Scott Nicol returned to his hometown of Tomah in 1973 to work as a dentist. He was fresh out of dental school, and he remembers one of his first patients: an older man who needed a denture fixed but was skeptical about getting treatment froma youngprovider.
“Then he said, ‘Are you Bob and Junie’s boy?’ And I said yes,” Nicol recalled. “He said, ‘Go ahead and fix it.’”
Nicol found building good relationships with his patients and office staff was the key to success as a small-town dentist. He would spend more than four decades caring for the residents of his community in western Wisconsin.
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But when it came time for Nicol to retire, finding someone to take over his portion of Tomah Family Dentistry wasn’t easy.
He spent more than two years looking for the right dentist to take his place, even turning down offers from dentists who he knew were only looking for a temporary job. Nicol found there were few young dentists looking to move permanently to a rural city of fewer than 10,000 people.
In the last five years, Wisconsin’s dental industry has gone through a major shift as more providers from the baby boom generation leave work. The natural transition was accelerated even further by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many dentists chose to retire earlier than usual.
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For patients, that can mean difficulties finding care amid dental shortages.
According to data from the American Dental Association, in 2020, a third of the state’s dentists were baby boomers and another third were millennials.
By 2023, millennials made up nearly half of the state’s providers while baby boomers represented about a quarter of Wisconsin dentists. As more boomers reach retirement age (the youngest members of the generation are now 60), that transition will continue in the coming years.
Data from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute shows higher percentages of Wisconsin dentists are under age 40. Photo courtesy of the American Dental Association
This generational change has affected rural areas of the state the most, where there is already a shortage of dentists. Without new providers coming, rural patients are left with fewer options for care and longer wait times for an appointment.
“The biggest challenge I have seen over the years in getting a dentist to come to a smaller town is their spouse doesn’t want to live here,” Nicol said. “They’re looking for something more than what a Tomah has to offer.”
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Young dentists balance higher debt, desire for mentorship
American Dental Association data shows Wisconsin has largely the same number of dentists per capita as it did 20 years ago, after numbers fell slightly in the late 2000s. Industry leaders say many young dentists are looking at the state’s cities, attracted by the amenities of urban life and better job opportunities for their spouses.
Many graduates are also leaving dental school with a large amount of debt. Nicol said that not only makes it harder for them to buy into or start a private practice, but also influences the way new dentists think about their first jobs.
“A lot of them are just looking for a place to get experience, make some money, pay down their debt, and then they’re going to move on,” he said.
For some dentists, that means working for a corporate chain, or what are known as dental service organizations, instead of owning and operating an independent business. Nicol said he’s seen many retiring dentists choose to sell to corporate chains after failing to find someone to take over their private practice.
Wisconsin is one of 26 states that have seen dentists at the beginning of their careers leave for jobs in other states. Data from the American Dental Association shows that between 2019 and 2022, Wisconsin lost more than 2 percent of new dentists, or those with less than 10 years of experience. It’s one of the smaller net losses, with some states losing 7 percent or more of young dentists.
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Lauren Poppe graduated from Marquette University’s School of Dentistry, the only dental program in Wisconsin, in 2024. She said the majority of her classmates stayed in urban areas for their first job. But the decision was as much about their careers as it was about their lifestyle.
“I think some of my classmates thought that maybe they would get more experience in an urban location, and be able to build more confidence,” Poppe said.
Poppe is one of the exceptions. She started working for a small dental practice in rural Douglas County right after graduation, a job that has provided the mentorship she said many new dentists are looking for.
But Poppe said there are only a few other dental providers in her area, limiting opportunities for other new dentists to find the same start.
Of Wisconsin’s 45 rural counties, 30 are considered a dental health professional shortage area, according to federal data from October. By comparison, four of the state’s 27 metropolitan counties were shortage areas.
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A Wisconsin map shows nearly half of the state’s counties, including 30 rural counties, do not have enough dental care providers to care for residents. Courtesy of the Rural Health Information Hub
Poppe said the shortage means more people are relying on her for care, a position that can feel intimidating for any new graduate. There are only a handful of specialists like orthodontists to whom she can refer people, and her office pulls in patients from as far as an hour and half away.
“If a patient walks in your door and you haven’t seen something like that, or you’re not quite sure, having someone you can call and talk to, bounce ideas off of, that’s the reason why I wanted to go to a practice that wasn’t just me,” she said.
State officials work to incentivize rural practice
Poppe was able to start working in rural Wisconsin right away thanks to a new state incentive referred to as diploma privilege.
The Wisconsin Dentistry Examining Board voted in 2023 to allow Marquette graduates to skip the practical exam that’s normally required for state licensure, helping graduates get licensed more quickly. It’s the first program of its kind in the nation, according to Marquette.
Poppe’s class last spring was the first group of recipients, with 24 students out of the class of 100 participating. While most grads wait six to eight weeks for a license to practice, Poppe said she received hers three days after graduation. She thinks the expedited process will be a significant incentive for future graduates to stay in Wisconsin immediately after graduation.
State officials have also taken action to try to get new dentists to where they’re needed most. Last year, state lawmakers changed an existing state scholarship for health care workers to be specific to dental students at Marquette.
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The scholarship awards $30,000 to 15 students annually. In exchange for each year they receive the scholarship, students agree to work for 18 months in a dental health shortage area outside of Brown, Dane, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
Wisconsin also began licensing dental therapists in 2024. These mid-level providers work under the supervision of a dentist to provide care like filling cavities or placing temporary crowns. Many health advocacy groups in the state have supported the new type of provider as a way to expand care in areas where dentists are in short supply.
Tomah dentist Lucas Schwartz holds one of the dental models he uses with patients. Hope Kirwan/WPR
Recruiting small-town dentists may be easier at home
After two years of searching, Nicol ended up finding his successor in a former patient at his office.
Lucas Schwartz spent a lot of time going to the dentist as a kid because of a unique health condition. But his dentist, Nicol’s partner Mark Matthews, made the experience fun— so much so that Schwartz decided to pursue his own career in dentistry, with a goal of returning to a small town like one he grew up in.
“There’s a lot of community, that’s probably the biggest thing,” Schwartz said. “I mean, you talk to regular people like your mailman every day, and you get to know who they are.”
Lucas Schwartz, left, stands with his predecessor Scott Nicol in a patient room at Tomah Family Dentistry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. Hope Kirwan/WPR
He said only a handful of people in his dental class at Marquette were from rural areas, and many of his classmates looked for more secure jobs in cities to pay down their student debt. But Schwartz said the state’s incentives have helped rural jobs look more attractive, adding he benefited from the state scholarship for working in health shortage areas before graduating in 2022.
Schwartz credits Nicol for passing on a thriving private practice and a good example for how to be a successful provider in their shared hometown.
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“Treatments may have changed, but having patient rapport, talking to people and having that connection, is still the best value I think that dentistry has, especially in a family clinic,” he said.
Warmer temps and storm chances build into Sunday and Monday
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GET TO PLAY A PART TOO. THAT’S INCREDIBLE. I’M EXCITED. VERY, VERY COOL. STILL SOME RAIN A LITTLE BIT THIS MORNING AND I THINK IT MOVES OUT BY 7:00. WE HAD SOME IMPACTFUL RAIN OVERNIGHT. PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN, INCLUDING MILWAUKEE’S AIRPORT, PICKED UP MORE THAN HALF AN INCH. IT HAS BEEN A RAINY APRIL SO FAR. WE HAVE SEEN OVER FOUR INCHES OF RAIN ALREADY. WE’VE HARDLY STARTED THE MONTH OR A WEEK AND A HALF IN, BUT ON AVERAGE FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL, WE SEE UNDER FOUR INCHES OF RAIN. AND IT’S NOT JUST THE RAIN THAT WE’VE ALREADY SEEN. THERE IS MORE ON THE WAY. AS WE HEAD THROUGH THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST. THIS IS FORECAST PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST. MOST OF THIS COMING SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. BUT NOTICE PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. MOST OF THE STATE PICKS UP MORE THAN TWO INCHES OF RAIN OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. WE’LL SEE ROUNDS OF STORM CHANCES AND EVEN THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER. NEXT WEEK. IT IS FORECAST TO KEEP A REALLY CLOSE EYE ON RIGHT NOW 41 DEGREES. SOME SHOWERS LIKELY STILL AROUND THERE IN PEWAUKEE. FROM OUR CAMERA AT WAUKESHA COUNTY TECHNICAL COLLEGE. THERE’S ONE MORE AREA OF RAIN THAT’S GOING TO MOVE THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN OVER THE NEXT HOUR AND A HALF OR SO. THEN WE’RE DRY, BUT YOU CAN SEE SOME CLEARING BACK BEHIND THOSE SHOWERS. WE’LL SEE A LITTLE MORE SUNSHINE EVEN AS WE HEAD TOWARDS 8:00 THIS MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL BE MUCH COOLER TODAY THOUGH, THAN THEY HAVE BEEN THE LAST FEW DAYS. WE’VE GOTTEN CLOSE TO 70 DEGREES THE LAST TWO DAYS. TOMORROW. TODAY WE TOP OUT CLOSE TO ABOUT 4850 FURTHER INLAND. SO LET’S GO DAY BY DAY AS WE HEAD INTO AND PAST THE WEEKEND CLEARING SKIES TODAY AND MUCH, MUCH COOLER THAN WE HAVE BEEN TOMORROW. WE SHOULD BE DRY JUST ABOUT ALL DAY LONG. THERE IS A REALLY SLIM CHANCE FOR A STRAY SHOWER DURING THE AFTERNOON. RAIN AND STORM CHANCES INCREASE DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. WAY WARMER ON SUNDAY WITH ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND STORMS IN THE FORECAST. BUT I DO THINK THERE WILL BE SOME DRY TIME ON SUNDAY. MONDAY THERE’S ANOTHER CHANCE FOR RAIN AND STORMS, BUT RIGHT NOW IT DOES LOOK LIKE THERE’S A LOT OF DRY TIME. ON MONDAY. WE SEE MORE STORMS ON TUESDAY, MORE STORM CHANCES ON WEDNESDAY, MORE ON THURSDAY. AND LOOK AT THOSE TEMPERATURES SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. AGAIN, I DON’T THINK ANY DAY IS NECESSARILY A COMPLETE WASHOUT. SO THERE SHOULD BE SOME TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THOSE TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S AND 70S FUTURECAST HAS THAT LITTLE BIT OF RAIN RIGHT NOW. IT QUICKLY MOVES OUT. WE’LL SEE MORE SUNSHINE AS WE HEAD THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS TODAY AND SUN THROUGH A LOT OF THE DAY TOMORROW. NOTICE BY 3:00, MAYBE A FEW SHOWERS AROUND. THIS MODEL IS KEEPING SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN DRY, BUT IT’S OVERNIGHT THAT WE SEE SOME STORM CHANCES INTO SUNDAY MORNING. AND THEN WE COULD SEE A FEW MORE STORMS AS WE HEAD INTO SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WE’RE STILL A LITTLE FAR OUT FOR EXACT TIMING ON SUNDAY STORM CHANCES, BUT I DO THINK WE’LL SEE SOME DRY TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY TEMPERATURES IN THE 70S. THEN IT’S AN ACTIVE STRETCH THROUGH MOST OF NEXT WEEK. NO DAY LOOKS LIKE A COMPLETE WASHOUT, BUT ESPECIALLY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE STORMS HERE IN SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. AND WITH MORE HEAVY RAIN ON THE WAY. AFTER A SOGGY LAST WEEK AND A HALF OR SO, WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR RIVER FLOODING CONCERNS AS WELL. 48 DEGREES FOR A HIGH TODAY, BUT WILL BE WARMER, INLAND. WARMER INLAND AGAIN TOMORROW. BUT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 50S. THEN THAT ACTIVE STRETCH RETURNS TO SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. DAILY STORM CHANCES. NO DAY IS A WASHOUT, BUT IF YOU HAVE OUTDOOR PLANS ON SUNDAY, KEEP AN EYE ON THE FORECAST. WE COULD SEE SOME IMPACTS. THAT 73, THOUGH LOOKING NICE AND QUITE A FEW 70S ON THE FORECAST. I KNOW. LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. IT’S JUST SO NICE TO HAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN YESTERDAY UNTIL THAT LAKE BREEZE KICKED IN AND IT DROPPED ABO
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Spring warm-up and storm chances in SE Wisconsin
Warmer temps and storm chances build into Sunday and Monday
Updated: 6:12 AM CDT Apr 10, 2026
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Friday starts with a few early showers and sprinkles before skies gradually clear. Temperatures will stay on the cool side near the lake in the upper 40s, but inland spots warm into the mid-50s. Friday night turns partly cloudy and cool, with lows dipping to around 35 degrees.Saturday looks mainly dry with a mix of clouds and some sunshine with highs reaching the low 50s lakeside and upper 50s inland before rain and storm chances begin to move in late. Those storm chances stick around through Sunday and Monday, with a noticeable warm-up pushing highs into the 70s both days. Rounds of rain and storm chances are on the way Sunday through Thursday next week. Stay tuned to the forecast this weekend and next week, a few days next week could bring the chance for severe weather to SE Wisconsin.
MILWAUKEE —
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Friday starts with a few early showers and sprinkles before skies gradually clear. Temperatures will stay on the cool side near the lake in the upper 40s, but inland spots warm into the mid-50s. Friday night turns partly cloudy and cool, with lows dipping to around 35 degrees.
Saturday looks mainly dry with a mix of clouds and some sunshine with highs reaching the low 50s lakeside and upper 50s inland before rain and storm chances begin to move in late. Those storm chances stick around through Sunday and Monday, with a noticeable warm-up pushing highs into the 70s both days.
Rounds of rain and storm chances are on the way Sunday through Thursday next week. Stay tuned to the forecast this weekend and next week, a few days next week could bring the chance for severe weather to SE Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill into law Thursday that legalizes online sports betting, making it the 33rd state to allow the practice.
But gamblers in Wisconsin will have to wait months or maybe even longer before they can start to legally place bets. The law Evers signed, which passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, requires the state to negotiate new deals with American Indian tribes that would run the sports betting.
Evers said he would not accept a plan that treats any one tribe better than another.
“The real work begins today,” he said in a statement. “Each of the 11 Tribes must now work diligently-and together-to shape the future of sports betting in Wisconsin. … An approach that exacerbates long-standing inequalities among Tribal Nations is not good for Wisconsinites or Wisconsin. I will not entertain it as governor.”
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Gambling is legal in Wisconsin only on tribal lands under exclusive contracts between tribes and the state. Sports bets can currently be placed only at certain tribal casinos, and online sports betting is illegal.
Under the new Wisconsin law, online sports betting would be allowed only if the infrastructure to manage the bets, such as computer servers, is located on tribal lands in the state. That approach, known as the “hub-and-spoke” model, already is used in Florida.
Under the Wisconsin tribal compacts, a percentage of the money tribes earn through that gambling is returned to the state. In 2024, the tribes paid the state just over $66 million from revenue generated at casinos.
Evers said the new law represents a chance “to support mental health programs and to combat the opioid crisis, two issues that I know plague both Tribal Nations and communities across our state.”
Supporters of the measure include several Wisconsin tribes and the Milwaukee Brewers. They contend people currently are placing bets using offshore sportsbooks or prediction markets or crossing into other states where it’s legal, including neighboring Illinois.
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The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents FanDuel, DraftKings, bet365, BetMGM and Fanatics, opposed the law. They argued that it wouldn’t make financial sense for them to partner with Wisconsin tribes, because federal law requires 60% of gambling revenues must go back to the tribes. They would prefer a state constitutional amendment opening sports betting to all operators.
Evers, who is not running for a third term this year, has originally said he would sign it as long as it had the support of the state’s 11 federally recognized tribes. But he later raised concerns because not every tribe was on board. Evers said Thursday that all 11 tribes are now in active negotiations over how to implement the new law.
Across the U.S., state-regulated sportsbooks handled nearly $167 billion of bets last year, generating revenues of nearly $17 billion after winnings were paid out to customers, according to the American Gaming Association. That marked an almost 23% increase over the previous year.
Wisconsin Badgers offensive lineman Blake Cherry goes through a drill during spring practice. Photo credit: UW Athletics
There was no shortage of things that went wrong for Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team during its 4–8 season in 2025.
You can point to the countless injuries at quarterback. You can point to an inconsistency at the skill positions. You can point to a lack of offensive identity. All of it is fair. But if you really strip it down from an execution standpoint, most of those problems trace back to one place.
Up front.
“That’s the number one thing offensively is the continuity of those guys up front,” Fickell said when asked about the focus for Wisconsin’s offensive line this spring. “I’m not going to dwell upon the past, but if there’s something that has probably not gone in the direction, individually or unit-wise, it has been the O-line. With the history here and what the expectations are here — that’s one of the big things.”
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That’s not a throwaway line. That’s an acknowledgment.
Because for as much as the quarterback carousel defined last season, the offensive line never gave the offense a chance to stabilize or improve. There was constant shuffling. Players were asked to play out of position. Others were forced into roles they probably weren’t ready for yet.
And the result showed up in the numbers.
Wisconsin fielded the least productive offense in the Power Four last season, finishing No. 134 nationally in scoring (12.8 points per game) and No. 135 in total offense (253.1 yards per game). The run game — a foundational piece of the program’s identity — never found traction.
Then, after the season, more experience walked out the door.
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Starting left guard Joe Brunner transferred to Indiana. Center Jake Renfro left for Illinois. Offensive tackle Riley Mahlman exhausted his eligibility.
Whatever continuity existed up front didn’t last.
So the response was predictable. Wisconsin moved on from A.J. Blazek and hired Eric Mateos as the new offensive line coach, leaning on his prior working relationship with offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes in hopes that familiarity can help this new group get up to speed quickly.
The next step was to go out and add bodies. A lot of them.
Most notably, Austin Kawecki arrives from Oklahoma State as a veteran presence expected to take over the starting center job. Kevin Heywood returns from an ACL injury and is expected to factor in at tackle. And then there’s P.J. Wilkins, an Ole Miss transfer who has primarily played guard in college but is now working at tackle since arriving in Madison.
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That last part matters.
Because Mateos didn’t just inherit this group — he’s reshaping it.
“That’s what I really love about it, to be honest with you,” Fickell said about the offensive line. “I love being in that room right now because there are all new guys. There are some guys who played a little bit in [Colin] Cubberly and Emerson Mandell. But the nature of it is it’s a new group.”
It looks like one, too.
Colin Cubberly brings experience after being thrown into the fire last season. Emerson Mandell, who opened last year as the starting right guard, has shown positional flexibility after sliding out to tackle last season, but is now back working on the interior. Arkansas transfer Blake Cherry is competing on the interior, while younger or depth options like Lucas Simmons and Stylz Blackmon add competition behind them.
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Even someone like Barrett Nelson, currently working back from another injury, is viewed as a candidate for the two-deep at tackle when healthy. There are more options. The challenge is turning that into answers.
“Look, we’ve got to get back to that group being a group,” said Fickell. “It’s not individuals. There are a lot of things we’ve got to be able to do… Yes, they understand the history. Yes, they understand the past. But it’s time to kind of say, ‘Look.’ This is a group that’s got to kind of reestablish the things that we believe in, and we are.”
And that’s where everything ties together. Because this isn’t just about fixing the offensive line in isolation, this is about supporting a completely reworked offense.
Nobody’s expecting this group to snap back to the gold standard of offensive line play that Wisconsin built its identity on overnight. But this is still a program that wants to run the ball, play with physicality up front, and lean into a system that now includes mobile quarterbacks.
Even if returning to an elite level immediately isn’t realistic, they do have to become a Big Ten-caliber unit — one capable of holding its own, creating movement, and giving the offense a chance to dictate terms instead of constantly reacting. Wisconsin has a new quarterback room led by Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph. A reshaped running back group featuring Abu Sama and Darrion Dupree. A completely different mix at wide receiver. Changes at tight end. All of it depends on what happens up front.
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If the line comes together, the Badgers’ offense has a path toward meaningful improvement after what was one of the least productive units Wisconsin has fielded in decades. If it doesn’t, it’s hard to see much changing, regardless of who’s under center or carrying the ball.
Fickell knows it. The staff knows it. The returning players know it.
Now it’s about proving it.
“I think that’s where a lot of the youth and the newer guys have been really refreshing — a little bit of a changeover,” Fickell said.
Refreshing is one way to put it. Necessary might be a better one. Because for Wisconsin to take a step forward and make it back to a bowl game for the first time since 2023, it starts where it always has. Up front.
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