Milwaukee aldermen will pack up their New Year's hangovers quickly and get to work on resolutions for 2008. And given the consitions of our fair city lately, one of the toppers is, of course, snow removal.

Ald. Bob Bauman wants to make sure that in these snowy times the city does its duty to rid the crosswalks of the debris we know as snow. And he prefers it be done by hand. He's offering a mandate to the city that crosswalk approaches and bus stops be cleared within 24 hours of a snowfall and be done by hand. The cost comparison is $264,000 for shoveling as opposed to $462,000 if it were done by Bobcat or snowblower, according to the accountants at City Hall.

"The mechanical removal snow from the city's crosswalks does not adequately remove snow and ice from the city's crosswalks and impedes pedestrians from crossing the city's streets, especially those pedestrians with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs," reads Bauman's resolution.

Of course, the cost estimate would be accurate if the city actually gets to the task of clearing crosswalk approaches. A former county executive had a similar idea when he proposed that the homeless shovel the walks in exchange for a hot meal and a warm place to sleep.

Light Bright Lights: Highlighting another bright issue for the coming year is state Rep. Fred Kessler, who wants to set the standard for light bulb efficiency in our fair state. He's authored two bills on the subject, apparently with no concern for reducing paper and tree consumption. Kessler wants to set lighting standards for more efficient light bulbs and mandate the amount of mercury that a bulb contains.

According to Kessler, if every home would replace one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent, the energy saved would light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in yearly energy costs and cut back emissions equaling that jettisoned by 800,000 cars.

Kessler concedes that fluorescent bulbs have more mercury, so he's offering another bill that would limit the mercury content of bulbs so we're not flooded with cheaply and hazardously-made foreign bulbs.

"This legislation is important because it protects our environment as well as our wallets," says Kessler.

The History People Speaketh: It's the list time of year and the Wisconsin Historical Society has submitted its list of notable moments in 2007 Wisconsin. And here they are:

• Citizens Soldiers Getting Shipped Abroad Again: More than 3,000 members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard learned that they will likely see service in Iraq in mid-2009, many of them for the second time. If deployed as expected, the move would represent the largest single mobilization of the Guard unit since it served during the Berlin Crisis in 1961-'62. To date, 82 Wisconsin soldiers have died in combat in Iraq.
• Stem Cell Surging: UW-Madison researchers reported that they had successfully devised a method to reprogram human skin cells in such a way that they appear to function like embryonic stem cells without using a human embryo. The finding could potentially transform the ethical and political debate over stem cell research, which had previously required the destruction of an embryo.
• Brett's the Man: Brett Favre setting all-time passing records and earning the Sportsman of the Year label from Sports Illustrated piqued the Historical Society.
• Floods Ravish: The better part of southwestern Wisconsin was declared a federal disaster area after more than 12 inches of rain fell and flooded the region. The flooding caused about $112 million in damage.
• Drinking and Driving: The Badger State ranked first among the worst for states in drinking and driving, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. About 40 percent of traffic fatalities involved alcohol, says MADD.
• Bucky Tops the Charts: The Wisconsin men's basketball team earned its first number-one ranking in school history on Feb. 19 with a 26-2 record. It was shortlived. The Badgers got knocked out of the NCAA tournament the first weekend. Another noted moment in 2007 was that Alando Tucker was named Big Ten Player of the Year and selected 27th in the draft by Phoenix. After a short stint in the bigs, he was sent down to the NBA Development League in November, but brought back up just two weeks ago.
• Budget Bombast: The country's longest budget impasse took place right here in Wisconsin after Gov. Doyle, Democrats and Republicans couldn't agree on how much to raise taxes. The posturing lasted for more than 100 days.
• He's the Man: Steve Avery won everybody's sympathy after serving 18 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. But we couldn't take the prison out of Avery and he was convicted in March of brutally murdering a young woman at his Manitowoc County home. He was freed because of DNA evidence and then convicted of the murder by DNA evidence.
• Crandon Killings: Six young people were shot to death in Crandon by an off-duty Forest County deputy sheriff. A jealous rage triggered the gunfire.
• Beer Bonged: Miller and Coors agreed to merge to save money. Since Pete Coors was appointed CEO, it's likely Miller brass will be shipped to the mountains of Colorado. Not much can be done, however, to put a sizeable dent in the Budweiser market share.