steinbring

From the Article:

Public worker and teachers unions argued Tuesday that their lawsuit seeking to strike down a Wisconsin law that drew massive protests and made the state the center of a national fight over union rights should be allowed to proceed, even as the Republican-controlled Legislature sought to have it dismissed.

It is the first challenge to the law known as Act 10 since Wisconsin’s Supreme Court flipped to liberal control last year.

Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost questioned Tuesday whether there was another remedy to address alleged problems with the law short of striking it down. He did not rule from the bench and said he would issue a written order on the Legislature’s request to dismiss the case.

The unions’ attorney argued that the 2011 law should be struck down because it creates unconstitutional exemptions for firefighters and other public safety workers. Attorneys for the Legislature and state agencies countered that the exemptions are legal, have already been upheld by other courts, and that the case should be dismissed.

The judge questioned why different classes of employees were created under the law and some public safety workers were “cherry picked” to retain their collective bargaining rights while others were not.

From the Article:

Milwaukee's July 3rd lakefront firework show cancelation is sparking problems with a nearby business.

On Friday, May 24, leaders with Milwaukee County Parks announced this year's show is shut down. Park leaders say a lack of sponsors snuffed out this year's firework show. They also imply it could be long-term.

"At this point, we believe that the 3rd of July fireworks have run their course," Milwaukee County Parks Executive Director Guy Smith said.

The firework show has been a summer staple and a memory maker for decades. It's also the county's War Memorial Center's biggest fundraiser of the year.

The 'Corpse Flower,' also known as “U’Reeka," was given its nickname due to its smell, with some describing its short-lived bloom as smelling like rotting meat, that "offends the human nose."

From the Article:

Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

In Cedarburg on Sunday, May 26, thousands of people shopped and explored for the first ‘Maxwell Street Days’ of the season, a major fundraiser for the fire department.

Sometimes it takes a little strategy to find the perfect items at an outdoor market.

"Knowing what you like and what you want to look for," said Hayden Kolowrat.

From the Article:

A Buffalo Wild Wings Go restaurant opens this weekend in Glendale as the sports bar chain continues to expand its to-go locations in southeast Wisconsin.

The new location opens at 6969 N. Port Washington Road at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a press release.

The Glendale opening follows others in recent months that included Milwaukee, 2900 N. Oakland Ave., in December and Waukesha in March. A Buffalo Wild Wings is also planned for the Pabst Farms development in Oconomowoc.

The Buffalo Wild Wings Go concept launched in 2020 with an aim to streamline customers' orders, whether they choose to dine in or take their food to go, according to the company.

The 1,500-square-foot Glendale location provides in-store seating for dining at the restaurant and also offers options for delivery or takeout with a menu that will include all 26 Buffalo Wild Wings signature sauces and dry rubs. The restaurant will serve traditional and boneless wings, hand-breaded tenders, chicken sandwiches, burgers and sides.

The restaurant will employ eight crew members. Hours are Sunday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Another 1,500-square-foot location had been proposed in 2022 for Glendale at 5530 N. Port Washington Road. Glendale officials were not available for comment on Friday, and applicants who proposed the project could not be reached for inquiries on its status.

The sports bar chain, owned by Inspire Brands, has more than 1,200 locations nationwide, including 34 in Wisconsin, according to its website. That figure includes both the full-service restaurants as well as the company's to-go locations.

The restaurant is in the Glendale Market, which is anchored by a Metro Market grocery store, and it features several other businesses including Stone Creek Coffee, Jimmy John’s, Curry & Momo House and Dr. Dawg, according to the website for General Capital Group.

General Capital Group, a real estate firm based in Fox Point, coordinated the initial properties within the boutique shopping center over a period of three years. The firm’s website says that to recoup the cost of demolition and environmental remediation, it worked with the city of Glendale to form one of Wisconsin’s first environmental remediation tax incremental financing districts.

From the Article:

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is requesting that the state budget committee release $20 million meant to create a grant program that would support communities where a University of Wisconsin branch campus has closed.

The request is the third submitted to the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) by Gov. Tony Evers’ administration this week, bringing the total amount to be released to $45 million. The requests come as lawmakers and Evers have been in conflict over the release of other state funding that was improved in the budget, including funds for fighting PFAS contamination of local drinking water supplies, grants to support hospitals in western Wisconsin and a new literacy program in schools.

The closure of UW branch campuses, including UW-Platteville’s Richland campus, UW-Milwaukee’s Washington County campus and UW-Oshkosh’s Fond du Lac campus, have left local communities facing potential economic crises.

WEDC’s request would allow the agency to implement the grant program as instructed by a law passed by the Legislature in February and signed by Evers in March. Under the law, communities will be eligible for a $2 million grant.

Evers said in a statement that a lack of “meaningful investments” in the UW system has caused the recent campus closures along with staff layoffs, and the state needs to quickly work to address the challenges to prevent additional layoffs and closures.

“This funding is critically important in the meantime to help communities like Richland Center, Washington County, Fond du Lac, and Marinette find new uses for the infrastructure and existing buildings to support local communities and economies,” Evers said.

From the Article:

A Republican appointee to the Universities of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents says he’ll continue to serve on the board, even though his term officially expired at the start of May.

In 2017, Republican Gov. Scott Walker first appointed Robert “Bob” Atwell, the founder of Nicolet Bankshares, to a seven-year term on the board overseeing Wisconsin’s public university system.

But in an email this week, Rothman wrote that, acting on the advice of Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, he intends to stay on the board indefinitely.

WisPolitics first reported on the existence of the email sent from Atwell to UW leaders, including UW System President Jay Rothman.

“Speaker Vos brought to my attention that the statute directs that, in the absence of a resignation regents remain in office until their successor is appointed and confirmed,” Atwell wrote using his business email for Nicolet Bank. “Jay has recently confirmed this understanding. In light of that, I will remain on the Board until I resign or my successor is seated. I hope that my temporary continuation as a regent can support good communication between the Legislative Council and the BOR.”

A successor to Atwell would need to be appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and confirmed by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Senate.

From the Article:

The Midwest Gaming Classic celebrates its 23rd anniversary this year and will take place the weekend of April 5-7 at the Baird Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave.

The event is a whirlwind of activity with over 10,000 games on free play from cherished vintage classics to cutting-edge releases. Attractions also include classic pinball and arcade games, every generation of console, tabletop games, a 125,000 square foot vendor hall with over 200 vendors, live entertainment including pro wrestling, bands, and meet and greets with pop-culture personalities.

Among the unique programming attractions this year will be Steve Henneberry (AKA “Tower” from American Gladiator), who will combat attendees in Johann Sebastian Joust, a no-graphics, digitally-enabled playground game designed for motion controllers. Attendees can also look forward to a wider variety of esports, gamer podcasts, the MGC Cosplay Championship, and The World of Nintendo Exhibit.

From the Article:

Three months after announcing the closure of its 126-year-old city club, the University Club of Milwaukee is in the process of selling its downtown building to Northwestern Mutual.

The University Club of Milwaukee's board president Jim Caragher and Northwestern Mutual confirmed the news to the Milwaukee Business Journal Monday morning after Urban Milwaukee president Jeramey Jannene shared the news on X, formerly Twitter.

Northwestern Mutual has "reached an agreement (in principle) to purchase the University Club property at 924 E. Wells St.," Northwestern Mutual senior director of strategic communications and corporate reputation Julia Fennelly said in an email.

"As an active real estate investor, Northwestern Mutual is a steward of our downtown Milwaukee campus and neighboring area and the opportunity to invest in the University Club property allows us to ensure the building continues to serve as a prominent, thriving downtown hub for the Milwaukee community," Fennelly said.

Northwestern Mutual plans to share its intended use for the building in the near future, she said. The company declined to share the terms of the agreement and the purchase price.

The University Club property's total assessment is $2,728,500 and the estimated fair market value is $3,277,871, according to its 2023 city property tax bill.

After the building sells, the University Club would use the proceeds to refund former members who paid a $5,000 assessment the club levied in April 2023 as it attempted to raise money to keep the club open and pay for facility upgrades, according to previous Milwaukee Business Journal reporting.

From the Article:

Anyone familiar with the local dog community knows there is an abundance of pups in Wisconsin who were rescued from southern states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama – just to name a few. This leads to the question: Why are so many dogs rescued in one state, but then transported to Wisconsin for adoption?

Experts and animal enthusiasts speculate some of the reasons why Wisconsin is home to a surplus of rescues is because, generally speaking, attitudes towards pets are different here. In Midwest culture, dogs are more often than not viewed and treated as family members. Of course, there are many loving and responsible dog owners in the South, but there are many who are not.

Glenna Tucker operates Sweetpups, a rescue and sanctuary in Winnie, Texas, and she has taken in thousands of ailing and abandoned dogs over the past decade. She then nurses them back to health and then transports the pups to rescues in Wisconsin.

"The situation is bad here – you’d probably think I was making these stories up, but I’m not. It’s common here for people to throw a litter of puppies into a garbage can like they’re disposable diapers," says Tucker. "We get emails every day. Yesterday we found out about 20 dogs living about five miles from here whose owner has been gone for more than two months and a neighbor finally contacted us. Some of the dogs died, and the others are emaciated."

Tucker says Texas animal advocates rely on Wisconsin for our animal compassion and low euthanasia rates.

"We have euthanasia rates of 80 to 85 percent here. Wisconsin is filled with people who want to help because they know what’s going on in Texas where dogs are looked at like property not pets," says Tucker.

From the Article:

The city has found a contractor to stabilize the again-failing facade at Milwaukee City Hall.

Urban Milwaukee reported in October that pieces of the terra cotta facade were breaking off, less than 15 years after they were replaced as part of a $76 million project.

The city, said a Department of Public Works (DPW) spokesperson in October, was pursuing “accountability.” But as Urban Milwaukee reported, a 2014 settlement could very well bar the city from recouping any of the costs.

And now, the public has an indication of what the starting point for those costs is.

A newly filed building permit indicates a $1.62 million “temporary facade stabilization” effort, primarily netting, will be installed by Wiss, Jannet, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) and general contractor Mark 1 Masonry, both of Illinois.

“There is some flaking of the fabrication and as our first and main responsibility is safety, the netting is being put up as a precaution to hold the flaking pieces of the terra cotta in place and prevent any from falling to the sidewalk or street surrounding City Hall,” said a DPW spokesperson Friday. “The work should begin in April and conclude in October.”

From the Article:

The school funding referendum, less than two weeks away, is make or break for Milwaukee Public Schools, according to administrators.

MPS principals told Urban Milwaukee that for their schools the referendum is a question between maintaining their current level of staffing and resources, or budget cuts.

“A ‘Yes’ referendum is going to make our school function very similar to how it’s functioning today, and a ‘No’ referendum will change our schools significantly,” said Frank Lammers, Principal of the German Immersion School.

The district is trying to make its case with voters for an additional $252 million in funding over the next four years, with approximately $125 million coming from a property tax increase in the City of Milwaukee. The district successfully went to referendum just four years ago for an additional $87 million.

MPS, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and their political allies have been trying to generate support for the funding increase. The city’s powerful business lobby, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) has bankrolled an ad campaign opposing the referendum. Another opposition campaign organized by local attorney Daniel Adams is arguing the proposed tax increase will negatively affect housing affordability.

“I would say in my tenure, as a principal, this is the most significant budget that we’ve that I have had to go through,” said Lammers, who has been principal of German Immersion School for seven years.