Wednesday, July 23,2008

Million-Dollar Condos Could Be Added to Prospect Avenue

Bauman signals it’s OK to change zoning for wealthy reside

By Lisa Kaiser

East Side Alderman Robert Bauman has indicated that he’d OK zoning changes to allow New Land Enterprises devel oper Boris Gokhman to build a 27-story luxury condo development on the site of the historic Goll mansion at 1550 N. Prospect Ave. A New Land representative argued that the zoning change merely represents a “reallocation” of square footage currently allowed on that site.

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Wednesday, July 23,2008

Milwaukee-New Berlin Water Sale Could Be Near

Working out the details for an expanded service area

By Lisa Kaiser

The request—technically an amendment to the agreement currently in place between New Berlin and Milwaukee—would allow New Berlin to bring in Lake Michigan water to an “expanded service area” or the “middle third” of the community.

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Wednesday, July 23,2008

Think You Know John McCain?

Offshore drilling won’t reduce gas prices

By Lisa Kaiser

McCain—who has accepted more than $1 million from Big Oil donors—is hoping that voters who are outraged by the high cost of gas will support his desire to find new domestic sources of oil and natural gas.

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Wednesday, July 23,2008

They Must Be Joking

The New Yorker’s satirical Obama cartoon

By Joe Conason

From the works of Mark Twain to Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, there have always been people who didn’t get it—or worried about the damage that would ensue when other people didn’t get it. Today in America, despite the rising influence of “The Daily Show” and The Onion...

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Thursday, July 17,2008

WMC Already Collecting Dividends from Buying the State Court

Ziegler, Van Hollen and WMC deliver huge tax bill

By Lisa Kaiser

The state Supreme Court,state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and the big business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) handed Wisconsin residents a $350 million tax hike—and gave corpora tions a new tax break. Four justices on the state Supreme Court—Patrick Crooks, David Prosser, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler...

Wednesday, July 16,2008

Milwaukee Unity Caucus Hits the Streets

Elected officials reach out to a fearful neighborhood

By Lisa Kaiser

A group of state legislators, county supervisors and aldermen wouldseem to be an unlikely crime-fighting unit, but the recent quadru ple homicides in the Metcalfe Park area forced the Milwaukee Unity Caucus to canvass the neighborhood searching for answers. The Unity Caucus—a group of elected officials at various...

Wednesday, July 16,2008

Think You Know John McCain?

The nominee fails to support Medicare

By Lisa Kaiser

Last week, only one senator failed to vote on a bill that would prevent pay cuts for doctors who take care of 44 million Medicare patients—older Americans, those with disabilities and military families. The lone senator was not Sen. Edward Kennedy, who took a break from his cancer treatments to make the important vote in the...

Wednesday, July 16,2008

EarthTalk

From the Editors of E/THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

Dear EarthTalk: Are sunscreens safe? Which ones do you recommend for protecting my skin from the sun without causing other health issues? —Bettina E.

Friday, July 11,2008

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce’s Epic Blunder

State businesses reject its right-wing agenda

By Cory Liebmann

Late last month Epic Systems announced that it would try to avoid working with vendors that support the leadership of the state business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC). Epic Systems contractor J.P. Cullen & Sons promptly dropped its membership with WMC and the company’s CEO left his position on the WMC board. Earlier this year, another WMC board member, TDS Telecom CEO David A. Wittwer, stepped down from the position. Although Wittwer didn’t cite a specific reason for leaving, his resignation occurred on the cusp of WMC’s political attack on Wisconsin’s first African-American Supreme Court justice, Louis Butler.

Friday, July 11,2008

Bradford Beach Makes a Comeback

By Bret Ratner

“We did it,” said Sue Black, director of Milwaukee County Parks. “Bradford Beach is back. On a hot summer day, when you are looking at the high gas prices, we have a vacation spot right in our own back yard.” The repair of Bradford Beach was a “collaboration and partnership between both private citizens and corporations,” said Deb Lukovich, the committee chair of Friends of Bradford Beach.