We hate bullies and we hate bigots so when OLB was asked to convene to help a young group of LBGTQ+ students and citizens in Madison, WI, we didn’t hesitate. The Light Brigades have been around for a while now, almost twelve years, and the lighted panels needed some TLC to spark ‘em up, but … Continue reading We Hate Bullies & We Hate Bigots
Driving up highway 13 the other night, just north of Washburn, WI, you might have seen a strange sight if you looked through the willow and dogwood and cattails and reeds towards the beach. Weird lighted letters were dancing down the coast, lining up on the sand bar where the Sioux River cuts into the … Continue reading Water People Unite: Reflections on Ice
This has been a year of intense activism focused upon water and indigenous rights in general, and we at the Overpass Light Brigade have tried to use our visibility to give focus to these issues. Last January hit hard and cold and the freezing weather was a match for the frozen hearts of our state … Continue reading A Year of Water and Indigenous Struggle
The Madison City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday night. “WHEREAS, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day for more than 1,100 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, … Continue reading Madison City Council Passes Resolution Expressing Solidarity with Resistance Against the Dakota Access Pipeline
Food and Water Watch has just published a report: The State of Public Water in the United States. It is an excellent read, filled with history of public water utilities and useful data about the cost of water across the country, from both public and private, for-profit providers. It’s also long, so here are some … Continue reading Privatized Water: All About the Profit
By Michael H. Carriere As the national spotlight remains on Flint, Michigan, Republicans in another Midwestern state – Wisconsin – are quietly easing restrictions on the private purchase of municipal water systems. This attempt to privatize water and sewer utilities is just the latest in a long line of policies put forward by Wisconsin Republicans to … Continue reading Is Wisconsin the Next Flint?
This is how the legislative process now works in Wisconsin. A company called Aqua America registers as a lobbyist, hires former Republican legislator and Assembly Majority Leader Steven Foti as a lobbyist, and he works to get a new law passed that will bring business for Aqua. The company has had success nationally selling its … Continue reading Who is Aqua America?
“He who toils here hath set his mark,” says a motto carved into a large medallion at one of the many entrances to the vast Kohler corporate headquarters and manufactory in Kohler, Wisconsin. Our offer to bring a lighted message to the picket was readily received by UAW Local 833 Union President, Tim Tayloe, and … Continue reading Union Power
It is hard to get everyone lined up correctly so that the letters spell the words BAN THE OIL BOMB TRAINS in front of the tracks in Wauwatosa, WI, where dozens of trains carrying hundreds of oil tankers thunder pass throughout the week. It is harder than it looks. People turn to talk with each … Continue reading Daylight Brigade vs. Bomb Trains
Governor Walker’s state budget is a fiasco! It does not represent the interest of the state’s residents, but instead is a giveaway to special interests and is only being used as a launching pad for Walker’s presidential aspirations. He and his GOP controlled legislature are abusing the budget process to stick in a litany of … Continue reading The Walker Budget is a Fiasco