On the Issues: WEDC Chief Praises Foxconn Plan as “Transformational”

Transformational. That was the word that Mark Hogan, secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, used often on Thursday during an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program. Hogan was describing the impact he expects to result from Foxconn, a high-tech megacorporation, building a huge plant in Racine County where it will make liquid crystal display equipment.

Hogan endorsed and defended every aspect of the agreement between Foxconn and state and local governments, from its cost – expected to total well over $3 billion in public expenses – to the plant’s environmental impact to what benefit Foxconn will bring to people in northern Wisconsin to the availability of workers to transportation issues connected to the plant to the political process that led to approving the deal to the precedent it might set for supporting other economic development ideas.

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Flynn Adamantly Defends Police Department and His Work as He Retires as Chief

Near the end of their hour-long conversation, Mike Gousha asked outgoing Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn what was next for him.

“Really nothing much,” Flynn said. He’s going to go back to Virginia where his family lives and spend  more time with his children and grandchildren. Maybe he’ll do some consulting ahead. But, first, “I do need to de-stress a little bit, despite how relaxed I’m appearing.”

The line got a big laugh from the audience in the Lubar Center at Eckstein Hall for the “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” on Feb. 8. As he finished a decade as Milwaukee’s police chief, Flynn was fired up, outspoken, and more than a bit emotional and angry.

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Mission Week Speakers Encourage Deep Efforts to Learn About Others

The relationship between Sharon Morgan and Thomas DeWolf did not get off to a good start. They met at a conference in Virginia. She was a black woman from Chicago, a successful communications writer with a strong interest in genealogy. The descendant of people deeply involved in the slave trade, he was a white man who was the executive director of a West Coast-based nonprofit that focused on the continuing impact of slavery in America.

She was put off by him. He was not sure how to deal with her. But step by step, they got to know each other and had break-through conversations about their backgrounds.

During an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Marquette Law School on Tuesday, DeWolf said, “What we got to was revealing ourselves to each other in ways that we were taking off the masks. . . . The masks, if you’re willing, can come off.”

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