Wisconsin
Government openness celebrated at 10th annual Wisconsin Watchdog Awards – WisconsinWatch.org
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As he acquired his award as a Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog on Thursday, Matthew DeFour tossed his swimsuit jacket to the ground, revealing rolled up shirt sleeves. He tugged on his tie to loosen it. This, DeFour stated, was how his first editor, John Russell, arrived every day on the Aurora Beacon-Information in Illinois the place DeFour labored proper out of school.
DeFour was amongst greater than half a dozen Wisconsin journalists and open-government advocates honored on the Tenth annual Wisconsin Watchdog Awards earlier than a crowd of 100 folks on the Madison Membership.
Presently the state politics editor for the Wisconsin State Journal, DeFour was honored for his dogged reporting of Okay-12 schooling, Dane County authorities and Wisconsin state authorities, breaking tales and sparking constructive change on each beat he lined. He devoted his 2020 honor to that first editor, whom he described affectionately as an “ill-tempered, foul-mouthed Irishman.”
“However he additionally thought deeply about society’s issues,” DeFour recalled. “John Russell turned a journalist as a result of he wished to avoid wasting the world. He stated, ‘Give the folks all the knowledge you’ll be able to — and that’s the way you save the world.’ ”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter John Diedrich was awarded the Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog prize for 2022. Due to the pandemic, no award winner was named in 2021, and no ceremonies have been held in 2020 or 2021.
“The power right here tonight is exhilarating — much more so than regular, as a result of you will have persevered, by means of this pandemic, to indicate up for our first main in-person occasion since 2019,” Wisconsin Watch Govt Director Andy Corridor stated. “It’s an absolute honor to affix forces with all of you to battle for the folks’s proper to know and for our democracy.”
Diedrich was nominated by Journal Sentinel Deputy Editor Greg Borowski for his work exposing quite a lot of threats to common folks, starting from harmful barrel recycling corporations that expose employees and neighbors to poisonous and flammable chemical substances to federal brokers who took benefit of a mentally challenged younger man in a botched gun-buying sting operation.
Borowski recounted the story of “the day John and I didn’t get crushed up.” The 2 males had met within the newspaper’s foyer with the offended brother of a lady, Tiffany Tate, who was turned away from one among Wisconsin’s prime stroke facilities simply 350 yards away from the place she had suffered a stroke. Tate was transported to a different hospital farther away, the place she died.
Diedrich’s 2019 investigation, Turned Away, discovered this harmful coverage of ambulance diversion was getting used throughout the nation with generally lethal outcomes. Diedrich defined the story to Tate’s brother, and patiently listened as the person poured out his grief and anger.
“And over the course of almost an hour, he turned David Tate’s perspective and his coronary heart round,” Borowski recalled. “And by the top, David declared, standing up, that John was an angel despatched by his sister to assist the world know the story of what occurred, and what needs to be finished to repair it.”
The annual award is offered collectively by the Wisconsin Middle for Investigative Journalism, the Wisconsin Freedom of Info Council, the Madison Professional Chapter of the Society of Skilled Journalists, the Wisconsin Newspaper Affiliation, Wisconsin Broadcasters Affiliation and College of Madison-Wisconsin College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Seven different recipients have been honored Thursday with Opee Awards for his or her contributions to open authorities in 2022 — and two public officers have been shamed for partaking in secrecy. They embrace:
Citizen Openness Award (“Copee”): Christine Brennan
Brennan requested information to research how a beloved park was focused for redevelopment by town of Fond du Lac. When town requested her for $6,888 on prime of the $1,000 she had already paid to find these information, Brennan balked. Her expertise helped increase public consciousness of abusive location price prices. In accepting the award, Brennan stated the information made all of the distinction in convincing the Metropolis Council to show towards the undertaking.
Political Openness Award (“Popee”): Winnebago County District Legal professional’s Workplace
Deputy District Legal professional Eric Sparr accepted the award for taking the bizarre step of prosecuting the City of Omro for alleged open information legislation violations. In accepting the award, Sparr stated the motion was so uncommon that the Winnebago County Circuit Courtroom wasn’t precisely positive the right way to deal with it. The case was ultimately settled out of courtroom.
Honorable point out: Tony Evers
Wisconsin’s governor was honored for vetoing a invoice that unanimously handed each homes of the Legislature to create a brand new legislative human sources workplace with built-in secrecy provisions. He additionally proposed in his funds to lift the brink for when information custodians can tack on location prices from $50 to $100.
Media Openness Award (“Mopee”): Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner
Holmes and this on-line information outlet unearthed stunning details about Wauwatosa’s police division, which deemed Mayor Dennis McBride a “goal” and maintained a watchlist of protesters itemizing Holmes himself for having lined the protests as a journalist. In accepting the award, Holmes stated, “This second is a reminder for all of us — each within the energy of open information legislation and the way at instances forces are likely to work towards it.”
Open Data Scoop of the 12 months (“Scoopee”): The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Diedrich additionally shared on this honor, together with Raquel Rutledge and Daphne Chen, for Wires and Fires, which uncovered how harmful electrical wiring has for years brought on fires and claimed victims in Milwaukee rental models. The collection spurred metropolis officers to hunt higher methods to stop such fires.
Whistleblower of the 12 months: Douglas Oitzinger
An alderperson within the metropolis of Marinette, Oitzinger stood as much as his fellow council members when he filed swimsuit in December alleging that that they had improperly gone into closed session to debate choices to exchange town’s PFAS-contaminated ingesting water. In accepting the award, Oitzinger stated in small communities with out strong watchdog establishments, bizarre residents should take up the function. “We are going to solely have open authorities and clear authorities,” he stated, “if we stick our necks out and demand that our legal guidelines be adopted.”
No Buddy of Openness (“Nopee”): Particular Counsel Michael Gableman and Meeting Speaker Robin Vos
Wisconsin Freedom of Info Council President Invoice Lueders awarded this ignominious honor to Gableman and Vos in absentia, saying each “smugly reject the very thought of accountability.” The 2 have been cited by judges for withholding and destroying information associated to Gableman’s ongoing investigation into the 2020 election. Lueders tossed the award in a close-by trash can, declaring, “Wisconsin’s custom of open authorities is maybe extra fragile than we thought. We have to guard it zealously and have a good time it deeply.”
The nonprofit Wisconsin Middle for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Tv, different information media and the UW-Madison College of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, printed, posted or disseminated by the Middle don’t essentially replicate the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its associates.
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It will move you to tears.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall replica in Hartland, Wisconsin, is profoundly moving, a sobering reminder of the staggering loss of young men, and women, we must never forget and always honor.
I went to see the replica Wall in the late evening hours on Saturday, June 1. There’s something especially profound about seeing it at night, lit up against a night sky with electric candles flickering against the plastic-covered photos and newspaper articles that have been lovingly placed near names. The Fire Department has erected a massive America flag. It’s open 24 hours.
Hartland is a very patriotic community, and I’m glad that I live in a county where people appreciate and honor the service and sacrifice, of these brave young men and women.
There’s still a chance to see it, if you haven’t yet. The replica Wall will stand in Hartland’s Nixon Park, 175 E. Park Ave, until 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. Hartland is the only Wisconsin community scheduled to get the mobile wall in 2024. According to CBS 58, 67 Waukesha County service members’ names are on the wall. Three are from Hartland. They are Thomas James Carstens, Darryl Jay Koch, and Donald Albert Sudbrink.
“My company had 90 men. Within two weeks, we lost 75% of them,” Vietnam Veteran and volunteer Dick Burr told WISN. “It’s hard. It tears me up right now. You know, I know at least 30, 30 guys that are on the wall.”
The Wall That Heals History
“On Veterans Day 1996, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) unveiled a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., designed to travel to communities throughout the United States,” the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund says. “Since its dedication, The Wall That Heals has been displayed at nearly 700 communities throughout the nation, spreading the Memorial’s healing legacy to millions.”
“Bringing The Wall home to communities throughout our country allows the souls enshrined on the Memorial to exist once more among family and friends in the peace and comfort of familiar surroundings,” the VVMF explains.
Carefully and lovingly placed along the replica Wall in Hartland are the photos of some of the men who died, along with flowers, children’s sketches of flags, old newspaper articles, and other mementos that capture the human beings behind the names.
There is a mobile education center that presents the photos of the local heroes whose names are on the wall. This particularly moved me because, a number of years ago, my journalism students and I helped find the final missing photos of Wisconsin service members whose names are on the Wall. This was for a major project sponsored by the VVMF to find a photo for every name. The military photos had burned up in the 1970s in a major fire.
As I stood in the Hartland park, there flashed before me some of the photos we had found. One stood out: Michael Bohrman.
I found his photo for a series on the missing photos that I wrote for the Waukesha Freeman.
His photo was missing, so I tracked down his dad in Delafield. I was amazed when he answered. That’s because by this point almost all of the parents of those who died in Vietnam are gone. He was 95. The living memories are carried by siblings, spouses, children.
Anyway, Jack Bohrman was an amazing man. I really enjoyed speaking with him. It took him two weeks though to agree to let me come over to get a copy of the photo. I learned in doing this project how raw and painful these memories were to families even 45 years later. It underscored the degree of loss. I remember him lamenting that he never really got a chance to get to know his son as an adult, to see what he would become.
When I went to Mr. Bohrman’s house (he is deceased now), he showed me that, in his garage under a blanket, he had saved his son’s cherry red Corvette all these years. I believe he said it was driven once. There it was, shiny and basically untouched. He also told me that he had a box of his son’s belongings in the attic that he had never opened, in all of those years. A family deeply devoted to service.
Rest in peace. To all of them.
Sample Wisconsin drivers license ID card (Courtesy: WisDOT)
MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin has the “Best ID Card,” according to an international association of the global card manufacturing industry, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced on Friday.
Wisconsin’s REAL ID over 21 driver license received the Élan Award of Excellence from the International Card Manufacturers Association, WisDOT said. WisDOT said Wisconsin was the first state to use a unique security element found on the cards.
Officials said the Wisconsin DMV worked with CBN Secure Technologies Inc. to design and integrate the updated security features with new, custom design elements. Beyond the artistry of the card, the manufacturing process also delivers a card with enhanced security, counterfeit resistance and easier authentication.
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“We’re grateful to receive this international award recognizing the outstanding work our Wisconsin DMV team and partner CBN Secure Technologies Inc. did to integrate advanced security features with beautiful imagery from our state,” DMV Administrator Tommy Winkler said in a statement. “Wisconsin residents should be proud of these highly secure cards that deliver a superior user experience.”
The Wisconsin DMV debuted the design on driver’s licenses and ID cards in June 2023. The new cards offer distinctive artistic features, including hand-crafted artwork of key Wisconsin symbols. As for the security feature, WisDOT said an exclusive transparent window integrates cardholder data.
VERONA, Wis. (WMTV) – Girls on the Run of South Central Wisconsin celebrated its 13th annual spring 5K on Saturday.
Over 2,700 runners participated in the 5K at Verona Area High School, making it the largest season ever.
“It’s so powerful to see a girl-centered space,” Girls on the Run of South Central Wisconsin’s Executive Director Christine Benedict said. “Seeing kids take on something hard together knowing that even though it’s going to be kind of tough, especially on a rainy day, to make it through 3.1 miles. They’ve got hundreds of kids that believe in them and they’re going to help carry them across the finish line.”
The nine-week after school program for third through eighth grade girls is more than running. It teaches them life-long skills like confidence, character, contribution and empowerment.
“It’s just so inspiring to see how much interest there is in what we’re doing,” Benedict said. “People understand that there’s a reason to have girl-centered spaces where kids can be together, celebrate their strengths, learn about their unique star power and to feel like this is worth celebrating and expressing joy over.”
Girls on the Run (GOTR) of South Central Wisconsin happens across ten counties and 92 different schools.
Saturday was the program’s 13th spring 5K run, but GOTR of South Central Wisconsin has been in the local community for 19 years.
The program will return again in the fall. To learn more about Girls on the Run and how to join, visit their website.
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