Max Heath

Longtime NNA postal guru Max Heath dies at 75

Max Heath, one of the newspaper industry’s leading postal experts for decades, died Wednesday, July 28, in Louisville, Ky., the National Newspaper Association announced. He was 75 and had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke days earlier.

Heath, a longtime postal guru for NNA, was postal chair emeritus for the association and remained a consultant to the NNA Postal Committee. As a top postal expert, Heath advocated to preserve affordable mail delivery options for community newspapers and was a valuable resource for newspaper publishers in Wisconsin and across the country. In 2019, he was awarded the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's first-ever Distinguished Service Award for Contributions to Wisconsin Newspapers.

John Foust, advertising, ad-libs

A simple way to develop ad campaign ideas

Empty advertising headlines that speak to no one in particular are ineffective and a waste of the advertiser's budget.

In his most recent "Ad Libs" column, veteran sales trainer John Foust provides a four-step formula that can help you generate more sales for your newspaper and for your advertisers. The end result will be a series of targeted and consistent messages, instead of the same watered-down ad over and over again, he writes.

Bill Lueders

Your Right to Know: Lawmakers seek to keep their misconduct secret

Last month, a judge ruled that the state Legislature violated the open records law when it withheld records regarding the sexual harassment of a female staffer. However, an order to release the unredacted records has been put on hold as the governmental body appeals the decision — despite the fact that the former legislator who the allegations were lodged against says, if it were up to him, they would have been released long ago.

Terri Lescelius

Former longtime EagleHerald editor Terri Lescelius dies at 68

Therese "Terri" Lescelius, who was the first female editor of the Marinette Eagle-Star and led the EagleHerald newsroom for nearly two decades, died Wednesday, July 21. She was 68.

In 1973, after attending Central Michigan University, she joined the newsroom of the Ironwood (Mich.) Daily Globe, where she met her future husband, Paul. In 1982, Lescelius joined the Marinette Eagle-Star newsroom, where she later became the paper’s first female editor. In 1987, she was named editor and general manager of the Menominee Herald-Leader, another Bliss Communications newspaper. When the two newspapers merged in 1995, she remained as editor — a role she held until her retirement in 2012.

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

New poll question aims to gauge readers’ concern about delta variant

A new poll question about readers' level of concern regarding the delta variant is available to be used by WNA members. We are asking the question in light of a surge in new COVID-19 cases fueled by the variant that prompted new CDC mask-wearing guidance.

Poll questions are available through a WNA partnership with Polco aimed at helping newspapers better engage readers and access enhanced data and insights. WNA members who have signed up for an account with Polco can access their local version of the new question, as well as local poll results, on their dashboards. Those who have not signed up can do so here.

George Sanders

Former Milwaukee journalist George Sanders dies at 90

George Franklin “Buddy” Sanders, who worked as a graphic journalist for The Milwaukee Star, died Friday, July 16. He was 90.

Sanders joined the newspaper, which touted itself as “The Voice of the Negro in Wisconsin,” in 1962. He worked several years for the newspaper as a graphic designer, occasionally contributing as a writer. Among his more notable work for newspaper was his design for front-page coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. Sanders also taught at the Freedom Schools and worked for school desegregation.

jessica vanegeren

Veteran journalist Jessica VanEgeren joins USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Jessica VanEgeren has joined USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin as an Appleton-based local government and social justice/equity editor.

VanEgeren, whose first day was Monday, will be based out of The Post-Crescent newsroom. In her new role, she will serve as the primary editor of local government, justice and equity reporting for The Post-Crescent and the Green Bay Press-Gazette. She also is expected to partner with an editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to lead a statewide team focused on justice and equity.

capitol report, wispolitics

Marquette Law School poll considers changes for 2022 election cycle

Marquette University Law School pollster Charles Franklin has a challenge as Wisconsin prepares for another election cycle. While the failures of 2016 forced the polling industry to make changes to better account for voters who turned out for Donald Trump, those tweaks still didn’t catch the surge in turnout among Trump supporters in 2020, leading to another round of questions about why polling failed once again to accurately gauge the electorate.

Franklin says he's looking into making additional tweaks to the Marquette University Law School poll’s methodology. The first MU Law School Poll of Wisconsin voters in 2021 will be released Aug. 11.

Wisconsin Newspaper Association