WISN-TV Ch. 12 was awarded two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards last week. The ABC affiliate was recognized for Best Newscast and Breaking News by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), and will move forward to the national round of competition this summer.

"We are honored to receive these awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association," Jan Wade, president and general manager of WISN, said in a statement. "We work hard to bring our viewers in-depth coverage of the stories that impact their lives, and we are humbled by these prestigious awards."

The winning entry for breaking news came from a report in December when protesters shut down a section of Interstate 43, and the newscast was from November with the grand jury decision from the Ferguson, Mo., police-involved shooting.

WITI-TV Fox 6 won a regional award for its story, "Risk on the Rails," in the Hard News Reporting category and WTMJ-TV Ch. 4 won for its website scrippsmedia.com/tmj4.

RADIO AWARDS: In the regional Murrow Awards, 620 WTMJ-AM won two honors. The news outlet was recognized for its post-election newscast and won a breaking news award for the I-43 shutdown.

WUWM-FM took home an award for continuing coverage of "Dontre’s Death" and its series of reports on "Black Men in Prison." WISN-AM 1130 won a writing award for "A Star-Spangled Nation" and you can hear Dan O’Donnell’s reporting here. Wisconsin Public Radio won for its hard news reporting of "25 Below and homeless."

MARKETS: Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo will be live from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Milken Institute Global Conference on "Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo."

The conference brings together executives and policymakers to find solutions in business, health, government and education. Bartiromo will interview former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Liberty Media Corporation President and CEO Greg Maffei, BlackBerry CEO John Chen, Blackstone Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman, CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy and others through two days of coverage that started this morning.

SHARING THE CARING: WTMJ-AM 620 celebrated the station’s "WTMJ CARES" giving campaign with a community celebration Saturday at Valley View Elementary School in Menomonee Falls. 

Morning host Jodi Becker reported the story of Ben Nelson, an 8-year-old student at Valley View Elementary who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a version of MS that limits muscle control.  To build a new playground that is accessible to children with special needs, Ben’s family began fundraising. When the Nelsons joined forces with WTMJ, the remaining fundraising goal was $38,000. More than $50,000 in donations were raised. 

"WTMJ firmly believes we do well by doing good. We serve Wisconsin, and we’re getting behind our air personalities by giving them a month where we use our resources to give back to our community," Tom Langmyer, vice president and general manager of WTMJ Radio, said in a statement.

"Jodi Becker is first on our team to lead in this new community betterment initiative. We are pleased to help, and we thank our listeners and great businesses for helping to build this wonderful playground."

Becker was surprised by the community rally.

"The generosity shown for this project by hundreds of WTMJ listeners has been jarring," she said.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would raise more than $50,000 for this project, blowing way past our goal. I am beyond thankful that our community has latched onto the Nelson family and the Valley View accessible playground project."

The school and students are excited for the new playground, too.

"On behalf of our family, the students at Valley View Elementary and the community of Menomonee Falls, I want to thank WTMJ and the many donors who supported this project. Your generosity will make a real, tangible and immediate difference in the lives of our children," said Angie Nelson, Ben Nelson’s mom, in a statement.