Issue of the Week:
Wisconsin: America’s New Nuclear Dumping Ground?
It seems almost incredible that pristine forest in northern Wisconsin could be on the short list for a national high-level radioactive waste disposal site, but it’s true. The Wolf River batholithwhich stretches from Portage County through Waupaca, Shawano, Menominee, Langlade and Oconto countiesand the Puritan batholith, which is way up north in Sawyer, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron counties, were identified by the Department of Energy as potential nuclear waste repositories back in the 1980s. Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, was chosen instead. But President Obama has put the kibosh on Yucca Mountain, and nuclear opponents in Wisconsin are worried that the federal government will take a long look at the state’s sites as an alternative.
Some Wisconsin legislatorsincluding supposedly environmentally aware ones are looking at nuclear power as a safe, “green” alternative because it doesn’t emit greenhouse gases. The governor’s Task Force on Global Warming has proposed a tweaking of the state’s 1983 moratorium on new nuclear plants, and Republican leaders have routinely introduced bills to do away with the moratorium altogether. Since Yucca Mountain’s demise, though, loosening Wisconsin’s nuclear regulations could not only allow new nukes in the state, but it would also send a signal to Washington that we’re comfortable with nuclear power and nuclear waste. The result may be an even longer look at the Wolf River and Puritan batholiths. Let’s not let that happen to our precious camping, hunting, fishing and recreational grounds, the very land that makes “up north” a destination that’s worth the journey.
Event of the Week: Gathering Waters Festival
Summer is taking its time getting here, but hopefully it will have arrived full-force by Saturday, June 13, for the Gathering Waters Festival (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at Lakeshore State Park by the Henry Maier Festival grounds. An outdoor family event with a focus on personal wellness and environmental stewardship, Gathering Waters will include many activities, including geocaching (a scavenger hunt using GPS), rock-wall climbing, kite flying and art projects for kids. Also on hand will be boats from local police and fire departments and the Coast Guard, along with scientific research vessels. Cyclists can also join the 9:30 a.m. public bike tour, which travels along the Hank Aaron State Trail from the Menomonee Valley to the festival.
Hero of the Week: Charisha Allen
Perhaps no one embodies the spirit of the Hero of the Week better than Charisha Allen, head of Mothers of the Struggle, a citywide organization of mothers helping each other deal with daily problems. Allen, who has four biological and three adopted children, cofounded the group with friends to “improve the quality of life for children, and alter the relationship of power in the community.” The group focuses on education, unemployment, safety and peer-pressure issues, helps mothers find and utilize community resources and services, offers mediation, counseling and social services advocacy, and runs a Youth Development and Redirection program. “There are no safe zones, only zones of change,” says Allen, who taught K-5 and special education at the Milwaukee Academy of Science for 10 years. “Everyone must take ownership for the opportunity to overcome the struggles of our communities.”
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Those wishing to get involved with the group are invited to attend a June 13 meeting at 2821 N. Fourth St., or visit their Web site at www.mothersofthestruggle.org.
Jerk of the Week:State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)
Lost in the shuffle of last week’s budget negotiations was state Sen. Alberta Darling’s attempt to weaken proposed regulations on Milwaukee’s experimental, expensive voucher school program. While the governor and Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee were working to increase performance requirements and accountability in these taxpayer-funded private schools, Darling carried water for the voucher crowd. She wanted the new regulations for teachers, testing and hours of instruction to apply only to those schools that “have not achieved accreditation.” (If they can’t “achieve accreditation,” then why should taxpayers fund them?) Darling, whose district is overwhelmingly suburban, also wants the enrollment cap to be lifted from 22,500 to 25,000 pupilswhich would make the program far more expensive for Milwaukee city property taxpayers, who shoulder a disproportionate share of the program’s cost. Not surprisingly, Darling’s proposals only earned four out of 16 votes on the Joint Finance Committee, all of them Republican.
