Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Around Town Middleton UPDATE: Empty storefronts on Mayflower Drive near University Avenue are filling up


Dark Bloom Tattoo (at left) is now open for business.

Photos by Retiring Guy



It doesn't appear that the originally announced tenants will be moving in.

6/28/2022 update starts here

Photo by Retiring Guy

Based on the agenda of the 6/28/2022 Middleton Plan Commission meeting, this parcel is not a candidate for redevelopment.  Two businesses are planning to move into the storefronts at left.


Original 6/1/2022 post starts here

For a couple of years now.  Redevelopment in this parcel's future?


Most recently occupied by Arrowhead Trophies and Passementerie.


January 2023
Bathroom advice.  (1/11)
Vin Santo restaurant reopening date postponed again.  (1/7)

October 2022
The Club Tavern still sits empty (2022 edition)  (10/20)
According to a recent Next Door post, this apartment building allegedly has roaches. (10/15)

August 2022
"Tactical Urbanism" at the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Middleton Street.  (8/29/2022)
The G Spot.  (8/11/2022)

July 2022
Turfbot mower.  (7/28)

May2022


November 2021


February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

August 2020

December 2019
Roman Candle survives the cut, even without the availability of convenient parking.  (12/12)
The Monona side of town.  (12/6)

November 2019
Bike rack at Sauk Trail Elementary School.  (11/8)
Not everybody's on board in the Meadows neighborhood.  (11/4)
 
October 2019
Matching car and garage door.  (10/11)

September 2019
Around Town Middleton: Bees love ornamental onion plants.   (9/4) 

August 2019
60-year-old resident arrested for armed robbery.  (8/21)
Staff and visitors may now park in the MCPASD Services Center lot .  (8/2)

June 2019
"ROAD WORK AHEAD" trumps "DRIVE LIKE YOUR KIDS LIVE HERE" on Park Street.  (6/27)
Free lunch Friday.  (6/24/2019)
CBD, just like everywhere else in Wisconsin.  (6/24)
 
February 2019
According to chapter 8.07 of the city ordinances....  (2/4)

January 2019
More than a snow fort, but not a standing-room igloo.  (1/2)
 
December 2018
This section of sidewalk was replaced in 1980.  (12/18)
The post office's new and improved self-service kiosk.  (12/18)

November 2018
Spell checker.  (11/19)

August 2018
Must be on a tight schedule.  (8/6/)

July 2018
What type of seeds?  (7/6)

June 2018
If it's not one thing, it's another.  (6/23)
Bloom Bake Shop to reopen as Bloom Bindery, a bakery/bookstore.  (6/15)

May 2018
The Tiedeman Pond frog chorus.  (5/15)

March 2018
Tiedeman Pond winter fish kill.  (3/30)
Hear that lonesome whistle blow.  (3/22)
Explosion on Elmwood Avenue.  (3/20)
Googling 'Henry Hubbard'.  (3/18) 
A not-so-faded Flo strikes a new pose.  (3/12)

February 2018

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GET ME REWRITE: Pearl-clutching over COVID hospitalization in MIlwaukee County

 
Headline:  Urban Milwaukee, 1/16/2023
The latest data on COVID-19 for Milwaukee County shows that cases overall are decreasing, but hospitalizations have been steadily increasing since November and are at their highest point in nearly a year.

According to the New York Times, the daily average of hospitalizations in Milwaukee County has decreased nearly 50% during the past 14 days.

New York Times, 


Related posts:
Here we go again. More pearl-clutching about Covid numbers (Santa Clara County California edition).  (12/4/2022)
Welcome to the Covid pearl-clutching symposium, hosted by the Kansas City Star.  (8/25/2022)

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GET ME REWRITE: A small group of older white folks show up to vent at Tom Tiffany listening session

 
Headline:  WJFW. 1/16/2023
“Parents want their kids to be educated being able to read write and be able to do math. They want them to be able to do the basics and some of that is being set aside now with the WOKE Agenda,” said Tiffany. Multiple citizens voiced their concerns about Title 9 and gender-based issues – mainly students being allowed to choose their locker room/bathroom.



Sources:  Ballotpedia, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Other "Tom Terrific" posts:
2022
After January 6, 2021, GOP shows off its 'soft on crime' side (Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin edition).  (10/11/2022)
Dear voters of Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, There are many reasons to show Tom Tiffany the door this November. Here's the latest. Best, Retiring Guy.  (6/21/2022)

2021
Wisconsin embarrassment Tom Tiffany gets all made up for bonkers his Newsmax appearance.  (10/28/2021)
Tom Tiffany joins other cretinous Republican Study Committee to insure virus spread.  (10/2)
Tom Tiffany erases January 6 Capitol insurrection from his mind.  (8/29)
Finally!  An honest statement from Tom Tiffany.  (8/25)
Meet Tom Tiffany, Trump sycophant and ill-informed charlatan with a shameful resume as Fan elected official.  (6/27)
Tom Tiffany is only member of Wisconsin congressional delegation to vote against COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.  (5/21)
The lazeist white men in the House.  (5/21)
GET ME REWRITE: Tom Tiffany has been an elected official since 2009 and still doesn't know how government works.  (4/11)
As you would expect, Tom Tiffany peddles inaccurate Covid transmission information.  (4/9)
Tom TIffany Clown Show shills for white privilege.  (3/27)
Tom Tiffany challenges Glenn Grothman for desingation as Wisconsin State Clown. (3/25)
Tales of Treason: Tom Tiffany goes to Washington.  (3/6)
Meet the Wisconsin delegation of the U.S. House Traitors Caucus.  (1/7)
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus crazies team up to scrap 'one-China' policy.  (3/5)

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GET ME REWRITE: Wyoming GOP fights crime and inflation with introduction of "Don't Say Gay" bill

 
Photo credit:  State of Wyoming (work mask added)
Top headline:  NBC, 10/16/2022
Bottom headline:  Cowboy State Daily, 1/16/2023

From Cowboy State Daily:
Bill sponsor Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, told Cowboy State Daily the name isn’t a good fit. “It’s parental rights,” said Dockstader. 
“It’s just based on that – nothing more.” 
Dockstader said he hasn’t seen or heard of specific incidents of teachers teaching LGBTQ-themed lessons to young students in Wyoming, but is sponsoring this bill so that the rights of parents are preserved “in the long run.” .
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Gun crazy encounter at Wendy's in Madison WI

 
Wonder what item on the got this chucklehead so bent out of shape.


From the Madison Police Department city-wide notable call (1/17/2023)
WEST: Weapons Offense – 12:29 p.m. Officers responded to Wendy's for a 30-year-old male suspect who pulled a gun from his waistband when he became upset about his food order. The suspect was located traveling eastbound on the beltline and a traffic stop was conducted. The suspect was arrested for disorderly conduct while armed.

Related post:
True Life Adventures:  The last biscuit.  (1/6/2023) 
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Day 807 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, New Mexico edition)

 
Meet the stars of the
ATTACK Of the Clown Show zombies
 
New Mexico failed GOP candidate
Solomon Pena
Headline:  Santa Fe New Mexican, 1/16/2023
Pena, who has voiced support for former President Donald Trump in Twitter posts and called himself “the MAGA king,” previously was convicted of 19 felonies, including burglary, larceny, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and receiving stolen property. He spent almost seven years in prison.
H.O.T. GOvernment Lunatic
Harry Wait
Headline:  Urban Milwaukee, 1/15/2023 
Wait’s organization, HOT Government, has moved its operation toward the extensive filing of open records requests and an attempt to scrutinize each and every voter file within the statewide voter registration system looking for what they believe are fake voters. 
“So there’s a local group here that’s very active, Harry Wait being one of their leaders who’ve really been pretty steadfast in their critique of the work that the city does to make sure that people have access to the polls,” Mason says. “So I think that’s what’s different. I think there’s a group here that’s radicalized in a way that we’re not seeing in other parts of the state.”

Audit the Vote PA zombie
Tammy Bronsburg
Headline:  New York Times, 1/15/2023
On the 797th day after the defeat of former President Donald J. Trump, a rural Pennsylvania county on Monday began a recount of ballots from Election Day 2020. 
Under pressure from conspiracy theorists and election deniers, 28 employees of Lycoming County counted — by hand — nearly 60,000 ballots. It took three days and an estimated 560 work hours, as the vote-counters ticked through paper ballots at long rows of tables in the county elections department in Williamsport, a place used to a different sort of nail-biter as the home of the Little League World Series. 
The results of Lycoming County’s hand recount — like earlier recounts of the 2020 election in Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona — revealed no evidence of fraud. The numbers reported more than two years ago were nearly identical to the numbers reported on Thursday. [emphasis added] 
Mr. Trump ended up with seven fewer votes than were recorded on voting machines in 2020.

Related series of posts:

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Monday, January 16, 2023

A visit to the Copenhagen Main Library (September 13, 2022)

 
Refurbishing the facade.  (We never learned the reason for the police presence.)

Photos by Retiring Guy

The atrium, looking up.




The atrium, looking down.


Displays of new books



Checking out the stacks



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GET ME REWRITE: Ohio GOP fights crime and inflation by disenfranchising military voters

 
Photo credit:  The Ohio Senate (work mask added)
Top headline:  NBC, 10/16/2022
Bottom headline:  News 5 Cleveland, 1/16/2023

From News 5:
Republican state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, who championed the tightened ballot deadline, said Ohio's previous window was “an extreme outlier” nationally. She said Ohio's military and overseas voters still have ample time under the new law. 
“While there is certainly more work to do, this new law drastically enhances Ohio's election security and improves the integrity of our elections, which my constituents and citizens across the state have demanded," she said.
It's voter suppression, plain and simple, Theresa.
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2022 USA book sales: Adult fiction is big winner

 
Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of this author's books.


The Bookseller, 1/9/2023

Related posts:

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GET ME REWRITE: Virginia GOP fights crime and inflation by pushing for statewide abortion ban

 
Top headline:  NBC, 10/16/2022
Bottom headline:  Fox 5 Washington DC, 1/15/2023

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GET ME REWRITE: Iowa GOP fights crime and inflation with racist and homophobic legislative agenda

 
Top headline:  NBC, 10/16/2022
Bottom headline:  Des Moines Register, 1/15/2023

From the Register:
Iowa Republicans have launched the 2023 legislative session with ambitious and far-reaching bills aimed at overhauling the state’s educational system, with a focus on giving parents more control over what and how their children are taught at school. 
Early attention has focused on Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to allow all Iowa students to access taxpayer-funded scholarships to pay for private schools — a proposal that will have an estimated $341 million price tag when fully phased in, her office says. 
Republican lawmakers have released a flurry of bills of their own, including several that revolve around LGBTQ students or controversial curricula such as critical race theory.  [emphasis added]

Original 1/13/2023 post, "Iowa Republicans fight crime and inflation by introducing "Don't Say Gay" bill", starts here.

Photo credit:  Iowa Legislature (work mask added)
Top headline:  NBC, 10/16/2022
Bottom headline:  Axios Des Moines, 1/13/2023 

From Axios Des Moines:
Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler, who chairs the House Education Committee, told Iowa Capital Dispatch that House File 9 will help parents stay informed.

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GET ME REWRITE: Wisconsin State Journal normalizes Trump Clown Show on House Oversight Committee

 
Top headline:  Congressional Integrity Project, 12/9/2022
Side headline (print edition):  Wisconsin State Journal, 1/16/2023

From the Congressional Integrity Project:
James Comer is a MAGA champion, playing to the most extreme part of the Republican base. Americans cannot trust him to conduct fair, impartial investigations when he is open to allowing the most pro-Trump, radical Republicans onto his committee. 
Reports also state that already, half of the Republicans on the Oversight committee are members of the House Freedom caucus, the most pro-Trump, extreme MAGA bloc of the entire Republican caucus. And Comer wants to make the Oversight Committee even more MAGA, all to hurt Joe Biden and Democrats and help Republicans politically.

Related Comer posts:
51 U.S. House members implore Trump to legalize LGBT discrimination.  (3/5/2017)

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The continuing dilemma @nextdoor: Gunshots? Fireworks?

 
Next Door

Related reading:


USA Today, 7/6/2022


Related posts:
NEXT DOOR MYSTERY: Gunshots? Fireworks? A Parkwood Hills resident needs to know..  (12/27/2022)
Gunshots? Fireworks? In this case, the latter.  (2/9/2022)
Next Door Adventures (series)

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Movie box office for 2nd weekend of January 2017-2023

 
USA box office on the second weekend of January 2023 was up 44% compared to last year when "Scream" was the top-grossing movie.  And it was down 34% compared to the 2020 peak when "1917" was the top-grossing movie.
 
Source:  Box Office Mojo

Variety, 1/15/2023
Movie theater operators owe a debt of gratitude to the Na’vi and the new queen of artificial intelligence. 
January tends to be a slow time of year at the box office. Yet James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” and Universal’s viral horror movie “M3GAN” continue to slay in North America, prevailing over three new nationwide releases during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

1/15/2023 update starts here

USA box office on the second weekend of January 2023 was up 45%
compared to last year when "Scream" was the top-grossing movie.  And it was down 42% compared to the 2018 peak when "Jumanji:  Welcome to the Jungle" was the top-grossing movie.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

Variety, 1/15/2023
Watching Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” in all its superficially titillating, occasionally exciting and mostly exhausting wretched excess (the orgies, the elephant poop, the contempo actors overdoing it as dawn-of-cinema stars, the general air of cynical performative effrontery), I thought to myself: We’ve been here before, so many times. 
You sit down to watch a movie by a director whose work you love. He’s swinging for the fences. His ambition is on full display and so, in fits and spurts, is his talent. Yet something else is on display too: a lack of judgment that starts out like a worm, wriggling through the proceedings, before growing and metastasizing until it’s eating everything in its path.

Original 1/14/2023 post starts here

USA box office on the second weekend of January 2023 was down 7.5% compared to last year when "Scream" was the top-grossing movie.  And it was down 42% compared to the 2020 peak when "1917" was the top-grossing movie.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

The Wrap, 1/4/2023
While still not at pre-pandemic levels, the box office is performing stronger than it did last year on this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, led of course by Disney/20th Century’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” as it passes $550 million domestic.


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