Category: State news

A state agency that manages retirement and health insurance plans for public workers is reporting an increase of as much as 600-percent in questions from public workers about benefits and early retirement.

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.

“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.

Gov. Scott Walker has talked tough about the state financial problems ? and his 2011-13 budget proposal follows through on it.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is expected to see its state funding drop by $4.5 million, according to preliminary estimates from the university.

MADISON, Wis. AP ? Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that he will issue layoff notices to 1,500 state workers on Friday if his proposal forcing them to pay more for benefits and taking away nearly all their collective bargaining rights isn?t passed by then.

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.

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.

If Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature want to sell off state-owned power plants, taxpayers deserve a fair price. That means state officials absolutely should use a competitive bidding process for sale of these significant public properties. He did pledge an open process, should the sale of the 32 heating and cooling plants proceed. The plants for sale would include the Charter Street plant, which provides service to UW-Madison.

A new group will lobby on behalf of UW-Madison in an effort to persuade state legislators to support the flagship university?s split from the University of Wisconsin System. The Badger Advocates filed as a lobbying firm with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board on Tuesday, the day Gov. Scott Walker released his budget proposal.

About 50 pro-union protesters peacefully left the state Capitol late Thursday after a judge ruled they could no longer spend the night to show their opposition to Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to eliminate nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers.The judge also ruled the state had violated the public?s free speech and assembly rights by restricting access to the building. University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Chief Susan Riseling read the order to the crowd, eliciting cheers when she read the judge?s determination that the state had unconstitutionally restricted access to the building.

In an effort to recruit top-tier graduate students from around the world, University of Wisconsin officials have offered an assurance that tuition remission for teaching assistants will continue under the new budget proposal.

The protesters demanded to see a written copy of the order before they would go. University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Chief Susan Riseling read the order to the crowd, eliciting cheers when she read the judge?s determination that the state had unconstitutionally restricted access to the building.

Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to remove the flagship Madison campus from the University of Wisconsin System would hurt the remaining campuses, UW-Green Bay Chancellor Thomas Harden said Wednesday.

University of Wisconsin Police Chief Susan Riseling said 41 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition were found Thursday morning scattered at several locations outside the Capitol.

Gov. Walker says he?ll start sending out layoff notices to state workers on Friday if his budget repair bill doesn?t pass by then.

Protesters leave the capitol by 10pm Thursday, but not without contemplation and surprise.

A Dane County Judge says rules put in place this week to restrict public access to the state Capitol building violate the Constitution. As a result, Judge John Albert issued an order Thursday evening for the building to be fully reopened to the public by Monday morning, with the access policies that were in place on ?January 28, 2011.?