The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and MAPLight.org announced a major initiative to help the public and journalists investigate the influence of money in Wisconsin state politics and policymaking.

NAMI Dane County has presented its annual Media Award to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism for stories that increased the public’s understanding of mental illness.
The award recognized the Center’s extensive coverage of perinatal depression among low-income mothers, Wisconsin’s high suicide rates and elevated suicide rates among Native Americans in Wisconsin and nationwide.
NAMI, the [...]

In interviews with mental health advocates and county and state officials, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism found that Wisconsin’s public mental health system — once viewed as a national model — has become fragmented and underfunded. And many experts fear that as Gov. Scott Walker moves to close the state’s budget deficit, the mental health system will be weakened even further.