We've got a juvenile sparrow battle royale on our front doorstep. Folks, there's plenty of seed to go around. #KiwibitTheater

Congrats to our own @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social on this well-deserved recognition. We're driven by a desire to serve the public and make an impact, not to win awards — but it's always gratifying when our peers recognize the power of our work.

Society for Features Journalism@wearesfj.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NARRATIVE STORYTELLING, DIV 2 2026 SFJ winners: 🥇 1st: @noellecrombie.bsky.social - The Oregonian 🥈 2nd: Bennet Goldstein - @wisconsinwatch.org 🥉 3rd: Lane DeGregory - @tampabaytimes.bsky.social 🏅 HM: Lois M. Collins - @deseret.com.web.brid.gy #SFJAwards

Cassville residents blocked a proposed billion-dollar data center, reflecting growing local resistance to large-scale projects, @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social reports. wisconsinwatch.org/2026/04/wisc...

As federal trappers remove thousands of beavers each year — including from prized trout streams — Wisconsin regulators face calls to weigh the critter’s flood-control benefits against long-standing views of them as a nuisance. wisconsinwatch.org/2026/03/wisc... (via @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social)

Pest or climate ally? DNR weighs new beaver management plan under mounting scrutiny

As federal trappers remove thousands of beavers each year — including from prized trout streams — Wisconsin regulators face calls to weigh the critter’s flood-control benefits against long-standing…

wisconsinwatch.org

As low-income households make tough decisions amid rising health care, food and utility costs, firewood banks are providing a community service to keep people warm through the cold winter months. wisconsinwatch.org/2026/01/wisc... (via @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social)

Firewood banks offer heat, and hope, to rural homes in need

As the cost of everything, especially energy, increases, nonprofit organizations stockpile wood to help neighbors stay home through winter.

wisconsinwatch.org

Many thanks! Can’t wait to bring back the fruits of this amazing training to my newsroom @wisconsinwatch.org so we can better serve our communities

National Press Foundation@nationalpress.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Congrats to the 30 journalists covering 25 states chosen for NPF's "Federal Action, Local Impact" Journalism Fellowship to be held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 7-9! https://nationalpress.org/newsfeed/npf-names-30-journalists-for-2025-federal-action-local-impact-journalism-fellowship/

For the @wisconsinwatch.org story about a farmer's challenges following cuts to a program where she sold pork to pantries, we made a slideshow showing some difficult images of the pig butchering. It's hard to see, but important to understand where food comes from wisconsinwatch.org/2025/07/wisc...

Video: life, death and resilience at Wonderfarm

The view from a small Dane County farm affected by Trump administration cuts to the Local Food Purchase Assistance program.

wisconsinwatch.org

After USDA cut a food assistance program, a Wisconsin pig farmer continues to work to sustain her livelihood: “The structures around us are crumbling. Let’s grow a resilient community.” wisconsinwatch.org/2025/07/wisc... via @wisconsinwatch.org @agwaterdesk.bsky.social @reportforamerica.bsky.social

Wisconsin pig farmer holds on at Wonderfarm as Washington breaks a promise

Jess D’Souza had hoped to finally turn a profit this year, aided by a federal program to bolster local food systems. The Trump administration canceled the program, upending her plans.

wisconsinwatch.org

🎙️ On today's show, journalist @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social of @wisconsinwatch.org discusses the ways that people are living with beavers and learning how to mitigate floods and drought from them. Listen here: www.wortfm.org/building-sym...

Building Symbiotic Relationships with Beavers - WORT-FM 89.9

Journalist Bennet Goldstein discusses the ways that people are living with beavers and learning how to mitigate floods and drought from them.

wortfm.org

Thrilled to chat about all things solutions journalism and beaver-related with #wortradio this morning! Give it a listen here www.wortfm.org/building-sym... and read the @wisconsinwatch.org story here wisconsinwatch.org/2024/12/an-e... hat tips to: @soljourno.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Building Symbiotic Relationships with Beavers - WORT-FM 89.9

Journalist Bennet Goldstein discusses the ways that people are living with beavers and learning how to mitigate floods and drought from them.

wortfm.org

In the build-out of new data centers, utilities can subsidize the electricity demands of trillion-dollar corporations & simultaneously capture a profit by passing on costs to ratepayers wisconsinwatch.org/2025/05/wisc... via @wisconsinwatch.org @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Data center construction is booming, and it could affect utility rates

In Wisconsin and elsewhere, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are contracting with utilities, which face growing power demands.

wisconsinwatch.org

Hello from the Palo Verde nuclear plant. They apparently purchased their fancy fire truck from the Transformers movie that was filmed in Phoenix! #SEJ2025 @sejorg.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Many thanks to #NAAJAgJ for recognizing my @wisconsinwatch.org and #agwaterdesk article "Poopspotting" — a quirky story about how #AI and satellites enable the surveillance of the Earth's surface for potential polluters #Report4America mailchi.mp/agwaterdesk/... wisconsinwatch.org/2024/03/wisc...

How AI, satellites can detect illegal manure spreading in Wisconsin

Researchers are using aerial photos, taken by satellites, to teach computers to recognize winter spreading of manure in Wisconsin.

wisconsinwatch.org

Congrats to the #agwaterdesk on its win in the @NAAJAgJ contest for its “Farm to Trouble” series! My @wisconsinwatch.org story about the Chesapeake was part of the package. wisconsinwatch.org/2024/06/miss... #report4america agwaterdesk.org/2024/06/18/f...

Chesapeake Bay water quality plan a model for Mississippi River?

Environmental groups and policy analysts in the Mississippi River basin have looked to a cleanup program in Chesapeake Bay as a model.

wisconsinwatch.org

The little-known Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is taking longer to review appeals of OSHA fines and orders. Now the three-person commission is about to lose its only member investigatemidwest.org/2025/03/12/o...

OSHA fined a poultry plant after a worker died. While the case was appealed, another worker was killed. - Investigate Midwest

The chickens do not slow down. Workers hang featherless bodies upside down onto hooks, cut the limbs and wings off the birds, and automated machines separate viscera from meat, slicing through 144 chi...

investigatemidwest.org

Two women incarcerated at Taycheedah Correctional Institution have died following hospital stays that began Feb. 22. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has shared limited information about their deaths, frustrating family members and those locked up at the women's prison.

Families seek answers after two women die at Taycheedah prison

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections offers few details about the deaths, which coincided with a respiratory illness outbreak.

wisconsinwatch.org

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican lawmakers continue to dig in their heels during a years-long tug-of-war over how regulators should hold property owners liable for PFAS contamination. @wisconsinwatch.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social wisconsinwatch.org/2025/02/wisc...

Wisconsin PFAS cleanup rules: Governor, Legislature spar

Competing proposals would protect “innocent landowners” — those who didn’t knowingly cause pollution — from liability under the spills law.

wisconsinwatch.org

A year and a half after Wisconsin lawmakers earmarked $125 million to clean up toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, the funds have yet to flow to contaminated communities, @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social reports.

Wisconsin is still sitting on $125 million for PFAS cleanup

Gov. Tony Evers is proposing more funding to clean up toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, while offering farmers more protections.

wisconsinwatch.org

After moving to Wisconsin Katie McCullough soon met the neighbors — 15 to 20 furry lodge dwellers. She realized she had a beaver problem. wisconsinwatch.org/2025/02/wisc... @wisconsinwatch.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Opting for coexistence: Some Wisconsin landowners learn to live with beavers

Beavers can cause property damage, but research shows they positively impact the environment. Some landowners are ditching traps and dynamite to peacefully manage the nuisance.

wisconsinwatch.org

Experts say it’s challenging to document beavers in the wild. Could a team of Wisconsin Watch reporters succeed? wisconsinwatch.org/2025/02/wisc... @wisconsinwatch.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Dam lucky: How we caught a beaver (on camera)

Experts call it incredibly difficult to document beavers in the wild. Could a team of Wisconsin Watch reporters succeed?

wisconsinwatch.org

@bennetgoldstein.bsky.social looks at the Yeas, Nays and what’s next for a bill that would empower Wisconsin municipalities to block the construction of solar and wind farms in their backyards.

Republican bill seeks more local control over wind, solar farms

A bill that would empower Wisconsin municipalities to block the construction of solar and wind farms in their backyards has been introduced a second time.

wisconsinwatch.org

A bill that would empower municipalities to block the construction of solar and wind farms in their backyards has been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature. wisconsinwatch.org/2025/01/wisc... @wisconsinwatch.bsky.social @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

Republican bill seeks more local control over wind, solar farms

A bill that would empower Wisconsin municipalities to block the construction of solar and wind farms in their backyards has been introduced a second time.

wisconsinwatch.org

Some holiday reading from @wisconsinwatch.bsky.social: Jim Hoffman is on a personal mission to construct artificial beaver dams on his 1,000-acre wildlife safari of a property in hopes of restoring Wisconsin's wetlands. wisconsinwatch.org/2024/12/an-e...

An ecosystem engineer’s vision: mock beaver dams to restore Wisconsin wetlands

Jay Dee Nichols stamped and packed stiff willow branches between maple wood posts, with muffled crunches. At 63, the semi-retired handyman from the Wisconsin city of Black River Falls has trapped b…

wisconsinwatch.org

The Wisconsin town of Maiden Rock passed a set of rules that requires large livestock farms to submit operations plans to address road damage, infectious disease & water contamination — part of a growing trend among local Wisconsin municipalities who believe state laws don't protect them

Winter is coming, which means it’s a good time to revisit this report by @bennetgoldstein.bsky.social about a clever use of satellite technology and snow-covered fields to detect illegal manure spreading in Wisconsin.

Poopspotting: How AI and satellites can detect illegal manure spreading in Wisconsin

Applying manure atop snow or frozen soil heightens the risk of runoff. Researchers are using aerial photographs — snapped by satellites orbiting the globe — to teach computers to recognize winter s…

wisconsinwatch.org