Monday, April 15, 2013
Tax Day reminds us of the jungle of Tax Code complexities we must navigate in Wisconsin. Simplification of that system is key, and that is on the horizon.
From State Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield): By Monday, thousands of Wisconsin residents will have filed their tax returns after wading through pages of unnecessary instructions that ultimately have little or no impact on their tax liability. As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), I am reviewing the Wisconsin tax code and plan on introducing a tax reform package within the next month. Wisconsin’s tax code is horrendous. Wisconsin consistently ranks among the worst 10 states for property taxes, income taxes and overall business taxes. The low rankings are a direct result of Wisconsin’s high tax rates and overall tax code complexity. The Wisconsin code needs to move away from the practice of picking winners and losers. Filers are often …
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Phil Kroner: I ask hard and challenging questions and demand excellence and rigor, and that may make some colleagues uncomfortable.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, March 27
Recently, three of my colleagues on the Wauwatosa School Board endorsed my opponent for School Board Seat No. 1. I want to briefly respond to their action. School Board members approach their work in different ways. For me, the primary goal is to provide the very best education for every student in Wauwatosa. Our goals are set high, and they are not easy to reach. With my background as a Ph.D.-level research scientist and post-secondary educator, I understand the rigor needed to successfully reach these goals. I carefully study the issues that come before the board, I prepare questions that probe the quality and effectiveness of programs and initiatives, I listen to what other people have to say, and I then make reasoned decisions in the …
These residents are rallied around the incumbent candidate for Seat No. 1 on school district's policy-setting board in Tuesday's only contested election in Wauwatosa.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, March 27
To the Editor: We enthusiastically support Phil Kroner for re-election to Wauwatosa School Board Seat No. 1. As a school board member, he gives thoughtful consideration to the short and long-term ramifications of board decisions. He asks the tough questions of administration, educates himself in the relevant underlying research and evidence, and listens to parent concerns about equity for all segments of our student population. Phil Kroner's depth of knowledge comes from active involvement as a parent in the district for 15 years and his open-minded, intellectual approach to problem solving and innovation. From his position in post-secondary education, he has an added insight into what "college and career ready" really means. This is …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Carmela Rios has what it takes to help build on the strengths of Wauwatosa schools and deal with new challenges, three sitting board members say.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, March 26
By Wauwatosa School Board members Michael Meier, Mary Jo Randall and Tom Jarocz: Our opinions in this letter are our personal opinions as citizens of Wauwatosa, and not positions taken by us as members of the Wauwatosa School Board. School Board candidate Carmela Rios has an impressive background of educational experience in teaching, curriculum implementation and staff development. She understands the unprecedented changes affecting public education, and the need to engage everyone – students, parents, teachers, taxpayers and administrators in a positive and constructive manner. She can provide leadership by example to build an atmosphere of collaboration and shared leadership in finding solutions and producing successful outcomes for …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Public review session of three alternatives is Tuesday night; area revitalization group states its preference for Option 2 with straightened lanes.
An editorial from the East Tosa Alliance: Tuesday night is your chance to review and weigh in on the traffic plans for just how North Avenue in East Tosa will look and flow. The open house will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Common Council Chamber. The redesign of North Avenue will have a major impact on the district, so we're looking for a lot of resident and business input. Immediately after the open house, the Traffic and Safety Committee will begin discussion on the three proposals. The streetscape is a key element of the approved North Avenue plan and will help address key issues that were brought to the fore-front of discussion during the plan development. Here is a link to the city website showing the plans. The East Tosa Alliance …
Monday, February 18, 2013
Most of the cash in high court campaign will spent by conservative and liberal outside groups — not the candidates themselves.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin will hold a primary election for state Supreme Court, narrowing the field from three candidates to two. Then the race will begin in earnest. Justice Patience Roggensack, who has already served one 10-year term on the state’s highest court, is expected to survive the cut. Her challengers are Ed Fallone, a Marquette University Law School professor, and Vince Megna, a Milwaukee lawyer specializing in suing auto companies. The general election is April 2. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 4, according to the most recent reporting, Roggensack had raised about $200,000, compared to Fallone’s $75,000 and Megna’s $0. Roggensack reported having $219,154 cash on hand, compared to Fallone’s $63,713 and Megna’s $5,340. Most of Megna’s …
Monday, February 4, 2013
Being a farm girl myself, this ad reminded me just how cool calling yourself a "farm girl" really is.
I am the daughter of two parents, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. And when I was 10, they bought a farm in Wooster, Ohio. And when I saw that Dodge Ram commercial during the Super Bowl last night, which featured Paul Harvey reading the poem God Made a Farmer, it brought up all of these wonderful (and emotional feelings) I have about growing up on a farm. My parents didn’t know that there is no hobby in farming – only a commitment to working until the work is done and the work is never done. We started off with three hogs, and two steers, then quickly grew to having 300 hogs, a few horses, and an orphaned goat named Gabby. We owned a 1942 Case Tractor that had a crank start and an electric start that came with a plow and a manure spreader…
Sunday, February 3, 2013
From submitting a DNA sample when arrested to comparing the President to the Three Stooges, Patch bloggers weighed in on a variety of topics this week. Here is a look at some of the most popular posts over the past week.
Blog posts in Wisconsin Patches this past week ran the gamut — from mental health to gun control to bullying. Every day, Patch's Local Voices bloggers share information, insight and opinion about what matters to them. Here's a selection of blogs from throughout the past week. In, "Mental illness and Violence: An opinion," Patch Local Voices contributor Tracy Craft takes a look at President Barack Obama's movement to require more mental health screenings in an effort to decrease violence in America. "Passport Please" garnered more than 114 comments in just a couple of days on Patch. Rees Roberts asks if no longer allowing people to post anonymously online would help develop more respectful and responsible posting. Drawing from current …
Saturday, February 2, 2013
2012 was the most expensive election in the "history of the world," and advocate says it's all the U.S. Supreme Court's fault.
During a recent news conference at the state Capitol, Lisa Graves, executive director of the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy, made an astonishing claim. “This past election, in 2012, was the most expensive election in U.S. history,” Graves said. “In fact, it was the most expensive election in the history of the world.” She later pointed to articles that backed this up, at least in terms of total amount. The Jan. 22 event, before a mostly empty room, highlighted a new report tracking spending in the 2012 elections, the first since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United. That ruling, which equated money with speech and barred government from restricting “independent” spending on political campaigns, opened two …
Monday, January 21, 2013
What's blocking Wisconsin from implementing new, tougher laws against drunken driving? It could be "the dollar factor."
Mark Grapentine is a seasoned observer of state politics. He was an aide to then-state Rep. Scott Walker and a policy adviser to then-Gov. Tommy Thompson. For the past decade, he’s been a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Medical Society. In this capacity, he’s pushed for tougher state drunken driving laws — and noticed that, despite an absence of pushback, these laws have stayed mostly the same. “It has been interesting to watch how there has been a lack of progress in an area where there seems to be a tremendous amount of agreement on the need to do something,” Grapentine says. Wisconsin remains the only state where first-offense drunken driving is not a crime, although the civil penalties include license suspension and substantial fines. Two …
Young Conservative
1:56 pm on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
You are certainly an idiot Randy1949. But hey, enjoy living in this tax hell, paying 5x more in taxes that are needed for subpar services. more ›