WPR Reports

WPR Reports


Latest Episodes

‘Uprooted’ Ep. 7: Crime and Adversity
October 12, 2022

Crime and Adversity

‘Uprooted’ Ep 8: Cuba is Calling
October 12, 2022

Cuba is Calling

Mapped Out, Ep. 7: Least Changes
December 09, 2021

The new redistricting maps proposed by Republican leaders in the state Legislature are based on the old maps approved in 2011. And while it may have been obscured by the partisan bickering that greeted the proposal, an important question emerges: Can the

Mapped Out, Ep. 6: How It Might Go
November 03, 2021

In Wisconsin, it's the job of the Legislature and the governor to handle redistricting every decade, and pretty much no one thinks they're actually going to do it this time around. With split control of state government, things are likely headed to court,

Mapped Out, Ep. 5: Locked In
October 27, 2021

It's one thing to talk about the power of political redistricting in the abstract, but what does it look like in practice? Over the last decade, Wisconsin's map has let Republicans pass landmark conservative policies, keep a tight grip on the state budget

Mapped Out, Ep. 4: Courting Anthony Kennedy
October 20, 2021

The legislative maps that Wisconsin Republicans drew a decade ago are still standing. But an effort that started in a Milwaukee teahouse and snowballed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court very well could have changed the whole game of redistricting — in

Mapped Out, Ep. 3: The Mousetrap
October 13, 2021

Some districts split towns apart. Others packed all the votes in a city together, or stretched to join urban with suburban. But taken together, Republicans' 2011 legislative maps did one thing: changed the game in Wisconsin politics.

Mapped Out, Ep. 2: Chaos and Quiet
October 06, 2021

2011 was a frenzied, historic year in Wisconsin politics, with massive protests over GOP legislation gutting the state's public employee unions. But at the same time, quietly, behind closed doors, Republicans were drawing maps that would cement their powe

Mapped Out, Ep. 1: An Unseen Force
September 28, 2021

Wisconsin is the quintessential purple state, and yet the Legislature is very red. Why? It's partly because of redistricting, the process of drawing district lines every decade. It's not something most people learn about in civics class, but the way those