The heads of the Legislature’s budget committee told the state elections agency late Friday to go ahead with a public information campaign to tell voters they need a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, to vote on Nov. 4. But they also canceled Tuesday’s meeting where the committee was to consider the Government Accountability Board’s request for the release of $460,800 to fund the public service announcements. GAB spokesman Reid Magney said Friday the agency will discuss on Monday whether it can move forward with the campaign without committee action.”

Go to the original article – HERE – to get more info. including Scott Fitzgerald’s quote about how some Republicans think “that’s a lot of money to spend on trying to inform people” given that the voter ID has been in the press a lot (and nevermind that some newspaper and TV coverage really don’t substitute for a professional public information campaign and nevermind that the original bill assumed that not only money but EIGHT MONTHS of time was needed for a focused informational campaign).

And since 1 in 5 “likely” and registered Wisconsin voters has no clue about this voter ID stuff (as measured by that recent Marquette U. poll) here’s some VOTER ID INFO:

For college students (from Common Cause)

For everybody (from League of Women Voters/ACLU)

Philosophically, objectively and to some extent strategically, Walker -- the self-proclaimed Wisconsin tea-party original -- already has lost, and Democratic challenger Burke already has won. That's because Walker's "we're creating jobs" meme hasn't gained traction, thanks in part to Burke ads pointing out his dismal performance over the past four years. Those ads of course are accompanied by plenty of objective facts confirming that same dismal result.

So, Team Walker lately has downplayed the jobs issue in his advertising. Instead he is swiping themes from amazingly misogynistic GOP campaigns in other states. He continues to frequently run the "plagiarism" ad questioning Burke's ethics even while the ad unethically lies about her. New reports indicate we should expect to see another ad for Walker in which shopping for a wedding dress is a metaphor for choosing between candidates. Hey, it could have been about shopping for a jock strap, so no misogyny there! Meanwhile, a new Walker campaign ad has a well-known, female domestic-violence survivor portraying Walker as a champion of women under duress. The ad ignores the larger backdrop that Walker has worked hard in other ways to put women in duress by restricting access to birth control, fighting abortion rights and signing a repeal of the state's equal-pay law that would have brought women workers more in line with male salaries. And let's not forget Governor Ultrasound's eager signing into law that physically invasive, unnecessary and intentionally intimidating mandate.




...

Walker continues working to cement support among male voters -- especially misogynistic white males who like guns and who like earning higher pay than women for the same kind of work. Helping with the former voter type is a massive National Rifle Association ad campaign across the state to help sell those guys on Walker's gun-centric policies. The NRA ads endorse Walker, noting he has backed Wisconsin's lurch toward concealed-carry laws, castle-doctrine permissiveness to shoot pretty much anyone who seems threatening, and opposition to a 48-hour waiting period for handgun purchases.

...

As fellow blogger Jud Lounsbury noted earlier here at UppityWis, Walker said when running for governor four years ago that job creation was the overriding issue in Wisconsin and that he would be judged on that and pretty much that alone. Now, after making a hard ad run at portraying himself as successful in that effort -- a claim that has essentially failed beyond his hard-core base -- he's turning to misogyny and "defend your freedom" themes. Clearly Team Walker is intent on keeping men in the fold, while hoping to peel off a few more women voters here or there.

The biggest problem for Wisconsin Democrats is this: It's one thing to criticize the football coach, but it's another to say, "Fire the coach... and put in that guy, over there... umm... the one pushing the broom." In other words, it's not enough just to criticize Walker.

You have to present a compelling argument that not only is the football coach failing, but that the person you're suggesting for a replacement would be an improvement. So far, Walker has convincingly said pretty much, "yeah, I'm not perfect, but I don't suck as bad as Doyle-- and Burke is a Doyle clone!" That, more than anything else, is what has allowed Walker to open up a slight lead over Burke. However, Burke has a new ad that will change that.

First of all, it features very likeable, real business owners talking about why they are excited about Burke. All too often these "real people" ads miss the mark because the people featured aren't likeable and the viewers don't want to see themselves as the people featured in the ad. In this ad, though, the couple featured are, as my mother might say, "abbbbbbbbbsolutely adorable!"

Second, this ad answers the central question posed in this campaign: "Will she be better than Scott Walker at improving Wisconsin's economy?" Reminding people that she was a successful Trek executive and giving voters a real-world example, answers that question.

2010 Video Unearthed of Walker Saying He Supports Banning Abortion Even in Cases of Rape & Incest

In Governor Scott Walker's latest ad he does what he does best: Lying by telling the truth.

In response to an ad put out by Emily's List accusing Walker of being anti-choice to the point of not even allowing women that have been the victim of rape the choice to abort their unwanted pregnancy, Walker responded with an ad that suggests that he is pro-choice. In the ad (deceptively called "Decision" ) he says, "the bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor." It's unclear which of Walker's many anti-choice bills that he is talking about, but it doesn't matter, because even though Walker has made getting an abortion much, much more difficult, ultimately when a woman has jumped through all of the hoops, the final decision is of course left "to a woman and her doctor"-- but not because Scott Walker wants it that way, but because choice is still the law of the land.

We know that Walker believes that not only should all abortions be banned, but that even conventional birth control pills that women have been using for decades should also be banned. (Why? Because on rare occasions, birth control pills allow an egg to be fertilized and the fertilized egg isn't allowed to attach to the uterine lining and grow into a fetus. Walker considers this a form of abortion.) How do we know Walker believes all this stuff? The Anti-Choice community speaks to one another with a variety of "dog whistle" terms. One of those terms is "100% pro-life." To most people that means that someone is just really enthusiastic about an issue, but
in the Anti-Choice community it means that they oppose choice in all circumstances, from rape to incest to even birth conrol pills. It even means that Terri Schiavo types of end-of-life decisions can never be made.

Walker proudly says on his website that he is "100% pro-life" and makes a point of saying he has been endorsed by the extreme group Pro-Life Wisconsin, which only endorses candidates that are 100% pro-life. We also know that Walker is opposed to choice even in cases of rape and incest because he was pressed to admit to it in a 2010 meeting with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board:

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Attorneys for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner argued in court this week that he should be allowed to use his millions to buy votes as part of his campaign.

Citing the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, lead attorney Ted Olson argued that “Bruce Rauner is rich. Super rich. He’s in the 1%. And the Supreme Court says that money is political speech covered by the First Amendment. So we are saying that forcing Mr. Rauner to buy ads and pay campaign staff is just a pointless farce to enrich television stations, whereas direct payments to voters would be simpler and better for everyone.”

When the judge asked Rauner if he had anything to add, he said “I want to correct my attorney– I’m not some mere one percenter, I’m at least in the top 0.01%.”

Rauner’s team also submitted a plan from Diebold spelling out how voters would only receive payments after their vote was confirmed for Rauner, so as to avoid voter fraud.

Madison —They have been stepped on and ignored for millennia, but at the Wisconsin State Herbarium, lichens are loved. So well-liked, in fact, when herbarium director Ken Cameron had a chance to acquire a rare and valuable collection of 60,000 lichen specimens from a German collector recently, he snapped them up. Suddenly Wisconsin's lichen collection rose to around 180,000 specimens, putting the facility in Birge Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in the top 1% of the world's plant repositories.

Lichens actually are an important part of the world's ecosystem. Because they grow slowly at a regular rate, they can be used to date calamities, such as earthquakes. Many are sensitive to environmental changes and can reveal air pollution levels and changes in the ozone layer. They're eaten by certain animals, such as caribou and reindeer. "They've been used as a 'canary in a coal mine' environmental indicator," Cameron said. Anything that comes out of the Earth's atmosphere can accumulate in lichens, said Tom Nash, a retired lichenologist and Arizona State botany professor who volunteers at the Wisconsin State Herbarium.

...

The collection of German lichenologist Klaus Kalb is rich in tropical and European samples, while Wisconsin's is heavily weighted toward lichens collected from temperate zones and the arctic. With the acquisition of Kalb's collection, which includes lichens from Africa, South America and Australia, Wisconsin now has around 70% of the world's known lichen examples.

...

Wisconsin naturalist Increase Lapham, considered the state's first great scientist, donated the first 1,000 plant specimens he had collected in the state. From those plants, the Wisconsin State Herbarium's holdings have grown to 1.2 million items, ranging from leaves and prairie grasses to mosses and lichens.

Wisconsin faces big transportation challenges in funding local roads, highways, transit and other community mobility options. Join us for presentations that explore the issues and offers thoughts on how we can better balance Wisconsin’s transportation needs.

A comprehensive, well-maintained transportation system is vital to our state and our local economies.To thrive and grow, cities like Eau Claire and the surrounding communities need good local roads, efficient transit service, and safe access for pedestrians and bicyclists. But state funding for local transportation needs has been declining for years and has resulted in deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, and transit service cuts in many Wisconsin communities.The Move Wisconsin presentation will explore the challenges we face, delve into funding issues, and offer thoughts on better balancing Wisconsin’s transportation priorities. Come join us for a lively discussion about Wisconsin’s transportation future.

Events Throughout Wisconsin:

Eau Claire: Monday, October 13, 2014: 5:30 PM
(Open House at 4:30 PM)
Masonic Lodge, 616 Graham Ave, Eau Claire

Appleton: Thursday, October 16, 2014: 6:30 PM
Thompson Community Center, 820 W College Avenue, Appleton
hosted by ESTHER

La Crosse: Wednesday, October 22, 2014: 7:00 PM
Ho-Chunk Three Rivers House, 724 Main Street
(co-hosted by Sierra Club-Coulee Region Group)

Wausau: Thursday, October 23, 2014: 6:00 PM
Marathon County Library (tentative), 300 North First Street

Madison:Week of October 20, Details TBA, Noon Lunch

Sheboygan: Week of October 20, Details TBA, hosted by WisPIRG

Ashland: Week of October 26, Details TBA, hosted by Wisconsin Aging Network

For questions or more information, contact Elizabeth Ward at elizabeth.ward@sierraclub.org or (608) 256-0565

*Move Wisconsin Alliance is a group of advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club, working to improve mobility and transportation options around Wisconsin. This diverse group made up of faith groups, aging and disability advocates, riders and environmental and public interest groups demonstrate that transportation issues affect everyone and have an impact on the economy, the environment, our communities and our quality of life.

New Studies: Sand Mines Place "Communities at Risk"
by Senator Kathleen Vinehout

“What new information do we have about the mines?” the Eau Claire reporter asked me.

The reporter was referring to two sand mine studies recently released; one by a committee under the charge of the Trempealeau County Board and the other by the Boston Action Research group of the Civil Society Institute.

Communities at Risk, the Boston study, details sand mining activities across the Midwest. Western Wisconsin is the epicenter of the explosion of mines. The study mentions familiar concerns about frac mining including water and air quality and financial issues and adds new details on data and possible legislative remedies.

A Final Report on the Public Health Impacts of Non-metallic Industrial Sand Mining in Trempealeau County is a comprehensive overview of possible health effects. The committee made 59 recommendations including minimizing light and noise pollution; keeping communities stable; and protecting air, ground and surface water.

Recommendations were developed with the support of data collected from residents. For example, almost 90% of residents wanted protection of water. The “most important” two strategies were Protecting Drinking Water and Protecting the Environment.

The Trempealeau report detailed problems with water affecting both residents and other industries. Residents reported changes to the taste of water following mine blasting; one neighbor had a well replaced by the mine because of damage; the Gold’n Plump chicken processing plant cleaned very fine sand from water and spent several thousand dollars on sand separators and specialized screens to minimize sand in the water. The company wonders whether they need to drill a new well.

Also newly reported, Communities at Risk included new details from Wisconsin DNR data showing “highly damaging water pollution” in the form of heavy metals in sand wash ponds adjacent to mines. Heavy metals entering surface water can be a problem with iron ore mining but, to my knowledge, was never previously identified with sand mining.
Both studies expressed concern about the effects of contaminated water and air on human health. The Trempealeau Committee recommended ongoing water monitoring for several years after the mine closes. Air monitoring should be conducted for dust particles at the mine and in residential sites near the mine.

Monitoring should begin on the smallest and most dangerous of dust particles – those smaller than 2.5 microns. The Boston study reported Wisconsin does not now require monitoring on these particles. Because exposure to dust can cause disease many years later, the Boston study recommends local and state officials conduct baseline health studies now and continue for many years into the future.

And what about all those jobs created by the mine? Both reports discuss economic impacts of mines.

The Trempealeau report detailed job creation at two mines; one had 30 full-time employees and three part-time office workers, all lived within an hour of the mine. The other mine, still under construction, had 5 full-time operators who were all from outside the region. They expected to hire 25 employees once under full operation.

The Boston report examined a study on the costs and benefits of mining. The study expressed concern about the mines effect on other industries including tourism, writing “frac sand mining jobs would continue to be a miniscule fraction of all jobs in the counties with frac sand resources, suggesting that, in many cases, the risks far outweigh any benefits”.

What can the state do to assist communities grappling with the impacts of mining? Wisconsin needs more inspectors to monitor compliance with existing laws. The two positions approved in the last budget are not nearly adequate.

Trempealeau County is right to monitor small and large particles. Let’s use the state’s resources to assist local counties. We don’t have to look far to find out how this can be accomplished.

The Minnesota Legislature directed it’s DNR to create a guidance document for local government stating what and how to regulate the mines and how to protect water quality and public health; new air standards for silica dust are in the works. And Minnesota funds a “Bluffland Landscape Coordinator” who assists local government in drafting ordinances to protect the blufflands.

These are good ideas to help struggling communities at risk.

Links to the studies can be found on Kathleen's website or at:
www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/0925csi.pdf
www.tremplocounty.com/landmanagement/nmm/PublicHealthImpactsofNMISMinTrempealeauCounty.pdf