Wisconsin
Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame walkway upgrades could be complete in time for RNC
Work on the first phase of improvements planned for the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame‘s Walk of Fame in downtown Milwaukee will begin soon and could be completed in time for the Republican National Convention on July 15-18.
“That continues to be our goal, to have everything in place by then,” said Brian Lammi, owner and board chairman of the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. “We’re very excited about the design.” Milwaukee-based Rinka is the design firm for the project.
The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame plans to spend more than $1 million on improvements to its walkway, which is located along the west side of Vel R. Phillips Avenue between West State Street and West Kilbourn Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.
First announced last year, the initial phase of improvements to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame’s Walk of Fame will include a 160-square-foot video screen attached to the southeast corner of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, at the south end of the walkway. The video screen will show highlights of the careers of hall of famers and clips from the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet and golf outing.
“As people are walking by or driving by they should get a good view of the 74-year-old history of the Hall of Fame,” Lammi said.
The video screen will also provide an opportunity for sponsorship messages and for messages from fans.
“It will be an interactive way for fans to participate with the Hall of Fame,” Lammi said. “We plan to open it up for fans to do things like a birthday message or celebrate their favorite youth sports team. There will be ways that fans can participate as those video boards can change throughout the year.”
The initial phase of the walkway improvement project will also include the addition of eight double-sided backlit boards that will show images of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame inductees and will be placed on top of columns lining the walkway. The signs will be created by De Pere-based Jones Sign.
The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame also plans to host numerous events to make use of and draw attention to the walkway.
“Our goal is to start featuring press conferences, maybe do some basketball shootouts or putting contests or other ways that people can experience and be a part of the walkway and really trying to drive consistent traffic for that walkway,” Lammi said.
Ideas for additional improvements to the walkway are still being discussed but could include interactive touch screens to engage fans and help tell the stories of the hall of fame inductees, Lammi said.
Founded in 1951, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame stopped adding bronze plaques for inductees a few years ago because space was running low to display them, they are extremely heavy (weighing 250 to 400 pounds each), some have been degraded by years and the elements, and today’s fans prefer to engage with modern forms of media, Lammi said.
“We felt more interactive, interview-focused videos or backlit images on stationary boards would be a better way to celebrate inductees moving forward,” Lammi said. “We just don’t think continuing to place these bronze plaques, which people aren’t necessarily paying a lot of attention to, was the best way to tell the story for these inductees.”
Menasha-based insurance company Network Health has become the presenting sponsor for the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame walkway, and the Hall of Fame’s golf outing. Milwaukee-based Zizzo Group is also a sponsor. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available, Lammi said.
“We’ve got a wide range of opportunities for organizations to share their stories and messages with the community,” he said.
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.
Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.
Copyright 2025 WMTV. All rights reserved.
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.
Florida football’s Tank Hawkins announces entry into transfer portal
Georgia Tech Athletics Receives a Pair of $10 Million Gifts
I flew to the ‘least touristy’ island in Hawaii on a 9-passenger plane. I’d only suggest this trip to certain travelers.
Local legislator who led trip to D.C. says Idaho’s water supply is priority for our congressional delegates – East Idaho News
Over 81K deer harvested in Illinois firearm deer season
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Texas Republicans launch ‘Sharia Free America Caucus’ aimed at defending ‘Western civilization’
UK police arrest four people for pro-Palestine ‘Intifada’ calls
BBC Verify Live: Fact-checking Trump’s unusual new White House presidential plaques
Border Patrol chief, progressive mayor caught on camera in tense street showdown: ‘Excellent day in Evanston’
European Parliament asks for EU funds to finance abortions abroad
-
Iowa4 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Washington1 week agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa5 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Maine2 days agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland4 days agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
South Dakota4 days agoNature: Snow in South Dakota
-
Technology1 week agoThe Game Awards are losing their luster
-
Nebraska1 week agoNebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class