Five years ago, Mike Crowley lacked the courage to serve as a living kidney donor for family — let alone for an absolute stranger, he said.

But on Jan. 8, Crowley — a Waukesha County supervisor and CEO of the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin — had surgery to do just that, a decision he now sees as decades in the making.

That’s due to his personal and professional experiences. Twenty-six years ago, his then-2-year-old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, often called juvenile diabetes, a condition in which the pancreas makes little or no insulin. If left untreated, it can cause a range of complications, including damage to the kidneys or other organs. 

While his son’s case was found early and he continues to receive treatment, many people with diabetes don’t see such outcomes. People with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes make up over a quarter of those waiting for an organ transplant in Wisconsin. People needing a kidney account for nearly 80% of those on the transplant list.

When Crowley took the helm of the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin, he gradually learned much more about kidney disease, including connections to diabetes. And last March, he visited three dialysis clinics in Wisconsin to distribute care bags to patients.

“I cried when I got back to my truck after doing the delivery at each one because what I saw was hopelessness,” Crowley said. “They need a kidney, they’re most likely not going to get a kidney transplant in their lifetime.”

Last year 43 people in Wisconsin died while waiting for a kidney transplant. Another 65 became too sick to receive a transplant.

Crowley wanted to be a part of the solution. He knew he was healthy enough to do so. On his 60th birthday last August, he rode his bicycle 102 miles from Wisconsin to Iowa in less than eight hours as part of a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. When he crossed the finish line, he looked at the Mississippi River and wept as he reflected on how amazing he felt after the grueling ride. If he could pass the strict medical, social, mental health and financial assessments, “why wouldn’t I be a kidney donor?”

Two days later, he logged onto a UW Health portal and began the process. After four months of extensive testing, he was approved to be an altruistic kidney donor, meaning he would donate to a stranger on the transplant list. 

“You don’t need to be a match to anybody in your immediate family or a friend,” he said, calling the decision “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“Obviously, having kids, getting married, buying a house, those are all, you know, great experiences,” he said. “But this takes the cake.”

Phil Witkiewicz was placed on the transplant list a decade after being diagnosed with a rare liver disease. He had long managed the symptoms with liver stents, but he became nearly bedridden when they stopped working. That flipped his family’s life upside down, his wife Emily said.

Witkiewicz was just 43 when added to the transplant list last July. 

Most people needing an organ transplant in Wisconsin are 50 or older, although those waiting for pancreatic transplants or dual pancreas and kidney transplants are usually younger.

Witkiewicz was called in twice for a potential transplant, only to find that the donated liver wasn’t viable.

But through those disappointments, Witkiewicz and his wife Emily held out hope that one of their friends could donate. The friend passed a battery of blood tests, MRIs and dental screenings only to discover his liver was 3% too small to donate. 

“That was like the ultimate blow,” Emily said.

Last December, almost five months after being put on the transplant list, Phil finally received a liver from someone who had died, flipping life back to a new normal. Witkiewicz still undergoes routine blood testing and takes numerous medications to prevent infections and keep his body from rejecting the organ, but he’s just happy to be alive.

Emily said she recognizes the duality of her husband’s relief: What was the best day of his life was the end of someone else’s. Emily is registered to be an organ donor, as is her 16-year-old son. Wisconsin residents can register when getting their driver’s license or through the Wisconsin Donor Registry.

“Seeing what it did for my husband, and knowing somebody’s sick in bed waiting for an organ and my tragedy could turn into somebody’s best day,” she said, “that would be worth it.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: Many die awaiting kidney transplants in Wisconsin, so this man donated his is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin may be known for its cheese, but it’s also home to 10 of the 20 drunkest cities in America, according to a 2024 report from 24/7 Wall St. 2023 data from America’s Health Rankings also showed that Wisconsin had some of the highest levels of heavy, excessive and binge drinking in the United States. A previous DataWatch about Wisconsin health looks at these topics in more depth.

Data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides a deeper look at what Wisconsin residents are drinking and how much. Its latest report, released in May 2024, provided data on consumption of various types of alcohol from 1970 to 2022. 

Among Wisconsin’s legal drinking age population, the consumption of beer decreased by 20% from 2012 to 2022, an analysis of that data shows. The average person 21 or older drank about 29.5 gallons of beer in 2022, which is equivalent to about 316 standard drinks. The NIAAA defines a standard drink as the amount of alcoholic beverage it takes to drink 0.6 fluid ounces of ethanol, the “active ingredient” in alcohol. For beer, this is about 12 fluid ounces.

Over the same time period, Wisconsin drinkers consumed 32% more spirits. NIAAA defines a spirit as an alcoholic drink with about 40% alcohol content. The 2022 average was 4.33 gallons per person, equivalent to around 370 standard drinks. A standard drink of spirits is about 1.5 fluid ounces and for wine is generally five fluid ounces. Wine drinking increased by 4% to an average of 3.42 gallons per person, which is about 88 standard drinks.

While the increase in spirits may seem small, the higher ethanol content means people are consuming significantly more “active” alcohol. In 2022, the average strength of ethanol consumed by a person 21 or over across all alcohol was 9.5%. In 2012, the strength was 7.9%.

While total consumption of alcoholic beverages dropped by about 13% between 2012 and 2022, there was a 4% increase in ethanol consumption. Alcoholic beverage consumption averaged about 37.3 gallons per person in 2022. The average ethanol consumption was about 3.55 gallons – roughly equivalent to 760 standard drinks in a year. That averages out to a little over two drinks each day. According to the NIAAA, the daily recommended limit of alcohol is two drinks for men and one drink for women.

Research from the National Cancer Institute indicates that daily alcohol consumption is linked to increased cancer risks across the human body. The National Institutes of Health also reported that long-term alcohol use can increase risk factors for over 200 diseases. It also writes that “no amount of alcohol is ‘safe’ or beneficial for your health.”

DataWatch: Wisconsin residents of legal drinking age consumed 35+ gallons of alcohol a person in 2022 is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Every year Wisconsin Watch produces some of the best investigative journalism in Wisconsin, and this year was no exception. We exposed a judge abusing his power to benefit a coworker, revealed how AI is helping the state catch illegal manure spreading, catalogued every book ban request in all 421 school districts and found state prisons hiring doctors with disciplinary histories.

But what made this year particularly special was the introduction of the Forward newsletter. Each week the Wisconsin Watch state team produces shorter stories about what we expect to be the big news and trends in the days, weeks and months ahead. It’s something our local media partners asked for and our state team reporters delivered.

As the year winds down, we gave each state team reporter the assignment of picking a favorite story written by another member of the team (Secret Santa style!). Here were their picks:

Conservative talk radio continues to be a powerful political tool in Wisconsin

To some, radio is a source of entertainment and information from a bygone era. They’re mistaken. Hallie Claflin’s deeply reported, authoritative story illustrates the immense and continuing influence of talk radio — especially conservative talk radio — in Wisconsin politics. The rise of former Gov. Scott Walker, the toppling of a Democratic mayor in Wausau and the deaths of certain bills in the Legislature can all be tied, at least in part, to advocacy or opposition from conservative talk radio hosts. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, the state’s most powerful Republican, makes regular appearances on broadcasts and described talk radio as being “as powerful as it’s ever been.” This story is worth your time as you look ahead to 2025.

— Jack Kelly

Why we investigated Wisconsin Pastor Matthew Trewhella

Phoebe Petrovic’s profile of militant, anti-abortion Pastor Matthew Trewhella, her first investigation as Wisconsin’s first ProPublica local reporting network fellow, was an engaging read. But I especially liked the companion piece she wrote. It’s a reader service to do this kind of story when we do a large takeout on a person or subject unfamiliar to most readers. It also might drive readers to the main story when they learn more about why we did it. It puts the readers behind the scenes a bit and has the potential to make readers feel more connected to Wisconsin Watch.

— Tom Kertscher

Here are some claims you might hear during tonight’s presidential debate — and the facts

Tom Kertscher does an amazing job with all of his fact briefs, but my favorite has to be a compilation that fact-checked presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump right before their September debate. Over the past few races, presidential campaigns have been full of misinformation. Debates are a vital time to show the reality of candidates and their beliefs. Tom’s story made sure people could accurately judge the claims both candidates were making. I learned about many new and important topics across party lines like Trump’s for-profit college, Harris’ claim about tracking miscarriages and accurate deportation statistics.

— Khushboo Rathore

DataWatch: Wisconsin incarcerates more people than its prisons were designed to hold

Khushboo Rathore’s DataWatch report detailing that the state’s prison population was at nearly 130% capacity stood out as one of my favorite pieces this year. Not only did this short story shed light on severe deficiencies in Wisconsin’s prison system, it also presented the findings in a digestible format that helped readers understand overcrowding in prisons through striking data. It’s one thing to report that Wisconsin prisons are overwhelmed, and it’s another to have the numbers that show it. This piece has the power to reshape future conversations about statewide prison reform, which is what our work here at Wisconsin Watch is all about! 

— Hallie Claflin

Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear high-profile abortion rights case, draft order shows

Jack Kelly has some of the best sourcing this newsroom has ever seen. He’s such an affable people-person, and it enables him to get coffee with anyone and everyone and build legitimate relationships that result in wild scoops, like this one. It’s a testament to his brilliance as a reporter.

— Phoebe Petrovic

Forward: Our picks for favorite politics stories of the year is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In 2022, the percent of Wisconsin residents who had fluoridated water dropped sharply. According to data from the state’s Department of Health Services, 86.9% of residents had fluoridated water in 2021. A year later, that had dropped to 84.9%. Combining data from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency shows that, in 2024, about 83.6% of the state’s residents have fluoridated water.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that multiple communities are removing fluoride from their water systems. Opponents of fluoridated water cited a report on fluoride being harmful to children. However, the CDC named fluoridated water systems as one of the greatest health achievements of the 1900s. The CDC recommends 0.7 milligrams of water per liter, or about three drops of fluoride per 55 gallons of water.

This isn’t just a Wisconsin problem. Across the country, fluoride in water is becoming a controversial topic. Coverage from the Associated Press indicated that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push for removing fluoride from water systems is one of the inciting factors to the controversy. Kennedy is now President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services. 

According to a 2018 publication by the American Dental Association, having fluoride in water systems prevents 25% of tooth decay in children and adults. It can also help reverse tooth decay and lower dental costs for the average consumer. Annually, fluoridated water can lower the cost of dental care by over $32 per person. 

The Fluoride Action Network, an organization dedicated to ending water fluoridation, argues that fluoride is an unnecessary, toxic and dangerous chemical that should not be added to water systems. It cites a 2024 report by the HHS’s National Toxicology Program that says having twice the CDC-recommended amount of fluoride in water systems correlates with lower IQs in children. The study was not conducted with any data from the United States and does not specify that fluoride causes a lower IQ.

DataWatch: Fight against fluoride is expanding on the local and national stage is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Marquette University’s John Johnson analyzed voting data for Wisconsin’s 2024 U.S. Senate and presidential elections. “Our electorate is increasingly polarized by education,” Johnson writes.

The youngest voters in Wisconsin shifted slightly toward Republicans in both races while other age groups shifted Democratic in the Senate race and Republican in the presidential. The poorest and richest areas in Wisconsin more often vote Democratic, while the middle class areas have leaned Republican.

Wisconsin has one of highest percentages of tipped workers in the US

The Tax Policy Center’s August 2024 analysis showed that about 5% of workers in the state of Wisconsin work “tipped” jobs. The data analysis classifies tipped employees as dining room staff and the majority of people working in personal care or service jobs (nail technicians, hair stylists, etc.). In July 2024, Wisconsin’s state minimum wage for tipped workers was slightly higher than the federal standard of $2.13 per hour.

Chronic absenteeism has improved among students, but remains high

Wisconsin Policy Forum’s October 2024 analysis showed that students of all ages are chronically absent, defined as missing more than 10% of school days in a year under any circumstances.

The issue is most common at the high school level, where nearly one in four students is chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism reached a peak following the pandemic, and while the 2023 rates are lower than the 2022 rates, they have not returned to pre-pandemic norms.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: Rightward election shift was weaker in Wisconsin than other states is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A reader sent Ask Wisconsin Watch a question about how the state compares with other states in various categories related to transportation, education, health care, parks and local funding. Here’s a look at how health and wellness ranks in Wisconsin.

Across various measures of health and wellness, Wisconsin ranked 22nd based on data from America’s Health Rankings’ 2023 annual report. On the horizontal axis, the graphic indicates what percentage of people in the state are impacted by the issue. The specifics of each measure can be found here. Wisconsin’s worst rankings were in obesity, housing with lead risk, racial disparities in premature death and low birthweight and excessive, heavy and binge drinking. 

Excessive drinking is the percentage of adults who reported binge or heavy drinking. Binge drinking is four or more drinks on one occasion for females and five or more drinks for males. Heavy drinking is defined as eight or more drinks per week for females and 15 or more for males.

Compared with the national average of 18.4% of adults, 21.6% of adults in Wisconsin drink excessively. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, excessive drinking can cause long-term damage to the heart, liver, pancreas and immune system. It has also been linked to multiple forms of cancer. Revisit our past coverage of Wisconsin’s deadly problem with excessive drinking.

Wisconsin also ranked 49th, tied with Michigan, for money spent on public health. The national average was $183 per person — Wisconsin and Michigan both spent $128 per person.

Wisconsin ranked well in crowded housing, cancer screenings, voter participation and high school graduation rates. The national average voter participation was 59.5% while 67.3% of eligible voters in Wisconsin participated in the last presidential and national midterm elections.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: Overall, Wisconsin’s health is above average in the United States is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin’s highways were ranked 40th of the 50 states in 2022. The federal Department of Transportation collects data on the quality of road surfaces. The data analyzed here, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), doesn’t look at the quality of local roads.

Most of Wisconsin’s surrounding states, including Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan, made significant and successful efforts to improve their road quality after having low rankings. In 1995, Minnesota was 49th of the 50 states; 56.1% of highways were acceptable at the time.

During this time, Minnesota created multiple plans and work groups to set up the road system in the state for the following 20 years. Minnesota created various organizations and commissions to support long-term investment in the state’s road systems. In 2016, it ranked seventh in the nation with 90.2% of its highway system considered acceptable. Since 1995, the worst the state has ranked was 28th in 2007.

Similarly, Illinois ranked 44th out of the 50 states in 1997 with 80% of its highway system considered acceptable. In October of that year, it proposed various improvements of the state’s road and transport systems for 1998-2000. In 2002, the state ranked 13th with 93.5% of its roads being acceptable. Illinois’ worst rank since 1998 was 32nd in 1998, 2013 and 2022.

Wisconsin’s lowest rank was 46th in 2014, with only 58% of the highway system considered acceptable. In 2018, the highway system had its highest rank at 21st in the state. That year, gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers ran on a platform of “fixing the damn roads.” Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have increased road funding in each of the past three budgets, but so far any results from that effort have yet to materialize in the national data.

For more details on local roads, read the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s April 2024 report.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: The ups and downs of Wisconsin’s highway system is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In Wisconsin, boating accidents reported to the Coast Guard that involved drugs or alcohol were nearly 25% more likely to result in injury than accidents not involving drugs or alcohol.

Recreational boaters across the United States are required to report boating accidents that result in death, serious injury, disappearance or significant damage. The Data Liberation Project filed a public request for this data and published it as a database for outside use. The resulting data ranges from 2009 to 2023.

In Wisconsin, there have been 1,574 unique boating accidents over the 15-year period — about 100 per year. Of these accidents, about 88.7% did not have alcohol or drugs reported as a cause. 11.3% involved one or both of these causes. 

On average, accidents that involved alcohol or drugs would result in at least one death or serious injury. Half of the accidents reported to the coast guard resulted in death when alcohol or drugs were involved. This is more than 30% more often than incidents where no drugs or alcohol were involved.

Overall, when drugs and alcohol were not involved, about three in four accidents resulted in a death or serious injury.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: Drugs, alcohol make for deadlier boat accidents is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In some counties, infant care can cost more than a quarter of a household’s income. Survey data from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families indicates that only 50% of child care slots are affordable, a far cry from the federal and state recommended 75%. 

Wisconsin defines affordable child care as care that costs less than or equal to the maximum amount of money that can be provided by the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program. According to 2023 data, in Brown County, classified as 75-100% urban, the affordable rate would be $8.20 an hour for an infant in a group care facility. Weekly, it comes out to $328 for full-time care, which is about 22% of an average household income. 

This rate is above about 50% of group child care facilities that provide care for infants instead of the expected 75%.

The department surveyed providers across the state and categorized them by how urban their county was and whether they had capacity for more or less than eight children. Any facility with more than eight was classified as a group center. The rest were family child care centers.

The graphic indicates how the prices these providers reported compare with the average household income across the region. The percentage of income needed for child care increases in more urban counties and decreases as the child gets older. 

Across regions and ages, group centers’ prices were significantly higher than their family center counterparts. A quarter of providers charged more than 25% of the household income in the most urban counties. The state classifies Dane, La Crosse and Waukesha counties, among others, as 75-100% urban. 

In region C, which includes Jefferson and Fond du Lac counties, most providers charge between 11% and 20% of an average household’s income per child. In the most rural regions, including Buffalo, Rusk and Vernon counties, the majority of providers charged between 12% and 19% for an infant or 1-year-old. 

With lower prices, family care providers struggle to turn a profit and save up for their future. But if they raise their prices, they are often unable to fill seats, according to provider and advocate Corrine Hendrickson.

A longtime family provider in Green County, classified as 25-49% urban, Hendrickson said that she had to raise prices due to her support from the state Child Care Counts program being cut down alongside rises in necessary costs like property tax and liability insurance.

Now, for the first time in over a decade, she has three spots open for her day care in the fall. With state child care funding declining, Hendrickson anticipates that many facilities will be closing.

“I know a lot of us are struggling right now, trying to fill our spots this fall, trying to figure out how we’re going to stay open,” Hendrickson said. “I honestly think there’s going to be a lot this September.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

DataWatch: Striking the balance between affordable and livable is hard on Wisconsin child care providers is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The state prison system was at nearly 130% capacity on July 26, according to data released by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. More than 5,000 people are living outside of the designated normal population for the prison system. Overcrowding in prisons can have serious impacts on staff and prisoners. 

A 2020 master facilities plan report from the Wisconsin DOC explains that overcrowding makes it harder for prisons to operate efficiently and provide proper care and rehabilitation to inmates. Black River Correctional Center, which is currently at double its capacity, reported back in 2020 that it was unable to provide proper food service and hygiene support to inmates. 

The Drug Abuse Correctional Center is also at double capacity. The facility, built in 2012, has mostly six-person cells with only three two-person cells. The 2020 report stated that the building, which was built with capacity for 125 inmates, had no issues housing over 250 people. However, it did not clarify how or where the additional prisoners were being housed.

Oakhill Correctional Institute also reported double the designed population. McNaughton and Sanger B. Powers correctional centers had almost double the number of inmates for which the facilities were designed. 

All female-only prisons are above capacity. Milwaukee Women’s Correctional Center and Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center reported 250% and 213% of their designed populations, respectively. Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the women’s maximum- and medium-security facility, had 142% of its designed population, according to the report.

Notably, county and court jails, marked as “contract beds” by the DOC, do not exceed their capacity of around 280 beds. Neither does the Wisconsin Resource Center, an Oshkosh facility that provides specialized mental health services to people in the state prison system.

The DOC releases weekly prison population reports and has archives going back to 1999 here.

DataWatch: Wisconsin incarcerates more people than its prisons were designed to hold is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.