Category: State news

Wisconsin?s Republican governor said he?s confident Democrats who left the state to avoid voting on a bill removing union rights will return within a day or two, calling the boycott a “stunt.”

Nine people have been arrested in the third day of widespread protests at the state Capitol.

Democrats in the Wisconsin state Senate did not show up for work Thursday, and law enforcement is looking for them

Senate Democrats left Wisconsin on Thursday morning, preventing a vote on the budget repair bill. Governor Walker says those lawmakers are ignoring their duty.

The leader of state Senate Democrats explains why they skipped town on Thursday. They haven?t talked yet, but Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller said Democrats will be in contact with majority Republicans and the governor?s office over the weekend. T

More than a half-century after Wisconsin became the first state to grant government workers collective-bargaining rights, this city has emerged as a key battleground in a movement to dismantle faculty and other public unions.

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.

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.

Gov. Scott Walker?s bill to strip almost all union rights for public workers advanced out of committee Wednesday just before midnight, setting up a pivotal floor vote in the Senate that is expected for Thursday amid massive demonstrations.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is urging the Legislature?s budget committee to delay action on Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal doing away with collective bargaining rights for public employees.

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has known for more than a month that Wisconsin?s flagship university might be splitting from the UW System ? and gaining some key flexibilities and freedoms thanks to the Walker administration ? according to a memo obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Wisconsin is poised to strip collective bargaining rights from most of the state?s 175,000 public employees in the boldest step by a new Republican governor and Legislature to solve budget problems by confronting organized labor.

A bill eliminating most collective bargaining rights from nearly all Wisconsin public employees passed the Legislature?s budget-writing committee just before midnight Wednesday.

The stage is set for a final showdown on Governor Scott Walker?s budget repair bill, after the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee approved an amended version of the proposal late Wednesday night.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has called on state lawmakers to negotiate with university workers before voting on a proposed budget repair bill that would cut wages and many collective bargaining rights for state workers

University of Wisconsin System leaders are concerned Gov. Scott Walker might try to remove UW-Madison from the UW System when he releases his 2011-13 biennial budget next week.

With a key committee vote out of the way, Republican leaders plan to soon pass a bill that would effectively strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers in Wisconsin, suggesting only modest changes to the proposal introduced by Gov. Scott Walker.

University of Wisconsin leaders fear that Gov. Scott Walker will spin off the flagship UW-Madison campus from the rest of the UW System.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin sent a letter to the UW System Board of Regents Wednesday night that praises their efforts to get freedom from state rules on purchasing, pay and other areas for all UW campuses, but asks for their support of a proposal to get those benefits for UW-Madison whether other schools get them or not.

For many foreigner observers ? and, perhaps, many Americans too ? the only reason recent goings-on in Wisconsin might cross their minds was the Green Bay Packers? victory in the Super Bowl. That was a great moment for the team?s famous “cheesehead” fans and anyone who admires those who wear fake cheese triangles as hats.

As four game wardens awkwardly stood guard, protesters, scores deep, crushed into a corridor leading to the governor?s office here on Wednesday, their screams echoing through the Capitol: ?Come out, come out, wherever you are!?

Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, which includes controversial provisions to strip some collective bargaining rights from state employees, passed the Joint Finance Committee on a partisan 12-4 vote.

Republicans on the committee amended the bill to remove a provision stripping pension and health benefits from limited term employees.

In a continued expression of solidarity and support for state workers? rights, nearly 13,000 protesters crowded Capitol Square and spilled onto State Street in the second day of rallying in opposition to the proposed budget repair bill.