DART — To the Cash for Clunkers program, which turned out to be a clinker. An Associated Press report found that the most frequent deals involved participants trading in a gas guzzling truck for a new one that got only slightly better gas mileage....More

For a look at the state of America’s youth, there’s probably no better resource than the U.S. military, which examines thousands of them every year to fill its recruitment goals....More

By Eric Houghton
When I left Kenosha, in 1996, the city didn’t have much of a reputation for art. It was still shaking its reputation as a factory town. To my knowledge, there was no public square to sell art and no tourists to walk it if there had been. There were a few struggling galleries and a couple annual art markets referred to in jest as “starving artist fairs.” Now returning, I wasn’t about to delude myself that my career would transition seamlessly from the Big Easy to K-town. Concerned people, who didn’t want to see me stop, kept telling me about the gallery on Sheridan Road. But really, at the time, I had no paints, paintings, or motivation. ...More

By Margaret Heller
Sitting outside of Common Grounds on a warm day after a bike ride a friend explained to a tourist who had approached us, that Kenosha is a “resort town.” In an instant I felt my entire attitude about Kenosha shift from old factory town to resort town. I liked it. I didn’t have far to look to confirm this idea, as immediately around me was the harbor and the lake; the incredible hanging baskets cascading all the way down Seventh Avenue; and across the street the tropical creations that make Villa D’Carlo look like the Riviera. And how did all this start? A seed. ...More

By KATHLEEN PARKER
Be still my fibrillating heart....More

By Georgie Anne Geyer
“One of the lessons of Vietnam,” the Massachusetts Democrat is quoted as saying, “is if you are going to send American forces into harm’s way, you don’t do it in a limited way. You don’t do it tying hands behind your back ahead of time. You don’t ask people to give their lives for something less than the prospect of success.” ...More