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Wisconsin News, Wisconsin State News, Wisconsin capital: Madison, WI News |
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 US
States
Wisconsin capital: Madison US
Capitals
WI: Wisconsin Wis. State
Abbr.
Wisconsin state is bordered by the states of Michigan (north), Illinois (south), Iowa, and Minnesota (west). 
Wisconsin state also borders Lake Superior, Menominee River (north), Lake Michigan (east), and the Mississippi River (west). |
 Wisconsin
WISCONSIN New:
 John
McCain -  Rick
Davis -  Corporate
-  Politics
-  Federal
-  Housing
- Wisconsin
- 2008
Election
"McCain Transition Head Lobbied for Freddie Mac Before Takeover." ... "The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing Freddie Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation's financial crisis." ... "Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000 through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae." ... "Newly available congressional records show Timmons's firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred under terms of the government rescue of the failed [housing] mortgage giant. Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company's midyear financial-disclosure form." ... "McCain has labeled Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as prime culprits in creating the financial storm that has roiled Wall Street and Washington." ... "``At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,'' he said last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin." ... "``Using money and influence, they prevented reforms that would have curbed their power and limited their ability to damage our economy,'' he said. ``And now, as ever, the American taxpayers are left to pay the price for Washington's failure.''" ... "The McCain camp was also dealing with reports about the lobbying work of campaign manager Rick Davis." ... "The New York Times reported yesterday that Davis was paid almost $2 million in fees over five years by a group primarily funded by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that was intended to help stave off more stringent federal regulation of the housing companies. " -By Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger -Bloomberg 
 Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Money
- Politics
-  Accounting
-  Alaska
- Wisconsin
- 2008
Election
"Plane Not Sold on eBay." ... "One of the compelling anecdotes about [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor." ... "But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times." ... "Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska's Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007." ... "But that hasn't stopped Palin, or John McCain, from implying -- and, on Friday, claiming outright -- that Palin did sell the jet on the Internet." ... ""You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!" [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain declared in Wisconsin at a campaign stop on Friday." -By Anne E. Kornblut -WashingtonPost 
|
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Wisconsin News Sources: Antigo, WI Appleton, WI Arcadia, WI Ashland, WI Beloit, WI Black River Falls, WI Bloomer, WI Brodhead, WI Chippewa Falls, WI Cumberland, WI Eagle River, WI Eau Claire, WI Ellsworth, WI Hudson, WI Menasha, WI New Richmond, WI River Falls, WI |
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|
Telecom
- 
Amnesty
- Corporate
- Government
- 
Intelligence
- 
Surveillance
- Wisconsin
- 
Nevada
- 
Connecticut
- "Feingold:
"I Really Do Disagree" With Reid On FISA." ... "A
long-debated provision over whether or not telephone companies would get
a free pass for aiding the U.S. [United States] government in warrentless
surveillance hits the Senate floor today. And it threatens to open up fissures
within the Democratic Party." ... "In an interview with the Huffington
Post on Thursday morning, [Wisconsin Democratic Senator] Sen. Russ Feingold,
who opposes granting immunity to those companies, expressed disappointment
that his party's leader, [Nevada Democratic Senator] Sen. Harry Reid, was
not doing more to help strike the provision from a newly considered version
of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." ... ""Of course I have great
respect for the Majority Leader," said Feingold. "He is a good friend of
mine. But I really do disagree with his way of proceeding."" ... "At issue
is the likely passage of a version of FISA that contains retroactive immunity
over one that doesn't. Reid has said he supports the former, but legislatively,
the path has been paved for the passage of the latter. In addition, there
is debate over an amendment offered by [Connecticut Democratic Senator]
Sen. Chris Dodd, to strip immunity from any FISA bill. If that fails --
and it seems likely -- Dodd has threatened to filibuster the whole bill.
On Wednesday, Reid was interpreted as saying any such filibuster will be
the standing and talking variety as opposed to an agreed-upon 60-vote minimum
threshold. Feingold, who supports Dodd's stance, took slight issue with
that approach." ... ""We should have a normal process w[h]ere this is debated
based on a majority vote in the senate," said the Wisconsin Democrat. "That's
the way it should have been done and I regret that it's not being done
that way. Of course, I support Senator Dodd. He and I were principally
involved in making sure this didn't get jammed through before the holidays
and I will be supporting him again. But this decision does make it harder.""
-By Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
Mitch
McConnell - Noteworthy
- Government
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- Corporate
- Telecom
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Nevada
- 
Kentucky
- 
Vermont
- Connecticut
- Wisconsin
- "Your
Harry Reid-led Senate in action." ... "[Nevada Democratic
Senator] Harry Reid -- who has (a) done more than any other individual
to ensure that Bush's demands for telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping
powers will be met in full and (b) allowed the Republicans all year to
block virtually every bill without having to bother to actually filibuster
-- went to the Senate floor yesterday and, with the scripted assistance
of [Kentucky Republican Senator] Mitch McConnell and [Vermont Democratic
Senator] Pat Leahy, warned [Connecticut Democratic Senator] Chris Dodd,
[Wisconsin Democratic Senator] Russ Feingold and others that they would
be selfishly wreaking havoc on the schedules of their fellow Senators (making
them work over the weekend, ruining their planned "retreat," and even preventing
them from going to Davos!) if they bothered everyone with their annoying,
pointless little filibuster." ... "To do so, Reid announced that, unlike
for the multiple filibusters from Republican colleagues, he would actually
force Dodd and company to engage in a real filibuster. This is what Reid
said:"
John
Edwards
- Wisconsin
- 
Iowa
- Poll
- 
Union
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election - "Edwards
may be closer than he appears." ... "In 2004 [Election],
when [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards nearly
beat John Kerry in Wisconsin, he declared, "Objects in your mirror may
be closer than they appear."" ... "In 2008, he may be getting close again."
... "He has run in Iowa and knows the caucus system. He has worked rural
counties, where a little-reported study revealed that last time it took
only 22 caucus-goers to win a delegate, compared with 80 in urban counties."
... "According to a shrewd observer, a big chunk of Dick Gephardt's 2004
trade union support has gone to Edwards. Adding what he already had gives
him a solid share of the 122,000 people who caucused last time." ... "[Iowa]
Caucus-goers whose candidates don't get 15 percent at a given caucus can
switch on a subsequent ballot to a "viable" candidate. A recent poll found
Edwards is much more likely (42 percent) to be the second choice of those
whose candidate didn't make the cut than Obama (31 percent) or Clinton
(27 percent)." -By Dan Payne
-BostonGlobe
Chris
Dodd
- Corporate
- Government
- Spy
- Law
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Telephone
- 
Internet
- 
E-Mails
- 
Electronic
- Civil
Liberties - 2008
Election - 
Foreign
- 
American
- Nevada
- Conn
- Wisc
- VT
- 
Mass
- "Spy
law showdown postponed until next year." ... "Congress
won't decide until next year whether to pass a complex law that would let
telephone and Internet companies off the hook from lawsuits alleging illicit
cooperation with federal government spies." ... "In something of an unexpected
move, U.S. Senate Majority Leader [Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid
took to the Senate floor on Monday evening and announced he would postpone
debate on the so-called FISA Amendments Act [FISA: Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act]. That bill, which has already been approved in a closed-door
meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would grant such corporate
immunity and make it easier for the feds to snoop on phone calls and e-mails
involving foreigners and Americans without a warrant, drawing rampant criticism
from civil liberties groups." ... "Earlier
in the day, however, it appeared more certain that the Senate would
move ahead with a vote to approve the
controversial Senate measure, which would provide legal immunity to
electronic communications providers that have allegedly opened up their
networks to the National Security Agency and other federal spies since
the September 11, 2001 attacks. Above vocal objections from some Democrats,
the senators nevertheless voted 76-10 to limit debate and other stalling
tactics related to the bill." ... "But in the end, last-minute rallying
from Democrats opposed to the telecommunications immunity provisions applied
the necessary pressure." ... "Perhaps most notably, [2008 Election Democratic
Presidential Candidate and Connecticut Senator] Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.),
a presidential hopeful, devoted
nearly the entire day to delivering one impassioned speech after another
about his opposition to granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies
accused of providing illegal assistance to government spying programs.
Other influential Democratic senators, including [Wisconsin Democratic
Senator] Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), [Vermont Democratic Senator] Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), and [Massachusetts Democratic Senator] Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)
echoed his concerns at various points during the day." -By
Anne Broache -CNET
US
- Political
- 
Terrorism
- Government
- Foreign
- Intelligence
- Communications
- Surveillance
- Law
- Wisconsin
- 
California
- "Reported
Drop in Surveillance Spurred a Law." ... "At a closed-door
briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers
with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25
percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few
months earlier." ... "Congress needed to act quickly, intelligence officials
said, to repair a dangerous situation." ... "Some lawmakers were alarmed.
Others, jaded by past intelligence warnings, were skeptical." ... "The
report helped set off a furious legislative rush last week that, improbably,
broadened the [Republican President Bush] administration’s authority to
wiretap terrorism suspects without court oversight." ... "To many Democrats
who opposed the action, it was a reflection of fear mongering by the White
House, and political capitulation by some fellow Democrats." ... "“There
was an intentional manipulation of the facts to get this legislation through,”
said Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, a Democrat on the Intelligence
Committee who voted against the plan." ... "Representative [California
Democratic Representative] Jane Harman, Democrat of California, said the
White House “very skillfully played the fear card.”" (1, 2)
-By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Mark Mazzetti
-NYTimes
US
- 
Canada
- 
Michigan
- 
Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- 
Lake
- 
History
- 
Climate
- Business
- "Lake
Superior changes puzzle scientists." ... "Deep enough
to hold the combined water in all the other Great Lakes and with a surface
area as large as South Carolina, Lake Superior's size has lent it an aura
of invulnerability." ... "But the mighty Superior [bordered by Ontario,
Canada and the US states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin] is losing
water and getting warmer, worrying those who live near its shores, scientists
and companies that rely on the lake for business." ... "The changes to
the lake could be signs of climate change, although scientists aren't sure."
... "Superior's level is at its lowest point in eight decades and will
set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips three more inches. Meanwhile,
the average water temperature has surged 4.5 degrees since 1979, significantly
above the 2.7-degree rise in the region's air temperature during the same
period." ... "That's no small deal for a freshwater sea that was created
from glacial melt as the Ice Age ended and remains chilly in all seasons."
... "A weather buoy on the western side recently recorded an "amazing"
75 degrees, "as warm a surface temperature as we've ever seen in this lake,"
said Jay Austin, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota at
Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory." -AP
via -CNN
Alberto
R Gonzales - Secret
- Government
- Wiretapping
- Torture
- Intelligence
- Law
- Politics
- Civil
Liberties - Wis
- 
Texas
- 
Maine
- "Gonzales's
Truthfulness Long Disputed: Claims of Misstatements
to Shield [Republican President] Bush Stretch Back a Decade." ... "When
Alberto R. Gonzales was asked during his January 2005 confirmation hearing
whether the Bush administration would ever allow wiretapping of U.S. citizens
without warrants, he initially dismissed the query as a "hypothetical situation.""
... "But when [Wisconsin Democratic Senator] Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.)
pressed him further, Gonzales declared: "It is not the policy or the agenda
of this president to authorize actions that would be in contravention of
our criminal statutes."" ... "By then, however, the government had been
conducting a secret wiretapping program for more than three years without
court oversight, possibly in conflict with federal intelligence laws. Gonzales
had personally defended the effort in fierce internal debates. Feingold
later called his testimony that day "misleading and deeply troubling.""
... "Over the past 2 1/2 years, lawmakers have accused Gonzales of dissembling
on many topics, including civil liberties abuses under the USA Patriot
Act and his role in reviewing aggressive interrogation tactics. After a
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February 2006, Gonzales sent the
panel a six-page, single-spaced letter to "clarify" six major points of
testimony, including his erroneous claim that the Justice Department had
never undertaken a legal analysis of domestic wiretapping." ... "Questions
about Gonzales's willingness to shade the truth on Bush's behalf came to
prominence in the 1996 episode in which Bush was excused from Texas jury
duty in a drunken-driving case. Bush was then the state's governor, and
Gonzales was his general counsel. If Bush had served, he probably would
have had to disclose his own drunken-driving conviction in Maine two decades
earlier." ... "The judge, prosecutor and defense attorney involved in the
case have said that Gonzales met with the judge and argued that jury service
would pose a potential conflict of interest for Bush, who could be asked
to pardon the defendant. Gonzales has disputed that account. He made no
mention of meeting with the judge in a written statement submitted to the
Senate Judiciary Committee." (1, 2)
-By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein with contributions
by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
Government
- Money
- Politics
- 
Military
- Construction
- 
Energy
- Water
- Legislation
- Wis
- "Bush
called out for his earmarks." ... "Democratic and
Republican appropriators are accusing [Republican] President Bush of urging
Congress to pack spending bills with pet projects despite his high-profile
crackdown on earmarks this year." ... "A House Appropriations Committee
report accompanying legislation funding the Department of the Interior
shows that Bush requested 93 of the 321 earmarks in the bill. A panel report
for the financial services and general government spending bill showed
that Bush requested 17 special projects worth $947 million, more than any
single member of Congress." ... "Senate appropriators have identified more
than 350 earmarks in the military construction spending bill requested
by the president." ... "[Wisconsin Democratic Representative] Rep. David
Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said yesterday
that Bush has requested the overwhelming majority of earmarks — over 800
— in the energy and water appropriations bill. In a floor speech delivered
last week, Obey said that in fiscal 2006 Bush asked for 987 specific earmark
projects in the budget for the Army Corps of Engineers." -By
Alexander Bolton -TheHill.com
Karl
Rove
-
Alberto Gonzales - 
Kyle
Sampson
- 
Bradley
Schlozman - Political
- US
Attorneys - Law
- 
Enforcement
- 2006
Election - 
New
Mexico - 
Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin
- 
MO
- "White
House sought investigations of voter fraud allegations before elections."
... "Only weeks before last year's pivotal [2006] midterm elections, the
White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations
against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice
official has told congressional investigators." ... "In two instances in
October 2006, [Republican] President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove,
or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales'
then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson." ... "Sampson tapped Gonzales aide Matthew
Friedrich, who'd just left his post as chief of staff of the criminal division.
In the first case, Friedrich agreed to find out whether Justice officials
knew of "rampant" voter fraud or "lax" enforcement in parts of New Mexico,
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and report back." ... "But Friedrich declined
to pursue a related matter from Wisconsin, he told congressional investigators,
because an inquiry so close to an election could inappropriately sway voting
results. Friedrich decided not to pass the matter on to the criminal division
for investigation, even though Sampson gave him a 30-page report prepared
by Republican activists that made claims of voting fraud." ... "While it
was known that Rove and the White House had complained about prosecutors
not aggressively investigating voter fraud, Friedrich's testimony suggests
that the Justice Department itself was under pressure to open voter fraud
cases despite a department policy that discourages such action so close
to an election." ... "Another former U.S. attorney, Todd Graves of Kansas
City, Mo. [Missouri], revealed this week that he was asked to step aside
for another candidate. He also said he had refused to sign off on a voting-rights
lawsuit, which another Justice Department official later approved in Washington.
The official, Brad Schlozman, later became Graves' temporary replacement."
-By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
Griffin
- Rove
- Schlozman
- US
Attorneys - Poor
- 
People
- Civil
Righs - Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- 
Ark
- 
Florida
- 
Colorado
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Iowa
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New
Mexico - 
Georgia
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election - "New
U.S. attorneys seem to have partisan records." ...
"Under [Republican] President Bush, the Justice Department has backed laws
that narrow minority voting rights and pressed U.S. attorneys to investigate
voter fraud - policies that critics say have been intended to suppress
Democratic votes." ... "Since 2005, McClatchy Newspapers has found, Bush
has appointed at least three U.S. attorneys who had worked in the Justice
Department's civil rights division when it was rolling back longstanding
voting-rights policies aimed at protecting predominantly poor, minority
voters." ... "Another newly installed U.S. attorney, Tim Griffin in Little
Rock, Ark. [Arkansas], was accused of participating in efforts to suppress
Democratic votes in Florida during the 2004 presidential election while
he was a research director for the Republican National Committee. He's
denied any wrongdoing." ... "Taken together, critics say, the replacement
of the U.S. attorneys, the voter-fraud campaign and the changes in Justice
Department voting rights policies suggest that the Bush administration
may have been using its law enforcement powers for partisan political purposes."
... "Last April, while the Justice Department and the White House were
planning the [US Attorneys] firings, [Republican President Bush's deputy
chief of staff Karl] Rove gave a speech in Washington to the Republican
National Lawyers Association. He ticked off 11 states that he said could
be pivotal in the 2008 elections. Bush has appointed new U.S. attorneys
in nine of them since 2005: Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa,
Arkansas, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico. U.S. attorneys in the latter
four were among those fired." ... "Several former voting rights lawyers,
who asked to remain anonymous for fear of antagonizing the administration,
said the division's political appointees reversed the recommendations of
career lawyers in key cases and transferred or drove out most of the unit's
veteran attorneys." ... "Bradley Schlozman, who was the civil rights division's
deputy chief, agreed in 2005 to reverse the career staff's recommendations
to challenge a Georgia law that would have required voters to pay $20 for
photo IDs and in some cases travel as far as 30 miles to obtain the ID
card." ... "A federal judge threw out the Georgia law, calling it an unconstitutional,
Jim Crow-era poll tax." -By Greg Gordon, Margaret
Talev and Marisa Taylor with contributions by Tish Wells and Ron Hutcheson
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
Food
- Wisconsin
- "E.
coli spinach scare increases to 21 states." ... "The
nationwide health scare over [E. coli] bacteria-ridden spinach widened
Monday, as the number of states reporting sickness linked to the outbreak
increased to 21." ... "Earlier Monday, the Food and Drug Administration
widened its warning against eating any bagged spinach to include all fresh
spinach." ... "At least 111 people have become ill." ... "Investigators
have blamed a death in Wisconsin on the outbreak, said Dr. David Acheson
of the FDA." ... "The victims are believed to be infected with the strain
of E. coli called 0157:H7, he told reporters in a telephone conference
call Sunday night. Fifty-six were hospitalized, at least 16 with a form
of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome."
-CNN
TV
- Telecom
- Marketing
- Industry
- 
Media
- Consumer
- Wisconsin
- "FCC
questions TV stations on 'fake news'." ... "The Federal
Communications Commission has mailed letters to the owners of 77 television
stations inquiring about their use of video news releases, a type of programming
critics refer to as "fake news."" ... "The probe was sparked by a study
of newsroom use of material provided by public relations firms. The study,
entitled "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed," was compiled by the
Center for Media and Democracy, a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization
that monitors the public relations industry." ... "When stations air video
news releases, they are required to disclose to viewers "the nature, source
and sponsorship of the material that they are viewing," according to the
FCC." -AP
via -USATODAY
Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Kentucky
- 
North
Carolina - Massachusetts
- "Police
groups to hold summit on rising crime." ... "Citing
increasing concerns about violent crime, law enforcement authorities are
convening a national summit here next month to deal with sudden spikes
in homicides, robberies and assaults." ... "Local police officials and
municipal authorities from more than a dozen cities, including Minneapolis
[Minnesota], Milwaukee [Wisconsin], Louisville [Kentucky], Charlotte [North
Carolina] and Boston [Massachusetts] will meet Aug. 30 in Washington, where
the mayor and police chief recently declared a "crime emergency."" ...
""What we've seen happen in the past year across this country deserves
all of our attention," said Charlotte Police Chief Darrel Stephens, referring
to the first significant jump in homicides and other major crimes in more
than a decade. "We need to get a better sense of what is going on."" -By
Kevin Johnson -USATODAY
Ala.
- Wis.
- Mo.
- "After
long decline, murders rise in small cities." ...
"It's too soon to call it a trend, but last year's jump in murders - particularly
in smaller cities - has some police and crime experts worried." ... "Murders
rose 4.8 percent, the largest percentage increase in 15 years, according
to the preliminary FBI numbers released Monday. And while the number of
murders in the nation's largest cities barely changed, cities with smaller
populations saw a much sharper increase. Murders were up 76 percent in
Birmingham, Ala., 40 percent in Milwaukee [Wis.], and 42 percent in Kansas
City, Mo., and 12.5 percent on average for all cities between 100,000 and
250,000 people." ... ""This looks like something real," says David Kennedy,
director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at CUNY's John
Jay College of Criminal Justice. "It's usually very unwise to read too
much into the year-to-year movement. But within the general national decline
[in violent crime in the past decade] there has been a general trend in
the smaller jurisdictions and in rural areas that has been on the increase.""
-By Amanda Paulson and Sara Miller Llana -CSMonitor
Michael
Hayden - Intelligence
- 
