Newsroom offers Bucks coverage worth holding onto
It feels like all of Milwaukee and Wisconsin is still jump, jump, jumpin’ around with the joy of the Bucks’ first NBA Championship in 50 years.
“It’s the most I’ve ever seen the city come together, and especially after everything we’ve been through the last two years, it’s just amazing to see everyone so together,” Rebecca McCarthy said, as she watched Thursday’s victory parade with her 2-year-old son Remy.
It took years of investment and hard work for the Bucks to reach the pinnacle, as beat writer Jim Owczarski revealed in his remarkable portrait of how Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton pushed and pushed and pushed themselves to new heights for eight years.
As Jim wrote: That thing — call it heart, work ethic, the competitive spirit — became the steel cable that not only bound the two men but became the foundation laid in the basement of a 15win first season together up to the penthouse of an NBA championship.
A franchise in transition needed new ownership and Herb Kohl found investors who vowed to keep the Bucks in Milwaukee. He and they donated money for a new arena, financed mostly by the community, that would help drive the revenue necessary to sign their superstar to a long-term contract and add other great players. And the Fiserv Forum also brought us the Deer District, a place where tens of thousands of fans could celebrate together.
Your investment in our reporting team, through your subscription, enables us to cover these moments like no one else could — from in-depth beat reporting, to live analysis and chats with fans during the games, to insightful columns, to statistical comparisons, to illustrations worth framing, to historical newspapers worth saving or even wearing ...
What Giannis said about the Bucks rings true about your local newsroom, too:
“We’re built for this moment.” Our coverage continues in today’s paper with a special section on the championship season, “Trophy Bucks,” as well as a front-page story on what it means to be one of the smallest cities in pro sports and a profile on 3A of a family with a special heartfelt connection to the team and its star. Extra copies of our Wednesday newspaper covering the event can be ordered at: bit.ly/BucksEdition
Orders also are being taken for a coffee-table book about the season at https://bit.ly/3iETddA
Our beat reporters covering other areas of life in Wisconsin also keep working with the same dedication as our Bucks coverage team. In addition to the stories already mentioned, here are just a few of our best-read stories from this remarkable week:
Gov. Tony Evers surprised Republicans — and some Democrats — by signing a $1 billion-a-year income tax cut, scrambling a campaign issue that typically falls along a clear left-right divide.
The 36 horse chestnut trees outside the Marcus Performing Arts Center have been replaced with a lawn surrounded by a chain-link fence, as other improvements remain on hold. Concerns are rising about the loss of a shady park space once fully open to the public.
Daniel Manesis brought the famous Gobbler Supper Club back to life as an intimate venue for top-notch concerts. “He loved seeing the smiles on people’s faces.”
Key questions remain about why John R. McCarthy, 32, went on a chaotic frenzy for eight minutes in a quiet corner of rural Racine County, murdering Anthony Griger, 22, while trying to carjack three cars across two gas stations. He killed himself after attacking and being shot by an investigator from the Racine County Sheriff ’s Office. Could he have been stopped?
Here is how Milwaukee’s three Crisis Assessment Response Teams address mental health calls, defuse possibly volatile encounters and connect people to other resources, rather than offering the standard law enforcement responses of citations and arrests. The concept has come under scrutiny as the city moves to add three more teams, for a total of six, that will allow for aroundthe-clock coverage by the end of this year.
From rural Wisconsin to Milwaukee neighborhoods, Joaquin Altoro recruits investment into businesses that serve communities big bankers often don’t see or understand.
In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, two Wisconsin lawmakers introduced federal legislation aimed at testing private wells for contaminants such as “forever chemicals.”
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Email Editor George Stanley at george.stanley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @geostanley.