Managing editor of news @WPR. Subscribe to the Wisconsin Today newsletter and the “Wisconsin Today: Morning News” podcast!! rob.mentzer@wpr.org
Joined October 2007
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2,623 Photos and videos
How big was liberal judge Chris Taylor’s Supreme Court victory in Wisconsin?
a) She won Dane County by more than any liberal candidate basically ever
And b) You could remove every single vote from Dane County and she still would have won handily.
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Always read @SJohnsonWPR —>
wpr.org/news/liberals-domina…
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
Feb 13
GOP congressional candidate named in $44M 'Ponzi scheme' settlement (via @RichKremer) wpr.org/news/republican-cong…
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5 Dec 2025
People are drinking more whole milk, less soy milk is up and "cottage cheese is having a real moment right now." WISCONSIN'S TIME TO SHINE BABY. wpr.org/news/americans-drank…
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4 Dec 2025
WPR spoke to Somali Wisconsinites about being called “garbage” by the president of the United States. wpr.org/news/somali-resident…
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
4 Nov 2025
I've been doing journalism a long time and don't recall a public official ever demanding a "public correction" of an entire story, and then proposing a bunch of fixes to the exact problems highlighted in the @CapTimes story.
thecentersquare.com/wisconsi…
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5 Nov 2025
Ron Johnson has been a very consistent defender of the filibuster, both as a member of the minority and majority party in the Senate. This is a big change!
5 Nov 2025
Ron Johnson backs Trump’s call to eliminate the filibuster and said he backed Trump up during the breakfast meeting.
“Most Republicans realize that the minute Democrats control the Senate, they’ll nuke the filibuster. So why be shmucks and let them do it first?”
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5 Nov 2025
A WPR investigation.
wpr.org/culture/asparagus-gr…
ALT Why is there so much asparagus growing along the side of the road in Wisconsin?
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4 Nov 2025
The McFarland Police Department posted this photo of a suspected drunk driver’s one-vehicle crash in which *no one was injured* if you can believe that.
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
28 Oct 2025
NEW: Nearly 400 Wisconsin children will lose Head Start next month due to the government shutdown. Another 1,100 will lose benefits in December if the shutdown continues
wpr.org/news/400-wisconsin-c…
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25 Oct 2025
This seems good
23 Oct 2025
Covid-19 vaccines, credited with saving millions of lives during the pandemic, set off a powerful alarm that rallies the human immune system against cancer and nearly doubles the median survival length of patients, according to a new retrospective study. wapo.st/4qmTVhl
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
23 Oct 2025
Wild interview. Ryan Porter’s Riverwest home raided yesterday by FBI. He says agents interviewed him for 6 hours and decided not to press charges. Porter returned home later that day and told a WISN reporter — on camera — that he sells weed and cocaine, but it’s small potatoes.
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
16 Oct 2025
Put down your phone! At least if you have small children.
"Parental tech use has been likened to secondhand smoke in that it might endanger children’s health and development in ways we don’t even fully understand yet."
Here's my latest feature for WPR:
wpr.org/news/schools-speech-…
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
15 Oct 2025
UW-Madison sees more than 30 percent decline in international freshman students
wpr.org/news/uw-madison-decl…
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
13 Oct 2025
Farmers harvesting their crops this fall are also waiting to hear whether they can expect a check from the government. Even if a bailout comes, farmers often say they'd prefer markets to sell their crops to a government handout.
wpr.org/news/farmers-trump-t…
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3 Oct 2025
I know there is a lot going on but Thomas Pynchon's new novel is set in Wisconsin and Dwight Garner calls it "perhaps Western literature’s Great Cheese Novel."
WESTERN LITERATURE'S GREAT CHEESE NOVEL.
nytimes.com/2025/10/02/books…
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Rob Mentzer retweeted
24 Sep 2025
A city administrator and his sister are facing criminal charges in northwestern Wisconsin related to an alleged attempt to record a closed session county board meeting last month.
wpr.org/news/ladysmith-city-…
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18 Sep 2025
This guy, a former state lawmaker and tourism secretary, left behind millions of pounds of hazardous waste including 60 pounds of elemental mercury that was not properly stored.
The state spent $4.6 million to clean it up. (Link below.)
ALT Former state lawmaker, charged with fraud, left nearly 2.7M pounds of hazardous waste
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