Articles by Akira Quinn

Over the course of a semester, three UW-Milwaukee students committed themselves to a three-month investigation into the deaths of Milwaukee youth. Their focus was urgent: children and teenagers, ages four to 17, all who were school-aged. While the team drew initial inspiration from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s “The Lost Class,” their project quickly evolved into […]

Wisconsin State Senator Dora Drake began her career the way many Milwaukee-born senators do, with roots that run deep and a community that she has never been able to turn away from. “I lived in the district I represent now, the 4th Senate District,” she said. “It comprises the north portion of Milwaukee to the […]

Meeting Professor Leslie Harris in her Johnston Hall office felt less like an academic interview and more like sitting with someone who had spent years listening, really listening to Milwaukee. Her space was warm, filled with books, and somehow made the conversation feel bigger than the room itself. As soon as we asked about her […]

Two Black men both raised in Milwaukee, both shaped by hardship, grew up on different sides of the city, yet their paths eventually converged around a shared mission. Their childhoods echoed similar realities: sirens at night, boarded windows, and the constant tension of living where many children learn the sound of gunfire before they learn […]

Student reporters, Brooke Hargraves and Akira Quinn, discuss their project, “Revisiting the Lost Class” and why they chose to do it.

We met Jennifer Koss on a quiet afternoon at the UWM Golda Meir Library. A former Milwaukee Public Schools teacher of 17 years, she greeted us with the warmth of someone used to listening, observing, and carrying more stories than most people ever will. We sat around a table in a small study room, and […]

Public education in Milwaukee has long served as a critical support system for children growing up in low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods. But in recent years, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) has faced a troubling decline in student attendance and rising concerns about student safety. The lack of resources, staffing shortages, and the daily realities many children face […]

As I looked at him from across a computer screen, I saw the calm of someone who has lived several different lives. When we asked about his background, he shrugged gently, almost apologetically. “I’ve only been the director for less than three months,” he said, but his path to that office was anything but simple. […]

The first thing Daran Wiley wanted to be was an astrophysicist, according to his mother Rashawn McKenzie. He even dressed as one for a school event one year. “He came home and he was like, ‘Mom, I want to be an astrophysicist and if you don’t know what it means, it’s okay, I can tell […]

Planned Parenthood hosted their second annual Sweetest Day event, where families and friends came together to enjoy food and drinks, while also learning about their health. Akira Quinn tells us more.

With winter around the corner, a historic spot near downtown Milwaukee is making its way back into tourism headlines. Reporter Akira Quinn tells us more about it.

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — Save the Woods members hosted a community meeting to reinforce their demand to preserve the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s Forest. The gathering, held at the North Asheville Library, aimed to raise awareness about the potential destruction of the university’s 45-acre urban woodland. According to a recent proposal from Chancellor Kimberly van […]