Saturday, August 31, 2024
Microsoft buys more Mt. Pleasant tracts for data campus. Latest sites are north of Highway 11
Tom Daykin
Microsoft Corp. is again expanding its Racine County data center campus with another farmland purchase in Mount Pleasant.
The software maker paid $5.73 million for 28.6 acres at 13231 Louis Sorenson Road. The seller was the Nancy Rothering Trust, according to a new deed posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
That transaction was recorded on Aug. 29.
That follows an Aug. 16 purchase of a 1.4-acre lot and ranch house at 2615 S. U.S. Highway 41, near Louis Sorenson Road. Microsoft paid Barbara and Thomas Rinke $800,000 for that property.
The company has made a series of purchases since May, with several of those transactions recorded this summer.
Including the two latest purchases, they total 306.7 acres − with the company spending $55.1 million.
Those additional tracts will "support data center construction already underway in the area," said Bowen Wallace, Microsoft vice president of datacenters/Americas, in a July statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The company in December bought just over 1,000 acres of nearby farmland that's being developed for data centers. The three transactions totaled nearly $176 million.
The land purchases on Louis Sorenson Road are north of Durand Avenue/Wisconsin Highway 11. Most of Microsoft's development is initially planned for south of that highway.
Microsoft says it will spend $3.3 billion by 2026 to build the initial phase of its data center development. Much of the investment is driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence-related applications.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Car enthusiasts gear up for massive car show and cruise-in in downtown Kenosha
KENOSHA — This Saturday in downtown Kenosha, expect the streets to be filled with hot rods and muscle cars for the Kenosha Classic Cruise-In Car Show.
About 1,500 to 2,000 cars will be on display in the downtown area and car enthusiasts come from as far as Canada to be part of this event.
The car show is put on by the Kenosha Classic Street Machine Car Club and it attracts motorcycles, trucks, older and newer cars. It's an event to celebrate vehicles throughout the decades.
For Mark Martin, the special events coordinator for the club, and Randy Kavalauskas, they both said this car show started small but has grown over the years.
“This is like the Super Bowl for car show people this event is one of the largest in the Midwest and is also the biggest free car show,” said Mark Martin.
“Hoping for a record this year, we’ve got really good weather. Anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000; I’m pushing for 2,000, so I think it should be a very good year,” said Randy Kavalauskas. Member of the Kenosha Classic Street Machine Car Club.
The two said hanging out with friends at car shows brings back memories and a sense of nostlogia.
Watch: Get ready for the Kenosha Classic Cruise-In Car Show.
"My car is a 71 Dodge Demon I've had it for 18 years. It's my time machine takes me back to what times were simpler and I had long hair," said Mark.
"It's really good Time like to say the people that I've met through the years and the cherished friendships wouldn't give it up for anything," said Randy.
The Kenosha Classic Street Machine Club is dedicating this year’s show to Tony Pontillo, who was the car show's main organizer and passed away earlier this year.
Expect to see multiple road closures in downtown beginning at 6 a.m., traffic will be directed one way eastbound on 56th Street, beginning at Third Ave., proceeding counter-clockwise around Calabria Way, and westbound only on 54th Street from Calabria Way to Sixth Ave. Temporary no parking signs will be posted at areas along the route to facilitate the one way traffic flow.
FBI falling short in child sex abuse cases years after Larry Nassar scandal, report finds
Thursday, August 29, 2024
President Joe Biden to visit Wisconsin next Thursday
President Joe Biden plans to return to Wisconsin next week to discuss his administration's record on the economy, the White House announced Wednesday.
Biden
Biden will visit the battleground state on Thursday "to highlight how his Investing in America agenda is benefiting communities across Wisconsin and ensuring Americans have a brighter, more prosperous future," according to the White House.
Additional details, including the location of Biden's visit, were not immediately available.
Biden's visit to Wisconsin is his first since he ended his re-election bid in late July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris following the Democratic president's poor debate performance with former President Donald Trump in June.
Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are dramatically ramping their presence in Wisconsin — one of a handful of states that many expect to play a pivotal role in determining the winner of the November presidential election.
Vance was scheduled to hold a campaign event in De Pere on Wednesday, while Trump is slated to be in La Crosse on Thursday. Walz and Minnesota's first lady, Gwen Walz, plan to hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Monday.
Trump and Harris appear locked in a neck-and-neck race in the battleground state, according to a recent Marquette Law School Poll.
If he's incompetent to run for president again, then he's incompetent to be the president now. Enough with the rule of a senile old man. Step down, Sleepy Joe.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
IEPs aren't just for learning, physical disabilities. Students with behavioral issues benefit too.
Natalie Eilbert
Wisconsin families have options, depending on the child's mental health needs, according to Daniel Parker, assistant director of special education with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Paying attention to changes in behavior is always important, as is listening to what their children are saying. But if a child is struggling with grades, connecting to others or regulating their emotions and there's no end in sight, it may be time for parents to start looking into whether an individualized education program, or IEP, is appropriate.
Read more of this horseshit here: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/health/2024/08/28/does-your-child-need-an-iep-for-an-emotional-behavioral-disability/74788863007/
Another sick attempt to cripple our youth with woke assessments and psychobabble. If a kid has a hangnail, the woke jokes want him labeled as disabled and in need of psychiatric care. Well, fuck you. I grew up in an alcoholic household where my parents cared more about their drinking than about their children. Three attempts were made to molest me as a child. I witnessed fights, violence and horror growing up. Yet, I never considered myself a "victim." Victimhood is what the snowflakes want for our children. They are unable to care for their own lives, so they inflict themselves upon innocent children What disgusting swine they are. Pigs looking to make more pigs out of kids just trying to grow up.
Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects bid to revive Robin Vos recall election
Jessie Opoien
MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by opponents of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to expedite a case that would revive their effort to launch a recall election against the Rochester Republican.
The court did not offer any commentary in its decision to deny the recall proponents' request to bypass an appeals court.
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It was the Racine County-based group's second failed effort.
Vos, who has been speaker for 10 years and represented the southeastern Wisconsin 63rd Assembly District since 2005, is the most effective Republican in the GOP-controlled state Legislature but has faced fierce criticism from members of his own party in recent years over his rejection of calls to decertify the 2020 election, which has been impossible as long as supporters of Trump have called for the idea.
The court's decision means the petitioners, Racine Recall and Matthew Snorek, must take the case to an appeals court if they wish to proceed.
Members of the bipartisan state Elections Commission rejected the group’s first recall effort against Vos in April after commission staff determined the group didn’t gather enough signatures in the correct legislative districts and found petition circulators illegally forged signatures.
The recall efforts are led by a Racine County-area group that has sought to oust Vos over his previous criticism of Republican former President Donald Trump and his refusal to take up legislative efforts to impeach WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe. The group has espoused conspiracy theories and false claims about the 2020 election in Wisconsin.
Trump won Wisconsin by about 23,000 votes in 2016, then lost by about 21,000 votes to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020.
Vos endorsed Trump in March, after previously saying his nomination as the GOP presidential candidate would be a "suicide mission" for Republicans.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Green Party’s Jill Stein will remain on Wisconsin ballot after court refuses to hear challenge
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on the ballot in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court decided on Monday not to hear a Democratic challenge seeking to oust her.
Democrats are concerned that third-party candidates could draw votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris and help Republican Donald Trump win Wisconsin. The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a deciding factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
The court decided against hearing the challenge brought by David Strange, an employee of the Democratic National Committee, who sought to oust Stein from the ballot. The court did not explain its reasoning.
“We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks,” the court said in its unsigned order.
Strange argued that the Green Party can’t nominate presidential electors in Wisconsin because the party does not have any state officeholders or legislative candidates authorized to nominate presidential electors.
The Green Party and Republicans countered that the party met all of its legal requirements and that Stein should be allowed to remain on the ballot.
Stein praised the decision, saying the Green Party “beat back the DNC's attack.”
“Today justice prevailed,” she said in a statement.
Michael White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, called the complaint a “mark of fear by the Democratic Party” and said the attention generated by it had motivated Stein backers.
“It was an inevitable conclusion because the complaint had no merit to begin with and we knew that,” he said.
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Adrienne Watson called the decision “disappointing” and said the Green Party should not be on the ballot.
Stein last appeared on the Wisconsin ballot 2016, when she won just over 31,000 votes — more than Trump’s winning margin of just under 23,000 votes. Some Democrats have blamed her for helping Trump win the state and the presidency that year.
Strange had challenged a Wisconsin Elections Commission decision in February to grant the Green Party ballot access. The commission did so because a candidate from the party won more than 1% of the vote in a statewide race in 2022, meeting a requirement under the law. Sheryl McFarland got nearly 1.6% of the vote while finishing last in a four-way race for secretary of state.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify which candidates can appear on the ballot. Democrats are also challenging the placement of independent candidate Cornel West on the ballot. A Republican National Committee employee is challenging independent Shiva Ayyadurai’s candidacy.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court kept Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins off the ballot in 2020 after the elections commission deadlocked on whether he filed proper nominating signatures.
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Photo by: Alex Brandon/AP |
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remain on the ballot in Wisconsin, Elections Commission rules
The Wisconsin Elections Commission met Tuesday to decide ballot access for the November general election, which will decide the nation's next president.
After dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Donald Trump last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. submitted a request to the commission to rescind his nomination papers so he wouldn't appear on the ballot.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission decided to reject Kennedy's request, meaning voters will still be able to check his name on their ballots in November.
The vote was 5-1 to keep Kennedy on the ballot, with only Robert Spindell voting against.
TMJ4's Harm Venhuizen has been covering the meeting and will bring you more details on air and online.
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Photo by: Jose Luis Magana/AP |
Zuckerberg says Biden asked him to censor COVID content; bury Hunter Biden scandal
Monday, August 26, 2024
Racine native LaTrevion Fenderson commits to Greg Gard, Wisconsin men's basketball
Mark Stewart
MADISON – Wisconsin men's basketball coach Greg Gard scored his first commitment for the 2026 class Sunday afternoon.
LaTrevion Fenderson, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward from Racine, announced his commitment to the Badgers on X.
Fenderson attends DME Academy at St. John’s Northwestern in Delafield. He played his sophomore and junior years of high school ball at The Prairie School near Racine and his club ball with Wisconsin Playground.
He averaged 21.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists for The Prairie School last season. He was a first-team all-conference selection in the Metro Classic and first-team Division 4 all-state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Poetry Movement soliciting poems for publication in Racine city buses
RACINE — Racine residents could soon find themselves reading poetry while riding a city bus.
The Poetry Movement is inviting community members to submit 25-syllable poems about mental health to be considered for publication inside RYDE Racine buses.
Submissions are due Oct. 1, and the poems are expected to be published in January, according to a news release from the nonprofit.
The inaugural contest is intended to create “conversation starters” to help develop “an awareness and consideration of what other people might be struggling with,” while also “highlighting the need for public transit within our community,” according to Nicholas Ravnikar, contest organizer and former Racine writer-in-residence.
In addition to the call for submissions, The Poetry Movement is facilitating writing workshops to help interested participants write and revise their work.
The next workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 12, at NAMI-Racine county, 4701 Washington Ave., Suite 255.
Poets can submit their work at www.thepoetrymovement.org/bus-poems.
Poems can also be mailed to The Poetry Movement, care of ArtRoot, PO Box 1523, Racine, WI 53401. Submissions by mail should include the poet’s first and last name, contact information and a short biography.
Contest winners will be notified in November. Cash prizes also will be awarded.