Weekly laurels and laments
By RUBY
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Serious golfers, weekend duffers and couch potato pros know all about Annika Sorenstam, who has set a new standard in her sport as the greatest woman golfer of her generation. Her debut on the men's tour -- the first woman to play in a Professional Golfers' Association Tour event in 58 years -- has generated enormous interest, justifiably so. Could she play with the guys? No problem, as the 32-year-old Swede demonstrated in the first two rounds of the Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. She played well, but not well enough to make the cut. Still, we reckon she'll be back, and we agree with one of her playing partners, who said: "She's awesome." And one class act, too.
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The Tavern League of Wisconsin is pushing hard to get legalized video gambling in its members' establishments -- and proponents cite a study by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau to support their argument. The state, the fiscal bureau said, could realize $380 million in revenue from video gambling -- serious money in these tough fiscal times. We're skeptical of the idea's wisdom, and Gov. Jim Doyle said this week that he would veto any attempt by the Legislature to legalize video gambling. The governor cites the 1993 amendment to Wisconsin's constitution that restricted the expansion of gambling. Fair enough. But how, then, does his authorization of new games such as craps and roulette in compacts recently signed with Indian tribes pass state constitutional muster? It's hard for Doyle to square that circle.
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Before they recessed for a long Memorial Day weekend, the House and Senate approved an extension of the federal government's unemployment benefits program to the end of this year. The overdue action means that jobless workers who had exhausted their state benefits would get an additional 13 weeks beyond the May 31 cutoff. But Congress did nothing for an estimated 1.1 million workers -- an estimated 14,400 in Wisconsin -- whose federal benefits had expired and who remain unemployed. One thing Congress could do is to restore the program in place in the early 1990s, when support was provided for at least 20 weeks.
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How 'bout them gators? No, not the University of Florida football team. We mean the three artificial alligators with the glowing eyes that are supposed to spook a gaggle of giant Canada geese enjoying a pond near Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital. The geese appeared wary but largely unmoved by the fake reptiles in their midst. That's hardly surprising: Over the past three years, Milwaukee County workers have tried all sorts of things to discourage geese from settling in and fouling the ground they occupy. All to no avail. By some estimates, there are 100,000 or more geese in the county, with no end of the population explosion in sight. County Executive Scott Walker, who is contemplating changes in the way county parks are financed, also might ask his people to come up with a plan to deal with the parks' pushiest new occupants -- Canada geese.
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