WPR’s top stories of 2022

Issues have been a blur since 2020. The previous few years have been marked by a contentious political local weather and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, we noticed the overturning of Roe v. Wade, trials associated to the Jan. 6 revolt of 2021 and a nationwide enhance in labor organizing. Tales from years previous that progressed into 2022 embody extra frequent pure disasters as a result of local weather change, skyrocketing inflation, the persevering with battle in Ukraine and a raging “tripledemic.”

This 12 months in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson had been reelected for one more time period and Darrel Brooks Jr. was sentenced to lifetimes in jail for driving an SUV by the Waukesha vacation parade in 2021. The state additionally handed its first ever requirements for PFAS whereas residents pushed for extra motion. And since Roe v. Wade was taken off the books, debates have continued over the enforcement of Wisconsin’s Nineteenth-century abortion ban. 

Whereas a few of that’s mirrored within the listing under, Wisconsin Public Radio’s high 10 tales of 2022 embody a number of outliers, proving that irrespective of the world’s chaos, typically we select what drama we get caught up in (i.e. hospital mergers, golf course investments and bugs), for higher or worse.

This is an inventory of among the hottest tales of the 12 months, calculated utilizing Google Analytics knowledge from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 18, 2022. 

The epidemic of well being care employee shortages hit a northeastern Wisconsin hospital exhausting because it battled to pressure employees who had resigned to remain on till replacements may very well be discovered.

In January, WPR reported on a civil courtroom case between ThedaCare and Ascension Wisconsin. Seven employees members resigned from ThedaCare’s radiology and cardiovascular groups, opting to depart for jobs at Ascension’s St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton.

ThedaCare filed a lawsuit in opposition to these staff, and requested for an injunction to dam them from beginning their new jobs. Legal professionals for ThedaCare stated the ability “won’t have sufficient staffing to deal with trauma and stroke victims — a few of whom will die because of the dearth of well timed care.”

Ascension stated in the course of the listening to that ThedaCare knew in regards to the employees resignations and had loads of time to search out replacements. 

Outagamie County Circuit Court docket Choose Mark McGinnis briefly issued the injunction on Friday, Jan. 21, till a courtroom listening to the next Monday. After that listening to, McGinnis determined ThedaCare could not pressure staff who had resigned to remain till replacements had been employed.

Marshfield Clinic Well being System and Essentia Well being have been in talks about merging their hospitals and clinics in a transfer that officers stated would offer sufferers with higher entry to main and specialty care.

Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic would deliver 1,600 suppliers to the merger, in accordance with a WPR report in October. Mixed, Marshfield Clinic and Minnesota-based Essentia Well being would pull collectively 3,500 suppliers at greater than 150 websites throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota.

The 2 well being programs signed an settlement on Oct. 12 to discover the potential of forming an built-in well being system.

About 2 million folks can be affected by the merger.

Although officers tout the merger would deliver higher entry to sufferers, well being care mergers have been proven to result in larger costs for commercially-insured sufferers, in accordance with a 2020 research by Harvard Medical Faculty scientists.

However Brian Potter, senior vice chairman of finance and chief working officer for the Wisconsin Hospital Affiliation, stated that hasn’t been a difficulty in Wisconsin. In actual fact, he stated hospital mergers will be advantageous for small, impartial hospitals in rural communities who’re becoming a member of bigger well being programs.

Tyler Luedtke thought of the thought of shopping for the Sir Lanserlot Golf Course in Plymouth when he was on the College of Wisconsin-Whitewater. And he did it.

For $1.6 million, Luedtke bought the 18-hole golf course from Dale Lanser, who owned the Sheboygan County course for 16 years.

Luedtke advised WPR’s “The Morning Present” his purpose is to attraction to a youthful viewers, and make the corporate family-friendly and easygoing.

“Our purpose and one in every of our driving elements is to attempt to make the course interesting for folks of all talent ranges,” he stated.

Again in August, Luedtke advised “The Morning Present” he has had assist from lots of people. His grandparents cleaned up the clubhouse and planted flowers, and his mother and father trimmed timber. One factor he stated he was making some extent of doing: Listening to the group.

“Do not simply write them off instantly,” he stated. “However hear what individuals are pondering and see what we will do to work along with the group to make it that superior setting for everyone.”

Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents might be affected by two separate mergers of nonprofit hospital programs finalized this month.

Gundersen Well being System and Bellin Well being accomplished a merger Dec. 1. Advocate Aurora Well being and Atrium Well being did the identical Dec. 2.

Bellin and Gundersen will maintain their respective names in the intervening time and separate headquarters in Inexperienced Bay and La Crosse. Advocate Aurora and Atrium will turn out to be Advocate Well being.

The mergers will affect about 8.5 million sufferers throughout a number of states.

Hospital officers say the offers are aimed toward enhancing affected person care, and stem from organizations sharing comparable missions and visions. However the mergers even have the potential to present hospitals extra leverage to barter for larger costs with insurance coverage corporations.

A UW-Madison economist stated mergers could give hospitals extra leverage in negotiations with insurance coverage corporations. The economist stated insurance coverage corporations need to pay as low a worth as they will negotiate, whereas well being care suppliers need to receives a commission as a lot as they will negotiate. If well being programs can negotiate for larger charges, it might increase costs for sufferers.

Whereas well being care mergers have the potential to extend prices for sufferers, they may additionally improve providers, Wisconsin Hospital Affiliation Vice President of Finance and Chief Working Officer Brian Potter stated.

The identical day the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade, almost all abortions turned unlawful in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, the state’s Nineteenth century abortion ban is the regulation of the land, making an abortion unlawful except deemed medically mandatory to save lots of a pregnant particular person’s life.

Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood of Wisconsin, stated the company was instantly compelled to droop abortion providers.

Representatives from some abortion-rights organizations advised WPR in June that they had been already engaged on creating partnerships with organizations in states the place abortions are nonetheless authorized beneath state regulation. That work started after the draft opinion indicating the courtroom was poised to overturn Roe was leaked. The partnerships are aimed toward serving to with scheduling, monetary help, journey, lodging and youngster take care of folks touring out of state for an abortion.

For social conservatives, the choice represented a historic victory in a decades-long battle. In an announcement, the Brookfield-based Professional-Life Wisconsin celebrated the overturning of Roe.

Wisconsin Legal professional Common Josh Kaul stated he wouldn’t implement the state’s abortion ban when the draft opinion was leaked. Nonetheless, native regulation enforcement officers can.

Gov. Tony Evers tried to repeal the state’s abortion ban previous to the SCOTUS determination. However Republican lawmakers rejected the particular session.

In Might, simply days after the discharge of a leaked draft opinion that may overturn the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, police and firefighters started investigating suspected arson on the Madison headquarters of an anti-abortion group.

Home windows had been damaged and the within of an workplace at Wisconsin Household Motion was burned. A graffiti message spray-painted on the skin of the constructing learn: “If abortions aren’t secure, then you definately aren’t both.”

A Molotov cocktail, that didn’t ignite, was thrown contained in the constructing and a separate fireplace was then lit, in accordance with Madison police. There have been no reported accidents.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes launched an announcement saying it appeared Wisconsin Household Motion was focused. The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are additionally conducting an investigation of the incident.

The investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made, in accordance with the Wisconsin State Journal.

Certainly one of 2021’s most tragic tales led to a sequence of articles this 12 months following the trial of Darrell Brooks Jr., who was convicted in November of first-degree intentional murder for plowing by a crowd in the course of the Waukesha Christmas Parade.

Victims of Brooks’ actions on the day of the parade shared testimony for hours throughout his sentencing listening to in November. Testimonies got here from youngsters who had been struck by the car Brooks was driving, mother and father who frantically searched for his or her youngsters among the many injured and Sheri Sparks, the mom of 8-year-old Jackson Sparks who was the one youngster amongst six folks killed.

Sparks defined how she ran by the gang trying to find her two sons. She noticed a police officer carrying Jackson to remedy. She discovered her different son, Tucker, semi-unconscious beneath a blanket within the street.

“We got here so near shedding them each that day,” Sparks stated. “I miss Jackson each second of each single day. I really feel gutted and damaged. It hurts to breathe typically. It hurts to stay with out him right here. My mama’s soul aches for him. I’m emotionally and mentally exhausted. The ache I carry with me day-after-day feels so heavy, but I’ve to push ahead and nonetheless be right here to assist Tucker heal.”

Brooks was given six life sentences, one for every particular person killed, and an extra 762 years in jail for recklessly endangering security. 

In 2007, Brendan Dassey, who was 17 years previous on the time, was convicted and sentenced to life in jail for the sexual assault and homicide of Teresa Halbach. The case is the main focus of the Netflix documentary “Making a Assassin.”

However the conviction hinged on a confession from Dassey that legal professionals argued was false and coerced, and lots of argue Dassey is harmless. 

In March 2022, attorneys for Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery, issued an open letter to Gov. Tony Evers, urging him to commute Dassey’s sentence. 

In response to the letter, police falsely advised Dassey they might cost him except he helped “fill within the gaps” left by Avery, who was convicted in Halbach’s homicide. Police advised Dassey they might shield him in return, the letter stated.

Dassey is now in his early 30s and isn’t eligible for parole till 2048. 

Most, if not all, of Wisconsin has snow on the bottom proper now.

This February story takes us again to when meteorologists predicted northwest Wisconsin might get 10 to 18 inches of snow over two days — and a few counties might see extra due to the lake impact.

The storm ended up brining 6 to 12 inches of snow throughout northwest Wisconsin, in accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service. Some areas round Lake Superior amassed greater than a foot of snow, and greater than 2 ft of snow piled up in elements of northern Bayfield and Ashland counties, in accordance with the climate service. However the Washburn space had everybody beat: Snowfall quantities of as excessive as 33 and a half ft had been reported close to Washburn, south of Bayfield.

The storm got here on the 100-year anniversary of one of many worst ice storms in Wisconsin’s historical past. From Feb. 21-23, in 1922, freezing rain coated the southern a part of the state in wherever from 1 to 4 inches of ice, inflicting $10 million in property damages.

In August, P.J. Liesch, of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, joined WPR’s “The Larry Meiller Present” to speak in regards to the noticed lanternfly and its potential results on Wisconsin.

The invasive insect is transferring west throughout the nation. As of December, it has been present in 13 states, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Agriculture. Neighboring Michigan has reported its presence. Liesch stated it’s solely a matter of time earlier than it reaches Wisconsin. Native to China, the noticed lanternfly was first detected in September 2014 in Pennsylvania.

The species “might critically affect the nation’s grape, orchard and logging industries” if it continues to unfold, in accordance with the USDA.

A whole bunch or 1000’s of the noticed lanternfly can feed on timber or grapevines, and all of the ingesting will hurt the crops.

Liesch stated the feeding can result in a “fairly messy state of affairs throughout” due to how they excrete honeydew, which is extra sugar of their waste. Mildew can develop on that, too. Liesch stated he hasn’t heard as a lot concern about area crops or greens. They often go after timber.

Liesch advised “The Larry Miller Present”:

“Consider cherry timber in Door County and apple orchards. We all know fruit timber will be in danger. However an excellent larger concern for us on the larger image stage is grapes. This insect actually, actually is keen on grapes. So, grape growers and the winery business right here within the state and within the Midwest might be going to must take care of this insect within the not-too-distant future.”

Winery managers in Wisconsin could must usually spray pesticides.

Editor’s notice: Alyssa Allemand, Andrea Anderson, Jenny Peek and Liz Dohms-Harter contributed to this story.