Changed Climate

Obama, McCain Support Limits on Greenhouse Gases

By Brandon Lorenz, Senior Editor
Building Operating Management
November 2008

Tuesday, Nov. 4, could well be a wake up call for facility executives. Regardless of the party chosen, the next president will be the first who has committed, with detailed plans, to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

While John McCain and Barack Obama may belong to different parties and different generations, their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions share remarkable similarities, particularly when viewed against President George W. Bush. For years, the Bush Administration has opposed the idea of regulating carbon dioxide — one of six greenhouse gases scientists list as a contributor to global warming.

Crossing Paths with Journalists and Pundits

Russert on a Shield Law, and Buchanan's Ruined Shirt

The Poynter Institute
July 24, 2008

The first (and only) time I met NBC's Brian Williams, he threatened to send sharks with laser beams attached to their heads after me if I didn't return his copy of The New York Times.

I needed the newspaper to make a graphic for that night's edition of "Hardball with Chris Matthews." Somehow, it seemed that Brian Williams was the only person at MSNBC who still subscribed to a print edition of the newspaper. And, of course, the interns who came before me on "Hardball" during the summer of 2001 had borrowed the newspaper and neglected to return it.

Eventually I was allowed to borrow the newspaper. I learned that no one could beat a news anchor's ability to deadpan.

Finding a way to help

Newburg home is a model for those with disabilities

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Page 1F

Village of Newburg - It's fair to call Newburg tiny. Nestled around a crook in the Milwaukee River seven miles west of Saukville, it consists of a few corner bars, two churches and about 1,100 people.

But tiny doesn't mean anonymous.

Sitting across from her woodstove on a cold winter night, Diane Miller opens a tattered red binder and reads off a list - visitors to her bed and breakfast over the last nine years - 37 states and seven countries in all.

When she's done reading, Miller tucks the binder between her legs and leans back in her motorized wheelchair.

Miller, 55, is executive director of Welcome House of Modification Examples (HOME), a nonprofit that manages this bed and breakfast where people with disabilities can find out first-hand how to modify their own homes to make them more accessible.

Getting a Handle on Server Energy

Soaring energy costs push industry to create metrics for energy use in data centers

Building Operating Management
November 2007

Data centers are the facility equivalent of a 1967 Corvette. Most vintage Corvette owners probably know that their cars only get 10 mpg on a good day. Odds are they don’t care. They just want to go fast.

Brookfield considers sex-offender law

City might join others in imposing restrictions

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Page 5B

Brookfield - The city became the latest Waukesha County community to consider restricting where registered sex offenders can live when aldermen debated a proposal Wednesday night that could make most of the city off limits.

Communities across southeast Wisconsin are racing to enact laws that regulate where sex offenders can live. Many of the ordinances target those recently released from prison.

The Town of Brookfield and Butler have recently set limits. Waukesha debated a restriction last week. Menomonee Falls approved a similar measure in June.

The moves are driven by a fear that sex offenders with pose a threat to city residents and reduce property values. But the state Department of Corrections has said such restrictions could force sex offenders underground and gut a program that tells the public where registered sex offenders live.

Aldermen stall merger action

Muskego wants to know costs, savings of combining its 2 fire departments

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Page 1B

Muskego - More than six months after a consultant said the city should combine its two volunteer fire departments, aldermen delayed action Tuesday night, saying they wanted to know what the costs and savings could be.

The $60,000 study, conducted by Virginia-based System Planning Corp., called the departments dysfunctional and said they were engaged in "one-upsmanship."

Because the city pays for most of the costs to run the private fire departments, the expenditures are ultimately borne by taxpayers.

The Muskego Fire Department, for example, has a 100-foot ladder truck even though the city's tallest building is only 40 feet high.

The city budgeted about $446,000 in 2007 for operating costs for the Muskego and the Tess Corners fire departments, according to the study. Another $1.2 million was budgeted for capital purchases.

Elmbrook plans for smaller high schools

Study allows forecast of 2,300 students

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Page 3B

Brookfield - The Elmbrook School District should size its future high schools to accommodate 2,300 resident students in the 2016-'17 school year, a committee decided Wednesday night, a significantly smaller size than the high schools were designed to accommodate in the district's failed April referendum.

The decision came after 90 minutes of spirited debate on a population study conducted by a University of Wisconsin-Madison consultant, suggesting that student enrollment at Brookfield Central and East high schools would likely decline 10% to 16% over the next 15 years.

That study from the Applied Population Laboratory presented a baseline projection, a projection based on five-year trends and one based on two-year trends. The projections estimated a range of 2,200 to 2,298 resident students at the high schools, depending on the model used.

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