Abby Callard

It’s a Monday, Milwaukee. You know the drill. I-794 is going to be undergoing some major construction over the next two years. WUWM has a handy map telling you what will be closed when. The Journal Sentinel reported late last week that the current operator of the Milwaukee County Transit System will continue to run the system for another year – as a few lawsuits work their way through the system. The dominoes continue to fall in the alleged NSA spying. The most recent country to take note is Spain, and the U.S. Ambassador has been summoned to Madrid. The…

Bad news: It’s a Monday, and it’s cold. Good news: We have some piping hot morning links to warm you up.  Cory Booker, Newark Mayor and soon-to-be U.S. Senator, officiated same-sex marriages earlier today after opening City Hall at midnight. New Jersey became the 14th state to legalize gay marriage. Meanwhile in Wisconsin, the state supreme court will hear arguments about the constitutionality of about the state’s domestic partnership registry this week. Sean Combs, otherwise known as Diddy, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, plans to revolutionize cable with his Revolt TV, set to hit airwaves later today. The new channel will attempt…

Event though the weather is cool, but the links are still hot. Kelly Dwyer, 27, has been missing since Friday, reports WTMJ4. She stayed at her boyfriend’s house on Thursday night after going out for drinks and did not show up for work on Friday. She has not been seen since. WE Energies is losing a customer in Michigan, and it might be because Michigan is one of the states that allows competition in the power market. The JS reports that three more state workers have received large pay raises – up to $14,000 – after getting phantom job transfers.…

Having a little fun with the shutdown, the satirical news site the National Report – not as famous as The Onion, but same idea – posted an article claiming President Obama had agreed to reach into his own pockets to fund the International Museum of Muslim Cultures. Spoiler alert: He didn’t. The museum, which actually exists in Jackson, Miss., does not look like the Milwaukee Art Museum, but that’s the photo that ran with the story. Unfortunately for Anna Kooiman, co-host of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Saturday” show, she doesn’t know what either museum looks like and quoted the…

And we just like to read them aloud. (Just kidding.) We read them to ourselves. And it starts. Gov. Walker’s first challenger has made herself known. Former Trek executive Mary Burke announced this morning she will challenge Walker in 2014. Ever split a restaurant bill between friends? We thought so. Now Google wants to patent restaurant bill splitting, in part to ensure that no one ever has to bankroll their friend’s steak when all they ordered was a salad. Thanks, Google. Are you over 40? Do you still have sex? Because Miley Cyrus says you don’t. The Nobel Prize will…

The government might be on the verge of a shutdown, but the Morning Links will keep on coming. A government shutdown looks likely – if not inevitable – unless Congress can agree on a resolution today. There’s been a lot to follow in the past few days, but CNN has a quick primer. About 19,000 pounds of chicken and ham was recalled by Garden Fresh Foods of Milwaukee after testing by the Food and Drug Administration discovered possible Listeria bacteria contamination. There have been no reports of illness. More than three dozen city employees have expressed interest in moving out…

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks Wisconsin 34th in private-sector job creation for a 12-month period ending in March. The state added just 24,000 jobs during that time. Gov. Scott Walker pledged to add 250,000 jobs to the state during his 2010 campaign. Through two years, he’s added just 63,000.