Killings dropped by a third here last year, making Wisconsin’s largest city among the nation’s most successful in tackling its 2008 murder rate.While New York and Chicago saw an uptick in slayings last year, other cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Los Angeles had fewer violent deaths in ‘08 than ‘07.And though a study released Monday by Northeastern University showed black teenagers killing each other in rising numbers, Milwaukee stands out. The number of black men

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Homicides are down in some large US cities

MILWAUKEE - Killings dropped by a third here last year, making Wisconsin’s largest city among the nation’s most successful in tackling its 2008 murder rate. While New York and Chicago saw an uptick in slayings last year, other cities including…

Continue here: Homicides down in some US cities including Detroit

Every bit of music is a piece of firework as far as I’m concerned, so today no special firework release. I realized I didn’t post a piece of vinyl is some days, so here’s one. Music by Vocokesh has been posted before and as said then Vocokesh is a sort of hobby project of Richard Franecki, whose main band is F/i.”F/I are From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been around since 1981, releasing half a dozen LPs on RRRecords. The band started out as a unit elaborating on noise structures in the traditi

Continue here: F/i / Vocokesh - Merge Parlour / 3 New Untitled Tracks (LP, RRRecords RRR 082, 1992) F/i - From Poppy With Love (7", SSS Productions, RRRecords SSS 50

Welcome to Wisconsin! Ate this at the Milwaukee airport before heading to my Grandmother’s house in Kenosha.

More here: December 26th: Airport Grilled Cheese

So let’s say that you’re designing a website for the State of Wisconsin. You’d probably want there to be some sort of Wisconsin imagery, like paint thinner or cheese, or if you were going to be serious and stuff, like the Fox River or Lambeau Field or Madison or something. You know, like this: Lovely, isn’t it? That’s the Wisconsin State Capitol Dome, superimposed over a city that includes such landmarks as the IDS Center and Wells Fargo Center. You know, Minneapolis: The State of Wisconsin

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Hometown Pride Fail

Change I might eventually come to believe in Saucyman – How do you think food policy will change in the Obama Administration? Michael Pollan will not be taking to NPR airwaves to decree a ban on corn syrup and announce a tax credit for people who go to farmer’s markets (1). Nor will other sensible ideas, like consolidating all relevant agencies into a Department of Food, be seriously proposed let alone enacted. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture designate, is no reformer rather the former

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Change I might eventually come to believe in

The state Department of Transportation is about a week away from beginning a series of statewide meetings where you can weigh in on the long-range plan for Wisconsin transportation programs.Here’s a link to the schedule.Here is the Milwaukee information:Wednesday, January 21, 2009Milwaukee County Downtown Transit CenterHarbor Lights Room909 E. Michigan Ave., Milwaukee, WI If a thousand people attended each of these meetings, and broght the same simple message - - rail, road aides and repairs fir

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WisDOT Says It Wants Your Input

I went to Houston to visit a travel friend Joe for a few days. It was nice to get out of cold Wisconsin to warm Texas. Thursday, 12/25 - I caught a 5:30 am flight Christmas Day, arriving at 8:30 am. It was a warm 75 degrees. Joe’s neighbors came over for Christmas lunch in the afternoon and we had a nice time chatting a eating ham, turkey and assorted delicious side dishes. At night we went to see this house that won a contest for the best decorated house.Friday, 12/26 - It was a humid 78 d

Continue here: Houston, TX - 12/25-12/30/2008

I have been gone for the past few days celebrating the holidays with some family in Kenosha, Wisconsin at my grandmother’s house. I am back now. Today is about school prep (starts in a week!) and Obsessive Consumption work and order catch up. Tonight I am hoping to draw. I am always hoping to draw. Ate this grilled cheese in the Milwaukee Airport while I was waiting for my uncle paul and aunt tomo to arrive. They were rerouted to Detroit for the night because of weather. This grilled che

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Happy Holidays - Posting will resume soon!

It’s the silver lining in an otherwise historically devastating economy:With an understanding that we’ve been wasting our money on expensive fuel, overbuilt highways and oversized vehicles - - to say nothing of the overwhelming soot, smog and greenhouse gases the entire OPEC-dependent system produces - - there is no more logical time than right now to begin to shift public investments away from highway expansion to rail connections and infrastructure maintenance.Leading economists tell us that t

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2009 Offers Rare Opportunity To Change State Transportation Priorities