Audrey Nowakowski

Singer/songwriter Zachary Scot Johnson has been touring non-stop since 2006. 

The history of the Civil War is filled with familiar names, military leaders who planned and executed battles, war heroes, and political leaders from the Union and the Confederacy. But the war altered the lives of thousands of otherwise ordinary Americans. 

James Tanner was a teenager who fought, briefly, in the Civil War, and was seriously injured. But it was his career in civil service after the war that was extremely well-known at the time, but almost entirely forgotten today. 

Update, 8:30 p.m., July 3: Big Bend native Bill Kolinske successfully advanced out of the qualifying round and will play in the main draw this weekend.

The Milwaukee Brewers are out of town over this long weekend, but sports fans have another – unique option to scratch their pro sports itch.  The Association of Volleyball Professionals professional beach volleyball tour makes a full stop in Milwaukee this weekend for the first time since the late ‘90s. 

Summer is here as we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, go to the beach, have picnics, and plan road trips. For many in the Midwest, summertime and Six Flags naturally go together. This year a brand new roller coaster – Goliath – breaks not one, but three world records.

John Krajnak, Six Flags Marketing Director says, “this might be the best ride in our park right now…it’s the tallest and steepest drop on any wooden coaster on the planet, and it is the fastest wooden coaster on the planet at 72 miles per hour. It is a phenomenal ride.”

Philanthropist Sheldon Lubar made headlines in the last few years for his outspoken views on reforming Milwaukee County government.  Many of the changes at the board of supervisors level influenced by Lubar are going into effect - though their effects are yet to be measured.

Despite Lubar's public political stances, he never pursued elected office for himself - though he served in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.

The start of July means we are roughly four months away from Election Day, the first Tuesday in November.  Wisconsin’s race for Governor will be among the most closely watched in the country, with Scott Walker facing his second challenge since he was elected four years ago.

Walker, who dispatched a recall challenge in defeating Tom Barrett two years ago, will likely face businesswoman and former state Commerce Secretary Mary Burke.

Did you have a summer job when you were a kid? 12-year old Noah Godsell has a summer job, and as a result, so do about a dozen of his friends and peers.

$18.7 million is a lot to raise in a single auction – but it was the total raised earlier this month by the Napa Valley Vintners Association in its annual Auction Napa Valley.

Milwaukee area writer Sandy Brehl’s new middle grade novel tells a coming-of-age tale set in occupied Norway at the start of World War II.

A new era has begun at the Milwaukee Public Museum, with Whitefish Bay native Dennis Kois as the institution's new President and CEO.

It's that time of year when college/university students are experiencing the joy of a short holiday break and the dread of writing their final papers.

For our Material Culture contributor Gianofer Fields, the struggle isn't writing the paper. It's picking a subject. 

For her, the passion is studying a variety of objects...the pain is picking just one. In this weeks It's a Material World segment, Fields seeks guidance from an expert,  historian Dr. William Moore, of the University of North Carolina – Wilmington.

He suggests some remarkable ceremonial chairs to be at the center of the latest installment in our It’s A Material World series: