Larry Gallup, Your Right to Know, open records

Larry Gallup named editor of The Post-Crescent

Larry Gallup has been named editor of The (Appleton) Post-Crescent, where he has worked for more than 29 years. He succeeds Jim Fitzhenry, vice president of news for USA TODAY NETWORK-Central Wisconsin. Fitzhenry had filled the position since December 2018, following the departure of Ed Berthiaume.

A UW-Madison graduate, Gallup started his career at the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune before moving on to the Wisconsin State Journal. In 1992, he accepted the position of sports editor with the Post-Crescent. He went on to serve as the newspaper's editorial page editor, as well as audience analyst, regional content strategist and consumer experience director for USA TODAY NETWORK-Central Wisconsin.

tara jones

Tara Jones named managing editor for Wisconsin Media Group

Tara Jones has been named managing editor for Wisconsin Media Group‘s suburban Madison publications. Jones will oversee the newsrooms at the Fitchburg Star, The Oregon Observer, The Stoughton Courier Hub and The Verona Press. She also will continue to serve as managing editor of the Sheboygan Sun.

Previously, Jones had served as a reporter for the Sun. She also held reporting roles at The Lima (Ohio) News and the Sentinel-Tribune in Bowling Green, Ohio. In 2015, Jones earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University, where she served as sports editor for The BG News student newspaper.

anne trautner

Anne Trautner leaves Campbellsport News, Kewaskum Statesman

Anne Trautner has left the Campbellsport News and Kewaskum Statesman, after serving as editor of the newspapers for a little more than a month, following the departure of Andrea Hansen Abler. Prior to that time, Trautner worked as a reporter for the newspaper. Trautner’s new roles will be as executive director of the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial & Education Center and as town clerk for the town of Kewaskum. 

She will be succeeded by Mitchell Keller, who also serves as editor of the (Mayville) Dodge County Pionier. Keller has been with the Pionier since October 2018. Joining Keller on the news staff will be Clarice Case, a Mayville High School graduate who earned her bachelor’s degree from Lakeland University in December 2020.

Heather Graves

The Press Times names Heather Graves editor

Heather Graves has been named editor of The (Green Bay) Press Times. While new to the editor’s role, Graves started with the newspaper in April 2019 as a freelancer and became a full-time staff member in May 2021.

Prior to joining The Press Times, she worked for several news outlets, including three television stations in the Green Bay area and more than a dozen newspapers and magazines. Graves earned her bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay with an emphasis in print journalism before starting her career at the Green Bay News-Chronicle.

Dave Otto

Dave Otto, former longtime Press-Gazette outdoors writer, dies at 83

David M. “Dave” Otto, who spent more than 35 years as a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, died Friday, Nov. 26, in Green Bay. He was 83.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from Ripon College and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, Otto embarked on his newspaper career, joining the Press-Gazette in 1962. He was following in the footsteps of his father, Carl, a newspaperman who worked for the (Wisconsin Rapids) Daily Tribune for 46 years.

Dave started as a courthouse reporter at the Press-Gazette, later moving on to become an outdoors and environmental reporter. He received several state and national honors for his work at the newspaper and, after retiring in 1998, he continued to write his popular weekly column, “Plugs & Slugs.”

ashley smart, ashley haynes

Ashley Smart leaves Conley papers to join BizTimes Milwaukee

Ashley (Haynes) Smart has joined BizTimes Milwaukee as a reporter covering startups, technology and manufacturing. Smart previously worked for Conley Media as an education reporter for The (Waukesha) Freeman and, most recently, as managing editor of the (West Bend) Daily News and (Cedarburg) News Graphic.

A 2017 graduate of UW-Milwaukee, Smart worked in college for Media Milwaukee, the school's digital-first news publication. She also did freelance work for The Freeman while in school.

Matthew DeFour

Your Right to Know: School investigation records should be public

In the latest "Your Right to Know" column, Matthew DeFour of the Wisconsin State Journal uses two hidden-camera cases at Madison East High School to illustrate the need for school investigation records to be available to the public.

Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a group dedicated to open government. The column is available to WNA members for republication at no cost. 

Wisconsin Policy Forum logo

Wisconsin’s drop in tax rank among nation’s largest

In the span of two decades, there may be no state that has seen a greater drop in its tax burden than Wisconsin, which saw its ranking among states plunge from fourth to the middle-of-the-pack. The drop in Wisconsin’s state and local taxes as a share of personal income was the largest or nearly the largest of any state — depending on how it’s measured — since 1999.

polco, coronavirus, voter registration, presidential debates, covid-19

New poll gauges concern about omicron variant

A new poll question gauging readers' level of concern about the omicron variant of COVID-19 is available to be used by WNA members. We are asking the question in light of the recent wave of travel and other restrictions that have been introduced in an attempt to slow the spread of the variant.

Results from our previous poll question regarding mandatory civics education in Wisconsin schools are also now available.

Wisconsin Newspaper Association