Over the past few years, the game Dungeons & Dragons has enjoyed a renaissance of popularity. When it was first created in the 1970s, the game was revolutionary. Its publication is even credited with being the beginning of modern role-playing games.

What some may not know is that Dungeons & Dragons has a strong Wisconsin connection. The game was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in Lake Geneva, Wis., which still has deep ties to the role-playing community.

Milwaukee was once called the city that "feeds and supplies the world." It was also known as "the machine shop of the world." Milwaukee began to industrialize around the Civil War, thanks in big part to a canal on the bank of the Milwaukee River to supply hydropower.

"Having hydrofacilities available allowed companies to move in, then use the hydropower as a resource to drive machinery and the like," notes Thomas Fehring, author of The Magnificent Machines of Milwaukee and the Engineers Who Created Them.

Here at Lake Effect, one of our favorite holiday traditions is our annual Games to Gift list. Complied by our resident games expert Jim Lowder, the list is in its 10th year.

Lowder says there continues to be an oversaturation of games in the market. The influx of new games not only causes shelf shortage in hobby stores, but an attention shortage for players. So no matter how fantastic a game is, "finding a market now is really tough because the competition is very, very rigorous," says Lowder.

Concerns about school safety rocked Wisconsin last week. In both Waukesha and Oshkosh, authorities shot and wounded a student who brought a weapon to school. Threats were made in a number of other school districts. The events prompted Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to call for more mental health services and more police officers in the schools. Republican leaders welcomed Evers' proposals — after rejecting his call last month for a special session to take up gun control measures.  

The Menomonee Falls School Board will decide on Monday whether to get rid of Menomonee Falls High School’s "Indians" nickname.

Over the years, Wisconsin politicians have gone back and forth over whether schools should be forced to remove Native American nicknames and mascots. It was a resolution from the Wausau School District that re-ignited a conversation to retire Native American mascots, nicknames, and the like, in Wisconsin schools.

For Lake Effect contributor Art Cyr, Thanksgiving has him thinking about the very first White House proclamation in 1863 that declared Thanksgiving a national holiday:

The executive director of Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission has come under fire in recent weeks for personnel and policy decisions. So, a Common Council committee hastily took up the issue on Thursday.