The effort to get that right has taken many a name, but mostly it's known as The Association of University of Wisconsin Professionals. It's been a tough battle for the effort, since some professors don't presume to view themselves as workers and neither does the UW administration. Milwaukee state Rep. Jon Richards has joined with state Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) in proposing that faculty get collective bargaining rights.

"This bill is a no-brainer and I am glad it's being introduced," Richards said. "All we are doing is allowing academic faculty and staff the chance to organize if they want to. It's a common sense way to even the playing field."

As of now, 29 states extend collective-bargaining rights to faculty and professional staff employed at two-year and four-year public higher education institutions. Currently, each of Wisconsin's border states extends collective bargaining rights to university faculty and professional staff.

Attendance is important: Quorum can be an important issue when public bodies convene to decide the fates of businesses.

In the case of the tavern licenses for Chaser's Pub and Club Escape, it literally kept them open. Milwaukee Ald. Willie Wade was conspicuously absent from a special Licenses Committee meeting last week (he missed another this week) and his being MIA turned into the big event.

Chaser's Pub was under attack by Ald. Tony Zielinski after several drug busts went down at the Bay View bar in late summer.

"The bottom line is that this is a drug bar," Zielinski told the panel. Two aldermen wanted to suspend the tavern's license for more than two months and two did not. Zielinski wanted the joint closed. That matter will be decided in January when the committee is expected to have perfect attendance.

As for Club Escape, the costs of the attorneys alone should keep the place open. It's under review because of a recent Old West style shoot-out in the parking lot between patrons and security. Owner Thomas McNeal hired some of the highest priced legal talent to help him keep his license. Attorney Franklyn Gimbel sat at the table while his partner, Michael Guiren, looked over his shoulder.

Ald. Ashanti Hamilton wanted the bar closed, but McNeal gets to keep his license until January for certain since the committee broke quorum despite having a packed hearing room full of spectators and people who wanted to testify on the matter.

Boarding Could be Banned in Janesville: Skateboarding is the bane of many property owners who want to keep the edges of their concrete crisp and not rounded. Just ask the security staff at the Northwestern Mutual campus Downtown. The Janesville business district is fed up with the task of dealing with boards and wants to rid them from the landscape entirely. Under a proposed ban, skateboarding would be banned everywhere in Downtown Janesville, including streets, sidewalks and public and private property. State law already bans skateboarding on city streets.