Huge story coming next weekend and other tidbits

Comment replies, updates on The Domino, silence on records requests, a potential committee appointment, and more data about Wausau/central Wisconsin's population trends

I normally don’t write too many posts like this but I have a huge story coming later next week. It’s something I’ve been working on for months, and most of the elements have finally come together.

Stories can take a long time to come together for a variety of reasons. Sometimes there are a number of records to sift through. Sometimes it takes awhile to gather all the sources. Sometimes, there’s a key piece missing and a story languishes.

In this case, it was a confluence of several things. It took some time to gather all the sources together. And there were some legal complications in putting those sources together - as in, they were weighing legal action in the matter I am writing about.

The challenge with chasing the big stories is that you’re still putting in the time to work on them but at the end of the week have nothing to show for it publicly. I figured out pretty quickly that readers expect a certain number of stories per week, so there is a tricky balance in making time to work on these harder stories while still keeping all of you happy and not feeling like I’ve abandoned the platform.

Carving out time to work on the big stories is why I started The Wausonian in the first place. It’s something that’s increasingly lacking in the corporate media environment. Without giving away too much, early next year you’re going to major changes to The Wausonian in terms of output.

Paid subscribers got the Monthly Tavern Report with an update on The Domino and some other businesses coming to Wausau (I’ve been adding elements to the report).

Replying to comments

I generally consider it a good rule of thumb to reply to commenters, BUT… an increasing number of comments are making it difficult for me to respond to. To use a crude example, if someone were to comment “Mayor Jones is awful for the city,” those comments are pretty much impossible for me to respond to while maintaining neutrality.

I pride myself on being objective and I don’t adhere to either political party. Being principles first is my natural disposition. Comments like the above make it pretty much impossible for me to respond without either affirming or denying your position.

Still silence on T. Wall/Mayor Katie records request

After my last note about not having received a records request for emails between Terrence Wall and now former Mayor Katie Rosenberg and about to be former Community Development Director Liz Brodek, which I requested eight months ago, I did get some response.

That response came from Mayor Doug Diny and Brodek. Not from the people who provide the records.

Diny told me the day my note published that he would be looking into why I didn’t get the records, and Brodek told me she had complied with the request and that she turned in everything on her end.

I didn’t hear from Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde or City Attorney Anne Jacobson and still haven’t. Neither responded to my follow up asking whatever happened to those records.

The whole thing has been a good reminder to set up a reminder system for myself when I make records requests. I can’t just rely on people to do their job. A realization I had the other day is good journalism is setting up systems for yourself. Gmail’s delay feature is a good way to send myself reminders, for instance. I either delay an email someone sends me to the date I think would be a good reminder, or send myself an email and then delay it to the appropriate time. (It’s the little clock feature, in case you’re wondering.) I find it quicker and more intuitive than using Google calendar to set up a reminder, for instance.

Up for a committee position

I am being considered for the media committee member on the Local Emergency Planning Committee. A supervisor from the committee reached out to me about it, and it looks like my appointment will be considered at the next meeting.

It’s a rare chance for a media person to serve on a committee. Generally speaking it’s a big no-no and an incredible conflict of interest (shockingly I’ve known of two central Wisconsin journalists who served on local committees/boards while active in journalism).

But since this one is specifically for journalists, it falls outside the boundaries. A colleague in another county told me she’s been serving in a similar role for six years on her local committee and says it’s a wonderful experience. And since I’ve never once reported on that committee, I don’t see many conflicts coming up. But if I do, I will contract a freelancer to write the story.

The appointment will come up at the county board on July 23.

An interesting point of data

I read an interesting post about national trends between blue states and red states, which I won’t get into here. But a map found in the post sparked some interest given our story about a local video game developer and the elusive goal in getting people to move here.

According to the blow chart, which compiles changes in population from 2020-2023 by county (using census data) Wisconsin is going OK. Not great, but better than many surrounding states and about in the middle nationwide.

Much of the state is light blue, indicating light growth. Except for a big hole, right in central Wisconsin. White on the map indicates a range from -1% to 1%.

That seems to echo David Eckmann’s recent talk to the city’s economic development committee that the Wausau area is in trouble. In our story about Chris Cantero and his video game company locating to Wausau, we showed that Wausau’s population has been declining in recent years, particularly post-pandemic.

Tomorrow I am going to put out a poll asking people when they moved here (if they weren’t born here) and why? I have my suspicions but I don’t want to color the poll. Keep an eye out for that tomorrow.

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