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…
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Friday in Madison and Monday in Washington, Wauwatosa police chief will pay respects and honor to Jennifer Sebena and other officers who died in the performance of their duties.
Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber will be the featured speaker at both the state's annual memorial ceremony for slain law officers and a national ceremony at which Officer Jennifer Lynn Sebena's inscribed name will be unveiled on a memorial wall. The state ceremony will be at noon Friday at the corner of Mifflin and Pinkney streets at the north corner of Capitol Square in Madison. It will be preceded by a procession of visiting law enforcement officers, including a large contingent from Wauwatosa. Jen Sebena will be honored there along with Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputy Sergio Aleman and three Wisconsin officers killed on duty nearly 100 years ago. Weber will speak at that ceremony and then travel to Washington, DC, for another early …
The Republican Congressman is opposing a bill that would eventual give a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
U.S. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner opposes President Barack Obama’s immigration bill and called it amnesty, reported the Wisconsin Radio Network. The senators, known as the gang of eight, put out a bill earlier in April that would give legal status and an eventual path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, tied to border security measures, reported the Huffington Post. The bill calls for employment verification, creating a new guest-worker program, and move the legal immigration system toward merit-based visas. Sensenbrenner, of Menomonee Falls, said the bill would make the immigration problem worse and it would take a person who has been legally trying to become a citizen longer than a person who have been living in the U.S. …
Turning a blah '50s concrete-block box into a bright and bold Parisian-style bakery earns owners civic restoration award.
The homeowner who turns an old, gray Victorian manse back into a bright, filigreed "painted lady." The business owner who turns a tired, crumbling Cream City brick commercial building back into a tuck-pointed civic landmark. These are the folks we have come to expect to win awards for historic restoration. The Wauwatosa Historic Preservation Commission took a different tack Tuesday and presented its annual Preservation of Properties Award to Rocket Baby Bakery for turning a bland block building from 1958 into an eye-catching North Avenue storefront. "This used to be a relatively mundane office building," said commission chairman Charles Mitchell. "Now, it's a bright and cheery traditional storefront that fits with the neighborhood." "Not …
43.060753
-87.99802
Rocket Baby Bakery
6822 W North Ave, Wauwatosa, WI
Winner of civic award for restoration
/articles/rocket-baby-bakery-design-wins-historic-accolades
2077870
/locations/9368985
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Bold bike lanes, midstream pedestrian islands and more, on a smoothly resurfaced roadway with no chicanes, comes at a $1 million price tag.
North Avenue's new look in East Tosa will be as close as possible to what most neighborhood planners wanted to see – in fact, the option chosen Tuesday night by the city is called "the Vision Option" for its parallels to their imagined streetscape. It's also been known simply as "Option 2," "the no-left-turn-lanes plan," and, most popularly, the "no chicanes plan." Traffic lanes will be straightened and slightly narrowed and parking and bicycle lanes will be clearly and colorfully marked. New signals, mid-street pedestrian refuges and bolder crosswalks aim at a more pedestrian-friendly environment. All that will be atop new, smooth asphalt after the existing concrete pavement is ground down. The cost is not insignificant. The "Vision …
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
Complaints were received about donation boxes for clothes and shoes placed around the city.
Donations boxes recently placed around Wauwatosa to collect clothing and shoes are illegal, reported Wauwatosa Now. The city received complaints about the boxes that were placed by St. Vincent de Paul of Waukesha County and Second Chance Recycling. City officials told the newspaper that collection boxes are illegal in an enclosed area, close to a building, but not outside. St. Vincent de Paul of Waukesha County is a non-profit organization. People should be aware when donating if the box is a non-profit or for-profit organization. In other parts of the country municipalities have considered banning for-profit boxes.
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
District 8 meeting will be at Currie Park Clubhouse instead of Madison Elementary School.
The location for the fifth in a series of Wauwatosa District Town Hall meetings has been changed because of a conflict with school plans. The District 8 meeting, scheduled for Wednesday night, has been moved to the Currie Park Clubhouse at 3535 N. Mayfair Rd., not at Madison Elementary School as originally planned. Mayor Kathy Ehley and 8th District Alds. Jason Wilke and Craig Wilson will be present to describe city initiatives in some key areas affecting both the city as a whole and each district individually. City administrative staff have been on hand for the first to help explain some issues and answer questions. Among the chief topics on the agenda for all districts are the 2013 property revaluation, sewer reconstruction and economic …
Alzee
10:25 am on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Everyone is always worried about THEIR OWN freedom, but they never seem to care about the freedom of our elected rulers to make stupid decisions. Don't they have rights too? more ›