This report,our first ever, is intended to show the results of our work as journalists in 2021, providing independent, evidence-based reporting to inform our democracy. We held the powerful to account, exposed injustices, shared lifesaving information, celebrated the best of our communities and partnered with you — ourvaluedreaders — to make a difference.
Our team of reporters, photojournalists, videographers and editors set out to provide news and information that mattered to you. We produced in-depth investigations that influenced state policies, kept you up to date on COVID-19 news and vaccination clinics to help youand yourfamilystay safe, and led a reader-donation campaign that will help feed thousands of our neighbors struggling through uncertain times.
Our journalism lifted the voices of those who’ve felt powerless and added fresh perspectives to the news.
We dug through public records, pressed decision-makers for answers and interviewed and photographed people who shared stories of loss, faced homelessness, survived trauma and inspired change.
Often, too, we asked you to join us in the work, whether in voting for the best-performing student-athletes, sending us recipes, grading the Green Bay Packers, remembering 9/11, or sharing Thanksgiving gratitude.
Thanks to all those who participated in those efforts, and to our subscribers.Without you, this work wouldn’t have been possible. You have a stake in our future and the future of this community, and we want you to know we take your trust in us seriously. Please drop me a lineat920-431-8392ormtreinen@gannett.comif you have questions, concerns or suggestions.
We’d like to also thank Report for America for partnering with us to fund two full-time reporters covering rural Wisconsin and Indigenous communities.
In the coming year, we’re planning coverage that:
- Helps our readers understand demographic changes in their communities
- Keeps tabs on schools as students recover from pandemic learning losses
- Offers expert insights that can improve your personal finances
- Focusesattention on a crisis inchild care
- Takesa candid look at inequities that keep people from living up to theirfullpotential
- Coversthe 2022 local, legislative andcongressional electionswith an emphasis on issues that matter to you
–Mark Treinen, News Director
Stock the Shelves helps our neighbors struggling through uncertain times
Over the month of October, journalists across the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin wrote 44 stories about hunger, food insecurity, pandemic assistance and the peopleworking in local communities to help their neighbors in need. Giving readers this information is central to our mission as an independent news organization providing fact-based reporting from our communities — and readers responded.
This year's donations to Stock the Shelves totaled more than $163,000. That money will provide 652,332 meals. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin distributes food based on where the donations come from, meaning local dollars help your neighbors. We’re fortunate to have such great partners in Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and local credit unions, who work tirelessly to help support this effort.Since 2010, more than $5 million has been raised to combat hunger through this program.
We’re also grateful that our readers saw our coverage of the hunger issue andgaveto Stock the Shelves. We know there are many options for charitable giving, and we’re thrilled so many included this campaign among them.And remember: The need doesn’t end in October. Please consider supporting Feeding AmericaEastern Wisconsin withyour time, talent and dollars all year long.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:In Fond du Lac, 42% of families struggle to put food on the table
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Fond du Lac nonprofits team up to solve rising homelessness in the city; here's how you can help
READ THE SERIES HERE: Want to help send food to those in need? Stock the Shelves donation window open during October
COVID-19reportinghelps answer your big questionswhile supplying useful information about accessingservices
In dozens of reports throughout the year, weprovidedinformation for readers theycouldn’tfindanywhere else.Thisincluded in-depth reports as well as quick-hit informationon where to find local resources andassistance on an issue where things often changed at a moment’s notice.
We explained how the state Supreme Court’s decision to end Wisconsin’s face-covering mandate would affect mask requirements in your communities; provided an exclusive look inside an overwhelmed intensive care unit amid another surge of COVID-19 patients; investigated the cause of vaccine hesitancy in the two Wisconsin counties with the lowest rates of COVID-19 shots, as well as among Black and Latino communities; and addressed the body-mass shame that was keeping some of the earliest eligible Wisconsin residents from getting vaccinated.
We provided practical information and kept updated lists: who’s newly eligible for vaccines, where to get yourself or your kids vaccinated locally, and how and where to get your booster.
We shared the experiences of local people who suffered serious bouts with COVID, and of those who lost loved ones to the disease.Moreover, weprovided factsto cut through misinformation and disinformationthatdownplayedthe consequences of its spreadand treatment.As this report was being prepared, local communities wereseeing another sharp increasein casesalong with theemergenceof theomicron variant.This is a story that we will continue to monitor closely in 2022.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:COVID-19 awareness campaign reaches out to Hispanics, Blacks and underserved in Fond du Lac County
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Funeral services set for Fond du Lac officer who died of COVID-19 caught in line of duty
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Fond du Lac County reports 9 additional COVID-19-related deaths since September
‘Ethan’s Law’closes loophole in foster care law that wasexposed bydogged reporting
Before reporter Doug Schneider investigated theabuseand death of7-year-oldEthan Hauschultz, Wisconsin law contained a loophole that allowed people convicted of child abuse to serve as foster parents.
If they managed to get the court to change their record to reflect a lesser charge — as fosterparentTimothy Hauschultz had — prospective caregivers could evade the red flag of child abuse.
After his initial reporting in late 2020 on Ethan’s foster placement, Schneider kept a focus on the related criminal cases in 2021 as legislators, including Sen.AndreJacque, R-De Pere, and Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc,took notice of the hole in the law. Schneider also tracked the lawmakers’ progress as their concerns turned into a bill, and as the bill turned into “Ethan’s Law,”signed by Gov. Tony Evers,which closes a gap that allowed kids to beplaced with a convicted child abuser.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Gov. Tony Evers signs 'Ethan's Law,' honoring Manitowoc boy slain after being placed with man who'd admitted child abuse
READ ABOUT IT HERE:The lonesome death of Ethan Hauschultz
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Manitowoc County foster brother sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing boy, 7, in Ethan's Law case
Investigative reportingon clergy abuse accusations promptswider probe by Wisconsinattorneygeneral
An investigative report from late 2020, about the death by suicide of a man who said multiple priests sexually assaulted him as astudent, led to further coverage in 2021 and helped to inspire a campaign for statewide action on clergy abuse.
The activist group known as Nate’s Mission, named for Green Bay native Nathan Lindstrom, pressured state Attorney General Josh Kaul to launch an investigation of sexual assault allegations and potential cover-ups within Wisconsin churches.
That investigation started after a series of reports from USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin about the secrecy and trauma that survivors of sexual abuse said they experienced after reporting allegations to Catholic diocese leaders. For some, it took decades to see their abusers brought to justice. For Lindstrom, the rejection he felt after he persisted with his accusations became overwhelming. He died by suicide in March 2020, after St. Norbert Abbey told him his allegations were “not credible” and withdrew monthly payments it had been making for his mental health needs.
As of November, there had been about 180 reports to the AG's officeas part of its investigation. At least two cases have been referred to local prosecutors for potential criminal charges, both in Brown County.About 40% of the people who reported to the state’s new clergy abuse hotline had not reported to a law enforcement agency or a religious entity before.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:First came sex abuse allegations at the abbey. Then secret payments. Then a suicide.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Flanked by victims of priests, Attorney General Josh Kaul announces probe of clergy sex abuse
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Wisconsin clergy abuse review shows power of independent inquiry
National Coming Out Daycoverage tells storiesabout livingtrue lives
A team of three reporters, three photojournalists and an editor shared stories from the LGBTQ community that had rarely been told publicly before— as a way tomark National Coming Out Day in October.
Our journalists spoke with seven people from a variety of backgrounds about when, why and how they first acknowledged they were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
For some, the journey was a smooth transition, filled with love and support. For others, the journey continues, having lost friends and family members along the way.
They all agreed that coming out was the best way — the only way — they could live their true lives.
One reader wrote afterward that “realizing that coming out does not require booking aU-haulto move to a city typically thought of as a LGBTQsafe havenmakes the coming out process much less isolated. … Thank you for using your time and talents to bring a little visibility to these stories and helping make things just a little bit easier for people struggling with their identities to find their own flavor of happiness.”
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Coming Out Day 2021: Wisconsin LGBTQ residents share their stories
9/11 at 20:Rememberingthe daythat changed the worldthrough multiple perspectives
Twenty years later, the memories of the Sept. 11,2001, attacks and the aftermath remain fresh for many of our readers.
To mark the solemn anniversary of the attack, readers from all over the state sent stories and memories from that unforgettable day. They included the memories of a Sheboygan teacher trying to calm schoolchildren and a Wisconsin Rapids teacher trying to find a way to talk to kindergartners aboutshocking images on TV. There were a pair of campers who emerged from the woods days afterward to experience delayed shock, and a woman who as a young, pregnant mother waited three days for her husband to make it home from his New York office.
As one reader told us,“The world changed that week forever.”
The world changed in some unique ways for Wisconsin residents who are Muslim American, and we spoke with manyonthe 20thanniversary. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, they experienced personal assaults, harmful stereotyping and alienating rhetoric as they lived and served in their communities.Some hid their backgrounds, cut their beards, removed their head-coverings, altered their names or retreated from society.
Yet they turned those moments into education, not just for others who benefited from a better understanding of the Muslim faith and its followers, but for themselves.
"I think that as a Muslim community we definitely have become much more aware and much more politically active and politically involved," Janan Najeeb, president of Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition and founder of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, told us. "Because we realize if we don't present our narratives, there are enough people out there that don't like us that would prefer to create the narrative that they want."
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Wisconsin's Muslim Americans address post-9/11 Islamophobia through community, civic engagement
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Wisconsin remembers: From classrooms to hospitals to farm fields, here's how 9/11 news unfolded in our state
A tragic trend hits close to home:Four members of sameWisconsin National Guardunit die by suicide
Thetragictrend of active service members and veterans dying by suicide hit homewhenin Novemberwe published the results of an investigationintothe deaths of four WisconsinArmyNationalGuard membersfrom the same unit.These citizen-soldiers hailed fromAppleton, Oshkosh,Nichols and Waunakee.
A MilwaukeeJournal Sentineland USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsininvestigation chronicled how four Wisconsin Guardsmen died by suicide in a five-month span in 2020 and early 2021 after serving in Afghanistan. The investigation also detailed how Guard leaders and lawmakers have failed to keep pace with the distinct mental health burden facing the force.
The suicide rate in the National Guardishigher on average over the past five years than the rate among full-time and reserve military personnel. In 2020, 120 Guard members nationwide died from suicide, up from 90 the year before. Guard leaders will not release the numbers of suicides bystate, citing privacy concerns.
In response to our reporting,U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has asked the head of the force to release specific numbers of deaths and provide details about how the Guard can provide better care for its members.
In aDecemberletter to Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Baldwin cited several findings and possible reforms highlighted in our investigation last month, including the need for a one-stop shop of mental health resources tailored to the force.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Four Wisconsin National Guardsmen went to Afghanistan together. All returned home safely. Within months, all took their own lives.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Sen. Tammy Baldwin presses National Guard leader for answers, data about the high suicide rate in the force
Remembering 100 people who died from COVID-19 in the pandemic’s first year
In March, The Reporter staff combed through a year’s worth of obituaries to compile a memorial for 100 of the Fond du Lac County who died in connection to COVID-19. This effort was undertaken to give a face to each life lost in a pandemic dogged by confusion, misinformation, stigma and grief.
“With a population of a little over 103,000 people, Fond du Lac County is predominantly rural, with small towns and villages spread out across sweeping farmland,” wrote Sharon Roznik, the lead reporter on the memorial. “It's a place where the Midwest mindset of family comes first. It's a place where neighbors help neighbors, and the sorrowed loss of loved ones ripples through tight-knit communities.”
For each person recorded by the county health department as a victim of COVID, reporters collected details about their lives from their obituary or death notice. Among the names, we found people remembered as former colleagues, neighbors, military veterans and lifelong employees of local companies. They included a dairy farmer who donated nearly 100 gallons of blood and a CNA who beat cancer four times. We lost sports fans, small business owners, nonprofit volunteers, hobbyists, bakers and collectors.
While the list was not a complete accounting of the loss – just those known to the health department by the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s arrival in Fond du Lac– the story remains representative of all those whose lives were cut short by the virus.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:They can never be replaced. Here are the names of the 100 people we lost to COVID-19 in a year's time
Explaining the true cost of keeping Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac
In 2009, Fond du Lac County loaned Mercury Marine $50 million to prevent the city’s largest manufacturer from moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma. In May, as the loan was nearing its end, The Reporter’s Sharon Roznik chronicled its history, economic impact and outcome for readers in a story headlined, “Mercury Marine $50 million loan will be paid off this year. How much did it cost taxpayers?”
The company was awarded two major incentive packages: $65 million in tax credits from Wisconsin approved by then-Gov. Jim Doyle (the largest amount given to a business in the state’s history until the Foxconn deal years later) and the $50 million, low-interest loan.
Roznik spoke with County Executive Allen Buechel as he turned back time and explained the negotiation that kept the company in the county. Buechel estimated the loss of Mercury Marine would have meant a reduction of 5,900 jobs countywide, affecting not just its own employees but up to 250 suppliers and their workers, with a loss of $353 million in payroll.
"Projected property values would also have declined significantly and would have a major impact on many related businesses that would have seriously harmed Fond du Lac for the years to come," he said.
Roznik also broke down the figure everyone was waiting for: After 12 years, Mercury ended up paying $36,889,689 and taxpayers paid $25,085,666 — a combined $50 million on the loan and $11,975,355 in interest — to keep the company in Fond du Lac.
READ ABOUT IT HERE:Mercury Marine $50 million loan will be paid off this year. How much did it cost taxpayers?
