Embarrassment in black and white
The Milwaukee public schools have been ribbed plenty over a recent advertisement that ran in a local newspaper.
The ad, part of a public information campaign by the school district, proclaimed: “High standards start here.”
The only problem was that two of the words in the text of the district’s advertisement were misspelled. The ad referred to “rigourous” graduation requirements and “proficiencey” exams.
The half-page ad ran late last month in the City Edition newspaper, a free weekly, where it had appeared--correctly--several times before.
But when a replacement copy of the advertisement was ordered on short notice from a local design company, the errors slipped in.
With apologies made all around, a school district spokeswoman said that the Milwaukee system would continue to do business with both the design company and City Edition.
Denise Callaway said it would send the wrong message to children if the school district could not forgive a one-time error.
Battling big-name sports
Members of the Cincinnati City Council want to raise the tax on sports and entertainment tickets to help pay for long-overdue repairs to the city’s school buildings.
But local industry officials are opposing the plan, saying that higher ticket taxes would threaten the city’s beloved Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals teams.
Five City Council members--a majority--announced a plan late last month to raise the city’s sports-and-entertainment ticket tax from its current 3 percent to 8.85 percent, effective in 2000.
The plan also would impose a 2.1 percent city income tax on visiting professional athletes and entertainers, beginning this year.
Together, the proposals would yield about $5 million annually for schools, sponsors of the plan said.
Last year, about half of the $2.5 million generated by the ticket tax came from Cincinnati Reds baseball games and Cincinnati Bengals football games.
Critics also say higher taxes would discourage entertainers from performing in the city.
The City Council will vote on the proposal next week.
--MILLICENT LAWTON & KERRY A. WHITE
