Investigative Reporter

Recent Stories

Oneida zoning department tops $1M in annual revenue

Fees covered a record 88% of department expenses in 2025

Oneida County’s Planning and Zoning Department raked in more than $1 million in revenue in 2025, the first time the department has crossed that threshold, zoning director Karl Jennrich told the county board Tuesday.

Tiffany suffers minor injuries in emergency plane landing

GOP gubernatorial candidate, pilot swim to safety from sinking plane in Lake Wausau

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany said Sunday he was grateful to be alive after the small plane carrying him home from a campaign event in La Crosse lost power and made an emergency landing in Lake Wausau Saturday night.

How the DNR plans to turn 77 acres into 16,000

Willow Flowage purchase reveals much larger DNR acquisition plan

When the Oneida County Board of Supervisors voted 15-2 earlier this year to support the state Department of Natural Resources’ purchase of 77 acres along the Upper Tomahawk River, supervisors repeatedly characterized their decision as approval of a small, unusually strategic acquisition.

Trump orders review of wolf protections

Executive order directs Interior Department to consider delisting

President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to determine whether gray and Mexican wolves have recovered sufficiently to remove them from federal Endangered Species Act protections, a move that drew enthusiastic support from Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany and a promise of litigation from major environmental organizations.

Flock surveillance takes stage in governor’s race

Tiffany vows funding pause; Crowley orders policy review

Wisconsin’s raucous and growing debate over Flock Safety cameras and alleged surveillance moved into the governor’s race front and center this past week, as Republican candidate Tom Tiffany promised to pause state funding for the automated license-plate readers and Democratic candidate and Milwaukee County executive David Crowley limited their use while the county evaluated and developed safeguards.

Projected state surplus heads toward $3 billion

New numbers reignite debate over taxes and spending

Wisconsin finished the 2025-26 fiscal year with preliminary general fund tax collections of $23.1 billion, about $450.8 million, or 2 percent, above the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s previous estimate of nearly $22.7 billion, according to numbers released last week by the state Department of Revenue.

Wisconsin school funding nears historic highs

Students in lower-cost choice programs make greater gains

Wisconsin’s public schools are receiving levels of revenue per student close to historically high levels, according to a recent analysis by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which argues that the numbers refute recurring claims that the state has chronically underfunded public education.

Oneida County unanimously passes data center moratorium

But unzoned towns leave a jurisdictional gap

The Oneida County Board of Supervisors unanimously enacted a one-year moratorium on new data-center development this week, giving county officials time to determine how to regulate such facilities before one potentially arrives in the Northwoods.

WEC: Best not to gamble with your vote

But is the law banning betting on elections even constitutional?

Though most people don’t realize it, an 1849 Wisconsin law can strip voters of their right to cast a ballot in an election if they happen to place a friendly — or even an unfriendly — wager on the outcome, even though the constitutional provision that once explicitly authorized the law was deep-sixed 40 years ago.

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In upset, Crowley stuns Hong in Democratic gubernatorial primary

Tiffany romps; Alfonso, Clark win in 7th district congressional race

Milwaukee County executive David Crowley is the Democratic nominee for governor of Wisconsin, but on Tuesday he did not so much cruise to the nomination as survive the meteoric surge of democratic socialist and Madison lawmaker Francesca Hong.

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