College instructors are facing quieter classrooms: few questions, little debate between students, not much feedback. Educators place some blame on the pandemic and virtual learning. Others point to social media. This class of college freshmen were born around 2006. So it’s safe to say they’ve seen their fair share of people fighting online.

Dr. Amelia Zurcher is trying to correct that. She launched a civic discourse curriculum three years ago to help teach students how to disagree with one another. WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal spoke with her about the program and how disagreements about campus speech are taking shape.

For more than a century, an invasive species has been literally sucking the life out of the Great Lakes. They’re known as sea lampreys. After nearly decimating commercial fishing operations in the early 20th Century, a management program was created to keep the lampreys at bay.

It’s been successful: the number of sea lampreys has been reduced by 90% since the program first began. But the work has been on-going and now cuts to the federal program are threatening that progress. Journalist Katie Thornton tagged along with some of the people doing this work, and wrote about it for The New Yorker. She joins Lake Effect’s Joy Powers, along with Mark Gaden, the executive secretary of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, whose work was featured in the piece.

Some local officials are calling to defund it. Others want to expand it. But they’re running into trouble doing that because of a 2023 state legislative package.

WUWM’s Maayan Silver jumped on the Hop with Jeremy Jannene, president of Urban Milwaukee, to learn how the Hop is funded and what’s on the table for the future.

Wisconsin’s FoodShare is funded by SNAP, which was frozen November 1st, because of the longest federal government shutdown in history. Three federal judges have ordered funding to be restored, at least in part.

That led to Wisconsin and some other states issuing November FoodShare benefits. But the Trump administration says states shouldn't have done that. College students are among FoodShare users who’ve been caught in the middle.

UW-Milwaukee says the FoodShare freeze came on top of October cuts to paychecks and other benefits, caused by the government shutdown. That means a growing number of UWM students are using the campus Food Center & Pantry.

The gales of November are upon us. On this day fifty years ago, the cargo vessel SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior amidst an intense storm. All 29 crew members on board were lost. The sinking of the Fitzgerald remains one of the most mysterious and controversial shipwrecks of the Great Lakes. Decades later, the Gordon Lightfoot ballad continues to garner public interest in the shipwreck not just in the Midwest, but worldwide.

To learn some theories of why the Fitzgerald sank and how some of the crew members are being remembered today, Lake Effect’s Audrey Nowakowski is joined by Kay Dragan - curator and exhibits manager at the Door County Maritime Museum.

Millions of Americans and thousands of people in Wisconsin are struggling to get food. Because of the federal government shutdown, funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP has run out. Two federal judges ordered the Trump Administration to use emergency funds to pay for the program. But SNAP beneficiaries will get half of the usual benefits and its unclear how long those funds will take to arrive.

In Milwaukee, food pantries have been trying to keep up with increased demand. The House of Peace on West Walnut Street is the largest food pantry in the city. It serves more than 18-thousand people a year. WUWM’s Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell is joined by Armondo Diaz, the pantry’s coordinator to learn how the House of Peace is managing the uptick in people they’re serving.

This month’s issue of Milwaukee Magazine features the five winners of its 2025 Betty Awards. The awards honor extraordinary women doing remarkable work in Milwaukee. One of the recipients is Linda Edelstein, the CEO of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra – or MYSO. She’s played instruments since her childhood and had an extensive career in music education and performance.

Edelstein has led MYSO since 2012, and every year up to a thousand students across the region participate in their wide range of programs. To share more about the impact of MYSO and the benefits of music education outside of performance, Edelstein joins Lake Effect's Audrey Nowakowski.

Back in September, Lake Effect reported on the sudden cancellation of federal funding for MKE Roots. The program trains Milwaukee-area teachers on how to make social studies relevant to students by connecting them to local history.

Last month, MKE Roots was notified that it would again receive federal funding. But the money came with the stipulation that the program focus on commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Melissa Gibson is an associate professor at Marquette University and the faculty director of MKE Roots. She speaks with Lake Effect’s Sam Woods about the changes to its federal grant funding, and how it will – and won’t - change what the program does.