The Legislative Hotline for the Wisconsin State Legislature has been temporarily disconnected due to a flood of telephone calls. The line was disconnected Friday afternoon, according to the Assembly Chief Clerk?s office, and will be reconnected at a future date. People can still call their state Senators and state Representatives directly.
Fans will have to pay $5 to attend the University of Wisconsin football team?s spring game, starting this year, with proceeds going to different campus initiatives. This year?s spring game, to be held on April 23 at 1 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium, will benefit the School of Nursing?s building project, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez announced on Monday.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker warns that state employees could start receiving layoff notices as early as next week if a bill eliminating collective bargaining rights isn?t passed soon. Walker said Tuesday in a statement to The Associated Press that the layoffs wouldn?t take effect immediately. He didn?t say which workers would be targeted.
The public will be banned from parts of the Capitol on Tuesday as security is beefed up with the Assembly set to start debating the governor?s controversial budget repair bill.
* Not everyone on the UW-Madison campus is pumped up about all the protesting that?s going on. And one student had the guts to say as much in an opinion piece which appeared in the Daily Cardinal.
** Meanwhile, a group of faculty leaders and the student government at UW-Madison, among others, are urging the campus community to join a rally and march to the Capitol on Tuesday.
The South Central Federation of Labor is calling for a general strike of close to 100 unions, representing about 45,000 workers, if Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill is passed by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor.
The SCFL endorsed two motions at a meeting Monday night, one opposing all provisions in the bill and the other calling for the general strike if the bill becomes law.
UW Health is investigating doctors who wrote medical notes last weekend excusing protesters at the Capitol from work, and the Wisconsin Medical Society has criticized their actions.
?These UW Health physicians were acting on their own and without the knowledge or approval of UW Health,? UW Health said in a statement. ?These charges are very serious.?
A member of the UW System?s Board of Regents is calling on Chancellor Biddy Martin to “withdraw her support” for UW-Madison being spun off from the rest of the UW System. Tom Loftus, who has served on the Board of Regents since June of 2005, made the statement in a letter e-mailed to The Capital Times.
In a phone conversation Monday, Loftus said he?s disappointed that Martin never told the Regents — even though she has known for more than a month — that Gov. Scott Walker?s 2011-13 budget proposal would likely contain a provision that would not only give UW-Madison some key flexibilities and freedoms, but split the university from the UW System.
MADISON, Wis. — One of the 14 Democratic state senators who fled Wisconsin rather than vote on a bill taking away collective bargaining rights said that he fears Republicans might find a way to vote on a key part of the measure without them.
MADISON, Wis. — A key part of Gov. Scott Walker?s stalled plan to balance the state?s budget in part through making public workers pay more for benefits faces a Friday deadline.
A Kirk Daubenspeck Medical Fund is being established at the State Bank of Cross Plains, 455 S. Junction Road, Madison, 53717. Those wishing to donate can do so at any of the bank?s area locations. Daubenspeck and his wife Peggy have a 1-year-old son and another child on the way.
A moment of silence was held for Daubenspeck prior to Friday night?s WCHA game between the Badgers and Minnesota at the Kohl Center.
UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca sent an e-mail to members of the campus community Sunday morning asking people to “engage in this debate” that?s taking place just down the road in the Capitol and around the Capitol Square — and which is reverberating across the nation.
Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to end collective bargaining for most state employees is tearing one labor organization apart. Walker exempted the State Patrol and its inspectors from the bill, but UW and Capitol police, among others in the WLEA, would lose their collective bargaining rights if the budget repair bill passes.
I wanted to talk about the budget protests with people who don?t have a dog in the fight — people who aren?t public employees, not union members. How are they sizing up the momentous demonstrations against Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill that have grabbed headlines around the country? Polls say the protesters are winning the war of public opinion. I wanted to hear for myself.
From her office near Capitol Square last week, Susan Bauman could hear the chants of union protesters rising and falling. For Bauman, a former teacher in the Madison School District, the sound took her back to one of the most difficult times of her life ? the city?s bitter 1976 teacher strike.
….Bauman and others now fear Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to eliminate almost all collective bargaining for most public employees will lead to gut-wrenching strikes and workplaces where uncertainty over everything from sick days to the timing of breaks will fundamentally change a day on the job.
Quoted: Dennis Dresang, UW-Madison professor emeritus of political science and public affairs.
Dear Editor: I was born and raised in Wisconsin, a fact I am proud of. I am a proud member of AFSCME and am a blue collar employee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
….Although I am not paid very well, I am proud of the work I do and proud of the work my co-workers do. I was proud to be a public servant in the state of Wisconsin because I was treated with dignity. Dignity because I had the right to negotiate with management to make a better workplace for myself, for my co-workers and for future employees. Gov. Walker wants to take away my rights and my dignity. Please don?t take my dignity.
Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill proposes sweeping changes to the state?s Medicaid programs, changes that could affect many of the 1.2 million state residents enrolled in public health programs like BadgerCare, Family Care, and SeniorCare.
The provisions would allow the administration to revamp and even gut the programs without following state laws or the normal legislative processes. But not many people seem to know or care, judging by the protests in the Capitol this week.
Even though it won?t save taxpayers any cash, several thousand workers at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics could lose their right to collectively bargain under Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill.
On Friday, UWHC President and CEO Donna Katen-Bahensky sent a letter to Walker expressing concern about this issue, as 5,000 of the hospital?s 7,500 workers bargain collectively.
Gov. Scott Walker says he has just a few words for the legislators, teachers and public employees who have chosen to defy his iron will: ?Get back to work.?
Actually, it?s pretty hard work to be an active citizen, to really use your First Amendment rights to speak, to assemble, to petition for the redress of grievances. And it?s costly. Teachers who are not teaching are giving up their pay. But they are standing on principle, as are the 14 state senators who have chosen to represent the will of the people.
So we don?t think our dissenting legislators, teachers, public employees and their allies need to get back to work. But we would like it if Gov. Walker would get to work.
Media outlets from across the country are jumping on this Associated Press report, which notes local doctors handed out medical excuse notes to protesters around the Capitol Square this weekend.
The Maclver Institute, “a free market think tank in Wisconsin,” has posted a video showing as much. To put things mildly, most are generally outraged.
Madison police said Friday they are worried about clashes between opposing political groups when supporters of Gov. Scott Walker descend on the Capitol on Saturday, when a sixth day of protests against the governor?s collective bargaining proposal is planned.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is pushing back the release of the state?s two-year budget by a week. Walker had planned to release it on Tuesday. Instead, he will still deliver a budget speech on Tuesday, but he won?t actually release the budget itself for another week.
Dense fog is being blamed for a crash Thursday on U.S. 18/151 near Ridgeway in Iowa County that critically injured former UW-Madison hockey goalie Kirk Daubenspeck.
Daubenspeck played for the UW-Madison hockey team from 1993 to 1997. He holds school records for most saves in a game (75) and most saves in a period (26), and was the team’s most valuable player in 1996 and 1997.
Massive demonstrations on the Capitol Square have forced the Madison Winter Festival to be moved to the UW-Madison Memorial Union?s terrace, with everything except two events canceled. The only two events that will be held are snow carving and the rail jam snowboard competition.
Some 260 faculty members at UW-Madison have signed a letter expressing concern about Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to deprive public workers in Wisconsin of the right to collectively bargain.
The letter reads, in part: “Collective bargaining has been critical to providing decent standards of living to millions of Americans, playing a central role in the creation of this nation?s large middle class. Unions have also been crucial vehicles for democracy, giving workers a voice in their places of employment and in society as a whole. Curtailing workers? ability to form unions and to bargain collectively can only diminish the economic and political benefits that the practice has brought to our state.”
Senate Democrats were leaving Madison to avoid participating in the vote on Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial budget repair bill, which has sparked four days of protests at the Capitol, an aide confirmed Thursday morning.
The city?s Alcohol License Review Committee voted Wednesday night to extend an ordinance aimed to limit the growth of new taverns in the student-heavy Downtown district and reverse an uptick in alcohol-related violent crime. The alcohol license density ordinance, passed by the City Council in 2007 and scheduled to sunset on March 5, was extended to July 5 and will be up for a final council vote at the March 1 meeting.
?I have never been prouder of our movement than I am at this moment,? shouted Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt as he surveyed the crowds of union members and their supporters that surged around the state Capitol and into the streets of Madison Wednesday, literally closing the downtown as tens of thousands of Wisconsinites protested their Republican governor?s attempt to strip public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights.
Neuenfeldt is not alone. As a seventh-generation Wisconsinite, I have never been prouder of my state.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail Wednesday night to the UW System?s Board of Regents, and to other chancellors across the system, asking them not to oppose Wisconsin?s flagship university breaking away from the system.
The city of Madison has great public employees ? great firefighters, great police officers, great streets and sanitation workers, great planners, great workers of every craft and skill. And Madison has great public employee unions. They work with the city?s elected leaders and managers to deliver services, not grudgingly but with delight.
Madison gets its right when it comes to labor-management relations. And we should not let Gov. Scott Walker mess with those relationships.
University of Wisconsin System leaders sent a letter to Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday expressing concern that parts of his proposed 2011-13 biennial budget might remove UW-Madison from the UW System.
The letter is signed by UW System President Kevin Reilly, UW Board of Regents President Charles Pruitt and board VP Michael Spector. It notes “we want to express strong concerns about this significant restructuring, especially without broad consultation and careful deliberation.”
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is calling on the Joint Committee on Finance to delay its vote on Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill, asking for more opportunity for negotiation. Referencing Abraham Lincoln, she asked that lawmakers take time to review the proposed changes.
MADISON, Wis. — There are indications that support among Republican legislators for Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to remove collective bargaining rights for public workers might be starting to crack. State Sen. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he didn?t know where Republicans stood on the proposal that drew more than 13,000 protesters to the state Capitol on Tuesday.
Wisconsin needs to be fiscally responsible. There is no question that these are tough times, and they may require tough choices. But Gov. Scott Walker is not making tough choices. He is making political choices, and they are designed not to balance budgets but to improve his political position and that of his party.
For the past quarter century, no name — save that of his former boss, Ronald Reagan — has been more consistently associated with the word ?conservative? than that of David Keene. As chairman since 1984 of the American Conservative Union, he has counseled presidents, and challenged them; put issues on the agenda, shaped debates and organized the biggest annual gathering of the right.
….Keene?s taking over as president of the National Rifle Association — Charlton Heston?s old gig. Not bad for a kid from Fort Atkinson who entered the political fray as Madison?s noisiest conservative back in the 1960s.
Catching up on a couple items related to Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed budget repair bill …
** After remaining mostly silent, at least publicly, on the governor?s proposal, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on Monday e-mailed a letter to the campus community which outlines her thoughts on the issue.
** UW-Madison chemistry professor Judith Burstyn is hoping to testify at Tuesday?s public hearing on the budget repair bill.
** UW-Madison professor Greg Downey published an interesting blog post in which notes his “own reactions to these budget proposals.”
What?s happening now in Wisconsin, with thousands of workers flooding the Capitol to protest Gov. Scott Walker?s move to snuff the collective bargaining power of public employees, is much more than backlash against a union-busting maneuver, labor activists and their supporters said Tuesday evening at a forum at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Madison. It is, they insist, the first counter-strike in a class war being waged against workers.
File this one under either the A) it could be worse category or B) coming soon from a legislator near you.
Although thousands of public employees are facing cuts of up to 8 percent of their family budgets if Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to curb bargaining rights and require pension contributions comes to pass, the state?s conservative “pro-family” group, Wisconsin Family Action, is fully in favor of the legislation.
Somebody vandalized the replica of the Statue of Liberty that annually protrudes from the icy surface of Lake Mendota for the UW-Madison Hoofers Winter Carnival.
The president of the Wisconsin state Senate said Tuesday there are enough votes among Republicans to pass Gov. Scott Walker?s explosive plan to end collective bargaining rights for nearly all public employees.
As a Wisconsin native and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin who studied public-sector employment relations for many years, I am concerned about the rhetoric over how to address your public service pension, health care and other challenges. Wisconsin is not alone: Most states, those with and without public sector unions and collective bargaining, are experiencing a similar and in many cases worse fiscal crisis. So it is critical to take an evidence-based approach to these problems and not look for easy scapegoats.
(Thomas A. Kochan is the George M. Bunker professor of management at MIT?s Sloan School of Management, co-director of the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research, and a co-founder of the Employment Policy Research Network.)
When Gov. Walker announced his plan to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights — as well as, in effect, to cut their pay — he let slip that he had alerted the National Guard to help him implement the scheme.
….The absurdity of alerting the National Guard before a proposal — even an unpopular and potentially illegal one — has even been debated highlights the extent to which Walker has gone off the deep end.
After Gov. Scott Walker released the outline of his proposed budget repair bill on Friday, many working across UW-Madison were surprisingly quiet when contacted by a reporter seeking comment.
“I think I better let this sink in over the weekend before saying anything,” one campus leader confided. After sleeping on it for a night or two, some now are willing to share their thoughts.
UW-Madison announced it will host three forums on campus that examine the ethics of using animals in research. These programs were first proposed this past summer, when the Dane County Board considered forming a citizens advisory panel to look at whether experimenting on monkeys at UW-Madison is humane and ethical — a measure which ultimately failed.
Labor leaders said Monday that Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to end collective bargaining rights for the vast majority of public employees amounted to a declaration of war on unions. Public and private union leaders came together to denounce Walker?s plan, announced just four days earlier, that the Legislature could vote to pass as soon as Thursday.
Sheldon David Rose, professor emeritus of social work, age 82, died on Nov. 3, 2010. A memorial service to celebrate Sheldon?s life will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011, at First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Dr., Madison.
The next several days will determine whether Wisconsin Republicans are fit to govern. Gov. Scott Walker has created a make-or-break moment for members of his party who serve in the Legislature.
Walker seeks to return Wisconsin to the days of patronage politics — where party bosses filled state positions with their flunkies and services were delivered not on the basis of need but on the basis of who had the right political connections.
The responses to Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to undermine the ability of working Wisconsinites to bargain for fair wages and benefits have been appropriately passionate. Wisconsinites are angry with their governor, who promised to work across lines of partisanship and ideology to create jobs, but has instead chosen to play political games.
The governor?s budget repair bill, which includes a plan to gut collective bargaining protections for state employees, does not seek to get the state?s fiscal house in order.
UW-Madison students and staff plan to deliver Valentine?s Day cards to Gov. Scott Walker today that read, “We (heart) UW: Don?t Break My (heart),” as a protest to his budget repair bill that eliminates collective bargaining rights for public workers. The delivery is set to take place at 12:15 p.m. today at Walker?s office in the Capitol.
Gov. Scott Walker is pushing for sweeping changes to collective bargaining that would ensure most people who works for the government in Wisconsin can?t negotiate their benefits, pensions and working conditions – except for local police, firefighters and Wisconsin State Patrol troopers. But not all law enforcement would be exempt.
Cullen Werwie, a Walker spokesman, said Capitol Police and UW-Madison police would be subject to changes proposed in the bill, which was introduced Friday.
STEVENS POINT ? A recently completed gig called Voices of Rural Wisconsin sent me to all corners of the state and points between for conversations with rural folks. The project, sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, was simple in scope: We asked participants to talk about their life experiences and to envision what is needed to ensure a healthy future for rural Wisconsin.
….As state and local elected officials deal with tough budget challenges in the coming days, one can only hope they?ll recognize the value of this outreach arm of the UW System.
Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond if there is any unrest among state employees in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights.
One day after Gov. Scott Walker proposed stripping public employees of most of their bargaining rights, he is reaching out to state employees in a letter. In an e-mail to be sent out to state workers later Friday morning, Walker thanked public workers for their service and sought their understanding for broad and controversial changes he is seeking to the state?s collective bargaining law.
The Republican governor says those changes are necessary to balance a $137 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year ending June 30 and a $3.6 billion shortfall for the 2011-?13 budget. But Walker said he would not seek additional furloughs for state workers, who are already taking eight of the unpaid days off this fiscal year because of the budget problems.
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker said he won?t negotiate with unionized state workers because Wisconsin is broke and he has nothing to offer them.
Public employees are reeling trying to figure out what to do after Gov. Scott Walker asked the Legislature to remove nearly all collective bargaining rights for teachers, prison guards and other government workers across Wisconsin. They don?t have much time to mobilize.
Martin W. “Marty” Wollschlager, age 54, passed away unexpectedly at home on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, of a brain aneurysm. Marty was employed with Hydrite Chemical for more than 15 years, before currently joining the UW Kohl Center.
Lindsey Marie Zander passed away in her home in Middleton, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Lindsey became a CNA at UW Hospital where she thrived doing what she did best – helping others.
Of the 150 or so people in the room attending the annual Quality Milk Conference in Madison this week, most were employees of dairy processing plants across the state. They were members of the Wisconsin Association of Dairy Plant Field Representatives. These are people who are milk quality experts who work closely with dairy producers to ensure that milk meets the highest standards for consumption in the form of milk, cheese, ice cream and a wide array of dairy products.
UW-Madison needs more space to house monkeys for its animal research enterprise, university officials told a UW System Board of Regents committee on Thursday. Jon Levine, director of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center on campus, told the Capital Planning and Budget Committee that some studies are being put on hold because current quarantine and holding facilities can?t handle the number of non-human primates required by university researchers.
