Latest Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Stories

By Steven Walters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 26--MADISON -- The Wisconsin Democratic Party on Friday replaced a national convention delegate for saying that she planned to vote for Republican Sen. John McCain for president in November instead of Sen. Barack Obama. The unanimous conference-call vote of the Democratic Party's Administrative Committee removed as a convention delegate Debra Bartoshevich -- the first time in the nation a state party has taken such action. Bartoshevich...

By Greg Borowski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 25--Willkommen to Freitag, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, there's still plenty of time to get your Ooom Pah on, with German Fest continuing through the weekend at the lakefront. And that's just part of the weekend smorgasbord. But first, a nutritious helping of news. State Democratic officials will meet by conference call today to decide on the status of a Hillary Clinton delegate to the party's national convention who says she plans to...

By Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 25--ZBB Energy Corp. of Menomonee Falls and a California company plan to link up solar panels with a fuel-cell energy storage system, with the aim of providing renewable power to medical offices and schools in rural parts of western and central Africa. The maker of high-efficiency fuel cells said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with privately held Envision Solar International of La Jolla, Calif., to combine ZBB's fuel-cell...

By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 24--While cuts by Midwest Airlines will leave travelers from Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport with fewer nonstop destinations, other carriers are moving to fill some of those gaps. Since Midwest announced its cuts Sunday, AirTran Airways has said it will add flights to Baltimore, Florida and Las Vegas. Northwest Airlines Corp. will add nonstop service to Los Angeles. With the Midwest service cuts that take effect Sept. 8, and the...

By Dan Egan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 24--The fight to keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes picked up some steam Wednesday. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a coalition of environment groups, backed by some Great Lakes states, that sued the federal government to begin regulating ballast water like any other pollutant under the Clean Water Act. The decision followed a lower court's ruling three years ago that the Environmental Protection Agency had...

By Steven Walters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 23--MADISON -- Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle on Tuesday accused Republican presidential candidate John McCain of telling "the big lie" by running a TV ad blaming his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, for high gasoline prices. In a conference call with reporters, Doyle and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said McCain was trying to divert attention from his failure over 26 years in Congress to develop energy policies that...

By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 23--AirTran Airways is expected to announce today plans to beef up its service from Milwaukee to Baltimore and to several Florida destinations -- a reaction to coming service cuts by Midwest Airlines. AirTran plans to convert its Baltimore seasonal service to year-around service, according to a source familiar with the airline's plans. The Orlando, Fla.-based carrier will drop flights to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., as of...

By Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 23--A newly formed group is starting up a new annual international film festival in Milwaukee. The group, Milwaukee Film, announced Tuesday that it will hold a series of events and screenings this fall, and promised to hold a film festival in 2009. These efforts will likely supplant the Milwaukee International Film Festival, which was founded in 2002 but foundered this year after a dispute over funding and financing. The new organization...

By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 23--Midwest Airlines customer Dennis Stevenson, following the carrier's advice, hit the company's Web site Monday to request a refund for a canceled flight. Unfortunately, Stevenson's mouse click yielded only an error message, forcing him to call Midwest's reservations center, which has been swamped with calls after the airline announced service cuts on Sunday. As of mid-morning Tuesday, Stevenson had been calling every 30 minutes since 5...

By Don Behm, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Jul. 22--Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Tom Wolfgram today ordered a Milwaukee contractor to pay $215,000 for violating state environmental laws while working on a bluff stabilization project along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Mequon. Anton J. Matuszczak and the company he owns, Shoreline Contracting Services Inc., will pay $75,000 in penalties and forfeit a $140,000 letter of credit originally provided as a condition for obtaining a state permit for...