18 results for month: 02/2018

Backpack Full of Cash

Tenth Annual Wisconsin Grassroots Festival

TENTH ANNUAL WISCONSIN GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL March 24, 2018 Registration 8:00 / Event 9:00 To 4:45             Wisconsin Heights High School 10173 US Highway 14 / Mazomanie, WI Suggested $25 Donation / Lunch Included People Organizing for Solutions SPEAKERS Lisa Graves John Nichols Matt Rothschild Mark Pocan LUNCH TIME SPEAKER Senator Tammy Baldwin 21 BREAKOUT SESSIONS  A Progressive Agenda for Criminal Justice Reform Coalition-Building in the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Editorial Cartooning: Breaking Through The Noise With Pen, Brush & Attitude Elders/Retirement Age Civic Engagement Environmental Options in an ...

Demonstration, February 27: Demand Further Soil Tests on Thomas Street

Middle Wisconsin will be in attendance at the event below. We hope you are, too! There has rarely been such a sustained citizen-driven effort on a Wausau policy issue or project. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concerned citizens are invited to gather on the sidewalk in front of City Hall steps to demand further environmental testing of the neighborhood’s surface soils. This will take place at 5:30pm in front of 407 Grant Street in Wausau. Elevated Dioxin Levels in Soils Recently Identified:  In February, private testing results of surface soils revealed exceedances of DNR non-industrial ...

WORKING PEOPLE’S DAY OF ACTION

Saturday, February 24, in cities across the country, thousands will unite to demand an end to an economy that’s rigged in favor of the wealthy and most powerful. The Working People’s Day of Action is about demanding an end to the rigged economy and defending our freedoms. On February 24, we will stand up for the freedom of working people to come together and fight for decent and equitable pay for our work, affordable health care, quality schools, vibrant communities and a secure future for all of us. Join us for a Rally in Madison on Saturday, February 24 at 1 PM - 3 PM at Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. Wealthy special interests, ...

Lessons from a false alarm

On Saturday, January 13, 2018, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued an alert warning of an imminent missile attack. It was a false alarm, but many residents, and the media, received the text message. Given the saber rattling regarding North Korean missile tests, the alert seemed credible. Certainly the fear it generated was real. There are lessons to be learned (and hopefully acted upon) from this incident. Ralph Hutchinson, an advocate for abolishing nuclear weapons, discusses this incident in the context of our national nuclear weapons policy. His lessons and insights are excellent and I share them here. FALSE ALARM? HAWAII AND THE ...

Hunters in Training

Truth is stranger than fiction. With the Republican wrecking crew in charge nationally and in Wisconsin, truth is becoming increasingly stranger. A random walk through the news demonstrates what I mean. There are many seemingly small issues that speak volumes about where we are heading as a nation. One can only wonder what is wrong with these clowns? What are they thinking? No age limit to hunt in Wisconsin On November 13th, Walker signed a Republican bill doing away with the minimum age to participate in a “mentored” hunt. Children under 11 years old must hunt with a “mentor.” The mentor must be within “arms length” but both may ...

FARMERS ADVOCATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL COMMUNITIES

Farmers from several western Wisconsin counties traveled to Madison as part of the annual Ag Day at the Capitol. On the day the Governor delivered his State of the State address, farmers shared with their legislators the state of things in their world. Safety is always on the mind of farmers. For one farmer, farm safety was a heightened worry when his daughter took drivers education. He told me, folks traveling down rural roads often ignore the turn signals and lights on his tractor. People will make the dangerous decision to pass him when he is turning left into a farm field. There have been instances when drivers hit the farm equipment. ...

PROTECTION FOR STATE RETIREMENT FUNDS

By Pew Trusts https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2017/11/basic-legal-protections-vary-widely-for-participants-in-public-retirement-plans State and local pension plans hold over $3.6 trillion in retirement fund investments for participants and their beneficiaries, with returns on these investments accounting for an estimated 60 percent of the money paid out in pension benefits each year. In recent decades, public pension funds, in a bid to boost returns, have shifted funds away from low-risk, fixed-income investments—such as government and high-grade corporate bonds—to a greater reliance on equities and ...

CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE

LYRICS to CONFOUNDS THE SCIENCE (Written by Don Caron – Music by Simon & Garfunkel) Hello darkness my old friend. It’s time for him to tweet again, but first he’ll have to check in with fox news ‘cause that’s the only place he gets his clues. That’s how things get planted in his brain, where they remain, and it confounds the science. The problem is he’s not alone. He tweets to people on his phone that global warming is a giant hoax perpetuated by the liberal folks, and he hires people that all think the same, that play his game and it confounds the science. When he talks to crowds of four he sees ten thousand ...

THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOOL FUNDING

In the last few weeks school boards in Janesville, Rhinelander, Green Bay and Wisconsin Rapids passed resolutions stipulating that the public has a right to know how much state aid for public schools is being sent to subsidize private education. I encourage you to work with school boards in your area to further these efforts. In addition to asking school boards to pass their own resolutions, we can encourage school board members to support a WASB resolution--that will be introduced Jan. 17th at their state convention--that calls for reporting on local tax bills the amount of resources being diverted from public schools to private education. If ...