Author: jnweaver

Following a night in which thousands of people lighted fires in the street and threw glass bottles at police officers during the Halloween bash on State St., city officials said Sunday they are considering abolishing the tradition altogether.

Young people were the driving force when Tammy Baldwin was first elected to Congress in 1998. She hasn’t forgotten. She shares a downtown campaign office with the John Kerry campaign – but she also keeps a campus office of her own at Laundry 101 on Gilman Street. The Madison Democrat relies heavily on student volunteers.

While most of the plans for this weekend’s Halloween celebration are in place, city officials and student organizers are hoping the chaos of the past two years will be avoided if they can just reach enough students with their message: Police yourselves. If not, police say, they’re ready to do it quickly and aggressively.

In an effort to avoid the disturbances that marred the last two Halloween weekends on State St., Madison officials Monday announced a battle plan they hope will keep a lid on the revelry.

Candace Gingrich, the sister of former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, came to Madison, not on behalf of the Republicans or even the Democrats, but just to talk to University of Wisconsin-Madison students about the importance of voting. (10/20/04 Capital Times print edition)

(but)…Chances are good that Kerry’s stepson, Chris Heinz, will make a stop in Madison along with Tom DeLonge of the band Blink-182, Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen’s “E” Street Band, and Scott Wolf of the TV show “Party of Five” next week as part of a get-out-the-vote tour aimed at college students.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has taken the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach to this year’s Halloween festivities by kicking in $17,000 to support the efforts of a student group whose plans it had opposed.

Despite continued resistance from University of Wisconsin officials, it looks like students planning to pipe in music and stage Halloween costume contests on the Library Mall will get the street permit they need.

….University of Wisconsin students, bombarded by political signs and television ads, got to party like rock stars Friday afternoon. Some students said it was all beginning to feel like swing-state sensory overload.

Police at UW-Madison are ready to bring the hammer down on student moped owners who still haven’t learned to drive properly on campus. “Violations are still happening all over campus,” said Officer Kristin Radtke. “It’s very frustrating.”

UW-Madison soon will provide students who earn it with a great icebreaker for those awkward first-job interviews. Starting this spring, besides their academic transcript, graduating seniors will be able to offer prospective employers a new document known as a “leadership and involvement record,” or a leadership transcript, for short.