Author: Editor

Mayor Barrett visited City Elves in the Santa Workshop Annex of Milwaukee City Hall on December 3, as they stuffed stockings and prepared for gift deliveries from this year’s Holiday Drive. The 11th Annual Holiday Drive kicked off collections across the County on November 20 and concluded December 1. This year’s efforts support the USO Wisconsin by collecting toys for the local children of military service members. “It’s a very cool way for us to show appreciation for those families who are making the sacrifice, who are serving overseas during the holiday season,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “I think...

The Journalism Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee received a letter from the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in protest of a fictional book in early October. The message was written by a representative of a KKK faction in North Carolina. It comes in response to a recently published novel, “The Slave Players” by Megan Allen, asking libraries and colleges across the nation to ban the book. The plot is a mix of Django Unchained meets The Hunger Games (or Battle Royale by Koushun Takami). The modern day and fictional story takes place in the...

Construction of downtown Milwaukee’s newest high-rise office building, the 25-story BMO Tower, formally kicked off on November 16 with a groundbreaking ceremony in front of the BMO Harris Bank parking structure at 770 N. Water Street. The building will be home to BMO Harris Bank’s Wisconsin headquarters as well as the offices of the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. Initial relocation of utilities started in August at the building site. The site is currently occupied by a surface parking lot and seven-level parking structure located south of Wells Street between North Water Street and North Broadway. Demolition...

Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Lynn Novick, held an informal Q&A with veterans about the 18-hour documentary series she co-directed with Ken Burns at The Hamilton on Veterans Day 2017. “The Vietnam War” tells the story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history. Both visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides. The personal collection of stories included many Americans who fought in the war or opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the...