• News tips, submissions
• Questions, comments
• Contact webmaster

• Report: Business as usual won't solve state's looming budget hole
• Barrett has raised $1.5 million for gubernatorial campaign
• Plan for stiffer domestic violence penalties leads to debate; more state briefs

Wisconsin's next governor will have to deal another big shortfall in state revenues.

The conservative Policy Research Institute says the deficit for the next state budget in 2011 will be at least $2.2 billion even if the economy makes a big recovery.

Former state revenue secretary Rick Chandler said his figures assume revenues will grow by 3.2% during the next budget period and increases in state spending will be limited. Chandler said politicians won't have federal stimulus funds to bail them out.

His report said the deficit cannot be solved by revenue growth, a freeze in state spending, higher taxes or cuts in the bureaucracy.

"Nothing that resembles business as usual will close Wisconsin's looming budget hole," said Chandler.

Last year Gov. Jim Doyle and legislators used stimulus funds, tax hikes and spending cuts to cover a $6.6 billion shortfall in state revenues for the current budget period.

Doyle is not running for re-election this fall.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he has $1.5 million for his campaign for governor this year.

Barrett announced his bid in November after incumbent Jim Doyle said he would step down and other possible Democratic candidates shied away from the race.

Barrett told supporters he raised over $750,000 after he announced his candidacy.

His major Republican opponents, Scott Walker and Mark Neumann, have not said how much they raised in the last half of 2009.

Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, had $1.1 million as of last June 30.

Neumann, a former congressman from Waukesha County, is expected to report his fundraising amounts soon. Media reports say he'll probably use some of his own money.

MADISON -- A legislative committee approved a bill Thursday that would increase penalties for violating a domestic violence restraining order, but not before a lengthy debate between two senators over the merits of the bill.

Under current law anyone arrested on a domestic violence charge is prohibited from contacting the alleged victim for at least 72 hours after the arrest. If the proposed change passes, violating that no-contact order would be a felony. The goal is to prevent homicides or assaults that often occur in the first three days after an incident.

Republican Senator Glenn Grothman said often the visits are harmless and the law can saddle someone with a criminal record even before they are convicted of assaulting their partner. He says the victim may even call the perpetrator and ask them to come home "because the kids are crying." Grothman questioned whether contact like that should be considered a crime.

Grothman wanted the bill delayed until a study is done to determine how many people the change would affect.

Democratic Senator Lena Taylor says there's already strong evidence that increasing the penalty will save lives. "People die in those situations," she said.

Taylor agreed to request more information from the joint committee on criminal penalties and make a report available before the full legislature votes on it.

--Gil Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio

---------

Prison sentence upsets Milwaukee's police chief

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn is disappointed with a prison term handed down Thursday in connection with a so-called "straw purchase" of a gun.

Jacob Collins, 22, bought a gun last year for an underage acquaintance. The acquaintance later used the weapon to severely wound two Milwaukee police officers.

The police department and federal prosecutors wanted Federal Judge Lynn Adelman to drastically exceed sentencing guidelines and send Collins to ten years in prison. Adelman instead sentenced Collins to two years behind bars.

Adelman agreed it was a difficult and tragic case, but said Collins is developmentally disabled and also didn't know the policemen would be shot.

The two injured Milwaukee police officers discussed their ongoing medical problems during the sentencing. Flynn said he doesn't buy the idea that the Collins wasn't all that responsible for the shootings.

Flynn said he'll now ask state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make straw gun purchases a felony in Wisconsin. It's currently a misdemeanor, which is why the police pressed the Collins case in federal court where the maximum sentence is 20 years.

--Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio

---------

Governor touts clean energy bill

Gov. Doyle says a clean energy bill will mean thousands of green jobs and result in energy savings for consumers and business. Some business groups are saying the opposite.

The plan sets new state standards for more renewable energy and conservation. On its face, it's about the environment.

But in a recession, potential jobs are getting just as much attention. The administration's Office of Energy Independence predicts more use of solar, wind and biomass would generate 15,000 green jobs by the year 2025.

In stark contrast, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute says tens of thousands of jobs will be lost and businesses will pay more for energy.

Gov. Doyle calls the institute's report flawed, noting it was based on an early version of the bill that sought to limit carbon dioxide from major sources.

Doyle said the Wisconsin bill is not cap and trade legislation, and while he supports cap and trade, it should occur at the national level.

--Shamane Mills, Wisconsin Public Radio

---------

New ozone controls proposed for more counties

Several more counties in Wisconsin could face additional restrictions on air pollution that causes breathing problems if a new proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency becomes law.

The EPA has revived additional limits on ground-level ozone that were sidetracked during the Bush administration. The primary federal standard would drop from 75 parts per billion to between 60 and 70 parts per billion as measured over 8 hours.

Environmental and health groups are generally praising the new plan. Jennifer Feyerhem of the Midwest office of the Sierra Club said sources that emit the pollutants that help form ozone will have to reduce emissions.

Exposure to high levels of ozone can cause breathing and other health problems.

According to EPA documents, more eastern Wisconsin counties along Lake Michigan and ones as far inland as Rock, Dodge and Fond du Lac counties might violate the new standard by the year 2020. Also by that year, EPA said a few counties along Lake Michigan may violate a new secondary standard aimed at protecting vegetation and sensitive ecosystems during the summer growing season.

The Obama administration's announcement disappoints Scott Manley of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. He said counties and businesses were just coming into compliance with older ozone limits.

The debate over the new ozone plan will continue at public hearings next month. EPA says it will issue a final rule by September.

--Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio

---------

UW-Madison debates monkey experiments

MADISON -- A UW-Madison committee meets publicly Friday to discuss the ethics of experimenting on monkeys. This follows a recent federal investigation that found several violations in the university's animal research labs.

UW-Madison has two primary animal research centers where more than 2,000 monkeys are actively used for experiments, ranging from emotional behavior to the effects of infectious diseases.

The centers' director Eric Sandgren said the university considers the ethics question each time it reviews an application for animal research.

Sandgren said if an animal can feel pain, there's an obligation to ask if feeling some pain is appropriate given the potential benefits. He said the question is asked on a case-by-case basis.

Regarding the recent violations reported by federal inspectors, Sandgren said they've been overblown and he stands by the centers' work.

But animal rights activists insist the university's standards are not rigorous enough or quantifiable. Activists have charged administrators with failing to seek alternative, pain-free research methods.

Rick Marolt of Madison, a self-described ethicist, said the university has also violated the state's open meeting laws by taking taken issues into a closed session that should be discussed in the open.

Marolt said citizens attend the meetings and want to know what's going on, but there's rarely a discussion "of what's really happening to the monkeys."

--Kirk Carapezza, Wisconsin Public Radio

---------