Congressman Paul Ryan says the public is ahead of the political class when it comes to understanding the gravity of the problems our country faces. “They’re ready for solutions,” he said.

In an interview Monday in Delavan, Ryan said he thinks the time has come when voters want to elect people who have ideas and solutions — and he’s optimistic his ideas are the ones they’re looking for.

The Democrats, he says, just don’t have any ideas.

Ryan is back home this week traveling the district in his mobile office. In addition to helping constituents solve problems with the federal government, Ryan is sure to hear plenty about the issues that will drive this fall’s election.

Although it’s likely the political stalemate will continue from now until the election in November, the proposals pushed by each side give an insight into how each would frame the issues for the upcoming campaigns.

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Legislating isn’t the spectator sport that campaigning is. Maybe it’s because we quickly tire of the often-evasive positions candidates have on the issues, and our attention turns to handicapping the winners and losers.

Even though we just completed an election Tuesday, we seem to be in a perpetual campaign cycle, certainly on the state and national levels. Republicans were campaigning to remove Barack Obama from office before he even took the oath and Democrats began their campaign to remove Gov. Scott Walker even before they went to the polls.

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As school referenda go, Beloit’s is more complicated than most. Will that hurt its chances of passing? We’ll know for sure sometime during the evening of April 3 after all the votes are counted.

(More: Voters mull upcoming Beloit school referendum )

As Dennis Hines reports in this week’s cover story, the School District of Beloit is asking voters to approve a $70 million referendum to pay for building renovations throughout the district and the construction of a new intermediate school.

Where it gets complicated is that the renovations and construction of a new school are part of a larger reconfiguration plan within the district.

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January 2 2012
    This is the little town I am from Darien Wisconsin.  The day after New Years and it was still pretty quite in the downtown, but then again its quite almost anytime of the year in downtown Darien.  With a mild winter this year their wasn't much snow on the ground and it was pretty warm and the Christmas decorations  that I remembered as a kid are still their as well.      I put the camera on the road right in between the center lines and got this low shot looking down main street with Farm City Elevator in the back and the store fronts along ether side.

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January 1st   2012
    I have been wanting to start this personal project for some time and felt this year would be the year to do it.  Basically I have to take a photo and post it on the web the same day.  Thats all their really is to it, after a year  I might keep going just to see how far I can go till I miss a day.      This photo was the first one that I took on New Years Day 2012.  One of the straw bales with a barn in the background and a slight snow fall as well.  I kept the focus on the bale and managed to pick up some of the snow streaking across the field.

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While rivals from the Craig and Parker basketball teams battled on the court inside Craig high school two weeks ago, in the hallway outside, boosters from Craig and Parker worked side by side to benefit their neighbors in need.

The Eastside and Westside Basketball Booster clubs came together Jan. 12 and 13 during the Craig-Parker boys and girls basketball games to host a food drive and raise money for ECHO.

Volunteers collected food items from fans as the entered, while a 50-50 raffle held each night raised much-needed money.

Mike Thompson, president of the Westside Basketball Booster Club, and Dave Marshick, president of the Eastside Basketball Booster Club, presented a check to ECHO a week ago.

The two-evening effort raised 645 pounds of food and about $850. (Which included $5 from my non-winning tickets, by the way.)

So in a town where the friendly Craig-Parker rivalry often turns passionate, how did the two groups come together for this fundraiser?

"It was more about Janesville than it was about east side or west side," Thompson said.

As the school district budget becomes ever-tighter, both groups have helped their programs by hosting several events throughout the year to raise money.

But for this fundraiser, they joined forces for the community.

With the boys and girls games being on successive nights, it was a good opportunity to reach as many people as possible, Marshick said.

And the timing couldn't have been better for ECHO.

ECHO, which stands for Everyone Cooperating to Help Others, is a faith-community charity serving low-income individuals and families in the Janesville area.

The generosity of residents during the holidays begins to wane when the calendar turns to January.

"The money is wonderful because donations start dropping off dramatically after the holidays," said Executive Director Karen Lisser.

Lisser uses a rule of thumb that one pound of food equals about two meals, so the food donation alone will provide nearly 1,300 meals.

In addition to food, the cash raised in the raffle will be used for everything from rent assistance to buying diapers for babies.

If you missed out on the booster clubs' food drive, there will be another opportunity to support ECHO next month, said Jessica Shafer, a client advocate.

ECHO will join with Caritas in Beloit to host an Empty Bowls fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 25 at Beloit Memorial High School.

Caritas serves families that live north of Rockford, Ill., and south of Janesville.

The food will be donated by local vendors, and the proceeds will go to the organizations.

Tickets are $5, and can be purchased either at ECHO or Caritas.

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