Wisconsin
Daniel Bice, veteran Wisconsin political reporter and columnist, dies at 62
Everyone talked to Daniel Bice – whether they admitted it or not.
A veteran political reporter, Bice could conjure a politician’s personal phone number in seconds and never feared knocking on the door of someone he was trying to reach.
Bice, who worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for 33 years, died from complications of esophageal cancer on April 21, his birthday.
He had just turned 62.
“Dan was fearless and fierce, a relentless reporter who wrote with clarity and precision. He knew how to cultivate sources and chase a story,” said Greg Borowski, executive editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He thought nothing of driving five hours to stick a notebook in the governor’s face, willing to ask any question – and take the blowback that came with it.
“His loss is a blow to the community, the profession and especially for our team here.”
A native of West Virginia, Bice started his Wisconsin career in the Madison bureau of the Milwaukee Sentinel and then the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the two papers merged in 1995.
A few years later, the paper’s leadership wanted a new, buzzy watchdog column and tapped Bice and Cary Spivak, a business reporter, to write it. The pair, nicknamed the “Spice Boys,” earned national awards and scored countless scoops, including one that ended the political career of former Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist.
“The two of us working together, it was kind of the odd couple,” Spivak said. “He’s West Virginia, I’m Chicago ‘burbs. But we got along good. We had no sets of rules on how to do stuff, we would just argue it out, but we both had similar news judgment.”
Bice later went on to author his own column, “No Quarter,” where he wrote about scandals big and small, from all sides of the political spectrum. He always responded to readers with a mix of humor and humility, especially his critics, who flooded his email inbox and online chats.
When one called him a “liberal activist” in 2014, Bice pointed to his three critical pieces about Democratic politicians that he had just published the week prior. “But here’s the lesson,” Bice added. “We should all spend more time paying attention to what I am actually writing and publishing. Then maybe I’ll get a huge raise.”
Even with his column, Bice never stopped reporting the news.
He broke countless stories and distinguished himself among Wisconsin’s press corps with his relentless coverage of Milwaukee County prosecutors’ “John Doe” investigations into Scott Walker’s time as Milwaukee County executive and as governor.
“As someone at a different outlet at the time, it was impossible to keep up with him,” said Mary Spicuzza, who joined the Journal Sentinel in 2015 after covering politics at the Wisconsin State Journal.
“Dan Bice was the most feared man in Wisconsin politics,” she added. “To me, he was larger than life – a legend who became my mentor, my work husband and one of my best friends.”
In recent years, he covered the record-breaking state Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel, the arrest and resulting court case of former Milwaukee Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, and the campaign of gubernatorial hopeful Bill Berrien, who ended his political run after Bice reported on his online activity.
“I used to kid him that he was equal opportunity in the sense that he’d go after Republicans and Democrats,” said Walker, a Republican and former governor.
“There were times when I liked what he wrote, and there were other times that I didn’t like it at all,” he said. “It probably was a good sign he was pursuing the role of the journalist, which was without regard to politics or other bias, just exposing things that needed to be exposed.”
For all the sharpness of his writing – Milwaukee Magazine once described him “as an assassin with a pen” – Bice hardly ever raised his voice with sources or colleagues. He had a preternatural ability to stay calm even in the most confrontational or tense interviews.
At a retirement celebration for Spivak last summer, Bice gave one of many speeches in his friend’s honor. Bice later told a colleague that he left out the last thing he wanted to thank Spivak for – carrying the column for months while Bice navigated a family crisis – because he feared he would not be able to finish without tears.
Beyond the paper, Bice was an avid music-lover and frequent concert-goer. If you asked if he had heard of a band, he undoubtedly had. He could spend hours discussing politics, history and religion with wit and humor, and he led historical tours to Greece and other countries.
Bice grew up in a household steeped in religious fundamentalism. He earned undergraduate degrees in ancient Greek and English at Bryan College, a small Christian college in Tennessee, and a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago.
His college experience shaped him and started to change his career path.
“Parts of my faith started falling apart. I don’t think it ever fell apart completely,” Bice said during a Rotary event last year. “But you know, when you start reading texts in the original language, things aren’t quite as they seem sometimes.”
He noticed a job listing for “liberal arts majors” from the Poynter Institute in Florida, a nonprofit that trains journalists and covers the media industry. He landed one of the coveted 15 positions after more than 350 people applied, and started reporting at the St. Petersburg Times in 1986.
In an early sign of his single-mindedness on a story, he had raced back to the newsroom with the latest from a meeting about a potential baseball stadium development. His mind completely occupied with the story, he didn’t see a red light and hit another car, which then hit a house.
“My editors are wondering where I am, and I’m trying to explain to the cop, this is super important and I’ve got to get back to the newspaper to write this,” Bice recalled during the Rotary talk. “They’re like, you’re not going anywhere.”
After his time in St. Petersburg, Bice returned to West Virginia, where he covered state politics – including the indictment of 10 state lawmakers over five years – before coming to Wisconsin. He had interviewed at both papers, the Journal and Sentinel. The Journal offered him a job writing feature stories. The Sentinel offered him a position covering the governor’s office.
He chose the Sentinel. An editor at the Journal sent him a note telling him he had made the “worst career decision” of his life.
“I still have the letter,” Bice said.
And he never looked back.
Daniel Bice is survived by his wife, Jessica Hodgson; his father, David Bice, and his wife, Alice; his siblings, Penny Bice, Cheryl Bice, Jeffrey Bice and his wife, Roberta, Richard Bice and his wife, Sandra Sim; and his children, Zachary Bice and his wife, Alex, Sophie Bice and her husband, Ben Teich, and Raney Bice, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, Patty Adkins.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
WHITEWATER, Wis. (WMTV) – The Kids from Wisconsin troupe is kicking off its 56th annual tour this week.
Kids from Wisconsin is a traveling show with 22 singer-dancers and 14 band members. The troupe performs across Wisconsin, hosting workshops for kids and helping fundraise for youth arts programs.
This year’s theme is “America’s Soundtrack: The Pulse of a Nation.” The theme honors the 250th anniversary of America and features music by all-American composers, bands and performers.
Kids from Wisconsin bassist and student leader Alex Coller said that range is what makes this year’s tour stand out.
“The theme is really just celebrating American music. And I think it’s definitely one of the most cohesive and like diverse shows I have played with this organization,” Coller said. “Even though its just American music it’s really cool to see. Anyone no matter who you are, or what your musical background is, or whether you like music or not, there is something here for everyone to enjoy.”
Kids from Wisconsin’s artistic and choral director, Taras Nahirniak, said audiences won’t want to miss it.
“Find a show near you, you are not going to want to miss this show. It’s just spectacular, the kids are so talented,” Nahirniak said. “We are just finishing up our camp right now, and they are just working their tails off. To really go around the state and show the state what they have.”
The tour premieres Thursday night at Young Auditorium in Whitewater. For tickets, tour dates or to find a show, visit kidsfromwi.org.
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Marquette poll shows Wisconsin voters unfocused on governor race
A Marquette University Law School poll reveals Wisconsin voters lack focus on the governor’s race, with most undecided 5 months before the primary.
MADISON – Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes is dropping out of the Democratic primary race for governor and endorsing Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
Hughes, who was the most moderate candidate in the Democratic field for governor, suspended her campaign days after placing last in a straw poll of party delegates at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin state convention in Madison.
Her endorsement of Rodriguez comes as some Democrats are eyeing an alternative to state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who leans further left than current Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Hong and Barnes are considered frontrunners in the primary race.
In a statement, Hughes flicked at the approach of Hong and other candidates to her left who have proposed significant changes to state government.
“I believe there is great hope in these small efforts to find common ground. I wanted to make sure that Wisconsinites understand we have created something valuable and that investing in ourselves and our communities is well-deserved,” Hughes said. “We do not need to tear it all down, and there is real and important work to do to improve what we already have.”
Hughes suggested Rodriguez would make more reasonable decisions as governor than her primary opponents.
“This job is about running the state, and getting things done. As you consider what is important to you, I urge you to look beyond the talking points, social media posts, and gilded promises and consider what you think is essential to do the job,” she said. “Stop asking, ‘Who will win?’ and start asking who you trust to make big decisions that impact our families and the wellbeing of our loved ones, neighbors and communities.”
This developing story will be updated.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
MILWAUKEE – A Wisconsin man – who FOX6 Investigators once dubbed the “Moving Menace” – now faces a death investigation plus 10 criminal cases from nine police departments.
‘She’s ice-cold, dude!’
What they’re saying:
A 2015 Toyota Corolla was going 80 mph down Forest Home – in a 35 mph zone – when a Greenfield police officer flipped on his emergency lights and siren, revved the engine and began a rapid pursuit. As the vehicle slowed, a hand emerged and waved from the driver’s window. He yelled something about an unresponsive woman in the back seat.
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Officers found 40-year-old Mina Abidi slumped over behind the passenger seat of the car, dragged her onto the pavement and started CPR.
Seated on a curb nearby, Daniel Berczyk started talking.
“I noticed her lips,” he said. “I noticed her lips.”
Abidi was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of death to be an overdose from a combination of fentanyl, cocaine, alcohol and xylazine.
Daniel Berczyk sits on a curb on August 13, 2024, as first responders tend to Mina Abidi’s overdose.
Berczyk told officers he was trying to get her to the nearest hospital, but he admitted he’d been driving her around in that state for more than an hour, including two trips to Walgreens.
Officer: “Why didn’t you call 911 immediately?”
Berczyk: “When I went into Walgreens, she wasn’t acting like she was dead or anything.”
At times, Berczyk described Abidi as a friend.
“I can’t believe she’s ****ing gone man, what the ****? It’s crazy.”
But moments later, he couldn’t seem to remember her name.
Berczyk: “What the hell’s the girl name in the car?”
Detective: “You called her Bidi.”
Berczyk: “Yeah Bidi.”
Detective: “Oh, that’s pretty close to her last name.”
Abidi’s death became the subject of a Greenfield Police investigation that is still awaiting a charging decision from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office nearly two years later.
She was my ‘sister’
Why you should care:
Abidi was married, had a daughter and lived in the picture-postcard suburb of Cedarburg. But her relationship was nothing to write home about. Her husband had been convicted of domestic abuse. Michailah Belle said when she met Abidi, she was contemplating suicide.
“There was just this look in her face,” Belle said. “She looked sad.”
The two became fast friends and Belle, who has 11 children of her own, said she eventually considered Abidi a member of her family.
“She was so optimistic,” Belle said. “She was just going through some things.”
Belle said she believes drugs are what led Abidi to a meet-up with one of the area’s most prolific criminals.
‘Get off my property!’
The backstory:
FOX6 Investigators first encountered Berczyk in 2008, ripping off customers of his moving business that operated under multiple names, including Best Way Movers and Affordable Moving and Storage.
A few months after that investigation, police said Berczyk went on a three-week crack cocaine binge, during which he broke into dozens of cars at area park-and-ride lots. He fled to Arizona.
FOX6 Investigators noticed he was updating his MySpace page – yes, MySpace – and police used that to find him and bring him back to Wisconsin.
Between 2009 and 2016, Berczyk was in and out of prison, often finding his misdeeds the subject of FOX6 Investigators reports.
Daniel Berczyk orders FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn to leave his parents’ property in Muskego in 2008.
“You told me you were going to turn your life around,” FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn said in a courthouse hallway in 2015 before Berczyk bumped him with his left hip.
“Did you just hip-check me, Dan?” Polcyn replied.
For nearly 30 years, starting in the late 1990s, Berczyk racked up criminal cases faster than birthdays – mostly involving theft, drugs or both. But in 2016, something unexpected happened: The criminal charges largely stopped for 10 years, but for a single misdemeanor case in 2020.
That is, until Mina Abidi’s death.
A visit to Milwaukee
Timeline:
On Aug. 12, 2024, Abidi was in Cedarburg. Berczyk said she wanted to “hang out,” but needed gas money. So Berczyk paid a friend to send her $14 through Cash App. She arrived at the Travelodge near 20th and Layton, just off the interstate in Milwaukee, sometime after dark. He said they were “fooling around” in her car but never had sex.
Berczyk claimed he never saw Abidi use drugs, but noticed she was “acting weird,” like she was “fighting off a Xanax buzz.” In a video recorded interview hours later, Berczyk reflected on that moment.
Berczyk: “Man, she’s kind of ****ed up (he remembered thinking) I should get some Narcan.”
Detective: “You thought that then?”
Berczyk: “I don’t know why. It just popped into my head.”
Berczyk tells a Greenfield detective he sought life-saving Narcan at Walgreens, but left when told it would cost money.
At one point, Berczyk said, Abidi got out of the car and laid down on the pavement. So he loaded her into the backseat of her own car and drove to Walgreens hoping to get Narcan. Surveillance video shows him entering the store alone, approaching the pharmacy counter, then leaving without any medication.
“Thirty-four dollars for Narcan? I’m like, ‘What the ****? ****’s free?” he said.
It’s not clear what Berczyk actually said to the pharmacist, but Belle believes he should have told them a woman in the car outside might be dying.
“They could’ve called 911,” she said. “They could’ve called the ambulance. The ambulance could’ve came there, and they could’ve saved her.”
Instead, Berczyk got back in the car at 12:50 a.m. and sat there for 12 minutes.
At 1:02 a.m., the car pulled away. Berczyk said he spent the next hour dumpster-diving at a nearby apartment complex.
“Have you ever seen those dumpsters?” he told a detective. “Dude, I have pulled some ****ing amazing **** out of there, dude.”
The whole time, Abidi was in the car, unwilling or unable to talk.
“I’m like, ‘Bidi, what’s up?’ She’s like, (Berczyk makes a growling noise). She made like a weird noise or something. I’m like, ‘What the ****?’”
It wasn’t until 2:11 a.m. that police spotted Berczyk speeding down Forest Home and pulled him over. By then, it was too late.
Abidi’s death was officially ruled an accident, and while the case is still under review by prosecutors, Berczyk has never been charged.
But four months later, the criminal charges started piling up again.
Ten criminal cases in 18 months
Downward spiral:
In December 2024, Big Bend Police said Berczyk stole $3,500 worth of aluminum rims from a commercial trucking company. Wauwatosa police said he stole rims at a business there, too.
In May 2025, Berczyk was caught on surveillance video stealing a bicycle from a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee residence hall garage.
In July 2025, he’s accused of stealing a gun, tools and sporting goods from a Glendale apartment complex.
In late 2025 and early 2026, four different police departments found him in possession of cocaine, meth and narcotic drugs.
Click here to read the criminal complaints:
But while the criminal charges kept coming, Berczyk stopped showing up for court. So FOX6 Investigators went looking for him where we found him 18 years ago – at his parents’ house in Muskego.
“I’m looking for your son, Dan,” said Polcyn to a gray-haired man who answered the knock, but refused to open the storm door.
Berczyk has been charged with more than 100 crimes in his adult life. He is 50 years old.
“No idea where he is,” mouthed Daniel Berczyk Sr.
After four months on the lam, Milwaukee police arrested Berczyk at a house near 12th and Ring in Milwaukee’s Borchert Field neighborhood. They said they found him after he listed a stolen generator on Facebook Marketplace.
He’s back in custody, facing a flurry of new charges. In all, he now has 10 open criminal cases in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, with a total of 35 criminal charges among them.
“That is how you get an absolute Level 5 highest risk category,” said prosecuting attorney Karine O’Byrne.
Belle is still focused on the one case for which charges remain elusive.
Polcyn: “Was Mina Abidi’s life worth saving?”
Belle: “It was. It definitely was.”
It is the only case that is truly a matter of life and death.
$77,500 cash bail
What’s next:
Berczyk is being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on a combined total of $77,500 cash bail in seven Milwaukee County cases. He also faces three additional criminal cases in Waukesha County.
He’s due in court again July 10.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Greenfield Police Department, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, Big Bend Police Department, Wauwatosa Police Department, Milwaukee Police Department, Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office, Wisconsin Circuit Court records, a review of police and surveillance video, an interview with Belle, and prior coverage of FOX6 Investigators reports on Berczyk.
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