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This past summer, investigative reporter Raquel Rutledge, a Milwaukee native with deep community roots, heard about a 20-year-old college student from Pewaukee who had died only hours after arriving with her family at a highly rated resort near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

In researching the tragic death of Abbey Conner and the near death of her 22-year-old brother, Rutledge uncovered widespread dangers at Mexican resorts with tainted or spiked alcohol, derelict law enforcement and price gouging from hospitals.

Last week, she revealed how popular travel sites such as TripAdvisor minimize traveler concerns and negative reviews.

As these reports have spread like wildfire across social networks, more than 100 travelers from across North America have contacted Rutledge with similar horror stories.

Wherever I travel, folks are familiar with the problems she has exposed. But even here in Wisconsin, many are surprised when I tell them this story was broken and continues to be told by Rutledge and the Journal Sentinel.

U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin know it. In a rare bipartisan action, both have urged the State Department to do more to protect American citizens vacationing in Mexico. On Monday, frustrated with State Department inaction, Johnson called on the Inspector General to investigate.

Rutledge knows how to write stories that yield results.

Her “Cashing in on Kids” expose of massive fraud in Wisconsin’s subsidized child care system led to the shutting down of 300 bogus day care operations, 30 fraud convictions and hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer savings. It received nearly every major honor in American journalism including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

You may remember many of her other stories that, for example, uncovered serious lung disease in coffee roasting plants; rogue stings by federal ATF agents; contaminated wipes in hospitals; dirty gasoline clogging auto fuel injectors; and unfairness in property tax payments.

In an earlier 2017 investigation, “Burned,” Rutledge worked with reporters Rick Barrett and John Diedrich to expose how workers and neighborhoods are threatened by dangerous chemicals improperly dumped, mixed and handled at barrel recycling plants.

Rutledge moved onto our investigative team a decade ago, as new technologies were radically restructuring the news industry. Tough times force tough decisions. We decided to spend our resources more than ever before on the in-depth reporting that our readers in Wisconsin can’t get from other sources. We chose to focus on stories that matter most, that help our community, that improve lives.

So far this year, in addition to dangers at Mexican resorts and recycling plants, we’ve delivered: “50-Year Ache” on how far Milwaukee has and hasn’t come since the civil rights marches of 1967; “Oil and Water,” our latest examination of threats to the Great Lakes; “A Time To Heal,” explaining the enduring impact of childhood trauma; “Outbreak,” exploring what scientists in Wisconsin and elsewhere are doing to combat the next pandemic; “What Happened to Us? ,” a look at the challenges of the city through the eyes of a third-grade class from 1978; “Unsolved,” on the mystery that still surrounds a Watertown toddler’s death; “The Intimidator,” on how witness intimidation and executions threaten our justice system; and “Landlord Games,” on how city landlords have gamed the system, harming tenants, neighborhoods and taxpayers. There is more to come. This is how we solve problems in our democracy: Shine a light so citizens can come together and make things better. Our signature reporting uncovers the truth and improves lives every day.

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