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More kids getting breakfast at school

December 28, 2009 By

More Wisconsin kids are eating breakfast, according to a new report from the state Department of Public Instruction. DPI health consultant Jon Hisgen calls it an encouraging trend. “There is very strong correlation;”says Hisgen about the relationship between kids eating properly and how well they learn.

Participation is up about 30 percent in the past decade. Wisconsin used to rank dead last in the country for school breakfast participation. Hisgen says the Badger State has moved up at least one, in part by efforts of Governor Doyle.

About two-thirds of schools that serve lunch, now also provide breakfast for students.

Contributed by John Colbert-WIBA

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine

Parents should understand on-line social networking

December 28, 2009 By

If you’re a parent, you may want to consider getting a Facebook page in the new year. That’s advice from Kathleen Culver, a professor at UW School of Journalism & Mass Communication. “I really do encourage all of the parents . . . of children in their teens or younger, anyone who has a person living in their home who has a Faceboo account, you should also have a Facebook account, because you need to know how it works,” says Culver. “It’s the way to be responsible, to figure out what great things social media can offer your kids, but also what threats and dangers there are that are out there. I think it’s very important to have that understanding of the medium.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Children & Families, Human Interest

Call to scale back credit card fees

December 28, 2009 By

Whenever you use a credit card at a business, they have to pay a fee to the company that issued the card. Consumers for Competitive Choice President Bob Johnson says those fees average about two-percent for each transaction, and generated over 48-billion-dollars last year.

However, he says it’s unclear whether those amounts are even justified, because credit card companies don’t have to reveal how they are calculated.

Johnson and other business leaders are calling on Congress to pass legislation that would require credit card companies to account for those fees. He says transparency is needed to make the reasons for those charges clear and to set them at a cost-based level. He says such a move would bring down prices for consumers and give businesses more money to hire workers.

Credit card companies argue the fees are needed to cover their cost of doing business. But Johnson believes they’re taking advantage of a service businesses can’t survive without. He says up to 90-percent of transactions processed by businesses are done by credit card.

AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:18)

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Filed Under: Business

Food waste could provide power

December 28, 2009 By

Could mealtime scraps be a source of energy and jobs? Dane County will launch a feasibility study in early 2010 to explore the renewable energy potential of building a food waste digester plant. “Waste food has enormous potential to be converted into green energy, and to help produce some good paying jobs in our community, and to keep it out of our landfill, so our landfill will last longer,” said County Executive Kathleen Falk.

And there’s a lot of food waste going into the landfill. “We figure it’s about 30,000 tons a year, which is about one-fifteenth of the waste that goes into the landfill,” said Falk. “It is not insignificant.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation

Doyle continues push for mayoral control of MPS

December 28, 2009 By

While Governor Jim Doyle says he’s not drawing a line in the sand on the issue, mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools is an important part of legislation he’s hoping lawmakers will act on early next year.

Doyle says there’s not much point in pushing for reform, if the state doesn’t do everything that’s needed to improve the school system. He says that includes creating a clear line of accountability for the performance of MPS, which should end with the mayor of Milwaukee [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Legislature
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