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https://wisconnvalley.wi.gov/D... All the incentives are tied to job growth you moron. All scaled over 15 years. All with penalty clauses if the job growth is not obtained.

https://wisconnvalley.wi.gov/D... The tax credits are tied directly to number of jobs and the value of capital investments. All the credits can be taken back by 2022 in there is non performance.

"Intended" is not "current" or "actual". Nonattainment is determined by what the EPA actually determines, under the procedures it has defined under the CAA. It's not determined by what the EPA says it might do in the future.

But actual is actual (page 30), not based on what the Pruitt EPA announces in a final rule, and WDNR's own data shows that Racine exceeded the 2015 NAAQS by more days above critical values than all but two other monitoring stations.

So show me the "actual" data that demonstrates attainment.

Whoosh. Is your problem with reading comprehension or retention? The greater Chicago area is the cause of much of the pollution in surrounding areas, including coastal Wisconsin and Michigan. Lacking the windborne pollution originating in Illinois and Indiana, there's no reason to believe Racine county would have any sort of issue. No reason to force Racine to mitigate Chicago's pollution. And it's disingenuous and hypocritical for Illinois to sue claiming Wisconsin might cause more pollution.

Supporting document:
"- Elevated ozone levels are confined to an extremely narrow band that follows Wisconsin's shoreline, with air quality improving dramatically just a few miles inland;
- Ozone concentrations measuring above the level of the 2015 ozone NAAQS at the state's lakeshore monitors occur almost exclusively when the wind is coming from over the lake, not from over Wisconsin;
- Ozone concentrations at Wisconsin's lakeshore monitors are primarily due to emissions originating from outside the state;

More: "Upwind states (primarily Illinois and and Indiana) and emissions from commercial shipping on the Great Lakes contribute 2-3 times as much as Wisconsin. [pollution to a site in WI]"

So Wisconsin, where the plant actually is, was fine with it, to the point of cutting their taxes on revenue from the plant to encourage it to be built, but I guess since Illinois isn't going to see much revenue from it, they want to line up to stop it, instead?

(BTW, in case you wondered, like I did, Racine County ends about 6-8 miles from the Illinois border. The plant location itself is about 15 miles away.)

So still curious, I took a look at the WI site for air quality and Racine, as well as the County between it an Illinois, looks fine. Even if you go to the highest ozone level report, it's still maxing out at 47ppb. So it may have hit 70 at some point (Summer is usually worse), but it's probably not a frequent occurrence that it's up there. Certainly nothing to shut down a plant hiring 3k -13k workers over. I notice none of the articles attempt to quantify what, if any, difference the plant will make to ozone levels.

The design and construction of underground transmission lines differ from overhead lines because of two significant technical challenges that need to be overcome. These are: 1) providing sufficient insulation so that cables can be within inches of grounded material; and 2) dissipating the heat produced during the operation of the electrical cables. Overhead lines are separated from each other and surrounded by air. Open air circulating between and around the conductors cools the wires and dissipates heat very effectively. Air also provides insulation that can recover if there is a flashover.

Here is the bill from Wisconsin's legislature web site.
http://docs.legis.wi.gov/docum...
From the bill:

Tax credits Under the substitute amendment, WEDC may certify certain businesses to claim income and franchise tax credits if a business begins operations in the electronics and information technology manufacturing zone. WEDC may certify such a business for additional income and franchise tax credits, subject to certain limitations, if the business makes a significant capital expenditure in the zone. If the amount of the credit exceeds the taxpayer's tax liability, the taxpayer receives a refund equal to the excess amount. The total amount of all tax credits WEDC may certify under the substitute amendment is $2,850,000,000. WEDC may seek repayment of tax credits under circumstances specified in the substitute amendment, and WEDC must revoke a certification to claim tax credits if a certified business does any of the following:

And then a list of things that basically says if Foxconn fails, they have to pay back the money.

The money is tax credits, not payments.
However, it appears to me that in this bill (and I do not entirely understand the legalese) that there can be payments made to manufacturers in the tax district in the circumstance that the calculated tax credits exceed the actual tax owed. Due to the way the tax credits are calculated (number of actual people hired and salary, promises kept, etc), this only happens if Foxconn exceeds their promises and the factory is successful. This would be a good thing, if I read it right.

I'm hoping that someone with more expertise would check this out by reading the bill.

The difference is in the fact that Trump, even before the voting started, claimed that the system is rigged against him and that he will only accept the results if he won.
I.e. Legality of the election be damned - either HE wins or he wins.

On the other hand... it's not the "dems" who are suggesting that electors should not vote for Trump - THOUGH IT WOULD BE PERFECTLY LEGAL.
Also, there already IS a recount. Or two... maybe three.

Your right to vote comes from the fact that you are a citizen of the United States, and not from the possession of any type of ID.

Totally agree. Now, how do I know that you are a citizen of the United States if I can't check your ID? Sure, we checked that you were a citizen when you registered, but how do I know that you are who you claim to be? See: US Attorney General Eric Holder's Ballot to Vote Offered to Total Stranger

If you couple the possession of an ID to the right to vote, then the ID has to be provided to every citizen of the United States without any further restrictions. The possession of the ID can not be a priviledge, otherwise it would run afoul the right to vote.

Totally agree. This is why states that passed voter ID laws also changed their laws to allow citizens to get free IDs. A cursory google search reveals the process for getting free ID's from Alabama, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.

We keep telling those pesky activist judges that simple fact, but they continue to ignore it.

Unfortunately there have been 5 deaths hunting in Wisconsin this year.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/I...

3 of which have been during deer season:
One, a woman didn't unload her firearm before passing it up to her boyfriend in a tree stand (gun safety 101)
The other two were self-inflicted accidents of some sort, seemingly unsafe handling.

More hunters died from heart attacks and car accidents though.

First, a single person is not supposed to be able to do anything within our Senate or Congress. It takes votes, and a majority must agree with anything this person puts forward for legislation.

Second, nothing is getting done in our Government due to massive cronyism and corruption. Until that is fixed, we will continue to see nothing but garbage come out of our Politicians. Start petitions to put people on ballots and vote _them_ into office. People with high moral character, not career politicians. Outside of an outright revolt or military coup, that is the only hope we have to fix things.

Ballot information is here, and more information is here.

Around here:

What if I already paid tax in another state?

Wisconsin allows a credit, for sales tax properly paid in another state, against use tax due. If you properly paid sales tax in another state, the sales tax paid may be used to offset the Wisconsin use tax due. See Wisconsin Tax Bulletin #157, page 28 for further information. Foreign taxes and customs duty charges are not eligible for this credit.

I have to believe that there is similar language in 49 other places.

Ah, another example of right wing science. (You may not be a rightwinger, but your science sure is).
"I like bullets, so lead is less poisonous than ammonia, which I don't like"
Fact is, your body is processing ammonia into urea all the time; probably more in your particular body, if you are a hunter and therefore consume a high protein diet. The added ammonia in the pink slime is of no significance against this background. In fact, if you are a big consumer of commercially ground beef, the pink slime may be the safest part of your diet, given the relatively high incidence of bacterial contamination in beef that's been ground, pooled with other ground beef, and stored/shipped for a few days; the pink slime is probably the least likely to be contaminated.
Whereas there is no physiological mechanism to deal with lead, it's just toxic to numerous bodily functions on many levels. Unlike ammonia, no amount of lead in the body is part of normal biological operation.
That said, the lead contamination from eating animals who were shot, even eating lots of them, is insignificant compared to the background we get from our modern highly leaded environment, even after decades of trying to clean it up. That's not the problem. It's not all about you.
The problem is contamination of the environment from all the lead that doesn't end up coming home in the meat.
25% of trumpeter swan fatalities, 15% of bald eagle fatalities, and 30% of loon fatalities in Wisconsin were identified as from lead toxicity, with an annual pattern corresponding to hunting season. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/pbbirds.pdf
That, of course, is in addition to all the lead from all the fishing gear that's been building up out there (as in the above paper), over and above the general buildup diffusing out into the general environment from all the lead paint, leaded gasoline, lead-containing alloys, and last but definitely not least, coal burning, that we have enjoyed over the centuries. The problem is that no matter how much you may not care about swans, eagles and loons, that's just going to come back and bite us, not just fade away. We really need to get past this concept that if we can throw something far enough away, it disappears from existence, particularly when far enough away is defined as a couple of miles past city limits, out near the reservoir.

in the US you can't even tell except by inspecting first names if businesses are owned by men or women, gender tagging business licenses just isn't done

Really? I could have sworn that the Small Business Administration (SBA) and many states as well issue special certifications to women-owned businesses. (The reason being, some government contracts are "set aside" for businesses that are certified as women-owned. The SBA provides advice as to how women-owned businesses can win "their share" of government business. I have two problems with this. 1) Having the SBA handle this belittles female entrepreneurs, sending the message that small business is their bailiwick, not large business. 2) Shouldn't a company's "share" of government contracts be determined by whether it delivers good value to taxpayers, not the topography of the owner's crotch? It's a classic case of Orwellian doublespeak that "the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program provides a level playing field." Any time contracts are "set aside" for one group or another, there is by definition an unlevel playing field.)

Having said that, some event-planning companies are "pretend companies," while others are operated on a serious scale. I know I wrote a very large check to one of these companies when I got married.

Part of the deal in this interstate sales tax bill is that participating states will make TaxCloud.net available to online retailers without charge. Integrating TaxCloud.net into a cart is supposed to be no more painful than integrating a payment processor or a shipping rate service.

And I'm sure that TaxCloud.net will handle properly classifying nice, simple things like this:

Sales of Ice Cream Cakes and Similar Items

Note that this is the real issue. While a Mom & Pop bricks & mortar store needs only get it right once, the Mom & Pop web-based store must get it right for every single item for every single state collecting tax. As the grandparent post states, this will be far more painful to a small operation, which might have a "tax person", than to a multinational with a tax department. This puff piece kind of glosses over that (emphasis mine)...

Why the number of sales tax jurisdictions doesn’t matter

Q: So, if there is an error in the rate or the treatment of an item will the CSP pay the deficiency?

A: TaxCloud is indemnified by the states, and we only use states-provided data. So long as sellers accurately categorize their item(s), TaxCloud will defend sellers from any assessments, penalties, or interest.

Don't forget that BUSINESSES PAY SALES TAXES, not the buyer. (That's why in Arizona a business has to get a "Transaction Privilege (Sales) Tax License".) These taxes, unlike most, are itemized and passed on to the consumer so most people mistakenly believe that they pay the tax. They do not. A business is not "collecting" the tax for the state. They are instead being taxed and are increasing the price to cover the tax. (This is more apparent with the "includes taxes" type sales that you may see at entertainment venues like ballparks and theaters.) This means that allowing a state to require an out-of-state business to "collect" sales tax really means that they are being allowed to tax that out-of-state business.

It is wrong for a state to be able to tax an entity outside it's jurisdiction. A state cannot prohibit mail-order/internet-order business due to the Interstate Commerce clause. What it can do (and always has) is require its residents to pay the Use Tax in lieu of sales tax that would have been paid. In some cases (buying a car in one state and registering it in another) it's easy for a state to enforce this. In most cases it isn't. It is not the fault of the out-of-state business that the state's residents, due to intent or ignorance, violate that law. All this is doing is requiring out-of-state business to work for free as tax collectors for the state. That is just wrong.

what about Canada where the age is lower to have a beer.

also in Wisconsin

http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/ise/atundrg.html

Can children be in a bar with their parents?

Yes. Persons under age 21 may be on licensed premises, and can be sold and allowed to drink alcohol beverages, if they are with their parents, guardians, or spouses, as long as those persons are of legal drinking age; but this is at the discretion of the licensee.

Most people are missing something important about about the nature of the outage.

There are essential two kinds of underground power cabling. Lower voltage to end customer service and High voltage long distance transmission. Low voltage lines are the ones from your house to the 'local' power distribution center. These are generally regulated by the city or a local authority on weather above ground or underground is required. Underground local power distribution is expensive, but doesn't require exotic solutions. A lot of this was destroyed in this storm, but that's not the real issue.

The big issue is a lot of high voltage transmission lines were destroyed. If these lines are down, it doesn't matter if your local grid is underground or not. Burying these cables is very expensive, 4 to 10 times the cost of above ground lines per equal distance. Also underground high voltage is not as reliable, and there are considerable engineering issues that go along with it. Yes, you'd save yourself storm outages like this, but more general outages would occur.

Report on underground line costs and technologies.
http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/electric/electric11.pdf

Virgina report on underground line evaluation.
http://jlarc.state.va.us/reports/Rpt343.pdf

In the US, with all the gerrymandering there are so many safe seats the equivalent could never happen.

That's certainly what they're trying to do here in Wisconsin.

The newest district maps the Republican-controlled legislature designed are completely one-sided, which in itself is nothing new, but with all the recalls and shit going on, they're now trying to figure out ways to force the recalls to happen in the newly created districts. Never mind the fact that the districts do not legally go into effect until November 2012 by the bill they themselves ratified; now that they stand to actually lose control of the legislature with the recalls (only one more seat needs to be picked up in the state senate and the Republicans lose their majority) they're in full on panic mode trying to do whatever they can to prevent it.

It makes no logical sense; by forcing the recalls to happen in the new districts, they're basically telling many people that voted in the last election that they don't get a say in whether or not their representative gets to keep their seat. Not only that, but the recall signatures were collected under the old districts...so now they're trying to throw out any signatures that don't fall under their new district boundaries. Boundaries that aren't even legally in effect yet.

This isn't even the dirtiest trick being played here, just read this rebuttal to the challenged signatures; it's hysterical. You want to see what the goals are of the Far Right nationally, look no farther than Wisconsin...they really shot their wad here. Another laugh-fest is the emails between the GOP lawyers involved in the redistricting. A judge just ordered them released a few days ago (they did all their communication through their lawyers so they could claim attorney-client privilege and keep the records hidden from FOIA requests and discovery) and they openly talk about "wildly gerrymandering" one particular district to nullify the Latino vote in Milwaukee. Another gem is an email discussing a Professor they got to testify in support of the maps...which includes a request to actually get him the maps so he can review them. I wonder how much of a consultant's fee they paid him to support a map he'd never even seen yet?

With regards to your question... the federal government does not mandate automobile insurance for drivers on the interstates. The federal government mandates compliance with state laws on the interstates, and not all states require automobile insurance (just proof of assets equal to state liability minimums, such as Wisconsin.)

Ah, you mean because of this?

Well, I have bad news for you. The laws changed last year. The current information provided by the state government reflects that. More details on page 4 of this PDF.

Those are hits 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of googling "wisconsin auto insurance laws" (without quotes).

Are you often caught arguing without the facts?

Not really. Are you? Mmmmhhhhmmmm....

I would think it's more than 3 states...
Xcel Energy is my energy provider (western Wisconsin) and they have that same rule, more or less...

From November 1 till April 15 they can't shut us off. They can send all the disconnect notices they want and we still get power. Now come April if we still haven't paid past dues... the power can be shut off and the bill just sent to collections.

http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/general/consumer04.pdf

Drive-through fast-food menus in Braille?

OK, how about hunting for the blind? See the Class "C" hunting permits link on this page. Sorry the actual application file (not this link) is a PDF, but just knowing you could get a permit to shoot at stuff while legally blind WAY outweighs alternate input methods for web forms or TTY for call centers.... because there are no bullets flying around in the latter examples.

My income tax is almost triple what my federal income tax is.

Huh? The maximum income tax bracket in WI is 7.75%, with most income falling in the 6-7% range. Federal tax brackets are much higher (15-20% easily).

It's true that some states allow fewer deductions than federal taxes, but if you truly pay 3x income taxes to state as federal you have some very odd tax returns (with very low federal taxes, I imagine).

And what do you get for your taxes? As a former resident of WI, I would say that on average the public school systems are much better (especially those areas where property taxes are high), the state university system is excellent with far lower in-state tuition than its peers, and the roads are MUCH better than Michigan (though that's not saying a whole lot).

I live in Wisconsin too, and my house is worth more than double that and my property tax is $6500 a year. My state income tax doesn't come anywhere near my federal income tax. Even the example property tax bill on the Wisconsin Department of Revenue FAQ site shows a $367,000 home/property paying $5741. http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/index-pt.html State sales tax is 5%, and some counties tack on another .5%. Highest counties in the state tack on .6% for a maximum sales tax of 5.6%. http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/pcs/taxrates.html#txrate2 So yeah, I'm guessing you are exaggerating a wee bit.

I live in Wisconsin too, and my house is worth more than double that and my property tax is $6500 a year. My state income tax doesn't come anywhere near my federal income tax. Even the example property tax bill on the Wisconsin Department of Revenue FAQ site shows a $367,000 home/property paying $5741. http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/index-pt.html State sales tax is 5%, and some counties tack on another .5%. Highest counties in the state tack on .6% for a maximum sales tax of 5.6%. http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/pcs/taxrates.html#txrate2 So yeah, I'm guessing you are exaggerating a wee bit.

And the "ZOMG, we're all gonna DIE" media coverage of CCD is getting pretty fucking old.

15 years later and hunters will still defend their pass time with the fervor of a rabid PETA campaigner, or Muslim cleric. Saving the world you know. Thinning pests, and over population of grazing animals...

Hi there, hunter here from Wisconsin. Do you know that there are more deer in Wisconsin than before it was settled? It's true. And do you know why? There are no more wolves. The deer have no natural predators any more. Every year deer cost millions of dollars in crop damage and insurance claims. Almost 27000 deer/car collisions a year.* $28 million in crop damage.** They also destroy forests by eating new growth faster than it can recover. Yes they are cute and many people are afraid of guns due to ignorance and inexperience, but don't let that stop you from actually getting the facts.

And trust me, all the shitheads that want to go around poaching and shooting road signs and transformers piss off every decent hunter out there that has to defend themselves against stories like these. It's not the guns or the hunting that's the problem, it's STUPID PEOPLE.

* http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/HUNT/DEER/CKDFY10.pdf
** http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/G3083.pdf

http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/ise/atundrg.html
Can children be in a bar with their parents?

Yes. Persons under age 21 may be on licensed premises, and can be sold and allowed to drink alcohol beverages, if they are with their parents, guardians, or spouses, as long as those persons are of legal drinking age; but this is at the discretion of the licensee.

That was when Officer GE Abed (#6270) spun me around and put handcuffs on me. They took me out the back door to the loading garage, put me in the back of Seattle Police car #805. We sat there for a few minutes then they took me down to Seattle Police Department West Precinct. I sat in a holding cell for about 30 minutes still in cuffs.

If I'm handcuffed and driven to a police station against my will, you can just consider me arrested.

Here's a good definition of "arrest" http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/bgterms.html

Rules for Wisconsin have been in place since forever ago. If you made mail order (or similar) purchases on which you did not pay use tax for use in the State of Wisconsin, you're supposed to add that on to your income tax return. http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/ise/usetax.html

That people casually ignore this put me at a competitive disadvantage when I was a retailer - they'd come in, look at my product, and then buy the identical item online, to save the price of tax (which they were convinced that by not reporting, they were not obligated to pay). Sucked, not in that business anymore.

Of
  course
  nitrates
  are
  harmless!

Of course taxes on cigarettes are to dissuade smokers but taxes on games are not to dissuade gamers.

Why would a lawmaker need to know that? Next you'll be asking programmers to know which language they are going to use for their project.

The watch is being issued because of the forecast for elevated levels of fine particles in the air. Fine particle pollution is composed of microscopic dust, soot, liquid droplets and smoke particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller. These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and outdoor fires.

The Air Quality Index is forecast to reach the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an air quality watch is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities during the watch period.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis and heart disease should pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns or are experiencing symptoms. Fine particle pollution deposits itself deep into the lungs and cannot easily be exhaled. People who are at risk are particularly vulnerable after several days of high particle pollution exposure.

Regarding your comment about air purifiers being a bad idea,

It's a great idea--if you never plan on leaving your home.

I can't

In some states you are required to declare out of state purchases (Internet purchases) in some form or another. A lot of people ignore it though or argue the interpretation. Wisconsin also requires out of state purchases to be declared on income taxes.

http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/ise/usetax.html
http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub79b.pdf
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin18mar1 8,1,6878957.column