By now you’ve probably heard that two of Wisconsin’s major utilities - Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) and Wisconsin Power & Light (WPL) - have proposed increases in their rates for electricity and natural gas, in addition to the rules governing sales of excess energy back to the grid by rooftop solar users (a process known as net metering). As the climate crisis continues to worsen, longer, more severe, and more frequent heat waves will increasingly burden low-income individuals and families with high energy bills. This burden will be even higher if the proposed rate increases are approved. At the same time, proposed changes to net metering may put the cost savings, freedom, and independence that comes with rooftop solar even further out of reach for those experiencing the greatest climate and energy burdens. These proposals are a threat to climate justice in Wisconsin… but we have the opportunity to take action now! 350 Wisconsin is a formal intervenor in both cases, which gives us a seat at the table to find a solution that supports a just transition to renewable energy and protects the rights of all Wisconsin communities. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) will make the final decision whether to approve or deny the proposed changes from MGE and WPL, and they want to hear from YOU! In the MGE case, you can join the live public hearings on Wednesday, September 6 at 1 PM or 6 PM on Zoom or in-person in Madison. Check the notice of public hearing here for more information on how to join. You can also submit a written comment here through September 26. In the WPL case, you can join the live public hearings on Wednesday, September 13 at 1 PM or 6 PM on Zoom or in-person in Madison. Check the notice of public hearing here for more information on how to join. You can also submit a written comment here through October 4. To help you craft your comments, visit this page for talking points for both the MGE and WPL cases. https://350wisconsin.org/take-action-for-fair-energy-rates-and-affordable-solar-power-in-wisconsin/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=69cccbba-7a98-4b31-9dca-79f29f1cba74 RSVP to Attend Hearings https://wisconsin-350.salsalabs.org/pschearings/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=69cccbba-7a98-4b31-9dca-79f29f1cba74 Interested in joining a public rally in support of affordable solar power? Join us at the Dane County Farmers’ Market on September 23 for the debut of our Art Collective’s newest dance, celebrating solar and renewable energy! In solidarity, Stephanie Robinson & Emily Park 350 Wisconsin Co-Executive Directors VolunteerDonate Stay Connected with Us Have Questions? contact@350wisconsin.org 608-492-1667

Golden Rule Peace Boat brings message of nuclear dangers in the world to Sheboygan Madison Friends Meeting and WI PSR - travel to Sheboygan for the event on Aug. 26th. https://www.wnpj.org/post/the-golden-rule-has-reached-1-000-s-on-the-great-loop-from-the-missisippi-to-cuba-and-now-wi Physicians for social responsibility Wisconsin board member Paula Rogge, of Madison, Wis. speaks the perils that humans face with nuclear waste while aboard the Golden Rule Peace Boat at the Sheboygan lakefront, Saturday, August 26, 2023, in Sheboygan, Wis. Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY NETWORK-WisconsinPeople visit the Golden Rule Peace Boat at the Sheboygan Marina, Saturday, August 26, 2023, in Sheboygan, Wis.

There is a powerful connection between my work as a peace activist and my work in violence against women. Violence is all around us in the world, and can be seen at the national level in war, socially in the way we interact with others, and individually when any kind of abuse takes place in a family. Sexual violence against women during wartime has been well-documented and is widespread. I am committed to working to stop any kind of violence in the world, whether on an individual, societal, or national level. On Sept. 7 from 6-8 pm at the Goodman Community Center in Madison, I will host an open house with a presentation at 7:00 titled "Transforming Trauma Through Doll Making". This is a free event and open to the public. I will be sharing my story of childhood sexual abuse and how I came to where I am today as a survivor and thriver after the hell of my what I went through. I will be sharing how doll making helped me to deal with the trauma and indeed, helped to transform the trauma and pain into beauty and strength. Peace, Joy First joyfirst5@gmail.com ************************* Joy is the contact for 2 WNPJ member groups: WI Coalition to Ground Drones and End the Wars Madison Pledge of Resistance

Dear Peacemaking Friends, We want to share with you an excerpt from the statement from Kai Bird, the co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on which Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer movie is based. This statement is below, together with a message from the Interfaith Peace Working Group. Read on. –Interfaith Peace Working Group FROM THE OPPENHEIMER AUTHOR Abolish Nuclear Weapons Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on which Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer movie is based, issued a statement endorsing a bill by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Nuclear Abolition and Conversion Act, H.R. 2775: In this statement, he says, “I strongly endorse Congresswoman Norton’s Nuclear Abolition and Conversion Act, H.R. 2775, which calls for the U.S. to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as a first step to safely, fairly, verifiably eliminating all nuclear weapons from all countries, and eventually converting the nuclear weapons jobs, brainpower, money, and infrastructure to genuine climate solutions and other pressing human needs." ************************ TAKE ACTION! If you believe that all nuclear weapons should be safely, fairly and verifiably eliminated, call your U.S. congressional representative and let him or her know this. Congressional representatives can be reached through the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Suggestion: View and Discuss the Oppenheimer Film Encourage members of your community of faith or conscience to see the movie Oppenheimer and plan youth and adult discussion groups in which people can share their thoughts and feelings about it. Interfaith Peace Working Group interfaithpeaceworkinggroup@gmail.com

Sunday, August 27: Cassandra Dixon live on WORT Radio's World View 5:30 - 6:00 pm 89.9 FM, or listen live on line Cassandra is scheduled to be interviewed live by World View staff about her upcoming trip to Palestine, where she will attend the Sept. 6 trial of the Israeli settler who assaulted and seriously injured her last spring. She will discuss that case and the broader situation in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank, where the attack took place. ******************************************* Tuesday, August 29: Online 7 pm CT Reparations and the Palestinian Right of Return as Teshuvah (Repentence) for the Nakba: A talk by Peter Beinart. Organizers suggest you may want to read this article by Beinart in Jewish Currents before the talk. Details and registration here. Part of a series sponsored by Reconstructionists Expanding the Conversation on Israel-Palestine. ****************************************** AND...Petition of the Week: Free Sami Huraini! Please read, sign and circulate this petition regarding Sami Hureini, a leading human rights activist from the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank who was unjustly tried by an Israeli military court and will be sentenced on October 30. ************************************************ Madison-Rafah Sister-City Proj

The Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison, which recently hosted Afghan author Najib Azad, has invited us to take part in its Afghan Allies Advocacy Day, Wednesday, August 30, to help pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. This legislation would provide a clear, straight-forward pathway to permanent legal status, subject to robust security vetting, for Afghans who have fled to our country. In addition, the CMC seeks legislation or US Citizenship and Immigration Service policy changes to support Afghans who did not make it out of the country during the evacuation and continue to live in danger due to their role supporting U.S. efforts. Resources about Afghan Advocacy Day are available at: —Advocacy Day website: https://cmcmadison.org/afghan-advocacy-day/ —An E-mail Newsletter Blast: https://mailchi.mp/771dd8370c6e/cmc-action-alert-afghan-advocacy-day-on-830 Peace, Dennis Collier dennis.collier@hotmail.com https://www.wnpj.org/member-organizations-list/pax-christi---madison-

SPOTLIGHT on Worker Justice Wisconsin (WJW) this Labor Day week…. We are a non-profit organization that focuses on the education and empowerment of workers and laborers. We help ensure fairness, dignity and equality in the workplace through collective action and education. www.workerjustice.org WJW Worker Success Story.... My name is Jesus Noel Flores and I came to the United States in 2001. I am now married with four children. During the pandemic I was fired from my job of 17 years. I felt very frustrated and contacted Worker Justice Wisconsin for help. Ms. Socorro was very friendly and gave me a lot of information about my rights as a worker. I feel fortunate that I also was introduced to her manager Kristen. They have both made me feel like family. They have a worker membership meeting each month where people can share their experiences and how they have worked with worker justice. The information that WJW gives is such a great help for the future to know how I am protected. I am very grateful for WJW because their door was open for me when I needed it most. ************************ Labor Fest 2023! - Madison Labor Temple, 1602 S. Park St. MADISON Mon Sept 4th, 12 noon - 5 pm Live music from VO5 and The Periodicals. Solidarity Roll Call at 2:00 pm, many info tables, including Family Farm Defenders!.... plus magic shows, bounce house, face painting and balloon twisting for kids. Food and drink will be available for purchase. SCFL's Community Services Committee will also be collecting gift cards of all types to help homeless students in the MMSD Transition Education Program (TEP) Info? Visit the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/3525488584398960/ Sent to WNPJ by Madison Infoshop - jepeck@wisc.edu ******************************************** The WI Network for Peace and Justice is the umbrella non-profit organization supporting the work of 79 member groups around Wisconsin. Here are Action Alerts and Events listings for many of our member groups for the coming week: ************************** As the World Burns..... Contact Dairyland (608-788-4000). Let them know where you stand on this ill-fated energy center. Read more and act! Issue: In total disregard of process and environmental concerns, Minnesota Power signed a labor agreement with the Northern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council to build a $700 million gas-fired power plant in Superior next spring. Known as the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, the plant was proposed in 2017 and has failed to secure the permits necessary to begin. Environmental groups have issued warnings and legal challenges, but are being ignored. A generating cooperative, Dairyland Power, boasts the gas plant will help us towards a “clean energy future”. They’re certain people will accept the words “clean energy” and call it a day. They’re hoping ratepayers ignore the price tag as well as the increased amount of energy required to run the plant. They’re hoping the calls for protecting the water; the people and their ancestral homeland by the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will fall on deaf ears. The fossil fuel industry distorts facts regarding renewables and battery storage as insufficient. They ignore health risks associated with methane emissions and burst pipelines. And they’re tying our children’s children to an unsustainable system. Action Alert submitted by WNPJ Board member, Dena Eakles - dena.eakles@gmail.com ************** GOLDEN RULE PEACE BOAT VISITS Milwaukee. Sept. 1-4. The Golden Rule, a historic sailboat, visits Milwaukee as part of an 11,000 mile voyage. (Former Chair of the WNPJ Board, Alfred Meyer will be visiting Milwaukee, following the Golden Rule all the way through the Great Lakes from Maine!) Free boat visits and tours 1-4 pm daily, at Discovery World on Sept.1st and at Lakeshore State Park Sept. 2nd-4th. Party in the park with folk musicians 2-5pm on Saturday, Sept. 2nd. Sponsored by Veterans For Peace. INFORMATION: Bill Christofferson, 414-587-6577, vfpchapter102@gmail.com ********************* Other upcoming events this week for WNPJ groups: FITCHBURG Mon Aug 28th, 10 - 11 am UN Discussion group - monthly meeting. Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Road, about two blocks east off Fish Hatchery Road. Questions? Agenda and readings for the day? Contact: Sam Romano sromano@charter.net VIRTUAL Tues Aug 29th, 6:30 - 8 pm WISDOM’s 5-week training session. Please join us for our 5-week Fall Training Series every Tuesday night from August 29-September 26. We are excited to cover a variety of topics about community organizing. Whether you're a new WISDOM member, an old timer or need a refresher - we welcome you to come learn from our leaders within our network! Once you register, you will receive your Zoom information within a few minutes. It is the same Zoom link for all 5 sessions. You can choose to attend one or all sessions. If you have any questions, and want the registration link, please contact Amanda Ali, WISDOM's Digital Organizer at aali@wisdomwisconsin.org VIRTUAL SCREENING - Wed Aug 30th 6:30 - 8:30 pm Film & Discussion of "Cooked: Survival by Zipcode". Viewing at https://www.soulardarity.com/cooked_viewing . In 1995, Chicago has the worst heave wave in U.S. history. In just 4 days, it killed 739 people. This film tells the story. After the film, we will have an open discussion with these panelists: Judith Helfand, director/producer; Lonette Sims, People's Response Network; Orrin Williams, Center for Urban Transformation; Shimekia Nichols, Soulardarity; Leo Carney, American Descendants of Slavery; Raoul Contreras, Latino Studies Professor, Indiana University. We will conclude with next stops for Climate Thrive & Survive Networks. Sponsors include: People's Reponse Network (PRN); Radical Elders; Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community; Soulardarity of Michigan; American Descents of Slavery; Mississippi Rising. Event is endorsed by UW Workers Covid Working Group, and the Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America, member group of WNPJ. https://madison-dsa.org/ dsamadison@gmail.com APPLETON Sat Sept 2 11 am – 12 noon Fox Valley Monthly Stand for Peace. Houdini Plaza, West Lawrence . Every month - the first Saturday! Bring your signs! Organizer: Ronna Swift ronnajean61@gmail.com MILWAUKEE Sat Sept 2nd, 12 noon - 1 pm Weekly STAND FOR PEACE. Meet at Lincoln Memorial/Michigan today. Each week, a different vigil site in Milwaukee. Bring your signs for peace! Questions? Contact Peace Action WI -info@peaceactionwi.org or see https://www.peaceactionwi.org ******************************************************* If your group would like to get your events posted in the weekly e-bulletin – JOIN US! https://www.wnpj.org/membership ******************************************** WNPJ member groups can sign up for a Saturday opportunity to TABLE at the Madison Farmers Market – this Spring and summer at the Capitol Square. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4daaa929a5fac34-wnpj#/ The Farmers Market opening date is April 15th – 7 am to 1 pm …and runs through the Fall on Saturdays. Sign up for your spot today! Bring your own table and hand-outs to the King Street corner of the Square, next to the VFP #25 table! Questions? Contact info@wnpj.org **************************************** Interested in a yard sign? WNPJ has yard signs available! yardsigns@wnpj.org See our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WisNPJ "Like" us and follow us! info@wnpj.org www.wnpj.org

Greetings from Mary House, Summer’s bright days will soon turn to fall and we are grateful to all of you for bringing Mary House through another season. We’ve had lovely young visitors this summer during their summer vacations and we wish them all a happy return to school this fall. We are grateful to you for helping us welcome the families who visit inmates at the Federal Correctional Facility at Oxford, WI., and I hope that you will continue to help us keep our doors open. This summer’s heat has made it a difficult one for people living and visiting in our nation's prisons and jails. At least 44 states lack universal air conditioning within their prison facilities, even in regions known for sweltering summer temperatures In the past, dangerous heat conditions affected primarily those prisons located in the south. But in recent years, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have all experienced extreme heat in prisons, and many prisons and jails in these northern states were not built with the ventilation and cooling systems now needed to keep them livable. The heat in jails and prisons also affects visitors, many of who may have traveled a great distance, only to find the visiting room so sweltering that they have to leave, especially if they are caring for small children.“It affected us to the point where I’ve left visitation a few times because we would be sweating so bad,” Walker, an activist and the founder and CEO of the group Families of the Incarcerated, said in an interview with Stateline. “We really couldn’t have an actual true visitation because we were drenched in sweat, and we were focusing on the heat more than we could focus on each other.” Kehaulani Walker, speaking to a reporter from the publication Stateline. In Texas, more than two-thirds of prisoner living areas lack air conditioning. “The absence of air conditioning in prisons and jails is a disaster waiting to happen,” according to David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project. “This is not an issue of comfort or luxury, it is an issue of life and death. … The decision not to air condition these facilities is essentially a decision to let people die." A recent report by The Marshall Project, ‘Concrete Coffins’: Surviving Extreme Heat Behind Bars and the Journal of American Medicine found that 271 deaths in Texas prisons between 2001 and 2019 “may be attributable to extreme heat days.” A separate nationwide study found that for every 10 degrees above the average summer temperature, prison deaths increase by 5.2%. But an effort this year to include funding for prison air conditioning in the state’s budget failed in the Texas Senate. Prisons operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons are mandated to provide livable conditions, but many inmate areas lack air conditioning, and access to other means of avoiding overheating, such as fans, ice, and additional showers, are often limited. “Our living dorms, laundry rooms, cafeteria, library, gym, and TV rooms do not have AC. The only exception is the classroom, where staff from outside the prison come to teach. On a hot day, as many as 50 inmates, especially our older population here, are packed in that room for hours. We have several inmates well over 65+ in our camp who are subject to the same work and conditions Access to medical care after hours is non-existent and the response time is often over 30 minutes after something has been called in. What exacerbates things further is that, at the time of writing this, two ice machines are not operational and the other is only partially operational. – Tyler King, writing from a Federal Prison Camp located in Indiana in A Voice from Prison. All of this is sobering news, and a reminder that being the country with the world’s highest incarceration rate comes with a huge price. To learn more about the work of Cassandra Dixon, contact for the member group Mary House, go here: https://www.wnpj.org/member-organizations-list/mary-house

Dear WISDOM Action Network Friends, This past week, the New York Times published a significant piece that was picked up by Milwaukee and Madison newspapers as well. You can read it here through the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It concerns the agonizing months-long lockdown that occurred at the Waupun Correctional Institution. Since June, people at Green Bay's penitentiary have faced remarkably similar conditions. Lockdowns, which the Department of Corrections euphemistically calls "modified movement", often mean people are confined to their cells all day, even for meals. They can only take one shower per week despite these institutions not being air conditioned. Programs are cancelled. Even in places not under lockdown, it has become nearly impossible for loved ones to visit in person, and even video visits have been reduced. These humanitarian disasters often get blamed on "staffing shortages." In Wisconsin's maximum security prisons, even dramatic pay hikes have not attracted enough people to fill the needs. Meanwhile, there is no staff shortage in most of Wisconsin's minimum security facilities. The biggest problem is not a staffing shortage. It is that we have far too many people in Wisconsin prisons. If Wisconsin took common sense measures to decarcerate, we could close nightmarish facilities like Waupun and Green Bay. Wisconsin actually has too much capacity in its "maximum security" prisons. Many people are stuck in "maximum security" prisons because there is not enough room in "medium security" prisons. Many of the people in "medium security" ought to be in "minimum security," but those are overcrowded. By moving elderly and ill people out of our prisons and by cutting the number of people sent back to prison for crimeless revocations, we could create enough space to safely close the Green Bay and Waupun facilities. If we did that, Wisconsin could save about $100 million per year -- money that could be reinvested in community programs that will help people succeed. In the short-term, WISDOM and the WISDOM Action Network are calling for an emergency response to what is a humanitarian and human rights emergency. That same emergency demands that we act without delay to take measures to safely and responsibly reduce the prison population. Furthermore, the principles of Justice Reinvestment call for us to reinvest the money saved from closing prisons in programs that will help individuals, families and communities to thrive. In Solidarity, David Liners office@wisdomwisconsin.org Executive Director, WISDOM Action Network https://www.wnpj.org/member-organizations-list/wisdom-wisconsin

In total disregard of process and environmental concerns, Minnesota Power signed a labor agreement with the Northern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council to build a $700 million gas-fired power plant in Superior next spring. Known as the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, the plant was proposed in 2017 and has failed to secure the permits necessary to begin. Environmental groups have issued warnings and legal challenges, but are being ignored. A generating cooperative, Dairyland Power, boasts the gas plant will help us towards a “clean energy future”. They’re certain people will accept the words “clean energy” and call it a day. They’re hoping ratepayers ignore the price tag as well as the increased amount of energy required to run the plant. They’re hoping the calls for protecting the water; the people and their ancestral homeland by the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will fall on deaf ears. The fossil fuel industry distorts facts regarding renewables and battery storage as insufficient. They ignore health risks associated with methane emissions and burst pipelines. And they’re tying our children’s children to an unsustainable system. Contact Dairyland (608-788-4000). Let them know where you stand on this ill-fated energy center. Spotlight submitted by WNPJ Board member, Dena Eakles - dena.eakles@gmail.com

On Sunday October 22nd, 2023, UNA Dane will celebrate United Nations Day live at Monona Terrace in Madison. Dr. Sumudu Atapattu will speak on “Environmental Sustainability and Human Rights”. SAVE THE DATE! A Silent Auction is also planned and has been a popular event in the past as well as a great fundraiser. Please help us to make the Silent Auction a success by donating one or more suitable items. To donate an item or items for auction: Please complete this short donation form and include the requested information. We need donated items by October 8th to be able to create our auction sheets and inventory. The items can be delivered to Linda Baumann’s home (718 W. Lakeside St., Madison, 53715) With questions, please contact auction committee Co-Chairs Louise Lund (weezlund@outlook.com) or Linda Baumann (ljbauman@wisc.edu). Looking forward to celebrating UN Day 2023 in person, Mary Muse President UNA USA Dane County https://www.wnpj.org/member-organizations-list/united-nations-association---dane-county-chapter

VFP GOLDEN RULE PROJECT The Golden Rule is a project of Veterans For Peace. We aim to advance Veterans For Peace opposition to nuclear weapons and war, and to do so in a dramatic fashion. We have recovered and restored the original peace ship, the Golden Rule, that set sail in 1958 to stop nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands, and which inspired the many peace makers and peace ships that followed. This summer of 2023 e-news shows you where the ship's been sailing this summer! Be Part of this Epic Voyage - Please Donate Now! With your help, the Golden Rule can finish her voyage around the Great Lakes and get back to California! Please make a tax deductible donation (TIN 01-0415961) Online at vfpgoldenrule.org By check to: VFP Golden Rule Project PO Box 87, Samoa, CA 95564 Call Helen Jaccard, 206-992-6364 with credit card information. *************************************** And where you can see the Golden Rule in Wisconsin the next few weeks!