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hue

hue's Journal
hue's Journal
August 31, 2013

Don't let corporations close Wisconsin forests to hiking, hunting

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/don-t-let-corporations-close-wisconsin-forests-to-hiking-hunting/article_ebcf8656-1252-11e3-924a-001a4bcf887a.html

If anyone needs a reminder of what is wrong — really, really wrong — with letting corporations call all the shots in the governing of Wisconsin, consider the proposal by two Republican legislators to close the forest around the planned Gogebic Taconite mine in northern Wisconsin.

Gogebic, an out-of-state corporation, is determined to develop a mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior.

The forest surrounding the mine site is enrolled in a state Department of Natural Resources managed forest program that ensures access for hiking, hunting, fishing, skiing and sightseeing. But some of those hikers, sporting enthusiasts and birdwatchers might also be conservationists who worry that the massive mining project might harm one of the most beautiful regions in northern Wisconsin, so Gogebic has brought armed paramilitary units into the region.

And now, two legislators who are more concerned with caring for corporations than with serving citizens — state Sens. Glenn Grothman and Tom Tiffany — want to allow Gogebic to bar recreational use of up to 4,000 acres around the site.

The Grothman/Tiffany proposal insults Wisconsin’s outdoor traditions and values. Yet it is moving ahead in the Legislature. The Senate’s mining committee has scheduled a public hearing on the measure for Wednesday.

August 31, 2013

Bill would close forest around Wis. mine site

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/Bill-would-close-forest-around-Wis-mine-site-221873781.html

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Two Republican legislators have introduced a bill that would close down the forest around an iron mine site just south of Lake Superior.

Gogebic Taconite wants to dig a 4 1/2-mile mine in the Penokee Hills. The forest around the site is enrolled in the Department of Natural Resources' managed forest program, which ensures access for hiking, hunting, fishing, skiing and sightseeing. Protesters emerged from the forest earlier this summer and accosted mine workers.
Sens. Glenn Grothman and Tom Tiffany's bill would allow Gogebic Taconite to close up to 4,000 acres around the site to recreational use. Tiffany says the proposal is meant to help protect mine workers from more protesters.

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Outrageous!!!!
August 29, 2013

DNR committee votes to award controversial $500K grant to politically connected group

http://journaltimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/b1d0fa70-445f-5873-ba11-79842a621854.html



A state Department of Natural Resources committee voted 4-1 Thursday to recommend approval of a controversial $500,000 grant to the politically connected United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation amid questions about whether the group is qualified to carry out the work.

In an interview after the meeting, Mark LaBarbera, the lone member of the Sporting Heritage Grant Committee to vote against the grant, said “I felt that it didn’t pass the smell test.”

The decision now goes to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, who has no discretion but to OK the grant, said Tim Andryk, the agency’s chief legal counsel. Andryk told the committee that the provision passed as part of the state’s two-year budget requires the secretary to issue the grant by Tuesday.

The law requires DNR to provide one grant of $500,000 every two years to a nonprofit organization to provide education to and recruit people to engage in hunting, fishing and trapping. United Sportsmen, which is affiliated with the National Rifle Association, was the only group that applied.

The group also has ties to outgoing Senate Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbottsford, who sponsored the measure. Among the board members of United Sportsmen are former Sen. Pam Galloway and Suder’s former chief of staff, Luke Hilgemann, who is a lobbyist for Americans for Prosperity...

....Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point, a member of the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and Sporting Heritage, called the grant an example of "political cronyism" because it was "rigged" to exclude other conservation and outdoor sporting groups in favor of United Sportsmen.

"With this grant, Republicans are asking taxpayers to subsidize the salaries of their donors and lobbyists," she said. "This is an insult to the taxpayers’ trust, and an outrage for dedicated sportsmen across Wisconsin.”

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August 28, 2013

Opinion: Why is Gov. Scott Walker hiding health care prices?

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/why-is-gov-scott-walker-hiding-health-care-prices-b9983959z1-221234301.html?fb_action_ids=10201724713495500&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210201724713495500%22%3A421692261276521}&action_type_map={%2210201724713495500%22%3A%22og.recommends%22}&action_ref_map=[]

Times are tough for everyone in Wisconsin, especially for small business owners and their employees who work hard every day to please their customers. Their budgets are tighter than ever, and they are driving down all of their business expenses to survive, the largest one being costs for health insurance. When making business decisions, every successful small business owner asks, "How much is it?"

In past decades, when it came to health insurance, prices were not transparent and small business owners made decisions in the dark — and lost a lot of money.

Things have changed for the better.

On Oct. 1, small business owners will be able to shop online for the best insurance plan at the best price in our new Health Insurance Marketplace. No longer will small businesses stand alone; they will create a large buying group to leverage down insurance prices.

Think about it — an openly competitive and transparent health insurance marketplace, just what this doctor ordered when helping to shape our nation's new health care law.

The health care law is good for our health and the bottom lines of small businesses, provided prices are openly revealed. That's why I am surprised by Gov. Scott Walker's decision to hide insurance rates for the health plans about to be sold in Wisconsin's online exchange.

What is Walker hiding? Why is he not showing job creators in small business the prices for insuring their employees? Is Walker against a free market?
August 28, 2013

Endangered: EPA finally comes to defense of honey bees

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2534480

Under pressure from Congress and the honey industry, the EPA is ordering an immediate reduction in the use of widely used pesticides, an admission that bug killers approved by the agency are partly responsible for the disappearance of honey bees.

The Environmental Protection Agency is changing the labeling on pesticides to reduce their use in fields when bees are present, the first significant concession provided to the honey industry which has reported bee kills of over 50 percent among some commercial beekeepers.

"Multiple factors play a role in bee colony declines, including pesticides. The Environmental Protection Agency is taking action to protect bees from pesticide exposure and these label changes will further our efforts," said Jim Jones, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

It comes too late for many honey bees that pollinated blueberries, nuts and fruit trees earlier this year, and even those that fly into a Home Depot or Walmart garden center to suck the nectar from flowers for sale. According to a new report from Friends of the Earth and BeeAction.org, bee-attractive plants sold at top retailers contain the pesticides EPA now plans to limit.
August 27, 2013

State lawmaker announces resignation from the legislature

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/Republican-state-lawmaker-announces-resignation-221353551.html

MADISON - State Representative Mark Honadel announced that he is planning to resign from the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Rep. Honadel, a republican, released a statement announcing his resignation -

Today I am announcing my resignation from the Wisconsin State Assembly. I am proud to have represented the 21st Assembly District for ten years. I will be stepping down in mid-September to pursue an opportunity in the private sector.

It has been an extreme honor and pleasure to serve my constituents as their voice in Madison. On their behalf I helped enact significant reforms that balanced the state budget without raising taxes, held the line on property taxes, and created a state surplus.

I am pleased to have worked hard on many other meaningful bills that have benefited our state’s economy and way of life for the people of Wisconsin. Most recently, The Mining for Jobs Act passed earlier this year will allow responsible and safe use of our natural resources and create thousands of good-paying jobs around our state.

I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle throughout my six sessions in the Assembly. I will always treasure my time serving with them to work on the pressing issues facing our state.


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Good riddance to bad rubbish!!!!
August 27, 2013

Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief David Erwin must resign due to blatant police brutality after 11.7% W

http://scottwalkerwatch.com/2013/08/26/wisconsin-capitol-police-chief-david-erwin-must-resign-due-to-blatant-police-brutality-after-11-7-walker-pay-raise/

Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief David Erwin must resign due to blatant police brutality after 11.7% Walker pay raise

Scott Walker is too busy in other states obediently serving his billionaire-class corporate welfare masters for campaign money to probably even care what’s going on in what he must think is His Palace. That’s right, Wisconsin’s most divisive governor ever is out of state. But he sure does love giving out tax breaks to his political cronies and contributors while slashing programs for education, health, senior services and whatever else his American Legislative Exchange Council funded and well-oiled Republican House and Senate deliver to him. He must love what Madison Capitol Police Chief is doing with the completely unconstitutional and costly crackdown in the Capitol Rotunda that he found it appropriate to give him an 11.7% raise through some fancy monkey business that now faces a possible audit.

Madison —Twenty-one Democratic lawmakers want auditors to look into the circumstances surrounding the 11.7% pay increase that Gov. Walker’s administration gave to the Capitol Police chief earlier this year.

The legislators sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Audit Committee, Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Allouez) and Rep. Samantha Kerkman (R-Powers Lake), requesting that the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau look into the raise, part of which was retroactive.

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration disputed Monday that it violated any state personnel rules in awarding sizable pay raises to Capitol Police Chief Dave Erwin and his top deputy after moving the pair on paper to phantom jobs for two weeks and then back to their real posts.

Erwin — who has overseen a crackdown on Walker protesters at the statehouse, including a very physical arrest of one vocal demonstrator Monday — received an overall salary increase of $11,680 a year, with the first $720 of that coming retroactively.

Source
August 27, 2013

John Nichols: Why a March on Washington vet was arrested Monday


http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-why-a-march-on-washington-vet-was-arrested/article_35a8b704-94e5-50f3-9d0e-8472be99332b.html

The participants in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom could be forgiven for resting on their laurels in this week of 50th anniversary celebrations.

But David Newby is still marching.

Or, to be more precise, singing.

The former member of the AFL-CIO executive board and longtime president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO was arrested Monday for singing labor and civil rights songs in the Wisconsin Capitol. Newby has been a regular participant in the Solidarity Sing Along, a noontime gathering that traces its roots to the pro-labor demonstrations that drew the attention of the world to Wisconsin in February and March, 2011.

The singalongs, loosely organized and good-spirited, went on each day in the Capitol for more than two years with little trouble. But this summer, Gov. Scott Walker, who is positioning himself as a tough-talking conservative candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, organized a crackdown that has seen more than 300 tickets issued to singers.
The charge is that the singers have failed to get permits for their gatherings. But the permitting process — which assigns financial responsibility to the permit holder — is newly developed and lawyers for the singers argue that it was established not to maintain order but to silence dissent.

Newby knows a thing or two about official barriers to dissent.
August 27, 2013

John Nichols: Why a March on Washington vet was arrested Monday ... for singing

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-why-a-march-on-washington-vet-was-arrested/article_35a8b704-94e5-50f3-9d0e-8472be99332b.html

The participants in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom could be forgiven for resting on their laurels in this week of 50th anniversary celebrations.

But David Newby is still marching.

Or, to be more precise, singing.

The former member of the AFL-CIO executive board and longtime president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO was arrested Monday for singing labor and civil rights songs in the Wisconsin Capitol. Newby has been a regular participant in the Solidarity Sing Along, a noontime gathering that traces its roots to the pro-labor demonstrations that drew the attention of the world to Wisconsin in February and March, 2011.

The singalongs, loosely organized and good-spirited, went on each day in the Capitol for more than two years with little trouble. But this summer, Gov. Scott Walker, who is positioning himself as a tough-talking conservative candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, organized a crackdown that has seen more than 300 tickets issued to singers.
The charge is that the singers have failed to get permits for their gatherings. But the permitting process — which assigns financial responsibility to the permit holder — is newly developed and lawyers for the singers argue that it was established not to maintain order but to silence dissent.

Newby knows a thing or two about official barriers to dissent.



August 25, 2013

Wisconsin DNR reorganization not out of line, says former Dem secretary

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/wisconsin-dnr-reorganization-not-out-of-line-says-former-dem/article_64421e26-254a-52cd-afc8-15beb56d9b19.html

State Rep. Nick Milroy, D-South Range, was quick to pounce on the state Department of Natural Resources plan to dissolve its Division of Enforcement and Science and have its managers report directly to DNR administrators.

In this internal memo from Monday, DNR Secretray Cathy Stepp lays out the plan.

Milroy, of South Range, a member of the Assembly Environment and Forestry Committee, calls it a Republican power grab.

“When you have a political appointee that you have to report directly to, that’s just a red flag for an employee that you need to do the bidding of your supervisor,” he says in this Businessnorth.com story.

But former DNR Secretary Scott Hassett, a Democrat, doesn't have a problem with it.

"I don’t see this as some insidious move," says Hassett, who ran the department from 2003 to 2007 under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. "It’s something I was considering myself."

In the memo, Stepp explains that the chief warden will now report directly to her deputy secretary, Matt Moroney. The science component of the division will be folded into the Office of Business Support and Sustainability and report to that office's director, Al Shea.

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