When AARP Wisconsin staff member Mariann Muzzi began to organize a program that helps people plan for their emotional, social and financial well being in retirement, it hit her: “I need to be doing this for myself.” While Muzzi, 59, fantasizes about pursuing photography and spending time with her grandchildren, she’s done little to prepare for retirement beyond contributing to a 401(k) plan.
In scenic Janesville, where Mitt Romney’s running mate spent most of his life, Paul Ryan’s friends and neighbors described him as a warm and down-to-earth family man who shuns politics at social gatherings. – Even before he was old enough to ride a bike, Paul Ryan seemed destined for a career in politics. Growing up in a well-to-do neighborhood in southern Wisconsin, a young Ryan displayed leadership skills that awed his preschool teacher.
Wedding jewelry has acquired a decidedly post-recession luster. With incomes low and precious metal prices stratospheric — gold prices closed at a record $1,509 an ounce on Monday — some couples can no longer afford to go the traditional route. And it’s no longer a given that couples exchange inexpensive rings and then save up for real gold and diamonds.
When Jim Davis was growing up in blue-collar Austintown, Ohio, in the 1980s, Fourth of July fireworks were the highlight of the year. The best place to view the display was on a dead-end road near his home. He and his friends would tie aluminum cans to parked cars while the owners were watching the display, then delight in the noisy ruckus when the spectators drove away. “It became a local tradition,” says Mr. Davis, who is now a town trustee. “We started saving soda pop cans and beer cans all year long.”
Genevieve Winslow of Milwaukee belongs is a member of the Greatest Generation. In 1948, at age 20, she married Alex Winslow, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Beginning a year later, at 21, she’s voted in nearly every election since. Now, she worries she might get turned away at the polls in the future.
It is a common concern among older Americans living in states that have enacted photo ID requirements for voting. Passed by Republican state legislatures as a hedge against voter fraud, the laws have been assailed by critics who say they discriminate against the elderly and minorities.
Twenty years after a crime spree that shocked Wisconsin, Susan Oswald Williams still regrets that she was unable to free her teenage son, Ted, from the grip of her violent ex-husband. When domestic abuse made national headlines in the wake of NFL player Ray Rice’s arrest, Williams tracked me down (I had covered the Oswald crime) and found the courage to tell her story.
I covered an appearance in Milwaukee by Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine, for the Washington Post, shortly after Wisconsin’s new voter ID laws were struck down in court. Presidential hopeful Donald Trump made an appearance in Green Bay, Wis., the same day, so the Post combined the stories, with Trump’s endorsement of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as the lead news, but I nabbed the quotes in which Kaine not so subtly blasted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Statistics compiled by the National White Collar Crime Center and the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance show that embezzlement by employees may be on the rise during the current economic downturn — at a time when businesses can least afford the losses associated with employee theft.
A leading Wisconsin executive and longtime key figure in the state’s economic development efforts reiterated his belief that those efforts have failed embarrassingly, but offered few ideas on how Wisconsin can improve an economy he calls grim.
Century-old historical landmarks and ‘green’ buildings might seem worlds apart, but hidden within the ornate, steeplelike Milwaukee City Hall, constructed in 1895 and recently renovated to the tune of $70 million, is a 21st-century success story: The City Hall complex, which includes two attached office buildings, has earned silver LEED certification for energy efficiency.