cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/15783542

From the Article:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is spearheading an effort to help more workers in the upper Midwest gain skills for green jobs that support manufacturing.

UW-Milwaukee will assist nine community colleges in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois to establish Industrial Training Assessment Centers — places where workers can develop energy assessment skills. Those skills can then be used to help manufacturers reduce energy consumption and cut carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Energy Department selected UW-Milwaukee to lead one of its Clean Energy and Manufacturing Workforce Consortia, with the goal of helping companies be more competitive while addressing climate change. The university received a $5.7 million federal grant to assist in the effort, the college announced this week.

From the Article:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is spearheading an effort to help more workers in the upper Midwest gain skills for green jobs that support manufacturing.

UW-Milwaukee will assist nine community colleges in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois to establish Industrial Training Assessment Centers — places where workers can develop energy assessment skills. Those skills can then be used to help manufacturers reduce energy consumption and cut carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Energy Department selected UW-Milwaukee to lead one of its Clean Energy and Manufacturing Workforce Consortia, with the goal of helping companies be more competitive while addressing climate change. The university received a $5.7 million federal grant to assist in the effort, the college announced this week.

From the Article:

The 19th annual Downtown Employee Appreciation Week kicks off Monday, Aug. 19 and runs through Friday, Aug. 23 in Downtown Milwaukee.

Downtown Employee Appreciation Week's mission is to reward Downtown Milwaukee’s dedicated workforce with a week of incentives, including daily giveaways, office challenge games, employee discounts and more.

Monday’s highlights start with free coffee at “The Morning Jolt with Levy Restaurants” located at Baird Community Commons, 799 N. Vel R. Phillips Ave. from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – while supplies last.

An opening day ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 11:45 a.m. in Red Arrow Park, complete with live music from KOJO, Office Challenge Games sponsored by Educators Credit Union, a Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Shootout, an appearance from the Milwaukee Brewers Street Team, 1,000 sandwiches from Downtown Kitchen and 300K Café and free cookies from Davians.

In the evening, a Moment of Meditation wellness session will be held at Sampson Square in Schlitz Park from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

From the Article:

Less than a month after buying roughly 170 acres in Racine County, Microsoft has acquired even more land for its $3.3 billion data center campus.

Microsoft purchased 70.9 acres of mostly vacant land in Mount Pleasant for $12.75 million, according to Wisconsin Department of Revenue online records.

The sale was recorded Tuesday. Like the 173 acres purchased last month, the land acquired in August is located along Louis Sorenson Road. It’s near the main data center development site, according to a project overview. The company also bought 32.1 acres on the road back in May.

From the Article:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced plans to lay off 32 tenured faculty members.

Chancellor Mark Mone revealed the layoffs in a letter sent Monday to faculty and staff.

The job cuts come after the UW System said it will close its campuses in Waukesha and Washington counties.

In addition to the layoffs, Mone recommended shutting down UW-Milwaukee's College of General Studies and its three academic departments: Arts & Humanities, Math & Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences & Business.

"I am deeply saddened by this scenario and wish it were not occurring. However, proceeding with the proposal is aligned with our mission and is the most responsible decision for UWM’s future," Mone said in the letter.

The UW Board of Regents must approve the cuts.

From the Article:

Only four of the Wisconsin restaurants Guy Fieri visited on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” remain open, but they’re certainly worth a visit.

If you’re on the hunt for a diner to experience in Wisconsin, look no further than the restaurant “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host Guy Fieri has already visited on his ever-popular Food Network show. In these episodes, which span culinary options throughout the entire United States, he visits for a meal and to chat with the owners as well as regulars. Wisconsin has been featured numerous times on what’s fondly known as the “Triple D” show. Even though some of those spots are now closed, here are four that remain open and are ready to serve you.

From the Article:

Amtrak's train line connecting Chicago to the Twin Cities through Milwaukee saw a successful first full month of service this summer.

Amtrak’s new Borealis line saw 19,400 riders in the month of June, giving the line a total of 26,000 riders since it launched May 21, according to a June performance report by Amtrak. The line saw 6,600 passengers over its first 11 days of operation in May.

The route is sponsored by the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. A federal grant provides 90% of the first-year operating costs. The project represents a $53 million investment and includes track improvements in La Crosse and Minnesota.

The twice-daily Borealis was built as an expansion of the Empire Builder service which connects Chicago with the Twin Cities on its way to Seattle. Borealis’ 411-mile route takes about 7 hours and 20 minutes, compared with Empire’s nearly 8-hour journey.

The report also showed $1.9 million in operating revenue versus $1.8 million in operating expense for the line so far this year, giving the line adjusted operating earnings of $100,000.

This made it one of just two lines to have positive adjusted operating earnings for the year, along with the Berkshire Flyer.

However, operating earnings doesn't equate to profitability, according to Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari.

Magliari said that the report only measures direct costs for the line like employee salaries, fuel and payments to the railroads used. It doesn't cover things like depreciation, income tax expense and other factors.

Any earnings from the line would be split between the three states based on a cost-sharing agreement, Magliari said.

While what Amtrak has seen so far in terms of ridership is “very encouraging,” Magliarli said, the company is not actively considering adding more service in Wisconsin.

“We need more than 90 days of data to make these kinds of decisions, and we’ve not even gone into a slower travel season yet,” Magliari said.

Magliari said increasing how often the trains run would also be difficult. If the service were to expand, it would be likely through adding capacity to the trains, although that’s constrained by fleet size.

“We have a contract with these states to provide this much capacity and if there’s a need for additional capacity, we and the states will talk about that,” Magliari said.

In addition to downtown Milwaukee Intermodal Station, Wisconsin stops include Sturtevant, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Columbus, Portage, Wisconsin Dells, Tomah and La Crosse.

“The initial data is promising and reflects the hard work done by WisDOT, our partner states and Amtrak to bring this service to the people of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois,” Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson said in an Amtrak press release. “We’re hopeful the more people that ride Borealis and like it, the more successful it will be.”

From the Article:

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee rejected this week a proposal to lay off 35 tenured faculty after the closing of two suburban branch campuses.

The university’s faculty senate voted 24-11 Wednesday in opposition to the plan that had been advanced by UWM Chancellor Mark Mone earlier this year.

The next step for the controversial is not clear. The plan must be approved by the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents. In a statement reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a UWM spokesperson said that the process was still underway.

The Wisconsin conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on Friday called on Mone and the UWM administration to change course.

“We call on the chancellor to slow the process down and reconsider his proposal in light of the serious reservations that led the Faculty Senate to reject it,” AAUP-Wisconsin President Nick Fleisher, who teaches at UWM, wrote in a statement posted on the group’s website. “Under no circumstances should the current proposal be submitted to the Board of Regents at its August meeting.”

The board’s next scheduled meeting is August 22. Meeting materials have not yet been posted.

From the Article:

A long-awaited Oak Leaf Trail project may finally move forward.

Milwaukee County Parks is seeking funding in the 2025 county budget for a new access ramp connecting the Oak Leaf Trail directly to E. Hampshire Street on Milwaukee’s East Side. The project would create a safer, more direct commute for bicyclists and pedestrians traveling to UW-Milwaukee and it would fix a tunnel causing sinkholes along the trail.

The department has gone after funding at the state and federal level for the project, estimated to cost approximately $1.85 million. In 2022, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) awarded the county a $1.3 million Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant for the project. Now the Parks is asking county policymakers for the 20% matching cost (approximately $540,000) so it can use the grant and move the project forward.

A 2025 county budget won’t be finalized and signed until November, but the project was ranked as a priority by the parks department for 2025 and it is currently scoring high on the county’s list of infrastructure projects for 2025, based on criteria used by the county’s ad-hoc Capital Improvements Committee (CIC).

“A new trail access ramp at Hampshire Avenue would provide a much safer and direct connection to the campus of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the 135-mile Oak Leaf Trail system while also addressing an old tunnel that threatens the existing trail,” according to a project summary from Parks. “This ramp would increase bicycle and walking commute rates to campus for students, staff, and the community; improve safety; and reduce driving rates.”

Residents of the local neighborhood and the university have been requesting a trail ramp at this location for about a decade, according to the department.

From the Article:

There was a time when Milwaukee was awash in great bookshops. This is not that time. But don’t fret because there is still a range of great booksellers purveying everything from fine literature to kids classics to cutting edge poetry to political works and more.

Though there are a number of chain shops, I have not included those, nor have I dwelled too heavily on used books, though I have included a few. After you visit these, you might want to delve deeper into some of the other shops – offering mostly pre-owned books.

From the Article:

Milwaukee voters have a good chance of finding a contested primary, potentially with high stakes, on their ballot Tuesday.

There are 10 state-level partisan primaries on city of Milwaukee ballots Tuesday.

While candidates are technically running for the party’s nomination, a handful of primary races will actually determine who wins the seat come November. With few Republicans running for office in a Democratic stronghold like Milwaukee, some winners will coast into the general election unopposed.

Our candidate guide notes which races will be determined by the outcome of Tuesday’s partisan primaries. Uncontested races are not included.

The majority of the races on the ballot are for seats in the Assembly, where representatives serve two-year terms. The only Senate race is a rematch of the special election held in District 4 last month.

From the Article:

After nearly eight decades of family ownership, Glorioso’s Italian Market is being sold.

Brothers Carmine, Dominic and Paolo Presta, an Illinois-based family, are preparing to take over the specialty grocer, 1011 E. Brady St., with plans to honor and continue the store’s neighborhood legacy.

Carmine, who will serve as president of the new ownership group, said the transition will commence as soon as the licensing process is finalized.

“Our thing is to keep everything the same,” he said. “Same staff, same chef, same recipes.”

The brothers plan to work closely with the current general manager and registered agent, Michael Glorioso, who will act as an ambassador and adviser moving forward.

“We’re kind of like Michael’s younger generation that he’s always wanted, to see what he’s done with Glorioso’s, and to see it keep going forward and expanding,” Carmine said. “We thought it was a great opportunity.”