On Wednesday Governor Doyle announced plans to spend the first $300 million out of $550 million stimulus funds on 63 road construction and repair projects in 30 counties. Just under half of counties in Wisconsin made this first round but a glaring omission has to be Milwaukee County. Although freeway expansion and construction are often in conflict with urban goals, Milwaukee County clearly has a multitude of existing state highways that are in desperate need of repair and Milwaukee County has thousands of people in need of work immediately.

Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, the company slated to provide the train sets for the potential Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail line, has closed its doors due to a liquidity problem. The company was the only supplier of diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains that met FRA standards to operate on the same tracks as freight trains. So the battle over a recently released (and highly-flawed in our opinion) cost report might have to be tabled at this point.

Our previous article on Janesville’s coming problems might not be as big of a problem as previously thought. Sources have confirmed that Oshkosh Truck has discussed with General Motors the possibility of leasing the Janesville plant along with utilizing the soon-to-be unemployed GM workforce.

The title of this post is purely fiction at this point, but is what this writer believes should happen.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard by now that the General Motors factory in my hometown of Janesville is closing. What many (politicians and residents alike) are not considering is the massive trickle down effect this is going to have on the rest of Janesville as a large source literally abandons the city.

Our beloved Lake Michigan is in trouble.  In the last year alone "the small fish" that sustain the big salmon and trout had their numbers cut in half.  Thanks to a growing number of mussels that are able to live at deep depths and rob the water of energy (the plankton), the ecosystem is under [...]

Metra 403 Originally uploaded by jimfrazier The budget compromise was just approved by both sides of Wisconsin State Legislature, and will certainly be approved by Governor Jim Doyle later this week. In what ways did it affect Milwaukee? Money for the the KRM line, connecting Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee with a high-frequency rail line, was [...]