Patricia Kern

MSOE Conservatory Opens in Historic Duplex

New music conservatory housed in former residential duplex on E. Juneau Ave.

MSOE Will Open Music Conservatory In Historic Duplex

University repurposing 118-year-old, Juneau Ave. house at northern edge of its campus.

Generac Founder Robert Kern Dies

Shared company's wealth with employees and created foundation supporting many Milwaukee organizations.

Brett Blomme for Milwaukee County Circuit Court Announces List of Early Endorsements

“I am so honored to have earned the support of these great leaders.”

WMC Loves Republican Governors Group

State’s big business group gives most of the $1.9 million from state donors to GOP campaign group.

Big Donors Get Big Tax Breaks

Corporate welfare recipients contributed more than $800,000 to Gov. Walker.

Walker Gets $5.1 Million Boost

Republican Governors Association books $5.1 million of TV ads to support Gov. Walker's reelection.

Republican Governors Group Has State Clout

The DC-based association gets Wisconsin donors, gave $18 million to Walker’s three elections.

Joint Finance Okays School Choice Expansion

Powerful voucher lobby, including Betsy DeVos, has spent millions to support state politicians.

$8.5 Million Reasons Why GOP Expanding Vouchers

Multi millions in campaign donations, mostly from out-of-state voucher supporters.

Medical College Gets Largest Gift Ever

$38 million donation establishes new collaborative network, creates new educational opportunities

Bill Goes Easy on Business Polluters

And manufacturers donate to legislators pushing the proposal.

Bill Reveals School Voucher Costs

Democratic bill says property tax bills must show cost to local school district.

Money Talks: Gov. Walker to Appoint Former Attorney for Major Right-Wing Donors’ Foundation

What Daniel Kelly Lacks in Judicial Experience He Makes Up For in Connections to Big Money and Right-Wing Extremism

Martin Building Adds Apartments to Third Ward

Four-story warehouse at 211 N. Broadway is being renovated on ward's main street.

MSOE buys downtown block next to Park East from BMO Harris Bank

The Rise of the Kern Foundation

The Waukesha-based foundation has quietly grown to assets of $627 million, nearly as big as the Bradley Foundation. It also leans conservative.

MSOE Proposes Parking Garage with Athletic Field in the Park East (Renderings)

Milwaukee School of Engineering is proposing the construction of a $30 million, 780-car parking garage, that would have an athletic field on the roof of the building. About 500 of the 780 parking spots would be leased to business and the general public, generating taxable revenue for MSOE.

Gould Takes Journal Buyout, Rips Grohmann Museum One More Time

Whitney Gould took an early retirement buyout from Journal Communications a little over a month ago.  Her send off column was titled “Retiring, not tiring of quality design.” Ever since moving to Milwaukee three years ago I’ve enjoyed her reporting on issues involving building design. My views began to disagree with hers when she started to question the restoration of the former check processing center on the corner of Broadway and State St into the Grohmann Museum, a museum dedicated to the showcasing of men (and women) at work throughout time, at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). I began to wonder if she cared that the new Grohmann Museum would finally build a book-end for the MSOE campus with the Kern Center, rehab an underused and unattractive building downtown, and build a transition piece from Milwaukee City Hall north to the Kern Center and Park East neighborhood.  Add to that the fact that the financing was entirely provided by Eckhart Grohmann.  In fact Robert & Patricia Kern and Eckhart Grohmann deserve nothing but admiration and applause for their commitment to producing well-rounded engineers in downtown Milwaukee. To be fair, Whitney Gould does address some of the these facts and does give a fair amount of praise to Grohmann for his contribution.  I do disagree with her on a few things though. Her appraisal of the building as a cheap impersonation of the style of a bygone era is lacking in insight.  One needs to only walk from City Hall, past the Grohmann Museum, and to the Kern Center to see the bridge the museum forms between the past and present architectural styles.  Unlike many other bland glass buildings in many other cities, Grohmann and the architects at Uihlein Wilson created something distinctly Milwaukee and distinctly MSOE.   The building meshes perfectly with the Kern Center both inside and out thanks to Uihlein Wilson designing both buildings, and forms a southern book end of the MSOE campus on Broadway to match the Kern Center’s north anchor position.  MSOE should be praised for finally developing a physical identity, especially while both Marquette and UWM expand theirs in a much more public fashion. She, along with other members of the art community, also seem to take offense that no one that works at the museum has true art credentials.  Speaking as someone who has been in the museum many times, the artwork is displayed just as it in any museum and curator John Kopmeier is just as qualified to discuss the content of the collection as anyone with an art degree. My final point of disagreement with Gould is over her obsession with the Nazi art work in the collection.  She seems to hold this belief that the Nazi-attachment to the artwork is hidden from viewers, it’s not.  It is not outwardly stated that “hey, this painting could contain Nazi slaves”, but if you ask someone they will tell you.  They will also tell you that the paintings featuring Egyptians might contain slaves […]

Mequon Turns Voter Away

The City of Mequon told a local man who tried to register and vote at City Hall last week that he was “too late.”