UP: Madison Metro. The bus system announces that fixed-route ridership rose 5.3% in 2007. Metro gave 12.7 million rides last year, nearing its record high of 13.4 million, set in 1982. Metro officials say the steady rise in riders is likely due to higher gas prices and arrangements that provide passes to employees of the city of Madison, the UW-Madison, St. Mary's Hospital and local businesses.
DOWN: The town of Cross Plains. The town chair abruptly cancels a long-anticipated plan commission meeting, saying the town's lawyer just discovered that the commission is not legal, because the ordinance that created it last year was never signed or published. The plan commission was supposed to discuss a controversial proposal to develop a key parcel of the Ice Age Trail (see Watchdog, 1/25/08).