By JULIE GRACE | Fall 2020

"It's a revolution!" someone shouted in the darkness at the Lake Monona shoreline.

On June 23, a crowd of protesters pulled a 1.5-ton bronze statue of Colonel Hans Christian Heg from its pedestal on the east side of the Capitol building, dragged it down Main and Butler streets and pushed it into the lake. The crowd erupted into cheers.

Why Heg? He was an immigrant, a public servant, a prison reformer, an activist and a soldier who died fighting to end slavery. 

By KEN WYSOCKY | Fall 2020

Solving the national affordable housing crisis is pretty darn easy: Just raise the minimum wage.

Or at least that’s what the national and local media, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, would have their readers believe with their coverage of a report issued in July by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). The coalition, as its mission statement announces, is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures low-income people affordable homes.

The media narrative conveniently ignores the many studies that show raising the minimum wage can actually hurt employment of unskilled workers.

By DONOVAN NEWKIRK | Fall 2020

After criticism from parents and other taxpayers, the Milwaukee Public School District will not be moving forward with its plan to incorporate the controversial Black Lives Matter at School curriculum district-wide this academic year.

But some individual MPS schools will be implementing at least some aspects of the curriculum as BLM supporters around the country continue to argue it should be used to formally shape the minds and views of young students.

MPS initially embraced the controversial organization. 

In our latest issue of Diggings, we examined police use of force in Wisconsin, de-escalation strategies, definitions of violent crime and more.   

• Read Mike Nichols and Patrick Hughes' article on police use of force here.
• Read Mike Nichols' Q&A with Las Vegas Undersheriff Kevin McMahill here.
• Read Julie Grace's article on Wisconsin's broad definitions of "violent crime" here.
• Read Mike Nichols' article on the effects of defunding the police here.

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