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It was perhaps one of the most shocking stories in state political history: A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice had put his hands around the neck of a fellow justice in her office during a heated argument over a pending case.
That 2011 Wisconsin Watch scoop from reporter Bill Lueders was the direct result of a tip we received from a news partner.
Other tips from the public have resulted in some of our biggest reports, including Dee Hall’s investigation into an American Family Children’s Hospital doctor whose child abuse testimony had wrongfully implicated parents of crimes, a joint investigation by Phoebe Petrovic and Maya Hilty of the Sheboygan Press into a culture of sexual harrassment within the Sheboygan Police Department, and Zhen Wang’s award-winning investigation of Milwaukee Tool’s use of Chinese prison labor.
Tips are the lifeblood of what we do, whether it’s from someone being treated unfairly by a big business, or a government insider who sees evidence of corruption, or someone who has a question about something that just doesn’t smell right and isn’t sure where to go for help.
That’s why we’re excited to improve the process by which we field tips from the public. We’ve created a Google form that will allow us to better track tips we receive. Those who fill out the form can remain anonymous while leaving us a way to contact them for more details.
With the demise of local news outlets around the state, there are fewer journalists lending a sympathetic ear to the little guy being trampled by the powerful and well-connected. If you see something you think deserves to be investigated and exposed, let us know!
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