Issue of the Week: Scott Walker Ducks Responsibility

Plus Winners and Jerks of the Week

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker may be eyeing higher office, but if he wants to run on his record of being fiscally responsible, he’s got some explaining to do. Not only will the county have a budget shortfall of more than $30 million in the coming year, but his plans to fund mass transit will do nothing to fix the problem. Everyone knows that Milwaukee’s bus system is in trouble, and Walker’s decision to cut routes and raise fares hasn’t helped the bottom line. His steady opposition of the Kenosha- Racine-Milwaukee rail line has stymied mass transit in the region.

Issue of the Week: The Great Storm

Plus Winners and Jerks of the Week

Well, at least it wasn’t snow. Last weekend’s furious rainfall and dangerous aftermath serve as a reminder that we’re all in this together. The record levels of water didn’t discriminate, flooding wealthy and not-so- wealthy areas, rural and urban, vacation paradises and freeway intersections. The rain has stopped for now, but danger remains. The rush of water in rivers and ditches should always be avoided, and parents and teachers must remind curious kids that they should stay away. Floodwater often harbors dangers bacteria, and mold can form in damp areas, so anything that can’t be dried and disinfected must be thrown away.

Issue of the Week: Chill Out

Plus Winners and Jerks of the Week

Issue of the Week: Protecting the Great Lakes

The state Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Great Lakes Water Compact last week, which creates new rules regarding water taken out of the Great Lakes basin. The agreement was years in the making, and for lengthy, highly technical bill, it provided plenty of drama.

Issue of the Week: Family Planning Gag Order Coming?

Will President Bush sign an executive order banning the use of federal funds for some family planning services? Almost 80 conservative groups are urging Bush to ban Title X federal fund for family planning groups that provide information about abortion.

Issue of the Week: Noise

It looks like Milwaukeeans will have an easier time lodging complaints about unnecessarily loud car stereos, now that a Milwaukee Common Council committee voted to expand South Side Ald. Bob Donovan’s “Operation Bass Busters.” “We are not interested in chasing after you, but if we have to, by God, we will,” the always quotable Donovan vowed.

Issue of the Week: Gas Tax Pandering

Issue of the Week: Drunken Driving

A recent report put Wisconsinites at the top of the list for drunken driving, with more than 25% of those polled admitting that they’ve driven while intoxicated in the past year. Unfortunately, the dangers of driving while under the influence hit home when pregnant Oconomowoc school administrator Jennifer Bukosky...

UWM Student Election In Doubt

Ruling party’s ally removes opposing party from ballot

If this is how UW-Milwaukee students are learning how democracy works in the real world, we’re in trouble. Last week’s two-day election for the Student Association featured allegations of voter intimidation, bribery, poll workers filling out ballots for voters and censorship.

Statewide Smoking Ban Still Popular

Bars remain the sticking point

Although the statewide smoking ban was held up in the state Legislature this past session, it still seems to be popular among voters. A just-released survey from Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and St. Norbert College found that 41% of respondents want a complete ban, now.

Gableman Won the Election, But Will He Sit on the Court?

Citizen Action complaint could remove him

Just about everyone denounced Burnett County Judge Michael Gableman’s false, race-baiting attack ad against Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler—well, everyone except Gableman. Even Charlie Sykes called foul on it, and the bipartisan Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee declared that it...

Rise Up, Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Unity Campaign threw a party with a purpose

Aide cross-section of Milwaukee gathered on Saturday night at the Rave for “Rise Up Milwaukee,” a party with a purpose. Organized by the Milwaukee Unity Campaign, a coalition of labor unions, community organizations and committed residents, the event included great music, good food, meet-and-greets...

Lead Paint Red Herring

Is Gableman a total hypocrite?

The state Supreme Court’s 2006 decision to allow a Milwaukee teen to sue a company that produced paint containing lead energized the conservative portion of Wisconsin’s business community. After all, they reasoned, if a lead-poisoned teen could get his day in court, wouldn’t that lead to similar...

WMC’s $9.8 Billion Debt to the State

Calculator totals up the business lobby’s cost to taxpayer

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the state’s big business lobbying group, costs the state about $31 a second. That’s because WMC’s proposals—from slashing corporate income taxes to opposing insurance coverage of wigs for cancer patients—

Driven to Distraction

City debates electronic signs

Why stop with cell phones, texting, DVDs, CDs, the radio, fast food, traffic, construction, snowbanks and pedestrians? Add electronic billboards to the list of drivers’ distractions. On March 18, the city’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee will debate—yet again—

Autism Shenanigans

Featured from this week's Expresso

One good bill is getting stuck in the final days of the regular legislative session: insurance coverage of autism. Senate Democrats—plus 15 Senate Republicans—voted to mandate that insurance companies cover treatment for autistic kids (SB 178). But Assembly Republicans want to give private insurers $6 million of state money and $8 million of federal money for coverage. "...That means the insurance companies would get the giveaway, while Wisconsin parents receive no new guarantee that treatments for their autistic children would be covered.”

Consensus on Energy Policy?

Under the next president, U.S. could be R&D capital

Rural Pols Drive Up Milwaukee Taxes

School choice funding penalizes city taxpayers

The Hottest Ticket in Town

Dems gather to hear Clinton and Obama

Saturday’s Democratic Party of Wisconsin fundraiser turned out to be the hottest ticket in town—so hot that the Dems opened up a room for 400 people who couldn’t squeeze into the main event. The draw? Quite possibly the next president, as both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama tried to win...

Downer Avenue Project’s Details Fill In

City Plan Commission approves the development

Residents still seem largely opposed to the giant new development that will be constructed on Downer Avenue, a historic neighborhood on the city’s East Side. But on Tuesday, the City Plan Commission approved a more detailed version of the plan, reasoning that the big decisions were approved...

Former Marquette Coach Majerus Defies the Church

Angers St. Louis archbishop with political remarks

Sheboygan native Rick Majerus, the former basketball coach at Marquette University who is currently coaching at St. Louis University, spoke in favor of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research at a Hillary Clinton rally in January.

The Fonz Will Be Bronzed

And Hotcakes Gallery will close in protest

Actor Henry Winkler, who will forever be known as Fonzie, the ’50s-style rebel from 1970s television, was in town last week to celebrate the completion of the fund-raising for the “Bronze the Fonz” statue. His likeness will be preserved somewhere along the Milwaukee River...

Deliver a Strong Compact

Majority of Wisconsin residents want to protect water

Although it’s both contentious and tedious, a new poll indicates that Wisconsin residents want legislators to get moving on approving the Great Lakes Water Compact, which would set new rules about the use of water along the Great Lakes.

Are We A Little Touchy?

Accountability irks school choice advocates

School choice advocates George and Susan Mitchell, of Shorewood, have been living very comfortably off of wealthy, right-wing supporters of the school voucher program, but they quickly attacked a state legislator this past week for trying to impose some accountability standards on these dubious choice schools.

Fix School Choice, Mayor Barrett Says

But Republicans want to expand the flawed program

Lawmakers are debating whether to expand the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program to the suburbs—even with its documented flaws intact.