Author: jnweaver

A lawyer employed by the state is under investigation for using his work e-mail to urge hundreds of co-workers to oppose the death penalty in an advisory referendum that is on the November election ballot, an agency official said.

Most Wisconsin residents do not want race to be considered in University of Wisconsin System admissions, according to a statewide survey by the conservative-oriented Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

According to the survey, to be released today, 65% of respondents opposed the consideration of race, 26% favored it, while 9% had no opinion or did not answer the question.

Dear Editor: As a newcomer to Wisconsin in 1997, I had no idea of what the “Wisconsin Idea” meant. In 2006, I now know exactly what it means, having experienced it firsthand.

To me, it means having a world class land grant university in Wisconsin where great minds develop great ideas and these are applied to advance the economic and social condition of our citizens.

….In every age, great ideas are the keys to progress. The Wisconsin Idea is how we get from theory to results. How can we afford not to support this extraordinary public university at a time when hugely complex problems seem overwhelming, and great ideas are needed more than ever?

John A. Noreika, executive director, Oakwood Lutheran Homes, Madison

Marc Marotta was emphatic Wednesday, telling legislators poking in the Adelman Travel contract scandal that when he ran the Department of Administration, he never – ever – got involved in awarding contracts once the bidding process began.

But an irate vendor, using newly discovered e-mails, is arguing in an Ozaukee County lawsuit that the long arm of Marotta reached into the bidding process for a $55 million-plus building deal awarded by the state in 2004, kicking it to a competitor.

Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green called today for the creation of a special investigator to root out cases of corruption, waste and fraud in state government.

At a press conference in Madison this morning, the Green Bay Republican said that if he’s elected governor, he would ask lawmakers to establish an Office of Inspector General to act as a “pit bull” in such cases.

A state audit of the Wisconsin Technical College System has found that 15 felons are employed by colleges in the system – four of them at Madison Area Technical College.

The auditors searched only for those who were convicted of felonies and remain under supervision, not those who have completed sentences.

There will be 10 hours less per week of classical music, including no more “Symphony at Six” over dinner and one hour less each weekday of “Morning Classics.”

But there will be many more hours of public radio news, including an extra hour of “Morning Edition” each weekday morning, and more talk-radio-like shows.

Some changes may provoke yelps from fans of two National Public Radio stars.

….(Jerry) Yelk himself has worked some 1,500 cases. He has a success rate in excess of 90 percent and holds what he believes is the world record for the oldest successful tracking operation.

….He’s retired, kind of, from tracking, though he still gets calls from all over the country and will take the occasional job. Dane County authorities contacted him in spring 2004 when Audrey Seiler was missing. “Turned it down,” Yelk said. “It smelled wrong right from the start.”

By Doug Moe

Wisconsin near the top, Milwaukee near the bottom – for the second time in three months an independent national study of high school graduation rates has reached those conclusions.