UP: Dane County. The number of inmates at Dane County's three jail facilities has dropped from an average of 1,053 in February 2003 to 704 last month. The jails have a combined capacity of 949 but haven't been at that level since April 2007. The county expects to make $759,000 this year by housing state prisoners. The decline is attributed to both a drop in crime and increased use of electronic monitoring.
DOWN: New downtown library. Negotiations between the city and Fiore/Irgens over a new $37 million library have broken down, leaving the project in doubt. Fiore executive vice president William Kunkler says it's "unlikely" the dispute, over $2 million in costs, will be resolved. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz pledges that the city will have a new library, even if it means completely renovating the old one. "But it won't look anything like the old library," he assures the Wisconsin State Journal.
