A few weeks ago I blogged about the impact of rising road salt prices on Wisconsin.

A Wisconsin transportation official says salt will be used as a last resort this winter. Wisconsin is one of the states hit hardest by the high cost of salt. Here’s an update from stateline.org. 

Two weeks ago, I blogged about a great program run out of New Berlin that helps send movie kits to our soldiers. OPERATION Take a Soldier to the Movies needs your help. 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a nice feature article about the program in Sunday’s edition. You can read the article here.

State wildlife biologists will be in 17 northern counties collecting deer heads during this year’s deer hunt. Officials are hoping to collect as many as 500 to test Wisconsin deer for chronic wasting disease.

Here’s how the program will work. Biologists will ask successful hunters for a tissue sample or possibly the entire deer head to be tested. The DNR is specifically looking for samples from Polk, Barron, Washburn, Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, Rusk, Taylor, Sawyer, Price, Lincoln, Langlade, Oneida, Vilas, Forest, and Florence counties.

Here is more information from the Department of Natural Resources.

One of Wisconsin’s great traditions, the annual deer hunt season that opens this Saturday is critical this year because a huge reduction in the deer herd is needed. Wisconsin has too many deer, but thinning the herd will be easier said than done.

Sadly, the number of hunters is on the decline. And the deer hunt starts later this year meaning the deer have finished mating and are less active, a prospect hunters would rather not think about. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has also announced there are herd control rules that hunters don’t like.

Here are more details from the Associated Press.

The economic impact of this yearly rite of passage is an incredible $1.5 billion according to the DNR.  The state of Wisconsin owes every hunter a huge thank you!

Wisconsin has 22 state symbols, the most recent addition to the list being the official state tartan. 

Programs and ceremonies are scheduled across Wisconsin. Here’s the list. 

Polls are open until 8:00 tonight.

You can look up your voting registration and polling location along with voter registration information, voting history, current office holders, and a sample ballot at the State of Wisconsin Voter Public Access website.

It is so heartwarming to hear of school children getting involved to put smiles on the faces of our soldiers.

Click image to enlarge.

The 4^th annual College Goal Sunday takes place all over Wisconsin on February 21st and 22nd, 2009.  College Goal Sunday offers help to high school seniors and their families seeking financial aid for college.

Over 1,400 students and parents attended the 2008 event. The 2009 College Goal Sunday will be held at 20 different sites with financial aid experts on hand to assist with Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms that determine the amount of aid a student is eligible to receive. Students that complete the FAFSA may receive state or federal grants, scholarships, campus jobs in the work study program, low interest loans or other forms of financial assistance.

I encourage constituents to attend these events to receive valuable information that can make the complex procedure of financial aid application much easier.

More information is available at the College Goal Sunday website. Here are the locations for College Goal Sunday. You may call a toll-free number, 1-866-578-GOAL (4625) for more information.

Forbes.com has listed its top ten cities that are the most affordable to retire.

No Wisconsin city made the list. 

I am not surprised.

There is still time to apply for an absentee ballot in Wisconsin. You must complete the proper form and mail it to or turn it into your municipal clerk's office. The application must be received by 5:00 this Thursday, the Thursday before the election in order for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you.

Here are instructions on how to apply for an absentee ballot in Wisconsin.

During May, I blogged about the trend of voting via the Post Office.  As one election official put it, “There is no line at your mailbox.”  Just how popular is the absentee ballot? The Associated Press reports that nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote before Election Day, November 4, 2008.

The numbers show an increasing percentage of voters want to take advantage of the absentee ballot because they are travelling, they are elderly and have difficulty getting to the polls, the convenience of considering their choices in the comfortable confines of their home, or simply because they can. Twenty-eight states, including Wisconsin, allow anyone to vote absentee, no questions asked.

During 2000, 16 percent of voters in the United States cast their ballots early. The number increased to 22 percent in 2004.

Statewide in Wisconsin, according to the Government Accountability Board’s Kyle Richmond who was quoted by the Associated Press, about 365,000 people used absentee ballots or cast early votes at clerk’s offices in 2004, about 12 percent of the voting age population in the state. The number is expected to grow this year to 15 percent.

At least 40% of California’s registered voters already have decided they want to vote by mail. The LA Times reports that according to the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, a majority of voters prefer their mailbox over the ballot box in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Oregon did away entirely with polling places during 2000. Washington state is getting close to 100% vote-by-mail.

Here is an Associated Press story on the popularity of Post Office voting.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is conducting undertaking an environmental and engineering analysis of the Zoo Interchange, the connection between I-94, I-894 and US 45 in western Milwaukee County near the Milwaukee County Zoo, through the end of 2009.The interchange is one of Wisconsin's oldest interstate interchanges, the busiest interchange in the state.

Refined modernization alternatives for each leg (north, south, east, west) and the core of the interchange will be presented at public meetings at the end of this month. Details are contained in the following release I received from the DOT:


Project progress

Over the past 10 years, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) have completed a number of studies and analyses that consistently concluded that improvements to the Zoo Interchange are necessary. Recently WisDOT has collected and analyzed data to show current and future traffic scenarios.

Based on the initial results of the traffic analysis and the input received at the January 2008 open house workshops, the Zoo Interchange Team developed seven design concepts for public review and comments. Seven concepts, including the “no build” or “replace in kind” alternative, were presented at public information meetings in May. Nearly 500 people attended the May public information meetings and provided valuable input and ideas on the alternatives. The seven alternatives were further evaluated for traffic operations and impacts to local and environmental features.

Result: The traffic analysis concluded that spot improvements alone would not adequately address congestion and safety issues in the Zoo Interchange corridor. The spot improvement alternatives also did not address the outdated design issues including left hand exit and entrance ramps. At the conclusion of this analysis, and based on comments received from the public, the Zoo Interchange Team determined that the “spot improvement alternatives” would be screened out from further study and the modernization alternatives” should be analyzed further. The “modernization” alternatives feature a multi-level system interchange with right side exits and entrances. This design reduces weaving maneuvers and provides safer operations.

Alternatives to be presented at the October public meetings

The study team will present alternatives for each leg (north, south, east, west) of the project. The alternatives for each leg can be mixed and matched with alternatives of similar lane-width to fit the preferences and needs of the community. The alternatives presented will include the “replace-in-kind” alternative.

The maps and displays will show increased detail of where the new right-of-way lines may be located. Also, there will be artistic drawings to show how the freeway may look, and an electronic “fly over” to illustrate how traffic will flow with the different interchange designs.


What happens next

• October 2008 - The design concepts will be refined and presented in more detail at public information meetings.
• October 27, 2pm-7pm, Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park
• October 30, 4pm-8pm, Wauwatosa West High School Cafeteria

• 2009 - A preferred design will be selected, and hearings will be held on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
• 2009-2010 - Record of decision from the Federal Highway Administration; ongoing analysis and design
• 2010-2012 - Ongoing design and begin to address real estate and utility issues
• 2012-2016 - Reconstruct the interchange

Questions or comments? Please call our project hotline at 262-548-6421.

Wisconsin consumers will now have greater ease at purchasing wines under a new winery-to-consumer shipping law that went into effect October 1, 2008. The law will allow wineries to purchase permits for $100 and ship up to a dozen cases of wine per person per year.

Wisconsin had been one of only three reciprocal shipping states that had allowed only wineries in participating states to make shipments. When states converted to permits, Wisconsin consumers experienced difficulty finding wines under the old law. Now, all U.S. wineries will be eligible under Wisconsin’s permits. Consumers will no longer be limited to purchases from a handful of states as a winery in any state may ship wine directly to a Wisconsin resident once the winery has received a direct wine shipper permit from Wisconsin.

This is a common-sense, reasonable, pro-consumer law that complies with regulations while supporting Wisconsin’s own growing wine industry. One of the other provisions of the new law requires that all sales to retailers go through a wholesaler.

Here is a Wisconsin Legislative Council memo on Senate Bill 485 that was approved by the Legislature and signed into law during March 2008.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the leading causes of accidental death in America.

A new Wisconsin law went into effect October 1, 2008 that requires carbon monoxide detectors be installed in most new residential construction units as of that date. The units include tourist cabins, bed and breakfast establishments, and any public building used for sleeping or lodging, such as hotels, motels, condominiums, apartment buildings, dormitories, fraternities, sororities, convents, seminaries, community-based residential facilities, and home shelters. Hospitals and nursing homes are exempt.

The law requires that the detectors be installed in existing residential buildings of the types mentioned above by April 1, 2010. 

Carbon monoxide is without odor or color, making it difficult to realize when it has become a problem. Low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning can be confused with flu symptoms, food poisoning or other illnesses. If untreated, the symptoms can lead to long term health problems. Symptoms of low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning include shortness of breath, mild nausea, and mild headaches. Moderate levels of exposure can be fatal if symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and light-headedness persist. High levels can cause death in a matter of minutes.

To help those suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, get them outdoors immediately, or open all doors and windows. Get them to a hospital or emergency room as quickly as possible.

I voted in favor of Senate Bill 289 that was approved by the Legislature and signed into law. Here is a Legislative Council memo about Senate Bill 289 and details about the enacted law.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) is issuing the following warning to motorists: Be extremely cautious the next several weeks. Here’s why:

“Deer will be abundant and their movement unpredictable along Wisconsin roadways in coming weeks.”

The risk for car-deer crashes increases this time of year. During fall, deer on the prowl to mate are active and while on the move often find their way in the path of vehicles. October is a bad month for deer collisions and so is November. The most commonly struck objects in Wisconsin crashes are, in this order, another vehicle, a fixed object, and deer.

As a motorcycle enthusiast, I especially want to emphasize this finding: Motorcycles were involved in 10 of the 14 fatal deer-vehicle crashes in Wisconsin during 2007.

Here is a press release from the DOT including advice about how to prevent car-deer crashes.