Blogs

As I See It, I’m Jason Spangler Today—Tuesday, November 11th—is Veterans Day. I served with the Army National Guard unit out of Arcadia, Wisconsin. We deployed in 2004 to Samarra, Iraq, during Operation IraqiFreedom III. Like a lot of us, I brought home the adrenaline of combat. For me, that showed up later as stress […]

Did we really “gain” an hour this weekend? It sure doesn’t feel like it when late afternoon looks like midnight. Here’s a simple fix: keep the clocks forward all year. No more flip-flopping. No more “extra hour” hangover.  Later light fits how we live in La Crosse. After work you can catch a kid’s practice, […]

Last Friday, there was a meeting of the city’s design review committee.   The only item on their agenda is for a drive-through coffee business.   Really? Just how many of these do we need? When is enough enough? When is it time to say no to more of these businesses?  I believe there are more of […]

In the fall of 1969, the Interstate Commerce Commission was holding hearings on whether to let the Milwaukee Road end the afternoon run of the Hiawatha train between Chicago and Minneapolis. The city of La Crosse objected to the train schedule change, with Mayor Warren Loveland sending a statement that more than 2000 people in […]

During its long history, La Crosse’s major brewery has been involved in a few trades, acquisitions, and mergers…many happening in recent years. The Heileman family ran the company, from its founding in the 1850’s until investors bought the firm in the 1930’s. Heileman became larger as it bought other brands, such as Blatz in 1969. […]

Elvis Presley was just 21 when he played his only concerts in La Crosse, two shows in one night at the old Mary E. Sawyer auditorium on May 14th, 1956. Twenty-one years later, in August of 1977, Presley died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. Twenty-one years after the death of Elvis, the very first […]