Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

29 Nov 2010 22:15

tags

U.S.: Marinette, Wisconsin hostage situation ends; coverage still sucks

  • good The high school hostage crisis is over in Marinette, Wisconsin and only the gunman was hurt. The situation lasted about five hours.
  • bad The coverage was still very scarce for hours, though Green Bay finally has some photos. Can anyone explain why this happened? source
  • » There’s a lesson here: In the past few years, newspaper companies have cut their resources very thin, especially at companies like Gannett, which owns the nearby Green Bay Press-Gazette. It’s sad to think that when something genuinely bad happens in small-town America, there are no details because we’ve cut our resources that much. We’re sad for the town that trusts the local news; we’re also glad that things weren’t worse.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 20:48

tags

U.S.: Some more morsels from the Marinette, Wisconsin hostage situation

  • 24 people are being held hostage – 23 students and one teacher; noone has been injured
  • yes the situation started during the school day, but other students were unaware of the situation
  • no the student doesn’t have a criminal record, nor do any media sources have photos yet source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 19:48

tags

U.S.: What happens if there’s a school hostage situation, but no media?

  • Well, that’s what appears to be happening in Marinette, Wisconsin. Granted, the town of around 11,000 isn’t big or anything, but it’s within shouting distance of Green Bay, and police have been on the scene for somewhere around three hours, yet this is all the coverage we appear to have. Small-town Wisconsin is small-town Wisconsin, but it’s weird that a hostage situation has been going on for somewhere in the neighborhood of three hours, yet all we seemingly have is the lead paragraph. (In the case of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, a reporter is driving out there now.) Have we gotten that lax about paying small-town reporters or having comprehensive coverage? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Nov 2010 00:53

tags

Politics: Ray LaHood to states: Keep building high-speed rail or lose money

  • no Newly elected governors in multiple Midwest states want to cancel in-progress high-speed rail projects they say their states can’t afford.
  • but … However, these newly minted Republican leaders want to keep the money already set aside for these projects to help fix the roads.
  • no Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the states either have to keep the projects going or forfeit the money entirely. It’s war, guys. source
  • » Our take: Why is it that the first thing GOP leaders look to cut are public-works projects with potential long-term implications? The two projects in question here – a high-speed link between Milwaukee and Chicago and another between four of Ohio’s largest cities – would have a long-term positive effect on the state economies. Yet canceling them halfway through is a great idea. Have these guys even looked at the rising popularity of the Acela trains in the Northeast Corridor? Or how much these would help commuters? Milwaukee to Chicago, for example, is a very common Amtrak trip, and faster trains would make it easier for people who want to skip the traffic to make the trek. It’s not always about slimming down now, but planning for tomorrow.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2010 23:42

tags

Politics: Russ Feingold: Poor fella. Down goes an incumbent.

  • Russ. Sigh. This is a race that was clear from the polling, but still a depressing loss. He was one of the country’s better Senators, and was more willing to go with his gut than the lot of them, most famously when he voted against the PATRIOT Act – he was the only one to do so. But Wisconsin has spoken, and Ron Johnson, a once-unknown who was against the health care bill, will take his place. That feeling is one of a dagger hitting the hearts of liberals everywhere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Sep 2010 10:51

tags

Politics: Group: Tea party, GOP conspiring against Wisconsin voters

  • what A group called One Wisconsin Now claims that the state’s GOP and Tea Party plan to disenfranchise voters using a process called “voter caging.” They also claim to have proof of conspiracy in the form of audio.
  • how Basically, they claim that those involved will use a list of people whose mail was marked as undeliverable to prevent them from voting on election day and to create unbearably long lines. How true is this, anyway? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 11:23

tags

Offbeat: Posted without comment: Giant sinkhole in Milwaukee eats car

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Jul 2010 12:11

tags

U.S.: Key votes in the Senate’s passage of finance reform

  • 60-38 the initial vote to allow the real vote
  • didThe three more moderate East-coast members of the GOP – Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
  • didn’tRuss Feingold, that scallion of Wisconsin, felt the bill didn’t go far enough. Oh, and Robert Byrd just died. source
  • » So, what’s next? Well, in a couple of hours, the bill will go through the real vote, at which point it will head to Obama. Then, ta-da! It becomes law.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2010 10:34

tags

U.S.: Museums forced to sell pricey items to keep the doors open

  • Some of the items are super-expensive. Many museums are finding that they need extra cash, so they’ve been selling some of their items. It comes with caveats, though: The American Association of Museums says they can only use the proceeds to acquire more items or directly care for the items they already have. Even so, though, it’s not stopping fire sales like these:
  • $3.2M the amount that Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society has earned from selling collection items
  • $81k the amount that the Beloit, Wis. Historical Society made by selling a page of an Abe Lincoln State of the Union draft
  • $1M the amount an Oregon museum stands to make by selling a 1880s-era hotel; they’ve faced deep budget cuts source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 09:53

tags

Politics: Sean Duffy, Real World congressman? Hey, it could happen

  • Back in 1997, when Montana was letting after-school program kids drink alcohol and Syrus was hitting on their parents, The Real World (Season 6, Boston) featured a champion lumberjack amongst its cast members. Now, Sean Duffy‘s long been married to fellow conservative Rachel (Season 3, San Francisco), he’s a longstanding district attorney in his home state of Wisconsin, and he’s giving longstanding Democratic Congressman David Obey fits. Plus, he has bizarro hippie support. A Real World congressman? Hey, at least it wasn’t Puck (Season 3, San Francisco). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>