Mark Oct. 15 in red

That's the day teachers will be lobbying across the state.

Washington Post sees Oshkosh as pivotal

UWO grad Jim VandeHei returns to his old stomping grounds as he covers the election for The Washington Post.

One whoops: he calls Leach a "family-owned manufacturer."

Local employment picture improves

The state's Department of Workforce Development reported this morning that the unemployment rate for the Appleton-Oshkosh area fell in July to 4.1 percent, compared to 4.2 percent in June and 5.3 percent in July 2003.

The unemployment rate in Winnebago County came in at 3.9 percent (versus 4.6 and 5.0 percent).

Both rates are better than the state's (4.6 percent) and the country's (5.7 percent).

But beware of one thing: These figures are based on a survey of households, as opposed to a survey of employers.

According to the CNN/Money Web site, the household survey has been providing more favorable views of the strength of the economy than the survey of employer establishments, and many economists are not as optimistic.

Here's what CNN/Money has to say:

Unlike the establishment survey, the household survey includes farm workers, the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers and people on unpaid leave among the employed -- possibly boosting its count.

The press release with these figures is here.

All the way from Oshkosh to Oman

B'Gosh gets some positive press as its products arrive in this Arab country.

They call it what?

Hyperlocal citizens' media.

That's the fancy name that has been given to sites like Oshkosh News and Eye on Oshkosh.

The term comes out of class project by some graduate students at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

Read all about it.

Or go directly to the students' findings (PDF).

Or visit their site, now largely deserted.

Alternative news reporting comes to Oshkosh

This morning Cheryl Hentz, co-host and co-producer of Eye on Oshkosh, posted an account of Wednesday's town hall meeting to discuss restructuring city goverment.

It differs in significant respects from the article by Alex Hummel published in the Northwestern.

Since I wasn't there, I can't say which is the more accurate version.

But it's great that Oshkosh has a chance to see more than one report.

Oshkosh: Retro or Metro

There's a new book out called The Great Divide that argues that the country is divided into two kinds of places: retro and metro.

What kind of place is Oshkosh?

Here's the definition of retro:

Retro America’s commonalities are religiosity; social conservatism; an economic base of extraction industries, agriculture, nondurable goods manufacturing, military installations; and a commitment to the Republican Party.

And the definition of metro:

Metro American states are loosely held together by common interests in promoting economic modernity and by shared cultural values marked by religious moderation; vibrant popular cultures; a tolerance of differences of class, ethnicity, tastes, and sexual orientation; and a tendency to vote Democratic.

Geographically speaking, Wisconsin is supposedly a metro state. But I think the community is really a mix of both--which helps to explain why we are viewed as such a battleground for the presidential election and why the city will likely have some more invoices to send to candidates.

The blog that roared! (We hope.)

This is just a brief post to note that Aug. 17, 2004, was the day that Oshkoshnews.org and the Oshblog passed into the very public domain of the World Wide Web.

Thanks to the Oshkosh Public Library for agreeing to host this site!