With Spiking Gas Prices, Barrett's Transit Message Resonates

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett again makes the case for modern transit in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker remains the major obstacle; the logjam could be broken by Gov. Jim Doyle if he redirected to commuter rail, from Kenosha to Milwaukee, the $200 million ticketed for a new I-94 lane to and from Milwaukee south to Illinois.

I-94 would still get its reconstruction, but not the expansion - - a pure gift to the highway lobby that is not justified by the expansion plan's documentation.

The state should also add funding to connect that commuter line at the new Intermodal station downtown to the Connector local rail system proposed by Barrett, and to an upgraded network of hybrid buses and other improvements that both Barrett and Walker support.

That would elevate transit construction as a state priority - - not equaling what the state does for the highway industry - - but genuinely making modern rail transit a major state transportation and economic development activity.

The rail lines and stations would spur development and solidify the downtown, Third Ward, Pabst City project, King Dr., the Park East corridor and other neighborhoods that have seen growth but could stall if the auto-dependent economy stagnates.

Local business leaders have begun to step up their advocacy for rail. Barrett has a logical plan, and the economic benefits associated with rail investments are ubiquitous.

But without state leadership and policy initiatives, our only transportation reality in Milwaukee will be the continuing slow death of a bus system that could collapse.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Calls Out, Again, A Mary Lazich Ally

The Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that the handful of state legislators who held up passage of the Great Lakes Compact in Ohio for years had subscribed to a "wacko conspiracy theory" that did not fit into 21st. century thinking.

Let the record show that State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), the sole State Senator to vote against the Compact in Wisconsin, touted Ohio State Sen. Tim Grendell, the acknowledged leader of the Ohio obstruction.

And when she brought to a legislative study committee, in writing, some of Grendell's argumentation, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources replied, in writing, that what Grendell was arguing for Ohio was incorrect for Wisconsin and irrelevant to our law.

Yet it is, and has always been, New Berlin, Mary Lazich's home city, that is first in line for a diversion of Lake Michigan water - - something that was blocked without the Compact's approval.

It never made much sense to me that Lazich would align herself with forces and argument in Ohio that stood in the way of New Berlin obtaining water that Jack Chiovatero, the city's Mayor, says New Berlin needs for health and safety reasons.

Water access for which New Berlin has formally applied - - through consultants that New Berlin water ratepayers have paid - - and to which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has given some preliminary, positive reviews.

In fact, the DNR has been encouraging New Berlin and Milwaukee, in writing, to begin discussing the many technical, legal and financial details that would need to be ironed out if a water deal is ever approved.

Yet Lazich, on her blog, ripped into Chiovatero for even having the discussion, and, in response to earlier remarks that Chiovatero had made about her to the Shepherd-Express, called the New Berlin Mayor "simplistic and small-minded."

Her words, July 19, 2007.

"Chiovatero’s rationale and line of thinking is small-minded and simplistic," wrote Lazich on a blog - - "Conservatively Speaking" - - carried online through Journal Communication "CommunityNow" websites serving Lazich's Senate district.

"His criticism is misdirected. Instead of cozying up to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who opposes access to Lake Michigan water for New Berlin and Waukesha, Chiovatero should be working with me, the state Senate representative of the area most affected by the Compact, to ensure our communities get the water they so desperately need. "

Amd Kevin Fischer, Lazich's staff aide, has recently demonstrated on his blog a lack of understanding of water issues.

Makes you wonder about that whole Lazich staff/blogging/office operation.

As I said, Lazich's approach to the Compact never made much sense to me.

Anybody out there in New Berlin, or in water-hungry Waukesha County, got an explanation for the Senator's actions?

Milwaukee Positioned To Lead On Urban Agriculture

A blog posting by The Compost Guy explains how Milwaukee can assert leadership on urban agriculture, and what's already happening with Growing Power and related activities. Definitely worth a read, here.

Philadelphia Phillies Make Major 'Green' Effort

From clean-energy purchases to recycling, the Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Club has become the 'greenest' sports franchise, according to a team release.

Pretty cool.

Why A Can Of Miller Beer Does Not Raise The Same Great Lakes Issues As A Bottle Of Nestle's Water

Author and blogger Dave Dempsey explains the difference, raised by Nestle's spin on behalf of its export of Great Lakes water under the faux-branded "Ice Mountain" bottling label.

Wetlands' Damage From Pipeline Unacceptable, But Predicted, Predictable

A pattern of harmful violations to the environment during the construction of an oil pipeline will lead to a significant financial penalty levied by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Sunday.

Wisconsin Wetlands Association had been monitoring the construction, and its due diligence, and more, has raised public awareness and helped to make sure the pipeline builder is held accountable.

So while there will be enforcement action by the DNR, it's important also to ask three questions:

1) How did we get to this position?

2) How much money is enough to fix the damage and deter its repetition?
3) Why isn't there better goal-setting, management direction and field work by the pipeline companies on the front end, so the state wouldn't have to come in once the damage is done and make sure that things are repaired, as best as that can be done, after-the-fact?

Or have we reached the point where anything is acceptable as the price of 'progress?' Do we really want to go down that road, leaving for future generations a diminished and polluted landscape?

Wisconsin environmental organizations had been tracking pipeline construction and warned of its damage to wetlands - - some of which I catalogued here last September.

Midwest Environmental Advocates had been deeply involved, too, and some media had reported on the issues, too. You wonder where we'd be without these non-profit organizations that, armed with facts and energy, keep raising the alarm about dangers posed to our shared resources.

But unfortunately at a certain level - - and this attitude will become more prevalent and excused with the rush to find and sell more oil - - industry just does not care enough about the land and water they are tearing through to boost their bottom lines.

As pipelines fill with Canadian crude oil heading for several refineries in the Great Lakes region, including the Murphy Oil facility in Superior, construction flaws and operating errors will inevitably make stream and wetland damage, and other ecological problems, routine.

Kevin Fischer Does Not Understand Where Drinking Water Already Comes From

Kevin Fischer, inveterate righty blogger and staff aide to State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) is atwitter about what he calls "preposterous," and "horrible," and "icky" (now there's maturity, for ya) plans to use state-of-the-art water purification techniques to create potable water from waste water in parts of the county facing water shortages.

Isn't it an act of faith among conservatives that technology will bail us out of severe ecological difficulties, so why would people like Fischer get all upset and squeamish when advantageous technology gratefully comes along?

And Kevin: Though the technology is improving, the concept is hardly new.

What do you think certain communities along rivers downstream from cities like Waukesha, for example, have been doing for decades and decades - - with Waukesha being the city right next door to Mary Lazich's home base in New Berlin, and which is the dominant city in Waukesha County, where Lazich is a key policy-maker?

One of the region's pre-eminent water experts, UW-M hydrologist and professor Douglas Cherkauer, has been educating folks around here about this for years, and suggesting it to Waukesha as an alternative to piping in Lake Michigan water a good 20 miles away.

As Cherkauer has been saying, Waukesha could efficiently treat some its its effluent, then deposit it in the watershed above the city where it could then seep back into the Fox River, be removed by Waukesha, and used again.

Here is how Cherkauer described the process to the Freeman more than four years ago:

"I’m saying, take half of that [Waukesha discharge] flow and pipe it back somewhere up the river, north of Waukesha - removed from the Fox River but within the watershed. Then build big infiltration fields for it - with big, perforated pipes put underground - and let (the wastewater) soak in, after it’s been treated. Then the soaking infiltration process provides still more treatment.

"Then that (wastewater) would flow back to the Fox River and it literally increases that Fox River flow by that same 4.5 million gallons a day," he said.

"Cherkauer added, "If the stuff is treated correctly, then the river is still viable, it’s still a recreational site, and you’re just inducing it to flow from the river into shallow wells that are placed along the river. Those wells could be hooked up to the same water mains that the current deep wells are hooked up to.

"The difference between a groundwater source and a river source is that you absolutely have to treat a water source when it comes out of the river, unlike well water," he said.

"Cherkauer said the concept is not so outside the mainstream as it might sound. The Illinois communities of Elgin and Aurora are already drinking that water - the wastewater that Waukesha sends south down the Fox River past their communities." [Emphasis added]

In other words - - right now, Waukesha discharges its waste water, a valuable resource, into the Fox River below the city, where downstream communities in Northern Illinois pull that water out, treat it again to acceptable drinking standards, and - - here's the news - - Kevin:

Drink it.

If you visited Elgin, and had a glass of tapwater, you'd be drinking treated Waukesha waste water.

Then Elgin, or Aurora, treats their waste water, discharges it downstream, and the process can goes on again and again as the Fox River empties into the Mississippi River watershed, to the Gulf of Mexico.

It's nothing new, except that the technologies are getting better because water needs are growing and the market is responding with new science, and sheer ingenuity.

Not everyone's water originates in a well, Kevin.

Healthy Madison To Eat 200,000 Brats At One Sitting; That's Healthy?

Can Madison really claim its Healthy City motto and continue its annual Brat Fest, where the goal is to eat close to 200,000 sausages - - and yes, I know, a modest few are veggie?

But the emphasis on breaking the 190,000 barrier...setting a record...makes this nothing more than a glorified Coney Island hot dog eating contest.

Yes, it's a fundraiser. I know, I know, but in a world, and even a state where some people do not have enough to eat, and where heart disease is a major drain on the health care system, does a self-proclaimed Healthy City go out of its way to gorge itself on nearly 20 miles worth of sausages?

Ambulances and cardiologists are no doubt standing by.

Paul Soglin at Waxing America shines a different political light on the event, but I believe I have best gone to the heart of the matter.

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn Draws Back The Blue Curtain

I learned a lot reading the WisPolitics.com interview with Ed Flynn, Milwaukee's new police chief, about the historical internal dysfunction between the police department's detective, crime-solving personnel and the patrol services.

The everyday citizen probably knew nothing about this situation; I give Flynn credit not only for shaking things up within the department, but also for explaining why he is doing the things he is doing to improve services, particularly patrols, that are what the citizenry want and need.

I was at a recent neighborhood meeting where these changes were explained in real terms by the District Captain and other officers, so now it all makes sense.

Water And Milwaukee's Future: 4th St. Forum On Public TV Tonight

The final program in The 4th Street Forum's spring 2008 series was recorded yesterday at Turner Hall and will be aired twice this weekend on Milwaukee public television stations.

The topic was Milwaukee's future, water and regionalism; the panelists were State Rep. Pedro Colon, (D-Milwaukee), New Berlin Mayor Jack Chiovatero, Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers Executive Director Lynn Broaddus, and myself.

Here is the schedule:

Friday at 10:00 pm on Channel 10; Sunday at 3:00 pm on Channel 36.

Ohio Compact Bill, Related Legislation, Are Separate Items

The Toledo Blade has published a useful article explaining the separation between Ohio's pending Compact approval - - becoming the 7th among the eight Great Lakes states - - and a related referendum effort this fall.

Details here.

Also see the comment section in this previous posting.

Sorry for adding confusion to the complicated debate.

Ohio's Approval Of The Great Lakes Compact Awaits A Referendum

Ohio opponents of the Great Lakes Compact have agreed that the agreement can become law in Ohio if a statewide referendum re-affirming some property rights is approved, and Compact supporters have figured out a way to live with it, according to the Chicago Tribune.

This issue was a minor problem in Wisconsin's deliberations, essentially governed already in state law and the Wisconsin constitution, and fine-tuned in the long, drawn-out hassle over the bill that implements the Compact here.

From a distance, the Ohio arrangement looks like face-saving for the opponents, who had minimal clout in the state legislature and were being regularly pounded and mocked by the state's editorial writers.

When Michigan resolves its pending disputes over competing implementing bills, and Pennsylvania's predicted approval also takes place, all eight Great Lakes states then would have ratified the agreement.

The two final steps are approval by the US Congress and Canadian parliament; some Canadians think the Compact gives too many US communities Great Lakes water access, and there could be opposition in the Congress from arid states, too.

With political power in the US shifting from the east and Midwest to the west and south, the Compact's final approval in the Congress is not a slam-dunk.

Discovery World, The Newest Lakefront Attraction, Has Discount Admissions

Admissions are $4 off per person at Discovery World through the end of May, including Memorial Day.

Details here.

Pretty good way to save a few bucks this weekend and help yourself to a better understanding of what that Great Lakes Compact is all about.

Wisconsin Ethanol Coalition: Who Are You Exactly?

The Wisconsin Ethanol Coalition is out with an ad touting the increasingly-controversial fuel additive - - website home page and ad access here - - but the link that is supposed to tell you who its members are only directs you to an email address and phone number for information, or as a route to join.

Maybe the Coalition can fix that?

My Gas Price Prediction Needed More Gloom/Realism

Five weeks ago, I predicted that gas prices around here would hit $4-a-gallon no later than June 30.

My friends who call me a pessimist can now laugh at that goofy, glass-half-full (tank-half-full?) optimism, as the price for regular gas at the Clark station (usually the cheapest around) not far from my house crossed the $4 barrier overnight to $4.19.

I should have known the bump would come right before people hit the road for Memorial Day travel - - such as it may be this year.

$12-$15/Gallon Gasoline "Inevitable;" Wisconsin Not Reacting

So says a credible expert.

As crude oil breaks the $135/barrel price.

Let's say he's wrong, on either side of the prediction, by 50%.

How well does the economy nationally, statewide, and in southeastern Wisconsin function with gasoline costing $6/gallon?

Or at $22.50?

Either way, as I pointed out in this posting, Wisconsin should be investing right now in transit and other city-friendly policies that mitigate sprawl, and not in ridiculous highway expansions and water diversion to subdivisions and strip malls that have no future, and will more quickly than you can imagine become unwanted, and blighted, as the price of gasoline keeps climbing.

There are mechanisms and individuals in place that could be focused on these issues - - if they had the political will to do it - - but that require boldness and vision, perhaps equivalent to a new Progressive Party of sorts, or the energy and devotion of a budding Gaylord Nelson or a crusading media figure like Bill Evjue.

Or a grand coalition that transcended partisanship, geography, vested interests and the other limitations of business-as-usual.

There are less earth-shaking opportunities and avenues to begin and to attain change, too.

For example, the Governor has a task force on global warming. It could re-direct some of its work right now, reorienting the effort it has put in already to the emerging realities and tensions and needs within the market, the environment and the state's budgeting.

All the state's regional planning commissions could do the same, and pressure to do so could be brought by any number of elected officials and grassroots organizations to shake out the commissions' cobwebs and get busy with the people's business.

But without a change in attitude and thinking, and a commitment to action - - to leadership from above and below - - we will be left with little more than inertia and the anxieties that take root in shared powerless, actual and real.

Let's call today, May 22, 2008, "Day One of The Post-Petroleum Paradigm" because we are all aware that a tipping point has been passed - - though warnings about peak oil and related issues have been discussed and ignored for years - - and I'm also going to call 5/22/2008 "Day One of Wisconsin's Deafeningly Silent Response."

I'll be relieved when leaders step forward to change the dynamic, and we can move from paralysis, to analysis, to action.

New Petroleum Costs Should Boost Wisconsin Transit, Shelve New Highways

Crude oil broke through the $132-per-barrel price today, which means at this pace, gasoline will be $5-a-gallon by the summer.

What's the peak?

$175-200-per-barrel crude? $8-$10-a-gallon gasoline at the pump?

And I don't mean in 20 years.

I mean by next year, but project these trends out 20 years or so, and you wonder if anyone will be driving anything bigger than a motorbike on all the new highway lanes planned for southeastern Wisconsin, and no doubt, in every municipality and state in the country, where road-builders routinely manage public highway planning.

It'll make your head spin to absorb all the consequences of crude oil and its products priced far beyond the capacity of households, businesses and entire governments to tolerate them (crude oil was as low as $8-a-barrel in 1999, and about half its current price a year or so ago), but put aside questions like, will you ever fly on an airplane again, or can farmers and truckers afford the fuel they need so you can eat, and ask yourself this:

Can the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) demonstrate that it is factoring in the new harsh realities facing our petro-economy into any rethinking to justify the massive highway spending it still wants to undertake in southeastern Wisconsin?

Got a task force working on it? One of its many consultants? Some sharp in-house wizard?

An intern?

I doubt it.

Look to what WisDOT is doing instead: it's hellbent to launch a $1.9 billion reconstruction, enhancment and widening of the north-south leg of I-94 this fall, from Milwaukee to Illinois, to run for the next eight years.

And its well into the preliminary work on yet a second costly, related project at the Zoo Interchange west of Milwaukee that was moved up to begin in 2012 - - a purely political decision by the state made just prior to the 2006 elections to satisfy one noisy Sprawlville legislator, State Sen. Ted Kanavas, (R-Brookfield) - - so unlike the Marquette Interchange piece of the regional freeway plan that has run from 2004-2008, there will be two segments of the plan underway at the same time.

Nothing like it has been undertaken by the state.

Ever.

And there's more highway-building on the drawing boards in the SE regional plan (other regions have their projects scheduled, too, but not quite at this scale) - - north on I-43 the length of Ozaukee County, west on I-94 in Waukesha County to the Jefferson County line, south into Walworth County, and on I-94 in the City of Milwaukee right past the Storyhill neighborhood and Miller Park, complete with 127 miles of new lanes, scores of widened ramps, plus resurfacings and other enhancements.

It's way beyond maintaining and fixing what we've got already - - which should always be Priority One and often isn't.

And all this was planned out in 2003, using a projected cost for gasoline at $2.30 a gallon, by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and then approved by WisDOT.

There was never any doubt that WisDOT would do anything but approve the plan.

That's because it paid the planning commission $1 million to write it, so it was "approving" something it had already bought and paid for from an agency with the word "planning" in its title.

But let's be honest:

It's hard to imagine that when all the new lanes are open, and the sweeping ramps are finished, and all the vaunted safety improvements are done, and the last ribbon is cut in about 20-25 years that gasoline will be anywhere near $2.30-a-gallon.

Or $3.30, $4.30, $5.30, $6.30, $7.30...just keep going.

Can WisDOT show us that with gas prices heading skyward, and worldwide demand also accelerating, there will be the traffic demand for such huge capacity increases on this highway system - - projected to cost $6.5 billion when it's over?

A bottom-line construction figure that is sure to jump and take more money from taxpayers because the costs for fuel to ship in the materials and run all the road-building equipment are soaring, too.

Can WisDOT continue to deliberately leave transit out of transportation planning and implementation in the region, when killer gas costs will price many motorists out of their vehicles?

When many two-and-three car families will be forced to move to single-car arrangements, and many people with only one car will find it impossible to maintain it, or use it often - - and transit will become a much more widespread choice, and for many, a basic survival need?

When does all the agencies' one-dimensional spending and anti-transit decisions move from the fiscal sphere to the moral realm?

I'd say...yesterday.

Yet I see no urgency in state government to face up to a bigger picture and a new paradigm, let alone a willingness to ask and answer these questions - - questions that are being faced at every dinner table and in every business in the country.

Isn't now the time to begin to have the debate and make changes that we can live with next month, next year, and in the coming generations?

Instead, at the State Capitol, there is denial, adherence to the old, encrusted thinking, and a clinging to the familiar ways, lubricated by campaign cash from the highway lobby and its allies.

What's needed now is realism, and action - - the very first move of which could and should be the immediate tabling of the I-94 north-south plan in favor of much less-costly repaving, resurfacing, and the prompt financing transfer to the pending commuter rail line that runs roughly parallel to the interstate highway.

With that shift from new highway lanes to transit, the new model will take root, and its replication across the state can send a smart signal to the rest of the county, too.

For Wisconsin, for the southeastern region, and for every elected official, the transition is possible, the need imminent.

This is the moment.

Reasons For Minnesota Bridge Collapse Beginning To Emerge

Not surprisingly, deferred maintenance and inspections on the collapsed I-35 bridge are looking like the culprits.

Another reason to spend more transportation dollars fixing what we've got - - whether in Minnesota or Wisconsin or anywhere else - - rather than chasing after sexier new construction projects that then join the lower-priority inspection and maintenance list.

Moderates Are Leaving The Legislature

A dozen incumbents split between the two parties are not seeking re-election, this fall, and the harsh atmosphere at the State Capitol is taking its toll.

Polling suggests a Democratic sweep in November, but that's a long way off.

American Airlines Now Charging $15 For First Checked Bag; Are In-Flight Pay Toilets Next?

American Airlines today announced it was charging $15 for the first checked bag.

Don't be surprised if the next new fee charged by airlines is for in-flight bathroom use.

Entrance could be regulated by credit or debit card swiping - - maybe combined with an airline specific gift or credit card that could be used to buy meals, beverages, even magazines, pillows and those oversized handkerchiefs they call blankets.

Think about it. Each drink or meal purchased could include a prepaid visit to the bathroom, so they could get you coming or going.

Milwaukee County Kicks City Officials To The Curb

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker brought a fancy new hybrid bus to town to demonstrate the equipment he wants to buy with federal funds that can't spent on transit without the approval of the City of Milwaukee.

Then the county officials in charge of the demonstration ride fail to pick up the city officials, literally leaving them at the curb.

So if you are the city, does this sound like a group you'd want to partner with?

And do you think Walker really wants the city's cooperation on the transit plan, or is having more fun dissing city transportation officials?

20 Homes, Other Businesses, Could Fall to Zoo Interchange "Improvements"

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, continuing to roll over Milwaukee officials, deny the reality of high gas prices and dismiss fiscal sanity, is embarking on the next unfunded phase of the region's $6.5 billion freeway rebuilding and expansion spending spree.

With our/your money.

The next segment that is being planned - - just as the $1.9 billion segment from Milwaukee to Illinois gets underway through 2106 - - is the reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange so motorists can zip through it a few seconds faster at rush hours.

At a cost of hundreds of millions of un-budgeted dollars, and now, according to state planners, at least 20 homes and some businesses that have been standing too long in progress's path.

Homes? Businesses? Tax base?

Ah - - who needs those trifles?

Not the Milwaukee area, especially in a recession. Just let those contracts and get some more concrete in the ground.

Step one? The ritualized informational public meeting-and-later-hearing process, and it's about to begin.

You know - - that dog-and-pony show at which planners and engineers from WisDOT, or perhaps from the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission - - the agency that spawned this entire regional highway plan with a $1 million DOT contract a few years ago - - are decked out in their Sunday best to stand at attention by glossy displays with leaflets to hand out, uncomfortably reminiscent of the judging session at the High School Science Fair.

But in this case, instead of winning a ribbon for nice charts and culture-filled petri dishes, the goal at the displays is to numb inquiring minds with jargon, data, and other palliative assurances about the project's design, need, and overall wisdom.

I'll reprint the public session schedule at the bottom (thanks to Tom Held for including it in his Journal Sentinel story), so you'll know where to go should you choose to torture yourself by attending, but trust me - - leave behind the expectation that, armed with new official information and materials gathered independently, you'll be able to submit comments or testimony that will actually reduce or alter this grandest of grand Wisconsin road-building schemes - - the biggest 25-to-30-year-ConcreteFest in state history - - and help get transit extensions introduced into the plan as a gesture towards a mere modicum of transportation system balance.

Or that the rising price of gasoline will someday, prayerfully soon, register with the well-connected highway building lobby and the enablers to which they are wired in government, and introduce into their insulated and self-interested world a little planning logic as the first real efficiency in this entire, multi-billion-dollar effort.

The public information sessions will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park, 640 S. 84th St., and from 5 to 8 p.m. May 29 in the Wauwatosa West High School cafeteria, 11400 W. Center St., Wauwatosa.

Daily Reporter Poll On I-94 And Commuter Rail

Check out the Daily Reporter's online poll about the I-94 leg from Milwaukee-to-Illinois, and whether it should include commuter rail.

At midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, it was 50-50, and I have only voted once. I swear.

Get your vote in now (for the commuter rail inclusion), here.

Michael Savage Plays "Dead Kennedys" Song To Announce Sen. Ted Kennedy's Brain Cancer

Right-wing AM talker Michael Savage, the nationally-syndicated right-wing radio host carried by AM 620 WTMJ, used cuts from a song by the musical group "Dead Kennedys" Tuesday when announcing that Sen. Ted Kennedy, (D-MA), had been diagnosed with brain cancer, according to Media Matters.

Saying it was out of "some respect."

Nice.

When will WTMJ, owned by Journal Communications, replace the deliberately crude and offensive "Savage Nation" program with an alternative?

Thanks to Justin Cole for sending this over to me.

Former Tavern League Honcho Boards The Gravy Train

Gov. Jim Doyle, though in Canada on a trade mission, exercised his considerable powers and presto! - - the state's flamboyant, train-loving railroad commissioner was out of his job, and a Democratic state senator who used to run the Tavern League resigned, hopped into the chief train engineer's seat, and opened the door for the election of a new Democratic senator more to the liking of the Governor and the current senate majority leader.

The immediate effects include a hefty pay raise for the former-Senator-now-railroad commissioner that could also double his pension by 2012.

All Aboard!

The longer-term consequences: should the Democrats hold their senate majority and fill the now-vacant seat with yet another Dem, the Governor might get that statewide smoking ban and other legislative reforms he wants, but that the Senator-now-railroad commissioner had resisted.

If you like inside political baseball, here are the players, the scorecard and the pitch.

EPA Says Region's Air Needs To Be Cleaner Yet

President George W. Bush's Environmental Protection Agency says southeastern Wisconsin still has a way to go to meet modest federal smog standards.

This turns back efforts by interests ranging from Gov. Jim Doyle to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce who think the EPA standard is too tough.

So even though we have known unhealthy levels of smog and other air pollutants in the region, the feds say we need more anti-pollution efort done successfully before we can be removed from certain clean air requirements and regulation.

The ironies here are enough to make a grown person cry - - or at at least get their eyes watering.

Expanded Great Lakes Refineries To Be Fed By Massive New Pipelines

Expansion of refineries in the Great Lakes region at Superior, WI, Whiting, IN and near Detroit to process and ship Canadian tar sand oil will be linked to billions of dollars in new pipelines crisscrossing both countries, as shown here.

The exploitation of Canadian tar sand oil, itself demanding huge expenditures of water and energy, will have an impact on the North American continent, and on the atmosphere's quality, for decades.

Local Residents Raising Concerns About Oil Refinery Expansion in Superior

Some proponents of the much-discussed $6 billion expansion of the Murphy Oil Co. refinery at Superior have suggested that outsiders are raising concerns about the expansion's impact on Lake Superior, surrounding wetlands and the air quality.

So local residents are making it clear that they have the same concerns, too.

So much for the outside agitator theory.

Paul Krugman Might As Well Have Been Writing About Pabst Farms

The New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman writes succinctly about gas prices killing suburban development.

The higher that gas prices rise, the less appealing and affordable are the distant suburbs, and conversely, the more attractive are built cities, with transit and the other amenities provided by their density.

Which is why subdivision construction has been suspended at Pabst Farms, and why the state and Waukesha County should drop the idea of pouring millions into an I-94 interchange to serve a shopping mall at Pabst Farms that has less value as a destination with gas at $4-a-gallon, and rising.

There is a huge disconnect between events in the world and the macro-economy, and local budgets.

Public resources should be invested in transit, and to support cities, not to unnecessarily widen I-94 to Illinois and subsidize more suburban development with taxpayer-paid highways and Great Lakes diversions.

Yet the State of Wisconsin, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and annexation-happy local governments like the City of Waukesha and its water utility are spending millions on planning and billions on projects that push sprawl development farther from city centers and into exurban, rural areas.

And leaving transit out of these massive public investment schemes.

The marketplace, from China to India to American car-buyers' habits, is putting a big premium on the price of gasoline, yet Wisconsin governments, highway lobbyists, road-builders and other special interests are trying to engineer development through road and water projects and overcome the new realities of the costs of gasoline and auto commuting.

Where is the Krugman voice and philosophy in government at any level in Wisconsin - - in the State Capitol, the state Department of Transportation, SEWRPC, or in local offices - - that is not intimidated into silence by the road-builders and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce?

What will it take for a breakthrough in Wisconsin?
$5-a-gallon gasoline.

$6?

$10?

Follow The Great Lakes Compact Process In Michigan At Dave Dempsey's Blog

Dave Dempsey provides continuing commentary about Great Lakes issues at his blog, with special regard to water legislation and the Great Lakes Compact.

And he sends along this fresh update, as things are happening with water regulation in the Michigan Senate that are disappointing, but not yet final.

We hope Michigan can be a leader, but there are forces at work there that, if not checked, will misuse the water riches in that state.

DNR Employee's Generosity Leads To Posthumous Honor

When conservancy becomes even more than a lifetime passion.

Disposing Of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs In Wisconsin Is Easy

Media continue to urge the proper disposal of compact fluorescent bulbs, pointing out that sales are booming, yet some people are unaware that the bulbs' mercury content means they cannot be tossed in the trash or land-filled.

What to do so they are properly recycled?

The City of Madison says that retailers selling them must take them back for proper disposal, and may charge a fee for the service, but what about the rest of the state?

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides an easy web search tool so consumers can find local retailers that have agreed to serve as approved drop-off sites.

Here's the link.

And the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has put up a web link showing Milwaukee city and county residents where they can drop off fluorescent bulbs.

Here is that information, too.

With government and private sector outlets making correct disposal easier, there are fewer reasons than ever for consumers to delay switching away from the less-efficient and more-costly (over their lifetime) incandescent bulbs to newer, energy-saving fluorescents.

Roadblocks To Rail Prove We Need A New Definition of "Region"

The Journal Sentinel editorial board makes the case for commuter rail in the Sunday Crossroads section.

The truth is that transit expansions in all their needed and connected forms - - light rail, commuter rail and better coordinated buses - - will not be realized or even coherently discussed in southeastern Wisconsin without strong, long-term pressure from the business community.

That is the best way to counter the local hostility to new transit-supporting revenue sources by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his right-wing talk radio boosters.

Real progress on rail investment may take place someday, though it will have to wait until Walker is gone from County Government and is neither Governor or successful in leaving behind an anti-transit and anti-urban clone.

But without basic changes about how planning and execution of plans is carried out in a region where Milwaukee is at the center, but is legally and politically kept in a secondary position, the prospects for real change in and around Milwaukee are dim.

Here's why.

The pending commuter rail plan linking Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha is crucial for regional development and for the betterment of the existing business and cultural connections to northern Illinois and Chicago.

But the regional debate in southeastern Wisconsin is typically about trying to pair up Milwaukee with Waukesha - - cities and counties that for cultural and economic reasons are antagonistic.

That's the truth, the cold, hard reality of the situation, and efforts to keep trying to arrange a marriage between them are going to meet with resistance on both sides.

Just watch what will happen when communities in Waukesha County begin serious talks with Milwaukee over Lake Michigan water sales, and the hysteria that will break out west of 124th St. if and when Milwaukee looks to link water sales to regional matters of transit, housing and economic development.

It happened before when the suburbs killed light rail, and fought putting a new Milwaukee Brewers stadium downtown.

I am not sure if the seismographs at UW-M will be able to register the reaction without breaking if water's value is correctly tied to larger issues and is defined as a regional development tool - - with Milwaukee being seen as an integral player and not just a city with water treatment capacity to contract out to the low bidders.

The bigger cities of Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha - - the heart of southeastern Wisconsin's urban base - - stand to gain far less from strengthened relationships with Waukesha than are awaiting the region from connections to northern Illinois and Chicago.

The dismissal of an urban agenda in the regional debate and territory defined by the seven-county Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee and Walworth) has repeatedly held back Milwaukee and the other urbanized areas, as the more rural out-counties have used their majority at SEWRPC to command resources and direct the work.

Waukesha County exercises a disproportionate share of the power at SEWRPC: it's where the key staffers live, where the headquarters have always been, and where its consulting partners operate, even selling them its headquarters (Ruekert & Mielke) in Pewaukee on a no-bid, 'we're all friends' basis.

Waukesha County wanted a water supply study carried out, and asked SEWRPC to write it.

So SEWRPC hired Ruekert & Mielke to manage it, and when the study is done, its recommendations for water diversions to Waukesha County and other suburban and exurban communities from Milwaukee will simply validate SEWRPC's long-standing land-use and highway plans - - the institutional trigger for decades of sprawl and growth away from Milwaukee, the only Wisconsin city land-locked by an anti-annexation state law.

For Milwaukee, and Racine and Kenosha to genuinely succeed with transit expansion to solidify and expand their urban economies - - and to take full advantage of their lakefront water assets - - those counties and their urban cores need a planning body that does not dilute or dismiss them in favor of a suburban and exurban bias.

As long as each county at SEWRPC has three seats on its commission, meaning that the city of Milwaukee has none, but smaller rural counties like Walworth, Washington, Ozaukee and Waukesha have 12 of the 21 votes, Milwaukee city and county will continue their second-class status.

Dane County has a planning commission of one county. Madison got the legislature to keep its planning correctly focused.

Madison and Dane County, where Madison clearly dominate, didn't and doesn't have to turn decision-making control about its future to county politicians in Jefferson, Dodge or Columbia - - and why should they?

Milwaukee would benefit from the same arrangement, and if alliances were sought, a planning partnership with Racine and Kenosha, too.

With a regional planning commission that understands and values cities, the regional Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line now held hostage by suburban interests would already have been underway.

Motorists facing $4-per-gallon gasoline would have had an alternative to the I-94 drive to the south, the bad air quality in the corridor that is unhealthy and stunting industry there would be on its way to actual remediation, and the state might not have been so hell-bent on jamming $1.9 billion it doesn't have into rebuilding I-94 from Milwaukee to Illinois with an additional lane, either.

Look no farther than the deliberate exclusion of the rail line from the I-94 corridor transportation plan, and the deliberate exclusion of any transit components to the $6.5 billion freeway plan that SEWRPC created for its region as proof positive that regionalism, as currently defined, does little for the cities in the region, their urban form, their transit riders or their economic development.

It's a good thing that the Journal Sentinel is solidly in favor of commuter rail in southeastern Wisconsin.

Better transit and balanced transportation in the area are much needed.

Getting past the region's inertia on that matter and many others - - no SEWRPC housing study since 1975, for example - - requires a redefinition of the region and the agendas on which planning dollars and public resources broadly-defined are spent.

Vehicle Seizure Is Already In Wisconsin Law For A 3rd OWI

Some of the talk about reformation of Wisconsin's OWI laws includes adding seizure of a vehicle for an offender's 3rd conviction - - but WisDOT documents about current Wisconsin law linked here indicate that judges already have that authority if the offender was caught driving his or her own car.

As was seen in the recent Oconomowoc triple-fatality, it wasn't a toothless statute that allowed the accused thrice-convicted OWI offender Dr. Mark Benson to remain free after sentencing and able to get behind the wheel of his Cadillac SUV prior to the crash.

It was the the failure of Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Lee S. Dreyfus, Jr., to take full advantage of the law at sentencing to a) send Benson to jail immediately to begin his 75-day sentence, and b) seize Benson's vehicle, since Benson's sentence included work release and Benson had a history of driving after revocation.

After the uproar over the Benson case, Dreyfus said he would begin sending convicted OWI offenders to jail immediately upon sentencing, adding he was not changing his practice because of the crash that Benson allegedly caused.

Benson remains jailed after failing to post $1 million bail and is facing more than 100 years in prison for OWI/homicide and related charges stemming from the crash.

The victims were Jennifer Bukosky, 39, her unborn six-month-old daughter, and another daughter, 10-year-old Courtney Bella.

McCain's Lobbying Cronies Flee The Campaign

Another senior McCain campaign leader pulls out because his lobbying work embarrasses the candidate.

The campaign is smart to clean house now, but you can bet all these hired guns and their ties to McCain will show up in Democratic ads this summer and fall.

Glenn Grothman's Record, For The Record

Clyde Winter at the Hearts and Minds blog reminds us just how reactionary is the voting record compiled this session by his State Senator, Glenn Grothman.

Todd Martens, Washington County DA And Tone-Deaf Politician Of The Year

The Journal Sentinel continues its page-one coverage of the drunk driving epidemic in Wisconsin with a Saturday story documenting that 10% of the state's license-holders have an OWI on their driving record.

This revelation comes in the wake of an horrific triple-fatality OWI crash in Waukesha County, and a spate of highly-publicized additional multiple-OWI offenses, including one in Washington County, where an allegedly drunken motorist with four previous OWI's on his record drove his truck into two parked cars and an apartment building.

Washington County shares a border with Waukesha County.

Yet Todd Martens, the Washington County District Attorney, manages to get himself quoted this way in that Saturday Journal Sentinel story about proposed changes to toughen Wisconsin's OWI laws:

""I don't think legislative decisions should be made in response to one case," said Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens. "I'm all for any legislation that will reduce the likelihood that third-offense drunk drivers will repeat their offenses. But just because someone is convicted of a felony, it doesn't mean they'd go to jail."

One case that tragically took place right next door to Martens' territory rightfully has people's attention right now, but the state totals - - nearly 480,000 OWI's still on the books in Wisconsin, indicate that the problem is severe and pervasive.

If I lived in Washington County, I think I'd want a new DA.

Bumper Sticker Writers Convene At Wisconsin GOP Convention

It looks like the nation's bumper sticker writers somehow got themselves all invited to the state GOP convention, and whatever they came up were rolled into our state Republican party's 2008 platform.

Their grab-bag of platitudinous sloganeering in full, is here.

My personal favorites?

You don't see deep thinking like this in the political environment too often, do you:

�� Our goal should be to provide long-term solutions instead of short-term fixes.

On the other hand, there are guaranteed hand-clappers like these about the importance of the English language...

�� English should be the official language of government, and all election ballots and other government documents should be printed in English.

�� Immigrants should be required to learn English.

...but are undercut by a no-account double negative a few slogans later...

�� Separation between Church and State does not mean there can be no references to God in government sanctioned activities or public buildings.