While we can breathe easily knowing that Scranton, Pa. is the worst American city for asthma sufferers, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, we can't help but gasp at the knowledge that Milwaukee is fifth out of 100 cities on the 2006 Asthma Capitals list.

"Researchers developing this year's rankings looked at 12 factors from three broad categories -- prevalence, risk, and medical factors," according to an Asthma and Allergy Foundation news release. "Factors are weighted differently but the most important ones are the risk factors, which included annual pollution and ozone levels, pollen counts, public smoking bans, and more."

The closing of the Zodiac Lounge can't have helped Milwaukee's score.