Member News

Brian Reisinger, a former newspaper reporter who now works as a writer and political consultant, has joined the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Ideas Lab as a contributor and collaborator, the newspaper announced last week.

In his new role, he will write about rural issues from a perspective that comes from his roots on the family farm in Sauk County. A graduate of UW-Eau Claire, he has served as a reporter for the Wausau Daily Herald and Nashville Business Journal, and he's a frequent freelance contributor to publications across the country. Since 2015, Reisinger has worked on the U.S. Senate campaigns of Republicans Lamar Alexander and Ron Johnson, as well as Scott Walker's run for governor. He currently serves as the president and chief content officer of Platform Communications in Madison.

Rick Olivo, who has been working in the newspaper business since 1973, is retiring after more than 31 years with the Ashland Daily Press.

Olivo began as a reporter with the The Skyline, the weekly newspaper of the Naval Air Station in Meridian, Miss. Since then, he has worked at newspapers in Odessa, Tex., Phoenix Ariz., and Hayward, Wis. He started full-time with the Daily Press in 1991, following an earlier stint with the paper in 1980.

Bill Gaier, who served as publisher of The Daily Reporter in 2016, is returning to the company. He has been named group publisher, leading the company's markets in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oregon, BridgeTower Media announced earlier this month.

Just four months after becoming publisher of The Daily Reporter in 2016, Gaier relocated to Minnesota, being named publisher of two other BridgeTower products Finance & Commerce and Minnesota Lawyer. He's been with the publications ever since. He previously held leadership positions for Townsend Communications, several McClatchy/Knight Ridder properties and the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

BridgeTower Media has named Steve Schuster as the new managing editor of The Daily Reporter and Wisconsin Law Journal, the newspapers announced earlier this month. Both publications are in Milwaukee.

Schuster, who has more than a decade of experience as a journalist covering legal, business and public policy matters, previously worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group and as an editor with Bloomberg’s Bureau of National Affairs. He also worked as digital editor and assignment manager at WBAY-TV in Green Bay and as a digital producer for TMJ4 in Milwaukee.

The New York Times has named Mario Koran, an award-winning Wisconsin Watch investigative journalist, to its inaugural class of the Local Investigations Fellowship, a program that gives journalists the opportunity to produce signature investigative work focused on their state or region that will be published by The Times and made available for free for co-publication by local newsrooms. Koran’s project focuses on the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Interested applicants can apply to the Local Investigations Fellowship here.

Former Wisconsin journalist Kate Franco has been named executive editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Arizona, where she has worked for the last 23 years, the newspaper announced Monday.

A native of the Milwaukee area, Franco earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from UW-Madison before serving as an editor at newspapers in La Crosse, Wis.; Winona, Minn., and Newport, R.I.

Hannah Coyle, who has worked as a reporter for the (Hudson) Star-Observer for nearly two years, has been named community news editor, according to an announcement published this week. Her first day in the new role, in which she will oversee news content both in print an online, was Feb. 27.

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. After graduating, she was charged with re-launching another O’Rourke property, the online River Falls Journal.

Greg Borowski, who has worked at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for 25 years, has been named the top editor of his hometown newspaper. He succeeds George Stanley, who retired at the end of last year after serving more than 43 years in journalism.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, he graduated from Messmer High School and Marquette University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1989. He joined the Journal Sentinel in 1998, covering politics and city government for a decade. For the last four years, he has served as deputy editor for news, projects and investigations.

Carol Deptolla, who has served as dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the past 15 years, is retiring from the newspaper, she announced in a farewell column Monday.

Deptolla, who succeeded Dennis Getto after his death in 2007, previously served as assistant chief of the Journal Sentinel's night copy desk. A Milwaukee native, she joined the newspaper as a reporter and features editor in the late 90s, after serving as a senior public relations specialist for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Bob Heisse, who has served as executive editor of the River Valley Media Group for the past 2 1/2 years, is retiring after 44 years in journalism. He is being succeeded by Todd Krysiak, whose first day in the role was March 1.

Heisse joined the news group, which is owned by Lee Enterprises, in 2020. During his tenture, he oversaw newsrooms at the La Crosse Tribune, The Chippewa Herald and Winona (Minn.) Daily News. For the last two years, Heisse served as executive editor of the Kenosha News.