Dec. 03, 2009 4:18 p.m. | South Milwaukee — In a case connected to Fire Chief Jay Behling's use of racial slurs, the city agreed Thursday to withdraw a reprimand that Behling imposed on the firefighters union president, who had tried to get the chief fired.
After Behling admitted to using racial slurs against African-Americans five times in February at the firehouse, union president Glen McCoy led an effort to get Behling fired.
The city Police and Fire Commission instead imposed a 90-day unpaid suspension and Behling returned to work July 14.
On Aug. 14, Behling issued a written reprimand to McCoy, a lieutenant, saying he failed to follow proper procedures in handling a firefighter's return to work following a sick leave.
McCoy, alleging retaliation, filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
March 02, 2010 8:58 p.m. | Mike Landisch, coaching his first game since undergoing treatment for cancer earlier this season, led host Wauwatosa West past South Milwaukee, 67-57, in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 tournament tonight.
Senior forward Ray Sterling scored 25 points to lead the Trojans. Junior Defrim Ramushevski scored 14 for South Milwaukee in the losing effort.
It's the third time Wauwatosa West has beaten South Milwaukee this season.
The Trojans (17-6) advance to Saturday's second round and will face the winner of the No. 14 Oak Creek vs. No. 3 Milwaukee Washington game.
March 02, 2010 10:06 a.m. | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials will introduce plans tonight for its proposed Innovation Park, which will include an engineering and applied sciences campus, on the County Grounds off Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa.
The plans will be presented to the Wauwatosa Common Council during a Committee of the Whole meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 7725 W. North Ave. The public is welcome to attend the meeting to learn about the proposed project, but there will be no opportunity for comments or questions during the meeting.
Residents who would like to speak to UWM officials can arrive at 6 p.m. and ask questions prior to the meeting.
The next opportunity for public input will occur during the Plan Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.
March 01, 2010 1:50 p.m. | The 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Golf Show starts Friday, and you could win a pair of free tickets by entering our Twitter and Facebook contests.
On Twitter, simply follow MyCommunityNOW and tweet "I want to win free tickets to the #MKE Golf Show from @MyCommunityNOW. RT to win. Details: http://bit.ly/cPficZ"
A random drawing will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday for the three sets of free tickets, with each winner receiving four tickets. Winners must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.
On Facebook, become a fan of the MyCommunityNOW fan page and respond or write on the wall about a story, photo or some other staff work you saw in one of our papers or on one of our Web sites and tell us what you liked or didn't like about that work. Two winners will be picked during a random drawing at 10 a.m. Thursday with each receiving four free tickets. Winners will be contacted through Facebook and must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.
Feb. 28, 2010 9:05 p.m. | It was hard for senior South Milwaukee 285-pound wrestler Bill Mitchell to put things in perspective after Superior's unbeaten Nikola Bogojevic hit him with a strong upper-body throw and pinned him at 4:37 in the WIAA state finals Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison.
In the lower concourse afterwards his coaches talked to him, helped him with his sweats and kept telling him what a great job he did in just barely a third a of a season after recovering from a broken wrist suffered at the start of the fall football season.
But he wasn't thinking about his wrist, which is still healing, and he wasn't thinking about the fact that Bogojevic had nearly three times the mat experience that he had this winter.
Mitchell just wanted a state championship.
"It was just a mistake, that's all," said Rocket coach Joel Shilling. "Given all that he has had to overcome, it was a fantastic effort. He's been working everyday since he got out of that cast (last month). And even when he was hurt, he was still in the (room) with us."
Feb. 26, 2010 4:28 p.m. | South Milwaukee — The School District's curriculum director will become its new superintendent later this year when Superintendent David Ewald retires, the School Board has announced.
Rita M. Olson, who has worked in the district for more than 30 years, most recently as the Director of Instruction, will assume the district's top position on Aug. 1.
Ewald announced his retirement last month, but the school board never looked further than its own staff for his replacement. Board members interviewed only interested district employees with administrative licenses and other credentials before deciding to promote Olson, Ewald said.
Olson is "extremely well-respected in the community and by the faculty members," he said. "I think it creates a sense of a bright future for us as a school district."
Olson began her career in the South Milwaukee district in 1979, serving as a teacher, elementary school principal and curriculum supervisor over the years.
Feb. 16, 2010 3:51 p.m. | Tickets are now sale at for the WIAA boys basketball "Super Sectionals" to be played at Marquette University's Al McGuire Center at 12th and Wells Streets in Milwaukee, March 11-13.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Germantown will be co-hosting the event.
Teams from three sectionals will determine state tournament berths at the events. From division I sectional eight, area teams that could be involved include Nicolet, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee and Wauwatosa East and West.
From division I sectional five, potential sectional participants include Germantown, Homestead, and Menomonee Falls.
In addition, the division 2 sectional final will be held at the McGuire Center at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, March 13. This loaded event features many of the state's top-ranked teams including New Berlin Eisenhower, Port Washington, defending state D2 champ Wisconsin Lutheran and Catholic Memorial, along with Brown Deer, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay and New Berlin West.
Feb. 16, 2010 10:16 a.m. | The Greater Milwaukee Auto Show starts Saturday, and you could win a pair of free tickets by entering our Twitter contest.
To win, simply follow MyCommunityNOW on Twitter and tweet "I want to win free tickets to the Greater Milwaukee Auto Show from @MyCommunityNOW. RT to win. Details: http://bit.ly/cdQMKE"
A drawing will be held at 10 a.m. Friday for the four pairs of free tickets. Winners must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Friday.
Feb. 10, 2010 10:42 a.m. | South Milwaukee — "Fresh Water Days," a promotion to help bars and restaurants that may have lost business because of the city water main break last week, are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Bars and restaurants showing a "Fresh Water Days" sign will offer meal or drink specials. And customers will be able to enter a drawing for gift certificates to establishments and to the farmers market.
Residents and businesses throughout the city were warned not to use tap water after the water main break Friday morning. The water was declared safe again Saturday morning.
Feb. 06, 2010 11:06 a.m. | South Milwaukee - The city of South Milwaukee's water supply was declared safe for drinking about 10 a.m. Saturday, and a state of emergency that had been declared after a major water main broke Friday morning was lifted.
Tests of the water came back negative for any bacteria, including E. coli, City Administrator Tami Mayzik said.
That means residents can drink the water, use it for cooking and for making infant formula, city officials said.
Restaurants, schools and businesses also can resume normal operations. They had been told on Friday not to use the tap water and ice from ice-makers. Many restaurants and taverns brought in bottled water and bagged ice so they would not have to shut down Friday.
The 20-inch water main connected directly to the city's water plant broke about 8:30 a.m. Friday and a state of emergency was declared.
Feb. 05, 2010 12:39 p.m. | South Milwaukee — The freezing and thawing that break multitudes of water mains throughout Wisconsin each winter - usually without much notice - took out a big one Friday morning, stirring fears throughout the day about the safety of the water supply.
By evening, the fracture of a 20-inch pipe connected directly to the city's water plant hadn't led to any reports of illnesses, and there was hope that the city might declare the water safe Saturday.
But city officials warned that the emergency, in which residents were advised not to drink tap water, could continue through the weekend or beyond. Aside from fixing the break, flushing the system and conducting tests would need to be done.
Friday brought inconveniences for residents, who were told not to sip, cook with or even brush their teeth with water from the faucet.
Johnny Mo's Bar and Grill decided to close around lunchtime so employees could spend the afternoon sanitizing the premises and buying ice, paper plates and plastic cups in time to reopen around happy hour.
Feb. 04, 2010 2:48 p.m. | Follow us on Twitter and you could win a pair of Bucks tickets to Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Pistons.
All you have do is visit twitter.com/MyCommunityNOW, click the "follow" button, and then post your own tweet mentioning @mycommunitynow and the words "Tweet this for a chance to win Bucks tickets." The deadline to win the tickets is 5 p.m. Friday.
If you're already following us on Twitter, just send us the Tweet - this contest is open to new and existing followers.
At 5 p.m. Friday, we'll randomly select two people from everyone who tweeted "Bucks Tickets" - and they'll each will win a pair to tickets to Tuesday's game.
If you're not already following us on Twitter, do so today. Not only will you get a chance to head to the game, but you'll also be able to stay on top of the latest news, sports, photos and more from the MyCommunityNOW.com Web sites.
Jan. 11, 2010 4:14 p.m. | Cudahy — A group representing the mayors and village presidents of Milwaukee County's 19 municipalities recommended Monday that each community hold trick-or-treat on the same day - usually a Sunday.
The resolution is aimed at keeping children safe and deterring groups of kids from collecting candy outside their own communities.
The recommendation is not binding on any city or village.
Under the resolution, trick-or-treat would be held from 1 to 4 p.m. the Sunday on or before Oct. 31. When Oct 31 falls on a Saturday, trick-or-treat would be held that day.
Dec. 20, 2009 9:00 p.m. | Bucyrus International will become the world's largest mining equipment manufacturer after a $1.3 billion acquisition announced Sunday night.
South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus (BUCY) said it is buying the mining division of Terex Corp., a move that could double Bucyrus' market from roughly $15 billion to more than $30 billion a year in potential equipment sales.
Combined, the two companies would have about 10,000 employees in 100 locations.
As a result of the acquisition, Bucyrus plans to add manufacturing and office jobs in South Milwaukee, where both the Bucyrus and Terex product lines will be managed.
"We plan to continue having our worldwide headquarters here," Bucyrus Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan said in an interview.
Dec. 18, 2009 4:40 p.m. | One-third of the hourly workers laid off by Ladish Co. this summer will return to work in mid-January.
The Cudahy manufacturer is bringing back 27 union blacksmiths, said Chief Financial Officer Wayne Larsen. The company laid off about 75 people in July.
"Business has bounced back a little, and we're encouraged with what the demand looks like in the first quarter, so we're bringing some people back," he said.
Ladish makes forgings for jet engines and the aerospace and industrial markets.
Through the first nine months of the year, Ladish reported sales of $266.6 million, down 25% from the same period in 2008.
Marquette University and SouthMilwaukeeNOW.com are proud to salute the outstanding students who have made the honor rolls at our local schools. Click on a student's name for a printable honor roll certificate. Go to the honor rolls page.
Follow the state high school basketball tournament in our special section, with coverage from the Journal Sentinel, NOW Newspapers, Lake Country Publications and TODAY's TMJ4.
Who do you think are the best boys basketball players in the area? Vote now to help us pick our All-Suburban Basketball team and you could win a pair of lower-level tickets to a Bucks game.
March madness begins 
State wrestling tournament 
