In 2024, a sheriff’s deputy working for the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department was forced out for being lousy at his job. But even though the deputy, Cristian Morales, was flagged in the state’s negative separation database, he ended up being hired a few months later by the Menasha Police Department.
Earlier this year, Morales was arrested and accused of stalking an ex-girlfriend using the city’s Flock camera system. He’s now facing criminal charges.
While some folks are suited for the difficult work of being a law enforcement officer, many are not. It’s hardly a controversial statement to say that police, who can arrest people and use force when necessary, should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us.
And yet our reporting at The Badger Project has found that police chiefs and sheriffs in Wisconsin often give these “wandering officers” second or third chances, despite research saying that officers fired or forced out for misconduct are more likely than other cops to reoffend.
At our last count, more than 300 active officers in Wisconsin had been fired or forced out of previous law enforcement jobs. Many of these separations involved novices who couldn’t cut it in a tough job during their probationary period, when the bar for termination is low. But some, we’ve found, lost jobs for misconduct, including drunk driving, writing misleading reports and using sexist and racist language.
In Wisconsin, law enforcement agencies can report to the state DOJ when they fire or force out an officer, so we can track when that cop goes on to get hired by another policing agency. But we are currently unable to track these wandering officers who have been fired or forced out in other states and come to work here because we don’t have a list of all law enforcement officers here.
Peter Cameron
That’s why The Badger Project, along with our partners at the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organization, requested the full list of names and work histories from the Wisconsin Department of Justice and sued when it refused.
In April, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford ruled in our favor and ordered the DOJ to release the records. She cited a previous state appeals court ruling that said law enforcement officers “necessarily relinquish certain privacy and reputational rights by virtue of the amount of trust society places in them and must be subject to public scrutiny.”
Prominent members of Wisconsin’s law enforcement community have criticized the judge’s ruling, saying it goes too far. An appeal could be coming.
Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, wrote an op-ed saying the release of these records could put officers at “risk of harassment, doxxing and worse.” He said officers’ birthdates are part of the records whose release we are seeking. Not so: While our initial records request asked for birthdates or birth years (to distinguish between officers with the same name), our lawsuit only asked for birth years, not months and days.
The state DOJ raised another objection, saying release of the names would jeopardize undercover officers. But what cop uses his or her real name when working undercover? We did not request photos of the officers.
I salute and thank the men and women in law enforcement who are serving their communities. I don’t envy the chiefs and sheriffs who must staff their agencies at a time when finding good job applicants for law enforcement jobs is as hard as ever.
And you know what? We at The Badger Project are not against second chances for cops who screwed up. Perhaps an officer who made a fireable mistake has learned from it. Whether that officer should continue in law enforcement is not for us to decide. Our job, as journalists, is to shine a light on those in power and get facts to the public who are being policed by these folks.
If chiefs or sheriffs want to hire an officer with problems in the past, they should say so publicly and defend their decision. They just can’t make these decisions in secret.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to open government. Peter Cameron is managing editor of The Badger Project, a nonprofit news outlet.
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Dane County ended a four-year program that distributed pipes and smoking supplies to reduce overdose deaths and disease transmission among people who use drugs.
Public health officials said the program increased visits from people seeking overdose reversal medication, fentanyl test strips and other harm reduction resources.
County officials halted the program in March after questions arose about whether distributing pipes violated Wisconsin paraphernalia law.
People who relied on the free supplies say they may now buy pipes elsewhere, use makeshift devices or inject drugs they previously smoked.
Dane County has ended an initiative to prevent overdose deaths by giving out pipes.
Four years ago, public health officials started giving people pipes and other supplies to reduce health risks associated with smoking drugs.
The program was part of the department’s broader efforts to reduce harms of drug use. For decades, syringe service programs across the country have provided harm reduction supplies to people who inject drugs. Though controversial, these programs reduce hospitalizations and overdose deaths while increasing participation in drug treatment.
But in recent years people have increasingly smoked drugs rather than injecting them. Adapting to that trend, harm reduction providers, including Public Health Madison and Dane County, began offering smoking supplies.
The pipe handouts worked. More people visited health officials to receive overdose reversal medication and other resources to prevent drug-related illnesses and injuries.
But the program was likely illegal under Wisconsin law, which allows injection supplies, not smoking materials.
Staff stopped offering smoking supplies in March. Spokesperson Morgan Finke cited a need to re-evaluate the program after the risk of COVID-19 transmission from shared pipes sharply declined and federal guidance on harm reduction shifted.
The department still offers injection supplies and other harm reduction items not intended for smoking.
“While syringes are classified as disease prevention materials under state law, smoking supplies have less clear protections,” Finke wrote in an email to Wisconsin Watch.
Halting the distribution of smoking supplies is already having an impact.
People who previously received pipes from the health office said they will buy similar supplies at smoke shops and gas stations, use makeshift pipes made from foil and soda cans or inject drugs they would have smoked, according to records and interviews obtained by Wisconsin Watch.
Others said they would likely stop visiting public health altogether.
Why did health officials hand out pipes?
Wisconsin opioid overdose deaths hit a record high in 2022, topping 1,450.
Officials found more evidence of smoking than injecting at fatal overdose scenes across the U.S. in 2022, a shift from years prior, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although it still carries overdose risks, evidence shows smoking instead of injecting reduces the spread of diseases like hepatitis, HIV and bacterial infections and abscesses. It may also lower overdose risks. Regular access to new pipes can reduce how often people share pipes or use broken and unsafe materials, according to a national research study that included 2024 survey data from Public Health Madison and Dane County.
Public Health Madison and Dane County offered evidence-based resources to prevent disease and overdoses, including sterile needles, fentanyl test strips and overdose reversal medication. But the office primarily served people who inject drugs, the department’s medical director, Dr. Jonathan Temte, wrote in a 2022 letter explaining why the office would start ordering smoking supplies.
“People who use drugs by means other than injection have no reason to visit,” Temte wrote.
Temte is a family medicine physician and University of Wisconsin-Madison associate dean of public health and community engagement. He advises the health department on a limited basis.
When staff asked Temte to approve adding smoking supplies to the department’s syringe service programs, they told him Wisconsin law allowed it, Temte recalled. He focused on whether medical evidence supported the initiative.
Health research overwhelmingly supports harm reduction, he said.
Adding smoking supplies addressed two major issues: Health officials needed to get life-saving resources to people who smoked drugs. And without access to safer smoking supplies, people were more likely to share pipes or use materials that cause cuts, burns and infections.
Monthly visits jumped nearly 30% once department offices began regularly offering filters, mouthpieces and two kinds of pipes.
Even with increased visits, the department distributed 3.7% fewer syringes between 2021 and 2023.
But despite the public health benefits, Wisconsin paraphernalia laws criminalizes smoking materials.
A woman visited a public health office and asked for a pipe in early April. When she found the office no longer distributed them, she asked for syringes, according to emails obtained by Wisconsin Watch. Staff asked if she would inject the drugs she usually smokes. She said yes. Without a pipe she would dissolve powdered drugs in water and inject them.
Screenshot from a “Harm Reduction Saves Lives” pamphlet included in materials Public Health Madison and Dane County produced in response to a Wisconsin Watch public records request.
Screenshot from a “Harm Reduction Saves Lives” pamphlet included in materials Public Health Madison and Dane County produced in response to a Wisconsin Watch public records request.
Screenshot from a “Harm Reduction Saves Lives” pamphlet included in materials Public Health Madison and Dane County produced in response to a Wisconsin Watch public records request.
Screenshot from a “Harm Reduction Saves Lives” pamphlet included in materials Public Health Madison and Dane County produced in response to a Wisconsin Watch public records request.
Why did the program end?
The city-county agency was likely the state’s only syringe service provider that publicized pipes online, according to a 211 list of syringe service programs.
While reporting a feature highlighting the seemingly unique initiative, Wisconsin Watch emailed Madison City Attorney Michael Haas on March 23 to ask how the department could legally distribute pipes.
The email was forwarded to public health staff, records obtained by Wisconsin Watch show. The public health agency redacted correspondence related to the email, citing attorney client privilege.
The next day, a public health supervisor instructed a staff member to remove smoking supplies from an internal tracking system. By the end of the week the department’s website no longer mentioned safer smoking supplies.
Wisconsin’s paraphernalia law bans equipment used, designed or intended for inhaling a controlled substance. Possessing paraphernalia carries a penalty up to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.
Dane County lowered local penalties for drug paraphernalia citations in 2023. County sheriffs and local police have continued to fine and charge people for possessing smoking materials similar to those health officials distributed.
Madison police cited paraphernalia possession in around 350 arrests in 2025, department records show.
“Public health programs must follow federal, state and local law,” Finke told Wisconsin Watch. “While we continue to evaluate disease transmissions within the community and evolving guidance from federal agencies, we have currently removed smoking supplies from our offerings.”
But the medical evidence supporting the service has not changed “one iota,” Temte said. “It’s just one more (example) of the politicization of public health.”
A pipe is shown. (Addie Costello / Wisconsin Watch)
The smoking supply rollback came as harm reduction lost support from federal leaders.
The Biden administration spent millions on harm reduction efforts but prohibited spending grant dollars on pipes after reporting on the potential distribution of safer smoking kits went viral and drew criticism.
The Trump administration announced in 2025 a “clear shift away from harm reduction and practices that facilitate illicit drug use and are incompatible with Federal laws.”
Federal health leaders wrote in April that federal dollars cannot be used to buy “drug paraphernalia or supplies that promote or facilitate drug use” including pipes, injection supplies and fentanyl test strips.
The city-county’s harm reduction program focuses on reducing overdose deaths and preventing disease transmission, Finke said.
“We will continue to engage with and educate policy makers to ensure that federal and state policy evolves consistent(ly) alongside the growing evidence base supporting effective substance use prevention and harm reduction strategies.”
Opioid overdoses have dramatically declined since 2023, but overdose deaths involving stimulants have increased. People who smoke stimulants, like methamphetamine and cocaine, are at a growing risk for overdose, said Giavana Margo, Wisconsin program manager for Vital Strategies, a national nonprofit working to reduce overdose deaths.
“There’s a lot to be celebrated, and we’re still losing way too many lives to overdose,” Margo said.
A Public Health Madison and Dane County office is shown, May 22, 2026, in Madison, Wis. Staffers previously distributed pipes and other supplies to reduce health risks associated with smoking drugs, but they were told to stop doing so in March 2026. (Addie Costello / Wisconsin Watch)
Wisconsin’s paraphernalia laws only exempt smoking supplies associated with tobacco consumption.
But Wisconsinites can still buy pipes typically used to smoke illegal drugs, several advocates and people using drugs told Wisconsin Watch. Gas stations, local shops and online sellers advertise the glassware as tobacco products, decorations or household items.
Standing outside the department’s East Madison location in late-April a woman who identified herself as Ashley said she received pipes from the office for years. Without the free pipes, people will buy them at nearby stores for around $8 or “improvise” makeshift supplies, the 39-year-old said.
She visited public health for pipes whenever one broke, usually about twice a month. Staff asked whether she had enough fentanyl test strips and wanted to help her “stay as safe as possible,” she said. She can still go to the office to get things like condoms, bandages, injection supplies and tampons.
“It helps when you’re homeless like I am,” she said.
Most people who received harm reduction supplies from health officials in 2024 left with fentanyl test strips and overdose reversal medication, a survey of more than 250 program participants shows. Respondents reported feeling safer and no longer needing to steal smoking supplies after the visits.
Still, a quarter of respondents said they weren’t sure or would likely stop visiting the offices if smoking supplies vanished.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included captions that misidentified the source of screenshots from a harm reduction pamphlet. The pamphlet was produced in response to a public records request submitted to Public Health Madison and Dane County.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service won 12 awards on Friday as part of the Milwaukee Press Club Awards for Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism, including six first-place gold prizes for stories on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, shuttered power plants, a detained immigrant, police misconduct and a Milwaukee high school barbershop.
Freelance reporter Larry Sandler and data reporter Hongyu Liu won a gold award in the best online explanatory story or series for their three-part series “Supreme Costs,” which examined how Wisconsin became the first state to feature nine-figure spending on a high court election.
Pathways to success reporter Natalie Yahr along with Cap Times reporter Erin McGroarty won a gold award in the writing category for their story on Miguel Jerez Robles, a Cuban asylum seeker whom ICE arrested after a routine immigration hearing. Yahr and pathways to success reporter Miranda Dunlap won a bronze award in the online category for best long hard feature story for their report on high schools offering more college courses.
Photojournalist Jonathan Aguilar received silver and bronze awards for his photography in the best photo essay and best feature photo categories. His images captured an urban angler and a Dia de los Muertos celebration. Photojournalist Joe Timmerman won a silver award in the best feature photo category for his portrait of an anonymous transgender teenager.
Former reporter Mario Koran’s work on Milwaukee County’s Brady list, which lists law enforcement officers who have been dishonest, won two awards for best investigative story or series, a silver award in writing and a gold award in video. The project was a collaboration among Wisconsin Watch, TMJ4 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Former intern Margaret Shreiner won a silver award in the online category for best investigative story or series for her report on a mother who couldn’t get a public defender after 10,000 calls to lawyers. The Press Club hands out awards in both professional and student categories. Shreiner won the award in the professional category while interning as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
The two most common complaints I hear from people seeking public records are “Why is it taking so long?” and “Why does it cost so much?” Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to mount a successful legal challenge to delays or fees because of the way the state’s laws are worded.
Wisconsin’s Open Records Law imposes no deadline on producing records. All it says is they must be produced “as soon as practicable and without delay.” What does that actually mean? While the state Department of Justice recommends that simple requests receive a response within 10 business days, the DOJ itself doesn’t heed its own advice, often taking months — even years — to fulfill requests.
Courts haven’t given much guidance. They’ve essentially said it’s a reasonableness test that takes into account the size and complexity of the request, the resources of the government agency, and whether they are making a good faith effort to comply. But how long is too long?
Ideally, we’d have a deadline in our law, as some other states do. This may require prioritizing resources properly, which should already be happening. Fulfilling record requests, the law says, is “an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties” of public officials.” And yet I’ve seen agencies with budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars who have one person doing this work.
The other common problem with the records law is it allows custodians to charge fees for complying with records requests. Here, I am especially concerned about “location” fees. The government can charge for the “actual, necessary and direct cost” of finding records, typically at the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee capable of searching. But sometimes this is still a considerable amount, and some custodians even want to charge for employees’ benefits.
Tom Kamenick
This amounts to, essentially, the government getting paid twice for the same work. Our taxes already pay the salary or wage of the employee searching for records. The requester pays them again.
Permitting location fees also incentivizes government agencies to be sloppy in their recordkeeping. The more disorganized their records are, the longer it will take them to find records, so the more money they can collect from requesters. Those high costs also discourage requesters from following through with requests.
For example, I’ve run into police departments that still store their personnel records in paper boxes, so if somebody wants, say, disciplinary records, the department can quote an often prohibitively high price to search each box for disciplinary files. Even if records are stored electronically, they can be hard to retrieve if they are not sensibly organized.
How can we fix these twin problems? If I were in charge (and I’m not), I’d put a strict deadline in the law and eliminate location fees altogether. But realistically, we are unlikely to see either reform.
Perhaps a more practical solution would be to tie the two problems together. Change the law so that custodians can charge location costs only if the records are produced within a strict deadline — perhaps 10 business days.
That compromise would incentivize better, more organized record keeping. Government agencies would now want to keep their records — especially those people frequently request — arranged in ways easy to search and easy to find. It would also incentivize them to devote enough resources to fulfill record requests promptly.
The result? Requesters will get records faster and cheaper, and government agencies might also see a net increase in revenue, as more requesters opt to pay for prompt service rather than walk away.
Pairing these two issues is an idea worth pursuing.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a group dedicated to open government. Tom Kamenick, a council member, is the president and founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.
Isaac Solis knows all too well how taking a pill bought off the street can lead to tragedy.
His son Isaac Solis Jr., known as “Bubba,” died in 2019 after taking what he thought was the prescription drug Percocet.
Instead, it was a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can kill in trace amounts.
Isaac Solis’ son Bubba died in 2019 after taking a fake Percocet laced with fentanyl. (Courtesy of Isaac Solis)
Since then, he’s been on a mission to help prevent others from losing loved ones through his “One Pill Kills” awareness campaign.
His message is being amplified in time for Fentanyl Awareness Day, observed nationally on April 29, through three billboards that feature his son. The billboards direct residents to the 1pillkills.org website and social media pages and include the message: Together We Will Save Lives.
“It’s about spreading awareness obviously that even one pill can kill you, one line can kill you,” Solis said. “If one family sees it and reaches out to their loved one and one life is saved, that’s our goal.”
Two of the billboards can be seen off of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee near West Becher and South Fourth streets, and the other is a north/south display on South 27th Street and West Morgan Avenue. The billboard near West Becher will be up for eight weeks and the one on West Morgan for four.
Solis’s campaign has utilized several billboards over the years to increase community awareness on fentanyl.
The message on the first billboard, he said, was very aggressive.
“Our grief was a bit more raw at that time,” Solis said.
Another billboard featured photos of individuals who lost their lives to fentanyl.
“Eight families put their angels up there,” he said.
Drop in overdose deaths
Fentanyl has fueled the opioid epidemic nationally and a rise in overdose deaths.
The drug had devastating impacts on Milwaukee County, which experienced multiple years of record high drug overdose deaths in the 2010s and 2020s. Those totals peaked at 674 in 2022 and 667 in 2023, according to data from the Milwaukee County Overdose Dashboard. Most of the deaths were caused by fentanyl alone or in combination with other substances.
Since then, the number of fatal overdoses has fallen. Last year 387 died, with 236 of those cases involving fentanyl.
County Executive David Crowley credits increased funding for opioid prevention and collaboration for the decrease.
“Thanks to the investment of opioid settlement dollars, increased access to free harm reduction supplies, and efforts to eliminate the stigma surrounding substance use disorder, fewer people are dying of overdose, which means more opportunities for treatment, recovery and a path forward,” Crowley said in a statement.
A OnePillKills billboard is on display next to I-94 near the intersection of South 4th and West Becher streets in Milwaukee. (Jonathan Aguilar / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service / CatchLight Local)
Fentanyl still a major problem
While Solis said the drop in fatal overdoses is great, it’s also concerning.
“The troublesome part is we don’t know what amount of people are addicted to fentanyl and using it daily,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do.The closer we get to zero deaths, the better.”
He said fentanyl products continue to evolve and get more potent, and it can be in powder or liquid form, and even in vapes.
“It can be hidden in something but you can have no idea what,” Solis said. “There’s always a threat of it being in any type of drug.”
Working together
Like Crowley, Solis credits collaboration for the progress made in addressing the opioid epidemic. He partners regularly with Team HAVOC, a grassroots South Side group.
Rafael Mercado, founder of Team HAVOC, said Solis’ story and “One Pill Kills” message are having an impact.
“He does a lot to bring awareness by way of billboards, social media and pop-ups,” Mercado said. “He has lost a son to this, so he knows firsthand the pain and suffering a family goes through and the ripple effect of addiction on a family.”
Solis also partners with Samad’s House, a Milwaukee-based sober living home and behavioral health clinic dedicated to supporting women. He said he’s working with Tahira Malik, founder and chief operating officer of Samad’s House, to help organize a Walk for Lives event on July 11. Walk for Lives is a nationwide movement to raise awareness about those who died from fentanyl.
Solis said he wishes he could do even more but knows that ending the fentanyl crisis won’t happen quickly.
“The problem didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s not gonna be any one group, not any one solution. Together we will save lives.”
Isaac Solis Jr., who died in 2019, had a passion for working on cars. (Courtesy of Isaac Solis)
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Reading Time: 6minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
Methadone is highly effective at reducing illicit opioid use and overdoses.
The federal government sets minimum standards for clinics to prevent misuse, but Wisconsin imposes more than a dozen additional requirements on providers.
As a result, patients may wait longer to begin treatment, make daily trips to clinics and take more time to reach an effective dose.
Many other states have eased their rules, expanding access without compromising patient safety.
After years of opioid use, Bob saw three paths ahead: jail, death or methadone.
The 70-year-old Stevens Point resident chose methadone, which he has stuck with for more than half his life. He credits the treatment for his long career and ability to raise two daughters. Now retired, he sits in a recliner holding a sheet of paper with a list of old friends; he’s written “OD” next to the names of several loved ones killed by drugs.
Methadone is highly effective at reducing illicit opioid use and overdoses, experts say. It reduces drug cravings, prevents withdrawal and can provide stability without a mind-altering high.
More than 10,000 Wisconsinites used methadone treatment in 2024 to recover from opioid use disorder. But state regulations make accessing treatment more difficult for those patients, providers and researchers say.
The federal government sets minimum standards for clinics providing methadone treatment aimed at preventing misuse. Wisconsin adds more than a dozen more restrictive requirements, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
For patients, the state’s laws can mean waiting longer to enroll in treatment, daily drives to the clinic — even on weekends and holidays — and waiting longer to reach an effective dose.
Two years after the federal government relaxed its rules, Wisconsin’s landscape remains largely unchanged. Providers and researchers want Wisconsin to catch up with newer standards adopted by other states, including Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa.
The Department of Health Services is reviewing Wisconsin’s rules, but it’s unclear what will change or when.
Long drives for methadone treatment
Bob wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and starts the 40-minute drive to his treatment clinic. Years ago, he left that early to make it to work on time. Now, he just likes to beat the crowd.
Wisconsin Watch is identifying people who use methadone by first name only to protect their private health information.
Bob tries not to pee before starting the drive. He knows clinic staff will likely send him into the bathroom with a cup as soon as he arrives. It’s been two decades since he used drugs or alcohol, but he takes the drug test all the same.
Bob holds a bottle of methadone at his home, April 14, 2026. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Bob sits in his recliner, April 14, 2026. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Next, he walks up to a clinic window, where someone hands him 13 plastic bottles of a cherry red liquid. Bob locks the medications inside a box he brought from home. A staff member watches as he swallows another dose.
He’ll do it all again in 13 days. The treatment saved his life, but it keeps him tied to this time-intensive routine — and to a clinic in another town.
“Methadone is like having a pair of golden handcuffs,” he says.
Unlike other medications, methadone cannot be picked up from a pharmacy. Only 31 locations across Wisconsin are approved to provide medication-assisted opioid treatments including methadone, according to the state health department.
At the state’s northernmost clinic in Wausau, patients traveled an average of 31 miles, one way, to their clinic in 2024.
Wisconsin allows fewer take-home doses
Methadone can be fatal if misused. To prevent people from overusing it or selling it, the federal government limited the number of take-home doses patients receive.
Early in the pandemic, the federal government allowed states to relax take-home rules to limit crowding at clinics — and many states did so. Studies later showed higher patient satisfaction and feelings of being respected without a significant increase in misuse.
In making the pandemic exceptions permanent in 2024, federal regulators wrote that the previous standards “can pose disruption to employment, education and other daily activities for patients, and several of the criteria reflect outdated biases that promote stigma and discourage people from engaging in care.”
But Wisconsin’s take-home regulations remain stricter than the federal minimums from before the pandemic.
The federal standard allows patients like Bob to take home 28 doses at a time. Wisconsin allows only 13.
Wisconsin patients must visit their clinic seven days a week until they complete a month in treatment and meet other criteria not required by the federal government. It takes a year in Wisconsin to qualify for the number of take-home doses providers in other states can offer patients after two weeks.
Bob sits in his recliner for a portrait alongside his methadone bottles, April 14, 2026. For patients, Wisconsin’s laws regarding methadone can mean waiting longer to enroll in treatment, daily drives to the clinic and starting at a dose too low to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Random callbacks disrupt routines
State rules also require clinics to regularly “call back” patients, like Bob, who have more than two take-home doses. The callbacks are intended to help providers make sure patients are not selling or misusing take-home doses.
Between visits, Bob’s provider often calls and tells him to arrive at the clinic within 24 hours with all 13 methadone bottles. If he doesn’t, he has to go back to daily clinic visits.
Federal rules do not require callbacks. In a 2024 report, federal regulators said providers should “consider the disruptive nature of random callbacks.”
It’s hard to make plans knowing you might have to change them any moment, Bob says. “I want to be normal again.”
Rules changes under review
Wisconsin is an outlier whose policies are overdue for an update, said Sharel Rogers, CEO of Addiction Medical Solutions and Vin Baker Recovery. She also serves as president of the Wisconsin Association of Treatment for Opioid Dependence.
Rogers was among several providers who backed a bill last month to update state rules. The measure was introduced right before the legislative session ended and was not expected to pass, but supporters hoped it would push regulators to act.
Wisconsin health officials are considering changing opioid treatment regulations, but without legislative action, the process could take years.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services aims to ensure state regulations support access to “high-quality, evidence-based care for those who need it,” wrote Elizabeth Goodsitt, a spokesperson for the agency.
The agency started the state’s “intentionally thorough” rulemaking process last year to bring state regulations “closer in alignment with current federal regulations,” Goodsitt said.
The agency is still drafting proposed changes. They would be subject to public hearings and lawmaker approval in a process that ensures input from providers, advocates and patients, Goodsitt said.
The health department declined to answer detailed questions. Staff plan to review enrollment and take-home requirements, according to a document submitted to the Legislature. It’s not clear if other discrepancies, like callbacks, lab testing or dosage levels, will be addressed.
Opioid treatment providers should be carefully regulated, but Wisconsin’s current rules create barriers for patients, Rogers said.
“I’m just amazed at these patients every day, what they will do for their own recovery,” she said.
Bob flips through a 1974 copy of The Physicians’ Desk Reference to find the drug listing for methadone, April 14, 2026. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Bob lined up his methadone bottles on a table at his home for a portrait, April 14, 2026. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Recovery under tight restrictions
Timothy overdosed three times before starting treatment.
After nine months in Marathon County jail, he relapsed unaware of his lowered tolerance and the strength of the drug supply in 2022.
Within a couple of months, he started methadone.
“Some people don’t get out of that. A lot of people don’t,” Timothy said. “I’m grateful.”
Opioid overdose deaths dropped by more than 42% in Wisconsin between 2023 and 2024, according to the state health department. Still, opioids killed 815 people in Wisconsin in 2024, compared with fewer than 300 deaths two decades earlier.
Rising overdose rates are driven in part by fentanyl, a more potent opioid. Patients with a history of fentanyl use typically need higher methadone doses, said Dr. Hillary Tamar, who oversees Wisconsin treatment providers as a medical director for Community Medical Services.
Wisconsin rules prohibit providers from giving new patients a starting dose above 30 milligrams of methadone. That limit is outdated in the fentanyl era, Tamar said. The average dose at most Wisconsin clinics in 2024 was above 100 milligrams.
Updated federal limits allow providers to start patients at 50 milligrams or higher, based on their clinical judgment. A higher starting dose can help patients avoid withdrawal and reach a stable dose sooner, Tamar said.
Federal regulations also give providers greater ability to decide whether a patient may benefit from fewer visits.
“The regulations in Wisconsin bind us to creating a one size fits all plan, and that is just not how humans work,” Tamar said.
Despite attending regular counseling and dosing in-person daily for four years, Timothy still doesn’t qualify for a single take-home dose in Wisconsin.
That’s because he started using cannabis while undergoing chemotherapy around the time he started methadone treatment. Now in remission, he is working with his counselor to stop using cannabis, but it still prevents him from receiving take-home doses in Wisconsin.
In other states, marijuana use does not bar patients from receiving take-homes, Tamar said.
Last month, Timothy received two take-home methadone bottles while visiting his daughter in Florida.
Before leaving Wisconsin, he worked with staff at his clinic to set up a week’s worth of visits with a Florida provider. He was surprised when the new clinic told him he would receive take-home doses over the weekend.
When at home in Wisconsin, Timothy doesn’t mind the daily clinic visits. But when he’s with his daughter, they remind him of his past mistakes.
For two days he mixed his medication with apple juice and celebrated his 45th birthday with his family without stopping at the clinic.
He said it was the best time of his life.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wisconsin’s Open Records Law gives requesters the right to request records from their government. After all, as the law states, “a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate.”
But how to get started? Under the law, “any person” can make a request for records from any Wisconsin state or local government agency or official, verbally or in writing. You don’t have to start from square one: There are many tools available to help you make requests and ensure you get the records you want with minimal fuss.
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Counsel has long posted a records request template on its website, wisfoic.org. It cites Wisconsin law and uses language to target your request and help you avoid surprise fees.
Many national groups also post letter generators online that can be used to make requests to state and local governments.
For example, the Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to assisting student journalists, posts a heavily used letter generator, which is available for free and can be used to make requests.
Christa Westerberg
An organization called MuckRock not only has a letter generator, but also allows users to post responsive records they receive on its website at muckrock.com. Here you can search through records others have received from all over the country.
Other groups post records they have received through their own open records and U.S. Freedom of Information Act requests.
For example, a group called Reclaim the Records posts genealogical and historical records on its website, reclaimtherecords.org. The website governmentattic.org provides a searchable collection of oddball federal government records and reports.
Of course, this is in addition to records the government proactively publishes or posts online itself. A wealth of information is already available on Wisconsin agency and local government websites, or in local libraries.
Federal agencies are even required to follow the “Rule of 3,” or make electronically available records that have been requested three or more times. The website data.gov contains more than 400,000 datasets, from what it describes as the home of the U.S. government’s open data.
In some cases, it may be easiest just to start with a phone call to the state or local agency that has the records you want. It may be able to send you the record on the spot, or help you understand available records to target your request.
If you’re looking to better understand the law, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of Open Government posts numerous resources online, including its Public Records Compliance Guide, which is helpful for requesters and records custodians alike.
A well-drafted records request is useful for everyone: It can help requesters get the records they want, in less time, and at a lower cost. It can also help custodians find records more easily, freeing them up to respond to others’ requests and carry out other duties.
But the most important tip is to not be intimidated by the process: There are no magic words required to trigger your right to get records, and the law must be interpreted broadly in favor of access.
Wisconsin’s Open Records Law, by design, makes it easy to get records, to fulfill its important objective of informing the electorate. Don’t hesitate to exercise your right to use it.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to open government. Christa Westerberg is the group’s vice president and a partner at the law firm Pines Bach LLP.
While digging out from the snow, we’ve also been marking Sunshine Week — an annual reminder that access to public records and meetings isn’t a luxury or abstract concept. It determines whether the public knows what the government is doing with tax dollars and public trust.
That’s why we published a pair of stories around those themes this week. One, from Tom Kertscher, shows how nondisclosure agreements tied to data center developments limit what communities can learn about projects in their own backyards. The other, from our partners at The Badger Project, examines a long-standing loophole that allows Wisconsin lawmakers to delete records that would otherwise belong to the public.
At the same time, we asked our team to look inward — reflecting on stories we could not have reported without the sunshine laws that quietly power our newsroom every day.
Here are a few recent examples.
Ed Werner, a resident of the Birch Terrace Manufactured Home Community, walks past a manufactured home that is for sale, June 21, 2025, in Menomonie, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Public records — including state licensing files, inspection records and regulatory complaints — allowed Addie Costello to document Wisconsin’s failure to enforce basic protections for manufactured home owners as private equity firms buy up parks to maximize profits. The story, part of our Forgotten homes series on the promises and perils of manufactured housing as an affordable path to ownership, amplified tenant concerns. It also preceded legislation to limit rent increases, require annual state inspections and make it easier for residents to purchase communities through cooperatives.
A photo illustration shows a letter Ben Kingsley wrote to Warden Clinton Bryant about the lack of jobs for people incarcerated at Winnebago Correctional Center. Kingsley contacted Wisconsin Watch with his concerns, and reporter Natalie Yahr investigated. (Photo illustration by Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections provided little meaningful data to Natalie Yahr about its work-release program — a gap that became part of the story. Officials said they do not tally counts of how many people participate. To provide context, Yahr obtained public records from other states, offering points of comparison. The reporting highlights how limited transparency makes it difficult to evaluate a program that can help incarcerated people build resumes, pay court costs and prepare for release — while helping employers fill jobs.
A beaver swims across a pond in Alma Center, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
This story was strengthened due to persistence. Bennet Goldstein filed records requests across all 10 Mississippi River Basin “stem states,” plus Oklahoma and Michigan, to understand how agencies manage beavers. He also pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture for documents it initially withheld — records released only after our attorney signaled a willingness to challenge the denial. The reporting produced a fuller picture of how policy decisions ripple across ecosystems and communities, and it is helping shape debate over flood mitigation and climate resilience. It also found Wisconsin stands out for the number of beavers and dams removed, the millions spent and how officials justify the approach.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney Office’s system for tracking law enforcement officers deemed to have credibility issues is inconsistent and incomplete and relies, in part, on police agencies to report integrity violations, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch found. (Andrew Mulhearn for Wisconsin Watch)
Our collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and TMJ4 News relies on records many jurisdictions resist releasing, if they store them at all: “Brady lists” of officers with credibility issues who might need to testify in court. After pressure from news organizations, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office released its list in late 2024, enabling a series of stories examining who is included — and who is not.
That reporting has revealed significant gaps, which TMJ4 and the Journal Sentinel are continuing to explore. Officers accused of falsifying reports, contradicting body camera footage or costing taxpayers millions in misconduct lawsuits are absent from the list, raising questions about how prosecutors define credibility. The disclosures have fueled public debate, prompted additions and removals from the list and spurred deeper scrutiny of best practices — and whether Milwaukee County meets them.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
All public employees in Wisconsin must retain records, per the state’s open records law. Except one group. The ones who wrote that law.
State legislators have exempted themselves from the retention portion of the law. Some want to change that.
“The public should not have to worry about legislators having secret conversations or deleting emails,” said state Rep. Clinton Anderson, D-Beloit, who is introducing a bill that would close this loophole despite the fact that the state Assembly adjourned last month for the rest of the year.
Anderson released the bill Monday because it is the start of Sunshine Week, a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
Rep. Clinton Anderson, D-Beloit, left, listens as the Wisconsin Assembly convenes during a floor session, Jan. 14, 2025, at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
In Wisconsin, state legislators must comply with a records request, but if they have destroyed the record, they have nothing to send.
“Obviously, it’s troubling,” said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. “It allows legislators to make things go away that they would rather not see the light of day.”
State Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, told the Wisconsin Examiner in 2021 that his office “frequently deletes emails during the normal course of business each day.”
And he’s not the only one.
“My office does not delete records on principle, and we should make sure every elected official is held to that same standard,” Anderson said.
In 2025, Gov. Tony Evers stepped in to close this loophole – his 2025 budget proposal included a measure to “remove the Legislature’s exemption from open records law by requiring that records and correspondence of any member of the Legislature be included in a definition of a public record to provide greater transparency for the people of Wisconsin.” The proposal also would have allocated funds and opened a full-time position with the Legislative Technology Services Bureau to carry out this new requirement. But the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee removed it from the final budget.
State Sen. Chris Larson, a Democrat from Milwaukee, has introduced bills to close that exemption for state legislators multiple times and is doing so again in the Senate this week in tandem with Anderson.
Wisconsin state Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, is photographed during a state Senate session on June 7, 2023, in the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wis. (Drake White-Bergey / Wisconsin Watch)
Before his election to the state Senate in 2010, Larson served on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. As a public official, he had to maintain all his records there and assumed the same when he arrived in the Legislature.
But as his email inbox filled up and ran low on space, Larson said he was told by IT staff to simply delete old messages.
“People often wonder why so many wildly popular policies go session after session without a vote or even a public hearing, while special interest slop rises to the top of the agenda,” said Justin Bielinski, Larson’s spokesman. “The Wisconsin Legislature’s exemption from record retention requirements creates a perverse incentive to do the people’s business in secret. If lawmakers aren’t going to be responsive to their constituents’ needs, the least we can do is allow people to find out who they are listening to, and whose voices they choose to ignore.”
Larson’s bills to close the loophole have been ignored by Republicans who control the Legislature, he said. The majority party generally pays little attention to bills from the minority.
The exemption for legislators here “completely undermines Wisconsin’s public records law and the ability for citizens to trust their Legislature,” said David Cuillier, director of the University of Florida’s Brechner Freedom of Information Project. “It’s really quite bizarre and an outlier in the United States. The right thing to do is remove it and restore accountability and credibility to the institution.”
The Badger Project is an independent, reader-supported newsroom in Wisconsin.
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