“I am saddened over the loss
of a domestic pet that more than likely, had no malice against anyone,”
Racine Police Chief Art Howell told the Racine County Eye.
“[However]... after the dog was released, the dynamics of this encounter
changed.”
Fox 6 reports that the incident was sparked Nov. 1 after a neighbor
asked the dog’s owner, Kurt Hanson, to clean up some feces that the dog
had left on his lawn.
President Trump may be having an extramarital affair in the White
House, according to the latest bombshell claim from “Fire and Fury”
author Michael Wolff.
Wolff said Friday on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” that he was
“absolutely sure” of such a tryst, but acknowledged that he lacked
“ultimate proof.”
“I didn’t have the blue dress,” Wolff told Maher, referring to the key
piece of evidence from Bill Clinton’s notorious Oval Office dalliance
with Monica Lewinsky.
The author said he’d even planted a clue in his controversial best-seller.
“You’ll know it,” he said. “Now that I’ve told you, when you hit that paragraph, you’ll say, ‘Bingo.’”
Wolf later added that there were "back doors" at 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., saying, "If I can get into the White House, porn stars can get
into the White House."
The claim took social media by storm, with viewers speculating on the identity of Trump’s alleged paramour.
Adult actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford,
said she had an affair with Trump after they met at a celebrity golf
tournament in July 2006 — months after Barron Trump was born.
Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen arranged for Daniels to receive $130,000
in hush money before the 2016 presidential election, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Still, Trump "vehemently denies" any sexual encounter with Daniels, according to Cohen.
In Touch initially interviewed Daniels about the affair — but decided
against printing it in 2011 after Cohen threatened legal action.
The magazine printed the 5,000-word interview on Friday after the Wall Street Journal report emerged.
Tom Petty in 2005.(Photo: Karl Walter, Getty Images)
More than three months after rocker Tom
Petty died, his official cause of death has been determined as an
accidental drug overdose.
Los Angeles
County coroner spokesman Ed Winter confirmed Petty's autopsy results,
which were written by Chief of Coroner Investigations Brian Elias, in a
statement to USA TODAY.
Petty had a mixture
of fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam, citalopram,
acetylfentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl in his system. The
musician,66, was found unconscious and in cardiac arrest at his Malibu
home on Oct. 3 and died at the UCLA Medical Center that evening.
According
to the coroner's report, Petty had fallen asleep next to his wife on
the couch in their living room. She momentarily left to go into their
kitchen, and upon her return found him unresponsive and not breathing.
Paramedics
performed CPR on Petty on site and saw signs of a pulse, but the
musician went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital. Once
there, Petty experienced additional cardiac arrest and was pronounced
dead roughly 21 hours after being admitted.
The Corporate Wisconsin history of Gilbane Construction - a Foreign
Corporation which has been selected to build the Foxconn Manufacturing
Facility in Mount Pleasant, WI.
About 100 people marched to the Racine Police Department and City Hall
on Friday, two days after a fatal police shooting. Donte Shannon, 26,
was shot to death near 14th Street and Park Avenue after police said he
ran from a traffic stop, then pointed a handgun at officers.
The march began with a prayer by Donte Shannon's aunt.
"God that you would bring justice, Lord God. There's no need for
people to be slaughtered like animals, God," Norma Johnson said as she
addressed the marchers.
The group marched to the Racine Police
Department, which under state law has handed the investigation of the
shooting over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
"We
want some understanding," said Donte Shannon's father, Nakia Shannon.
"We want justice served this time, because we are knowing that people
here in Wisconsin do not get it and we want it."
Police in an
unmarked car pulled Donte Shannon over Wednesday because police said his
vehicle didn't have a front plate. Police said Donte Shannon ran, and
after a brief chase, they said he pointed a gun at them, and they shot
him.
Donte Shannon's father said doctors told him his son was shot six times.
"My son was only 120 pounds, 5-feet-4 inches, and they shot him six
times. It don't take six bullets to stop no 120-pound young man.
Regardless, if he ran or whatever, it's not necessary," he said.
The
march moved to City Hall where the crowd wanted to talk to Mayor Cory
Mason but was told he was in Madison for the day, and they dispersed
after about 30 minutes.
Donte Shannon has three felony drug
possession convictions, and has been convicted four times for resisting
or obstructing an officer. His father pointed out Wednesday that his
son didn't have any history of violent crime.
Racine
police said the unmarked squad car didn't have a dashboard camera,
unlike the marked squad cars. Racine police officers aren't equipped
with body cameras.
The Racine police chief and mayor will meet
with the Department of Justice on Monday in Madison to discuss the
shooting. A news conference is planned afterward.
I was standing before a wood wall with three levers sticking out of it. I pulled down the right one and nothing happened. I pulled down the left one and nothing happened. A voice or a thought admonished me for avoiding the inevitable. I pulled down the middle lever and everything went black.
Wisconsin’s
first Special Needs Governor, Scott Walker has called for a special
session of the Legislature to work on new requirements for government
assistance programs.
As
a Special Needs recipient himself, being fully taxpayer funded for
life, Governor Walker admitted that being a Politician was better than
being an Industrious Person and having to work in a shitty proposed,
poorly lighted, hot, environmentally polluting, taxpayer funded, and
dangerous taxpayer Foxconn Factory any day!
Hey!
Lots of goodies go with being the Guv – he proclaimed – like Planes,
Trains, Automobiles & Mansions, while Big Boss Daddy Robin Vos
expressed his approval while watching Wisconsin’s first Special Needs
Governor express his primitive thoughts.
Uh
yeah, lots of stuff is gonna happen – and lottsa sacrifices will have
to be made- to uh, meet the demands of me & mine, and da future will
be more prosporous. Okay – Ya’ all gonna have a lotta more – and dats
is whut wez want!
The Top Stories say it all – costs continue to escalate, up to $4.5
Billion (and counting) at this time, while Wisconsin Voters take heed to
the fact that “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is“.
“We already knew that the FoxConn deal represented the largest
taxpayer giveaway by a state to a foreign corporation in our country’s
history. And we knew that due to the Man and Ag tax credit, FoxConn is
already not paying any taxes, therefore making these new tax credits
cash payments.
What this memo details is a bad deal is getting worse.
Since the FoxConn deal was announced, the pattern has been predictable:
FoxConn asks Governor Walker to jump, he asks ‘how high?’ Whether the
request is to lower environmental regulations or raid $134 million from
the state high rehabilitation fund to pay for local roads supporting
FoxConn, the Walker Administration has given blanket approval.”
Governor Walker’s track record on large-scale job creation and economic development projects shows one failure after another.
Each of his failed economic development plans also happen to coincide with upcoming election cycles.
Kestrel received $25 million in tax incentives to create over 600
jobs in Superior. Few jobs were created and the Superior community is
left holding the bag on loan repayments.
This deal was announced the day before the recall petition was filed against Governor Walker.
The Governor tried hard give Gogebic Taconite the kitchen sink to
bring mining jobs back to Wisconsin. They left in 2015. No jobs were
created. And the miner on our flag remains a symbol of our past.
During his first campaign, he said over and over that he was going
to create 250,000 jobs in four years, a number he still hasn’t achieved
in over seven years.
“The costs of this project should alarm every Wisconsin
family. This memo shows a 50% increase from the initially reported state
investment. We will be pay for this now and long into the future, both
in the direct costs and opportunity costs in cuts to K – 12 education
and the UW System in upcoming budgets.”
“Governor Walker is in an election year. He will say and
do anything to get re-elected, even if it means selling Wisconsin’s
future for the FoxConn deal. Despite the Governor’s political motives,
every Wisconsin family deserves to know how much higher the price tag of
FoxConn will go.”
Foxconn Technology Group plans to select Providence, Rhode
Island-based Gilbane Building Co. as the general contractor for its $10
billion Mount Pleasant manufacturing campus, according to numerous real
estate and construction industry sources.
The site Foxconn Technology Group has selected for its 20 million-square-foot campus. Curtis Waltz/Aerialscapes.com
“Everyone kind of knows,” said a construction industry source who did not want to be identified.
Gilbane, which has an office in Milwaukee, will serve as the general
contractor, working with another international company based in Germany
that focuses on clean air, that source said.
Gilbane has led several major construction projects in Wisconsin. The
firm worked with Milwaukee-based CG Schmidt as general contractor on
the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons project.
In a statement, Foxconn said it is moving forward with all aspects of its Wisconsin campus.
This letter is do to your derelict and egregious conduct as public officials.
I
demand that Racine county turn over the Surety bail/bond of Isaiah
Degroot to Jeff and Cheryl Coopman as partial recompense of their
destroyed lives.
RACINE — At least 250 people gathered
Friday afternoon to bring attention to Wednesday's fatal shooting of
Donte D. Shannon, a 26-year-old Racine man who reportedly ran from
police while being stopped, allegedly brandished a gun at officers and
was subsequently shot and killed.
The
group gathered in the 1400 block of Park Avenue, with Shannon's family,
including his 5-year-old daughter, sister and aunt, in attendance.
Shannon's
aunt said a prayer, which kicked off the march to the Racine Police
Department. The group headed west of 14th Street and then walked to the
Center Street police station.
Many of those in
attendance are seeking to begin a dialogue with police to prevent things
like Wednesday's shooting from happening in the future.
At this time, march participants have a police escort and are cooperating with police.
As of 12:38 p.m.,
the group had advanced to the police station and were chanting "We want
the chief," "We want answers," "These are our streets" and "No racists
police" in front of the station.
As of 12:55 p.m.,
the group was entering City Hall, 730 Washington Ave. As of 1 p.m., the
group was on the second floor of City Hall banging and knocking on the
doors of mayor's office, chanting "#BlackLivesMatter."
Around 1:05 p.m., the group was negotiating with police and tensions were rising.
As of 1:25 p.m., the group was starting to leave City Hall and return to the 1400 block of Park Avenue.
As of 1:35 p.m., the group is on Grand Avenue, on their way back to the site of the shooting.
1:45 p.m., protesters are heading to 14th Street and preparations are being made to shut down 14th Street from Grand to Park Avenue.
Racine
Police Chief Art Howell could not be immediately reached for comment on
the situation. The department has been limited in what they can say
since the Department of Justice has taken over the investigation. The
last fatal police-involved shooting in Racine was July 6, 2014 in the
3000 block of Durand Ave. In that case the man who was shot, 37-year-old
Rajko Utvic, came at police with a knife.
The Journal Times will provide updates to this story.
Jean Urry speaks in front the Yorkville Town Board and Plan Commission
and a full house at the public hearing on the proposed amendment to the
town land use plan. The hearing was held Wednesday at Union Grove
Elementary School CHRISTINA LIEFFRING
christina.lieffring@journaltimes.com
UNION GROVE — Hundreds of Yorkville
residents filled the gym at Union Grove Elementary School Wednesday
night and vocalized their fears for the future and a desire to protect
their small rural community.
During
a public hearing on proposed changes to the town’s land use plan,
resident Jo Halladay called the informational meeting a “shock meeting.”
“It was you telling us what you were going to do,” said Halladay. “You didn’t even do a great selling job on it.”
Town resident Joseph Bergs took issue with how the plan was put together.
“This is not how town government should work,” he said. “We should’ve had input.”
The
Racine County Economic Development and Land Use Planning Committee also
had a hearing on the proposal on Monday. A handful of community members
found out and spoke at the hearing asking committee members not to pass
the amendment. The committee decided to table it until the town had
held its hearing and made a final decision.
Department of Education approves Evers’ State Plan
January 17, 2018 – Milwaukee, WI – Yesterday U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approved Wisconsin’s
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan. Secretary DeVos
acknowledged that the “plans should not be seen as a ceiling, but as a
foundation upon which states can improve education for students.”
ESSA has been a missed opportunity for Wisconsin,
a state struggling with low-performing public schools and the widest
racial achievement gap in the country. Our state plan fails to maximize
the opportunity to change education. Rather, it furthers State
Superintendent Tony Evers’ status quo policies.
An independent review of the ESSA state plans
by the Collaborative for Student Success and Bellwether Education
Partners concluded: “Wisconsin’s plan largely continues processes and
effort it has been pursuing for the last several years. While that means
the state can point to stakeholder buy-in for decisions it is already
implementing, Wisconsin could have capitalized an opportunities provided
by ESSA to move in new directions.”
This echoes criticisms from Governor Scott Walker,
who said in a September letter to Evers that the plan “does little to
challenge the status quo for the benefit of Wisconsin’s students.”
The Wisconsin legislature can – and should – take steps to improve the plan.
WILL’s Executive Vice President, CJ Szafir, noted, “DPI cannot
implement parts of the state plan until they get the appropriate legal
authority to do so. This could mean going through the rule-making
process and possibly new laws. We will monitor the process and outcomes
to ensure the rule of law is being followed with the state plan and
failure to do so could result in litigation.”
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world,
ain’a? So listen, I was sitting around the other day with nothing better
to do than to think I ought to decide pretty damn soon to decide about
which side of the gubernatorial candidacy pot I ought to pee in—in it,
or on it.
And whenever I got an important decision to pull off, I first seek
consul with my personal brain trust, already ensconced within the
friendly confines of The Uptowner tavern/charm school, majestically
crammed at the corner of wistfully historic Humboldt Boulevard and the
fabled Center Street. Come along if you’d like, but you buy the first
round. Let’s get going.
Herbie: All I’m saying is that Trump really ought to
know from “shithole” but good. Just look at some of those goddamn
states that went big-time for him in the election, for crying out loud.
Ray: Yeah, President Dumbass doesn’t want any more
people coming here from “shithole countries,” he says. He only wants
people from Norway named Dag.
Herbie: Except the people from Norway don’t want to
come here. To them, the U.S. is a shithole country as long as the
asshole orange circus peanut is president, ain’a?
Ernie: What the fock, where’d the bartender go?
Emil: Hey, that’s my bar change, numbnuts.
Julius: The hell, “your” bar change. You talk like a
sausage. Ray’s got you two rounds now and you haven’t bought even one
yet to have money on the bar that’s yours. That’s my bar change.
Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister.
Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know.
Ray: I know I saw O.J. on TV the other week ’cause he was in Vegas to watch a football game with some Buffalo Bills fans.
Little Jimmy: I heard Trump wants to make it
official for O.J. to go out and search for the three million people who
voted for Hillary illegally. And I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty some of
those three million could be the murderers, to boot.
Julius: And I know we haven’t seen much of you’s lately, Artie. What, are you some kind of shut-in these days?
Art: No, I get out once in a while. Heck, I was just
over by the Potawatomi with a couple good old buddies, and I was
wondering how come they don’t have some slot machines at the Milwaukee
Public Museum in the Native American area. Seems like a perfect fit.
Julius: And potentially a lot more lucrative than pushing the secret snake button they got there, what the fock.
Art: Listen guys, I need to tap your smarts on an important decision I got to be mulling over on soon.
Ray: What the hell is “mulling”?
Herbie: Isn’t “mulling” one of those kind of words
you only ever find in a newspaper headline? I think it means same thing
as “bullshit.”
Ernie: Artie, you want to tap something important? How ’bout you get behind the goddamn bar and tap me a focking Leinie.
Emil: All right Mr. Smarty-focking-Pants, if this really is your bar change, tell me who’s on this five-dollar bill I’m holding.
Herbie: Artie, if what you’re “mulling” is about
paying back that ten bucks you owe me, I say yea before I mull to kick
your butt ’round the block and back but good.
Art: Hey! One for Herbie over here. Yeah, put it on Ray’s tab.
Little Jimmy: So what you trying to decide, Artie?
Art: To run for governor or not.
Herbie: Oh christ, not this again. How many times you run now, six, seven?
Ray: Yeah, about the same number as votes he’s gotten all put together, ain’a?
Little Jimmy: So why not run, Artie? Seems everybody else is.
Ernie: Hold on, Artie. I thought you’s were going to run for the county sheriff.
Ray: Did you say “for” or “from”?
Art: I’ve bailed on the county sheriff gig. I
figured a while ago that I’d probably need a driver’s license to be
sheriff, and I don’t have the dough to get one. Cripes, how would that
look, the county sheriff trying to pull over a speeder from the back
seat of a focking freeway flyer?
Little Jimmy: I don’t think you should be governor
or anything like that, Artie. It’s too dangerous. Don’t forget they let
that nutbag John Hinckley, who shot at Reagan, out of prison the other
year. We haven’t had an assassination for a while, but it would be just
your luck that you’d be the guy some crackpot would hanker to take a pot
shot at, I kid you not.
(It’s getting late and I know you got to go, but thanks for letting
us bend your ear, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)
Good morning everyone I hope all of you are doing well today. The weather is a real roller coaster lately and I am just hoping no one is coming down sick. Here are your questions.
1) Do you know about how many different birds you can identify when you see them?
2) Have you ever went out driving or walking around looking for birds?
3) Do you have any bird feeders hanging outside to watch the birds?
4) What is your favorite bird to look for?
I hope everyone is going to enjoy the nice weather we are going to have this weekend.
RACINE — The suspect shot multiple
times during an officer-involved shooting Wednesday has died, according
to a Department of Justice news release.
The
Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation
responded to a critical incident in Racine Wednesday at the request of
City of Racine Police Chief Art Howell.
Two
Racine police officers conducted a traffic stop near the intersection
of 14th Street and Villa Street Wednesday around 4 p.m. The driver of
the vehicle fled on foot and was pursued by the officers. The officers
witnessed the vehicle’s driver showing a firearm and responded with gun
fire, striking the driver.
“The
operator of that vehicle fled the vehicle,” said Racine Police Malacara
said. “He ended up in the 1400 block of Park Avenue and our officers
followed in pursuit. They chased him into the yard of one of the homes.
He presented with a gun and aimed it at the officers. The officers fired
upon him and he was struck multiple times.”
The
driver of the vehicle died while being transported to a local hospital
by paramedics, the Department of Justice release said. The suspect’s
identity is not being released at this time.
The
involved officers are not injured and have been placed on paid
administrative leave, pending the outcome of this investigation, per
department policy, the release said. The offier's identities are not
being released at this time.
The officers were 15- and 16-year
veterans of the force, according to Malacara. He said that for the most
part, the officers were doing alright as of Wednesday evening.
“Obviously any incident like this is a traumatic incident,” Malacara said.
The
Wisconsin Department of Justice-led investigation of this incident has
been a collaboration between DCI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Pleasant Prairie Police Department and Mount Pleasant Police Department.
The Racine Police Department has been fully cooperating with DCI during
this investigation.
The
Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation is
continuing to collect evidence and determine the facts of this incident
and will turn over investigative reports to the Racine County District
Attorney when the investigation concludes.
GAMERS GOT A NEW GAME IN THE RACINE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT SYSTEM
THE BLAME GAME
But lets first introduce two more gamers hidden amongst the court records in the Isaiah Degroot Court fiasco.
Racine County Sheriff Chris Schmaling and
Deputy Sheriff John Hanrahan
Neatly tucked away in records was a
court document that the sheriff's office denied access/release of Mr.
Degroot for an evaluation and risk assessments to be performed.
This document is dated 11-1-2017 implicating the sheriff's department as the denier of the assessment.
This lack of assessment was in fact
another greasing of the court's revolving door policy of getting the
criminals out the door ASAP.
You may ask why does it matter?
Because had a mental evaluation and risk
assessment been performed on Isaiah Degroot before he was released,
there may have been a very different outcome for
Jeffery and Cheryl Coopman.
BUT why didn't any of the Judge's
involved in this case question the sheriff's denial of access to this
mental evaluation and risk assessment??? You will have to ask the Judges and the prosecutors office to get an answer
We know who has suffered the most for the failures of this derelict and corrupt court system.........
Jeffery and Cheryl Coopman
But who in the court system ultimately bears the responsibility for this injustice?
Will the guilty parties please step forward Alice Rudebusch Amy Vandehoef Chris Schmaling Faye Flancher Gregory Reed Jason A. Rossell John Hanrahan Louis C. Moore Mark Nielsen How is that for a beginning list? Let the finger pointing begin
This piece of shit should never have been released in the first place. He was the driver and the shooter. He has no drivers license. Yet our court system gave him only $3,000 bond. That amount was met readily, freeing Isaiah to drive another stolen vehicle, attempt to get away from a Sheriff, crashing the vehicle in the Kohl's parking lot, putting two people who were just minding their own business in the ICU unit of Froedert Memorial Hospital. The woman lost a leg and an arm. If not for the first-aid work done on her and him by the Deputy and onlookers, she would have died.
Notice the cocked back head in his jail photo. He's proud of what he's done. May his ass be sentenced to prison and daily rapes for the next 100 years.
SAN FRANCISCO — With more than 2 billion
users, Facebook's reach now rivals that of Christianity and exceeds that
of Islam. However, the network's laser focus on profits and user growth
has come at the expense of its users, according to one former Facebook
manager who is now speaking out against the social platform.
"One of the things that I saw consistently as
part of my job was the company just continuously prioritized user growth
and making money over protecting users," the ex-manager, Sandy
Parakilas, who worked at Facebook for 16 months, starting in 2011, told
NBC News. During his tenure at Facebook, Parakilas led third-party
advertising, privacy and policy compliance on Facebook's app platform.
As Facebook transitioned from a Harvard
dorm-room project into one of the world's most valuable companies, its
power grew in ways that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg never could have
anticipated.
Over the past 14 months, Zuckerberg has gone from saying it was "crazy"
to think Facebook could influence an election to vowing that 2018 is the
year he will "fix" Facebook.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks on the Trump
administration's energy policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington
in September 2017. Nine of 12 members of the National Park Service
advisory board resigned Monday citing Zinke's unwillingness to meet with
the panel.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Three-quarters
of the seats on the U.S. National Park Service advisory board are
vacant following a mass resignation Monday night, citing Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke's unwillingness to meet with them.
Nine of
the panel's 12 members, led by former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, handed
in their resignations. The bipartisan panel was appointed by President
Barack Obama and the terms of all members who quit were set to expire in
May.
Knowles, in a letter of resignation
to Zinke from himself and the eight other members, said the board had
"worked closely and productively through 2016 with dedicated National
Park Service employees, an inspiring Director and a fully supportive
Department."
Since then, as explained in the letter, the board
had repeatedly tried and failed to secure a meeting with the new
interior secretary.
"[Our] requests to engage have been ignored
and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are
clearly not part of the agenda," the letter reads.
Alaska Public Radio
quoted Knowles as saying that the Department of the Interior "showed no
interest in learning about or continuing to use the forward-thinking
agenda of science, the effect of climate change, protections of the
ecosystems, education."
"And it has rescinded NPS regulations of resource
stewardship concerning those very things: biodiversity loss, pollution
and climate change," he added.
"The
three board members who did not resign include Harvard University
public finance professor Linda Bilmes, University of Maryland marine
science professor Rita Colwell and Carolyn Hessler Radelet, the chief
executive of Project Concern International. Terms for the first two end
in May, while Radelet's term does not expire until 2021.
In an
email, Bilmes said she did not resign her post because she is conducting
research with
other colleagues funded by the National Park Foundation,
and wanted to complete her
project."
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat who is the ranking
member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued a
statement of support for the resigning board members.
"The
President still hasn't nominated a director for the National Park
Service and Secretary Zinke has proposed tripling entrance fees at our
most popular national parks," she said. "His disregard of the advisory
board is just another example of why he has earned an 'F' in
stewardship."
Tracey Crouch, left,
Britain’s under secretary for sport and civil society, is to coordinate
the government’s response to loneliness.Credit
Stephen Pond/Getty Images for Sport England
LONDON
— Since Britain voted to leave the European Union more than a year ago,
Europeans have mockingly said that the decision will result in an
isolated, lonely island nation.
But
Britain, in fact, already has a serious problem with loneliness,
research has found. More than nine million people in the country often
or always feel lonely, according to a 2017 report published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.
The issue prompted Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday to appoint a minister for loneliness.
“For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” Ms. May said in a statement.
“I
want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to
take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers,
by those who have lost loved ones — people who have no one to talk to
or share their thoughts and experiences with.”
Mark Robinson, the chief officer of Age UK, Britain’s largest charity working with older people, warned that the problem could kill.
“It’s proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, but it can be overcome and needn’t be a factor in older people’s lives,” he said.
A
former United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, wrote an
article for the Harvard Business Review last year arguing that
loneliness needed addressing in the workplace.
It could be associated, he wrote, “with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression and anxiety.”
The British report was commissioned by the Red Cross in partnership with the Co-op, a cooperative supermarket chain, and published by the Cox commission in December.
The group operates in memory of Ms. Cox, 41, a Labour Party lawmaker who was shot dead by a right-wing extremist in 2016,
and who had been a prominent voice in Parliament on the issue, setting
up a cross-party commission that aimed to start a national conversation
and establish the scale and impact of loneliness in Britain.
City claims completed building would not be built without a new TIF district
January 16, 2018 – Eau Claire, WI – On behalf of
Voters With Facts, an Eau Claire volunteer organization, and multiple
individuals whose taxes will be affected, the Wisconsin Institute for
Law & Liberty filed a notice of claim with the City of Eau Claire on
Friday, challenging the legality of newly-created Tax Incremental
District (TID) #12. The challenge comes as the Wisconsin Supreme Court
is set to review the legality of Eau Claire TIDs #8 and #10. Tax incremental financing is an extraordinary mechanism that cities
may use only in precisely limited situations. Cities are allowed to
create TIDs, borrow money to pay for improvements within the TID to
encourage new development, and then dedicate the taxes paid on that new
development to repaying the loans. Among many other requirements, a TID
can only be created if the new development within the TID wouldn’t
occur unless a TID is created. In other words, if new projects would
happen in the area anyway, then creating a TID is not only unnecessary,
it is not allowed. Those new projects should be placed on the ordinary
tax rolls like any other property. Eau Claire is claiming that without TID #12, the Aspenson Mogensen
Hall, at 222 Water Street, would not be built. But the Hall is already
built. The building was completed in 2017 and UW-Eau Claire students
had already moved into the upper-floor apartments before city government
approved TID #12. “It is unlawful to approve a TID project plan that relies on
‘incremental’ tax revenue from property that was fully developed before
the TID was enacted,” explained Rick Esenberg, President and General
Counsel of WILL. “Capturing existing developments in a TID removes the
property from the allocable tax base, and burdens other taxpayers with
taxes that would otherwise be allocated to the new property.” A copy of the notice of claim can be found here. More information about VWF’s and WILL’s challenge to TIDs #8 and #10 can be found here. http://www.will-law.org/voters-facts-challenge-eau-claire-tif-district-12/
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and Irregulars! How are you? I'm OK, I guess, but I keep being plagued by memory lapses. I awoke at 3-something this morning to take a pee. Somehow I arrived at the conclusion that today is Tuesday and I slept in. This follows an incident yesterday where I left my wallet at a gas station and didn't realize it until I arrived at the Piggly Wiggly. There's no pure panic like the thought that someone has your everything and you don't know who. I went back to the station and someone had found my wallet on the counter and turned it in. Nothing was missing. This is the same gas station where I pulled my car up to a pump, went in and paid for $10 worth of gas, and then drove off without pumping the gas. I returned later and they were kind enough to let me pump the gas then.
I hate getting older. So many connections within my body now pop and crack, and some ache like hell. I'm always preoccupied. I'll write out the grocery list but then fail to bring it with me. Yesterday, at the gas station, I put my car in reverse without looking backward and hit the gas. I went maybe 10 feet when I snapped to and hit the brakes. I was within a few feet of the plow and another customer. Sometimes I think I should be encased in a large foam ball with just my head, hands, and feet peeking out.
Another thing that is freaking me out is this Foxconn fever. In today's online Journal Times: "Memo: Foxconn cost to public nearing $4.5 billion"(http://journaltimes.com/business/local/memo-foxconn-cost-to-public-nearing-billion/article_26ee82a2-f12b-5c3e-a600-036ee900d01a.html#tracking-source=home-top-story) We were supposed to be at $3 billion at this point. A definite sign of things to come. This damned project will kill Racine County and no liquid crystal displays will ever be built here. They will be obsolete by the time the factory would be near production. I say we should let Milwaukee annex the land (after they've given us $4.5 billion). They're much better suited to fouling up a project of this magnitude.
It's 4 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside Lord, I'm no longer able to deal with the complexities of winter life up here. Please place me down south or 6-feet underground.
"Downtown’s Monument Square is the
place to be on Saturday, Jan. 20, when a new event called the Fire and
Ice Festival will take place from noon to 5 p.m.
"Presented
by the Downtown Racine Corp., the free family festival will offer
opportunities to celebrate the season — including ice skating and ice
sculptures — as well as plenty of places to warm up and stay cozy.
"Ice
carvers from around the state will be on the north end of the square,
transforming large blocks of ice into works of art — while the south
half of the square will feature Downtown’s new ice skating rink, where
all are invited to lace up a pair of skates and take a whirl around the
rink for free. Free skate rentals will also be available during the
festival (an ID must be provided while skates are in use).
"In
between, attendees can shake off the winter chill with a bonfire
located on Monument Square. The festival will also offer a vendor area
featuring food trucks and handmade crafts, and businesses around the
square will be open and offering more food and drink options, according
to Kelly Kruse, RC executive director.
“The
Downtown Racine Corporation, with the help of Racine Parks and Rec
Department, are excited to bring this brand new event to Downtown,'
Kruse said. 'It’s a great way to celebrate our community and get some
fresh air, especially during the cold winter months.'"
I wish them luck. It seems that Monument Square can get a little crowded, especially on weekends. I hope especially that the ice skating rink works out. Every kid deserves a chance to go out there and fall on his or her ass repeatedly. What fun! I finally learned how to stay vertical on skates. That's enough for me.
And that's enough of me blabbering. I love you all. C'mon down and watch the wonders this weekend. Or stop by and skate anytime the rink is open.
Stay warm, dears. When it's in the single digits, I won't leave the house. Senor Zanza has set up some sort of primitive heater in the garage, so the car is not so cold. We'll probably be the next house with a garage fire. Bring your brats and weenies! Love, love, love. __________________________ Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order. Thank you
Smetana told The Journal Times in November
that he thinks doing away with the parking meters would make the city a
more welcoming place. Free parking, he said at the time, would make the
community more inviting to shoppers and diners.
“It’s just a small step to start welcoming people,” Smetana said.
The parking meters have frustrated
some business owners who see the pay-to-park requirement as a deterrence
for potential patrons.
Kelly Kruse,
executive director of the Downtown Racine Corp., said in November that
free parking could eliminate the availability of spots. She said that in
the past, with places where people could park for free, vehicles
sometimes parked for days at a time and there was limited turnover for
stores and restaurants.
Racine offers free parking at limited times throughout the year. For the past two Decembers,
for example, the city allowed people to park without plugging the
meters on Saturdays. The move aimed to drive local holiday shopping,
city officials said.
