Natalie Eilbert
@natalieeilbert.bsky.social
Poet and journalist. Author of Overland (Copper Canyon Press, 2023), mental health reporter at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (she/her)
Pinned
Get your copy of Overland at the Copper Canyon Press store! This book is perfect for anyone who is in a constant state of fear and shame over the future and their place in it!
For the last few weeks, teacher Susan Cramer has been singing "La Mariposa" with the babies and toddlers in her music class. It's Spanish for "The Butterfly," and was Dailin Pacheco-Acosta's favorite song. It's become a song of hope for Pacheco's safe return after ICE detained her and her husband.
She followed 'all of the rules' for building a life in Wisconsin. Then the rules changed.
They came to the U.S. to seek asylum and built a life. Now, changes to Venezuela's Temporary Protected Status could send them back.
www.jsonline.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
For the last few weeks, teacher Susan Cramer has been singing "La Mariposa" with the babies and toddlers in her music class. It's Spanish for "The Butterfly," and was Dailin Pacheco-Acosta's favorite song. It's become a song of hope for Pacheco's safe return after ICE detained her and her husband.
BREAKING: Wisconsin secures one year of funding for its deafblind youth program after Trump administration abruptly cut the five-year grant and denied DPI's appeal challenging the decision.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
Wisconsin secures year of funding for deafblind program cut by Trump administration
The announcement came after the U.S. Department of Education denied Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's appeal on Sept. 23.
www.jsonline.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
BREAKING: Wisconsin secures one year of funding for its deafblind youth program after Trump administration abruptly cut the five-year grant and denied DPI's appeal challenging the decision.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
Hello! I'm writing about Wisconsin K-12 school policies and whether there are adequate protections for LGBTQ+ students when it comes to bullying, harassment, discrimination. I'm looking to talk with former students and families about their experiences in WI K-12 schools: [email protected]
October 6, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Hello! I'm writing about Wisconsin K-12 school policies and whether there are adequate protections for LGBTQ+ students when it comes to bullying, harassment, discrimination. I'm looking to talk with former students and families about their experiences in WI K-12 schools: [email protected]
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
A group of troubled Milwaukee-area nursing homes will soon have new operators after financial strains and hundreds of resident complaints sent the facilities into receivership. Read the latest from my colleague @natalieeilbert.bsky.social and I with the link below. www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
Troubled Milwaukee-area nursing homes will have new operators soon, residents protest conditions
A group of Wisconsin nursing homes that were ordered into receivership after years of financial distress will soon be taken over by a new operator.
www.jsonline.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:55 PM
A group of troubled Milwaukee-area nursing homes will soon have new operators after financial strains and hundreds of resident complaints sent the facilities into receivership. Read the latest from my colleague @natalieeilbert.bsky.social and I with the link below. www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
A 1,000-year flood, historically bad air quality, extreme heat: Nothing about summer in Wisconsin has been normal.
A 1,000-year flood, historically bad air quality, extreme heat: Summer 2025 is far from normal in Wisconsin
On the surface, the average temperatures appear in the normal range. But nothing about summer 2025 in Wisconsin has been normal.
www.jsonline.com
August 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM
A 1,000-year flood, historically bad air quality, extreme heat: Nothing about summer in Wisconsin has been normal.
Four Wisconsin nursing homes with a litany of health care quality concerns have been put in court-ordered receivership as of July 31, the result of dire financial strains. Here's what me and @tamiafowlkes.bsky.social learned in our investigation.
Four Wisconsin nursing homes put into receivership, have racked up 384 violations
The state will appoint a receiver to take over four nursing homes in Wisconsin operated by Bedrock Healthcare due to financial strains.
www.jsonline.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Four Wisconsin nursing homes with a litany of health care quality concerns have been put in court-ordered receivership as of July 31, the result of dire financial strains. Here's what me and @tamiafowlkes.bsky.social learned in our investigation.
Here is the main story that I spent a couple months working on: How does a 15-year-old become a school shooter?
How does a 15-year-old become a school shooter: The rise of online communities bound by hate
Before long, vulnerable youths are in areas of the internet that would never show up in a typical Google search. And no one is around to stop them.
www.jsonline.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Here is the main story that I spent a couple months working on: How does a 15-year-old become a school shooter?
Amid all the horrors coming out of Madison after the Abundant Life shooting, I kept thinking about how someone as young as 14 plans a mass shooting and why. 1/3
August 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Amid all the horrors coming out of Madison after the Abundant Life shooting, I kept thinking about how someone as young as 14 plans a mass shooting and why. 1/3
Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul has joined a multistate state lawsuit suing the Trump administration over order that attack the health care rights of transgender people. My latest:
Kaul joins multistate suit claiming Trump has sought to deter care of transgender youths
The multistate lawsuit is asking the court to block the administration's actions, which it deems unconstitutional.
www.jsonline.com
August 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul has joined a multistate state lawsuit suing the Trump administration over order that attack the health care rights of transgender people. My latest:
I haven't been here for a minute. To reintroduce myself, I'm Natalie, and I cover mental health for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I'm also going to start covering third spaces in WI as we reckon with isolation & greater need for community. I hope you're give me a follow! #wisconsin #mentalhealth
August 3, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I haven't been here for a minute. To reintroduce myself, I'm Natalie, and I cover mental health for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I'm also going to start covering third spaces in WI as we reckon with isolation & greater need for community. I hope you're give me a follow! #wisconsin #mentalhealth
Also this week, I wrote about Trump's latest order that would forcibly hospitalize people experiencing homelessness. The order also diverts funds away from the Housing First approach, a philosophy that says if you give someone housing first, they can then focus on treating behavioral health issues.
Trump order on unsheltered people strikes Wisconsin housing advocates as backward step
Since the Housing First program began in August 2015, Milwaukee County has seen a nearly 42% decline in the homeless population.
www.jsonline.com
August 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Also this week, I wrote about Trump's latest order that would forcibly hospitalize people experiencing homelessness. The order also diverts funds away from the Housing First approach, a philosophy that says if you give someone housing first, they can then focus on treating behavioral health issues.
Throughout the week, I had wanted to go for a run. Work has been stressful and my anxiety is through the roof. Running is a balm for me. Wildfire smoke, however, has made that too big of a hazard. Yes, I went for walks, but they were eery, and that eeriness only added more worries to my day. 1/3
August 3, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Throughout the week, I had wanted to go for a run. Work has been stressful and my anxiety is through the roof. Running is a balm for me. Wildfire smoke, however, has made that too big of a hazard. Yes, I went for walks, but they were eery, and that eeriness only added more worries to my day. 1/3
BREAKING: FORGE, a Milwaukee-based LGBTQ+ nonprofit, was among the plaintiffs in a second Lambda Legal lawsuit filed this week against the Trump administration. The lawsuit was announced over Zoom Thursday evening.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
Milwaukee LGBTQ+ group joins national suit against Trump effort to ban DEI, erase trans people
Trump's orders terminate equity-based grants, prohibit federal funding for DEI programs, and eliminate recognition of transgender people.
www.jsonline.com
February 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
BREAKING: FORGE, a Milwaukee-based LGBTQ+ nonprofit, was among the plaintiffs in a second Lambda Legal lawsuit filed this week against the Trump administration. The lawsuit was announced over Zoom Thursday evening.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/2...
I started a novel years ago and don't know how to stop rewriting the first two chapters over and over. What are your favorite craft books on writing novels?
February 16, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I started a novel years ago and don't know how to stop rewriting the first two chapters over and over. What are your favorite craft books on writing novels?
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
#Breaking - Trump administration to fire thousands at health agencies. Employees across agencies who were hired in the past one to two years are being targeted
Trump administration to fire thousands at health agencies
The Trump administration is set to eliminate thousands of federal health care jobs Friday, targeting employees across agencies who were hired in the past one to two years.
buff.ly
February 14, 2025 at 4:54 PM
#Breaking - Trump administration to fire thousands at health agencies. Employees across agencies who were hired in the past one to two years are being targeted
The news that has truly undone me is the anglerfish that finally sees daylight and then dies
February 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The news that has truly undone me is the anglerfish that finally sees daylight and then dies
"Eliminating critical data allows for agencies to absolve themselves of accountability, obscures population-policy impacts, and worsens inequities. Without trusted data to make decisions, mistrust and disinformation can proliferate." lgbtmap.medium.com/disappearing...
Disappearing Data: Why We Must Stop Trump’s Attempts to Erase Our Communities
Ensuring the collection and protection of demographic data affirms the visibility, rights, and well-being of the people behind the numbers.
lgbtmap.medium.com
February 12, 2025 at 3:41 PM
"Eliminating critical data allows for agencies to absolve themselves of accountability, obscures population-policy impacts, and worsens inequities. Without trusted data to make decisions, mistrust and disinformation can proliferate." lgbtmap.medium.com/disappearing...
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
“This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.” www.ap.org/the-definiti...
AP statement on Oval Office access | The Associated Press
The Associated Press issued this statement on Tuesday from Executive Editor Julie Pace: As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs
www.ap.org
February 11, 2025 at 9:31 PM
“This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.” www.ap.org/the-definiti...
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
Associated Press: “Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office.“
February 11, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Associated Press: “Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office.“
I have been extremely bad at social media on purpose. However, here are the stories I published this week. On Wednesday, my story about Wisconsin families, scientists & advocates responding to Trump's EO that would halt funding for youth gender-affirming care: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
You support your trans child. Increasingly, your country does not. And so, you worry. Then what?
The order is the latest in a series of injunctions that deny the rights, and even the existence, of transgender people.
www.jsonline.com
February 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I have been extremely bad at social media on purpose. However, here are the stories I published this week. On Wednesday, my story about Wisconsin families, scientists & advocates responding to Trump's EO that would halt funding for youth gender-affirming care: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
Want to note that while we broke this story, other local news outlets Fox6 and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel were close behind us. @natalieeilbert.bsky.social, the MJS reporter, has been doing really great work. Read her: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
You support your trans child. Increasingly, your country does not. And so, you worry. Then what?
The order is the latest in a series of injunctions that deny the rights, and even the existence, of transgender people.
www.jsonline.com
February 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Want to note that while we broke this story, other local news outlets Fox6 and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel were close behind us. @natalieeilbert.bsky.social, the MJS reporter, has been doing really great work. Read her: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
The executive director of Fair Wisconsin, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, tells me she's heard from multiple families whose children's gender-affirming care was reinstated after my reporting.
BREAKING: After we published our story, the teen's mom received a call from the Wisconsin clinic rescheduling her appointment. Gathering more details ASAP. Still nothing public from the hospital. wisconsinwatch.org/2025/02/wisc...
February 8, 2025 at 12:31 AM
The executive director of Fair Wisconsin, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, tells me she's heard from multiple families whose children's gender-affirming care was reinstated after my reporting.
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, HIV groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children.
Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without HIV Treatment
President Trump’s pause on aid, and the gutting of the primary aid agency, could jeopardize the health of more than 20 million people worldwide, including 500,000 children, experts say.
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, HIV groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children.
Trump's EO last week aimed to end funding for gender-affirming care for youth has parents worried for their children's futures. Already, Wisconsin's transgender community lacks comprehensive protections against discrimination. My latest: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
You support your trans child. Increasingly, your country does not. And so, you worry. Then what?
The order is the latest in a series of injunctions that deny the rights, and even the existence, of transgender people.
www.jsonline.com
February 5, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Trump's EO last week aimed to end funding for gender-affirming care for youth has parents worried for their children's futures. Already, Wisconsin's transgender community lacks comprehensive protections against discrimination. My latest: www.jsonline.com/story/news/h...
Reposted by Natalie Eilbert
On guns, much that Gov. Evers
and GOP lawmakers don't agree on.
But they do agree on making gun safes tax-exempt.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/p... @natalieeilbert.bsky.social
Similar laws passed in other states -- blue, red and like Wisconsin, purple. www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
and GOP lawmakers don't agree on.
But they do agree on making gun safes tax-exempt.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/p... @natalieeilbert.bsky.social
Similar laws passed in other states -- blue, red and like Wisconsin, purple. www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
jsonline.com
January 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
On guns, much that Gov. Evers
and GOP lawmakers don't agree on.
But they do agree on making gun safes tax-exempt.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/p... @natalieeilbert.bsky.social
Similar laws passed in other states -- blue, red and like Wisconsin, purple. www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
and GOP lawmakers don't agree on.
But they do agree on making gun safes tax-exempt.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/p... @natalieeilbert.bsky.social
Similar laws passed in other states -- blue, red and like Wisconsin, purple. www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...