Author

Deputy Editor Erik Gunn reports and writes on work and the economy, health policy and related subjects, for the Wisconsin Examiner. He spent 24 years as a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine, Isthmus, The Progressive, BNA Inc., and other publications, winning awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, beat coverage, business writing, and commentary. An East Coast native, he previously covered labor for The Milwaukee Journal after reporting for newspapers in upstate New York and northern Illinois. He's a graduate of Beloit College (English Comp.) and the Columbia School of Journalism. Off hours he is the Examiner's resident Springsteen and Jackson Browne fanboy and model railroad nerd.
Report says many utilities are slow-walking clean energy goals
By: Robert Zullo and Erik Gunn - October 5, 2022
DENVER — A report released this week by the Sierra Club faults dozens of utilities that provide a major chunk of U.S. electric generation for failing to speed up their decarbonization efforts. “For the sake of our communities and planet, we must do everything in our power to create a clean, renewable electric grid by […]
Union and UW Health trade legal arguments on nurses’ union rights
By: Erik Gunn - October 4, 2022
One month after UW Health and the nurses seeking union representation at the Madison-based hospital system declared a truce and averted a strike, the two sides have each taken to their legal corners. As part of the agreement that called off the planned three-day strike by UW Health nurses, the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority […]
Supreme Court to weigh in on whether judge can order ivermectin to treat COVID-19
By: Erik Gunn - September 30, 2022
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will take up a lawsuit that sought to force a hospital to administer ivermectin to a COVID-19 patient. The Court agreed to look at the issue after a state appeals court rejected the demand of a Waukesha County man who wanted a judge to order a hospital to use ivermectin to […]
New survey finds older voters favor Republicans for Senate, governor
By: Erik Gunn - September 30, 2022
Voters 50 and older are leaning toward Republicans running in the Wisconsin races for the U.S. Senate and for governor in November, even as some of their top policy priorities would appear to favor the Democrats, according to a survey released Thursday. The survey, commissioned by AARP, found that 50% of the likely voters polled […]
Baldwin, Grothman, Fitzgerald urge feds to investigate Chinese firm on Wis. company’s behalf
By: Erik Gunn - September 29, 2022
A bipartisan congressional team has gone to bat for a small Wisconsin manufacturer that won a federal lawsuit against a Chinese furniture giant accused of stealing its intellectual property. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) joined in letters to three federal agencies urging action against Man Wah […]
Referenda ask voters if election aid should be outlawed
By: Erik Gunn - September 29, 2022
Voters in four Wisconsin counties will be asked in November whether the state should ban private grants to help local communities with the cost of running elections. The advisory referenda, on the ballot in Waukesha, Price, Lincoln and Brown counties, follow an attempt by Republicans in the Legislature to outlaw outside funds for election administration […]
House Jan. 6 committee to wait for court ruling before enforcing Vos subpoena
By: Erik Gunn - September 27, 2022
The U.S. House committee won’t force Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) to testify before its next televised public hearing, if that takes place within the next month. In a status hearing in federal court Tuesday, attorneys for Vos and for the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol said they’d […]
A union firebrand in the 1970s and ‘80s sees labor’s future in his past
By: Erik Gunn - September 27, 2022
Jon Melrod has written a memoir that tells a slice of labor history in Kenosha, Wisconsin, four decades ago. But he believes his story, “Fighting Times,” which goes on sale Tuesday, has broader appeal. “It’s everybody’s story — everybody who’s ever worked, who’s ever worked for a bad boss or under bad conditions,” said Melrod, […]
Vos fights subpoena from U.S. House committee investigating Jan. 6 attack
By: Erik Gunn - September 26, 2022
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) is suing the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to block a subpoena that directs him to testify about his phone conversation this July with former President Donald Trump. In his lawsuit, Vos claims the conversation, when Trump urged him to decertify Wisconsin’s […]
Fitzgerald constituent mail draws ethics complaint for campaign-style messaging
By: Erik Gunn - September 26, 2022
On one side of an oversize four-color card mailed to constituents in the 5th Congressional District, a color photo depicts a young couple bent over a kitchen table, their brows furrowed. Bold letters emblazoned across the lower half of the image declare: “Reckless spending policies are fueling inflation, CRUSHING American families.” At the top of […]
Overturning Roe sends approval of U.S. Supreme Court plummeting, Marquette poll finds
By: Erik Gunn - September 21, 2022
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that overturned a national right to abortion, public approval of the Court has fallen dramatically and stayed there, a new national poll from Marquette Law School finds. In the new survey, 40% of respondents said they approved of how the Court was doing its […]
Small business advocacy group joins National Voter Registration Day campaign
By: Erik Gunn - September 21, 2022
Among the collection of organizations and political figures highlighting National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, members of a group representing small business owners added their voice to the campaign. The message is nonpartisan, but also aimed at showing politicians the power that small business operators have, said Shawn Phetteplace, midwest manager for Main Street Alliance. […]