Wisconsin voters attending rallies over the weekend proved divided by party affiliation in how worried they were that the presidential election could be “rigged.” But politicians on both sides of the aisle expressed confidence the election will be tallied fair and square. Republican candidate Donald Trump has talked since August of the presidential election’s potential for being rigged and has said he won’t necessarily accept Tuesday’s results if he does not win.

Could an educational program help change the face of local development? As the once-booming commercial real estate industry recovers, bringing new life to both old and vacant properties, Marquette University is also resurrecting a certificate program designed to help students of color break into the field. The 26-week associates in commercial real estate (ACRE) program, shuttered for five years, is back with a more realistic curriculum, but no less enthusiasm

The Facebook post — uploaded in November 2014 — had been shared 636,912 times by the afternoon of July 9, 2015. And the momentum was still going.
A few hours later, there were 2,500 more “shares,” and by July 10, another 11,151 people had shared the post, which attracted more than 5,000 comments. The hot topic? Nurses and their long hours.

Last June, when Milwaukee Public Schools named the Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade High School –  better known as Bradley Tech – one of the 14 “underperforming” school to be included in a new, three-year rescue plan, Lyle Balistreri sighed. The retired union president of Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council had seen too many three to four-year plans like the new Commitment Schools program, with its “rigorous academic and behavioral interventions,” fail to correct the tech school’s academic failings, poor graduation rates and behavior issues, the same troubles that plague many urban high schools. Worse, Bradley Tech seemed to be losing its 100-plus-year reputation for producing graduates ready to pursue trade apprenticeships, associate degrees or blue-collar jobs.

Milwaukee homeowners faced with the need to make major repairs could soon be getting help in a big way from the city’s Strong Homes Loan Program.
The new program aims to help those who lack the savings or sufficient equity to secure a loan. Up to $20,000 in loans will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to homeowners who agree to occupy their property for 10 years. If they do, a quarter of the loan’s principal will be forgiven, with interest no higher than 3 percent.

The beheading of journalist James Foley in August hit close to home for many Milwaukeeans because the war correspondent was a graduate of Marquette University. But how many know the story of Mildred Fish Harnack. She was a native daughter and Nazi resister believed to be the only American woman ever executed on orders from Adolf Hitler. Joel Waldinger, producer of a 2011 Wisconsin Public Television documentary on Harnack, says he first learned of the professional translator’s heroism in 2006 during a fellowship in Berlin.

Milwaukee’s Downtown mall, the Shops of Grand Avenue, describes itself as a historical landmark. But unlike other highly visible city landmarks – the Calatrava designed Milwaukee Art Museum or the steel-domed Miller Park– the little-advertised mall seems in danger of becoming more of an urban legend than a destination. Adding insult to injury are the various proposals to tear down Boston Store, or the entire mall, to make room for a sports and
entertainment arena.

Tracy treated casualties in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and Afghanistan, and rose to colonel while sandwiching her Army career around a 15-year break to raise a Wisconsin family. Now, she’s back on active duty at San Diego’s Balboa Naval Medical Center. “I first came into the Army in 1967 and went to
Okinawa, where we served the wounded from
Vietnam. A lot of fellows got hurt. During the
Tet Offensive in 1969, our hospital doubled in occupancy. We were working six days a week, 12 hours a day, getting 60 air evacuees every other day. We had them hanging from the ceiling.