Welcome to Wisconsin Watch’s Year in Review series. In this series, we’re looking back on Wisconsin Watch’s reporting and impact in 2023.
Throughout the week, you’ll be hearing directly from reporters and editors and get exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at our biggest investigations of the year, along with some sneak peeks at what we have planned for next year.
In 2023, our high-quality, impactful journalism spurred a congressional investigation, won multiple awards and held power accountable.
View some highlights of our impact below.
Investigating forced labor
Zhen Wang found evidence that prisoners in China’s central Hunan Province were forced to make Milwaukee Tool-branded work gloves for 90-plus hours a week, earning pennies each day. Her investigation of the Brookfield-based company’s supply chain practice drew the attention of the State Department, which contacted the U.S.-based wife of a dissident featured in the story. Recently, Walmart announced it was suspending sale of the gloves at its stores or on its website.
The investigation also prompted a bipartisan congressional investigation into Milwaukee Tool’s practices. In a July 10 letter to Milwaukee Tool Group President Steve Richman, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, commission co-chair, wrote that the use of forced Chinese labor violates international human rights standards, China’s international obligations and U.S. law.
“We raise these concerns after reading an investigative report by Wisconsin Watch which detailed how political prisoners in Chishan Prison were forced to work against their will, with little pay, to produce gloves for your company,” said the letter, which outlined questions for Milwaukee Tool to answer.
Speaking July 11 at a commission hearing called “Corporate Complicity: Subsidizing the PRC’s Human Rights Violations,” Smith called the findings from the Wisconsin Watch report “very, very damaging.” (quote is at 1:39:45)
This story won top honors for best investigative journalism in the 2023 Nonprofit News Awards.
Lockdown conditions examined at three Wisconsin state prisons
Wisconsin Watch and New York Times reporter Mario Koran reported earlier this year on a months-long lockdown at Waupun Correctional Institution coinciding with at least two prisoner deaths. In mid-November Gov. Tony Evers announced a plan to ease movement restrictions.
In addition, in early November, Democratic lawmakers introduced a sweeping legislative package to address deteriorating conditions in Wisconsin prisons after we reported that chronic staffing shortages led to months-long lockdowns and a federal lawsuit.
Mario’s reporting from Wisconsin Watch and The New York Times:
- Inside Waupun Correctional Institution’s ‘nightmare’ lockdown
- Second prisoner dies during Waupun Correctional Institution lockdown; restrictions linger at two additional prisons
On Nov. 15, Mario told the Wisconsin Watch staff: “I was talking to a prisoner at Stanley (Correctional Institution). He told me yesterday that they’ve gotten word that at the end of the month, schedules will go back to normal.
I was like, “Well it’s nice to hear that the story maybe had an impact.”
He said: “There is no maybe. It had a clear, direct result. It literally changed everything, almost overnight. You did that, and I thank you.”
Internal probes at the Sheboygan Police Department
In a joint investigation with The Sheboygan Press, Phoebe Petrovic uncovered a long-secret series of internal probes at the Sheboygan Police Department that found a sprawling sexual harassment scandal involving 1 out of every 5 officers in the department. The reporting found female officers were treated more harshly than male colleagues participating in the same behavior and that the human resources director and the head of the city’s Police and Fire Commission were largely left in the dark about the allegations.
The stories prompted the resignation of one officer two days after the story broke, an anti-abuse group called for accountability, community members voiced their anger, and city officials vowed to better respond to and prevent such misconduct. In addition, Phoebe received several messages of gratitude from Sheboygan citizens. This was a NEW News Lab story.
This series was a finalist for the best collaboration from the 2023 LION Awards.
Milwaukee Public Schools ends relationship with Gerard Randall and Milwaukee Education Partnership
Days after WPR in collaboration with Wisconsin Watch reported that Gerard Randall, executive director and sole employee of the nonprofit Milwaukee Education Partnership, was paid more than $64,000 last year for work that was not completed, Milwaukee Public Schools ended its decade-long affiliation with the organization.
When contacted by WPR reporter Corri Hess, several high-profile officials said the nonprofit had listed them in tax filings as board officers without their knowledge.
On Nov. 30, 2023, Randall resigned as RNC host committee secretary after the questionable history of his nonprofit came to light.
Kiel residents rebuke far-right school officials
In a three-part series, Mario Koran explored the roots of racial and gender-related backlash that gripped Kiel, Wisconsin. The turmoil began when the school district investigated students’ reports of being bullied over their race or gender identity, and it escalated into bomb threats that shuttered schools, halted in-person government meetings and canceled the Memorial Day parade.
After two stories were published, parents rallied to prevent the ouster of a popular superintendent who a small but vocal group of parents targeted. Two far-right school board members resigned, restoring the board to a more moderate majority. This was one of our NEW News Lab stories.
In January, we received a letter from a Kiel resident to express his “satisfaction and gratitude” for the reporting.
“His reporting, without a doubt, helped save our community by allowing the citizens of Kiel – armed with the truth – pull away from the grips of a small fringe group of very hateful individuals.
“I firmly believe that without Mario’s work, the situation in Kiel would very much look different. Our community could very much be in a much darker place where misinformation and lies run rampant.”
This series was done as part of the NEW News Lab and won the Accountability Award from the 2023 LION awards.
Reporting on voucher schools
After reporter Phoebe Petrovic examined how Wisconsin law allows private voucher schools to discriminate against students who need disability accommodations, Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation to prohibit such practices.
Rep. Kristina Shelton said the story was a “major factor” behind the legislation. She also said that the story was cited on the floor of the Senate and she referenced it on the Assembly floor.
More from Wisconsin Watch on this topic:
- Wisconsin students with disabilities often denied public school choices
- Federal, state law permit disability discrimination in Wisconsin voucher schools
- ‘Unwanted and unwelcome’: Anti-LGBTQ+ policies common at Wisconsin voucher schools
- Considering a Wisconsin voucher school? Here’s what parents of children who are LGBTQ+ or have a disability should know.
Voting systems called out for gaps
Matthew DeFour found that the system for removing people found incompetent to vote had several gaps, leaving openings for election deniers to claim widespread voter fraud.
The story featured a developmentally disabled voter whose name is on the state’s ineligible voter list, but has somehow voted 16 times since 2010. His mother said she never intended to have her son’s voting rights taken away and he is now in the process of fixing that in the court system.
This story was cited in an October 2023 co-sponsorship memo on a bill that makes changes to how those voters are tracked.
Wisconsinites pay the price for pollution they didn’t cause
Intern Erin Gretzinger revealed how state laws do not protect property owners when they unwittingly buy land that is contaminated, later highlighting a bipartisan effort to change that.
Great Lakes pollution threatens Ojibwe treaty rights to fish
Bennet Goldstein, reporting with the Mississippi River Ag & Water Desk, produced a three-part series and photos exploring how growing water contamination in the Great Lakes is eroding the Ojibwe Tribe’s treaty fishing rights.
After this story published, a professor at the Medill School of Journalism and Center for Native American & Indigenous Research at Northwestern University shared the following message:
“I just wanted to tell you what a really, really fine job you did on these stories. The organization and writing was terrific, but the framing! You really captured and communicated an Indigenous world view in a way I rarely (if ever) see in mainstream reporting. I delivered a speech today to an environmental group and shared a link to that story and told them to read it before they did collaborative work.
Really, really well done. I’m going to share it with my colleagues at Medill as an example. Thank you for the work you put into your report. It definitely showed.”
Wisconsin Supreme Court race: Anti-trans ads
A story written by reporter Phoebe Petrovic explained how anti-trans ads that favored state Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly spread misinformation and peddled fear.
This story received feedback from Wisconsinites, along with journalists at the national level.
A Sheboygan resident shared local anti-trans sentiments spreading around in her community to show the “trickle down” effect of the movement against trans kids, thanking Wisconsin Watch for informing the public on misinformation.
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