New children’s book celebrates Wisconsin’s George Edwin Taylor, the first Black presidential candidate
The La Crosse area helped shape an historic politician, yet many people aren't familiar with his story. George Edwin Taylor ...
Rebirth of the Julia Belle Swain
The history of La Crosse is forged by the waterways that traverse western Wisconsin. Out on the upper Mississippi River, ...
‘This is big, big stuff’: Cuban exile from La Crosse finally becomes US citizen
Ernesto Rodriguez of La Crosse, Wisconsin came to the state in the summer of 1980. That’s after making a treacherous ...
Political aficionados in La Crosse make a sport out of elections
A small, bipartisan group of former politicians and political observers in the La Crosse area has been putting their money ...
Refugee in La Crosse dreams of returning to Cuba
(This story is an excerpt from the podcast, “WPR Reports: Uprooted.”) A group of musicians are jamming in their living ...
Cuban exile reflects on time with sponsor family in Sparta
(This story is an excerpt from the podcast, “WPR Reports: Uprooted.”) When Ernesto Rodriguez of La Crosse was 24 years ...
Cuban in Wisconsin: Introducing ‘WPR Reports: Uprooted’
In 1980, there was a mass exodus of Cubans who left their homes for the United States as part of ...
La Crosse author reimagines Hmong folk tale in new book ‘Folklore’
The story of Xai and Sia is a Hmong folk tale of a young woman’s journey to the netherworld to ...
From The World’s Largest Six-Pack To The Hodag: A Tour Of Wisconsin’s Roadside Attractions
Author Eric Dregni has been a keen observer of roadside attractions for years. He recently wrote the book “The Impossible ...
A Q For You: Where Does The Name ‘Chicken Q’ Come From?
A Chicken Q is a name for a charcoal chicken dinner sold as part of a fundraiser. But the name ...
Remembering Gene Purcell: My Brother’s Brief Stint As A Rock Star Manager
Gene Purcell dedicated almost his entire professional life to public media. His passion began in La Crosse, where he started ...
For Hmong Language Speakers, Keeping Wisconsin’s Third Most Commonly Spoken Language Alive Is Essential
WHYsconsin recently received a listener question wondering, “What is the third most commonly spoken language in Wisconsin after English and ...
Essential Transit: Buses Adapt During Coronavirus Pandemic
The phrase essential worker has been used a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic. It typically describes people who leave their ...
La Crosse Crochet Prodigy Has An International Following Of Craft Enthusiasts
It started with five-year-old Jonah Larson catching the glint of something shiny in a bag of leftover crafts—a crochet hook. ...
Collecting At Dave’s Guitar Shop
When Dave Rogers opened his first guitar store in the early 1980s in downtown La Crosse, it was in a ...