Wisconsin
Wisconsin has thousands of federal employees. Which agencies do they work for?
Watchdog groups and lawmakers say Musk’s DOGE takeover of the Treasury department could be the largest data breach in US history
Trump administration aides locked officials out of government computers and offered buyouts to federal employees.
Thousands of federal employees working in Wisconsin could be affected by two recent actions from the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 mandating all federal employees return to in-person work, then the administration began offering buyouts a week later for those who don’t wish to return to the office.
Under the offer, eligible employees would have eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resigned by Thursday, Feb. 6.
Since then, 20,000 employees — or about 1% of the total federal workforce — had accepted the offer as of Tuesday, Feb. 4, according to USA TODAY.
However, the executive order is facing a legal challenge, since the American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. A federal judge paused the buyout offer ahead of employees’ deadline and set a hearing for Monday, Feb. 10.
Here’s what to know about the federal workforce in Wisconsin:
How many federal employees are in Wisconsin?
There are 18,022 federal civilian employees in Wisconsin as of March 2024, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FedScope online data tool.
FedScope does exclude a number of departments and agencies, including the majority of the legislative and judicial branches and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), per the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The USPS employs 10,700 people in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which includes Wisconsin, according to a May 2023 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
What cabinet-level agencies do Wisconsin federal employees work for?
Most federal employees in Wisconsin work for cabinet-level agencies as of March 2024, FedScope data shows. March 2024 was the most recent data available. Here’s a deeper look at employees by agency:
- Department of the Air Force: 374
- Department of Agriculture: 1,743
- Department of the Army: 1,803
- Department of Commerce: 307
- Department of Defense: 121
- Department of Justice: 159
- Department of Labor: 107
- Department of Energy: 15
- Department of Education: N/A
- Department of Health and Human Services: 179
- Department of Homeland Security: 130
- Department of Housing and Urban Development: 40
- Department of the Interior: 742
- Department of the Navy: 121
- Department of State: N/A
- Department of Transportation: 245
- Department of the Treasury: 157
- Department of Veteran Affairs: 10,930
What large independent agencies do Wisconsin federal employees work for?
In total, 815 federal employees in Wisconsin work for larger independent agencies as of March 2024, FedScope data shows. Here’s a deeper look at employees by agency:
- U.S. Agency for International Development: N/A
- National Credit Union Administration: N/A
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: 22
- Environmental Protection Agency: 18
- Federal Communications Commission: N/A
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: 85
- Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia: N/A
- Federal Reserve System: N/A
- Federal Trade Commission: N/A
- General Services Administration: 56
- U.S. Agency for Global Media: N/A
- Government Printing Office: N/A
- National Science Foundation: N/A
- National Labor Relations Board: 16
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration: N/A
- National Archives and Records Administration: N/A
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission: N/A
- Office of Personnel Management: N/A
- Small Business Administration: 26
- Securities and Exchange Commission: N/A
- Smithsonian Institution: N/A
- Social Security Administration: 550
What medium and smaller independent agencies do Wisconsin federal employees work for?
In total, 25 federal employees in Wisconsin work for medium independent agencies as of March 2024, according to FedScope. Though, state totals for federal employees at specific agencies of this size are not available.
Similarly, no state data is available for federal employees at smaller agencies.
USA TODAY reporters Joey Garrison and Maureen Groppe contributed to this report.
Wisconsin
Stepmom from hell accused of starving 35-pound teen daughter enters plea — could spend the rest of her life behind bars
The Wisconsin stepmother from hell accused of abusing her 35-pound 14-year-old daughter by depriving her of food and water has entered a no-contest plea in the twisted case.
Melissa Goodman, 52, now faces up to 46 years in prison if she’s handed the maximum sentence for charges of chronic neglect causing great bodily harm, chronic neglect causing emotional damage and false imprisonment.
She’s set to be sentenced on July 1.
Goodman, along with husband Walter Goodman, has been accused of starving her autistic stepdaughter.
Goodman’s daughter Savanna Goodman and her girlfriend Kayla Stemler were also charged over the alleged abuse, People reported.
The family is accused of locking the teen in a bedroom without a mattress, restricting her to only her room for years and depriving her of food and water, according to Wisconsin prosecutors.
The mobile home they lived in became a house of horrors for the teenager, who was mistaken for a 6-year-old when she was found by cops in August 2025 and rushed to the hospital.
Walter Goodman, the victim’s father, called 911 to report that his daughter was lethargic and ill.
Responding officers found her weighing just 35 pounds; she was hospitalized with multi-organ dysfunction, including respiratory failure and pancreatitis.
From 2020 until August 2025, the victim, whose name is not disclosed because she is a minor, was allegedly isolated in a trailer on Hattie Lane, in Oneida, Wisconsin.
Extended family members were told she was away on vacation or with other relatives to explain her absence.
When “Song Sung Blue” – the biopic about Milwaukee Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning & Thunder – had a premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee last December, star Hugh Jackman gave Claire Sardina (played in the film by Kate Hudson) an engraved bench honoring Lighting & Thunder to be installed at Wisconsin State Fair Park.
In August, Sardina will get to have a seat on that bench – and sing again on a State Fair stage.
Sardina will perform with tribute act So Good: The Neil Diamond Experience Aug. 9 at the Bank Five Nine Amphitheater, the largest stage at the fair featuring free concerts with admission.
For Sardina, it will be a return to a place central to Lighting & Thunder. The band performed in the Milwaukee area from 1989 until Mike Sardina, aka Lightning, passed away in 2006. The State Fair was one of their favorite places to play, and the couple got married there in 1994.
The couple’s wild story – from a performance at a Pearl Jam Summerfest concert to major health issues – was the subject of the documentary “Song Sung Blue” that inspired the biopic, and earned Hudson an Oscar nomination for portraying Claire Sardina.
Fair officials May 8 revealed the full headliner lineup for the stage, which includes:
- Aug. 6: Sixteen Candles
- Aug. 7 and 8: Here Come The Mummies
- Aug. 10 and 11: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone
- Aug. 12: Hairbangers Ball
- Aug. 13: Too Hype Crew
- Aug. 14: The Gufs
- Aug. 15: Let’s Sing Taylor – An Unofficial Live Tribute Show
- Aug. 16: Pat McCurdy
All Bank Five Nine Amphitheater concerts are included with fair admission.
The lineup is also nearly complete for the Bank Five Nine Main Stage, with just a show on Aug. 11 to be announced.
Tickets are on sale for these shows at wistatefair.com and include same-day fair admission:
- Aug. 6: Hairball
- Aug. 7: Nelly
- Aug. 8: Bailey Zimmerman with Chandler Walters
- Aug. 9: Wynonna Judd and Melissa Etheridge
- Aug. 10: For King + Country with Rachel Lampa
- Aug. 12: John Mulaney
- Aug. 13: The All-American Rejects with Joyce Manor
- Aug. 14: Lindsey Stirling with PVRIS
- Aug. 15: AJR with Em Beihold
- Aug. 16: The Beach Boys
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW/GRAY NEWS) – A ransomware group has claimed to have breached the learning management system Canvas, possibly exposing the personal information of students, teachers and staff across the country.
According to a statement from the Universities of Wisconsin website, they were notified of a nationwide security breach experienced by Instructure, the provider of Canvas. Universities of Wisconsin schools use the cloud-based management system.
UW-Stevens Point tells NewsChannel 7 they have not confirmed UWSP was involved in the breach, but did send communication that Canvas was down and students should not perform any asked actions if prompted, as it may not be legitimate while Canvas is down.
Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, posted on May 1 about a cybersecurity incident that had been reported and was under investigation.
The next day, Chief Information Security Officer Steve Proud wrote that the information involved in the attack included names, student ID numbers, messages between users and email addresses.
“At this time, we have found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved. If that changes, we will notify any impacted institutions,” he wrote.
The Wausau School District sent a letter to parents Wednesday regarding the cybersecurity incident. They said there is no evidence that passwords, single-sign-on credentials, financial information or social security numbers were impacted. They stressed that type of information is not stored in Canvas.
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