Monday on Lake Effect: gerrymandering impact on legislation, social determinants of health, Hala Restaurant Week, comedian Hannah Gadsby, Bubbler Talk

Today on Lake Effect, we learn why doctors and nurses are leaving Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s hospital and why the hospital is facing controversy. Then, we learn about a tool created by a UWM professor that helps train physicians on how to better break difficult news to patients. We speak with the president and CEO of IndiJ Public Media who will receive an honorary doctorate form Marquette for her work in journalism and for Native Americans. Plus, learn about local bowling legend Earlene Fuller.

Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital has been widely regarded as a premier healthcare facility in the Southeastern Wisconsin area for decades. The 670,000-square-foot and $400 million building overlooking Lake Michigan on Milwaukee's East side is a pinnacle of modern healthcare facility design. However, as prestigious as the hospital looks on the outside, the operations on the inside are vastly different. As one doctor explained, "Ascension Columbia St. Mary's is a first-class structure on the outside, but third world inside."

If you’ve tuned in to WUWM over the past few months, you might have noticed that I haven’t been reporting stories or that my colleague Chuck Quirmbach has been producing Capitol Notes. That’s because I’ve been on medical leave for a major surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm....

This week marks Marquette University’s annual Mission Week. As a part of this event, there will be a special ceremony and keynote address by Karen Lincoln Michel, an alumna of the Marquette Graduate School in journalism. She will accept an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from Marquette for her work in journalism and for Native Americans nationwide.

This is part one in a four-part series called “Fixing Stuff,” in which WUWM’s Lina Tran brings stories of businesses that fix things. Charles Palmer brushed a black dress shoe gently, yet firmly, over and over. You can tell he’s been doing this for years. The motion is in his bones.

Vel Phillips, a prominent Milwaukee civil rights activist, alderperson, the first Black individual elected to statewide office in Wisconsin and the first Black judge in the state, has accomplishments that go on and on. About 15 months ago, a state board OK'd having a statue of Phillips placed on the...

Two hundred fifty people will be putting their heads together at a conference in Madison to discuss a pressing freshwater challenge: how to reduce runoff, especially from agricultural fields, that carries phosphorus. While phosphorus is commonly used to fertilize crops, the nutrient continues to run off, especially during storms. That...

Every month on Lake Effect, we partner with the Milwaukee Public Library for our Book of the Month Series to bring you new reading recommendations. Despite being the shortest month of the year, February is still filled with notable moments like Black History Month and Valentines Day. For this month’s...

A Milwaukee police officer chased down a robbery suspect and was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire early Tuesday. The suspect also died from a gunshot wound, police said. Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said the suspect ignored officers’ commands and fled on foot they arrived at the robbery scene about 1:15 a.m. on the city’s south side. One officer then caught up with the suspect and a struggle ensued. Both men fired their weapons.