News & Announcements | Page 149 of 379 | Wisconsin Newspaper Association

The Press Times names Heather Graves editor

Dec. 4, 2021

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

Dec. 4, 2021

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 leaves Conley papers to join BizTimes Milwaukee

Dec. 4, 2021

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.

Child abuse cases sparked by Dr. Barbara Knox rejected by Wisconsin judge, jury and prosecutor

Dec. 2, 2021

The criminal justice system has repeatedly rebuffed the medical opinions of the former University of Wisconsin child abuse pediatrician.

Your Right to Know: School investigation records should be public

Dec. 1, 2021

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’s drop in tax rank among nation’s largest

Dec. 1, 2021

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

Dec. 1, 2021

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.

Use fresh ads to catch more customers for your advertisers

Nov. 29, 2021

In his latest "Ad-libs" column, John Foust outlines how everybody wins when you develop fresh ads for loyal customers rather than continue running the same basic ads that have grown stale over time.

Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals and offers training videos to sales departments looking to save time and get quick results from in-house training.

A sweet end to a successful hunt

Nov. 29, 2021

I was thrilled with getting a nice buck, but time spent with my son was by far the best part of the day.

Locals give wheel taxes the gas

Nov. 24, 2021

Collections from local vehicle registration fees in Wisconsin rose rapidly in recent years, with revenues tripling between 2017 and 2021. The trend was driven by new fees approved in Madison as well as Milwaukee and Dane counties, but many other communities also added or increased fees.