Author

Erik Gunn

Erik Gunn

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.

Lt. Gov. Barnes: To stop the spread, change our behavior

By: - October 2, 2020

With public health almost entirely dependent on voluntary behavior and few enforced restrictions, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes telephoned Friday to get the word out: Wisconsin residents need to do what it takes to stop the spread of COVID-19. “We’re encouraging extreme caution for people across the state,” Barnes said in a phone interview. Compared especially […]

‘We need to have compliance’

By: - October 2, 2020

With COVID-19 continuing to soar in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers warned Wisconsin residents on Thursday that they need to stay home as much as possible. A little more than six months ago, he clothed the same preventive measure in an executive order that carried the weight of law. But since the state Supreme Court stripped […]

British TV investigation shows how Trump 2016 campaign tamped down Black voters

By: - October 1, 2020

Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign didn’t just strive to appeal to white working-class voters who believed they had been forgotten — it actively sought to discourage Black voters from going to the polls, a British television news team is reporting. Among those voters targeted for suppression were residents of Milwaukee, in an election upset that […]

Homeland Security pushed talking points sympathetic to Kenosha gunman

By: - October 1, 2020

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is calling for an oversight hearing to investigate an NBC News report that the Trump administration prepped federal law enforcement officials to provide a sympathetic description of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Illinois gunman charged with killing two protesters in Kenosha and wounding a third. The network obtained a talking points document […]

Report offers guarded optimism for manufacturing comeback

By: - September 30, 2020

Wisconsin manufacturing is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has strained shipping schedules but also given a boost to domestic suppliers in the face of uncertainty about international sources. The Marquette ISM Manufacturing Survey for September paints a guardedly upbeat picture for the sector in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, the focus […]

‘The virus is everywhere’

By: - September 30, 2020

The spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin continues to get worse, Gov. Tony Evers and state health officials warned Tuesday — and unless more people take it seriously, many more people may die from the virus in the coming weeks and months. “We are in a crisis,” said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer of the […]

A surgical mask and an N95 mask hang on display for sale at a pharmacy. Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Plaintiffs want court to order immediate end to mask requirement

By: - September 28, 2020

As the number of positive tests for COVID-19 has skyrocketed in Wisconsin, the conservative law firm that wants to stop Gov. Tony Evers from declaring a health emergency or requiring masks to curb the spread of the virus now wants the court to immediately block all of those orders, including new ones the governor issued […]

Unemployment benefits application (photo by Getty Images)

Less than 1% of callers seeking unemployment got through

By: - September 25, 2020

Telephone calls from people seeking unemployment compensation in Wisconsin so overwhelmed the state’s system in the first three and a half months of the COVID-19 pandemic that only half of 1% got through, according to a new audit released Friday. The report, produced by the state Legislative Audit Bureau, offers a glimpse of just how […]

Wisconsin Department of Public Health graphic showing how contact tracing works.

Wisconsin might need 9,000 contact tracers. It has 1,200.

By: - September 25, 2020

As confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin have hit new daily records and hospitalization rates are soaring again, the state is facing a severe shortage of one important resource to help curb the spread of  the pandemic: contact tracers. State and local health departments have been working, sometimes around the clock, to make phone calls […]

A film tells ‘what it feels like to be disenfranchised’ in Wisconsin

By: - September 23, 2020

Less than two months from Election Day 2020, a new documentary looks back at Wisconsin’s 2018 election — when Democrats swept statewide offices but remained locked out of the majority in the Legislature. “Can You Hear Us Now?” follows the story of two unsuccessful candidates in that election, along with a handful of other activists […]

Gov. Tony Evers

GOP fights Evers new emergency mask order despite COVID rise in Wisconsin

By: - September 22, 2020

With one week to go before the state’s current statewide mask order expires, Gov. Tony Evers issued a new order Tuesday, along with a new public health emergency order as COVID-19 outbreaks persist on college campuses. “We continue to learn more about this virus, but what we do know is that we are facing a […]

USPS Postal Service delivery vehicles trucks all in a row black and white

Green Bay man asks court to drop his post office lawsuit

By: - September 21, 2020

The Green Bay man who sued Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in August over postal delays that threaten to disrupt mail-in voting in the November election is asking the court to drop his case. Russell Beckman filed a motion to withdraw his lawsuit in federal court in Green Bay on Monday after a federal judge last […]