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Category: State news

Kenneth Ragland & Peter Carstensen: Sale of state power plants not in the public interest

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: The Wisconsin budget repair bill (AB 11) gives the secretary of the Department of Administration sole power to sell the state-owned power plants for any price without hearings, bids or oversight. Moreover, the bill would preclude the Public Service Commission from overseeing and approving the services and prices of the new owners. Such a sale exposes each of the 37 University of Wisconsin campuses, prisons, and health service facilities to great risk.

Camping gear from Capitol protests will be tossed after 6 p.m. Wednesday

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Capital Times

If you have camping equipment, sleeping bags or other materials on the State Capitol grounds, remove it or the state will dispose of it. The latest update from the Department of Administration?s blog said camping gear has been collected and moved to the outside of the ground-level Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard entrance.

“Any camping materials not removed from this area by 6 p.m. Wednesday will be considered abandoned and will be hauled away and discarded,” the blog said.

Wisconsin governor proposes union compromise

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USA Today

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise aimed at ending a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office.

Plain Talk: Squandering 100 years of progress

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Capital Times

What a difference 100 years make. While 2011 finds Wisconsin government embroiled in what seems to be eternal chaos, with our governor pitting the rich against the poor, it also marks the 100th anniversary of what is still known as the most productive and progressive legislative session in the history of Wisconsin, if not the nation.

….Our state was seen as championing honest government while expanding democracy and promoting what became known as the ?Wisconsin Idea,? a partnership between our great university and the citizens of Wisconsin.

Report: Pensions not bankrupting states

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USA Today

A two-part series by McClatchy Newspapers examines public- and private-sector pension plans and delivers this conclusion: “There?s simply no evidence that state pensions are the current burden to public finances that their critics claim.”

Wis. governor’s budget goes far beyond just unions

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Madison.com

The showdown over collective bargaining rights for public employees is just the first step in a contentious debate over how to solve Wisconsin?s budget woes, with newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker also seeking to dismantle an array of social policies enacted under his Democratic predecessor. On the chopping block is a policy allowing in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants. Walker?s budget plan would ax a Democratic initiative approved under former Gov. Jim Doyle that grants in-state college tuition rates to children of illegal immigrants, so long as the students have graduated from a Wisconsin high school and lived in the state for at least three years. The students also have to sign an affidavit promising to pursue legal residency or citizenship. Fewer than two dozen of the 182,000 students in the University of Wisconsin system have used the program, said university spokesman David Giroux.

Wis. gov. floats union compromise, but no deal yet

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Madison.com

Two of the 14 Senate Democrats who fled Wisconsin to block a vote on stripping most bargaining rights for public workers say Republican Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed compromise isn?t enough to bring them back to the Capitol, although they?ll keep talking. One proposed concession was that University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority employees would not lose all union bargaining rights.

Budget battle hits airwaves

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Green Bay Press-Gazette

Quoted: But University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said that while it certainly shows the group was ready to go right out of the gates, it doesn?t mean Walker?s administration is working with them.

Wis. Governor’s Budget Goes Far Beyond Just Unions (NPR)

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National Public Radio

Noted: Fewer than two dozen of the 182,000 students in the University of Wisconsin system have used the program, said university spokesman David Giroux. The Wisconsin Technical College System did an informal survey last fall of how many undocumented immigrants were paying instate tuition, “and there were virtually none,” said spokeswoman Morna Foy.

Editorial: Wisconsin Covenant will come up empty

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Appleton Post-Crescent

So much for the promise of the Wisconsin Covenant. When he introduced his vow to state eighth-graders it in 2006, Gov. Jim Doyle said, “As long as the student holds up his or her end of the bargain, every family that qualifies for financial aid will get a package that fully covers their tuition” in the University of Wisconsin System. But, with no actual cost to the state attached to it at the time, the Covenant looked like more of a bill of goods.

Jon Fischer: New Badger Partnership right for UW

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I would like to express my support for the New Badger Partnership, Chancellor Martin?s principles to provide the university with the means to navigate through difficult times. The New Badger Partnership aims to readdress the relationship between the state government and the university, freeing it to focus on its primary missions.

Politics blog: The Daily Show takes on tape residue, the Wisconsin 14

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Wisconsin State Journal

The rapidly-shifting estimate of tape residue removal costs and the “Wisconsin 14” were just too tempting for The Daily Show to resist. On Monday night, the show took on the controversy over tape goop left by protest signs at the state Capitol and went on to smoke out the 14 Democratic state senators who have “found safe harbor” in Illinois for weeks.

Biz Beat: TomoTherapy sale costs Madison a HQ

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Capital Times

Once the darling of the Madison area high-tech scene, TomoTherapy has been sold to a Silicon Valley-based company in a deal both firms say will help them in the competitive medical devices space.

The new owner, subject to regulatory approval, is Accuray Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which trades under the ARAY symbol. The firm has about 450 employees and sells the “CyberKnife system,” an image-guided radiosurgery system used for the treatment of solid tumors. TomoTherapy, a UW-Madison spin-off which has been struggling to turn a profit, has about 350 employees at its headquarters off Old Sauk Road.

Campus Connection: Faculty, Martin discuss future of UW

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Capital Times

Some faculty on campus are more willing than others to hitch UW-Madison?s future to a new public authority model spelled out for Wisconsin?s flagship institution in Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed 2011-13 biennial budget.

But after hearing from supporters, listening to concerns and fielding questions on this issue for more than an hour during Monday afternoon?s Faculty Senate meeting at Bascom Hall, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin was generally upbeat with how the campus community is warming to a potential new relationship between the university and state.

War of words escalates

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Democrat?s offer to meet with Gov. Scott Walker to break the budget impasse produced no agreement or even progress Monday, only a burst of accusations on both sides that some said could set back negotiations.

Walker lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona), saying Miller?s request to meet with him was ridiculous because Miller hasn?t delivered a deal with Republicans despite several meetings between the two sides. Democrats remained holed up in Illinois to block action on Walker?s budget-repair bill and fired back that the governor had given little on the proposal, which would end most collective bargaining for public employee unions in the state.

Union of Walker, Biddy plans create troubling brew for UW

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Badger Herald

Education seems to be under attack from all sides these days, both from the state government and from within the University of Wisconsin administration. Gov. Scott Walker has been painted to be an archenemy of schoolteachers, but if you ask me, Chancellor Biddy Martin isn?t any better. Her New Badger Partnership represents the most radical change to the UW model since the merger of Wisconsin schools in the 1970s, and it represents a complete departure from the idea of a public university.

Biddy?s Ever Expanding Propaganda Machine (North Park Street)

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In case you don?t keep up on the ramblings of Max Love over at his blog, he recently has been tossing allegations around that a number of students and former students, including the authors of this blog, are part of Biddy Martin?s propaganda machine and that we have all been bought off through various means including football game tickets, letters of recommendation and free trips to LA in exchange for our support. When he initially made that post I chose not to respond to the absurd and unfounded allegations against myself, but now that he?s back at it I think it?s time for a response. Let?s make a list of all of the students that Max is alleging have been ?bought out? by Chancellor Martin:

The Badger Impact (An Inexperienced Leader)

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Recently, a coalition of students was formed to educate students on the Budget Repair Bill and then teach them how to combat it. The Badger Impact group has now moved into a new field. Their new website declares they are ?Students United in Stopping Biddy Martin?s Plan to Ruin the UW System.? For being a group that was so rooted in education for SB-11, there seems to be a lot of misinformation on their website. Let?s go down their list of what their vision of the New Badger Partnership is, and then see what it actually is.

No camping outside the Capitol; permits required for rallies, marches

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Capital Times

There will be no more sleeping on the state Capitol grounds by protesters, and the organizers of any new march or rally at the Capitol will need to get a permit. The Capitol Police issued a statement Monday saying the administrative code prohibits camping on the state Capitol grounds, so effective Monday, March 7, camping will not be permitted.

Politics blog: The leader of 14 Dem senators asks for meeting with Gov Walker

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Wisconsin State Journal

The leader of the 14 Senate Democrats in Wisconsin who fled to Illinois wrote to Gov. Scott Walker Monday morning to request an in-person meeting near the border between the states.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, wrote to Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, to ask them “to meet, in-person, as soon as possible to resume discussions on how we reach a bipartisan solution to our differences” on the collective bargaining and budget repair bill controversy.

Michael Ford: UW-Madison needs a sustainable model for its role in state

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: I need to know a lot more about the idea of separating the UW-Madison from the rest of the UW System and having an entirely separate board that will apparently be controlled by the governor. As an alumnus who actually graduated from the UW-Madison, I have a serious reservation about putting control of the UW-Madison into the hands of someone who did not. This governor has shown that he cannot be trusted and it seems likely that any deals with him are likely to contain traps to allow him to advance an agenda that would put an end to sifting and winnowing.

UW Afro-American studies staffers: Don?t take rights away from struggling teaching assistants

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Capital Times

….Many of the students who enroll in our master?s program and serve us as teaching assistants are from diverse working class backgrounds and are struggling to make ends meet and stay in school right now. Like the UW-Madison, in general, the department of Afro-American studies relies on the high-quality performance of our teaching assistants.

It is with dismay and disappointment, therefore, that we greet Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to deny collective bargaining rights to Wisconsin?s public employees. This will certainly have a detrimental effect on these students? welfare and a negative impact on their ability to maintain the superior service that they currently render to the hundreds of undergraduates who take our courses.

Ed Garvey: Don?t put UW under right-wing thumb

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Capital Times

It is hard to know who is pulling the strings on the Walker/Fitzgerald puppet show, but someone other than Gov. Scott Walker and Family Fitzgerald has cooked up a radical agenda that just doesn?t seem like a ?Wisconsin idea.?

I would really like to know who drafted the manifesto. Seems more like the Koch brothers and the CATO Institute than Lee Dreyfus, Warren Knowles or Mike Ellis.It just doesn?t seem like it fits the definition of this ?special place? called Wisconsin as Bob La Follette described us. It isn?t John Muir, Aldo Leopold or John Bascom.

….Let us join together and declare they do not have the right to dispose of the great state university of Wisconsin. This is not a power plant ? it is the font of ideas and dreams. It is us. The real stakeholders are the people of this state and students of the future. Not David Koch.

Dems, GOP stall on talks over Wisconsin unions

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USA Today

A Wisconsin Democratic lawmaker says negotiations have stalled with Republicans over controversial legislation that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. Sen. Tim Cullen said Saturday that talks broke down Thursday but lines of communication remain open. Cullen says it?s difficult for either side to compromise, since Democrats don?t want to lose their base support and Republican Gov. Scott Walker doesn?t want to appear weak by backing down.

Michael Moore rallies protesters in Wisconsin

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USA Today

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore urged Wisconsin residents Saturday to fight against Republican efforts to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, telling thousands of protesters that “Madison is only the beginning.”

School choice programs get boost in Walker budget

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Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal calls for deep cuts in most areas of public education with one notable exception – public school choice programs. Meanwhile, Milwaukee?s 20-year-old voucher program would receive $22.5 million more to accommodate 1,300 additional students. The growth would result from Walker?s proposal to remove the program?s income requirements and enrollment caps. And independent charter schools would receive $18.4 million more over the biennium. Walker is projecting 600 additional students as his proposal would lift the state enrollment cap on virtual charter schools, allow the UW System?s 13 four-year universities to establish charter schools, and allow independent charter schools in any district in the state.Independent charter schools are currently limited to Milwaukee and Racine counties. Education historian Diane Ravitch, a New York University professor and former assistant U.S. secretary of education who is speaking at UW-Madison on Tuesday, say choice programs have drained resources from the traditional public school system without producing conclusive evidence that they are any better at educating students, particularly low-income ones.

Tom Loftus: UW System operates well as is

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Wisconsin State Journal

The long-range question now becomes: Will this eventually break the historical ties that the people of Wisconsin have with UW-Madison? One of our System chancellors said that spinning off Madison meant the “flagship was sailing away.” More likely it will be a drift away over the years. It will still be a great school. But will it still be the state?s school?

Moore: Protesters have ‘aroused a sleeping giant’

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Wisconsin State Journal

Protesters in Madison have “aroused a sleeping giant” in the national fight for workers? rights, filmmaker Michael Moore told thousands at the Capitol Square on Saturday, as rallies opposing Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposals wrapped up their third week. Leland Pan, of UW-Madison?s Student Labor Action Coalition, criticized Walker?s plan to split the campus from the University of Wisconsin System, a move that UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin supports.

Correcting the Record: Gov. Walker is NOT trying to kill your puppies (Dane101)

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Some people have taken issue with a provision in Governor Scott Walker?s budget proposal that allows pounds to transfer stray dogs to University system research facilities. The problem with turning this into a “Gov. Walker hates dogs” story is that it simply isn?t true. The statute currently exists in Wisconsin, Walker is simply making a small amendment to the wording due to the proposal to break the University of Wisconsin-Madison off from the rest of the University system.

Editorial: Dividing UW System may help no one

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Racine Journal Times

“In a time of austerity, we must be creative in seeking ways to cut back on expenses without cutting into the quality of the educational enterprise.”

Those words could fit the plan by Gov. Scott Walker to split the flagship University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from the rest of the state university system. In fact, they were spoken by former Gov. Patrick Lucey in 1971, when he proposed creating the present unified UW System out of the two state systems which existed then.

Budget could lead to more privatization

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: Some aspects of Gov. Walker?s proposed budget plan could mean a move toward more privatization. Critics say they?re worried about a trend toward privatization, and what it means for the state.But UW-Madison professor Andrew Reschovsky says privatization isn?t necessarily a good or bad thing, depending on the job.

Overnight protesters leave Capitol

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Also on Thursday, University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling testified that police found 41 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition Thursday outside the Capitol. Riseling said 11 rounds were found outside the State St. entrance, 29 rounds near the King St. entrance and one round near the Hamilton St. area.

Layoff deadline looms as efforts to break stalemate continue

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As a Friday deadline for layoff notices looms, Republicans and Democrats caught up in the state budget crisis are talking about ways to break the stalemate and showing signs of movement from their entrenched positions.

According to a GOP source familiar with the talks, the discussions with Democratic senators holed up in Illinois include removing or changing a provision from Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill that would limit unions? bargaining over wages to the rate of inflation.

In wake of judge’s order, new Capitol access rules ease restrictions

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Capital Times

A judge?s ruling that the public must have open access to the State Capitol opens the door for more people to get into the building on Friday, but it won?t be without limits, the state announced.

Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch issued access procedures Friday morning after Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert ordered on Thursday that the Capitol be cleared at night and that the access restrictions were too strict and must be relaxed.