THUMBS UP: On a cold, cold day, the Hilltoppers brought the heat. Catholic Central swept past Hilbert Thursday morning at Madison's Camp Randall Stadium to take the state WIAA Division 7 high school football championship. The Hilltoppers put the cap on their undefeated season with a 37-14 win and added fuel to their claim to being the best offensive team ever to come out of Racine County. They ended the year with 600 points, a remarkable total that no team has come close to in a quarter of a century. It also gave the Hilltoppers more reason to say the CC on their helmets stands for Championship Central, because it marked the second state championship Catholic Central has won this month. The girls' volleyball team earned its third straight Division 4 state championship on Nov. 8.

THUMBS UP: At the first light of dawn Saturday, Wisconsin's fields and woodlands will once again be busy as the fall deer hunt begins. More than 600,000 hunters will be afield for the nine-day hunt and state wildlife managers hope to see them trim the size of the state's deer herd below the current level of about 1.7 million. The Thanksgiving week hunt is a tradition for many Wisconsin families - and so is the tradition of hunting safely. We hope that second tradition is observed faithfully this week and that hunters take extra care with gun handling as they move through the woods or climb up and down from tree stands. It's also a good idea for drivers to be extra attentive this week as the hunt will have deer moving and crossing highways. A safe hunt will mean a better Thanksgiving.

THUMBS UP: Wisconsin's woodlands won't be the only thing ablaze this week, so will the Racine Zoo. No, not gunfire or blaze orange, but the blazing holiday display once again of the Kiwanis Holiday Lights. The lighting ceremony, one of Racine's great traditions, will be Monday from 5 to 7 p.m, at the zoo, 2131 N. Main St. Many of the displays this year will be lit by energy efficient LED rope lights. Santa and a few reindeer will be there to help things along and there will be caroling and warm beverages and dessert to help put people in a holiday mood. Admission is free to county residents.

THUMBS UP: Well, your 401(k) may be in the tank, but you'll save a quarter riding the bus. This week's silver lining in the economic cloud comes courtesy of the Transit and Parking Commission which recommended against a 25-cent increase in Belle Urban System fares this week after hearing that diesel fuel prices have now dropped thanks to the economic slowdown. BUS officials had projected costs of $4 per gallon in 2009, but the diesel fuel costs now stand at about $2.75 per gallon. Now if it only stays there for a bit.

THUMBS UP: A brave and strange new world. We read with wonder this week the reports out of Paris that chronicled the first successful transplant of a human windpipe. The June operation, on a Spanish woman who was hospitalized with a windpipe that was severely damaged by tuberculosis, used stem cells from her bone marrow to help fashion the new windpipe and prevent rejection. And on the other end of the spectrum we read that the revival of extinct species ala Jurassic Park may indeed be possible one day soon because scientists have unraveled much of the DNA code of the woolly mammoth. "The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" said the Penn State professor who co-authored the report. Good question, indeed. We'll give the thumbs up to the windpipe transplant for now.