Author: Syndicated

In the 1960s, Milwaukee had an alewives problem. The invasive fish managed to take over the rivers throughout the city and went completely out of control. They would die off in mass numbers on the beach and cause a pretty awful smell, said Tim Vargo, manager of research and community science at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center. But the city had a plan to fix it. The Department of Natural Resources introduced salmon to the rivers to control the alewives, which are salmon’s preferred prey. And as a bonus, now locals would be able to enjoy a great sport fish....

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently published a proposed rule that would substantially limit enforcement of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, whose purpose is to provide for fair housing throughout the United States. The re-reading of the Fair Housing Act urged by the President and his Cabinet Secretary Ben Carson appears to eliminate the possibility of challenging systemic discrimination—which is often subtle and embedded in government and industry practices—and risks deepening patterns of segregation and racial wealth disparities. The proposal would gut the core of the Act’s disparate impact method of proof. This is despite the...

September 16 marks the 85th anniversary of the original installation and dedication for the bronze statue of President Abraham Lincoln along Milwaukee’s Lakefront. A movement to provide the City of Milwaukee with a suitable monument to the life of Abraham Lincoln began in 1916. A meeting of citizens was called at the City Council Chamber by Mayor Daniel W. Hoan. The plan outlined at this meeting was to form a committee of one hundred citizens, out of which an executive committee of twenty five was to be chosen. Articles of incorporation for the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Association were later...

Some children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military will no longer qualify for automatic American citizenship under a policy change unveiled on August 28 by the Trump administration. Effective October 29, certain parents serving overseas in the U.S. armed forces or other agencies of the federal government must go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf by their 18th birthday, the policy states. A government fact sheet, however, listed several caveats appearing to exempt many such children from the new requirement, including those with at...

White terroristic activity has been around since the nation’s birth. But the failure to acknowledge the escalation as a result of President Trump’s continual hateful rhetoric is itself aiding and abetting its proliferation. In moments like this, the script is sadly predictable. Some will blame everything from mental illness to video games for the carnage. Others will self-righteously claim that this is not the time to “play politics.” But speaking truth about this president is far from a political game. It is peddling in a sobering reality. There are no “both sides” here. There is only right and wrong....

Roughly a quarter of papers with an average Sunday circulation of 50,000 or more experienced layoffs in 2018, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. The layoffs come on top of the roughly one-third of papers in the same circulation range that experienced layoffs in 2017. What’s more, the number of jobs typically cut by newspapers in 2018 tended to be higher than in the year before. Mid-market newspapers were the most likely to suffer layoffs in 2018 – unlike in 2017, when the largest papers most frequently saw cutbacks. Meanwhile, digital-native news outlets also faced continued layoffs:...