Another year is in the books – one marked with a presidential election, playoff berths (and disappointments) for Wisconsin sports teams, summer festivals and more. Journal Sentinel reporters worked to cover it all through stories, galleries and video, long and shorter. Here’s a look at the 20 stories Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers spent the most time with in 2024, as measured by average engage time per story. The average time spent on the story ranged from nearly 12 minutes to about 5 minutes.
Reporter Mary Spicuzza dug through thousands of records, interviews and documents to piece together what happened to her second cousin August Palmisano. The first person narrative dives into Milwaukee’s mob history to try to find out who killed Augie, who died in a 1978 car bombing. What Spicuzza found was a story about loyalty, jealousy and power — and what some people are willing to do for it.
Spicuzza and multimedia producer Bill Schulz also produced an accompanying podcast.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst talks with columnist Pete Dougherty every year after training camp and before the regular season starts. This year, Packers fans tuned into the column in anticipation of another exciting year, and hopes for another ring.
Beat reporter Ryan Wood dove deep into the tapes to write this analysis of Jordan Love in his first season as starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Wood looked at every pass Love made: all 581 of them. The story published on Jan. 11, 2024, on the eve of the Packers’ surprising playoff run.
Milwaukee residents were hurt and saddened to learn what happened to 19-year-old Sade Robinson. When police arrested Maxwell Anderson in connection with her death, reporters Ashley Luthern and Elliot Hughes investigated his background. What emerged is a portrait of a young man who appeared to repeatedly flout the rules, faced few serious consequences and was prone to violence and alcohol-fueled rage.
Reporter Curt Hogg gives Brewers fans a reason to believe in the future – that even though the club doesn’t have the top-end talent in the MLB, it more than makes up for it in depth. You may not know the names on Hogg’s list yet, but someday you may be buying their jerseys.
We’ll call it a tie for No. 6 with partner stories featuring interviews from Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and new Brewers manager Pat Murphy. Heading into the 2024 season, the Brewers were going through a lot of change at the top, and fans wanted an inside scoop, provided by longtime beat reporter Todd Rosiak.
Sophie Carson tells the heartwarming story of a reunion between a mother and her son after 58 years apart. Barbara Kraft had Kevin Heyel when she was 20 years old and gave him up for adoption. Her siblings never even knew she was pregnant. “I was worried about you,” she told him when they met. “All the time.”
Reporter Cleo Krecji spent a year working in an assisted living facility and shares what she saw in a first person narrative based on her daily journals from the time. An accompanying investigation delves into how people in assisted living facilities are getting sicker, and how underprepared Wisconsin is to handle their care.
Reporter JR Radcliffe dissects the untimely end to the Brewers’ season and the enduring questions: Why and when? Also who? Who will the team pick up in the offseason? And will we ever get that pennant?
Similar to the deep dive into Jordan Love’s first starting season, reporter Todd Rosiak analyzed Brewers manager Pat Murphy’s first 50 games. Rosiak looks at the numbers and the pitchers and poses questions to Murphy, giving readers some stats to chew on.
The entire newsroom worked together to craft this list of objects that define Milwaukee.
Some of the objects are stunningly beautiful, like the art museum’s wings and the Basilica of St. Josaphat dome. Others are delicious – like a Sobelman’s Bloody Mary, frozen custard and cheese curds. More than a few involve beer and sports, because of course they do. And we included some things that are just so Milwaukee – like racing sausages, Kohl’s Cash and “I Closed Wolski’s” stickers.
Readers do care about more than just the Brewers, a team that clearly dominates this list. Jim Owczarski’s February feature about Bucks star Damian Lillard showed Milwaukee fans that Lillard is committed to the team at a time when many were worried.
Enrollment at regional universities in the UW System has slumped everywhere except at UWGB. Higher education reporter Kelly Meyerhofer looked at some data to find out how the Green Bay campus is bucking the trend.
Trending sports reporter JR Radcliffe ranks the Packers’ top 15 NFL draft classes in anticipation of last year’s draft. And which class is at No. 1? It’s 1958 for those who can remember.
Dedicated Journal Sentinel readers will be familiar with columnist Dan Bice’s “winners and losers” lists. Naturally, the Republican National Convention winners and losers was a must-read.
Sixty years ago, many Milwaukee neighborhoods, and nearly every community in the 10-county archdiocese, had a Catholic church. Those churches often had schools, convents, gymnasiums and rectories. Today, dozens of parishes are in clusters that share priests and administrative resources to deal with a decline that has become more pressing over the last decade, reporter Sophie Carson found in an analysis.
“The seeds of the inning that may have revived playoff baseball in Milwaukee were sown on a dirt field in Maracaibo, Venezuela, nearly a decade ago, when Reinaldo Hidalgo stood behind a rickety chain-link fence, stopwatch and notepad in hand …” We dare you to stop reading there.
Megan Kling shared her and her husband’s difficult decision to end a dangerous pregnancy with reporter Jessica VanEgeren, who handles the nuance of the story with care. VanEgeren tells how a family came to make their choice.
The Republican National Convention brought the entire Journal Sentinel newsroom together, and eight reporters and interns contributed to this story featuring more than 30 delegates from different states.
The top restaurants list returned in 2024 after a five-year hiatus. Dining critic Rachel Bernhard presents her list as “the ones that make Milwaukee a destination in dining, whether you’ve lived here all your life or are discovering its magic for the first time.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 20 stories Milwaukee readers spent the most time with in 2024
