Hillary has trouble with graphic representations of concepts.
The responses are hilarious. This is my favorite:
Month: May 2016
Around the Bend by Judy Steffes
Man saved by WB firefighters stops to say “Thanks.”
An emotional reunion this week at the West Bend Fire Department on Seventh Avenue as Scott Koehler shook the hands with the rescue personnel who saved his life.
“You guys did a fantastic job,” said Koehler. “You went over and above the call of duty.”
The life-saving scenario he referred to played out in an ambulance on January 16, 2016.
Koehler initially called 9-1-1 around 1 a.m. but sent the rescue crew packing. “When we signed off the first time,” said firefighter Marc Rinzel. “We knew we’d be back.”
As soon as the ambulance was parked in the station, the second call came in and the team with Lt. Andrew Whitmore and firefighter Alec Hakes returned to Koehler’s home on Eighth Avenue and loaded him up for transport to Community Memorial Hospital and its catheterization lab.
It was after the ambulance had just passed the exit for St. Joseph’s Hospital that Koehler, 56, suffered a heart attack.
“We could see it on the monitor,” Rinzel said.
The Med-11 transport team immediately turned the ambulance around on Highway 60 and made a bee line 1 mile to St. Joe’s. During that time they performed CPR and shocked Koehler three times with the defibrillator.
“We turned around because we weren’t sure we’d get your pulse back,” said Whitmore.
The third shock brought back Koehler’s pulse and breathing. St. Joe’s stabilized him in 20 minutes and then the ambulance rushed him to CMH where Koehler received two stents.
“Technically you were dead,” said Rinzel. “Had we not done another thing you would have went to the morgue.”
This year alone the West Bend Fire Department and paramedics have saved four people who had heart attacks. During Monday’s common council meeting several members of the community were recognized by the Fire Department with Heartsaver Awards for their life-saving assistance.
Cheri Hart from UW-Washington County performed CPR on student Jerry Williams and helped save his life after he went into cardiac arrest.
At Serigraph, Calvin Steinert, Darryl Pree, Kip Wagner, and Mike Walker helped save the life of co-worker Craig Zillmer who had a heart attack and the staff at the Kettle Moraine YMCA including Chris Delcamp, Anna Hupfmann, Jen Robertson, and Jenny Zaskowski helped save the life of Steven Riechers who had a heart attack in the locker room at the Y.
The message the fire department wants to get across is that all of the Heartsavers took time to learn CPR. In ever scenario their quick action saved a life.
Bike rack opportunity
On Wednesday, May 25 there will be a gathering at Old Settlers Park as a local photo shoot takes place to promote the bike racks. The BID Board will be on hand along with members of Bike Friendly West Bend.
There will be a total of 10 bike racks in the downtown BID district. “Three are already installed in our two parks, with seven being installed soon,” said Parks Director Craig Hoeppner.
The BID Board paid for the bike racks and the city is installing them. The bike racks will extend from BMO Harris Bank and West Bend Tap & Tavern on the north end to Riverside Brewery and Restaurant on the S. Main Street.
“The racks the BID Board has provided and the city has installed are artful, functional and placed near shops, restaurants, parks and activities where cyclists want to go,” said Jeff Puetz with Bike Friendly West Bend. “Racks are a visible sign cyclists are welcome and that the community values their presence and the security of their property.”
Local Builders Club places U.S. flags on veterans graves today
About 40 students from Silverbrook Middle School Builders Club are volunteering today placing American flags on veteran’s graves at Washington County Memorial Park.
This is the sixth year the Kiwanis Early Risers have wrapped their arms around students by paying tribute to veterans. Kiwanis member Scott Schmidt said the students learn history, respect and how people fought for this country’s freedom.
Johnson Bus of West Bend is volunteering to transport the students to Washington County Memorial Park, Holy Angels, and Union Cemetery. About 1,900 flags will be placed on graves in preparation for Memorial Day.
The West Bend Memorial Day parade will step off at 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 30. A ceremony will follow at the Old Courthouse Square on Fifth Avenue and Poplar. The keynote speaker will be Gold Star Mother Liz Kryst of West Bend.
Honoring the Missing In Action Veterans
The Missing Man Ceremony, a formal program honoring veterans who are missing in action, will be presented at the Memorial Day Ceremony at Fillmore Turner Hall on Monday, May 30, at 12:30 p.m. The program will also include the Kewaskum High School Band and a fresh flower wreath ceremony in the cemetery. The public is welcome; refreshments will be available. The program is hosted by the Farmington Historical Society.
Rezoning request for proposed Pizza Ranch
On June 6 a request will be made before the West Bend Plan Commission to change the zoning for a 1.7-acre parcel on W. Washington Street from B5 to B1.
The purpose is to lay the groundwork for development of a 6,107-square-foot Pizza Ranch. The franchise, based in Iowa, is described as, “Buffet Your Way” means you can request any pizza you want and we’ll not only make it for you, we’ll personally deliver the first slice to you! Now that’s legendary service!”
There are currently 180+ locations across 13 States including Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.
In Wisconsin the closest Pizza Ranch to West Bend is in Fond du Lac. There’s also a Pizza Ranch in Oshkosh, Oostburg, Portage, Waupun, Sun Prairie, Sheboygan, Kohler and Appleton.
The property on W. Washington Street, just west of Westbury Bank was listed at $316,000.
There is an accepted offer on the table. The buyer has yet to close on the sale. Officials at the corporate Pizza Ranch office confirmed West Bend, Wis. was on their radar however, they did not disclose any more information at this time.
Discount Ramps in WB bought Heavy Duty Ramps in Kewaskum
West-Bend based web-only retailer DiscountRamps.com has purchased Heavy Duty Ramps in Kewaskum. “It’s the perfect marriage of two companies,” said Larry Marmon, CEO of Discount Ramps. “They’re our biggest supplier and we’re they’re biggest customer but we service different markets.”
Discount Ramps, 760 S. Indiana Ave., classifies itself as the “industry’s biggest selection of low-priced, high-quality ramps and accessories” and the “one-stop online shop for all your loading, hauling, transportation, and mobility needs.”
Heavy Duty Ramps, 7865 Sandy Ridge Road, Kewaskum, has been in the ramp manufacturing business for 36 years and produces over a thousand different variations of aluminum loading ramps.
Marmon said he had been in talks with Richard Beilstein, founder of Heavy Duty Ramps, for about a year. “Beilstein was ready to retire and we thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to step in and take it to the next level,” Marmon said. “Heavy Duty Ramps is a very well-run business with great products and customers and from a product innovation point of view it’s our leading vendor.”
Marmon said they will continue to use the former Key West location in Kewaskum for production. “The biggest change is we’re aggressively hiring more staff,” he said. “We need welders and more people in the warehouse.” Motorists on Highway 45 will also notice a sign change in the coming months at the Key West location.
City officials aware of bridge issues
City officials in West Bend are well aware the new bridge across from the Museum of Wisconsin Art has its shortcomings. The saga of the bridge began in March when an unpainted version of the steel truss bridge was delivered.
That was hauled away and soon the painted bridge arrived and was put in place. Then contractors laid down rebar and concrete and a bit of a wave was found in the final product so, after a sealant was put down, another material was put on top to try and even things out.
That’s where the discolored patches come in. City engineer Max Marechal admitted the bridge doesn’t look the best. He said the appearance of the concrete is being addressed and it may take about a year to fix.
WBHS Orchestra teacher is leaving
West Bend High School orchestra teacher Josh Zallar is leaving the district. Zallar, a graduate of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, has been in the district since 2011. Starting his career at Silverbrook Middle School, Zallar began working on a part-time basis at both the high school and Silverbrook in 2012.
Zaller is leaving to be closer to his in laws in Michigan. He said telling his students was the hardest thing. “I feel really sad about leaving because I love the kids and the community and the parents and I thought we built a pretty good orchestra program,” he said. “Some of these kids I’ve known for five years; I just told them to keep playing.”
Zallar, 31, will be teaching in a smaller community but with an orchestra that’s just as big. “I worked to provide big opportunities for the students,” he said. “We started a chamber music program and we played with a couple of rock bands, so we just tried to think big and get the kids excited.” Zallar praised the support of the district and Superintendent Ted Neitzke. The WBHS orchestra will have a concert on Monday, May 23.
Rave reviews for Banner ArtWalk
The 4th annual Banner ArtWalk was a huge draw at the Museum of Wisconsin Art on Saturday. Fifty hand-painted banners hung from the second-floor railing in the atrium entrance of museum.
Artist and banner organizer Chris Porter said the idea started as a way to help beautify the downtown. “We didn’t have the money for flower baskets and it was a good way to take old Christmas banners and repaint them,” she said. “The first year we learned a lot, the second year we learned more, and from year to year it’s getting better; we have a lot of talent here and I’d love to see it continue forever and ever.”
Downtown West Bend Association event manager Kellie Boone organized the ArtWalk. She said the banners on N. Main Street are so popular, the community of Minocqua called and asked if they could copy the idea.
Many visitors to the event felt the banners helped tie the businesses to the community. Daniel Kindler bid on the West Bend Theatre banner. “I used to work there and my father was a projectionist there so there are a lot of memories,” he said.
Kindler started work at the theatre when he was 16. “I had my first date there in 1975,” he said. “We saw Towering Inferno; the movie didn’t go over well and neither did the date.”
Van Cline was in town from St. Paul, Minnesota and he too found a local tie in the banners. “This is really unique and there’s a Dunn Brother’s banner,” he said. “The original one is in St. Paul.”
The 2016 banners hung along the second-floor railing. Those entering MOWA were able to explore the museum free of charge and get an up-close look at the artwork.
“They’re beautiful and unique and everyone has its own little story,” said Jan Nesladek of West Bend. “I was surprised at the quality of some of the work because it’s very good and widely varied,” said Bob Bergstrom of West Bend.
“It beautifies our downtown and it gets people to go downtown,” said Grace Wright. “I give Chris Porter a lot of credit this had to be a huge project.”
“I’m really impressed with the artwork and especially the fact there are a lot of students involved,” said Carol Casadonte, formerly of Tomahawk.
This was the first time banners from previous years were auctioned off. Money raised will go to support the banner ArtWalk project.
Updates & tidbits
-The blue stone inlay on the new sculpture outside the Police Department in West Bend was taken from West Bend City Hall during the construction. It represents the river running through the city and more importantly, the ‘thin blue line’ that is walked by law enforcement every day both on and off duty.
-Sign up today for youth summer sports camps at UW-WC including girls volleyball, co-ed soccer and basketball. More information at ce.uwc.edu/washington/catalog/category/sport-camp
– Jen Sell, a 1982 graduate of West Bend East, will be inducted into the West Bend Athletic Wall of Fame. Sell was an All-Conference basketball player for coach Rick Riehl. The presentation will be in October.
– The grand reopening of Old Settlers’ Park is June 1. The park will host a Recognition Wall to thank organizations in the community for their support. Names include the Rotary Club of West Bend, Johnson’s Nursery, Roots & Branches, Prudence Pick Hway, West Bend Germanfest Volunteers, Downtown West Bend Association, West Bend Business Improvement District, Larosa Landscape Co., Leadership West Bend, and In Memory of Mike Sheehy.
– The Downtown West Bend Association is looking for volunteers for the Tour of America’s Dairyland bike race on June 20 from 12:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Sign up at 262-338-3909.
– Local artists will be creating sidewalk chalk drawings Saturday, May 21 between Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s on Main Street in West Bend. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and awards will be presented at 4 p.m. Viewers can vote for their favorite artwork to win top prizes.
– Brian Culligan and the crew at West Bend Tap & Tavern open at 9 a.m. on Saturday’s during the West Bend Farmers’ Market as they roll out their build-your-own Bloody Mary bar. Stop out and enjoy breakfast with a beer chaser at 315 N. Main Street.
West Bend Farmers’ Market used to be Pig Market
Neighbors are gathering up their cloth bags and put a little oil on their wagon wheels in preparation for the start of Saturday’s downtown West Bend Farmers’ Market. The origin of the market dates to 1942. Pig Market was a weekly gathering on the east side of the Milwaukee River at the site of the old Wallau Dairy, west of the railroad depot.
The West Bend Farmers’ Market was voted one of the top 10 in the world in the 2014 edition of Vogue magazine. The Downtown West Bend Association coordinates the Farmers’ Market along with Music on Main.
This photo was donated to the Washington County Historical Society by Ruth Schloemer.
Trump Shortchanges Vets
Meh… Trump’s supporters have made it clear that actual facts and truth are unimportant to them.
(CNN)When Donald Trump skipped a GOP debate in January to host a fundraiser for veterans, he touted its success by citing the $6 million raised for veterans groups. One problem — that figure is inaccurate.
Following the rally in Des Moines, Iowa, the Trump campaign said the event raised $5 million and Trump personally contributed an additional $1 million. But campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told CNN Friday the amount raised was actually less than $6 million.Lewandowski said he did not “know the exact number” off the top of his head and would confirm the number in coming days. He explained the discrepancy by saying at the time of the rally, Trump believed he had raised $6 million but more money had been pledged than was actually donated.The Washington Post reported Friday that Lewandowski said the fundraiser actually netted about $4.5 million. Lewandowski told CNN that number is incorrect.
Wisconsin Recovering Better than Average
It drives me nuts that after the better part of a decade we are still calling it a “recovery.” It just shows how slow and painful it has been that we have not yet “recovered.” But against that backdrop, Wisconsin is faring pretty well.
As it turns out, Wisconsin’s economic performance in its recovery, “has actually been pretty good compared to the rest of the country,” Koskinen said.
And although the recovery nationwide is the fourth longest recovery since the end of the Second World War, at around 79 months, or six and a half years, the good news is that we’re starting to see the impact of the recovery.
“It’s been a slow decline,” Koskinen explains, “but US unemployment has dropped to about 5 percent.” The average of about 2 percent of real growth has been led by two major factors: recovery of business investments and exports.
What has not been a part of the economic recovery is government spending.
“We’re winding down defense spending, domestic spending in terms of what the government really buys — people, aircraft carriers, highways, buildings, the government is buying less of all of it.” Koskinen speculates that it may be spending in other areas, be it on debt or entitlements.
Notice that last excerpted comment. Yes, our government is spending more than ever, but the portion of it that goes into buying things is on the decline. We are shrinking our military and neglecting our infrastructure. Where is all of the money going? Entitlements, Obamacare, etc.
Bucks Agree to Living Wage
I’m sure the players will be thrilled with the new wage scale.
The Milwaukee Bucks committed to paying its employees a living wage of $12 per hour starting in 2017 and increasing it to $15 per hour by 2023.
Native Americans Not Offended
Great. Can we all move on now?
Nine in 10 Native Americans say they are not offended by the Washington Redskins name, according to a new Washington Post poll that shows how few ordinary Indians have been persuaded by a national movement to change the football team’s moniker.
Party Defections
It will be interesting to see how these numbers shake out in November.
About 20 percent of likely Democratic voters say they would buck the party and vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a general election, according to a new poll.
The willingness of some Democrats to change sides could be a major problem for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton this fall.
The new figures were released by Mercury Analytics, a research company with clients that include MSNBC and Fox News, as the result of an online poll and dial-test of Trump’s first campaign ad.
A smaller number of Republicans say they’d vote for Clinton — about 14 percent.
Disgusting or Beautiful?
There’s an interesting discussion about this picture over on the BBC.
So what do you see? Here’s the background:
In some ways the picture appears to show a fairly everyday scene. A dad cradling his severely sick child in his arms. Except in this instance, they are in the shower and both naked. The picture was posted on social media by the photographer Heather Whitten who lives in Arizona in the US. It shows her son Fox and her husband, the boy’s father Thomas Whitten.
For many viewers the image is a touching portrait of parental care and affection. The reason that father and son were naked was because Fox had Salmonella poisoning for which he would soon after be hospitalised.
“Thomas had spent hours in the shower with him, trying to keep his fever down and letting the vomit and diarrhea rinse off of them both as it came,” Whitten wrote in her post accompanying the photo.
“He was so patient and so loving and so strong with our tiny son in his lap… I stepped out and grabbed my camera and came back to snap a few images of it and, of course shared them.”
But for some people the image is inappropriate at best and at worst has undertones of paedophilia. Whitten has been surprised by this reaction and was shocked when people posted negative comments about what was for her a beautiful moment.
I see a beautiful image of fatherly love. But it’s interesting that so many people see something disgusting. I suppose it’s a reflection of how we have been conditioned to be aware of signs of child abuse. But it’s also interesting that there appears to be a fairly severe gender bias with almost nobody having a negative reaction to a similar picture of a mother with her child.
Obama Sets New Overtime Regulations
Sigh…
Under the new rules finalized today, those who earn a salary of less than $47,476 a year will automatically qualify for overtime pay of time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week. Previously, those who earned more than $23,660 were exempt from overtime pay. The new rules will affect 4.2 million workers in the U.S. when they go into effect starting Dec. 1.
First, here we go again with Obama enacting a fairly radical change in the national economy via executive action. Is this a good idea? I don’t think so, but we don’t even get to debate it, do we? There was no debate. No hearings. Nobody in Congress had to vote on it. This was just something that Obama and his minions did. And it’s not like they increased the threshold by 5% or 10%. They more than doubled it.
Second, on the merits of the rule change, it once again ignores the real world ramifications. Or does it? It might be that Obama is well aware of the negative consequences but figures that the positive press the he will get outweighs the consequences that other people will suffer. In any case, this introduces a significant cost increase for businesses and they can’t just print money like the federal government. It has to come from somewhere. So, here are just a few things that businesses are likely to do to employees impacted by this rule in response:
- Increase salary to $47,477 for a few, fire a few, and work the remaining employees harder
- Switch employees to hourly, drop benefits, and hire more to cover the workload
- Focus purely on outcomes. Employees will be required to get their work load done in 40 hours even if it used to take them 50. If they can’t hack it, fire them and find someone who can.
- Strip out things like PTO, training, team meetings, professional development, etc. from the schedule to allow for more direct work.
- Outsource to either 1099 workers or overseas
But, of course, Obama gets to pat himself on the back for “helping the common man” or some such nonsense.
Drugs Make it Difficult to Fill Entry Level Jobs
From the West Bend Daily News.
Eighty-five percent of local businesses have had issues filling entry level positions because of applicants failing to pass controlled substance testing, a report conducted by the West Bend School District found.
The information was gathered through a survey distributed by the school district to members of the West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce. The survey was taken by employers of the greater West Bend and Jackson areas, representing almost 5,500 employees.
“It’s certainly a great deal of concern,” Chamber Executive Director Craig Farrell said. He added it’s not possible for employers to hire those who don’t pass a drug screening out of concern for the risk they pose to themselves and others.
Farrell said applicants that don’t pass the test “simply don’t get the job.”
“In the month of April we did 191 tests and 20 did not pass,” Carol Schneider, CEO of SEEK Careers/ Staffing Inc., said.
Schneider said most applicants failing tests are found using marijuana or prescription painkillers.
“Our number right now (of failed tests) is 8 percent of candidates for the year, for the company,” said Steve Waller, regional vice president of QPS Employment Group. He said most of those applicants are using marijuana and many of them are skilled candidates.
For Capt. Tim Dehring of the West Bend Police Department, the reaction to drug use is more than just saying no to an applicant.
“Our job is enforcing the laws,” he said, adding treatment needs to be part of the solution.
The main issue for them is heroin and the abuse of prescription pills, Dehring said.
“It’s a problem we’ve never seen before,” Dehring said. “It’s worse than the crack epidemic.”
There are two things going on here. First, although our culture has become more permissive of the use of marijuana, that permissiveness has not changed the fact that the use of pot is both illegal and dangerous on the job. We are doing a great disservice to our young people by telling them that it’s acceptable to smoke weed (overtly or not) when such use will exclude them from a large percentage of the available jobs.
Second, this is another consequence of the opioid epidemic ravaging Wisconsin. Not only are there the personal consequences for the addicted individuals, we are developing an entire class of unemployable people who will be an ongoing burden to society.
Kooyenga Challenges MTEA to Step Up
Once again, it’s a suburban Republican fighting the hardest for a quality education for Milwaukee’s kids.
Kooyenga, who wrote the legislation that created the Opportunity Schools Partnership Program, said if things don’t go his way in overhauling the system, “I’m not going to take my ball and go home, because there are too many kids in this city in a tight spot because the current system is not serving them.”
Would the teachers union do the same?
“I offer this to you,” the Brookfield Republican said to Baker. “If the union thinks it can run a school, you could run a school. You could go to the Opportunity Schools and go, we know how to do education. You could run a school. And I encourage you to try that.”
Baker didn’t respond to the suggestion.
The Kiss
Wisconsin Supreme Court Overturns DPI Law
I think this ruling is largely correct.
Justices Michael Gableman and David Prosser split with their fellow conservative colleagues, siding with the courts two liberal justices to render a 4-3 decision upholding a ruling from 20 years ago that had solidified the state superintendent’s independence as head of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Gov. Walker signed a law in 2011 that would have given his administration greater power in writing administrative rules on education, a function solely preserved for DPI under this ruling.
Ultimately, the court rejected arguments made by Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel to overturn the decision.
While I dislike the concept of a DPI as a Constitutional position in general, it is in our state’s constitution. If we want to change it, we need to revise our Constitution.
Trump Lists Possible SCOTUS Nominees
This about sums up my reaction.
But let’s be clear, this is a campaign announcement designed to assuage conservatives. It’s a political document, in essence. There’s no reason to believe that Trump would feel bound by this list.
Health Crisis in Venezuela
It’s incredibly sad to watch Venezuela crumble. It was once one of the most prosperous and advanced nations in our hemisphere – rich with abundant natural resources and creative people. Now, the ravages of socialism have ground it down into another third world craphole ruled by a despot who clings to power while blaming America for his country’s woes. It is a timely lesson for Americans who look to socialists like Bernie Sanders to solve our nation’s ills.
The economic crisis in this country has exploded into a public health emergency, claiming the lives of untold numbers of Venezuelans. It is just part of a larger unraveling here that has become so severe it has prompted President Nicolás Maduro to impose a state of emergency and has raised fears of a government collapse.
Hospital wards have become crucibles where the forces tearing Venezuela apart have converged. Gloves and soap have vanished from some hospitals. Often, cancer medicines are found only on the black market. There is so little electricity that the government works only two days a week to save what energy is left.
At the University of the Andes Hospital in the mountain city of Mérida, there was not enough water to wash blood from the operating table. Doctors preparing for surgery cleaned their hands with bottles of seltzer water.
“It is like something from the 19th century,” said Dr. Christian Pino, a surgeon at the hospital.
The figures are devastating. The rate of death among babies under a month old increased more than a hundredfold in public hospitals run by the Health Ministry, to just over 2 percent in 2015 from 0.02 percent in 2012, according to a government report provided by lawmakers.
The rate of death among new mothers in those hospitals increased by almost five times in the same period, according to the report.
I also note that Venezuela has the kind of socialized healthcare system that America is moving toward with the enthusiastic cheers of the Left. This is where it leads.
No Confidence
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here you go:
The University of Wisconsin System is an integral part of the success of our state. It is not only a primary source of higher education for Wisconsin’s youth, but it is also an economic engine that impacts almost every area of the state. For these reasons, and many others, passions run high whenever changes happen within the system.
That passion is running high right now with the universities’ faculties, as many have passed, or are considering, resolutions expressing their lack of confidence in the leadership of the university system. It started with the faculty of UW-Madison. Then UW-Green Bay and UW-La Crosse followed suit. UW-Eau Claire and other universities are considering doing the same.
While these resolutions do not carry any legal or formal weight, they are an expression of the faculties of those universities. What sparked these resolutions was a change in state law regarding tenure for faculty and the fallout from that change, but the spark set flame to some tinder that has been drying for some time.
Up until a few months ago, Wisconsin was the only state in the union to enshrine tenure protection for UW faculty in the state’s statutes. The Legislature wrote those protections out of the statutes and tasked the UW System leadership with creating tenure protections as a matter of university policy. UW System President Ray Cross and the UW Board of Regents have done just that, but the faculties are not satisfied with the resulting policy. In creating the tenure policy, the UW faculty demanded that tenure protect faculty at all costs — even if their department was eliminated. The Board of Regents’ policy allows for universities to terminate tenured faculty if the university leadership decides to eliminate the position due to educational considerations, comparative costeffectiveness, budgetary concerns and other factors. The faculty wants the university to only consider educational considerations.
Essentially, the faculty wants guaranteed jobs for life, paid for by taxpayers and students, even if there is no longer any justification for their jobs, and even if that means sacrificing other budget priorities like new programs, facilities and safety. The faculty wants tenure to completely insulate them from anything else happening in the world. The Board of Regents wants tenure to protect academic freedom, but allow for universities to take a more holistic approach to staffing decisions.
But the underlying issue is much deeper than just the battle over tenure. At the core is friction over the role of the UW System and the growing frustration that UW has drifted too far from its responsibilities to the citizens of Wisconsin. For decades, the cost of attending UW System universities has risen far more quickly than inflation or the wages of Wisconsinites. At the same time, students and their families, myself included, witness incredible waste on campus in the form of extravagant facilities, required courses of dubious value and courses taught by teaching assistants while professors are unavailable.
While UW faculty are expressing their lack of confidence in their leadership, many citizens of the state they are supposed to serve have lost confidence in the UW System as a whole. Meanwhile, many UW faculty members want impregnable job protections while being paid by taxes and tuition from students and families who enjoy no such protections. If those students lose their jobs, they still have to pay their taxes. They still have to pay off their student loans.
The strength and success of the UW System is incredibly important to Wisconsin, but the definition of success is subject to debate. There is a balance that must be struck in striving for multiple objectives within the reasonable capacity of Wisconsinites to pay.
Flynn’s Rules
I remember Chief Flynn’s emotional display of carrying the picture of a murdered child in his pocket. Now this.
With Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett standing behind him, Police Chief Ed Flynn shared what he called his four simple rules for not getting shot in Milwaukee.Don’t be part of a crime gang or crewDon’t be a drug dealerDon’t illegally carry a gunAnd finally, “If you are in an argument with a stranger, ask them how often they’ve been arrested. If they’ve been arrested more often than you’ve been arrested, concede the point…”Flynn’s remarks were met with laughter from the audience.But the laughter quickly died. Milwaukee is a city that saw 145 homicides and 633 non-fatal shootings last year. It has also seen high profile murders of children – none of whom violated Flynn’s “simple rules.”
*cough* Ahem…
Milwaukee and Madison Expand Domestic Registries
I’d almost forgotten about the Domestic Registries.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell and Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki announced on Friday that they would immediately start issuing domestic partnership declarations to opposite-sex couples along with same-sex couples.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, McDonell said, clerks aren’t allowed to discriminate based on gender when granting marriage licenses. The same logic applies to domestic partnership declarations, he said.
“A same-sex couple can choose between a domestic partnership and marriage, but an opposite-gender couple can’t,” McDonell said. “That’s not equal protection under the law.”
But while Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, has been critical of the state’s domestic partnership registry for not being open to heterosexual couples, he argued McDonell and Czarnezki are acting “lawlessly.”
Both Thiesfeldt and Wisconsin Family Action president Julaine Appling on Monday called for Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel to seek an injunction against McDonell and Czarnezki.
Remember that Doyle pushed through the domestic registries after Wisconsinite voted to ban gay marriages back in 2006 or so. They were a workaround to give gay folks an option short of marriage. Now that the Supreme Court have overruled the will of the people and allows gay marriage, the original purpose of domestic registries have evaporated. Yet, as with any government program, they continue to exist.
Thiesfeldt is right. These clerks have no authority to change the parameters for domestic registries. They are not a lawmaking entity. They are charged with executing the existing law. So until the legislature changes the law or a court invalidates the law, these clerks are acting well beyond their legal authority.
The simplest solution would be for the legislature to just rescind the domestic registries completely. As I said, the reason for their creation no longer exists. Just end them and the clerks’ actions are moot.
Walker Hints at Continuing Tuition Freeze
[Madison, Wis…] Gov. Scott Walker will consider extending the tuition freeze that’s been in place for the UW System since 2013 as part of the next state budget. Extending the freeze “makes a lot of sense,” he said on Wisconsin talk radio this morning.
“There’s no doubt that that is a primary focus,” Gov. Walker said.
The freeze is now in its fourth year. Renewing the freeze as part of the 2017-2019 budget would extend it into a fifth and sixth year.
Monday marked the first time Gov. Walker has openly talked about extending the highly popular tuition freeze into the next budget.
Gov. Walker said tuition costs rose 118 percent – 8 percent per year – across the UW System in the decade before the tuition freeze took effect, but he said Democrats and UW faculty now making college affordability a major political issue were largely silent at the time.
“The bottom line is tuition has gone up far too much,” Gov. Walker said.
White House Urges Dialogue in Venezuela
One might suggest that this president take some of his own advice.
Washington (AFP) – The White House expressed concern about Venezuela’s rapidly worsening political situation Monday, urging President Nicolas Maduro to listen to critics inside the country or risk deepening the crisis.
Treading carefully to avoid making Washington a foil for the country’s populist leaders, White House spokesman Josh Earnest described recent reports from Venezuela as “breathtaking.”
“The conditions for the Venezuelan population are terrible,” he said as the country braced for more upheaval.
President Nicolas Maduro is preparing to unveil the scope of a new emergency decree as the opposition readies protests against what it calls a bid to cling to power.