Election anxiety surges in Wisconsin

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Election anxiety surges in Wisconsin

A lot of political news has happened this month: an attempted assassination, the sitting U.S. president dropping out of the race with little more than 100 campaign days left, legal battles and more. Voters are hearing from both sides that the stakes of this election are high.

In Wisconsin, one of the country's battleground states, there's been a surge of calls to 988 regarding the state of current events and the upcoming elections, said Erin Neilan Miller, clinical program manager at Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin, the state program behind Wisconsin 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Counselors at Family Services, Miller said, are increasingly talking to Wisconsinites about election anxiety and the general stress of living amid high inflation. More Wisconsinites are also calling with heightened fears about geo-political events.

Natalie Eilbert shares data on election anxiety nationwide and tips for coping — including actually becoming more politically engaged, research shows.

Milwaukee County faces a $19 million deficit

Overtime from law enforcement and correctional staff. A pricey food vendor contract. A significant shortfall in the historic local sales tax.

This is a sprinkling of issues that have Milwaukee County facing a projected $9 million deficit, which could end up more than doubling to $17 or $19 million by the end of the fiscal year, according to the Comptroller's Officer, which presented its end-of-year projections to a county committee.

"It's not good. It's not good at all," Supervisor Steve Taylor told the county's finance committee on Thursday, later adding, "We're going to have a tough budget."

Vanessa Swales looks at what's driving the county's financial situation , including lower-than-projected sales tax collections.

Don't miss these

• Mayor Cavalier Johnson's administration wants to encourage more housing by changing zoning rules. But Black residents say there's not enough community input .
• Here's the latest on the Milwaukee airport's plans to demolish and construct a new concourse and international terminal building.
• A Milwaukee man was sentenced to a 23-year-prison term for killing Regina “Mya” Allen, one of several transgender Black women killed since June 2022.
• Read about one solution to prevent conflict between wolves and livestock : a "predator-proof fence" on a Douglas County farm, the sixth of its kind in Wisconsin.
• UW alumna Alev Kelter went viral Sunday during Team USA's Olympic rugby match against Brazil. But rugby wasn't even one of the two sports she played at Wisconsin .
• Culver's has teamed up with JJ Watt for its first celebrity meal . The fast-food chain will make a $1 donation for every meal sold.

Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on Twitter at @hopekarnopp .

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Election anxiety surges in Wisconsin