Free Republic

The Wall Street Journal somehow got its hands on internal GAB e-mails regarding the John Doe. The Journal Sentinel reported on the revelation but decided to make the thrust of its story the belief of one GAB staff attorney, Shane Falk, that Scott Walker really was a target of the investigation. This contradicted a public statement by Special Prosecutor Fran Schmitz that he was not. There was, apparently, bickering among the prosecutors. I think the paper missed the story. Completely. The more significant revelation - completely unreported by the Journal Sentinel - was that Falk was concerned about the impact...

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore says that Republican Gov. Scott Walker's policies are "tightening the noose, literally, around African Americans." ... She says Walker's opposition to raising the minimum wage, requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, and requiring drug testing for public aid recipients disproportionately hurts African Americans.

Gov. Scott Walker will sign so-called right-to-work legislation on Monday morning at Badger Meter in Brown Deer after the Assembly passed the measure Friday morning following almost 24 hours of debate. The measure bans labor contracts that would make it mandatory for workers to pay union fees. The legislation zoomed into play this year, pushed by GOP legislators, after Walker brushed aside the issue as a distraction during his re-election campaign last year.

The mother of Bo Morrison, who was killed by a Slinger man when Morrison hid in the man's house while fleeing from an underage drinking party, has filed a lawsuit against the man and his insurance company. Washington County District Attorney Mark Bensen declined to charge the homeowner, Adam Kind, with a crime in the March 2012 incident, finding Kind acted in self-defense. The incident prompted numerous protests about "the castle doctrine," adopted by legislators the previous year, but Bensen said Kind would have been cleared even without the law's extra presumptions in favor of residents using deadly force in...

State Rep. Duey Stroebel (R-Town of Cedarburg) announced Saturday he will run for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Neenah), who announced Friday he is stepping down. Stroebel becomes the second declared candidate for the seat of Petri, who has been in Congress since 1979.

Rep. Duey Stroebel signaled Monday that he wouldn't join a Republican primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, but might jump into the race if Petri chooses not to run for re-election. Stroebel (R-Town of Cedarburg) strongly hinted that, if Petri runs, he won't add his candidacy to that of Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), who has already said that he is running to challenge the longtime incumbent. Stroebel said Petri isn't conservative enough to represent his district. "Someone who had indicated that he wasn't going to run decided he was going to run," Stroebel said of Grothman, explaining his...

State Sen. Dale Schultz, a moderate Republican who voted with Democrats on occasion, has announced he will not run for re-election this year. In an extensive interview with WISC-TV (Channel 3000), Schultz, a Republican from Richland Center, said the decision came after "listening to my constituents, and a lot of contemplation and thought with my wife and my family, that I'm not going to stand for re-election this year." If Schultz had run for re-election, he would have faced state Rep. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) in a primary election.Ernie Wittwer, former state transportation budget director, is running for the seat...

<p>CHILTON, Wis. (AP) — A former Appleton school district teacher's aide is accused of sexually assaulting a student.</p> <p>Forty-four-year-old Laura Bates is accused of having sex with the 17-year-old boy at her home in Calumet County.</p> <p>A shackled Bates walked into court without an attorney Tuesday. She faces four felony counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff.</p>

Benjamin Sebena was charged Thursday with the Christmas Eve shooting death of his wife, Wauwatosa Police Officer Jennifer L. Sebena. According to a criminal complaint, Benjamin Sebena told police he had been stalking his wife for days and that, after lying in wait for her for hours, shot her early Monday as she emerged from a break at a Wauwatosa Fire Department station on Underwood Ave. He said he shot her in the back of her head with his own handgun and then shot her several times in the face with her service revolver, according to the complaint.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice has received more than 20,000 concealed carry applications since the law took effect Tuesday. Data from the state Justice Department show that as of 4 p.m. Friday, 20,476 applications had been submitted. Of those, 879 concealed carry licenses had been approved and 793 had been printed. Also, 117 applications were rejected. Agency spokeswoman Dana Brueck incomplete applicant data, insufficient training documentation or a missing payment are all reasons an application can be rejected. The state has 45 days to issue a license once a valid application is received. Brueck said the Justice Department is working...

The Wisconsin State Assembly is scheduled to debate (and hopefully pass) SB93, the concealed carry bill, which has already passed the Wisconsin State Senate.

The House floor erupted into a chaotic scene Friday as House Democrats tried to upset Republican plans to pass their 2012 budget resolution. Democrats unsettled Republicans by voting "present" in a vote on a more conservative budget than the official GOP proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), almost enabling that bill to pass. In the end, it failed in a 119-136 vote, with 172 Democrats voting present. Several Republicans, including Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (Calif.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), a member of GOP leadership, switched their votes to ensure the more conservative budget backed by...

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. Approve it Kill it

After a decisive win in Tuesday’s Republican Primary, businessman Ron Johnson now holds a seven-point lead over incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Johnson picking up 51% support, while Feingold earns the vote from 44%. One percent (1%) of voters prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) remain undecided. However, the race is still considered a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Senate Balance of Power rankings. The survey was conducted one night after Johnson’s primary victory in which he received 85% of the vote in...

The fate of a Senate bill that would revamp the nation’s financial regulatory system could hinge on a Republican centrist from Maine. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) may end up being the deciding vote next week on a Democratic Wall Street reform plan touted by the White House. While Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) attracted the spotlight during the healthcare reform debate, Collins is the one being wooed by Republicans and Democrats on financial regulatory reform. A GOP aide said Collins is the only Republican senator who has not signed a letter promising to filibuster a motion to proceed to the bill...

For the first time, a CNN poll has found that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Obama's job performance. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday, 51 percent of respondents disapprove of Obama's job performance and 46 percent approve of it.

Hundreds attend Tea Party rally in Green Bay, WI.

Menomonee Falls Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner issued the following statement today on his ‘NO’ vote on HR 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008: "I am voting ‘NO’ on the bill the House will vote on later today because it will subsidize Wall Street on the backs of hard working taxpayers and small businesses on Main Street. "To put it plainly, this legislation will not work. It will put an unbelievable amount of taxpayer money at risk, and penalize those who used common sense during a time when others elected to ignore reason by making decisions that led them to...

<p>Police found right-wing political books, brass knuckles, empty shotgun shell boxes and a handgun in the Powell home of a man who said he attacked a church in order to kill liberals "who are ruining the country," court records show.</p>

When Wisconsin voters go to the polls this April Fool's day, the state Supreme Court may realize the joke's on them. After four years of judicial activism, one of the court's most liberal members, Justice Louis Butler, is up for re-election -- and voters get to send a message about what they expect from their judges.