News & Commentary

The State of Wisconsin said Monday it would pay more than $13 million for new Milwaukee County bus routes to help with congestion during the massive Zoo Interchange reconstruction, settling a 2-year-old lawsuit.

The U.S. remains the only country in the world that imposes LWOP on children. The international community has long recognized that people who committed crimes as children deserve a second chance. It's time for the U.S. to follow suit.   This piece was reblogged from ACLU.org.

Our bust cards are pocket references on what to do during encounters with the police.

On February 6, 2013, Milwaukee community groups asked a federal court to stop plans to expand the Zoo Interchange in western Milwaukee County unless and until the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration look at incorporating public transportation into the project and properly consider air quality, social and economic effects of their plans. The action falls amidst Wisconsin Transit Week that highlights the use of public transit statewide, despite cuts in our largest urban area.

December 1 is the anniversary of the day in 1955 when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Back then, racism was visible in signs that marked Jim Crow policies of segregation. We know that it took courageous organizers – like Rosa Parks, and thousands of others - and a national movement to shift our laws and policies toward racial justice.

The ACLU of Wisconsin is conducting its Biannual Education Survey, and has sent open records requests to 107 of the 425 school districts in Wisconsin to see how they are doing on some of the ACLU’s priority issues: nondiscrimination, bullying, and the right of each student to an adequate education.

The ACLU of Wisconsin does not endorse candidates, so we did not have a partisan stake in the outcome of yesterday’s election. However, we are committed to ensuring that Wisconsin citizens can cast a ballot without misinformation, intimidation or barriers. We focused our efforts leading up to November 6 on educating voters about their rights and working alongside partners in the Wisconsin Election Protection 866 OUR VOTE hotline project and poll watching.

If federal transportation money is spent on expanding highways while dollars for inner-city public transportation are slashed, how can transit-dependent people – who are much more likely to be people of color – get to their jobs? What impact does expanding highways to the suburbs have on a highly segregated city?

Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said she learned last year that agencies such as the Transportation Department are required to have an annually updated plan for complying with Title VI. But when she asked for the plan, she found it was dated 2004.