Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ojibwe leader included in White House discussions on rural issues
Mole Lake Ojibwe Chairman Robert Van Zile had a message for rural community leaders at the White House earlier this month.
“Why compete with one another when we can work together,” he said. “We can focus on the things we have in common in being able to prosper.”
Van Zile said it was good conversation between leaders in tribal nations, rural towns, rural counties and federal officials as they discussed ways to bring in federal dollars to improve infrastructure.
He said tribal nations can play a role in helping surrounding rural communities in creating broadband access, building water and septic infrastructure, housing and health care.
Van Zile was among those invited to the White House this month by the Biden-Harris Administration as part of its Rural Communities in Action event.
“We got invited to help push the envelope,” he said.
They met to discuss the issues with senior White House officials, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“Rural communities are being gutted by lack of economic opportunity, lack of broadband access, lack of housing, lack of access to healthcare due to inability to recruit healthcare professionals to address a variety of medical and mental health challenges,” Van Zile said in a statement.
Van Zile said the Mole Lake Reservation in northern Wisconsin is in a rural region that even lacks cellphone service in many places. And the lack of internet access was apparent during the pandemic when students in many households found it challenging to learn at home.
“They could not continue their studies remotely during the pandemic,” he said. “Our rural kids were not able to participate in education because broadband access does not exist in many rural communities.”
The reservation is home to about 500 tribal members with another 1,000 members living off-reservation.
Van Zile said many people want to build vacation homes and move to the Mole Lake area, which would be a boost to the economy. But they find challenges with lack of infrastructure.
“It’s not just tribal members,” he said. “What I’m talking about is tourism.”
In conjunction with the event, the White House also just announced $671 million in new investments for infrastructure in rural communities.
Van Zile’s visit also included a discussion with Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, which included thanking her for the $3 million she helped recently secure for the tribe’s community health clinic.
Van Zile also opened a workshop at the event with a prayer, becoming the first Mole Lake chairman to open an official meeting in Washington, D.C.
Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.
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Joe Wolf, a legendary figure in Wisconsin high school basketball, who led Kohler High to three Wisconsin state basketball championships, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 59.
The news was broken on Thursday by a post on X from Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook editor Mark Miller and later confirmed by the Milwaukee Bucks. At the time of his death, Wolf was an assistant coach with the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G-League affiliate.
Wolf had an 11 year NBA career after being selected with the 13th overall pick, by the Los Angeles Clippers, in the 1987 NBA Draft. He played with nine different NBA teams including Milwaukee during the 1996-97 season. This came after a brilliant four-year college career at the University of North Carolina.
“The Milwaukee Bucks and Wisconsin Herd are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of Herd assistant coach and Kohler native Joe Wolf,” said the statement from the Bucks. “Throughout his life, Joe touched many lives and was a highly respected, adored and dedicated coach and player across the NBA. His well-regarded talent was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the organization, including as a player and coach.”
Before he became an All-ACC selection at North Carolina and a NBA player and coach, Wolf was a high school legend at Kohler.
In a 2005 poll by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wolf was voted the greatest high school basketball player in Wisconsin history.
“With his size and skills, he was the best I’ve seen,” Win Parkinson, who coached at Milwaukee Tech for 33 seasons, told the Journal Sentinel in 2005. “He was in the state tournament at the same time we were and I went to see him play at Sheboygan.
“He had a heck of a following and a heck of a career. I just look at him as one of the most complete players I’ve ever seen.”
Wisconsin volunteers head south to help with hurricane relief
Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall soon, but the impact will be felt for weeks, if not longer, and some Wisconsinites are headed south to help.
WISCONSIN – Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday evening, Sept. 26, but the impact will be felt for weeks, if not longer.
Some areas have been under a tropical storm warning and tornado warnings because of Helene. Some Wisconsinites are already headed south to help.
Hurricanes are a bit more personal now for Michael Hoffmann.
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“You just see pictures and videos, but you don’t understand what actually happens,” Hoffman said.
The Waukesha native and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee grad is now a teacher in Ocala, Fla. The city is outside Helene’s direct path, but that’s still bracing for bands of thunderstorms.
“Right now, we just got a bunch of flashlights ready,” Hoffman said. “We have coolers ready to go for food from the fridge if we need to, if we lose power.”
Ryan Cedergren, who happens to be studying meteorology at Florida State University, said his campus is essentially shut down. The hurricane is headed right for Tallahassee Thursday night.
“We noticed earlier today, it’s like a kind of eerie calm before the storm,” he said.
Students there have either evacuated or are staying in designated shelters on-campus.
“We were in this building for Idalia, and it did pretty well,” Cedergren said. “Our only concern is Tallahassee is very hilly, so we might deal with some flooding. It doesn’t drain super well. And then, we’ll probably lose power pretty quickly.”
It helps explain why more than a dozen volunteers from the American Red Cross of Wisconsin are already headed south.
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“The volunteers that are there right now have helped to set up shelters in northern Florida,” American Red Cross of Wisconsin Regional Communications Director Jennifer Warren said. “We also have volunteers that have driven ERVs, which are emergency response vehicles, down to Florida.”
Leaving their homes behind to help Floridians make it back to theirs, too.
“They provide comfort, care,” Warren said. “They help with handing out food, water.”
The Red Cross is accepting monetary donations to help recovery efforts there.
The nonprofit also recommends blood donations as Helene put a halt to that in several southern states.
For more information, visit the Red Cross website.
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