Minnesota’s DNR runs more than 450,000 watercraft inspections a year at public boat launches. A first-timer backing an Iowa or Wisconsin trailer down a Minnesota ramp often encounters rules that never came up back home, starting before the boat touches water. These are the boat ramp rules that confuse first-time Minnesota visitors. Note: This is…
Paying a Milwaukee property tax bill online costs an extra 2.75%, with a $3 minimum. Madison charges 2.45%. Paper checks are still free. Wisconsin has moved a stack of everyday errands online, and a few of them got harder in the move, not easier. These are the everyday tasks technology has made needlessly hard for…
A YouGov survey of more than 5,000 American adults found only 16% think a pet likes or loves wearing a costume. Sales don’t reflect that at all. That gap between what an owner wants a pet to enjoy and what the pet does enjoy shows up all over a pet aisle. These are the pet…
North Carolina’s doctors write about 787 antibiotic prescriptions for every 1,000 people, against a national rate of 752, per the CDC’s most recent count. Some of those are for viruses. These are the wellness myths doctors wish North Carolinians would stop believing. Note: This is general information, not medical advice. Guidelines are subject to change,…
April and May have averaged close to 37 tornadoes combined in Oklahoma every year since 1950, according to National Weather Service data out of Norman. The same office invented the phrase “Tornado Emergency” on May 3, 1999. Oklahomans built a set of routines around numbers like those, and none of it looks like panic from…
For nine months in 2014, Illinois had no eavesdropping law at all, after the state Supreme Court threw the old one out as being too broad. Lawmakers wrote a replacement. A first offense under it is a felony, one to three years, with fines that can reach $25,000 apiece. These are the times recording a…
A full-time nonresident course load at Texas State University can run past $12,000 in tuition and fees a semester, by the school’s admissions numbers. Texas public universities want two kinds of proof to avoid that: something showing you put down roots here, and something showing you stayed a full year before enrolling. Nothing counts unless…
Roughly four in 10 Vermont households drink from a private well that the state describes as maintained by its owner, not by any agency. These are the well water testing rules Vermont homeowners skip until something goes wrong. Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Well testing recommendations and state requirements are subject to…
Michigan’s homes carry a median age of 53 years. That’s eight years older than the national median, according to a Bridge Michigan review of state housing data. Old houses come with old machines. The instinct is to replace the whole thing, and the math almost never supports it. These are the appliances Michigan homeowners should…
Not every problem inside a Mississippi home starts with a leak, a faulty part, or poor workmanship. The state’s humid air can create damage that points homeowners toward an entirely different explanation. These are the humidity problems Mississippi homeowners frequently mistake for something else. 1. Peeling or Bubbling Paint A homeowner staring at bubbled paint…
