Jim Stingl

Milwaukee Press Club Announces 2022 Media Hall of Fame Honorees

Journal Sentinel Promotes Long-Gone Writer

Readers urged to read Michael Wolff’s “brutally honest’ column. It hasn’t run in two years.

Journal Sentinel Veterans Vanishing

Seven more journalists leaving, including some big names, as paper shrinks further.

Residents encouraged to share information on electric scooter accidents

Statement of Alderman Robert J. Bauman November 11, 2019

Tent City A Result of Public Policy

Tent City residents need resources not currently available to them, not destruction of their camp.

Death Watch at the Journal Sentinel

Yet more layoffs, Gannett cuts nationally, facing buyout bid.

Journal Sentinel Loses Six More Staff

All veterans taking buyout, as staff continues to be purged.

The House of Hank the Dog

The Brewer's canine mascot has a nine-room Whitefish Bay home and 10,000 square foot lot to roam in, all worth $570,000.

Will Allen Goes Viral

From ABC News to Colbert, everybody is celebrating Will Allen.

The War Against Chief Flynn

Why is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel trashing the city’s best police chief in decades?

The Inaugural

Marvin Pratt did not stand up with the crowd when Tom Barrett was inaugurated mayor, and the press has made a good deal of the slight. However, just after Judge Louis Butler administered the oath of office to the new mayor, Barrett’s first comments were to commend Pratt, and the former acting mayor did stand up and take a bow. The ceremonies were held April 20th outside of City Hall in some perfectly dreadful Milwaukee spring weather. So, who was the idiot who came up with that idea? “I’m the idiot who thought to hold it outside,” fessed up Kris Martinsek. After all, the president is inaugurated outdoors in January. However, January in Washington is not nearly as unpleasant as Milwaukee in April. The stage was set up on Wells Street, facing east. Upon the stage sat Milwaukee’s new leaders, including the mayor, the common council, the comptroller, treasurer, city attorney, city clerk and a municipal judge. Their families sat out in the street and in the adjacent park next to the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building. Frank P. Zeidler was there himself, sandwiched between Marvin Pratt and Senator Herb Kohl. Kohl was dressed as he always is around here. He wore a shirt, a tie, a Milwaukee Bucks cap and a windbreaker. Except for the tie, he pretty much looked like the guy who harvests aluminum cans from my recycling bin. If he tried to walk on to the floor of the United States Senate in that getup, the sergeant-at-arms would toss him out. But this is Milwaukee, the “come as you are” capital of America, and he fit right in. Barrett has made a list of 18 things he wants to accomplish in his first hundred days in office. I don’t know if reducing the police overtime budget is one of them, but the men in blue were certainly racking up the hours during the interminable ceremony. The aldermen were sworn in sequentially according to district. Each alderman then gave a little speech. The last district, the 15th, is occupied by Willie Hines, who is now the Common Council president. He then gave a big speech. He began by saying, “my ascent to the Council Presidency is not a compromise or consolation prize for the African-American community.” This was an effective way to defuse speculation that his election was a compromise or consolation prize, and was a rather sharp thing to do. Hines also insisted that corruption will not taint his council. (We’ll check back on that in four years.) His delivery was generally quite good, and had a hint of religious fervor to it. Moments earlier, he did have a slip up. When Valarie Hill was about to be sworn in as municipal judge, Hines said, “The City Clerk will now come to the altar – er, the podium – to take the oath.” Also, when Hines introduced the new mayor he called him “Mayor Marvin Pratt – er, Mayor Barrett.” These things happen. The Common Council […]

Why The Mayor is Not Dead

Back in the early 1980s, Milwaukee Magazine ran a scathing caricature of Mayor Henry Maier with the title "What Does This Man Do All Day?"

The Truth About Miller Park

Those looking for a frank assessment of Miller Park are unlikely to find it in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which rarely criticizes anything connected to the home team.