December 2025

Middleton baseball manager Brent Jorgensen called Jamie Guerrero an “icon.”

Cardinals basketball coach Kevin Bavery used the term ‘Team Dad.’

And former Middleton baseball skipper Tom Schmitt called Guerrero “one of a kind.”

Guerrero was all that and more, which is why his passing on Dec. 23 hit the Middleton community like a ton of bricks. Guerrero, a long time youth coach and assistant coach in the district, had a lengthy battle with cancer.

He was 53.

“Jamie vowed to be the same person and not let cancer or treatment take away his spirit,” Jorgensen said. “He lived up to his word. He brought energy, excitement, and always kept the focus on his family, his friends, and the kids he coached and mentored.

“The Jim Valvano words that ‘cancer cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul’ fit perfectly. Jamie stayed true to himself and left behind an incredible legacy.”

Schmitt agreed.

Black Earth residents will see some utility bills increase next year, but the Village’s mill rate will remain the same at $5.48 per thousand of equalized value. As recently as 2023-24 the local mill rate was at $7.46. Significant growth in the past two years to the village’s assessed value has driven that downward rate. That growth is a byproduct of the village’s recent property reassessment.

A town of Middleton man accused of trying to unlawfully change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin was bound over for trial Monday on 11 counts of forgery.

Acting on action by two city committees, the Middleton Common Council on Dec. 16 voted to increase water rates in three categories by 3% effective Dec. 15.