Friday, November 22, 2024
Transgender bathroom ban is a ‘bigoted attack’: Activist
TikTok creator arrested for Target shoplifting after officers spot outfit in video
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Father, son accused of damaging controversial Milwaukee mural appear in court
Racine shows it now has the capacity to play bigger role as host city
Caroline Neal
RACINE — Downtown Racine residents may have noticed more statewide conferences and other large gatherings in the city.
Some business owners and leaders attribute this uptick to recent developments in the area, such as Hotel Verdant, as well as the new management at Festival Park.
The addition of these facilities, they say, give the city the capacity to host large events.
Since September, Downtown Racine has hosted statewide conferences including Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Downtown Development Placemaking Workshop and the Wisconsin Public Transportation Annual Fall Conference.
“I think for people who have not been to Downtown Racine from across the state, (they) don’t realize what a gem it is — the proximity, the walkability,” said Kelly Kruse, executive director of Downtown Racine Corporation. “The architecture is probably some of the best in the state when it comes to our historic buildings.”
Kruse said the WEDC’s training conference brought together more than 40 downtown directors and board members from across the state in September.
Kruse said that in 2021, Racine hosted a regional one-day workshop but had not hosted a statewide training.
Christopher Adams, developer for Hotel Verdant, said the boutique hotel has 80 rooms, adding about 40% more rooms to the downtown area when combined with the DoubleTree.
When these conferences come to town, Adams said he sees an increase in business.
“When we had the transit event in October, both hotels, I believe, were (at) 100% occupancy,” he said.
Although he said there’s not really a “standard day” because the day of week and time of year can affect occupancy, Downtown Racine hosting an event is “definitely helpful,” Adams said.
Trevor Jung, transit and mobility director for RYDE Racine, said the group volunteered to host the Wisconsin Public Transportation Annual Fall Conference last month.
The conference brought more than 200 transit professionals to Downtown Racine and Memorial Hall.
“But the only reason that we were able to put our hand in the air and bring this event to Racine … was because of the ecosystem that now allows for it in downtown,” he said.
Patrick Flynn is the founder of 5k Events, which is general manager of Festival Park.
Since Flynn took over management, Festival Park has hosted political events for both Republican and Democratic figures.
In June, President-elect Donald Trump spoke at Festival Park.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rallied supporters in October at Memorial Hall; a week later, Vice President-elect JD Vance also addressed a crowd in Memorial Hall.
“Everybody benefits from those events, not just us,” said Kevin MacDougall, Festival Park’s director of sales. “The spider web extends out into the community. We all work together because it’s in everybody’s best interest to make the downtown vibrant. Whether we’re hosting an event, we help the DRC promote their event and vice versa. It’s not competitive at all. It’s collaborative.”
Adams said Hotel Verdant coordinates with other businesses on “an ongoing basis” to accommodate their needs.
“I’ve been reaching out to businesses in downtown and trying to see how we can work together with different folks,” he said.
Tamara LoPiparo, owner of The Maple Table, believes the economic effect is a “rising tide raises all ships” situation.
“Hopefully, the economic impact of these events will encourage people to spend not only in the bars and restaurants, but also all the wonderful little shops we have,” she said.
For Kruse, these conferences might help increase foot traffic during the week, when small businesses have fewer people walking through their doors. Often, she said, these conferences occur during non-summer months, which can also be challenging periods for small businesses.
“Having the influx of people from out of town that have money to spend on going out to eat, maybe doing some shopping that they weren’t expecting on their lunch break while they’re here for a conference — all of these things can play a major impact,” she said.
Red Onion Cafe’s owner Corey Oakland said that although his business is “fortunate” to be busy on the weekends and weekdays, he believes these conferences can have an impact beyond the event itself.
“One of the things that I always say I really miss, as an example, would be when the triathlon was in the area,” Oakland said. “We literally got to know people from around the world that would be here. You’d see them once or twice a year. They’d come in, and you’d, in a way, get to know these people.”
Having large events in town that fill up the hotels can have a positive impact for the cafe as it would encourage people to grab a coffee or stop in for lunch, he said.
“You can’t deny that if you bring several hundred people into a downtown area, it’s going to have a positive impact,” Oakland said. “Not every store may feel that impact, but it’s definitely sort of a trickle down situation.”
Still, he said Racine’s location in between Chicago and Milwaukee can make it challenging for the city to compete as a host.
Oakland also said that Racine’s distance from the interstate isolates it, which could be a drawback for companies trying to make transportation to a convention easier.
“As somebody who’s lived here for many, many years, it’s not a huge issue,” he said. “But for somebody who’s considering a convention, that might be something of a barrier.”
This, he said, is why Racine’s location on Lake Michigan is important.
“It’s worth the 20 minute drive from the freeway to see where we’re situated on the lake,” Oakland said.
Adams, like Oakland, said Racine’s spot on Lake Michigan — as well as the Root River, the marina and the historic downtown — makes the city a good location for conferences.
“It’s a quaint, mid-sized city that a lot of people haven’t seen before. It’s got a lot going for it,” he said.
Kruse said the historic element of Downtown Racine’s architecture still remains because of the city’s strict codes.
And while these requirements can be frustrating for new property and business owners, Kruse said the codes have been a “blessing.”
“It certainly makes a big difference on the overall aesthetic,” she said.
Kruse said the walkability of downtown also is a draw for Racine — a belief shared by LoPiparo.
Whereas bigger cities like Milwaukee can be tough to navigate, in Racine “everything’s just a couple of footsteps away,” LoPiparo said.
“Some of these people coming in, if they’re staying at (Hotel) Verdant or DoubleTree, they might not even necessarily need a rental car because they can walk to all the restaurants, they can walk to Festival Hall,” she said. “Everything is there for them.”
The variety of Racine’s restaurants is another benefit for the city.
“We have so many restaurants, which when you are traveling, restaurants and being a foodie is a big deal. Having the array of restaurants and hospitality that we have is great,” Kruse said. “It’s really exciting that we finally have everything that we need to be a host city.”
For the WEDC conference, Kruse said DRC made sure visitors had the necessary information in their welcome bags, including a downtown visitors guide as well as a list of open restaurants and the self-guided walking tours and day trips.
“Not only were we able to have that foot traffic those days that they were in town, but giving them a reason to come back is really important,” Kruse said. “So that we’re really making that connection. Not just, ‘Hey, thanks for coming by,’ but we’re working directly with all of these and saying, ‘Here’s a reason to come back.’”
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Student behavior now the leading cause of teacher burnout
We are not alone in the cosmos. Why isn't UFO hearing tearing up Google trends? | Opinion
House committees hold hearing on "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth"
You would think if anything could break through the noise of our news cycle, UFOs could.
This needs to be a bigger deal folks because the American people, nay people of the world, need this right now.
Last week, for the second time in two years, there was a Congressional subcommittee hearing on UFOs, or as they have been foolishly rebranded “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” shortened to UAPs.
One of the visionaries helping uncover the truth is none other than Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman, R-Fond du Lac, who chairs the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs.
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Last week’s hearing, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth," including a new slate of witnesses that provided testimony about UFO sightings and what the government may or may not know about them. One witness, Luis Elizondo, a former military intelligence officer, went so far to say, "Excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public, all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos."
Alien spacecraft and dead extraterrestrials now in Congressional Record
Last year’s testimony included former Pentagon official, David Grusch, telling a Congressional committee that he’d learned of a decades-long Pentagon program focused on “crash retrieval and reverse engineering” of UFOs from other planets. Grusch also said that remains found at the spacecraft crash sites were “non-human biologics.”
Yes, crashed alien spacecraft and dead extraterrestrials made it to the Congressional Record.
However, neither in the aftermath of last year's and last week's hearing did the terms "UFO" "Alien" "UAP" or even "government cover up" break the 25 most searched terms in Google Trends.
What were people searching for last week? Would it surprise you if I said: "mike tyson jake paul fight."
To be fair, neither of these hearings has provided real evidence to prove UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in nature. But the collection of testimony indicates that UAPs are very real in the sense there are a number of some as-yet-unexplained phenomenal.
And yet, apparently, most of us do not care enough to let that information even make a blip on our news cycle.
All the more reason that right now is the right time for these tight lipped folks in defense and intelligence departments, whose jobs could very well be on the chopping block anyways in Trump's administration, to just let it rip.
Declassify everything. Tell us the truth is out there. Then send Biden and Trump out to do a tag team Bill Pullman-Independence Day-esque speech, where they encourage us to not be consumed by our petty differences and instead be united in our common interests. Give us a new enemy!
Or at the very least, declassify everything just to remind humans of our standing in the universe. I don't know who said it first but right now feels like a good time for everyone to remember that we’re, "just ghosts driving meat coated skeletons made from stardust riding a rock floating through space."
Kristin Brey is the "My Take" columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Former Bozo the Clown, Joey D'Auria, presides over Grand Prize Game for first time since 2001
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Doctors Who Ended Up Behind Bars
Your child may not be doing as well in school as you think. State lowered bar. | Opinion
Previous standards were implemented with bi-partisan support under Tony Evers
This past summer, behind closed doors and under a veil of secrecy that even included the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, quietly took several steps that will lower academic standards for Wisconsin’s students – all with zero input from parents or lawmakers. These unilateral decisions by State Superintendent Jill Underly will not only impact how schools are assessed but will ultimately leave parents in the dark about their child’s progress.
The previous standards were implemented in 2012 under Gov. Tony Evers, who was then serving as DPI Superintendent, with bipartisan support. These standards aligned Wisconsin with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and were designed to assess whether students were ready for college and careers. But now, a much lower bar has been created in Wisconsin and NAEP alignment is gone.
Lowered standards can create false sense of academic progress
For example, on the most recent round of the NAEP, about 32% of Wisconsin 8th graders were found to be proficient in reading. This is comparable to the 36% who were found to be proficient on the 2022-23 Forward Exam. But proficiency among this group jumped to 48.4% in 2023-24 on the state exam, creating a 16-percentage point gap. Even Evers has openly criticized these new lowered standards, stating that he believes, “We need to have as high of standards as possible.”
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Even worse than losing the ability to compare Wisconsin students to students nationally on the NAEP is that the changes were so significant that it will make it nearly impossible to compare progress with previous years. In previous years, scores were reported on a three-digit scale, but now a four-digit scale is used. This change means that the new standards cannot easily be mapped onto the old ones, and any hope of measuring year-to-year progress is lost.
That’s particularly problematic in a post-pandemic environment where most students in Wisconsin fell behind academically and have struggled to catch back up. A study by Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research, found that between 2019 and 2022, Wisconsin student achievement fell by 37% of a grade equivalent in math and 28% in reading. While achievement has rebounded slightly, most districts are still behind their pre-pandemic levels.
DPI even changed the names of categories of results on exam
These shifts are made even more confusing by the curious decision of DPI to change the names of the categories of results on the exam. Instead of the long-used labels of Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, the category names have been changed to Developing, Approaching, and Meeting (the highest category — Advanced — stayed the same under the new formulation).
It is unclear why these changes were made. But what is clear is that they make it more difficult for parents to understand how well their children are doing in school. Telling a parent that their child is “approaching” proficiency may be a more hopeful message that reduces the heat on a child’s school, but it may not be true and could create a sense of complacency rather than urgency in parents about the need to improve.
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Changes to the Forward exam will also exacerbate pre-existing problems with Wisconsin’s state report cards, which already set a low bar for success. On last year’s report card, 55% of schools with ELA proficiency under 30% —including 54 such schools in Milwaukee — were judged to “Meet Expectations” on the state report card. This includes Hi-Mount Elementary in Milwaukee where zero — yes — zero kids were proficient in ELA.
Rather than the lowered accountability standards brought about by these changes, parents actually want greater accountability and focus on academic results. A recent poll showed that 72% of parents nationwide believe that schools are not focusing on ensuring schools are proficient at important basic skills like reading and math. Furthermore, 81% of parents say that “we should expect more out of our public schools and should hold them more accountable for educating students.” This is ripe opportunity for common ground.
Wisconsin parents deserve an accountability system that provides transparent, honest data and not one that is manipulated for political games. Legislators and the Governor should work together in the upcoming legislative session to reverse these changes, and rein in the ability of DPI to make unilateral changes like this in the future.
Kyle Koenen is the policy director at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL). Will Flanders is its research director.
From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2024/11/17/schools-wisconsin-education-tests-dpi/76338666007/
As far as I'm concerned, this is cheating. I'm grateful for the education I received over 60 years ago. I hate the Catholic Church for its lies and pedophilia, but one thing it did right was education. If you disregard the religious propaganda, the teaching was superb. How can present day parents accept a 32% literacy rate in the 8th grade? That means that the vast majority of the students are illiterate. That also explains why kids today are dumb as rocks.
Lawsuits accuse Kraft Heinz and Lindt Chocolate of lying about ingredients
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Mayor Johnson to attend fallen officer's funeral despite family's request not to
Friday, November 15, 2024
Former West Allis day care employee charged with multiple counts of child pornography
Adrienne Davis
A former West Allis day care employee is facing multiple child pornography charges.
Jonathan Burkee, 25, of West Allis, was charged Nov. 13 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of child sexual exploitation and five counts of child pornography, all felonies. If convicted of all charges, Burkee faces up to 165 in prison and fines of up to $600,000.
Burkee was an employee at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in West Allis
According to the criminal complaint:
On Nov. 6, a West Allis police detective was contacted by an FBI agent regarding a cybercrime discovered on Nov. 5 in an online chatroom. The agent told the detective that the victim was an 11-year-old girl who was a student at St. Paul's Lutheran School in West Allis.
Investigators discovered that several inappropriate photos of a juvenile female were located in the chatroom. The photos appeared to be taken in a school environment while in the presence of other children.
The girl in the photos was identified as a current student at the school. Investigators then contacted the victim's mother, who told them she believed the principal's son (Burkee) was the person who had taken the photos.
The mother told investigators that Burkee worked in the school's day care and was a babysitter who babysat the victim and her sister at his residence in West Allis. Burkee had babysat the children most recently on Nov. 1.
The West Allis Police Department and the FBI executed a search of Burkee's home on Nov. 9
On the morning of Nov. 9, West Allis police and the FBI, having obtained a warrant, conducted a search of Burkee's home in West Allis.
Prior the search, Burkee told investigators, "I know what I did is wrong, I have to go to the bathroom, I have child stuff in my phone. Dad I'm sorry, I have child stuff in my phone."
West Allis police later conducted a search of one of Burkee's cellphones seized during the warrant. It contained multiple photos of female children in the deleted photo gallery.
St. Paul's Lutheran confirmed that Burkee and his father were no longer employees at the school
In an email sent to the Journal Sentinel, Jeff Reinhardt, congregation president of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, confirmed that the school was aware of the situation and that as of Nov. 9, Burkee was no longer an employee at the school.
"We have been and will continue to cooperate with the West Allis Police Department with their ongoing investigation," Reinhardt said in the email. "Please understand that our primary focus at this time is providing our families and students with guidance and support as we navigate this difficult time. Please honor our request and provide our Church, School and families with the privacy we need to work and focus on healing together."
Reinhardt also confirmed that the principal, Burkee’s father, had resigned as principal on Nov. 9.
Burkee appeared in court on Nov. 13. A cash bond was set at $5,000. He is due back in court on Nov. 21.
Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.
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