Milwaukee and Nigeria’s Abuja formalize Sister City relationship to expand cultural and economic ties
Leaders from Milwaukee and Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, met on December 13 to formally establish a Sister City relationship between the two municipalities. The historic agreement was signed during an official ceremony at City Hall by His Honorable Christopher Zakka,...
U.S. car buyers will get tax credits immediately in 2024 for eligible electric and plug-in vehicles
Starting next year, people who want to buy a new or used electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle will be able to get U.S. government income tax credits at the time of purchase. Eligible buyers, including those that bought an EV or hybrid this year, have had to wait until...
Hijacking wireless keys: Thieves go high-tech to steal today’s computerized cars
By Doug Jacobson, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University These days, cars are computer centers on wheels. Today’s vehicles can contain over 100 computers and millions of lines of software code. These computers are all networked...
“What-if” politics: Journalists begin to examine the disaster to democracy of a second Trump presidency
Even before anyone has cast a vote in a 2024 presidential primary, the attention of many political journalists has shifted to January 20, 2025. There has been a flurry of recent stories about the implications of a potential second presidency for Donald Trump, and his...
Fake Trump elector on Wisconsin election commission will not be removed by Republican leadership
The majority leader of the Wisconsin Senate on December 11 rejected calls to rescind his appointment to the state elections commission, who was one of the Republicans that attempted to undermine America’s democracy by serving as a fake elector for former...
Regents reject GOP deal to enshrine conservative ideology at Wisconsin Universities and limit diversity
Universities of Wisconsin regents narrowly rejected a deal on December 9 reached with Republicans that would have given employees a pay raise, and paid for the construction of a new engineering building, in exchange for drastic reductions in staff positions focused on...
John Gurda’s Milwaukee: New book transforms iconic bus tours into self-guided adventure of discovery
“Someone who discovers this tour on a dusty shelf decades from now will likely find it curiously antique, a yellowing testament to a city lost to memory. I welcome that fate as confirmation that cities, like the people they serve, are constantly in motion,...
Decades of overbuilding: What comes next as traditional downtowns implode in many U.S. cities
By John Rennie Short, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County The hollowing out of U.S. cities’ office and commercial cores is a national trend with serious consequences for millions of Americans. As more people have stayed home...
Trump’s fake Wisconsin electors admit that President Biden won in 2020 as settlement for civil lawsuit
Ten Republicans who posed as fake electors for ex-president Donald Trump in Wisconsin, and filed paperwork falsely saying he had won the battleground state, have settled a civil lawsuit. They admitted their actions were part of an effort to overturn President Joe...
Governor Evers signs bipartisan bill to fund repairs and upgrades at Brewers stadium for next 30 years
After months of backroom wrangling, Governor Tony Evers signed a bill on December 5 that spends half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer money over the next three decades to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium. The governor signed the bipartisan package...
Bipartisan bills seek to unlock Wisconsin’s workforce talent by reforming policies impacting DACA recipients
A bipartisan group of lawmakers held a press conference at the State Capitol in Madison on December 4, with the support of business and labor leaders from across the state, to introduce proposed legislation designed to help remedy Wisconsin’s workforce shortage....
Contaminated drinking water: Why some states reject federal money to replace dangerous lead pipes
As the Biden administration makes billions of dollars available to remove millions of dangerous lead pipes that can contaminate drinking water and damage brain development in children, some states are turning down funds. Washington, Oregon, Maine, and Alaska declined...
