The Shepherd Express

As a staff writer for the Milwaukee local newspaper, The Shepherd Express, I covered community-based stories.

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Why Is Milwaukee Becoming a Mecca for Visitors?

Consistent through many nationally published articles on Milwaukee are the city’s restaurants, Downtown activities and arts scene, along with its Midwestern hospitality. This year, Milwaukee will have a chance to showcase what it has to offer in front of the eyes of the world. “2020 really is the year of Milwaukee,” says Kristin Settle, director of communications at VISIT Milwaukee, the city’s visitors and convention bureau. Publications like Forbes, The New York Times and Travel Leisure have all featured Milwaukee in their top 2020 destinations, mentioning many of the city’s restaurants, breweries and activities.

The DNC will bring around 50,000 people to the city from July 13-16. According to Settle, VISIT Milwaukee is not frightened by this number. Festivals like Summerfest bring in 800,000 people annually, and VISIT Milwaukee is prepared. According to her, tourism supports more than 52,000 full-time jobs in Milwaukee, and Settle is hoping the DNC will showcase what Milwaukee has to offer to increase tourism in the future. “[Many of] those 50,000 people have never been to Milwaukee, so we are defining ourselves as a city to a whole new group of people,” she says.

Are Milwaukee Youth at Risk for Sex Trafficking?

The Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating modern-day slavery, reported the staggering national number of 23,078 survivors of sex trafficking in 2018. Those numbers could be even higher, according to Ozaukee County Board Supervisor Linda Krieg. In her time as a former FBI section chief, Krieg stated Milwaukee consistently ranked among the top five hubs for sex trafficking.

“It’s happening everywhere. Recognize this isn’t somebody else’s problem. It’s happening everywhere, and Milwaukee happens to be one of the notoriously high-ranked cities with the trafficking problem,” said Krieg at a recent presentation on sex and human trafficking by Impact100 Greater Milwaukee, a local women-led philanthropy group.

Proposed Budget Cuts at MATC Could Mean Decline in Classroom Quality

The Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) District Board of Directors’ proposal to lower part-time faculty salaries, remove the “class & step system” and reduce paid hours outside the classroom raised concerns about the quality of education offered by MATC from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 212.

After a compensation study compared MATC to other technical colleges in Wisconsin, the board of directors proposed a 20% reduction in new part-time faculty maximum pay and a reduction in paid hours outside the classroom from 102 to 84, according to AFT Local 212 Executive Vice President Kevin Mulvenna. The proposal would also eliminate the “class & step” system that determines faculty raises based on years worked at MATC and years of professional education.

Radio Shepherd Express: March 2020

In this month’s episode of Radio Shepherd Express, hosts David Luhrssen and John Schneider talk with news writer Erin Berge about Vivent Health, the Florentine Opera’s Maggey Oplinger on The Tragedy of Carmen, the Marcus Performing Arts Center’s John Hassig and First Stage playwright-in-residence John Maclay.

Listen