Costs rise as terra cotta problems at City Hall

More than seven months after a chunk fell off Milwaukee's newly renovated City Hall, the investigation into what went wrong is still ongoing - lasting months longer and costing more than four times as much as originally estimated, city officials say.
The probe has already cost $425,000 and the price is still rising, said Ron Schoeneck, architectural manager for the $76 million renovation that wrapped up in December 2008. Testing and inspections first projected to take several months are now unlikely to be completed before the end of this year, and possibly not until spring, according to Schoeneck and his boss, city Facilities Director Venu Gupta.
Meanwhile, scaffolding continues to ring the iconic building. That will stay in place to protect pedestrians until city officials know what happened and can be sure no other pieces will fall off their 115-year-old headquarters, Schoeneck said.
None of this is what city leaders had in mind when they celebrated the end of the three-year restoration project. It was the biggest public works job in city history, and it came in on schedule and under budget. It later won multiple awards, including one from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The scaffolding had been down for more than two years when, on the evening of Feb. 17, a piece of masonry fell off the east side of the building. As it struck the ground, the terra cotta broke into three roughly 5-pound fragments, slightly damaging a car parked on N. Market St. - JSOnline

When a piece of concrete fell off of a parking garage and killed a person, many Dems cried out that it was due to the lack of spending by then County Exec Scott Walker.  But, a piece falls off of City Hall and very easily could have killed someone and there is no outcry? No, it is now about how much it is costing to find out what went wrong.

ATF - Fast and Furious - More Details Coming Out

WASHINGTON - In secretly recorded conversations between two individuals deeply entwined in the ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" operation, the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is described as "collateral damage."
The recordings were obtained exclusively by CBS News. The man who made them - Arizona gun dealer Andre Howard - ran the Lone Wolf Trading Company and was speaking with Hope MacAllister, the ATF operation's case agent.
Two of the guns Howard sold while cooperating with the ATF that were later found at Terry's murder.
"It happened. It's terrible," Howard said. "That's life ok we move on." - CBS News