Free Republic

Two state Republican lawmakers are leading an eleventh-hour charge to change the makeup of the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board, saying they want to build a stronger partnership with the business community. The legislation would increase official representation of area businesses from two to five of the nine MATC board seats, and would change who appoints board members. The proposal faces a backlash before a key Assembly committee vote Thursday that could keep it from reaching the floor of the Legislature before the regular session ends March 15. Critics argue that businesses already are represented in the experience of board...

A group of Madison Area Technical College students had been working in New Orleans for several days and they were getting tired of eating frozen sandwiches.A man was nice enough to offer them barbecue. So the students returned the favor: They picked up their tools and gutted his house. "That's the economy they're working in now. It's very unofficial. You do favors for each other," said Allie Berenyi, an MATC construction and remodeling instructor, who served as an adviser on the trip. The delegation, made up of 47 students and three advisers, was one of several from Madison to spend...