This Just In...

Ohio State vs. Florida for the championship.

I thought Georgetown would edge Ohio State. It didn’t happen. I thought UCLA and Florida would be a nail-biter. That really didn’t happen.

Florida appears to have tremendous momentum, playing on all cylinders. On offense, they can beat you inside and outside. They have everyone back from last year’s title team and seem best suited to knock off Greg Oden and Ohio State. I did have Florida in one of my brackets but I thought they’d stumble, given they have the big bulls eye on their back, being defending national champions. The Gators may have too much firepower for Ohio State.

That will be a great game Monday night.


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A Tornado Watch has been cancelled for our area, but the Weather Channel says a line of strong thunderstorms will hit between 10:15 and 10:45 tonight.


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He’ll be roundly criticized for what he said, but Newt Gingrich is absolutely right.



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Greg Oden got into immediate foul trouble for Ohio State and went right to the bench for the rest of the 1st half, scoring no points and grabbing zero rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.

But Roy Hibbert also had foul trouble for Georgetown.

Ohio State played very well when their big man was on the bench. Georgetown did not.

One of these games, you'd expect Oden’s foul trouble would cost Ohio State. But not today.

UCLA and Florida could go down to the last shot. It’s always tough to repeat as champions but Florida has the ability to do it. They beat UCLA for the championship last year. Will UCLA have enough motivation to get revenge? My prediction is yes.




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Two great games today in the Final Four. The first contest will be decided in the paint.

Both teams feature great 7-footers, Greg Oden for Ohio State and Roy Hibbert for Georgetown. Whoever wins that battle leads his team into Monday night’s championship game.

Oden has a tendency to get into foul trouble, causing him to spend a lot of time on the bench. I give the slight nod to Hibbert. Georgetown will edge Ohio State.



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Did you see the front page of the paper today? The Journal/Sentinel has an article about the Wisconsin law that allows diners to take unfinished bottles of wine home.

It’s a good article, even though this law has been in effect since April 20, 2006. That’s almost a year ago.

State Senator Mary Lazich wrote about the law last June, scooping the Journal/Sentinel by nine months.

One of the points made in today's Journal/Sentinel article is that a lot of people are unaware of the law almost one year later. Gee, if the folks at 4th and State would have written a few stories about it when the law first went into effect, maybe more restaurant-goers would be better informed today.



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Earlier this week when I filled in for Mark Belling on Newstalk 1130 WISN, one of my topics was the disturbing trend of government going way overboard to attempt to protect us from ourselves. The effect is the wussification of America, our country being transformed into one big nanny state.

Here’s more proof. The city of Chicago enacted a rather ridiculous ban on the sale of foie gras in restaurants. The hammer came down on the first violator this week. The story from the Chicago Tribune follows:


Foie gras purveyor fined

By Jason Meisner and Emma Graves Fitzsimmons
Tribune staff reporters

March 29, 2007, 9:06 PM CDT

Even as a restaurateur got the bill for the city's first foie-gras citation Thursday, officials said there isn't much bite behind the Chicago ordinance that has garnered national attention.

Doug Sohn, a self-described "encased meat" specialist, became the first person fined under the ordinance banning the sale of foie gras.

Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's in the 3300 block of North California Avenue, agreed to pay a $250 fine for the first-time offense, officials said.

Sohn's lawyer met with a city hearing officer, who agreed to levy the minimum fine, said Tim Hadac, spokesman for the Department of Public Health. Sohn, who was not at the hearing, could have been fined up to $500 under the ordinance, which took effect Aug. 22.

Passing the ordinance may have made a symbolic statement, but city officials said they currently aren't going after any other restaurants and acknowledge that Hot Doug's likely made more than the $250 fine off publicity.

Hot Doug's was the scene of the city's first foie-gras bust on Feb. 16, when city health inspectors found the restaurant openly offering hot dogs laced with the fattened duck-liver delicacy and confiscated the product.

It came as a surprise to no one. Sohn had been itching for a fight ever since the City Council overrode Mayor Richard Daley's veto and enacted what the mayor derided as the "silliest law that they've ever passed."

Sohn had been issued a warning several months before being slapped with the citation, but he stood his ground, continuing to advertise foie gras ingredients on his Web site and on a board hung near his front door.

The letter that the city sent him warning of possible punishment? Sohn framed it and placed it beside the cash register.

"I was poking the grizzly bear, and it snapped my head off," Sohn told the Tribune in February. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Foie gras is produced by inserting tubes down the necks of geese or ducks and force-feeding the birds, expanding their livers to as much as 10 times normal size.

Animal rights activists lobbied the City Council heavily in support of the ban, which was sponsored by Ald. Joe Moore (49th).

In December, the city sent warning letters to nine restaurants accused of serving foie gras, Hadac said. Letters are sent after a complaint and are followed by a visit after a second complaint.

When health officials visited Hot Doug's in February, they found about 30 pounds of foie gras and foie-gras products in the freezer, Hadac said. The citation was issued because the delicacy was on the restaurant's menu with a price listed, he said.

The list of daily specials on Hot Doug's Web site this week had several exotic offerings, including smoked alligator sausage with Cajun shrimp mayonnaise. But foie gras was nowhere to be found.

Hadac said the Health Department is not actively investigating any other restaurants, noting: "It is most definitely one of our lowest priorities. We do not enforce it aggressively."

Asked about the amount of the fine compared to the free advertising Sohn has received, Hadac said: "He has cashed in, in terms of publicity, make no mistake."



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A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...

HEROES OF THE WEEK

Everyone participating (and there’s still time for you to get involved as well) in the Books for Soldiers project today at the Franklin Public Library.


VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

The mugger of an 81-year old woman outside a Milwaukee Walgreen’s AND all the Walgreen’s employees inside who watched, and did nothing to help. Watch the Channel 6 story. Click on the play button after opening this link.



QUOTES OF THE WEEK

” I have two children in the Franklin school district, one in high school and one in grade school. As a parent, I can see the need for expansion of the middle school and the high school but we need to go back to the drawing board and realize that the average Franklin taxpayer can not afford the extra taxes that this referendum will cost.”
Bryan Maersch of Franklin on this web site, about his opposition to the referenda.

“It would prevent Racine from becoming the dumping ground like they tried to do in Franklin, I guess. It just seems like common sense. If enough communities band together, if all the advocates want to make the state look at changing things to keep people away from our kids more long-term.”
Racine Aldermanic candidate Fred Dooley. If elected, he promises to push for an ordinance in Racine similar to Franklin’s that strictly limits where released sex offenders can live and travel within the city.

"I'm here to stand up for all Latinos, who are going to need licenses to do all kinds of things, from driving a car to opening a bank account. This law will further marginalize a group that is already on edge."
Amanda Postel, speaking at a rally in Madison protesting the Real ID law that goes into effect April 1. The law requires that applicants for Wisconsin driver’s licenses show proof of U.S. citizenship.

"The 9/11 hijackers could have used their passports to board the planes, but only one did. Those murderers chose our driver's licenses and state IDs as their forms of identification because these documents allowed them to blend in and not raise suspicion or concern.”
Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, saying he authored the Real ID law to prevent another 911-type attack.

“One, there would be a film crew of 30, 40, 50 people who would come for two weeks to two months. They rent cars, eat in restaurants and stay in hotels. They use limousines and go to Menards to buy lumber to build sets. They’re spending money left and right. Two, you get curiosity seekers, creating tourism. And three, and most significant, when the movie hits the big screen ...”
Dave Clements, executive director of the La Crosse Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Clements said a production featuring a big movie star has been making inquiries about filming in this part of Wisconsin. They need tax breaks, however, to lure them to Wisconsin and they want them now. If they can’t film this year, they will move their cameras down river. Those tax breaks were made possible by Senate Bill 563 but won’t go into effect until January 2008. A new Senate Bill 24 would move up the tax credit date to Jan. 1, 2007. But Democrat state Senator Russ Decker, co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is holding up the bill.



OUTRAGES OF THE WEEK

Sex offenders being treated at the Sand Ridge facility near Madison are moaning and groaning that their pay has been cut below minimum wage. That takes a lot of nerve. They’re lucky to get that. I’m outraged that they’re outraged. Read about it here.

And the teacher who saw a student with a gun, and did nothing. The teacher should be terminated, but will get strong backing from the teachers’ union.


MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

From the Tax Foundation in Washington D.C.: Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 30 this year, the 120th day of 2007. That means Americans will work four months of the year, from January 1 to April 30, before they have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.

Americans work a significant number of days each year to pay for things other than government, but nothing else is so expensive. Americans will work longer to pay for government (120 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (105 days). Since 1986 taxes have cost more than these basic necessities. In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (79 days) than they will to afford housing (62 days).

Wisconsin’s Tax Freedom Day is May 2 this year, a few days later than the average Tax Freedom Day in America of April 30. Last year, Wisconsin's Tax Freedom Day fell on April 28. Read more about Tax Freedom Day here.



MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

This kid.


STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

And the most disgusting, despicable story of the week…..



REMEMBER: Your suggestions/nominations for any of these categories every week are welcome, especially for HEROES OF THE WEEK. If you know of anyone in the community deserving of recognition, please e-mail me.



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Supporters of the $78-million tax increase (the referenda) are pretty fast and loose with YOUR money. They tell you that it’ll only cost an extra couple hundred dollars, as if that expenditure is no big deal. I beg to differ.

Remember, this “extra” expenditure is just part of the overall tax burden we must endure:

1) Your city taxes are going up.
2) Your county taxes are going up.
3) Your school taxes are going up.
4) Your MATC taxes are going up.
5) Your sewer taxes are going up.
6) Your state taxes are going up.
7) Wisconsin taxpayers paid $500 each last year in “hidden” taxes and will probably pay more this year.
8) Wisconsin already pays the highest property taxes in the nation.

It’s like a water torture test. Take this tax increase and add it to the mix of all the other tax increases and it just intensifies an already exorbitant tax liability. Just a few extra bucks? I don’t think so.





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This is the most exciting weekend of the year in sports. The Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament takes place in Atlanta.

Thirty years ago, the Final Four was also held in Atlanta. Marquette Coach Al McGuire had announced during the regular season that he was retiring at the end of the season, and he led the Marquette Warriors to the NCAA Championship by beating North Carolina-Charlotte and then North Carolina in the title game at the Final Four.

The road was rocky on the way to the championship. On March 17, 1977, Marquette barely got by Kansas State in the semifinal of the Midwest Regional, 67-66. During the victory, McGuire was called for a technical foul by the officials, and afterwards in his post-game news conference, McGuire blasted the NCAA and officials for calling what he considered to be unjustified technicals throughout his coaching career.

Here is the audio of McGuire’s tirade after the Kansas State tournament game 30 years ago. Highly entertaining, it is vintage McGuire.

Of course, it does contain some language at times that might be offensive to some listeners.



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I received one of those form e-mails from Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, the two creative brothers who put out the JibJab videos. Here’s what they wrote:


Dearest JibJabber,

My brother and I just had the incredible honor of premiering our latest video in front of President Bush as well as thousands of journalists and politicians at the Radio-Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC.

Rather than making fun of the President (which, to be honest, is like beating a dead horse) we decided to turn the tables and make fun of the press. We hope you enjoy our latest effort!

Adios Amigos,
The Brothers Spiridellis


The video has been out a couple days and as a veteran newsman, radio talk show host and TV pundit, I find it to be very funny, and sadly, very true. Here’s ”What We Call The News.”



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Last night on the 10:00 news on WTMJ-TV Channel 4, WTMJ’s John Mercure traveled to Kansas with some Wisconsin lawmakers to find out about a GPS program there. Mercure found that Kansas monitors the same amount of offenders we have in Wisconsin with a much smaller budget.

If you missed the story last night, here’s the video.



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When I filled in at Newstalk 1130 WISN earlier this week, I read a great article from The Shield of Integrity, a magazine put out by the Police Officer Defense Fund in southeastern Wisconsin.

The article entitled “Milwaukee Chief of Police Application,” was written by former Milwaukee Police Union President Bradley DeBraska. The article is self-explanatory, and as promised, I’m posting.




Due to the announcement of the impending retirement of Chief of Police Nannette Hegerty the jockeying for position has begun. What will get lost in the whirlwind of political correctness is the truth; therefore I’m recommending the application be reduced to a simple question so as to permit all the candidates the opportunity to dispel the myth that corporate and institutional governance has a tendency to screw up. The response to the singular question should be weighted against the answer given by a recent veteran street officer with many years experience. Hopefully, more than one candidate will remember the truth and carry the logic forward to stop feeding social agendas in the Milwaukee Police Department.

QUESTION: “I would like to know how it is possible for Police Officers to continually harass people and get away with it?”

ANSWER: It is not easy. In Milwaukee we average about one cop for every 600 citizens, legal and illegal. About 60% of these cops are on patrol where we do most of the harassing. One-sixth of that 60% is on duty at any given time and is available for harassing people. So, one cop is responsible for harassing about 1000 people daily. When you toss in the festivals, business and tourist attractions that attract people from other jurisdictions, sometimes you have situations where a single cop is responsible for harassing 1500 or more people each day. An eight-hour shift is 28, 800 seconds long. This gives a cop in Milwaukee 19.2 seconds to harass each and every person he’s responsible for on his tour of duty and still find time to have a doughnut and a cup of coffee.

This is not an easy task, most cops are not up to it day in and day out. It’s just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools that technology has thrust upon us to permit the allotted time for harassment.

The first asset is the phone. People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. ‘My neighbor is beating his wife’ is a code phrase we use to conceal our real purpose for going to the next door residence of the caller. Another popular code of concealment is, ‘the students next door are having a loud party.’

Then we have these metal things we call squad cars that have special cops assigned to them to harass people that drive. These special cops like to harass the drivers of speeding cars that hit trees and pedestrians, cars with blasting music in the dead of night and cars with expired registration stickers and the like. Its lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more than running a red light while on a cell phone. Sometimes you really get to heap on the harassment when you find drugs, guns, or paraphernalia inside the car. And just maybe, the harassment is worth the 19.2 seconds when you find out the driver has an outstanding arrest warrant. Some people take off running at the sight of a cop. Nothing is more satisfying than running the suspect down like a bloodhound risking your life. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.

When an Officer in Milwaukee has nothing better to do, there are books that give ideas to cops on how to harass people. They’re called law books, Criminal, Penal, Vehicle, Health and Safety, Business and Ordinances to name a few. These books spell out all sorts of things for which you can really harass people. After you read the law, you can just patrol until you find someone breaking this new found idea that was legislated as the will of the people, and harass the living crap out of the law violator.

It’s a pretty rigorous system that’s set up and it works well when you have enough cops to harass the thugs and the cops get away with the harassment. Why, you ask? Well, because the good citizens who pay the tab actually like the fact that the Police Officers harass the bad people in an attempt to keep the streets and commerce safe. So, the next time a thug gives me a one finger wave, that’s a signal that he wishes for me to take a little closer look and maybe I’ll find a reason to harass him.



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When I started this blog in January, one of my first posts focused on the optimism I have for ever-growing Franklin.

I still have great hope for this fine community, but I must admit I’m starting to get a bit pessimistic about the Fountains of Franklin. Why? Because we never hear or see ANYTHING about its progress.

Construction was supposed to begin in spring. Where is the major announcement about groundbreaking? When is it going to happen? What about major tenants? After hearing that Sendik’s was coming, there has yet to be a subsequent announcement of additional tenants. Where is the major marketing campaign to inform the public that I suggested months ago? Why haven’t the developers made any progress with routine permits and the like with the city?

A few blocks away, at 51st and Rawson, there’s a buzz of activity every day as the opening of a huge service station gets closer and closer. Drive by the Fountains of Franklin site and you see............nothing. A single dormant construction vehicle. A veritable ghost town.

I said it before. I’ll say it again. To all involved parties……let’s not blow this. Let’s get it right.



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Franklin is getting more major retailers.

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel reports Legend Creek Associates is proposing a 225,000-square-foot retail center, to be called the Shoppes of Legend Creek, for the 9800 block of W. Loomis Road. The development would have eight buildings, including one with just under 125,000 square feet, and has already gotten an initial conceptual review from the city Plan Commission.

You can read the entire story here.


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I’ll bet you didn’t know Wisconsin has 21 state symbols.

There’s a state dog, bird, tree, fish, rock, mineral, soil and insect to name a few. But there is no state amusement park ride. Minnesota doesn’t have one, either, but a state lawmaker there wants one and she wants it to be the Tilt-a Whirl.

She might (that’s might with a small “m”) have a point. Over 50 kindergartners have asked her to do it (Can’t say no to the kiddies, can we?) and the Tilt-a-Whirl was created in their hometown.

What would Wisconsin’s state amusement park ride be? I’m not suggesting we clutter up the Blue Book any further, but if we had to choose, I’d have to say the Wild Mouse.

No longer around, it’s true, but that ride struck fear into anyone whoever gathered eneough courage to get aboard at the old Muskego Beach amusement park.



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I want to commend John Neville for the fine job he’s done reporting on the Franklin referenda on this web site and in the Community Newspapers.

I hope you read John’s latest informative article on the referenda where he writes:

No plans available

What would the new facility look like?
School district officials do not have concept drawings or other schematics of the school for public viewing.

Excuse me. When you build a new home, do you not have complete, specific drawings of what the new home would look like? Of course you do. They must think we’re really stupid.

Here’s what they’re essentially saying: We’ve got this great idea. We’ll build a new high school and have a new auditorium and a new swimming pool and new athletic facilities. We can’t show you what they look like because, well, to be honest, we don’t know what they’ll look like because we don’t have a drawing or rendering of what the project looks like. But trust us, it’ll really be great, and it’ll only cost you $78-million.

Would you buy a car this way? Would you buy a house this way?

Let’s get back to Neville’s article:

Where would a new high school be built? School district officials are seeking to purchase 100 to 125 acres for the proposed high school. They are now in negotiations with a land owner in an unidentified area of the city. Purchase price of the land is included in the referendum amount of $76.99 million.

Oh, that’s just beautiful. They do not have an idea where to put this $78-million “God save education in Franklin Taj-Mahal” structure.

So, let’s review. They don’t know what the new school that we’re supposed to vote yes for will look like. Why not? Because they don’t have drawings for it.

They don’t know where the new school would be located because they don’t even have the land secured yet. And they want me and other Franklin voters to just blindly walk into the voter’s booth and say, sure, even with all these unanswered questions, please, take my money, jack up my taxes, I trust you, Franklin School District.

By the way, isn’t this the same Franklin School District Administration that went behind closed doors, and when the doors opened, the Superintendent announced he was resigning, and to this day, we have yet to get an explanation from the Franklin School District as to why, and yet, they tell us this referendum is tremendous and we’re just supposed to believe them, not object, show up Tuesday, shut up and just vote yes?????????????????????

I would never throw my tax money away just because someone asked for it. And I certainly wouldn’t voluntarily offer to pay more taxes when the doggone school district has no drawings, no plans, no site, no land, no nothing for this new school.

Wake up Franklin. These are the craziest referenda questions I’ve ever seen.



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Help our brave soldiers in the Middle East. Don’t forget to do what you can for the “Books for Soldiers” project this Saturday at the Franklin Public Library.


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When I filled in yesterday on Newstalk 1130 WISN, I took many calls on the gargantuan Franklin and Elmbrook School District tax increases.

One caller was a Franklin resident who has attended some of the informational meetings. The caller said the presenters were discussing the space needs of the district during one meeting at which point someone in the audience asked if adding more space would reduce class sizes. The presenters made the rather astonishing admission that the increased space would not guarantee smaller class sizes.

Hmmmmm..........That is very revealing. It sounds like we’re taking a huge risk, being asked to buy a $78-million bill of goods.

The same caller also mentioned being struck at the pitches being made for the referenda. The speakers began with, “this is good for the community,” followed by “this will help economic growth, “and “it will make the community more attractive.” Then and only then, after all the other selling points did the presenters state that it would benefit students.

The caller was irked that in a presentation about the importance of a major referenda that the first priority or talking point wasn’t the benefit to the students. Her feeling was that the school is being used to drive economic development and not improving the education of Franklin students.



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As a result of my blog yesterday, pro-referenda fliers have been removed from Franklin City Hall. The City Clerk removed them this morning.

Because the fliers clearly advocated a politial position, they should not have been placed inside City Hall.

I commend city officials for taking this swift and correct action.



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