RACINE — Michael Burke, a longtime business reporter for The (Racine) Journal Times, is retiring from his hometown newspaper after a 30-year career.
Burke earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison before starting his career in October 1988 at the Portage Daily Register. By April 1990, Burke had moved back home to Racine to take a reporting position at The Journal Times.
He remained there for the rest of his career, covering several beats. His first three years, Burke covered city and county government, before moving to the education beat for five years in the mid-1990s. Over the final 22-plus years of his career, Burke covered the business beat for The Journal Times.
In his farewell to readers, Burke recalled numerous memories of his time with the newspaper. He also shared some of his retirement plans, which include spending a lot of time outdoors, swimming, reading books and (maybe) putting his dog on Instagram.
