Empty big box stores surrounded by acres of crumbling blacktop parking lots litter communities throughout Wisconsin. Collectively, these properties are classifi ed as brownfields. The reasons for these empty buildings are varied. Some chains have closed down completely, others moved to bigger locations a few miles down the road, others fell victim to shifts in traffic patterns — turning once

Nothing beats sitting around a backyard campfire enjoying spending time with friends and family. The key part of this is actually sitting. When I was a kid we would sit on cut off sections of logs or even on the ground as we watched the flames dance and waited our turn to toast marshmallows. I have long-since passed the point where sitting on the ground for a long period of time is considered

The times are changing when it comes to defining where, when and how people are at work. Municipalities, counties, schools and other government employers need to adapt to those changes and not let personalities or political agendas cloud workforce management decisions. The trend toward working remotely has been slowly gaining ground across the country for some time. This shift has been fueled

They are watching. Every summer I get calls here at The Star News about the black helicopters. The callers will even sometimes provide grainy highly-magnified cellphone images as evidence that they are not crazy. Unfortunately, much like pictures of Big Foot, they seem to be taken at the lowest resolution possible with a 20 year old Nokia flip phone while driving at highway speeds over a rutted