Sunday, May 19, 2013
There is plenty happening in Greenfield this week, and Greenfield Patch will keep you in the loop every step of the way.
School news, housing developments and the city’s biggest annual party are all expected to be among this week’s top news stories. The Greenfield School Board is expected to decide on the hiring of new building principals at Maple Grove and Glenwood and a new business director at the board’s meeting Monday. Meanwhile, across town, the Whitnall School Board will be saying good-bye to one of its high school administrators, Rick Elertson, who is resigning as associate principal and athletic director at the high school. The Whitnall School Board, at its meeting Monday night, is also expected to decide on the future of a proposed disc golf course. On Tuesday, the Greenfield Common Council will look at allowing 46 condominiums on Forest Home …
Friday, May 17, 2013
Tim Carpenter, the 3rd District State Senator, said Gov. Walker's borrowing plan for nearly $1 billion is too high, and if he wins the Powerball jackpot, he's kicking in. How would you spend the cash?
With the Powerball jackpot at $550 million and rising, 3rd District State Senator Tim Carpenter hopes he holds the winning ticket. And he knows just what he plans on spending his winnings on. Carpenter said Friday he'll donating the winning $550 million jackpot (see his attached ticket)to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for new road projects, cutting Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to borrow $994 million over the next two years to beef up that department's fund. The state senator, of course, also suggested, should he not be holding the winning ticket, that Walker could scale back his borrowing plan and strip as much as $400 million from it by shrinking the Zoo Interchange project. But enought of that. The real question, what would …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
As predicted, traffic is backed up into Racine County because of work being done on I-94 near Rawson Avenue.
**Updated at 5:57 p.m. May 18 Patch reader Mike Hembrook said he had been stuck between the airport spur and College Avenue for over an hour. "Just a crawl and people are cutting everyone off, plus broke down cars every 100 feet," he said. **Updated 9:55 a.m. May 18 As predicted, traffic jams are reaching into Racine County because I-94 is shut down at Rawson Avenue. Cameras from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation are showing lines of vehicles snaking north into Milwaukee County from the 7-Mile Road exit. Local law enforcement is warning drivers that back-ups could extend as far south as Highway 20. Oak Creek residents should expect some heavy traffic congestion on local roads this weekend. Interstate 94 shut down at Rawson Ave. at…
Monday, May 13, 2013
Steve Rogers, Patch Local Voices contributor, responds to recent Patch story looking into state Joint Finance Committee's debacle over limiting the size of food or drinks being sold.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Some Wisconsin legislators are hoping to prevent any government restrictions on the size of your soda. What about your own restrictions? If any?
If the state Joint Finance Committee gets its way, the Big Gulp will have the freedom to remain, well, … Big. WISN 12 News reports the panel, which includes local representatives Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), placed a provision in the budget bill that would prevent any city or county from limiting the size of a food or drink being sold. The infamous New York City ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces is being challenged in court, but if successful it would dramatically slash the 7-11 Big Gulp (128 ounces) and the McDonald’s Supersize (40 ounces) among others, according to Mother Jones. Setting aside the notion for a moment of how much control government should exert over such a matter, how…
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Controversies over the $648 million reserve fund and the $600,000 Palermo's Pizza deal are bedeviling University of Wisconsin leaders.
It’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Rebecca Blank, incoming chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sure, the acting U.S. commerce secretary, set to start in July, will make $500,000 a year — plus benefits and perks, including a university residence and car, money for travel and entertainment, and an unpaid academic appointment for her husband. But she’ll be stepping into a host of controversies, drawing flak from all directions. As one UW-Madison student quipped, “Blank is not starting off with a blank slate.” There’ll be ongoing fallout from some legislators’ volcanic eruptions over revelations that the UW System has a $648 million reserve fund. Though this is in line with other state systems, Wisconsin politicians are “…
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Attention online shoppers: You might have to pony up more cash for those online shopping sprees, if federal sales tax legislation becomes law.
Online shoppers, who enjoyed avoiding paying sales tax for their out-of-state purchases, probably won't be happy if a bill pending in Congress becomes law. The Marketplace Fairness Act, which passed 69-27 in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, allows states the authority, and option, of collecting taxes on Internet and catalog sales. The act does not create a new tax. But it does allow states the option of collecting the taxes, which they are already owed. However, the legislation does exempt small businesses that make less than $1 million from collecting the tax. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) voted for the bill, but Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not. “Today, I joined a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate in support of the Marketplace Fairness …
Friday, May 3, 2013
Wisconsin's drunk driving-related incidents are the highest in the United States and state Legislators have crafted six bills to confront the issue, but they carries a hefty price tag.
Some state Republican Legislators want to toughen the laws for habitual drunk drivers and first-time drunk drivers if they cause an injury or killed someone, but the price tag for those laws could cost taxpayers up to $236 million, according to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal. Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) have introduced six bills to the Senate and House. The bills would: Because of the jail time provisions, the state expects to have to build 17 facilities that would each house 300 people. "A fiscal estimate from the state Department of Corrections put the cost of the bill regarding third and subsequent offenses at between $169 million and $204 million annually. Other agencies also weighed in, …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
But border security should be the priority, the Republican senator and Tea Party favorite said during an interview with Patch, adding immigration reform should be tackled in bite-sized pieces, not on a comprehensive basis.
U.S. Ron Johnson says he is open to the idea of a pathway to citizenship, or some sort of legal status system, so the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country "can come out of the shadows." However, the Tea Party-backed Republican said Thursday that Congress should tackle immigration reform on a piecemeal basis — instead of passing a comprehensive plan. The debate over immigration reform has heated up in recent days, with protests staged Wednesday in cities across the country, including Milwaukee, as part of May Day celebrations. The demonstrations served as a message aimed at Congress, showing there's support for a path to citizenship, according to the New York Times. In an interview with Patch on Thursday in Bayside, Johnson …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Greenfield Patch inaccurately reported that Shirley Saryan was the first after she was chosen by her peers to fill that role last month.
Turns out Shirley Saryan’s appointment as the City of Greenfield’s Common Council president was not as history-making as Greenfield Patch believed. Last week, Patch called Saryan, the city’s 5th District alderperson, the first woman in the city’s history to hold that position. That was not correct. Former alderperson Barbara Clark held that title for one year, beginning in 1996. Greenfield Patch regrets the error.
robert heule
9:41 am on Saturday, May 18, 2013
I would donate a substantial chunk of my winnings to Walker's opponent's campaign more ›