Some local officials are calling to defund it. Others want to expand it. But they’re running into trouble doing that because of a 2023 state legislative package.

WUWM’s Maayan Silver jumped on the Hop with Jeremy Jannene, president of Urban Milwaukee, to learn how the Hop is funded and what’s on the table for the future.

Wisconsin’s FoodShare is funded by SNAP, which was frozen November 1st, because of the longest federal government shutdown in history. Three federal judges have ordered funding to be restored, at least in part.

That led to Wisconsin and some other states issuing November FoodShare benefits. But the Trump administration says states shouldn't have done that. College students are among FoodShare users who’ve been caught in the middle.

UW-Milwaukee says the FoodShare freeze came on top of October cuts to paychecks and other benefits, caused by the government shutdown. That means a growing number of UWM students are using the campus Food Center & Pantry.

The gales of November are upon us. On this day fifty years ago, the cargo vessel SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior amidst an intense storm. All 29 crew members on board were lost. The sinking of the Fitzgerald remains one of the most mysterious and controversial shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. Decades later, the Gordon Lightfoot ballad continues to garner public interest in the shipwreck not just in the Midwest, but worldwide.

To learn some theories of why the Fitzgerald sank and how some of the crew members are being remembered today, Lake Effect’s Audrey Nowakowski is joined by Kay Dragan - curator and exhibits manager at the Door County Maritime Museum.

Millions of Americans and thousands of people in Wisconsin are struggling to get food. Because of the federal government shutdown, funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP has run out. Two federal judges ordered the Trump Administration to use emergency funds to pay for the program. But SNAP beneficiaries will get half of the usual benefits and its unclear how long those funds will take to arrive.

In Milwaukee, food pantries have been trying to keep up with increased demand. The House of Peace on West Walnut Street is the largest food pantry in the city. It serves more than 18-thousand people a year. WUWM’s Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell is joined by Armondo Diaz, the pantry’s coordinator to learn how the House of Peace is managing the uptick in people they’re serving.

This month’s issue of Milwaukee Magazine features the five winners of its 2025 Betty Awards. The awards honor extraordinary women doing remarkable work in Milwaukee. One of the recipients is Linda Edelstein, the CEO of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra – or MYSO. She’s played instruments since her childhood and had an extensive career in music education and performance.

Edelstein has led MYSO since 2012, and every year up to a thousand students across the region participate in their wide range of programs. To share more about the impact of MYSO and the benefits of music education outside of performance, Edelstein joins Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski.

Back in September, Lake Effect reported on the sudden cancellation of federal funding for MKE Roots. The program trains Milwaukee-area teachers on how to make social studies relevant to students by connecting them to local history.

Last month, MKE Roots was notified that it would again receive federal funding. But the money came with the stipulation that the program focus on commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Melissa Gibson is an associate professor at Marquette University and the faculty director of MKE Roots. She speaks with Lake Effect’s Sam Woods about the changes to its federal grant funding, and how it will – and won’t - change what the program does.

A new state historical marker in Milwaukee honors the city’s Chinese Laundry Era. Beginning in the late 1800s, for over a century, Chinese immigrants owned dozens of laundries to provide for their families. The historical marker sits outside the YWCA on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. That’s where one of the last businesses, Fred Moy Laundry, operated from 1940 to 1976.

A short film, by Beijing native and UW-Milwaukee lecturer, Yinan Wang (pronouncer: e-non wong) covers the marker’s unveiling and previews a new one expected to be installed at Forest Home Cemetery next spring. WUWM’s Eddie Morales asked Wang about the film and his experiences living in Milwaukee for the past decade.

The federal government shutdown has now stretched on for more than a month and money for some vital services is not being distributed. In Milwaukee County, 125-thousand children benefitted from food assistance at some point last year.

Two Head Start childcare programs in our state are now poised to close their doors this month due to the shutdown. Jennie Mauer is the executive director of Wisconsin’s Head Start Association. She joins WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal to talk about the challenges facing Wisconsin’s most vulnerable families.