THUMBS UP: Moving on. That was the scene at City Hall this week as former Mayor Gary Becker faced a couple of new charges of possession of child pornography in court and new Mayor Tom Friedel completed his first week in office. Friedel earns a thumbs up and thanks for taking on the mayor's post for three months until elections can be held. He has promised a steady-as-you-godw approach and we wish him luck shepherding the city through this transition. Given the financial straits of both the federal and state government and the implications that has for the City of Racine, Friedel will likely be busy, and we wish him luck as a good caretaker.

THUMBS DOWN: In a stunning annual celebration, quarterback Brett Favre this week announced his retirement from the New York Jets. Given the short duration of his stay in the Big Apple, we don't expect fans there to be doing any kind of a tractor watch. Brett's departure from Green Bay wasn't pretty, but Wisconsin fans have 16 years of great memories of No. 4.

THUMBS DOWN: We were hoping for some fantastic Milwaukee representation in this season's "American Idol." But, alas, we are only halfway there. Good friends Danny Gokey and Jamar Rogers, both of Milwaukee, were fan and judge favorites during the show's auditions and the Hollywood round. But on Wednesday night, only Gokey made the cut for the coveted Top 36. Inexplicably, Rogers was sent home. His rejection dumbfounded his fellow contestants and brought some fans to tears. But when we saw that the likes of wacky character singer "Norman Gentle" and shrieky Tatiana Del Toro make it onto the show, we knew some choices were made based on drama and not talent. We're not sure why we expected anything else …

THUMBS UP: To Twitter, the short-message service (140 characters tops) which is now a force for government transparency. On Monday, a Republican in the Virginia Senate sent out a Twitter post announcing that a Democrat was about to switch parties. In a body where Democrats hold a 21-19 majority that meant a transfer of power. But the communication leaked, and the defectors' colleagues cornered him, and stopped the switch. Three cheers for openness: Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

THUMBS DOWN: The thumbs down in the we-knew-it-had-to-happen-sooner-or-later category occurred this week 500 miles over Siberia: the first recorded space collision between two satellites. According to news reports, a working U.S. Iridium satellite on contract for commercial and Department of Defense work plowed into a one-ton defunct Soviet military satellite. The collision spewed space debris over 300 to 800 miles and could pose a danger to other satellites. Perhaps even more predictable than the crash was the response from the Soviets, who suggested NASA and Iridium could have avoided the crash by adjusting its orbit. "It could have been a computer failure or a human error," a Soviet space expert said, "It also could be that they were only paying attention to smaller debris and ignoring the defunct satellites." Why don't you watch where you're going with that heap of junk? No tickets were issued.

THUMBS UP: Oh, yeah. Dig out the golf clubs and fire up the lawnmower to see if it still works. Racine bid adieu to its icy piles of snow and ice this week courtesy of February thaw that included a record 59 degrees on Tuesday. That shattered the mark set in 1999 by seven degrees. We hope the balmy weather is a promise of an early spring.