Commencement is just around the corner for thousands of college students in Milwaukee. At Marquette, some students are pushing back after the university announced that its graduation speaker this May will be Chris Duffey. He’s the head of AI products and platforms at Adobe.

To understand student reaction, WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal spoke with Elena Metinidis, a reporter at Marquette’s student newspaper, who gathered reactions from students.

In 1993, five women decided to start and run Renaissance Theaterworks after recognizing the clear inequities professionals like them faced on stage and off. One of those women was Suzan Fete.

For more than three decades, Renaissance has championed women’s stories and careers and worked towards gender parity. Co-founder Suzan Fete has led the company as artistic director through over 200 productions and readings while fostering opportunities for women theater professionals. She'll be retiring this spring after directing one last show - “Barefoot in the Park.”

Milwaukee is fortunate to have some historic movie theaters still in operation - from the Oriental and Downer on the city’s east side, to the Avalon in Bay View. But the city was once home to many lavish movie palaces – with seats for thousands of movie goers.

For decades, these theaters lined the streets of downtown Milwaukee - but now, only a few remain. To learn more about the rise and fall of Milwaukee’s movie palaces, Lake Effect's Joy Powers is joined by historian Matthew Prigge, who wrote about it for this month’s Milwaukee Magazine.

Samer Ghani first started photographing Milwaukee musicians and concerts in 2016. By 2019, he was a full-time photographer and had become as much of a fixture in the local music scene as the artists he was capturing.

From Brandi Carlile to Buffalo Nichols – Ghani has thousands of images that capture the magic of live music in venues of all sizes. His new photobook, “Memories of a Street Cat,” is dedicated to this formative chapter of his life.

The photobook published by Daybreak Magazine features almost 400 photos of concert pictures and artist portraits, along with commentary from artists. Ghani joins Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski to share more about how his first photobook came together:

WUWM is committed to covering issues our listeners say are top priorities. That includes the economy. As part of that coverage, we’re exploring how the changing economy is impacting Wisconsinites with different financial needs.

We’ve heard from a small business owner, a farmer, and someone looking for work. Now we’ll hear from someone looking for housing. Sharol Britton is 57 years old. In November, she told WUWM’s Maayan Silver that she was living out of her car and hoping to change that. Maayan spoke with Britton in late February at a local Dennys to get an update.

Homeownership is an important part of economic stability for people, neighborhoods and cities. But for many in Milwaukee – owning a home feels out of reach. WUWM has been exploring solutions in our series, Seeking Solutions: Keys to Homeownership.

Today, we’ll tell you about a family business on the city’s northeast side. They’ve created a model for building more affordable and sustainable homes. WUWM’s environmental reporter Susan Bence has the story.

College students in many degree programs are required to take foreign languages. But one listener asked WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal whether colleges in Milwaukee offer African languages to fulfill that requirement.

In her reporting, she found that the nearest African language programs are at UW-Madison. Even though Madison offers several African languages, federal cuts are putting pressure on what they can do.

Katherine is joined by Adeola Agoke, director of Madison’s African Languages Program, and Luis Madureira, chair of the university’s African Cultural Studies department.

The CBS reality show “Survivor” is now in its 50th season. The show has changed since it first aired in 2000, but the basic premise is the same. A group of people live together on an island. They have to survive with very little food, living outdoors in shelters they make themselves.

Each week, the tribe votes out another person. People lie and manipulate, trying to make it to the end for the chance to win a million dollars. Its host, Jeff Probst, has also been with the show since the beginning.

Last Wednesday, Milwaukee Survivor fans got together for a watch party at the Falcon Bowl, where they had the chance to meet some of the show’s contestants, including one who returned for Season 50. His name is Benjamin Wade, but he goes by the nickname “Coach.” WUWM’s Emily Files stopped by to hear from fans and Coach himself about why they think Survivor is still going strong after 25 years.