Free Republic

(School choice group says governor should lift enrollment cap...) Advocates for Milwaukee's school voucher program launched a large television and radio advertising campaign Friday aimed at pressuring Gov. Jim Doyle to agree to raise the cap on the number of students who can enroll in private schools in the program next fall. The step was the first in what is likely to be an extended and heated series of moves by partisans on all sides as the cap issue comes to a head in coming weeks and, along with it, possibly other Milwaukee-related education issues. It came four days before...

(Statewide services would be a cost-effective way to help more people, governor says...) Madison, WI - In his state of the state speech Tuesday, Gov. Jim Doyle will propose a statewide expansion of Wisconsin's Family Care program, which provides long-term, community-based services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. The program now operates on a pilot basis in five counties, including Milwaukee County. Wisconsin spent $2 billion in 2004 providing long-term care to 60,000 seniors and people with disabilities. But according to the state Department of Health and Family Services, 11,500 people are on waiting lists with no care. Expanding...

(Ex-Assembly majority leader to plead guilty to misdemeanor...) Madison, WI - Former state Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor ethics violation and be a possible witness against Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), a longtime friend. Sources knowledgeable about the deal said Thursday that prosecutors would drop a felony corruption charge, and Foti, an Oconomowoc Republican, would serve 30 days in jail, followed by two years of probation. The sources agreed to discuss Foti's plea agreement only if they remained anonymous. Jensen, a former Assembly speaker, is scheduled to go on trial Feb....

(Easy win in heavily Republican area...) WAUKESHA, WI - Republican Scott Newcomer won a special election for the 33rd Assembly District seat Tuesday, easily defeating Democrat Patrick Byrne.Complete unofficial returns showed Newcomer with 2,438 votes, or 63 percent, to 1,442, or 37 percent, for Byrne, the Waukesha County clerk said. The turnout was only 8.8 percent of registered voters in the heavily Republican district.The election filled a seat vacated by 15-year veteran Dan Vrakas, a Republican who resigned from the Assembly after he won a special election Oct. 31 to become Waukesha County executive. Newcomer, a conservative businessman, will serve...

GREEN BAY, WI - A sharp increase in the number of people who killed themselves in Brown County last year has some community leaders concerned. The county's medical examiner ruled 36 deaths as suicides last year, a 64 percent increase over 2004 and a 38 percent increase over the 10-year average. The jump has Interim Brown County Medical Examiner Al Klimek asking himself why. "You ask, 'What's going on in our community that is making people end their lives? Is it socioeconomic changes? Is it health reasons? Is it ... the doomsday reporting that we have every day, everything is...

Researchers Need 1,000 Volunteers MILWAUKEE, WI -- If you've tried to quit smoking and failed, you may get your chance to finally kick the habit. Researchers plan to take 1,000 smokers and compare how they respond to five different treatments. Milwaukee is the chosen city for this study because the conductors think it is where they can get the best results. "I've been smoking for three years now. I started when I was 15. I've been trying to stop since," Maxine Swopes said. Swopes, 18, is a mother of one child and expecting another. She is a smoker who knows...

(Bar Owner Trying To Concede Land To Town Of Burke) MADISON, Wis. -- A Madison bar-owner is going to extreme measures to escape the city’s smoking ban. He’s trying to detach his property and neighboring land from Madison and become part of the town of Burke. He’s hoping re-drawing the city’s boundary lines will rekindle his business. "For my business, smoking is a critical thing," said Wiggie’s owner Dave Wiganowsky. "I’m down 40 some percent. If I was in the town of Burke, they permit smoking."Wiganowsky said he’s not sure if anyone has ever tried this tactic before, but he’s...

MILWAUKEE—Wisconsin families with children poisoned by lead paint should not have to bear medical costs alone, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said in vetoing a bill that would have shielded paint makers from lead-paint injury claims. The governor vetoed S.B. 402 late last week. The proposed legislation was crafted in response to a 2005 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that made it easier for those poisoned by lead paint to bring legal action against lead paint manufacturers. "This bill puts lead companies first and children last," the governor said in announcing his veto at a community center in Milwaukee. "Many of these...

MIDDLETON, Wis. -- Officials at a Wisconsin high school are apologizing for insults chanted at a basketball game. In their chant, fans of a suburban Madison school insulted their city opponents by suggesting they need food stamps to eat. The Middleton High School fans chanted "food stamps, food stamps" and "Os-car May-er" during a game against Madison East on Dec. 20. Middleton is a well-to-do suburb, while 40 percent of Madison East's students are eligible for federally subsidized lunches. Oscar Mayer's headquarters lies in East's attendance area. Middleton officials sent a letter of apology to East on Friday. Middleton's principal...

While her toddler son slept, Carrie Lynch of Madison sat down at her computer last week and stepped into a public square of pixels and Web pages. The 34-year-old political insider and stay-at-home mom launched her Web log of leftwing commentary on a prominent local Web site Wednesday, joining a growing horde of pundits and partisans looking to play a modest but unprecedented role in the November state elections. "That's pretty crazy. I'm surprised," Lynch said when she learned that by noon Friday, 100 people had logged on to read the post she'd written in her pajamas that morning. "It's...

MADISON, WI - Wisconsin lost $4.7 billion in household net worth over a five-year period as more highly paid and well-educated residents moved out of the state than came in, according to a study that also found high numbers of 20-somethings and seniors leaving.The nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance did not survey those who left as part of its analysis of census data between 1995 and 2000. But its president, Todd Berry, said the study suggests several trends at play. They include highly educated college graduates leaving Wisconsin faster than they're coming in because of greater economic opportunities elsewhere, and older...

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (D, WI) is taking heat for what critics say were misleading claims about how strongly Madison's economy has grown since he took office in 2003. The Common Sense Coalition, a year-old policy group that so far has not backed any candidates for office, said that it was "disappointed, but not surprised."Cieslewicz's overstatement of the job statistics was reported in the Wisconsin State Journal on Friday. "Jobs are moving out of the city to the surrounding areas," Common Sense Coalition spokesman Ray Allen said. "It just seems that some of our local elected officials are not hearing the...

Vicki McKenna - "a voice of reason in a city of chaos" - really likes that city, which is, of course, Madison. McKenna, the host of "Upfront" on WIBA radio, says it's more fun doing her conservative talk show in a liberal town. "I've always had this kind of appreciation for the underdog," she said in a leisurely interview last week. "I think it has a chance to have more impact because of the nature of Madison."

A person recently described the Dells as a mini Las Vegas. The description was not meant to be complimentary, and expressed a fear that this area, marketed as a family recreation center, was becoming a center of sleaze and slime. Is this what the Dells wants to be? As long as children love water and waterparks the answer should be no. The person referred to the advent in the last decade of strip clubs and sex clubs in the area. The first strip club to arrive in the Dells area was the one in Juneau County's Town of Lyndon a...

Mob pulled man who honked horn from car and beat him Thursday, December 29, 2005; Posted: 10:28 p.m. EST (03:28 GMT) Samuel McClain, before the beating. His wife says people will be shocked to see what he looks like now. Image: More Useful Links • Baby Registry • Online Shopping • Sporting Goods YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS milwaukee or Create Your Own Manage Alerts | What Is This? MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Three juveniles suspected in the brutal mob beating of a motorist appeared in court Thursday and were ordered held in custody while authorities investigate the attack. None of the...

MILWAUKEE — Three juveniles suspected in the brutal mob beating of a motorist appeared in court Thursday and were ordered held in custody while authorities investigate the attack. None of the juveniles _ a 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds _ was charged. Police continued to seek more suspects. A prosecutor told a juvenile court judge the 14-year-old allegedly stomped and did a front flip onto 50-year-old Samuel McClain after he was yanked from his car on Monday. A 16-year-old was accused of jumping off a car onto McClain and hitting him in the face with an ice ball, while the other...

On a frigid morning nearly three weeks ago, Michael Desalvo dumped Angela Drake, either dead or unconscious, in a rural town of Oregon culvert, a court document alleges. Evidence indicates that Desalvo, a Fitchburg plumber, may have asphyxiated the 25-year-old or knowingly left her, still alive, to freeze to death under a bridge on Storytown Road, the probable cause affidavit states. The document, signed by Fitchburg Detective Mike Bartosch, was filed Monday. Police fill out the affidavits at the jail, generally when someone is booked, to verify there is probable cause to charge them for a crime. Fitchburg police have...

MILWAUKEE -- It's the latest in a series of mob beatings in Milwaukee. This time, according to police, at least 15 young people dragged a man out of his car and kicked and punched him -- after the man honked at them to get them to move out of a street. The beating left the 50-year-old man with severe head trauma. He's hospitalized in critical condition and police said it's not clear if he'll survive. No arrests have been made. Three years ago, more than a dozen people chased a man through the streets of Milwaukee and beat him to...

(Rough ride on Halloween, zoning, Overture...) As 2005 drew to a close, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz had seen a number of dark clouds gather. His defeats this year seemed to pile up with the falling leaves - a cruel streak in late fall that left him in unfamiliar territory during his first term. His push to keep the Overture Center construction debt from being publicly backed by city taxpayers had failed. He once more oversaw a young drunken crowd being pepper-sprayed by police at the close of the Halloween party. And one of his foremost accomplishments - legislation that required...

(Hearing set for Wednesday) A plea bargain appears to be in the works for former state Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, one of five former legislative leaders charged in the Capitol corruption scandal. Ladwig is scheduled to appear at a plea hearing on Wednesday morning before Dane County Circuit Judge Steven Ebert. Details of the deal were not available this morning. Ladwig's attorney, Mark Nielsen, did not return calls for comment. Ladwig, the former assistant Assembly majority leader, was charged with one misdemeanor ethics violation, allegedly for receiving campaign help from legislative staffers on state time. She is the only lawmaker to...