Marquette University Law School Poll, Being Political On Facebook, Car Thefts in Milwaukee

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Do your political Facebook posts really change the minds of your friends and followers? A psychologist gives us his view. We talk about the recent spike in car thefts in Milwaukee and we hear where Wisconsin voters stand on the presidential election, the senate race, Governor Scott Walker, and more.

Featured in this Show

  • Clinton Lead Over Trump Narrowing In Latest Marquette Poll

    The latest Marquette University Law School poll was released today and looks at political opinion around Wisconsin. We talk to the director of the poll about where Wisconsin voters stand on the presidential candidates, the senate race, Governor Scott Walker, and more.

  • Do Political Posts On Social Media Change Anyone's Mind?

    In a polarized presidential election year, social media posts expressing strong opinions are tempting to put up and hard to avoid. But do they really change anyone’s opinions? A psychologist shares why we feel the need to broadcast our positions and what the key to persuasion are.

  • Car Thefts In Milwaukee

    Our guest says car thefts in Milwaukee are up and looks at the prices Milwaukee area residents sometimes have to pay to retrieve their cars once they’re found.

  • Retrieving A Stolen Car Could Be Costly

    For some people living in Milwaukee, the relief of recovering a stolen car is short lived after being stuck with the hidden costs of retrieving a vehicle.

    While things were worse in the ’90s, carjackings are up in Milwaukee over the past couple of years. According to Milwaukee police, more than 7,300 cars were stolen in the city last year, almost an 11 percent increase from 2014. In the early months of 2016, carjackings increased about 103 percent compared to 2015.

    So far this year, about 60 percent of the city’s car thefts have happened on Milwaukee’s north side, about 35 percent on the south side and the remaining 5 percent on the east side, the Milwaukee Police Department said.

    “The last few years it seems to have been quite a bit worse than other years,” said Claire Hanan, editor of Milwaukee Magazine, adding that juvenile arrests have also increased in recent years.

    Hanan recently wrote about the unwelcome towing costs carjacking victims are sometimes forced to pay to get their vehicles back. A fellow editor told her a story about a barber whose car was stolen in Milwaukee and recovered in neighboring St. Francis. Police told the victim he had 15 minutes to pick-up the vehicle.

    “It was towed because he couldn’t come get it right away, and then he had to pay almost $200 of a towing fee. And that it was sort of treated like a regular tow, as if he would of had unpaid parking tickets or something,” Hanan said.

    Had the car been recovered in Milwaukee, Hanan said no such towing fee would have been assessed. Her reporting found Milwaukee and Wauwatosa are the only cities in the area that cover the full cost of a tow. About a dozen nearby municipalities charge anywhere from $85 to $150, with the potential of additional storage fees each day the car stays in the lot.

    Milwaukee police told Hanan that officers will often wait for a vehicle’s owner for a “reasonable amount of time.” However, the waiting times for other cities wasn’t clear.

    “It varied and no one really had a firm answer,” Hanan said.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Haleema Shah Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Veronica Rueckert Producer
  • Charles Franklin Guest
  • Regan Gurung Guest
  • Claire Hanan Guest

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