“We are now literally dismantling the state government, and people need to think long and hard about what they want for a future in our state,”

“ It’s just, I think, sad when a political party — my political party — has so lost faith in its ideas that it’s pouring all of its energy into election mechanics. And again, I’m a guy who understands and appreciates what we should be doing in order to make sure every vote counts, every vote is legitimate. But that fact is, it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted. And that we should be pitching as political parties our ideas for improving things in the future, rather than mucking around in the mechanics and making it more confrontational at the voting sites and trying to suppress the vote. It is all predicated on some belief there is a massive fraud or irregularities, something my colleagues have been hot on the trail for three years and have failed miserably at demonstrating.”

“The K-12 system in the last few years has laid off 3,000 personnel, and it looks to me like that’s going to accelerate. Out my way, I would not be shocked if a huge percentage of school districts wind up going to referendum to have the privilege of raising their own property tax because the state has walked away from its principal responsibility of providing for a free, appropriate and near equal education for everybody.”

“Here’s how I see the enemy. The enemy is poverty in a country and a state that has no business having kids and families go to sleep hungry at night or in their cars. The enemy is those who encourage an undereducated citizenry. Education is the key to helping give people a hand up and a better future.”

On Saturday, my fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus and I will travel to Selma, Ala., to commemorate the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On that day 50 years ago, about 600 men, women and children attempted to march from Selma to Alabama's capital, Montgomery, in a peaceful protest of the flagrant disenfranchisement of African-American voters. The march ended abruptly on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where police brutally attacked the demonstrators, beating them with nightsticks, choking them with tear gas and trampling them with horses. A few months later, repulsed by the images

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The battle over the state's restrictive voter ID law illustrates why our great state continues to bear this harrowing distinction. Reminiscent of laws from the Jim Crow era that placed burdens on the right to vote, the measure makes it harder for Wisconsin's voters of color to cast their ballot. It's why the civil rights organizations Advancement Project, ACLU and the law firm of Arnold & Porter are challenging this restrictive requirement under the Voting Rights Act, recently petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case, and why the caucus stands beside them in this call.

Regardless of what politicians, bent on manipulating the rules for partisan gain, may say, Wisconsin's restrictive voting law remains discriminatory. If our elections are to be free, fair and accessible for all voters, the Supreme Court must hear this case and overturn the law without delay.

Based on the state's own data, about 300,000 registered Wisconsin voters do not have the most common forms of ID required for voting: an unexpired driver's license or state-issued photo ID. Among those hundreds of thousands of registered voters, African-Americans and Latinos are significantly less likely to have these limited forms of identification. In most instances, obtaining the required photo ID involves presenting a certified birth certificate, which many voters also lack or cannot afford to pay for or track down.

I've heard about the cuts,” the Buffalo County man said. “But this budget spends more. Who’s getting more money?” Folks are concerned about big cuts to the UW; cuts to local schools; scaling back of health programs for the disabled; public radio and TV losing state support. But the new budget spends $3 billion more than the last. Where is that money going?

One place to look is the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Despite its name, WEDC is a part of state government; in fiscal year 2012-13 it received over $62 million from the budget (including about $4 million in federal funds) and the agency can authorize potentially millions more in tax credits. The Governor’s flagship program turned troubled when auditors found procedures weren’t written down, loans were lost and Wisconsin was penalized. Three Chief Financial Officers left – one after only a day on the job.

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The Governor creates a new board. He kicks off the board the legislators who ask too many questions. The new board will only be private sector folks chosen by the Governor. The budget adds more money into the mix: $55 million in a revolving loan fund and almost another $10 million in tax credits. Governor Walker then proposes taking existing business tax credits and converting them into refundable tax credits. What does that mean?

Think about the refund you might receive when you file your taxes. The refund comes because you paid in more than you owed. It’s your money coming back. What if the rules were changed so you didn’t owe any taxes? You still filed your tax return but you owed nothing. A refundable tax credit would still give you a refund check signed by the people of Wisconsin. That’s what’s going on.

Madison — When White House hopeful Scott Walker talks to potential voters, he hawks himself as a leader who tells people what he will do and then does it. But the line has a snag. As a candidate for governor, Walker didn't spell out or even mention some of the measures that would become key achievements in office.

Most notably, Walker never told voters beforehand about what would become his signature accomplishment — repealing most collective bargaining for most public workers. During the uproar over that unexpected legislation known as Act 10 and the recall and re-election campaigns that followed, Walker said he wouldn't let legislation affecting private-sector workers reach his desk. Now he says he'll sign it.

During his 2014 race to secure a second term, Walker didn't campaign on some of the most sweeping changes in his current budget proposal: freezing a stewardship program for state lands; borrowing $1.3 billion for transportation; and cutting state universities by $300 million in exchange for unhooking them from many state laws.

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During the 2012 recall election pushed by public employee unions, Democrats repeatedly said that Walker would eventually take on private-sector unions as well. The governor dismissed that talk about right-to-work legislation as political spin. "It's not going to get to my desk," Walker said in May 2012. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it isn't there because my focal point (is) private-sector unions have overwhelmingly come to the table to be my partner in economic development."

Bill Gates: "If GM had dept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

Snowy owls are rock stars of the animal kingdom. They are handsome. They are relatively rare. They are impressive hunters. They eat rodents. They are a little mysterious. "When it comes to charismatic wildlife, they are right at the top," said David Brinker, a Racine native and owl researcher who now lives and works in Maryland.

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The owls breed in treeless expanses of the Arctic. Come fall, some of the birds journey south in search of prey. The birds are naturally drawn to open landscapes including farms, prairies, frozen lakefronts and, unfortunately, airfields. Snowy owls have been documented at big-city airports like New York's LaGuardia and Boston's Logan, but also at scores of smaller facilities, including Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee. Aviation and wildlife officials are keen to keep the big birds out of harm's way, both in the interest of public safety and for the sake of the animals.

At the intersection of these mutual interests is a conservation opportunity. Project SNOWstorm researchers and volunteers have seized on the chance to capture birds at airports, fit the owls with transmitters, relocate them in suitable habitat well away from the airfields and release them back to the wild.

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The technology used for Project SNOWstorm represents a significant advance in wildlife research. Location data is collected and stored by the transmitters until it can be sent via a cell phone signal. Five birds tagged last winter flew to the Arctic last summer and returned to the U.S. this winter. When they re-entered cell range, Brinker said the data dump was "spectacular." The information allows researchers to see which locations and habitats the birds rely on throughout the year.

"It wasn't just the protesters who engaged in such shameful rhetoric," (Walker) added, citing comments by Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) comparing him to Hitler and then-Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) calling his plan to scale back collective bargaining for public workers "legalized slavery."

Fallon

Hillary Clinton is receiving criticism after telling a crowd to “unlock their full potential,” because that line is commonly used by another possible candidate, Carly Fiorina. People said, “You can’t just steal someone’s slogan like that!” And Hillary said, “Yes we can!”

Meyers

President Obama's former press secretary, Jay Carney, will reportedly become a senior vice president at Amazon. Carney says he's excited to work for someone who doesn't take six years to deliver.

The Kardashian family has signed a deal keeping them on the air for four more years and paying them $100 million. So let that be a lesson. If you really work hard and apply yourself, you are wasting your time.

Kimmel

Donald Trump says that he is more serious than ever about running for president in 2016. He hasn't spelled out his platform yet. But he did spell the out the word "Trump" on his platform.

I'd vote for Donald Trump just to find out how he and Melania would redecorate the White House.