Wisconsin
The Huge New American Olympic Star No One Saw Coming
This is part of Slate’s 2026 Olympics coverage. Read more here.
On Wednesday at the Milan Cortina Games, America’s long national speedskating nightmare finally came to an end. With an exhilarating come-from-behind sprint in the last lap of the 1,000-meter race, 21-year-old Wisconsinite Jordan Stolz passed Dutch superstar Jenning de Boo to set a new Olympic record and win gold to boot. Before Wednesday, Team USA hadn’t won an individual men’s long-track speedskating Olympic medal in 16 years. Stolz’s gold doesn’t just mark the end of a long fallow period in a sport at which America once excelled. It could also herald the beginning of a new golden age.
For decades, American long-track and short-track speedskaters were an international force, with athletes such as Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen, Shani Davis, and Apolo Anton Ohno racking up Olympic titles. You probably still recognize these names, which speaks to the outsized cachet that speedskating long enjoyed in the United States. Despite the sport’s relative obscurity, America’s top speedskaters have often become crossover celebrities.
Twelve years ago, this stretch of dominance came to an abrupt end. Team USA failed to win a single long-track medal at either the 2014 Sochi Games or the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and won only a single short-track medal at each. The Americans did a little better in 2022—Erin Jackson won gold in the 500 meters, and the men won a bronze in the team sprint—but got no medals at all in short track. Theories varied as to why American speedskating took such a nosedive. Some blamed substandard racing suits. Others blamed US Speedskating leadership. Still others blamed the very mean short-track coach who’d been hired to shape up Team USA.
Maybe the real reason was that Team USA was waiting for Jordan Stolz to reach his prime. As a kid, Stolz idolized Ohno and emulated him throughout long Wisconsin winters spent skating on his backyard pond. When Stolz outgrew his backyard, his parents took him to one of the closest indoor rinks they could find—the Pettit National Ice Center, in Milwaukee, which just so happens to be the best speedskating training center in the country. There, Stolz worked with a succession of top coaches—including, briefly, Shani Davis—to develop his training routine and skating style.
Stolz’s development skyrocketed when he started working with Bob Corby, a former U.S. speedskater who had coached the 1984 Winter Olympics squad that left Sarajevo empty-handed. The medal shutout gnawed at Corby for years. “I was incredibly frustrated,” he said in a 2024 interview. “I asked myself: what did you do wrong? I thought a lot about it and said to myself: if I ever do this again, [I’d] do it differently.”
More than 30 years later, long after Corby had forsaken speedskating for a career in physical therapy, Stolz called out of the blue and asked to work with him. (“How can you say no to a 14-year-old kid who calls you on the phone?” Corby remembered.) Corby’s long layoff from the sport gave him a different perspective from many other top skating coaches. While contemporary trends in speedskating development tend to focus on data and analytics, Corby chose to emphasize Stolz’s strength and conditioning. “He likes work,” Corby said. “I pushed him on almost everything, and he just responded.”
This old-school focus made sense for Stolz, who seems to have a preternatural feel for speedskating technique. He excels at timing and turn mechanics, while minimizing “wasted motion” as well as any skater alive. “The things that he does well typically take people an entire career of microadjustments to get there,” 2006 Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek told NPR in 2023. Gold medalist Dan Jansen concurred: “Jordan’s just a freak. You don’t learn to be as good technically as he is at 18 years old. You have to just feel it.”
Stolz clearly “feels it” while on the ice, which is perhaps one reason why a data-centric training regimen wasn’t for him. Rather than let the analytics tell him how to eke out incremental improvements, Stolz leans into what he already does well, while counting on Corby to push his body hard enough during training so that he can power through the final lap on race day.
This strategy paid off for Stolz on Wednesday. In many of the preceding heats, I watched as skaters took early leads only to run out of gas. Stolz, too, took an early lead against de Boo—but the Dutchman eventually passed him and led going into the final lap. Then, in the final turn, Stolz made his move, passing de Boo on the inside and surging across the finish line and into the Olympic record book.
Stolz has three races left to skate in Milan Cortina—and after Wednesday’s dominant performance, he’ll be marked as the man to beat in the 500-meter and 1,500-meter events and as a contender in the mass start.
If you think the pressure will rattle him, then you don’t know Jordan Stolz. “I like the feeling of being the hunted one,” he told CBC Sports last year. At long last, the rest of the world is chasing an American speedskater—and at these Olympics, Stolz might never get caught.
Additional reporting by Rosemary Belson.
WEST ALLIS (WLUK) — The Wisconsin State Fair unveiled dozens of new menu items coming to the fairgrounds for the 175th fair.
80 new food and drink options were unveiled Friday afternoon. Many of the items will feature Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery cheese curds, as they were declared the official cheese curds of the state fair. However, Door County cheese curds will be featured on the cheddar garlic longanisa lumpia, according to the list. It isn’t clear which Door County cheesemaker is supplying the cheese curds.
Here are all the new items coming to the fair:
- Al Pastor Pizza
- Bayou Crunch Cup
- Big Pat’s Pit Stop Punch
- Birria Flamin’ Bombs
- Biscoff Hot Fudge Cup
- Bloody Mary Mac Daddy
- Blue Ribbon Watermelon Mint Julep
- Bourbon Deep-Fried Pecan Pie
- Bugged Out Frozen Cheesecake On-a-Stick
- Bunzel’s Hungarian Sausage Sandwich
- Candied Bacon Cheese Curds
- Caramel Apple Cheese Curd Tacos
- Cevapcici – Croatian Sausage Sandwich
- Cheddar Garlic Longanisa Lumpia with Banana Ketchup
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Sausage
- Chimi-Brat-Changa
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Sipper
- Churro Dog
- Circus Peanut Spritz
- Cold Foam Berry Blast
- Color-Changing Swamp Juice
- Cookie Butter Coffee Float
- Cosmic Funnel Cake
- Cranberry Dream Bar
- Cream City Cone
- Cuban Fries
- Deep Fried Horchata Balls
- Deep-Fried Ranch
- Deep-Fried Top The Tater
- Bloody Mary Pickles & Dill-icious Pickles
- Dill-uxe Pickle Fries
- Egg Roll A-la-Mode
- Ellsworth Fresh Cheese Curds
- Freedom Brat
- Freeze Dried Cheese Curds
- French Onion Cheese Pull
- Fruit Roll-Up Remix
- Gluten-Free Chimichurri Cheese Curds
- Guac This Way Tots
- Hawaiian Pizza Slush
- Hot Honey Bacon Corn Dog
- Hot Honey Chicken Lemonade
- Hot Honey Heatwave Fries
- Ice Cream Nachos
- Lemon-Lime Spritz
- Little Smokies Campfire Meal
- Monkey Bread
- Monster Blue Hawaiian Dirty Soda
- Nitro Cheesy Puffs
- Orange Creamsicle Lemonade
- Patriotic Punch
- Peach Beary Boba
- Peaches n’ Cream Whipped Frozen Lemonade
- Peachy Keen Cooler
- Pineapple Pop Paradise
- Pop’s Kettle Me Squeeze
- Porky Puff
- Potato Chip Sundae
- Ranch BLT Dog
- Red, White, & Berry
- Redneck Brat
- Smoked Pork Pierogi Sliders
- Soft Serve Beer
- Spam Jerky Sampler
- Star-Spangled Bomb Pop
- Sweet Lemon Berry Cheese Curds
- Tanghulu
- The Blue Moo Lagoon
- The Dirty Dog
- The Wisconsinite Slush
- Tilt-a-Spritz
- Tinga Tango Chicharrones
- Toffee Tumble
- Triple Chocolate Mini Donuts
- Tropical Tide
- Vegan Cheesesteak Eggrolls
- Waffle Cone S’mores
- Why Not Tots
- Wild Grape Dirty Soda
- Wisco Short Rid Corn Dog
- Wisconsin Chocolate Barnyard Float
- Southwestern Chorizo Pasty
In addition, a few new vendors are joining the Wisconsin State Fair. All Family Concessions will be found on the Back Forty. Dale Z’s On Tour will be on Grandstand Avenue and Second Street. Lulu Tanghulu will be in the expo center. And the Yuengling Beer House will be on Central Avenue and Benno’s Micro Alley.
The original cream puff and the chocolate cream puff will be offered at the 2026 Wisconsin State Fair. The new ‘Fair-aschino Cherry Cream Puff’ will be available while supplies last each day. Unlike the original and chocolate puffs, they won’t be available for pre-order.
Some of the new food offerings at the fair are also up for the Sporkies and Drinkies awards. The options up for the awarded are bolded in the list above.
The Wisconsin State Fair runs August 6 through August 16.
Residents can attend the July 16 meeting in Sheboygan or submit written comments by email to NOAA.
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary has 36 shipwrecks
Discover the history, shipwrecks and impact of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, established to protect maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. This video was created by the Wochit AI tool.
Wochit
SHEBOYGAN – Residents can attend or comment on an upcoming meeting of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council scheduled for July 16 in Sheboygan.
The gathering will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Sheboygan County Museum, 3110 Erie Ave., according to a community announcement. Members of the public are invited to attend and observe discussions.
The agenda includes routine council business, updates from working groups, community reports and briefings from NOAA staff on sanctuary programs, research and upcoming events.
Public can provide comments during meeting
A public comment period is planned for about 7:50 p.m., giving attendees a chance to share feedback directly with council members.
Those unable to attend may submit written comments by email to jean.prevo@noaa.gov, according to the announcement.
Council shares updates on sanctuary programs
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will provide updates tied to the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, including research initiatives and community engagement efforts.
More information about the council and its activities is available online at sanctuaries.noaa.gov.
This story was created by reporter Nida Tazeen, NTazeen@usatodayco.com , with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Wisconsin
A Wisconsin family is suing Target after their 10-month-old died from swallowing a water bead
A Wisconsin family lost their ten-month-old daughter after she swallowed a water bead. They blame Target and the water bead manufacturer for her death.
This week, Taylor and Tyler Bethard filed a lawsuit against Target in Hennepin County, claiming that the company failed to warn them and other customers about the dangers of a water beads product that used to be sold exclusively at Target.
Water beads are marketed as toys that come with sensory kits or craft sets, but data shows the products are prone to injuring young children. The polymer material is extremely absorbent, allowing water beads – which are often colorful – to expand around 100 times their original size when they interact with water or liquid. This presents a hazard for kids; the United States Product Safety Commission states that between 2017 and 2022, there were 6,300 water bead-related ingestion injuries that required treatment from emergency departments across the country.
In 2023, a 10-month-old girl died. Her name is Esther “Jo” Bethard. According to court filings, Taylor Bethard found her daughter unresponsive in her crib on the morning of July 7, 2023, after she had suffered symptoms of a stomach illness overnight. Medical examiners told the family that her death was caused by swallowing a single water bead.
The Bethards had purchased a Chuckle and Roar water bead set in the spring of 2022 for Esther Jo’s older siblings, never intending for the infant to interact with the water beads.
Target and the Chuckle and Roar manufacturer, Buffalo Games LLC, mutually agreed to pull the product from the shelves in November of 2022. Court records show an email exchange between Buffalo Games and a product safety employee at Target where the manufacturer noted that while their water beads had met safety standards at the time, they wanted to “avoid any future unintended misuse of the product.”
That conversation was prompted after Buffalo Games was informed that an infant required surgery after ingesting a water bead from the Ultimate Water Beads kit. Target agreed to end sales, indicating that this would be classified as a “safety removal.”
The Bethard’s lawsuit alleges that Target clearly knew how dangerous these water beads could be, but failed to warn them or other customers. Target stopped selling the product about eight months before Esther Jo died. Daniel Mann, a personal injury attorney representing the Bethards in this case, said that Esther Jo would still be alive if Target had acted.
“With all this information Target didn’t do anything to reach out to the family or other consumers to let them know about this problem,” Mann said, “I think 10/10 people would say Target had a responsibility to do more than what they did, which was nothing.”
A spokesperson for Target said that they would not comment on ongoing litigation, but the company had already responded to an identical complaint filed by the Bethards in the State of New York. In 2025, the Bethards sued both Target and Buffalo Games in Erie County, N.Y., because that was where the manufacturer was based. In response to the lawsuit there, court filings show that Target denied the allegations that they knew of an extraordinary danger posed by the water beads and failed to notify customers.
The complaint was dismissed against Target in New York, Mann explained, due to jurisdiction. This lead to them refiling in Hennepin County this week.
In a statement to WCCO on the new legal action, a Target spokesperson said “We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy, and we worked closely with the manufacturer of the product at the time the incident occurred.”
Taylor Bethard, Esther Jo’s mother, has lead the charge to ban water beads entirely. Her efforts lead to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commision recalling the more than 52,000 Chuckle and Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits that were in circulation. The recall took effect in September of 2023. Target, Walmart and Amazon announced that they would stop marketing water beads to children.
Bethard is also working with Wisconsin U.S. State Senator Tammy Baldwin to establish federal legislation to permanently outlaw all water beads. This past spring, the CPSC established new legal guidelines that restrict the size of water beads to try to ensure high safety standards.
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