By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Mar 19, 2008 at 2:35 PM

Wisconsin will get federal dollars to help cover the state and local efforts to deal with record and near-record snow Feb. 5-6, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

FEMA Administrator David Paulison announced that the funding is available to the state and eligible local governments in Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Rock, Walworth, and Washington counties.

The assistance is available, a statement said, "on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures that were undertaken to save lives and protect public health, safety and property over a continuous 48-hour period during or proximate to the incident period."

FEMA will reimburse those costs at 75 percent Federal funding. Initial aid is limited to $5 million.  Further aid requires that the president report to Congress in advance on the nature and extent of the assistance.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.