Drunk driving crackdown? Really?

Readers MS and CS offered this response to the state's "crackdown" on drunk driving this weekend:

MS writes:

Do they think we're this stupid?

When have you heard of anybody getting a warning for drunk driving? Why would the paper just report this without questioning it? Does the governor know we have legally drunk drivers on the streets and the cops are letting them off?

CS adds:

I think the (media) thinks they are fulfilling some sort of public service by printing this.

I wonder if we won't be getting warnings for committing other crimes this weekend. I wonder if there ARE weekends where we do just get warnings for committing crimes. I want to know what and when.

MS adds (note sarcasm):

Here's another example- I remember reading this story and just rolling my eyes... ridiculous nonsense...

The police lie to the press, the press acts as scaremonger, and then (if we're lucky) eventually they are forced to admit it was all bullshit.

It was aimed at making the prankster go running to a hospital and admit it was he who'd pulled off The Great Dummy-on-a-radio-tower prank of '06.

Well I didn't fall for it.

And neither did my accomplices.

A Google search found that six newspapers (and RacinePost) ran this quote with the OWI crackdown story:

There will be no warnings for impaired drivers; violators can expect to be arrested.

One paper paraphrased the quote as being by John J. Pasmovic of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The JS directly quotes the exact same words to Michael Witter, Midwest administrator for the NHTSA.

Four other paper attribute the phrase to "officials."

None of this is meant to sully the message of not drinking and driving this weekend. It just shows the media relying on government propaganda in the hopes of striking someone's consciousness that they could actually kill someone if they drive drunk. Unfortunately, as the readers pointed out, the message is a bit ... stilted. Better would have been something like, "more police will be on the road this weekend watching for drunk drivers," or "police will crackdown on bars that serve drivers arrested for DUI this weekend." But a "crackdown" on drunk driving? It's like putting out a press release saying police are opposed to murder. Yeah, good ... that's your job.

Our new rep on the Miller Park board: Robert Henzl

As legislators continue to fight over the Miller Park stadium tax -- supposed to expire in 2014, but nobody's betting on that happening (and, in fact, there's already talk of extending it to 2017)-- Gov. Jim Doyle today named four new members to the Miller Park stadium district board.

Robert Henzl, president of the Racine law firm Hostak, Henzl & Bichler, S.C. was named the new Racine County member of the board, replacing Lisa Neubauer, whom Doyle recently swore in as an appellate court judge.

Henzl, a graduate of Marquette University Law School, specializes in real estate, estate planning and business and corporate law. Campaign finance records show he has donated $3,200 to Democratic candidates since 2002 -- Feingold, Gwen Moore, John Kerry and the state Democratic Party were the recipients, with nothing going directly to Doyle. He was also listed in the fall of 2007 "as a key endorser of the Concept of Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail." The magazine Super Lawyers named him one of Wisconsin's top lawyers in 2006 and 2007.

Doyle, who can appoint six members of the 13-member stadium board, also named Michael Miller as Washington County representative, Mequon mayor Christine Nuernberg as the new Ozaukee County appointee, and current board chairman Jay Williams, an at-large member, to replace David Spano as Waukesha County representative.

Wisconsin's abysmal drunk driving record

Ah, St. Patrick's Day! Everyone's Irish and the beer is flowing from the taps in local bars. Why, green beer is even being dispensed openly on Monument Square Saturday. What's not to like?

Well, drunk drivers, for one thing.

Last year, according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, nine people died in eight accidents on March 17 and 18. Alcohol played a role in five of the crashes, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Nationally, 105 drivers and motorcyclists were killed in accidents on St. Patrick's Day 2007. Of them, 44 percent had blood-alcohol levels of .08% or above, according to the NHTSA.

So, a very simple message is being sent to the state's drivers: Don't! State and local law enforcers promise a crackdown on drunken driving this weekend.

"There will be no warnings for impaired drivers; violators can expect to be arrested," said Michael Witter, Midwest administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. State and county law enforcement officials are promising extra vigilance, extra patrols, no leniency.

Unfortunately, the problem is not one that a mere holiday crackdown can cure. Kathleen Falk, Dane County executive, spoke to the Madison Rotary Club on Wednesday, and was a real downer, presenting the following grim statistics:

-- Wisconsin has the absolute worst rate of binge and chronic heavy drinkers in the nation. Nearly 50-percent of our high school students drink...more than any other state. We have the worst rate of underage drinking in the country.

-- Wisconsin has one and a half times the national rate of arrests for operating while intoxicated.

-- In the 10 years from 1994 to 2004, three times as many people were arrested in this state for alcohol violations than the national average.

-- In our state...twice as many adults drive after having too much to drink than in other states. It should not be a surprise then that Wisconsin has the highest percentage of fatal auto crashes involving alcohol in the nation…no State is worse than we are.

-- In 2006, there were 8,400 crashes caused by alcohol in Wisconsin. More than 300 people were killed and 5,600 others were hurt in those wrecks.

-- So in just one year, nearly 6,000 people – each with family, friends, and co-workers – were hurt or lost their lives all because someone got behind the wheel after drinking.

The rest of her presentation has been reprinted on The Political Environment blog. I recommend reading it before you go out this weekend. The facts are sobering.

P.S. Remember that semi that rolled over on I-94 yesterday? The driver's blood-alcohol level, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff, was .18 -- more than twice the legal limit. And he's a repeat offender... Guess he was getting an early start on the holiday. (Although, of course, presumed innocent until ...)

No, you don't wear it on your head

It was just over a week ago that Gov. Doyle introduced Wisconsin's new "tourism brand platform" by saying, "Yes, we can be a state where we wear cheese on our heads..."

He probably wasn't thinking of Gruyere.

The state's big cheese news today concerns a Swiss Gruyere, named the 2008 World Championship Cheese in Madison by an international panel of expert judges.

Cheesemaker Michael Spycher, of Kaserei Fritzenhaus (translates as Cheesemaker Fritz House; go figger) in Wasen, Switzerland, took top honors out of 1,941 entries from 19 countries. Out of possible 100 points, his Gruyere scored 98.82 points.

First runner-up, with a score of 98.56, is a Gorgonzola made by CERPL Cheesemakers of Italy. Second runnerup is an Emmentaler in the Rinded Swiss Style category, made by Bernhard Naf, of Guntershausen, Switzerland, which scored 98.42.

Overall, U.S. cheesemakers dominated the competition, earning gold medals in 46 of the 77 categories, including golds in both butter classes and in the retail packaging class. Netherlands came in second among the countries, with eight golds; Denmark had six; Canada had four and Switzerland took three. Austria, Australia and Spain all won two gold medals, while Sweden, Italy, France and South Africa each captured one apiece.

Among U.S. states, Wisconsin dominated with 27 gold medals. New York took five golds, California and Idaho each took three.

Near as I could tell, no mention of Velveeta. Or wearing cheese on your head. Oversights, no doubt.

The World Championship Cheese Contest is the largest international cheese and butter competition in the world. For more information visit www.wischeesemakersassn.

Ryan's budget alternative falls short in House...

As promised, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, 1st District, presented his own budget for 2009, a substitute for Pres. Bush's $3.1 trillion offering and that presented by the Democrats. Here is the press release from Ryan's office:

Congressman Ryan’s budget alternative would achieve balance by 2012 without raising taxes. It repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and supports national defense, boosts homeland security and veterans’ funding, and takes steps toward rescuing the Federal Government’s major entitlement programs – especially Medicare and Medicaid – from their currently unsustainable spending path. The budget also promotes accountability by imposing a moratorium on earmarks and requiring a vote in Congress before increasing the debt.

Although Congressman Ryan’s budget received 157 votes, it was not enough to pass the House. Instead, the House voted largely along party lines in favor of the Democrat majority’s budget that includes record tax increases, out-of-control spending, and ignores the entitlement crisis.

“Today’s vote on the federal budget was about priorities and choices,” Ryan said. “When prices are rising for gas, food and health care, the last thing taxpayers can afford right now is an enormous tax increase. When families are trying to make ends meet, Congress should not increase government spending while doing nothing to address the entitlement crisis, wasteful government spending and an abusive earmark process. The Majority’s budget, however, does just this by putting the taxpayer last while expecting them to pay more taxes to fund the Majority’s spending increases. This is a shocking lack of accountability and fiscal restraint that will cost residents of Wisconsin nearly $3,000 per person in additional taxes. And the absence of any effort at entitlement reform only makes matters worse for future generations.”

“As stewards of the federal budget process, we have a responsibility to take action that will prevent our children from being left a legacy of debt and higher taxes. The alternative budget that I brought before the House would address each of these critical issues,” Ryan continued. “My budget, a pro-growth plan, would balance the budget in 2012 without a single tax increase, begin the process of rescuing the major entitlement programs, and halt the earmark process until there is real reform.”

The Democrat Budget Resolution calls for the largest tax increase in American history. By allowing tax relief enacted in 2001 and 2003 to expire, the Democrats will raise taxes on the American public by $683 billion dollars. That translates to an average tax increase of $2,965 per person in the state of Wisconsin. The Democrat tax increases would:

· Cuts the Child Tax Credit in half, from $1,000 to $500, increasing taxes on 31 million taxpayers, on average, by $859.

· Reimposes the marriage penalty, increasing taxes on 31 million married taxpayers, on average, by $466 because they are married.

· Raises the 10 percent tax rate bracket to 15 percent, imposing the individual income tax on 6 million individuals who previously owed no taxes.

· Increases Dividend and Capital Gains tax rate, hitting seniors particularly hard with an average increase of $2,540.

In addition to these tax increases, the deficit for this year will double. Under Majority’s plan, discretionary spending increases $23 billion above the President’s request. At the same time, earmarks will continue as an earmark moratorium was rejected. The Democrat budget ignores the calls of numerous experts who have testified before the House Budget Committee that the entitlement programs are in crisis and action must be taken now.

Comparatively, Congressman Ryan’s budget alternative would impose a fiscally sound plan for America’s future. The plan would achieve the following:

· Retains 2001/2003 Tax Relief. Contains no increases in marginal rates; no increase in taxes per child; no restoration of the marriage penalty or death tax; no increases in capital gains or dividends tax rates; and no expiration of other provisions of the 2001 and 2003 laws.

· Repeals AMT. Prevents expansion of the AMT for the next 3 years; begins phasing in repeal in 2012; achieves full repeal in 2013.

· Reforms Major Programs. Congressman Ryan’s budget takes steps toward rescuing the Federal Government’s major entitlement programs – especially Medicare and Medicaid – from their currently unsustainable spending path. These programs, as currently structured, will be unable to keep their promises to beneficiaries, and at the same time pose the greatest single threat to the budget and the economy. The reforms incorporated in Ryan’s budget alternative will make these programs meet their mission of providing retirement and health care security.

· Incorporates Bipartisan Legislative Line Item Veto. Includes provisions of the bipartisan Legislative Line Item Veto Act passed by the House in the 109th Congress.

· Imposes a Moratorium on Earmarks. Places a hold on congressional earmarks for the remainder of the 110th Congress, and dedicates the $14.8 billion in savings to keeping taxes low and balancing the budget.

· Strengthens PAYGO. Applies pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) to direct spending measures only, and prohibits the use of tax increases to finance increases in direct spending.

· Establishes discretionary spending limits in the House through 2010. These caps would act as an additional control over discretionary spending provided by annual appropriations bills.

County flunks new smog, air quality standards

It's as though the Environmental Protection Agency reads this blog!

Remember our headline from Feb. 23:

If you have to go outside, try not to breathe

on an air quality alert story? (And not the last such alert we've had, either. Another one just ended Tuesday.)

Well, yesterday, the EPA "met its requirements of the Clean Air Act by signing the most stringent 8-hour standard ever for ozone, revising the standards for the first time in more than a decade. The agency based the changes on the most recent scientific evidence about the effects of ozone, the primary component of smog."

OK, we'll put the agency's press release into English: The new standard for ozone -- sometimes known by its more familiar nickname, smog -- is 75 ppm. If air quality monitors find less than that, the air is considered clean. More, then you have a problem.

Racine County has a problem.

As the Associated Press summarized:

"The air in hundreds of U.S. counties is simply too dirty to breathe, the government said Wednesday, ordering a multibillion-dollar expansion of efforts to clean up smog in cities and towns nationwide."

It's not necessarily that our air is getting worse (although we are just one of six Wisconsin counties forced to use ethanol-mixed gasoline), but rather that the standard has just been changed. Again, quoting from the EPA: "The previous primary and secondary standards were identical 8-hour standards, set at 0.08 ppm. Because ozone is measured out to three decimal places, the standard effectively became 0.084 ppm: areas with ozone levels as high as 0.084 ppm were considered as meeting the 0.08 ppm standard, because of rounding.

We met that old standard, but now we're among 345 U.S. counties -- out of more than 700 counties where the air is monitored -- that do not. The good news -- enlarge the accompanying chart to see how all of Wisconsin's monitored counties rank -- is that we're close. Of the eight counties with air quality problems, we're closest to meeting the new standards, just .003 ppm from compliance. (Get that clunker off the road and do us all a favor.)

Meeting the new standards, according to the EPA, will be good for our health: "EPA estimates that the final standards will yield health benefits valued between $2 billion and $19 billion. Those benefits include preventing cases of bronchitis, aggravated asthma, hospital and emergency room visits, nonfatal heart attacks and premature death, among others. EPA's Regulatory Impact analysis shows that benefits are likely greater than the cost of implementing the standards. Cost estimates range from $7.6 billion to $8.5 billion."

The EPA release is HERE.

The AP story which makes it all perfectly clear is HERE.

Reports of KRM's death premature?

You know those disaster movies, the ones with debris and bodies everywhere... when suddenly someone yells, "Medic, over here! This one's alive!!"

Well, that's what happened today in Madison. They found a pulse, albeit faint, in KRM.

All those headlines, KRM commuter rail funding dead for the year (it's on our front page even as I type this) may turn out to have been premature. But the operative word is may.

State Senate Democrats today passed an economic development package (SB 510, Wisconsin Invests Now) that (among other things) would authorize the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority to issue bonds and raise revenue for the proposed KRM commuter rail line. The bill passed on a party-line vote, 18-15. The funding mechanism? A fee added to car rentals. (Is it just me, or does that seem anticlimactic?)

Sen. John Lehman, D-21st District, said, "The state Senate has once again recognized the importance of the KRM project to the economy of southeast Wisconsin. With the Racine area struggling with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, it's time to take real, concrete action to create jobs. The KRM rail line is one of those steps.

"As passed by the Senate, the KRM provision also provides for the local governments represented by the RTA to hold referenda on funding the program through an increase in the car rental fee. While those who have never supported the project have in recent days rushed to write KRM's obituary, I and the many other supporters of this important project in the business community, local government and community at large will continue to work to see it become a reality," Lehman said.

The Democrats' bill does not require a funding source referendum, as did the much-reviled proposal -- that never actually got past the talking stage, near as we can tell -- by Rep. Robin Vos, R-63rd Assembly District, that would have allowed use of a sales tax only if specifically approved by local voters community-by-community. Vos' bill couldn't garner a single co-sponsor.

But does the Democrats' bill have a favorable prognosis, doctor? Hard to tell. There's little expectation that the Assembly will take up, much less approve SB 510. But according to Mike Browne, a Lehman staffer, "it's another statement from Senate Democrats that this is important, and they're trying to find a way to get it done. It keeps some momentum."

Browne notes that the special session Gov. Jim Doyle has called for the Legislature to deal with the budget shortfall begins tomorrow, and Doyle also has talked about calling yet another session to consider the Great Lakes Compact. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Democrats' economic development package might find its way onto the floor.

SB 510, by the way, is not really a KRM bill; mostly it attempts to close the "Las Vegas" tax evasion loophole used by some businesses (mainly financial) that open a Post Office box in Nevada and then claim business routed through that box comes from Nevada, so earnings escape Wisconsin taxation. Some $90 million a year is lost that way. Democrats would use that recovered money for technical colleges ($5 million), transportation ($50 million), child care ($15 million) and a few smaller programs.

Twenty-one states already have closed the Las Vegas loophole; two more come into effect soon, and six more are considering it. In the Midwest, Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have closed the loophole and Iowa is debating doing so.

Any statisticians out there?

We're looking for a statistician to help with a story we're putting together. We're looking for a quick analysis on a local story. Anyone out there? If so, send me an email at: dustin.block@gmail.com

Local country music singer Tracy Stefans gets Nashville's attention

For all of our country music fans, here's a reader email about rising country star Tracy Stefans, of Racine:

Hi! I wanted to let you know about Tracy Stefans from Racine who will be going to Nashville March 21 as a Regional Finalist for the Nashville Star reality TV series.

Tracy Stefans, 40, lives in Racine and has been singing country music for years. He was lead signer for the band Great Guns, which won Wisconsin Area Music Industry Country Group of the Year six times, and won the People's Choice award. Tracy has also been nominated for WAMI's Male Vocalist of the Year multiple times.

Tracy auditioned at the open auditions in Milwaukee in February, and made it to the second round along with his son, Tyler, a 16-year-old junior at Horlick. They auditioned and sang solo and as a duet in front of the Nashville Star producers. They were told they would be notified in a few weeks if they made it to the next round. Tracy got the email last week informing him that he had been chosen as a regional finalist from among thousands of singers who had auditioned. He will be traveling back to Nashville next week for the National round.

Tracy has tried out for Nashville Star multiple times in the past few years, even traveling to Chicago and Nashville. He slept overnight on the street in Nashville for tryouts a few years ago, and ended up singing on the Nashville news.

Nashville Star was broadcast on the USA channel for the past five years, and has produced some nationally known singers such as Buddy Jewel, Miranda Lambert and Chris Young. This year the series is moving to NBC for broadcast this summer. The winner of Nashville Star gets a recording contract and gets to sing at the Olympics in China.

As lead singer of Great Guns, Tracy has opened for just about every national artist from Tim McGraw, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks and Dunn to Reba and Blackhawk. Last year Tracy left the band to pursue a solo musical career. He went to Nashville to record his debut CD, Country Rock Star, which was produced by Henry Paul (lead singer of country group Blackhawk, and the legendary southern rockers The Outlaws.) The entire band of Blackhawk played on the CD, and did the harmony vocals. Tracy was excited to include his 9-year-old daughter, Taylor Anne, a Fine Arts School student, on the title track.

Tracy just returned from The Country Radio Seminar in Nashville last week where he did interviews supporting his CD, and mingled with some of country's hottest stars. Last week, Tracy was nominated for WAMI's Country Artist of the Year, and the CD has been nominated for WAMI's CD of the Year.

Tracy's CD is available on itunes, CDBaby and Rhapsody.com. You can check out his tunes on MySpace or his website

We asked Tracy's wife, Lori, for some more information about him and she replied:

Tracy is married (to his wonderful talented wife, Lori ...he he he.. that would be me) for almost 20 years. He has two children who are also both musically inclined. Tyler, 16, is in his own rock band, but plays guitar in Tracy's band too. (His motto is "Will country for money, will rock for free!") Taylor, 9, has been singing onstage since she was 4. She has sung on CMT, GAC and local news, and has been a featured singer at Chick Singer Night-Milwaukee. Both kids are currently in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Horlick.

Tracy has lived in Racine since 2000 and in Racine County since 1995. He is a mechanical designer who has worked at various companies, but due to the decline of engineering jobs in the area (he worked at Bosch until they closed) he is working for Verizon as a retail sales associate. The good thing about that job is that it gives him the flexibility to do gigs on the weekends, and travel to Nashville.

Tracy is currently booking for the summer festival season. He regularly plays big events like Summerfest, Country USA, West Allis Western Days etc., and his music has been heard in The Netherlands, Australia, France and England.

Racine surveillance program needs oversight

Mayor Gary Becker and Police Chief Kurt Wahlen revealed this week that the police department will have the capability of installing 60 video cameras throughout Racine's inner city.

What's shocking about this revelation is where it occurred. Becker and Wahlen didn't bring the plan before the City Council or release it to the public. They mentioned it in passing during a meeting with The Journal Times Editorial Board.

You can watch the video here. Wahlen mentions the video cameras about halfway through the talk, around the 15-minute mark. There's a brief follow-up question around the 8-minute mark. And that's it.

So let's be clear about what happened. Arguably the two most powerful men in the city revealed that they intend to monitor and record Racine's inner city with video cameras. They revealed this in front of our local newspaper's publisher and editor, and a handful of reporters.

The result: Nothing. The JT didn't report the news in its story on the meeting. They didn't mention it on their website or in the next day's paper.

I find this difficult to understand. A local government creating a video surveillance system of its residents is among the most important and serious decisions a community can make. It raises privacy and personal liberty questions. It demands protections from abuse of power by police and politicians. And it certainly should be a public decision.

Wahlen acknowledged these concerns during the meeting when he noted there were "Big Brother issues" with the cameras. But he explained away the concerns by saying most people in the affected areas would like having the cameras. Has he asked them? What about the mayor? Has he walked near 12th and Grand and Hamilton and Geneva asking local residents if they want the police department video taping their lives on a daily basis?

The irony of the meeting was Wahlen and Becker announcing the cameras at the same time they're trying to sell the public that crime in Racine is at a 20-year low. If that's the case, do we really need police surveillance of city streets?

I have no opinion on the cameras. Yeah, they seem creepy. But cities around the countries are spending millions of dollars installing cameras in the streets, and if they allow police to breakup incidents without making arrests or people getting hurt, them maybe they'll help. (Though that's certainly in question).

If we are going to install them, it should be done carefully and with public assurances that the cameras will not be abused by people in power. The City Council and the Police and Fire Commission should have full oversight over the program, including public votes on where the cameras will be located and how they will be used.

The JT Editorial Board meeting raised some concerns:

1. The police chief and mayor were remarkably casual about the idea. They mentioned the idea in passing, and seemed barely concerned about the implications. Maybe it was acting on their part. Maybe the meeting was designed to float the idea around a bunch of rah-rah talk about lower crime and COP Houses. The issue is more serious than they let on.

2. It was concerning to hear the mayor say they were working with SC Johnson to install cameras near the company's 14th Street campus. The city should support its major employers and help them prosper in the city. But having the mayor and police chief work with a company to monitor the surrounding neighborhood is highly questionable.

3. What is the JT thinking? How is this not a story? Former Journal Times Publisher Richard Johnston ran a solid Editorial Board meeting. He created a professional atmosphere, demanded intelligent questions from the board, and made sure reporters followed up on important issues. Today's Editorial Board is the shell of its former self. The paper doesn't endorse in local races (because it required too many meetings!) and its editorials seem barely relevant on local issues. Now, it's handed a major story by the police chief and mayor, and no one reports about it? New Publisher Rick Parrish and Editor Steve Lovejoy need to rebuild the JT's editorial board from the ground up. The current board is dysfunctional.

The problem with surveillance programs is the public doesn't know how they will be used. Police say it will help them break up crime, and maybe they will. But what happens when facial recognition software improves and people can be ID'd walking down the street? Or license plates can be read from the cameras? Or a neighborhood organizes a protest of city policies? How selective will police use video? Will they target individuals? What about drunk drivers leaving Downtown bars? Will the videos be available to the public? Will the program be expanded to all neighborhoods? Or will only the poor be monitored 24 hours a day?

Surveillance programs require a great deal of trust in city and police officials. Before the public hands over that trust, the strongest possible safeguards are needed to minimize the potential for abuse. The technology is changing so quickly that we need broad oversight of this issue from the outset. We need assurances that a surveillance program will help the public, not imprison it under the watchful eyes of the powerful.

Update:

California isn't having public discussions over surveillance cameras, according to the ACLU.

Who's the most Conservative of them all?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who's the most conservative of them all?

When it comes to Wisconsin's Congressional delegation, do you really have to ask?

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, 1st District, is the most Conservative member of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation. And pretty darn Conservative overall, compared to the rest of the House: He voted Conservative 79.7 percent of the time, and is the House's 94th most Conservative member (out of 435).

Click on table to enlarge.

When it comes to votes on foreign issues, Ryan is ranked "more liberal" than 0 percent of other House members.

This unstartling bit of information comes from the National Journal's ratings of all Congressmen, based on an analysis of how they voted on a variety of issues. By their count, Wisconsin Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, are the state's most Liberal, voting that way 95 percent of the time. (And tying for 1st place in the entire House of Representatives, a six-way tie.)

As the National Journal explains: Members are assigned separate scores for their roll-call votes on key economic, social, and foreign-policy issues during 2007. The members are rated in each of the three issue categories on both liberal and conservative scales, with the scores on each scale given as percentiles. An economic score of 72 on the conservative scale, for example, means that the member was more conservative than 72 percent of his or her House colleagues on the key votes in that issue area during 2007. An asterisk [*] means that the member missed more than half of the rated votes in an issue area. Composite scores are an average of the six issue-based scores. Members with the same composite scores are tied in rank.

Click on table to enlarge.

Meanwhile, Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl are among the Senate's most Liberal members. Feingold ranked as the Senate's 10th most Liberal member; Kohl as the 21st.

The complete HOUSE RANKINGS are here.

The complete SENATE RANKINGS are here.

(And just to save you the effort: Hillary Clinton is ranked 16th Liberal, more so than 82.8 percent of the Senate; Barack Obama is the Senate's No. 1 Liberal, more so than 95.5 percent of the Senate. John McCain? Well, he missed too many votes to be categorized.)

Police installing dozens of video cameras to monitor city streets

The Racine Police Department is installing up to 60 video cameras to monitor streets throughout the city, Police Chief Kurt Wahlen and Mayor Gary Becker said Tuesday.

The cameras will be installed throughout the inner city - they need to be within two miles of a wireless antenna, which likely would be installed on top of City Hall - and monitored from a computer at the police department. The video streams also will be recorded, and the live feeds will be accessible to officers in their squad cars.

Wahlen said the cameras will give police lots more "looksies" into what's going on. For example, if a shift commander sees a group of kids gathering at a corner, they can send officers to the area before violence breaks out.

The first cameras will be installed near 12th Street and Grand Avenue. Once those are working, the surveillance program will be expanded to Geneva and Hamilton streets. Both areas are considered high-crime neighborhoods.

"I realize it creates some Big Brother issues, but I think most of the people in the neighborhoods where the cameras are going are going to be very happy to have them," Wahlen said.

Becker said the city was working with SC Johnson to install cameras around the campus. They're also planning to install cameras in Downtown Racine and near the Shoop parking ramp.

The police chief and mayor announced the video camera strategy, targeted at the inner city, during a meeting with The Journal Times on Tuesday. Here's a video of the meeting.

The Journal Times did not mention the city's surveillance plans in its story on the meeting.

State's Gannett papers mull regional copyediting

Back in January -- a century ago in Internet time -- I posted a rumor that Lee and Gannett might be thinking of swapping newspapers, "to help both chains regionalize their holdings, allowing both to wring financial economies and operating efficiencies out of the process."

Well, for those of you keeping score: No news on that front at all. There's been nothing to indicate any substance to that rumor. So far, it's dead wrong. Lee continues to operate its eight papers in Wisconsin, including The Journal Times, and Gannett continues to own and run its ten newspapers. There's been no public talk about any kind of swap. (OK, enough crow-eating?)

But there is news on the Gannett front, and -- surprise! -- it involves regionalizing and consolidation, although strictly within that chain's existing holdings. The Gannett Blog, run by a former USA Today reporter, said yesterday:

Gannett's 10-paper Wisconsin Newspapers group is considering a plan under which copy and pagination work would be merged into a regional operation, likely resulting in "significant'' job cuts, an internal company document shows. Publishers discussed the idea at a meeting last Wednesday that addressed several topics -- including consolidating work...

The document describes "two possible consolidations. 1) regional copy desk and 2) page layout." It says executives are "looking at severance costs, which are significant. They will be meeting to walk through the process. At this time, we’re not sure if there are any showstoppers."

Consolidating all copy editing into giant regional or statewide desks has emerged as another way for newspaper publishers to cut labor costs at a time when revenue is falling. But critics say copy editors can't do their jobs well when they work far from the communities their papers serve. (Mayor Smith? Smyth?)

A Gannett shift to regional editing would not be surprising. The company has made clear that it's now favoring newspapers in its portfolio that are clustered together. Proximity makes it easier to share resources, a factor in GCI's decision last year to unload five papers.

Some Wisconsin papers already share copy editing functions... Geography makes the 10 Wisconsin newspapers good candidates for consolidating work: Eight of them are small afternoon dailies, within about two hours of each other.

Back in the '70s, I worked at two newspaper chains with regional copyediting desks -- in New York and Illinois. The former, an eight-paper, tightly-clustered group (later bought by Gannett) was noted for "common pages" -- ads and news put together by the centralized desk and shared in toto by all the newspapers. The other, five papers in Illinois (later bought by Lee) handled all local stories locally, but the AP wire, statewide coverage and all editorials that weren't strictly local came from the centralized desk via a noisy teletype. Both were good outfits, and put out good journalism, but the centralized operation -- particularly early deadlines to accommodate distribution in those pre-computer days -- frequently got in the way.

Regional copyediting is not the worst trend in newspapers today (we're talking production, here, not whether Eliot Spitzer's loose zipper should drive the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers in Iraq in one day off page one). Not long ago, a California paper tried to outsource its county government coverage -- to India! (Webcasts and telephone, donchaknow.) And every month or so comes another story about a newspaper experimenting with offshore advertising makeup, page layout or copyediting. (This week: The Ft. Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, 26 ad makeup jobs, India.)

The ten Wisconsin Gannett papers are: The Post-Crescent at Appleton, The Reporter at Fond du Lac, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Herald Times Reporter at Manitowoc, Marshfield News-Herald, Oshkosh Northwestern, The Sheboygan Press, Stevens Point Journal, Wausau Daily Herald and The Daily Tribune at Wisconsin Rapids.

Lee's eight Wisconsin papers are the Wisconsin State Journal at Madison,the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, the Baraboo News Republic, the Portage Daily Register, The Chippewa Herald, The Journal Times in Racine, the LaCrosse Tribune and Minnesota-border-crossing Winona Daily News.

At the time of our earlier post raising the issue of a Gannett/Lee swap, Lee's stock had just hit a 52-week low of $11.78 per share, erasing more than $1 billion of its market capitalization. Gannett wasn't doing much better: in the first week of 2008, it dropped from $39 per share to $32.45.

Ah, the good old days! Today, Gannett is trading at $28.81, less than half its 52-week high. Lee hit $9.73 this morning, one-third its 52-week high. (As the entire market has tanked, it must be noted.)

Doyle has few ties to Spitzer

With New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the news for being an idiot, we ran a check on Spitzer's ties to our own Gov. Jim Doyle (and, to be clear, Doyle had nothing to do with the Emperor's Room).

* Spitzer hosted a fundraiser for Doyle in 2006.

* Doyle lost a case of bratwurst to Spitzer in January.

And, that's about it ...

City stats: Racine crime near 20-year low

The city released some good news about crime in Racine today. Property crimes in Racine are down 34 percent over the past 20 years, and thefts, burglaries and auto thefts were at or near 20-year lows in 2007, according to crime stats compiled by city officials.

Below are the numbers. If you can't see the spreadsheet, click here to see the results or here to download the spreadsheet.

Other findings:

* Calls for service are down from 99,903 in 1991 to 81,086 in 2007.

* Rapes doubled from 15 in 2006 to 30 in 2007.

* Burglaries and auto thefts are at 20-year lows.

* There were 945 thefts in 2007, the second lowest total in the last 20 years. There were 943 reported thefts in 1999.

* Robberies have increased every year since 2003, reaching 281 in 2007.

* Violent crimes have also increased year since 2003, reaching 509 in 2007. There were 316 in 2003.

Air Quality Watch covers most of state -- again

Yet another Air Quality Watch has been issued for large parts of Wisconsin -- 59 counties including Racine -- by the Department of Natural Resources. The last Watch was on Feb. 23, and lasted for three days.

(Meanwhile, wasn't it barely a week ago, on March 2 to be exact, that Gov. Doyle was assuring us that Wisconsin air quality is just fine? In fact, the headline in the Wisconsin State Journal read unambiguously: Doyle: The air's just fine).

Like the earlier Watch, this one is being blamed on elevated levels of fine particles in the air, composed of dust, soot, liquid droplets and smoke particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller coming from power plants, factories, vehicle exhaust and outdoor fires.

The Air Quality Index is forecast to reach the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups, including those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children.

Lasting until midnight Wednesday, the Watch covers the following counties: Adams, Barron, Brown, Buffalo, Calumet, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Door, Dunn, Eau Claire, Fond Du Lac, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Lafayette, Langlade, Lincoln, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marquette, Menominee, Milwaukee, Monroe, Oconto, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Rusk, Sauk, Shawano, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago and Wood.

Our earlier story is HERE.

Kohl moves against court confidentiality agreements

It happens far too often: Somebody gets hurt by a defective product and sues the manufacturer. Eventually, he or she settles for a pot of cash. In return, the manufacturer obtains a confidentiality agreement keeping details of the settlement secret. Everybody wins.

Everybody but you and me.

The legal landscape is littered with examples of product safety settlements that hid really serious problems for years -- problems which injured, and sometimes killed, many more people before they finally came to public attention.

The most famous case involved Bridgestone/Firestone tires: From 1992 to 2000, tread separations caused many accidents. The company quietly settled dozens of lawsuits, most of which included secrecy agreements. It was not until 1999, when a Houston public television station broke the story, that the company recalled 6.5 million tires. By then, it was too late for the more than 250 people who had died and 800 more who were injured in accidents related to the defective tires.

Last week, Congress began to act on the problem. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-WI, to prohibit courts from shielding important health and safety information from the public as part of legal settlement agreements.

Kohl’s bipartisan Sunshine in Litigation Act will require judges to consider public health and safety before granting a protective order or sealing court records and settlements. They have the discretion to grant or deny secrecy based on a balancing test that weighs the public’s interest in a potential public health and safety hazard and legitimate interests in secrecy. The Act is co-sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-VT.

“Far too often, our courts permit vital information that is discovered in litigation -- which bears directly on public health and safety -- to be covered up,” Kohl said. “This legislation simply says that while litigants may want total confidentiality when resolving their disputes in court, information about public health and safety dangers does not deserve court-endorsed protection. This bill creates the appropriate balance between secrecy and openness in cases involving public health and safety.”

Besides the Bridgestone/Firestone tires case, other examples of recent court-endorsed secrecy agreements include:

Over-the-Counter Children’s Medicine: In 1996, a seven year old boy in Washington state suffered a sudden stroke and fell into a coma hours after taking an over-the-counter medicine used to treat an ear infection. After three years in a coma, he died. The child’s mother sued the manufacturer of the medicine alleging that the stroke was induced by PPA, an ingredient with deadly risks which was later banned by the FDA. Unknown to the boy’s mother, the public, and perhaps even to the FDA, many similar lawsuits in state and federal courts had previously been filed against the drug manufacturer, but were settled secretly, with the lawyers and plaintiffs subject to restrictive confidentiality orders.

Defective Baby Cribs: In May 1998, 16-month-old Danny Keysar was strangled to death at his licensed childcare facility when a Playskool “Travel-Lite” portable crib collapsed, trapping his neck in the “V” of its folded rails. Danny’s parents sued the crib manufacturers, Kolcraft. During discovery, they learned that three prior lawsuits involving the same product defect had been settled secretly. Kolcraft offered Danny’s parents a settlement, but only on the condition that they agree to a secrecy provision. The parents would not accept a settlement that mandated their silence. Despite intense pressure to agree to a secret settlement, on the eve of trial, the parties reached a non-secret $3 million settlement agreement.

Zyprexa: In 2005, the drug company Eli Lilly settled 8,000 cases related to Zyprexa, a drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These cases alleged that Eli Lilly did not disclose known harmful side-effects of Zyprexa, such as inordinate weight gain and dangerously high blood sugar levels that sometimes resulted in diabetes. Eli Lilly was also accused of promoting off-label use of the drug by urging doctors to prescribe it to elderly patients with dementia. All of the settlements required plaintiffs to agree “not to communicate, publish or cause to be published…any statement…concerning the specific events, facts or circumstances giving rise to [their] claims.” The public did not learn about these settlements or Zyprexa’s dangerous side effects until two years later, in 2006, when The New York Times leaked documents from the case that were subject to a protective order.

Cooper Tires: In 2002, Johnny Bradley’s wife was killed, and he and his son were injured, in a Ford Explorer rollover accident. The accident was allegedly caused by tread separation in the SUV’s Cooper Tires. While litigating the case, Mr. Bradley’s attorney uncovered Cooper Tire documents that showed Cooper tires were prone to tread separation because of design defects. These documents had been kept secret through protective orders in numerous cases prior to the Bradley’s car accident. In Bradley’s case against Ford and Cooper Tire, the jury found that Ford was not liable for the accident. Before the trial proceeded to the claims against Cooper, Cooper settled with Mr. Bradley on the condition that almost all litigation documents be kept confidential under a broad protective order. Mr. Bradley and his lawyer, familiar with the documents and unable to speak about the details due to protective orders, believe that if the documents were made public Cooper Tire would be forced to fix the tread separation problem.

Earlier examples of court secrecy agreements that resulted in injuries or fatalities include:

· Defective heart valves
· Dangerous playground equipment
· Side-saddle gas tanks prone to causing deadly car fires
· Complications from silicone breast implants
· “Park to reverse” problems in pick-up trucks
· Dangerous birth control devices

Lake Michigan dilutes drugs in Racine's water

This story is out today about pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies around the country. Racine doesn't have to worry about being drugged by its drinking water, said Keith Haas, general manager of Racine's water and wastewater utilities.

The reason: Lake Michigan is really, really big. Like cities around the country, it's all but certain there are traces of drugs in Racine's drinking water, Haas said. But because our water comes from Lake Michigan, the traces amount to a minuscule portion of our water supply.

Cities that pull their water from rivers or smaller bodies have a bigger problem. There is less water to dilute the drugs, which means there's a greater concentration of pharmaceuticals coming out of the tap.

Haas said he knew the AP story was coming out about drugs in U.S.'s water supply. "It's something we've been aware of and concerned about," he said.

"Our fresh water source is a large source of clean drinking water," Haas said. "If we were pulling water out of ... a river or small body, our concentrations would be be greater."

'ReStore' Unified schools?

Reader MM writes:

What an interesting combination of articles here: old schools badly in need of repair, and the recycling efforts at ReStore. Perhaps Morrison & Co. think the schools can get everything they need at the ReStore store?

Unified's referendum tour: Not a pretty sight...

Windows at Janes School...

The yellow school bus made its way around Racine Saturday morning, ignoring the snow, carrying not a busload of noisy kids but rather 21 adults shoehorned into seats definitely not designed for adult backsides.

From school to school it went -- first to Case High School, then Starbuck Middle School, then Walden III, then Janes Elementary. At each stop, district officials escorted their charges around the buildings, pointing out this and that: doors that let cold air in, and won't lock; outdated ventilation systems; roofs that leak; windows that rattle and look ready to fall apart; a concrete stairway with a big crack in the middle; a swimming pool that barely holds water; security systems about which the less said the better.

David Hazen, Racine Unified's chief financial officer, and a former school board member, led the tour, with Frank Jarosz, Unified's project manager for maintenance doing the heavy lifting when it came to explaining just what is broken, and what it would take to fix it. It was all part of the district's effort to educate the public about what it would spend the $16.5 million it hopes taxpayers will approve on April 1, a referendum for five years' worth of (mostly long overdue) maintenance projects for the districts 33 buildings comprising 3,200,000 sq. ft. of space.

The boiler room at Case HS...

How much it costs to maintain the district's schools is amazing -- although it shouldn't be, given that some buildings date from before the Civil War (Winslow, our oldest school, was built in 1856; Gilmore, our "newest," in 1973), and Unified has shorted maintenance funds for years, to avoid having to cut staff (and because half a dozen referenda providing maintenance funds were rejected by the taxpayers). Unified supplied those taking the tour with a checklist with all the projects it hopes to do: a fire alarm system at Wind Point ($130,099), roofing at Jefferson ($60,691), sidewalks at Schulte ($30,972), replace 40-year-old cracked asphalt at Giese's playground ($206,480), new seats and lighting in Case High School's theater, $318,000) ... and so it goes. Those are just a few of the first-year's expenditures; the list goes on -- and on --through five years' worth of new windows and doors, a replaced pool, paint, electrical upgrades, heating and ventilation repairs, millions for new roofs.

Jarosz, who's been on the job at Unified for 18 years, recalled how years ago -- in the early '90s -- he budgeted for the big stuff, of course, but he also had about $750,000 a year to spend on the myriad little repairs -- items costing less than $25,000, like Walden's cracked-down-the-middle front steps for example. No more; now everything must be budgeted years ahead. If the referendum passes, then Janes -- the district's year-'round school, open in the summer -- will have its air conditioning system rebuilt at a cost of $820,758, in 2012. If not, well ...

Broken concrete steps at Walden...

Hazen pointed out that the referendum will add just $34 a year to the tax bill of a $100,000 house. In year one. In years two through four, the additional cost would drop to $10 a year; in year five to $9. "Over the life of the referendum, the cost is four cents a day," Hazen said.

So was anybody convinced? The school bus carried 21 people on Saturday morning's tour -- but only seven were "civilians" -- neither working for the district, nor on the volunteer referendum advisory committee, nor media. As the bus pulled back into Case's parking lot after two hours of poking through boiler rooms, classrooms and chilly entryways, and peering at peeling paint, cracked concrete and twisted roof shingles, I asked the civilians on the bus how many were convinced of the need, and how many were not.

Six people raised their hands in support of the referendum. Only one man said no: Frank Morrison of the Racine Taxpayers Association insists the district has enough money for maintenance (actually, the amount uncommitted is just $232,813) and, a worse offense in Morrison's canon, is trying to hire another superintendent like the one who left last August. But on that bus, after touring the district's schools, he was the lone negative voice.

"Not bad," said Hazen, ever the accountant, doing the math in his head; "85 percent support."

If only.

-- --

Unified has put much information about the referendum on its website.

For example: here is a spreadsheet with all the maintenance projects the district hopes to fund from the five-year referendum, sorted by year and school.

Here is a list of previous referendum projects, by school, showing what the district spent $21 million repairing in recent years.

Here is a school tax calculator, showing exactly how much the referendum will cost you (after you plug in your home's assessed valuation).

Here is a fact sheet with lots of information about the district and the referendum. A VIDEO is here.