Passport
Scott Gordon
Scott's Recent Stories
A Mid-Century Turning Point For Migrant Farmworkers In Wisconsin
Seasonal workers who traveled from Mexico, and Texas-born people of Mexican descent, known as Tejanos, became a crucial part of Wisconsin's agricultural workforce during and after World War II.
Wednesday October 3, 2018
How Two Wisconsin Cities Want To Transform Their Energy Use
Two of Wisconsin's major cities, Madisonand Eau Claire,have resolved to go carbon-neutral, by reducing their levels of energy usage and converting entirely to renewable sources.
Friday September 28, 2018
How Should Wisconsin Regulate Direct Primary Care?
Wisconsin has not adopted state laws specifying how direct primary care should be regulated, what scope of services a direct primary care doctor should offer, how a direct primary care agreement differs from health insurance, or whether direct primary care practices can bill Medicare and Medicaid.
Wednesday September 26, 2018
The Complexities Of Fostering An Inclusive Workforce In Madison
The state of Wisconsin's efforts to attract and retain a younger workforce are coinciding with a growing public reckoning in Madison and surrounding Dane County with the fact that many of its minority residents don't necessarily experience the city as welcoming or inclusive
Monday September 24, 2018
What Keeps Walker And Evers From Campaigning On The Clock?
Elected officials looking to get reelected or climb the political ladder or have a degree of leeway that most other public employees and private-sector workers don't.
Wednesday September 19, 2018
Why Economic Recovery Still Hasn’t Come For Many Wisconsinites
When it comes to the economy, the bold statistical strokes tell almost the opposite of some Wisconsinites' stories.
Tuesday September 18, 2018
Tracking The Fingerprints Of Climate Change In Northern Wisconsin
After yet another summer of dangerous and destructive flooding, from Ino to Madison to Coon Valley, Wisconsinites seem more ready than ever to discuss how climate change is affecting the state.
Thursday September 13, 2018
Strokes Call For Fast Reactions
The symptoms and causes of strokes can vary widely, but it's always crucial to get victims medical help as quickly as possible.
Thursday September 6, 2018
New Rules Highlight How Little Wisconsin Knows About Its CWD Problem
Wisconsin environmental regulators announced in August 2018 that they will take new stepsto track and try to curb the spread of chronic wasting disease among the state's deer population.
Wednesday September 5, 2018
Oshkosh During World War I Offers A Window Into ‘Home Front’ Life
During World War I, civic life in the United States often centered around what civilians could do to help the war effort.
Monday August 27, 2018
How Does Direct Primary Care Fit Into Wisconsin’s Search For Health Solutions?
Following in the wake of concierge medicine is a model known as direct primary care, which is based on the idea that a more personal approach that's broadly affordable can alleviate several major choke points in the American healthcare system writ large.
Monday August 13, 2018
A Living Legacy Of Research At The UW Arboretum
In the 21st century, nearly a century after its founding in the 1930s, the institution balances Wisconsin's tradition of ecological research with public outreach, citizen-science projects and hosting visitors.
Monday August 13, 2018
Downstream From Foxconn, Anxiety Mounts Over Floods
Local and state officials in Illinois are beginning to worry about a force that could direct more water into the Des Plaines River: The large campus Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Foxconn is building in the Racine County village of Mount Pleasant.
Tuesday August 7, 2018
What A National Decline In Refugee Resettlement Looks Like For Wisconsin
Wisconsin isn't the biggest destination for refugee resettlement by far, but the multi-year decline in the state accompanies a similarly dramatic nationwide trend.
Tuesday July 31, 2018
The Allure And Uncertain Future of Wild Wisconsin Ginseng
The rules and regulations surrounding wild ginseng may seem onerous, but they are meant to ensure the survival of a species that is struggling to survive across the globe.
Tuesday July 31, 2018
From Detention To Court, Wisconsin Immigration Lawyers Labor To Represent Their Clients
Imagine not being able to speak English, or not very much of it, and facing deportation proceedings in federal immigration court.
Wednesday July 25, 2018
Which Wisconsin Exports Are Canada’s Tariffs Hitting The Hardest?
As the Trump administration ignites trade wars around the globe, Canada is fanning the flames, and has clearly done its homework on Wisconsin.
Thursday July 12, 2018
Wisconsin’s Halting Path Toward Black Suffrage
Slavery was present in pre-statehood Wisconsin, and the institution writ large shaped attitudes that would impede efforts by African Americans in the state to secure their right to vote.
Tuesday July 10, 2018
Diagnosing The Gaps In Wisconsin’s Obesity Map
Even the most thorough batch of data will have its gaps and shortcomings, and it's part of public health researchers' job to try to better understand the big picture in spite of that limitation
Thursday July 5, 2018
Why And When Wisconsin Flies Flags At Half-Staff
How often do flags fly at half-staff in Wisconsin?More than they used to.
Tuesday July 3, 2018
Los Dos Centros De Detenciu00f3n En Wisconsin Que Encarcelan Los Detenidos De ICE
Wisconsin no es uno de los 17 estados donde el gobierno federal tiene centros de detención para niños inmigrantes. Sin embargo, el estado tiene dos centros de detención para adultos.
Wednesday June 27, 2018
The Two Wisconsin Jails That House ICE Detainees
Wisconsin is not among the 17 states known to host facilities where the federal government detains migrant children. The state does, however, have two facilities where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds adult detainees.
Tuesday June 26, 2018
Embracing The Ups And Downs Of Starting New Businesses
Wisconsin has made headlines in recent years as a state where entrepreneurship struggles and startupactivity lags behind the United States as a whole.
Monday June 25, 2018
Gravity Of Precedent Fuels Challenge To Foxconn’s Lake Michigan Bid
Wisconsin's decision to let Foxconn draw water from Lake Michigan may set a precedent for water use that resonates across the Great Lakes region and beyond.
Tuesday June 19, 2018
The Confounding Geography Of Lyme Disease In The U.S.
The Upper Midwest and the northeastern regions of the United States are increasingly a carpet of Lyme diseasecases each summer and autumn. But the southeastern part of the country — a vast expanse of hot and humid territory and certainly hospitable to the ticks that carry Lyme-causing bacteria — gets off relatively easy.
Wednesday June 6, 2018
Wisconsin’s Modest, Uneven Population Growth So Far In The 2010s
It's a time of profound change for Wisconsin's population — where it's concentrated, where it's moving, which age groups and racial and ethnic origins it reflects, and what kinds of lives all residents are seeking to live.
Tuesday June 5, 2018
Epic Systems Lawsuit Ruling Has Wide-Reaching Impact On Employee Rights
Epic has become increasingly associated with the labor controversies that arise in the IT industry.
Tuesday May 29, 2018
Wisconsin’s Annual Lyme Disease Forecast Is Not A Simple Matter
As the weather warms and more people head outdoors, a complex interplay of factors, some of which scientists are still trying to understand, will determine how seriously Lyme disease will afflict Wisconsin in 2018.
Thursday May 24, 2018
Discovery Of CWD Prions In Soil Adds Piece To Deer Disease Puzzle
After years of Wisconsin testing fewer deer for chronic wasting disease but finding more casesof infections, a new study offered some additional clues about how CWD might spread through the environment.
Tuesday May 22, 2018
As Healthcare Workers Burn Out, Elderly Patients Can Suffer
Wisconsin is aging, and as its population of senior citizens grows, the health care workers who attend to them face growing risks of overwork and burnout.
Monday May 14, 2018
Flu’s Seasonal Curve Swelled In 2017-18
No one questions that the 2017-2018 flu season was tough, but how unusual was it really?
Wednesday May 2, 2018
How Domestic Violence Intertwines With Landlord-Tenant Relationships
Wisconsin's latest battle over landlord-tenant relations has crucial implications for people enduring abusive relationships.
Tuesday May 1, 2018
Why One Scientist Has Divergent Views On Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Diversions
Supporting one high-profile Great Lakes diversion and opposing another might seem contradictory, but UW-Parkside geosciences professor John Skalbeck clearly sees no tension in his positions.
Wednesday April 25, 2018
The Battles That Shaped Great Lakes Water Politics
Two centuries of urbanization and industrialization around the Great Lakes have often hinged on tension among those who've desired their extraordinary supplies of fresh water.
Tuesday April 24, 2018
When Great Lakes Water Is ‘Public’ And When It Isn’t
Community members and advocacy groups opposing the bid by Foxconnand the city of Racine for Lake Michigan water are zeroing on a specific issue: The request amounts to a water utility sourcing the Great Lakes almost entirely for the use of one private company.
Thursday April 19, 2018
Pushing Back On Despair Among Western Wisconsin’s Dairy Farmers
As the dairy industry struggles with low prices in the face of a long-mounting milk glut, more farmers are finding that their woes are escalating.
Tuesday April 17, 2018
Foxconn Taps Into The Plenitude And Perils Of Great Lakes Water
Cities and businesses seeking to access Great Lakes waters often emphasize how minuscule their water use would be compared to even the supply of just one of the individual lakes.
Wednesday April 11, 2018
Wisconsin Ginseng Growers Worry About Tapping Crucial Chinese Market
Wisconsin exports a diverse array of agricultural products around the world One high-profile item is ginseng, an herb that has been grown in parts of central Wisconsin for over a century.
Monday April 9, 2018
Water Battles Straddle The Great Lakes Basin
Wisconsin is regularly at the center of Great Lakes water politics, but it's not the only place where controversies arise.
Monday April 9, 2018
Wisconsin’s Special Elections Fight Leaves Loose Ends
The last week of March brought an exhausting whirlwind to Wisconsin's courts and statehouse as Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican allies fought against calling special elections in two vacant state legislative districts and sought to quickly rewrite a portion of state's elections law.
Monday April 2, 2018
Navigating The Confusion Of Wisconsin’s Voter Roll Purge
Wisconsin's growing mosaic of struggles over voting rights grew even more complex in March 2018, when Milwaukee officials raised questions about a program that deactivated around 44,000 voter registrations in the city.
Monday March 26, 2018
Where The Great Lakes Compact Ends And Wisconsin Law Begins
Wisconsin has yet to wrap up one big conversation about how it uses Great Lakes water, and is already embarking upon another.
Monday March 26, 2018
A Lack Of Precedent In Wisconsin’s Special Elections Lawsuit
If a voter in Wisconsin sues the state to try and compel the governor to call a special election, they might have a hard time finding precedent for that action.
Friday March 16, 2018
What’s At Issue In Wisconsin’s Special Elections Lawsuit
Newton v. Walker concerns some fundamental questions of state law, and courts may have to wade into some uncharted territory to settle them.
Friday March 16, 2018
Slowing The Growth Of Slime In Central Wisconsin’s Waters
It's never an easy conversation to have in Wisconsin: Phosphorus pollution afflicts bodies of water all over the state, and its primary source is agriculture.
Monday March 12, 2018
Why A Wisconsin-Developed Ebola Vaccine Represents A Breakthrough
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center are working to develop an experimental vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus, and announcedin February 2018 that they'll begin phase 1 human clinical trials in Japan by the end of the year.
Thursday March 8, 2018
Wisconsin Workers, Chicago Commuters And Cost Of Living
Cost of living isn't a standardized, hard-and-fast mathematical concept. Looking into how it's defined and applied to specific places reveals less about empirical economic differences and more about the nuanced and fluid ways in which people make decisions about money and opportunity and lifestyle.
Tuesday March 6, 2018
Catfish Noodling Gets A Hand In Wisconsin
A daring practice in which people catch catfish by hand is finding official support in Wisconsin.
Thursday March 1, 2018
The Precarious Path From Food Stamps To Self-Sufficiency
Wisconsin's new round of food stamp rules tightening work requirements also comes as a state jobs program aimed at FoodShare beneficiaries shows mixed results.
Wednesday February 28, 2018
Why Wetlands Are Integral In Landscapes Even When Isolated In Law
Wetlands make up a part of the landscape in every Wisconsin county.
Tuesday February 20, 2018
Rowdy leisure activities gave late 19th century workersin the Fox Valley a social sphere in which to share ideas about labor organizing and economic justice.
Friday February 16, 2018
What Wisconsin’s Special Elections Looked Like In 1963
How vacant state legislative seats get filled seems to have long been a hairy question — that is, when people think much about it at all.
Thursday February 15, 2018
Wisconsin Hospitals Adjust To Unusual Length Of IV Bag Deficit
Healthcare providers across the United States are longing to get back to a steady drip.
Tuesday February 13, 2018
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