Dee J. Hall, Author at WisconsinWatch.orgWisconsinWatch.org

Dee J. Hall

Hall, a co-founder of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, joined the staff as managing editor in June 2015. She worked at the Wisconsin State Journal for 24 years as an editor and reporter focusing on projects and investigations. Previously she was a reporter for eight years at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where she covered city government, schools and the environment. During her 35-year journalism career, Hall has won more than three dozen local, state and national awards for her work, and is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. She is based in Madison, Wisconsin. She can be reached at dhall@wisconsinwatch.org

Your Right to Know

Your Right to Know: In survey Dems back more openness, GOP mostly mum

By Dee J. Hall | October 18, 2018

In advance of the Nov. 6 elections, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council surveyed candidates for state Assembly and Senate to gauge support for initiatives to require more openness by public officials, including the Legislature. We sent surveys to 204 candidates: 106 Democrats, 84 Republicans and 14 third-party contenders. We received 75 responses from 60 Democrats, eight Republicans and seven third-party candidates, for a 37 percent response rate. Most of the Democrats who responded offered conditional support for many of the ideas.

Government

Wisconsin takes steps to avoid voter data breach that happened in Illinois

By Grigor Atanesian (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism) and Dee J. Hall | September 16, 2018

Wisconsin officials say they have taken multiple steps to guard against attacks on the election system. But the August rollout of vote tallying through the WisVote system shows more work needs to be done.

Opinion

Why we analyzed the speed of bills in the Wisconsin Legislature and what we learned

By Dee J. Hall | August 19, 2018

This column is a companion to our story revealing that the length of time bills were deliberated dropped significantly soon after Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators took control in 2011. In this piece Center managing editor Dee J. Hall explains the origins and methodology of the analysis.

Wisconsin to force parents to work for FoodShare, despite doubts about effectiveness

By Dee J. Hall | July 1, 2018

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-run Legislature expand work mandate to parents of school-age children and increase requirement to 30 hours a week

Flawed Forensics

Wisconsin man, casualty of flawed hair forensics, latest to be exonerated

By Dee J. Hall | May 18, 2018

Charges against Richard Beranek were dropped after DNA proved hair and semen from rape were not his; junk hair analysis cause of numerous wrongful convictions.

Broken Whistle

Long-time judge: Some ‘independent’ doctors routinely rule against injured workers

By Alexandra Hall (Wisconsin Public Radio/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism) and Dee J. Hall | January 21, 2018

As an administrative law judge hearing worker’s compensation cases in Wisconsin for three decades, Joe Schaeve said he often knew how certain doctors hired by employers and insurance companies would rule even before opening their reports.

Broken Whistle

Defining Wisconsin’s whistleblower law

By Dee J. Hall | December 3, 2017

Whistleblowing traditionally has been seen as a public-private effort to expose wrongdoing, said Patrick Burns, associate director of Taxpayers Against Fraud, whose group works to protect and advance the cause of whistleblowers.

Flawed Forensics

Wisconsin inmate says flawed FBI hair, fiber analysis forced him to take plea deal, 50-year prison term

By Katherine Proctor (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism) and Dee J. Hall | October 23, 2017

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism identifies nine cases with misleading microscopic hair or fiber comparisons; one man serving life for killing a police officer in 1994 says he is innocent.

Flawed Forensics

Wisconsin’s tainted hair, fiber cases

By Dee J. Hall | October 22, 2017

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has found nine cases in the state involving 12 defendants that featured faulty crime laboratory hair or fiber comparison. Seven cases were flagged by the national task force re-examining cases involving FBI hair and fiber analysts. Two are cases in which DNA testing showed that Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory hair comparisons linking suspects to crime scene hairs were wrong.

Immigration

How undocumented immigrants became the backbone of dairies — and how to keep the milk flowing in America’s Dairyland

By Dee J. Hall and Riley Vetterkind (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism) | October 6, 2017

Farmers, experts say reliance on immigrant workers, many of them in the U.S. illegally, will continue unless dairies — and Congress — make significant changes.

Flawed Forensics

After 27 years, judge overturns rape conviction, cites flawed FBI hair analysis

By Dee J. Hall | June 9, 2017

Richard Beranek’s conviction was overturned after serving 27 years in prison for sexual assault. His case is the latest in which flawed hair analysis by the FBI led to a wrongful conviction.

Flawed Forensics

Wisconsin, U.S. used flawed hair evidence to convict innocent people

By Dee J. Hall | April 30, 2017

FBI admits errors in 90 percent of hair and fiber cases, including 13 in Wisconsin. Such errors are now a factor in one-fifth of all DNA exonerations.