NEW LOGO FOR JOHNSON CONTROLS AND OTHER ITEMS

Dear Reader,
Here are two utterly disparate items for your consideration today.
Michael Horne


NEW LOGO FOR JOHNSON CONTROLS
The 5757 N. Green Bay Road headquarters and downtown office buildings of Johnson Controls, Inc., [NYSE: JCI], Wisconsin's largest corporation, now sport new corporate logos. It is a part of rebranding the company's 1200 worldwide locations, according to Executive Director of Brand and Corporate Communications Monica T. Levy. The firm did not respond to a milwaukeeworld request to provide an image of the logo to share with you, saying the "external launch" of the logo is scheduled for October. So, keep your eyes closed until then. However, the new logo is blue and green and splashy, in the sense that it looks like a robust splash. I rather like it.

NO WITNESSES -- NOT!
Three Odd Schemes. One Common Thread?

1.) In April, agents seized a charter bus in Oklahoma that had been used to ship huge quantities of drug money from Milwaukee to the west. According to a Wisconsin Department of Justice press release, the buses were rented from a Chicago charter company in an elaborate and rather porous scam. Supposed passengers were paid to pose as genuine travelers by the bus ring organizers, thereby enhancing the buses' apparent legitimacy. The buses would stop at locations in the west, where their luggage holds, "loaded with cash" would be emptied and handed over to what must have been very big drug dealers. During these stops, the "passengers" would be forced to lie low in the coaches, so as not to witness the goings-on. However, this unusual arrangement seemed destined to fail, even in this "don't snitch" era.
In January, a driver for the bus scheme and one of the paid passengers scored a $1.3 million robbery from a bus. In March, $1 million of the stolen loot was recovered by agents in Milwaukee. But, the buses kept on rolling, until April 25th, 2007, when they were pulled over in Oklahoma City and Tucson, yielding $1.2 million cash in four duffel bags, and leading to the arrest of the drivers and "passengers."
2.) The federal criminal complaint against Ald. Michael McGee also outlines a pattern of nickel-and-diming a large number of people in order to get cash. There are also complaints in Milwaukee County Court that McGee paid an unspecified number of people $5 each to vote on election day. In other extortions, McGee may have raised some $20,000 -- in $100 increments. More witnesses! More pennies! And they all add up.
3.) Now, milwaukeeworld hears there is an investigation underway about yet another money-laundering scheme afoot in this city. It appears a number of drug dealers have infiltrated the Hip Hop concert industry, which perhaps does not come as a complete surprise. Apparently, alleged Hip Hop producers would rent a dance hall for a set fee from the owner. They would then stage a concert, and attract large crowds. However, most of those in the crowds would get in free, and only the white kids from the suburbs would actually pay admission. The next day, organizers would deposit, say, $15,000 cash in the bank, allegedly from the ticket sales of the evening before. Case closed, money laundered.
Of course, all of these harebrained schemes have one thing in common -- way too many witnesses and way too many players. Will there be a McGee link to the Hip Hop investigation?
--Michael Horne