2021 year in review: Greek letters, championships and a persistent pandemic
We tried to quit it, but the pandemic proved to be an on-again, off-again relationship in 2021. Here are some of the ups and downs of the last year.
(41) updates to this series since Updated
But for the armored vehicles, extra barricades and rooftop surveillance teams, Sunday was just another dreary winter day on Madison’s Capitol Square.
Gov. Tony Evers also announced that Karen Timberlake, who served as DHS secretary under former Gov. Jim Doyle during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, will take on the role of DHS interim secretary.
Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney is retiring to take a job at American Family Insurance.
Barnes becomes the city's third Black police chief and will have to deal with a sharp uptick in shootings and car thefts.
Alliant Energy said the decision will allow it to avoid some $250 million in maintenance and upgrade costs.
The Department of Natural Resources reported at 4 p.m. Wednesday that hunters had registered 182 wolves since the hunt began Monday, or about 15% of the estimated population. The quota for non-native hunters was 119 wolves.
Raine Stern, originally from New Glarus, dazzled judges on the NBC show "The Voice" Monday night, prompting judge Blake Shelton to say, "You're a rare find. And you're about to have your moment in the music industry."
The Madison School District reopened its doors to kindergartners Tuesday after shutting down nearly one year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Joe Biden said Thursday he wanted states to make everyone eligible by May 1.
Since the start of the outbreak, Gov. Tony Evers has issued multiple public health emergencies and a series of related orders.
“The only home World Dairy Expo has known is Dane County, Wisconsin, and we are ready to welcome the dairy industry’s premier event back to our community this fall,” Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said.
Five of the six deaths occurred at night, and alcohol, speed and inattentiveness on the part of drivers and pedestrians likely factored into the deaths as Dane County experiences a high year for traffic fatalities.
Barry Alvarez, 74, will finish his term leading the UW athletic program this summer after a 17-year stretch in the seat during which the department's budget nearly doubled.
"I'm ready to get to work on day one and build a stronger more equitable public education system," Jill Underly said after winning the state superintendent election.
Mask wearing and social distancing were a rare sight Saturday at the annual gathering, which took a year off in 2020 as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic set in last spring.
Madison officials are taking a slow approach to break up a homeless encampment at Reindahl Park on the East Side.
Yet with children younger than 12 still not eligible to be vaccinated, and some others not immunized, the pandemic “is emphatically not over, even in Dane County.”
"Being in this neighborhood and growing up in Madison, it's always been a staple in the community. It's so good to see such a good turnout coming off the year we just came off of."
Paddle & Portage and the Dane County Farmers Market returned to the isthmus and Capitol Square on Saturday for the first time since 2019.
Trump on Friday claimed Wisconsin Republicans weren't doing enough to investigate the November election.
The Senate voted 23-9, with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley, of Mason, and Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, joining with Republicans, in favor of the budget, which includes more than $3 billion in income and property tax cuts.
Chandler Halderson remains in the Dane County Jail on $1 million bond. He is next in court on Sept. 1.
At issue was a 2011 law that says state agencies can’t take any actions that aren’t explicitly authorized by the Legislature.
The Milwaukee Bucks grabbed their first NBA title in 50 years Tuesday in front of a global audience.
“It’s not the rock’s fault that it got that terrible and unfortunate nickname,” one bystander said. “But the fact that it’s ... being moved shows that the world is getting a little better today.”
After pleading guilty to two federal charges, David Kruchten faces six to 20 years in prison, under a plea agreement.
Refugees fleeing Afghanistan after the government's collapse to the Taliban started arriving in Wisconsin's Fort McCoy Sunday afternoon.
For the first time since the 2019 season, football fans of the Wisconsin Badgers get a chance to return to the familiar surroundings of Camp Randall.
After more than a year of repairs, the two statues that were torn down during last summer's protests were restored to the Capitol Square Tuesday morning.
Tony Evers said "it's about time" that the Senate take up some of the more than 100 appointees still waiting on confirmation votes.
"Each of them were 'bright lights' within our student body: positive, kind, funny, inclusive. The loss of their presence will impact our students and staff profoundly."
A Madison police officer "inadvertently" shot and injured a fellow officer during the arrest of a man who pointed a loaded handgun at police on State Street on Oct. 10, state officials said Monday.
After nearly a decade at the helm of UW-Madison, leading the university through budget cuts, political battles and a pandemic, Chancellor Rebecca Blank is leaving at the end of the school year to become the first female president of Northwestern University.
A rally that took place on Wednesday was organized to support a victim of a recent alleged sexual assault that occurred off of school grounds between two East students. Lilyian Jenkins, a senior at East and one of the organizers for Friday’s walkout, said the Friday event was a strike for a list of demands meant to help students feel safe at school.
Madison Fire Chief Steven Davis said Tuesday that he is retiring on April 1, 2022, ending a career of more than three decades with the Madison Fire Department.
The vessel was found in June in 27 feet of water and is the oldest intact boat ever discovered in Wisconsin waters.
COVID vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 have been green lit by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the federal Center for Disease Control also OK’d inoculation for the youngest group yet.
The GOP-drawn maps, which passed the Republican-controlled state Assembly and Senate last week, would largely maintain the core of the existing district boundaries that Republicans drew in secret in 2011.
Rittenhouse acquittal draws criticism at Penn Park gathering as Madison police mobilize for protests
About 50 people attended a community "speak out" event in Penn Park Friday night, criticizing police treatment of the city's Black youth in recent weeks.
Wagner, who died Monday after serving the greater Madison community in countless ways for a half-century, is being remembered as a man of kindness, wisdom, beauty, caring and grace.
The Badgers volleyball team captured the first national championship in program history with a thrilling five-set victory over Big Ten rival Nebraska in the NCAA final in Columbus, Ohio.
Earlier this year, Tony Evers became the first governor in 74 years to not be physically present in the Capitol to deliver his address, which he delivered in a video message due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
An Eau Claire police officer who shot a man to death last month won't face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
An explosion in a garage Friday in the town of Lessor in northeastern Wisconsin killed two people and hospitalized two more, the Shawano County Sheriff's Office reported.
Wisconsin's largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools, will transition to virtual instruction beginning Tuesday because of an increase in staff testing positive for COVID-19.
A third man has died as the result of a garage explosion that also injured a fourth person in northeastern Wisconsin, officials said Monday.
Wisconsin's state tax burden increased slightly last year for the first time in a decade due largely to a pandemic-related economic surge, according to a report released Wednesday.
Hunter rescued from woods, bitter cold after being gored by deer in Columbia County, authorities say
A hunter was rescued from the woods in bitter cold early Thursday morning after being gored by a deer in Columbia County, authorities reported.
Authorities in Milwaukee say a Burger King employee fired a gun during an attempted armed robbery, but that it's not yet clear who fired the shots that killed a 16-year-old cashier.
Authorities are searching for a snowmobile driver who veered into a highly touted sled dog team in northern Wisconsin and injured two of the dogs, including one that ran the Iditarod last year.
A federal judge in Madison sentenced a former Chippewa Falls man to 10 years in federal prison Thursday for fraudulently getting military contracts.
NEW YORK — Kohl’s confirmed that it has been approached about a possible sale of the department store chain, sending shares up more than 36% on Monday.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman told reporters that the officer and suspect exchanged gunfire, and both were struck and injured.
A man accused of shooting and wounding a Milwaukee police officer is facing eight felony charges, according to a criminal complaint filed before a court hearing on Sunday.
A young boy has died from injuries suffered in a Milwaukee house fire, according to family members.
Federal prosecutors have charged the CEO of a Milwaukee fuel company with wire fraud after he allegedly bilked investors out of more than $6 million by exaggerating the company's performance.
Wisconsin's college graduation rates have improved and have surpassed the national average, but a new report shows there are significant gaps between racial groups.
Kohl's says that recent offers to purchase the department store chain undervalue its business and that it is adopting a shareholder rights plan to head off any hostile takeovers.
Police said they detained a person of interest in the death of a 10-year-old Milwaukee girl that is being investigated as a homicide.
Investigators were still trying to determine the whereabouts of one other person who was unaccounted for after the fire at Butch's Bar, Assistant Police Chief Dan Brinkman said in a statement.
Three men, one from Oshkosh, who espoused white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs conspired to sow civil unrest by attacking power stations throughout the U.S. while expressing a willingness to die for their cause, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Crews searching the rubble of a bar fire in Door County have recovered a second body, according to police.
A tenant who lived above a Sturgeon Bay bar where a fire this week killed two people and endangered others has been arrested, according to police.
Jordan Tate, 25, was charged Monday with first-degree reckless homicide in a Feb. 10 shooting at Brownstone Lounge that left a 31-year-old employee, Krystal Tucker, dead.
A man accused of opening fire inside a Milwaukee precinct station told investigators he hoped officers would return fire and kill him, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
A Milwaukee police officer shot and wounded an armed suspect after responding to a domestic dispute Saturday night, authorities said.
An Eau Claire man has been charged with stealing $1,400 worth of liquor from a grocery store over three days.
The Iron County Sheriff's Office said foul play is not suspected in the death of Dr. Kelsey Musgrove of Middleton.
A criminal investigation is underway after the bodies of two people were found following a house fire in Marathon County in central Wisconsin, authorities reported.
A Wisconsin woman is accused of leading a scheme to bilk Hmong-American investors mostly from Minnesota and Wisconsin of at least $16.5 million.
Face masks are again mandatory in Milwaukee Public Schools for students and staff in all the district's buildings effective Wednesday.
The first heat wave of the year is predicted this week for Wisconsin, with highs possibly cracking 90, bringing the risk for pavement buckling.
A 2-year-old child died in a farm machinery accident Sunday in Monroe County, authorities reported.
A Bayfield County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing timber from Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
Authorities say a 43-year-old Wisconsin woman died when she jumped out of a squad car while it was traveling through a town in eastern Wisconsin.
A Twin Cities couple is dead after a tree fell on them while they were camping in northern Wisconsin.
A national meatpacking company with a facility in Green Bay has agreed to pay about $15,000 to settle allegations of unsafe practices during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic sickened and killed Wisconsin workers.
A sheriff's deputy in northeastern Wisconsin shot and killed a person armed with a knife during a traffic stop Wednesday, state Justice Department officials said.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has identified the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office sergeant and the armed woman he shot to death during a traffic stop off Interstate 41 on June 8.
The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were found Sunday in a rural residence.
The Journal Sentinel reported that a 3-year-old boy was in critical condition after he was struck by gunfire Saturday evening in an apparently accidental shooting.
A judge on Wednesday dismissed a charge against a Wisconsin man accused of hiding the corpse of a man he was convicted of killing in the early 1980s.
Chantia Lewis pleaded no contest to accepting an illegal campaign finance disbursement and entered a guilty plea to misconduct in office.
Madison police said Wednesday that an incident of pro-abortion rights graffiti at a religious school is believed to be linked to an incident at a church that also happened in early July.
A federal judge has rejected a motion by the Milwaukee Police Department that sought to dismiss a case brought by two city residents who claimed their constitutional rights were violated when they were arrested near a memorial site for a Black man fatally shot by an officer in 2016.
"We’re absolutely thrilled that the Louisiana program has done so phenomenally well,” said Anne Lacy, senior manager for North America programs at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo.
Four staff members at a Waukesha child care center were taken into custody while investigators looked into allegations of physical abuse.
A 67-year-old Milwaukee man died in a fall at Governor Dodge State Park on Sept. 7, the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office said.
The company that provided medical services has been found guilty in the 2016 dehydration death of an inmate at the Milwaukee County Jail.
More than 265 union workers at a manufacturing company in Sheboygan went on strike Monday after the two sides failed to a agree on a labor contract that expired Friday.
