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HOW THE WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE WAS BOUGHT
ALEC pairs conservative state legislators with corporate representatives to produce model legislation such as Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Wisconsin’s new castle doctrine, various voter ID bills, telecom deregulation bills, anti-consumer tort reform and Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070.

Question of the Week for Democratic Candidates
Because of these cuts, as well as the loss of federal stimulus money, public school districts are bracing for an even worse 2012-2013 school year. But Walker and his fellow Republicans claim that the savings from Act 10 are helping school districts weather the cuts in state aid.

Side Effects of the Recall
Three of the four Republican majority justices have been charged with ethics violations. All four regularly upheld anything passed by the Republican Legislature. One of their decisions even said Republican legislators didn’t have to obey the law, but could make up their own rules.

Heroes of the Week
So Community for Change and Racine Interfaith Coalition (RIC) created a sign with a message of peace. The groups’ “Place of Peace” signs feature a color illustration of a peace dove and the word “peace” in 11 languages, while still fulfilling the appropriate legal language.

Issue of the Week
And another thing about Walker’s “savings” from Act 10: They’re really difficult to verify. For example, Walker is claiming that the city of Milwaukee saved $25 million because of Act 10. The real number is closer to $14.9 million of Act 10 savings, said Mark Nicolini, the city’s budget and management director.

Event of the Week
On Sunday, April 29, the immigrants rights group Voces de la Frontera will hold its annual May Day Solidarity March.

Von Trier’s New Menu Is a Natural
Years later, Von Trier expanded by adding a back room. The centerpiece is a magnificent wrought-iron chandelier that once hung in the entry hall of the Pabst mansion. (The legendary Cyril Colnik, whose work is on display at Villa Terrace Decorative Art Museum, crafted the chandelier.

Miller Park’s Ever- Expanding Menu
Old standbys like hot dogs, soft pretzels and peanuts aren’t going anywhere, but every year Miller Park’s food vendors expand their menus to keep up with changing tastes and culinary trends.

Milwaukee Public Market’s Aladdin Still Shines
New vendors continue to open in the Milwaukee Public Market (400 N. Water St.)—by June, Nehring’s Family Market will join the list. One business that has been in the market since Day 1, however, is Aladdin. The Middle Eastern deli became an immediate hit, especially with the lunch crowd.

Danceworks: A Choreographic Laboratory
Choreographer and dancer Dani Kuepper has been a member of the Danceworks Performance Company (DPC) since 1998.

Don’t Sleep on ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’
Sukiyabashi Jiro, the tiny sushi bar tucked into a Tokyo subway station, is a neatly framed mirror of its owner. Eighty-five-yearold Jiro Ono has been preparing sushi for 75 years and has run his own place for much of that time with his two sons and a handful of apprentices.

FILM CLIPS
Complete film coverage online at expressmilwaukee.com.

THIS WEEK IN MILWAUKEE
Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded a number of minor hits for Motown in the mid-to-late ’60s, but it wasn’t until the group left the label that they scored their signature hit, “Midnight Train to Georgia.

Skylight Rings in ‘Things That Go Ding!’
Lorenz will be joined by the Skylight’s Ray Jivoff and Jamie Johns in a production large enough to feel big without losing too much of the intimacy and magic that Lorenz uses so well in his one-of-a-kind shows.

Carte Blanche Sells Laughs in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’
It’s been 30 years since the original off- Broadway production debuted based on the 1960 movie about a man-eating plant from outer space. Thanks to a terrific musical score combining rhythm and blues with rock doo-wop, colorfully drawn characters (plant included) and some nicely drawn performances, this Shop.

Art Meets Literature in ‘Painting Borges’
More than 15 artists have created works based on the literary writings of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) for the sublime “Painting Borges: Art Interpreting Literature.” The exhibition opens April 30 at Latino Arts Inc. in the United Community Center (1028 S.

VISUAL ART HAPPENINGS
CAROL PRUSA: OPTIC NERVE John Michael Kohler Arts Center | 608 New York Ave., Sheboygan.

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
Foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid had often been praised for bravery in covering Iraq and Libya, but the Pulitzer Prize winner’s greatest characteristics were intelligence and insight.

Mike Seeger’s Folk Tradition
Mike Seeger was a founding member of the folkblues revival string band the New Lost City Ramblers as well as a distinguished solo artist, concentrating on early American music.

FEINGOLD OFFERS VISION IN ‘WHILE AMERICA SLEEPS’
Wisconsinites are familiar with longtime Sen. Russ Feingold and his progressive foreign-policy vision. Now, readers everywhere can take in his ideas. Feingold, who spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Senate, has authored a new book that looks at the United States since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

DEBUSSY’S COMPELLING ‘LA MER’ AT MSO
The music abounds in the shaded orchestrations and daring harmonies typifying the definitive Debussy style, while breaking away from the traditional format usually associated with impressionistic music.

Frankly Music Ends Season on High Note
Two little-known works by British composers comprised the last concert of the Frankly Music season, heard last week at Wisconsin Lutheran College. I wish other leaders in the community in various disciplines could speak as well as Frank Almond does about music, as is his custom in this series.

Juniper Tar’s Collective Voice
“The composition process of these songs started after I had a pretty serious accident with a traumatic brain injury,” explains vocalist/guitarist Jason Mohr, “so naturally these songs came from a reflective place that I never visited before.

Mavis Staples w/ Shemekia Copeland @ Potawatomi Bingo Casino
“Message music” was a label commonly given to the work of The Staple Singers, the family act that Staples anchored with her late father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples. The family’s music morphed from classic soul gospel into a medium addressing social concerns that comported with their faith.

Thirteen Years of Floor Model
In 1999 drummer Dave Somerscales and guitarist Jeff Callesen were informed that a band had canceled a show at Quarters. They stopped into the Riverwest bar and made the case to management to give their hastily assembled two-piece act, Floor Model, a shot on the stage.

Music Listings
Les Animaux, Run and Punch, The 9 Spot, The Invaders, The Skattsmen, Something To Do, 4 Aspirin Morning, 40 oz Face Plant, The First chairs, Dr. Cancer and the Skambies, 123 Walrus, Shoulders, Crosstown Collision, Stop Drop Irish Cottage,.

CD Reviews
(Barbes/Crammed Discs) Although the band is far away in time and place from the origins of the music that inspires them, New York City’s Chicha Libre builds from a long-lost Peruvian genre, chichi—the sound of Latin music converging with the Swinging ’60s.

Filmmaker Genevieve Davis’ ‘Secret Life’
Filming was a journey for me through those dark emotions—like Orpheus going down to Hades and then coming back up. This three-year journey of making the film is allowing me to live in a better world— much better than before I went down in there. It took a lot of fierceness of character from me.

NOT WITH A BANGO, BUT A WHIMPER
It was a modest goal, to be sure, but it was within the Bucks’ reach. Energized by the mid-March trade that landed shooting guard Monta Ellis from Golden State, they climbed to the .500 mark on April 7 and were a half-game behind New York for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

BO’S MEDIA WOES
But if there’s a coaching change, I’d allow any player to leave, and with no need to sit out a year..

Freewill Astrology
be getting invitations to spar, joust and wrangle. Although it might be exciting to leap into each and every fray with your eyes blazing, I suggest you show careful discernment. Try to confine your participation to those tangles that will downplay your weaknesses and highlight your strengths.

All Man Brothers
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, just as a matter of public record I ought to mention that this here issue kicks off the end of my gala 25thanniversary year that I’ve been wringing these weekly essays through the wringer in service of young and old alike, what the fock.