The City of Appleton Municipal Services Committee voted last week to deny that self-planted weeds have First Amendment rights.  The committee recommended that the full council deny a long-term temporary occupancy permit for weeds of excess height in a corner-lot terrace (between the sidewalk and the street) on Superior Street despite the homeowner's attempts to convince the committee that the self-planted items deserve to live where they are out of conformity with the code's called out height restrictions and vision-corner requirements for street safety. 

The first discussion of a potential Wheel Tax came at a Special Town Board meeting held on June 23, 2026, at 9:00 AM. Only two residents, myself and one other, were in attendance at the special meeting. That means, with only one discussion, and without seeking any resident input, the Board, in a vacuum, created a new Town tax in just a two-week period. This special Town Board meeting raised several issues.

On Monday, July 6, Fox Valley Initiative will feature two speakers: Laura Ackmann of Moms for Liberty and Carolyn Pierre of Guardian School Consulting [invited]. Both organizations are working to protect children from sexual predators in schools. The problem of sexual misconduct by teachers and other school staff has grown in the Fox Valley and across Wisconsin.

I have questions about the Wilden Portfolio Park development (at Thrivent) and the proposal that Appleton create a 14th Tax Incremental District (TID) to help incentivize this development. The Appleton City Council should consider both sides of this pancake. The colorful sprinkles presented by Thrivent’s request to create a Tax ID are all obtainable without a TID.

According to the 2020 Census, nearly SIX TIMES as many people in Outagamie County are Catholic: 62,763 Catholics versus an estimated 10,725 LGBTQIA+. Add in the numbers who belong to other Christian faiths, and you can see how many more people in Outagamie County are Christian than LGBTQIA+. So why is the Pride Flag being flown at the County Courthouse, but the Christian flag cannot be?

The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released the Agency Sunshine Report on Thursday, finding that most Wisconsin offices and agencies failed the State’s own public records performance test. The report examines how quickly state agencies and constitutional offices answer the public and is accompanied by an interactive dashboard displaying response times.

The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released the Agency Sunshine Report on Thursday, finding that most Wisconsin offices and agencies failed the State’s own public records performance test. The report examines how quickly state agencies and constitutional offices answer the public and is accompanied by an interactive dashboard displaying response times.