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.
Landlords, tenant advocates team up for housing relief request
By: Erik Gunn - April 19, 2020
Groups representing landlords and tenants have teamed up to ask state officials for emergency relief measures aimed at preventing the loss of housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are seeking state legislation that would provide temporary rent assistance, financial aid for landlords, as well as other services to help reduce not just homelessness but […]
Evers, other govs ask Trump for aid as states face shortfall
By: Erik Gunn - April 17, 2020
Gov. Tony Evers has joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in urging President Trump to expedite additional resources for all states and localities so that they can address economic shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. “Without this leadership, the damage to our state economies will be exacerbated by the cuts we […]
Safer at Home extended through Memorial Day
By: Erik Gunn - April 16, 2020
Citing science and health experts, Gov. Tony Evers ordered Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary-designee Andrea Palm to extend Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order until 8 am on Tuesday May, 26. Republican leaders in the Legislature said they planned to explore a legal challenge to the extension, but the governor’s office chief legal counsel said […]
COVID-19 pandemic is raising the threat level for news outlets
By: Erik Gunn - April 16, 2020
For journalism outlets in Wisconsin and nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic could be the biggest story ever. And reporters and editors are covering it even as their future has never looked more precarious. News organizations have sent employees to work from home, some even before Gov. Tony Evers issued the Safer at Home order on March […]
Healthcare workers want better working conditions, more PPE
By: Erik Gunn - April 15, 2020
While the state Legislature has passed one COVID-19 relief bill and Gov. Tony Evers signed it Wednesday, health care workers and state Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) are calling for follow-up legislation that would do more for some of the people on the front lines of the illness. Earlier this week, Vining circulated a letter to […]
COVID-19 bill revives cut in nursing aide training
By: Erik Gunn - April 15, 2020
A reduction in training requirements for certified nursing assistants (CNA) that Gov. Tony Evers vetoed last year, and that was blocked a second time when Republicans failed in their attempt to override that veto, has returned in the Legislature’s massive COVID-19 bill that passed the Assembly on Tuesday. Language in AB-1038 reduces the minimum number […]
Union seeks ‘first-responder’ status for grocery workers
By: Erik Gunn - April 14, 2020
Think “first responder” and the people that come to mind include firefighters and police officers, emergency medical technicians and nurses, along with other kinds of healthcare workers. But there’s another group of people who believe during the COVID-19 pandemic they should be included: grocery store employees. It’s not a frivolous request, says Melanie Bartholf. She […]
Voters sue Legislature, leaders and WEC demanding April 7 revote
By: Erik Gunn - April 13, 2020
The first of what could be a plethora of lawsuits over the April 7 in-person election was filed Monday, charging that Republican legislative leaders “chose politics over the interests of all Wisconsin citizens in an intentional and self-serving attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters” when they refused to allow voting to be rescheduled in the […]
Business groups want state to re-open, but scientists say it’s too soon
By: Erik Gunn - April 11, 2020
The state’s largest business group and more than four dozen trade groups and local chambers of commerce are urging Gov. Tony Evers to lift his COVID-19 pandemic-related Safer-at-Home order and begin to reopen the state within two weeks. But researchers who are studying the spread of COVID-19 warn that following such a calendar could have […]
Foxconn files report claiming more than 600 employees
By: Erik Gunn - April 9, 2020
Nearly half of the employees Foxconn hired in 2019 came on board during the last month of the year, and about 60% were hired in November and December together, the company’s latest report on its Wisconsin hiring shows. The company submitted the required report to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. on April 1, as one […]
Evers: Drive-in church services OK under ‘Safer at Home’
By: Erik Gunn - April 9, 2020
Wisconsin religious groups who want to gather for drive-in services in which worshipers remain in their own cars may do so and not violate the state’s “Safer at Home” order, Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday. The governor issued a statement after the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) sent Evers a letter Thursday that […]
Lawyer: Court ignored its own rules in hearing on postponing election
By: Erik Gunn - April 8, 2020
A lawyer is questioning the state Supreme Court’s consideration of briefs from three outside parties opposing Gov. Tony Evers’ executive order to postpone Tuesday’s election, while rejecting a motion to enter the case from voting rights groups he represents who favored the postponement. The three briefs that the high court accepted before ruling 4-2 against […]