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The Wisconsin Independent •

More OB-GYN residents will work in rural Wisconsin communities thanks to federal grant

A new federal grant aims to help bridge reproductive health care gaps in Wisconsin by sending more doctors who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology to train in rural communities.


The University of Wisconsin-Madison will receive $750,000 over the next three years to expand its rural OB-GYN residency track, which launched in 2016 and is the first of its kind in the nation.


The Biden-Harris administration announced the funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Jun...
Wisconsin Life •

My promise to August: Reflections on living in the moment - Wisconsin Life

Writer and journalist Olivia Herken among the sunflowers, one of the many things she's finding a deeper appreciation for this August. (Jonah Beleckis/WPR)
Wellness books and self-care social media accounts often stress the importance of “living in the moment.” But, what if you’re just not that into the current moment? How do you approach things more positively? Journalist Olivia Herken has been thinking about this a lot lately, specifically when it comes to her least favorite month: August.
(Thi...
TAI News •

Lavender haze: Is this Wisconsin’s next big crop? - TAI News

More and more lavender farms have opened in Wisconsin in recent years, earning a reputation as a popular mid-summer tourist attraction.Wisconsin is known for many things: milk and cheese, beer and the Green Bay Packers, cranberries and frigid winters. Lavender doesn’t traditionally appear on that list, but that may soon change.


While the purple, fragrant plant is native to the Mediterranean region, it has grown in popularity in the United States and has boomed in recent years in the Midwest,...
TAI News •

‘She’s got it all’: Voters excited about Harris at first presidential campaign stop - TAI News

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first presidential campaign stop in Milwaukee, a key battleground area where the Republican National Convention was held days before.More than 3,000 energetic voters gathered in the West Allis Central High School gymnasium on Tuesday to see Vice President Kamala Harris in what was her first presidential campaign event since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.


The crowd — filled with moms and daughters, men and women, retirees, young...
TAI News •

Manitowoc declares itself the 'Specialty Malt Capital of the World' - TAI News

The Wisconsin city has been a center of malt production and brewing since the 1840s.When visitors get off the car ferry in downtown Manitowoc, they are often greeted by the sweet and nutty smell of malt wafting through the air with the breeze off Lake Michigan.


It’s a common feature of the east-central Wisconsin city of roughly 34,500 people, which has a long history of malt production and brewing dating back over a century that has led to its being dubbed “Malt City.”


Nestled in Manitowoc...
TAI News •

In Green County, it’s all hands on deck to fix the child care crisis - TAI News

One Wisconsin county is shifting its mindset on who should care about child care.Lately, it hasn’t been uncommon for Corrine Hendrickson to get stopped at the grocery store by community members who want to talk to her about child care.


They’ve often read one of the columns she’s written about child care that have appeared in local newspapers throughout Green County, or been to an information session hosted by the Green County Child Care Network. The nonprofit, of which Hendrickson is the secr...
TAI News •

Fight in Legislature over 'forever chemical' funds stalls help for Wisconsin communities - TAI News

Once a month, Susan Adams and her family place a dozen or so empty blue plastic five-gallon water jugs outside their house on French Island in La Crosse County. A Culligan Water worker comes and refills the jugs, and Adams’ family drags them back into the house.


The jugs are stored on a rack in the front room next to a piano until they’re ready to be hooked up to the water cooler in their kitchen or to replace the one in their upstairs bathroom. Adams’ family of five uses this bottled water f...
TAI News •

Mount Horeb school shooting incident underscores student mental health crisis - TAI News

After a student with a gun was shot and killed by police, community members are reflecting on young people’s mental health struggles.Ron Lutz had just sat down to eat lunch on May 1 when he received a text from his 16-year-old daughter, Freja, around 11:30 a.m.


“I love you dad,” it read. At first, Lutz was a little surprised to receive the text out of the blue, but he assumed it was just a sweet reminder from Freja.


Then he got an emergency alert on his phone saying there was an active sho...
TAI News •

$1B federal grant will help replace ‘lifeline’ bridge connecting Superior and Duluth - TAI News

The Blatnik Bridge connecting Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, isn’t at the top of anyone’s list of famous bridges.


The bridge doesn’t hold the same local cultural significance as Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, which is pictured on souvenir magnets and tote bags. The locals refer to the Blatnik as the High Bridge, and it has more of a utilitarian reputation, a main thoroughfare that roughly 33,000 vehicles use to travel between the two cities and states every day.


“For me, the bri...
TAI News •

Abortion is back in Wisconsin. But for some, it’s like the ban was never lifted. - TAI News

Some residents have to travel hundreds of miles to visit one of the state’s few abortion clinics.On an early summer morning, Shanna Behrend got in her friend’s car and drove roughly 100 miles from Stevens Point to Madison, Wisconsin. She needed to have an abortion.


She was 24 and still in college, and she and her boyfriend weren’t ready to be parents. But she soon learned there wasn’t an abortion clinic in her hometown. The closest one was three counties south in Madison.


She didn’t have a...
Wisconsin State Journal •

Survey: Wisconsin teens report highest rate of suicidal thoughts since 2003

The results, which were released Tuesday, also show an increasing amount of anxiety and depression among students. Nearly 34% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for more than two weeks in a row, a jump of more than five percentage points since 2019 and the highest rate in the survey’s history.This is the first time the survey has been given since the start of the pandemic. The survey was administered in the fall of 2021, and 1,838 randomly selected students at 43 high...
La Crosse Tribune •

Finding Home: Woman at Houska Park waiting on housing — and a new hip

Despite not being able to do traditional work, F.P. stays busy. She wants to host a rummage sale to raise money for the park, and she’s interested in tie-dying, wanting to make natural dyes out of plants and other organic materials. She collects items like hoodies and gives them to others staying at the park on cold or rainy nights. And when she and others were transferred from the shelter at the Econo Lodge to the park when spring came, she made sure people had blankets and other supplies.Despi...
La Crosse Tribune •

Dutch man walking across the continent passes through the Driftless Region

He was then inspired by a documentary of a man who was living in the wild of New Zealand. Boerman followed suit and traveled to New Zealand, where he spent long periods of time alone in the wilderness. Then he decided he wanted to do something that had never been done before, and the idea to walk around the world was born.Happé arrived at Pleasant Valley on Thursday to pick Boerman up at the end of his day’s walk. She brought him an orange juice and a bag of cookies, and the previous night had m...
La Crosse Tribune •

Olivia Herken: The homesickness of losing your mom

When I was in the first grade, I remember feeling this way one day around the middle of the morning. I told my teacher that my stomach hurt. She felt my forehead and noticed no fever, but I was adamant that I was sick.When we got home she asked me if I wanted to lie down on the couch, but I instead asked if I could get on the computer and play a game on Nickelodeon about Oswald, an octopus that works at a cafe.My stomach ache started to subside and I asked my mom if I could go back to school. Sh...
La Crosse Tribune •

Olivia Herken: The homesickness of losing your mom

When I was in the first grade, I remember feeling this way one day around the middle of the morning. I told my teacher that my stomach hurt. She felt my forehead and noticed no fever, but I was adamant that I was sick.When we got home she asked me if I wanted to lie down on the couch, but I instead asked if I could get on the computer and play a game on Nickelodeon about Oswald, an octopus that works at a cafe.My stomach ache started to subside and I asked my mom if I could go back to school. Sh...
La Crosse Tribune •

DOT to ditch marsh highway plans, invest in existing La Crosse infrastructure instead

He said he came to agree that the marsh road should not move forward, saying that there was not enough community support and it wasn’t something the administration wanted to pursue any longer. But at the same time, he said, officials didn’t want “La Crosse to lose out.”The latest adaptation of a marsh road, known as “5B-1,” has been enumerated with the state since 1997, which essentially means the plan has been in a holding phase waiting to be executed. That plan would have taken U.S. Highway 53...
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My Awards

Wisconsin Newspaper Association, 2020

- First Place Investigative Reporting: 'La Crosse GOP 'fake' senior letter was sent by executive member, emails show'

- First Place Local Government Reporting: 'Still pumping: La Crosse North Siders deal with persistent water'

- First Place Environmental Reporting: 'We can't wait': Is Grandma's Gateway the right development for La Crosse bluffs?'

- "Rookie of the Year," Honorable Mention

Wisconsin Newspaper Association, 2021

- First Place Localized National Story: 'Ice packs, ice cream and vacation cut short: Behind the scenes of Biden's visit'

Judge's comments: "The depth in the reporting both during and after Biden's visit was exceptional."

- Second Place Investigative Reporting: 'Library staff felt 'threatened' after GOP candidate complained about Pride Month display'

Judge's comments: "Incredible work. Timely and impactful due to the ongoing congressional campaign. Very well-written. Author gives the sense that they told a story that would not have been told without them. Excellent work."

- Second Place Ongoing/Extended Coverage: 'The Altman files: Controversial priest comes under fire for political comments'

Judge's comments: "A story of the perseverance and tough skin a journalist has to have. Props to the author to not only exposing the story to the world, but to her continued efforts to bring it into the spotlight."



Wisconsin Newspaper Association, 2022

- First Place Open Records/FOI Award: 'Campbell approves draft water agreement with La Crosse, assures residents annexation off the table'

- Second Place Ongoing/Extended Coverage: 'Finding Home: A series exploring homelessness in La Crosse'

Judge's comments: "While we all know homelessness is a problem, this series digs into the causes and some of the possible solutions. But beyond that, the series puts faces to the statistics, telling the stories of actual homeless people and explaining the various ways they've gotten to where they are. The videos accompanying the stories are a nice touch."