The Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation honored the work of newspapers across the state during its 2022 Better Newspaper Contest Awards Banquet on Friday, March 24, at The Madison Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison, Wis.
In just the past decade, the number of emergency teaching licenses in Wisconsin has nearly tripled, suggesting schools are facing increasing challenges from staff shortages and high turnover in areas such as special education.
WNA President Pat Reilly on Thursday testified in support of legislation that would allow for the recovery of attorney fees and costs under the state's public records law when an authority voluntarily or unilaterally releases a contested record after an action has been filed in court.
Senate Bill 117, co-sponsored by Republicans Sen. Duey Stroebel and Rep. Todd Novak, rolls back a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision from 2022 that restricted the public’s ability to recover fees when suing for records.
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.
Arlys Jean Hawkes, a Menomonie native who previously owned two Jefferson County newspapers with her husband, Dennis L. Hawkes, died on March 9. She was 89.
In 1965, the couple purchased the Lake Mills Leader and Leader Printing Company, and in 1979, they purchased the Cambridge News. She worked full-time and remained active in the business until the newspapers were sold in 1999.
The spring election isn’t over until April 4. But already spending in this year’s state Supreme Court has demolished the state and national judicial spending records.
The criminal justice system is at a breaking point. One of the root causes is a lack of adequate state funding to attract and retain lawyers to work in critical public safety positions, such as prosecutors and public defenders.
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