minimum wage in 2026?
Here are the 19 states increasing their minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2026, according to USA TODAY:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
Alaska, Florida and Oregon will implement increases later in the year, according to the report. California also plans to enact a minimum wage increase specifically for health care workers.
Andrea Riquier of USA TODAY contributed to this report.
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