Member News

Broadcaster and reporter Mike Lucas, who has covered University of Wisconsin sports for more than 50 years, has rejoined The Cap Times as a regular freelancer, the newspaper has announced.

Lucas started his career in the Madison newsroom more than 52 years ago, he wrote in his first column since rejoining the publication. He covered sports at the paper for 39 years before leaving in 2010 to become the senior writer for UWBadgers.com, where his initial responsibility was creating a bulk of the content for Varsity, an online magazine.

Hannah Coyle, who has served as community news editor for the (Hudson) Star-Observer since March, has announced her departure from the newspaper. She has worked for O'Rourke Media Group since June 2021. Her last day was July 20.

A native of Red Wing, Minn., Coyle attended Red Wing Senior High School and DePaul University, from which she earned a journalism degree in 2021. While attending college she interned with O’Rourke Media’s (Red Wing, Minn.) Republican Eagle, where she also freelanced. After graduating, she was charged with re-launching another O’Rourke Media property, the online River Falls Journal.

Kevin Passon, a longtime Wisconsin journalist and Shawano native, has been named editor-in-chief for NEW Media, a newspaper group that includes the Shawano Leader, Oconto County Times Herald and Wittenberg Enterprise and Birnamwood News. Most recently, Passon served as editor of the Antigo Journal, a position he'd held since 2020. 

Passon succeeds interim editor, Warren Bluhm, who has held the position since March 2021. Bluhm will return to his previous duties as news editor, which includes coverage of Oconto County. 

Brian Wilson, news editor for The (Medford) Star News, and Peter Weinschenk, who worked as the editor of The Record-Review before retiring in October, were recognized last month for outstanding editorial writing during the annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in Reno, Nevada. They were honored with Golden Dozen Awards — the 12 best editorials as picked by this year's judge, journalist Brian Duggan.

Wilson’s editorial, "Tragedy is a wake-up call," was published in the May 5, 2022, and written in response to the murder of Lilly Peters of Chippewa Falls. Weinschenk's editorial, "We seek justice," was published on Sept. 14, 2022, and was written about inmates in the county jail system who sometimes wait years for a trial.

Andrew Fayler is the new multimedia marketing executive for the advertising and sales team of the Duluth Media Group, which includes the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, Superior Telegram and Cloquet (Minn.) Pine Journal. His first day was May 18.

A native of Afton, Minnesota, Fayler attended Stillwater Area High School and earned a marketing degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Prior to joining the news group, Fayler worked at Selma's Ice Cream Parlor in Afton, Minn. — the oldest ice cream parlor in the state.

Roger Mathews, who has worked at newspapers in both Wisconsin and Texas, has joined the Ripon Commonwealth Press as a reporter.

Mathews, 69, previously covered Markesan for the Berlin Journal newspaper group. Most recently, he was a reporter at the Kerrville (Texas) Daily Times, a three-times-weekly newspaper about an hour northwest of San Antonio. He now lives in Green Lake and plans to move to Ripon in the coming years.

Matt Anderson, who worked as an editor of Sentinel Publications from 2018 to 2020, is returning to the news group as editor of The (Osceola) Sun and (Scandia, Minn.) Country Messenger, the company has announced.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in English from Carthage College in Kenosha. Since leaving Sentinel Publications in 2020, he has worked as a writer for Birdeye and Osceola-based extraktLAB.

Emily Pyrek, who has worked as a reporter at the La Crosse Tribune for more than seven years, is leaving the newspaper, she announced in a farewell column.

Pyrek, a graduate of UW-La Crosse with a degree in journalism, joined the Tribune in 2015 as a news clerk before moving up to general assignment reporter and later assuming the community health beat. In her new role, she will be working in community health, helping people seeking assistance with housing, health care, employment and other services in the La Crosse region.

Chris Mertes, who has served the Sun Prairie area as a reporter and editor for 33 years, has retired from his position as managing editor of the Sun Prairie Star, he announced in a farewell column. His last day was Thursday, June 8.

After earning his journalism degree in 1987 from UW-Eau Claire and spending a year as a reporter for The Clark County Press in Neilsville, Wisconsin, Mertes began his tenure with the Star on Sept. 5, 1989.