Joy Powers

Where do you go when you’re trying to escape your troubles? Well, Costa Rica, of course - at least that’s true of the main characters in Slowgirl.

The play opened this week at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

A Marquette University researcher hopes his work could be a promising step towards a cure for spinal cord injuries and the paralysis they cause.

Dr. Murray Blackmore turned to an unlikely ally in his work - cancer genes.

After 25 years in operation, the Marian Center for Nonprofits, known for providing affordable workspaces to area nonprofits, will be closing its doors July 1, 2016.

It’s a big week for francophones and francophiles in the Milwaukee area. The 19th annual Festival of Films in French returns to the UW-Milwaukee Union Cinema. It features 13 titles from across the French-speaking world, and includes films from Haiti, Madagascar and Montreal. 

What do two black holes sound like when they collide? Not much. But just detecting it is the first step in unlocking some of the biggest mysteries of our universe.

A century ago, Albert Einstein predicted the presence of gravitational waves - ripples in spacetime created by catastrophic events. Yesterday, researchers from UWM and around the world confirmed their existence with the help of LIGO, a gravitational wave detector that senses those ripples as they pass.

Local guitarist John Plankenhorn and singer Carol Ferrara have been playing together for more than two decades. Their current group, electri-violet, is set to release an album this spring which will feature a new set of original songs written by Plankenhorn.

Over the years, the duo has allowed their sound to shift and evolve, a choice that has given them more freedom to write and grow in their music.

UPDATE: The full state Senate is slated to take up the bill on February 16, 2016.

Original Piece:

On Thursday, GOP members of a state Senate committee advanced an amended bill to the full Senate that could ease the process of private companies buying municipal water utilities. The Republican-controlled Assembly has already said yes.

Milwaukee has five new hotels in the works. That’s not including hotels opened in the last couple years, and updates to existing hotels. All-told, the new developments will add hundreds of hotel rooms to downtown Milwaukee. But what’s who’s filling these hotel rooms, and what’s driving the ever-changing landscape of hotel real estate?

“I think it comes from the fact that over the past few years there’s been great growth in revenue, and great growth in demand,” says Paul Upchurch, CEO of Visit Milwaukee.

This week Johnson Controls announced its plan to merge with Tyco International, a company based in Ireland. Johnson Controls is Wisconsin’s largest, publicly owned company, with thousands of people employed in the state.

The merger means the company will shift its corporate and legal headquarters to Tyco’s base in Cork. Johnson Controls specializes in heating and air-conditioning services, while Tyco specializes in security and fire systems.

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a caveman, now might be your best shot. The Kickapoo Indian Caverns in southwestern Wisconsin are up for sale. 

The showcase caves are some of the largest in the state, and feature all the amenities you expect from a cave: stone walls, stalagmites and the occasional bat.

The history of the Minnesota band, The Replacements, is full of chaos. In fact, that was sort of their appeal.

They emerged in the early 80’s, at a time when punk was giving way to alternative rock. The group won a worldwide following, but internal conflict and the use of many substances – both on and off-stage – meant that the band’s greatest legacy may be in the other bands they influenced.

Clearing snow from your driveway or a parking lot seems like it’s one of those activities you’d never be able to turn over to an app, but now even snow plowing has entered the Digital Age.

Plowz and Mowz has been called the Uber of snow removal and lawn services. The New York company offers on-demand plowing and mowing, and is now into its second winter of operations in Milwaukee - one of its top growing markets.