Articles by Charles Butler

Ask just about any American what the state of Wisconsin is known for and you’re likely to get the same answer: cheese. However, Wisconsin also hosts a quiet industry built around hemp, the industrious, un-sexy cousin of the plant Snoop Dogg once encouraged his fans to smoke every day. Hemp, like marijuana, is a member of the cannabis sativa plant family. While marijuana remains illegal on a federal level — even while many […]

In this short documentary, Charles Pierre-Butler introduces us to The Neighborhood Kitchen, a collaborative kitchen space available for rent by entrepreneurs, vendors, and community outreach. Featuring everything from pizza ovens to walk-in storagecoolers, The Neighborhood Kitchen gives business owners with big dreams and small means to bring their vision to life.

On Wednesday, a judge for the southern district of New York granted the Justice Department’s request to unseal more of the Epstein files related to his 2019 sex trafficking cases, according to reporting by Associated Press. According to the decision, the files must be unsealed by Dec. 19. Associated Press reported U.S. District Judge Richard […]

New video has emerged from the heist that took place at the Louvre early Sunday morning showing the thieves using a high-powered saw to cut into the case holding the French crown jewels. In a tale that feels more like a scene from a Wes Anderson film than reality, a four-person team pulled off a […]

When the promising life of a young citizen is cut short by violent crime, it creates the sort of grief that strikes at the soul of a city. For residents of Milwaukee, the horrific killing of 15-year-old Makai Neal was an unfortunately all-too-familiar reminder of how tightly this grief can constrict its grip. Between the […]

In times of crisis, it is not uncommon to find American communities willing to work together. Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals.” That principle is personified in the efforts of Milwaukee resident […]

Morgan Geyser, the woman who was found not guilty by mental disease or defect for the 2014 Slenderman attempted murder stabbing and committed to 40 years of mental confinement, has been found in Illinois after she allegedly cut off her ankle monitor and escaped from her Madison group home, Madison Police Department confirmed Sunday night. […]

Milwaukee is a city that many residents complain is creatively slept on. In the midst of that slumber, artists like Emmitt James emerge to wake up the scene like a tall glass of locally produced cold brew. Mixing the grassroots with the gargantuan, James is showing what it means for an independent artist to bet on […]

The sounds of bar stools scraping and friends laughing are backdropped by Bill’s Withers “Lovely Day” as caterers set up a buffet table in the back of tonight’s venue and bartenders sling out cocktails and mocktails at an incredible efficiency. In the midst of this social commotion, Devin Anderson, membership director for the African American […]

Tony Mensah is a community resource advocate and American University graduate with a degree in Public Relations and Strategic Communications. He and Charles Butler met for brunch at a local Black-owned cafe and talked about Mensah’s feelings following the 2024 election, his anxieties and hopes under the new administration and how the election has impacted […]