Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. The three-day weekend is synonymous with travel and driving.

With the cost of gas hovering around $3.80 a gallon, families may be hesitant to plan a long trip this holiday weekend. Filling up the family cruiser for a trip up north can run over $100 roundtrip.

For those that want a weekend adventure without spending their entire paycheck on gas, here are some local getaways of interest.

Cave of the Mounds
Estimated round-trip gas cost - $10.76

Boy, I just can’t tell you how excited and grateful I am to the government for my upcoming $600 tax rebate check! I thought it would be fun to list here just a few of the things I’m going to get with my unexpected windfall.

First, I’m going to buy two thirds of a tank of heating fuel...

There, wasn’t that fun?

I feel a little guilty, because I know how much the government is counting on me to breathe life into this fading economy, and there are apparently some sectors of that economy that need more financial help than the oil companies. I guess I’m supposed to buy a new flat screen TV or use it to pay for the extra cup holder package on my $30,000 American made car, but watching TV without heat is no fun. And even if I paid that kind of cash for a car, I’d still have to put gas in it.

Click here to read more.

A press release written by Wisconsin Congressman Steve Kagen's office lists over 1,000 people in Wisconsin who are owed over $800,000 in unclaimed tax refund checks from the 2006 tax year.

Dane101 has collected many of the Wisconsin budget write ups by state news organizations. This will hopefully help citizens understand the different ways the budget will impact their lives. Following the media articles we have also listed some select comments from state bloggers. Overall reaction? Seems to be...meh. The UW system and non-smoking advocates are content. Wineries, brewers, ATV haters, and truckers are livid. And those without dental insurance? Left with a serious bad taste in the mouth. Let's dig in:

The Media

The person feeling the most immediate impact is Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson of Beloit. Just minutes ago State Senate Democrats cut her head off and stuck it on the hand of the Forward statue which stands at the south end of the main lobby in the Capitol building because "they didn't get the universal health care plan that they wanted or new taxes on hospitals or oil companies." As well as some other failure of leadership issues. The new Majority Leader is State Sen. Russ Decker of Weston. It should also be noted that while no Republicans in the Assembly are publicly calling for Mike Huebsch's head, conservative bloggers would be more than happy to see it roll.

With all of the grim “news” that we’ve been faced with through the media over these past several months, it may be hard to believe that the real estate market is doing just fine. Every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the television, I undoubtedly see words like “foreclosure”, “declining home value”, or, my personal favorite, “recession”. It’s no wonder that so many people are feeling skittish about achieving their next level of home ownership.

So, what exactly is going on right now? According to the OFHEO(Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) “Price Appreciation Report”, home prices in Wisconsin have continued to rise steadily. As a matter of fact, sales were up by 3.38% the first quarter of the year as compared to the 1st quarter of last year. Considering that we are entering a much more conservative marketplace than we had experienced over the earlier part of the decade, this is a pretty good appreciation rate.

Why all of the doom and gloom from the media then, you may wonder?

Downtown business owners are so sensitive to anything that might discourage people from coming downtown that when construction along the 500 and 600 Blocks of State Street fell behind and was expected to carry into the fall, business owners successfully got construction delayed until next summer, according to Mary Carbine, executive director of Madison’s Downtown Business Improvement District.

“The delay would’ve extended through some of the busiest times, especially Maxwell Street Days, which is a very important revenue generator,” says Carbine, whose group brokered a deal with the city to put construction off until next year. “And with students returning, and parents and alumni visiting, construction would’ve had a pretty detrimental impact on business.”

Ouch. 44? I guess there is something to be said for not being dead last like our friends in West Virginia, but still, last year we came in 39 so a five place drop is not a good thing. Mississippi, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are just three of the states that had a worse business climate in 2006 and ended up passing Wisconsin this time around. Still, it isn't all bad, we do come in eighth when it comes to quality of life. But as for everything else...not so good:

Earlier today I was looking at a report on the website for the Economic Policy Institute that broke down when many states will first begin seeing the benefits of the new minimum wage increase as passed by Congress late last month. As the new increase is set up the federal minimum wage won't hit $7.25 per hour until July 24, 2009. Wisconsin will stay at $6.50 per hour until July 24, 2008 when minimum wage earners will see a whopping $.05 pay increase. The wage will stay at $6.55 per hour until we step up to $7.25 with the rest of the country in 2009. Well, not the whole country. A number of other states, such as Illinois to the south, have taken the humanitarian and progressive path of indexing minimum wage increases to inflation. By July 24, 2009 our neighbors will be enjoying a minimum wage of $8.00 per hour.

The Regional Economic Development Entity (REDE) was launched in February with the great ambition of turning a nine county region in south central Wisconsin into an attractive place for big national businesses. Nearly two months later, it still doesn’t have a website, a full staff or a proper name. But the $2.6 million it has raised since last October – most of it from the private sector – assures REDE three years of funding, with an $800,000 annual operating budget.

That’s an great start for an endeavor many are excited about. Based on the concept of communities working together rather than competing, the nine counties under REDE’s purview – known collectively as the Wisconsin Capital Region – believe that pooling their resources for a common cause will enrich their quality of life and enhance their economic standing. Moreover, they want a stake in the global market.

A reader sent in this picture of the new store front for the UW Credit Union opening at the intersection of Pinckney and Mifflin. It was sent in response to my quip asking if a bank would be opening in the space formerly occupied by the Kimia Lounge. I suppose I should be happy that it's the locally owned UW Credit Union. Maybe the city could make some money by auctioning off the name of Capitol Square to one of the banks? Amcore Bank Square anyone?

It's no secret that Madison is one of the country's most winningest cities (hey, someone update that awards page! It looks like we haven't won anything in two years!). Sure we lost the biggest party school city distinction this year, a distinction that will most likely plummet even farther after Halloween 2006, but I guess it is more important for some that we are considered financially secure. The mayor's office tells us that Madison has received the top rating from Moody's Investor Services. The Mayor's office breaks down the write-up from Moody's below, but you can find Moody's entire riveting write up below that (or go here and register):

The annual Forbes list of best places for businesses and careers puts Madison, Wis. at number 31 nationally out of 200. We squeeze in between Edison, N.J. and New Haven, Conn. “Educational Attainment” is the category that keeps us close to the top as we rank number 12 in the country. We also have a fairly reasonable “job growth” ranking at 42. Our showing on “Cost of Doing Business” is 98, not the best in the country, but still in the top 100.

In comparison Albuquerque, N.M. is number one in the country and ranks number one in “cost of doing business,” 60 in “job growth” and 54 in “educational attainment.”

Our sister city to the east, Milwaukee, doesn’t do quite as well landing at number 124 overall. “Educational Attainment” is the shining star for Milwaukee coming in at 67. “Job growth” is 178 and “cost of doing business” almost runs neck-to-neck with Madison coming in at 100.

Did you know that the average heart bypass surgery with insertion of cardiac catheter cost a Meriter Hospital patient $75,781 last year? At St.Mary's Hospital the same procedure cost $68,367 on average. The UW Hospital came in highest at $83,215 on average.

There is a great resource available on the web for people who want to be savvy shoppers when it comes to buying health care. It is called the WHA Information Center. The WHA Information Center features a searchable database of different medical procedures and how much they cost at hospitals and medical centers in Wisconsin.

Three websites are revolutionizing the way people shop for and sell their homes. Combined they put a great deal of power in the hands of the consumer and make realtors jittery.

The first of the sites to take a look at is Madison-based FSBOMadison.com. As noted in the January 9, 2006 edition of Dane101’s Madison Mentions, For Sale By Owner-Madison has received the attention of both the New York Times and the L.A. Times. The site was founded in 1998 by Christie Miller and Mary Clare Murphy. According to the NYT article, FSBOMadison now “holds a nearly 20 percent share of the Dane County market for residential real estate listings.” How they do it is by charging $150 to list the home on their website and then give you a teal blue sign to stick in your yard.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz suggests in the article that the high percentage of sellers using FSBOMadison.com may be doing it for the same reason Madison was a hotbed for the antiwar movement in the 60s: