News & Announcements

The American Journalism Project has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service to be distributed over three years, WCIJ announced Friday.

The grant is intended to support the efforts by WCIJ and NNS to reshape local news in Milwaukee and across the state and will help them support additional staff positions. The two nonprofits have partnered since spring 2020 on the News414 project, which uses text messages, social media and other tools to provide important news to underserved audiences in the Milwaukee area.

Assembly Bill 191, which eliminates Wisconsin's personal property tax, has been approved by the state Legislature and now heads to Gov. Tony Evers for his signature.

The WNA is among the many business associations that opposed the tax, levied on businesses for furniture and other miscellaneous office fixtures, as part of the Coalition to Repeal Wisconsin's Personal Property Tax. Its repeal ends a strong signal of support from the state to the business community, the coalition said in a statement.

WNA members are strongly encouraged to consider publishing an editorial supporting the repeal and/or reaching out to Evers to request he sign the legislation.

The EagleHerald last week celebrated its 150th anniversary as a newspaper in Marinette.

The anniversary edition included a 12-page special section filled with historical photos, a brief timeline of local history and stories about the past, present and future of newspapers. Also featured throughout were memories from current and former staff members — including longtime news editor Penny Mullins and former publisher Dennis Colling.

Last year, the WNA helped launch a new initiative called The Relevance Project, which highlights the importance of newspapers to their communities.

Next month, we’re enlisting the help of project director Tom Silvestri to teach WNA members what The Relevance Project is all about. Silvestri will present two webinars discussing what the project is all about and sharing its free resources, which are aimed at advancing community newspapers and their hard-charging staffs.

The Milwaukee Times, a weekly newspaper that focuses on positive news in the Black community, is selling Juneteenth Strawberry Soda as part of a fundraiser that also serves to share the history of the holiday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week.

Proceeds from the soda sales go toward the newspaper's Louvenia Johnson Scholarship Fund, named in honor of one of The Times' original founders. 

For the past five years, the newspaper has sold the soda out of its office at 1936 N. King Drive during the summer months. This year, The Times expanded the soda's reach by distributing it to three local businesses.