Free Republic

2 killed, 4 wounded; some were to go to Afghanistan with assailantBy Don Walker At least six soldiers from Wisconsin were among the 43 people killed or injured by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood, and an Army major said Friday night that the shooter was scheduled to deploy with a Madison-based unit. The man identified as the shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was to be sent to Afghanistan. Madison's 467th Medical Detachment, also known as a combat-stress unit, was also in the process of being deployed with him, according to Maj. Claudia Jefferson, an Army spokeswoman. "Hasan was supposed...

Democrats seized on Friday's report that the nation's unemployment rate has reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent to call for further tax and spending measures to bolster the economy. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) said the unemployment news was confirmation that the $787 billion fiscal stimulus signed into law in February WAS NOT BIG ENOUGH.“The bottom line is that additional action is required," Obey said. "An effective short term boost would mean a stronger economy, less unemployment and ultimately lower deficits.”Liberal Democrats, including Obey, have said for months additional stimulus efforts are needed. President Barack Obama...

Russell Seager, a 51-year-old nurse practitioner from Mount Pleasant, Wis., was among those killed in Thursday's violence. Seager, like others at Fort Hood, was preparing to deploy to Iraq, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. His uncle, Larry Seager, told the paper that he was eager to go abroad and had "pushed officials for deployment." "He wanted to get in there and help the soldiers coming home and leaving," Larry Seager told the paper. "I still can't believe it. Such a foolish thing," he said of the shooting. He learned of his nephew's death Friday morning when he received a...

Amy Krueger joined Army in aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks. In Kiel, Wis., a rural community of 3,200, feeling for the military runs so strong that, every Veterans Day, the high school invites local vets to lunch. So it was not entirely surprising that the week after Amy Krueger, a college student preparing to be a social worker, watched the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on television, she and her roommate walked into an Army recruiting office to enlist. She felt she needed to be "an army of one," a story in the local Tri-County Times quoted Krueger as saying...

A 1998 graduate of Kiel High School is among the 13 people killed Thursday when 39-year-old Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, getting ready to deploy overseas. Thirty people were wounded. Staff Sergeant Amy Krueger was killed at Fort Hood. The first thing the mayor of Kiel did Friday morning when he heard the news about 29-year-old Amy Krueger was to order all the flags in the city lowered to half-staff. The mayor, who's too close to the Krueger family to speak on-camera, told us he feels overwhelmed and he still can't believe...

A stimulus job report that says more than 10,000 jobs were saved or created in Wisconsin is rife with errors, double counting and inflated numbers based more on satisfying federal formulas than creating real jobs, a Journal Sentinel review has found. In one case, five jobs were mistakenly listed as 50 - and then counted twice. In another, pay raises to workers were listed as saving more than 100 jobs. And in another, jobs were listed as saved even though the money had not been received and no work on the project had begun. The problems mirror those surfacing around...

Republicans still believe the President is visiting Wisconsin for one reason only. Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Preibus says both President Barack Obama and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle realize how important it is to help convince the undecided Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to jump into the state gubernatorial race. “In my view this is nothing more than an attempt to get Mayor Barrett into this governor’s race while the Democrats in Wisconsin are sucking for air. They’ve just got beat out east, they don’t have a governor candidate in the state of Wisconsin, they don’t have many legislative candidates...

The State Supreme Court has declined to hear a constitutional challenge to a law creating a domestic partner registry for gay couples. The high court denied a petition for original action from Wisconsin Family Action, which claims the registry violates a state Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage or any similar status. Lester Pines, the attorney representing the state in the case, says it’s not the end of the road for the challenge. He says the lawsuit will just have to start at the Circuit Court level instead. In a statement, Wisconsin Family Action says it plans to take its challenge...

Using stimulus dollars as bait, President Obama is coaxing states to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as they compete for $5 billion in school reform grants.

Socked by tens of thousands of childless adults applying for a new state health plan, Wisconsin is failing to meet requirements in federal law for timely approvals of applications for both the Medicaid health coverage and food stamps. Since June 15, more than two-thirds of childless applicants with virtually no income - the highest priority cases - haven't received food stamps within the federally required seven days, state figures show. Nearly two-thirds of all the childless adults seeking food stamps haven't received them within the required 30 days. The same process is used to check whether applicants are eligible for...

Thirty-five new refrigerated cargo trucks will rumble away from Madison's Far East Side Tuesday, bound for 35 food banks across the country to deliver food donated by the world's largest retailer. Better yet for the food banks, there's no return trip. As part of a holiday giving campaign, Wal-Mart is filling the trucks with its store brand Great Value products and apples and letting the food banks keep not only the food but the trucks, too.It's the second year Wal-Mart has spearheaded the program, according to Margaret McKenna, president of Wal-Mart's charitable arm, the Wal-Mart Foundation. Last year, the trucks...

Excitement is building and potential hassles emerging as Madison readies for President Barack Obama's visit Wednesday. The public can expect some flight delays, street closings and parking restrictions as Obama arrives at Dane County Regional Airport and makes his way to and from Wright Middle School, 1717 Fish Hatchery Road, on the South Side. The main road to the airport, International Lane, and the airport terminal will be open during the visit, but temporary flight restrictions will be imposed, deputy airport director Dave Jensen said. "There is the possibility there may be some delays to flights," he said, adding that...

An armed bank robbery turns deadly Friday afternoon. It happened Dairyland State Bank in Exeland in Sawyer County around 2:30 p.m. Officers arrested one man near Deer Lake in Sawyer County. A massive search was underway for another suspect that ran into the woods. He’s described as a white man around 6’5’’ and 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. The Rusk County sheriff says an officer shot and killed a third man after he stayed in the car and took of south into Rusk County. The chase ended near Bruce where the man was shot. WEAU 13 News...

The Federal Aviation Administration violated its own rules by taking more than 40 minutes to alert the military after losing communication with a Northwest Airlines flight last week, according to officials familiar with internal reviews under way at several federal agencies. The delay has sparked consternation within the military, concern within the FAA and special oversight by the White House, these officials said, particularly because such time lags were supposed to be eliminated as a result of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... the man charged with protecting the skies above North America, U.S. Air Force...

What's the cost of not showing up to court? For PepsiCo Inc., it's a $1.26 billion default judgment. A Wisconsin state court socked the company with the monster award in a case alleging that PepsiCo stole the idea to bottle and sell purified water from two Wisconsin men. Now the company is scrambling to salvage the situation. The damages award was handed down on Sept. 30. PepsiCo filed motions to vacate the order and dismiss the claims on Oct. 13, saying it wasn't even aware of the lawsuit until Oct. 6....

Armed F-16s from the Wisconsin Air National Guard were on the runway and could have shot down the errant Northwest flight, officials said today. "As a force of last resort, NORAD is always prepared to do whatever is necessary," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told ABCNews.com. Air traffic controllers feared Northwest Flight 188, might have been hijacked after its pilots failed to respond to radio transmissions for more than an hour. Air traffic controllers reported the pilots initially failed to respond to commands as it passed from the air space controlled by the FAA Denver Center into the area controlled by...

Do you want to help get the Health Care Public Option passed and show the nation your acting skills at the same time? Then this is the job for you! We are looking for: 2 midde-aged male actors (30-50 years old), 1 child actor (5-10 years old) Please respond with an email that contains: Headshot, Contact information and a Bio with acting related job exp. The job is non-pay, but the commercial will have national exposure, and you will receive a copy of the finished commercial for your resume. * Location: Waupaca * it's NOT ok to contact this poster...

(snip) SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you about health care quickly. It looks like that’s coming finally to a head in the Senate. It looks like that the majority leader, Harry Reid, is going to put the government- run insurance option in there, the so-called public option. Do you think at this point that that will pass the Senate?MCCAIN: I think that the Democrats have the votes. I think that Blue Dogs bark but never bite. So I don’t think they have a problem over in the House side.MCCAIN: In the Senate, I think that the Democrats are very aware that...

First Dupage Bank, Westmont, IL Riverview Community Bank, Otsego, MN Bank of Elmwood, Racine, WI Hillcrest Bank Florida, Naples, FL Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, FL American United Bank, Lawrenceville, GA Partners Bank, Naples, FL

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a big number that only tells part of the story. The number of banks that have failed so far this year topped 100 on Friday — hitting 106 by the end of the day — the most in nearly two decades. But the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad...

October 22, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://milwaukee.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/mw102209.htm Forty-One Defendants Federally Indicted in Racine Gang Case United States Attorney Michelle L. Jacobs announced today that two indictments were unsealed in federal court charging 41 defendants with various drug-trafficking offenses. The defendants, many of whom are alleged to be members of the Vice Lords and North Side Gangster Disciples street gangs, are charged with, among other things, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The defendants are identified as: Starsius T. Barnes, a.k.a. “Star” (32), Brian T....

MILWAUKEE - Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will speak in a Milwaukee suburb next month as part of a program presented by Wisconsin Right to Life. Officials say no tickets will be sold at the door of the Nov. 6 event at Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park in West Allis, Wis. General admission tickets are $30 with a limit of four per order. Palin's stop in Milwaukee comes 11 days before the former Alaska governor's memoirs will be released.

A Massachusetts man is in custody at the Rock County Jail today after allegedly kidnapping a West Springfield, Mass., car salesman during a test drive and driving the stolen vehicle more than 1,000 miles overnight before getting caught speeding early Friday morning in Rock County. A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper, according to a lead dispatcher at the Rock County Communications Center, pulled over Aleh Kot, 32, of Massachusetts at 2:30 a.m. at Interstate 90/39 mile marker 165 just north of the Newville exit. Kot was arrested on charges of operating a motor vehicle without owner consent, speeding and reckless driving,...

In the 17 years that Russ Feingold has served Wisconsin in the US Senate, he has visited each county in the state at least once a year. Friday was Oneida County’s turn to tell the Senator what was on their minds. About 50 people showed up in Lake Tomahawk for the listening session, which the Senator opened with a comment on “the largest deficit in American history,” and his own efforts to cut spending. Although he admits he did vote for the stimulus bill, he said, “We can’t keep doing this stuff.” Feingold announced his introduction next week of the...

Hundreds of armed people filled a Hudson park Saturday afternoon as part of an anti-tax and pro-second amendment rally.

When the city's top cop and county's top prosecutor want to open the door for a concealed-carry gun law in Wisconsin, it seems the writing may be on the wall. Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm told a City Hall committee last week that allowing concealed-carry permits in Wisconsin could ultimately make things safer for everyone. Specifically, they said, if the state issued such permits under a tough eligibility process and coupled that with more stringent background checks for all gun purchases, the number of illegally sold weapons could be cut across the board. The...

HAYWARD, Wis. – Shoppers in a Wisconsin grocery store got an unexpected surprise when a 125-pound black bear wandered inside and headed straight for the beer cooler. The bear stopped Friday night at Marketplace Foods in Hayward,.. It calmly climbed up 12 feet onto a shelf in the beer cooler where it sat for about an hour while employees helped evacuate customers and summoned wildlife officials.

Harley-Davidson USA today announced that they are discontinuing the Buell line of motorcycles. This news comes as Harley-Davidson reported a third quarter earnings that was down 21.3% from the same period in 2008. All remaining in-stock Buell motorcycles and accessories will be sold by authorized dealers, but no additional Buell motorcycles will be manufactured. Existing warranty coverage for Buell motorcycles will be honored and Harley-Davidson will continue to provide replacement parts and service through their dealerships. Over time, the discontinuing of the Buell line is expected to eliminate 80 hourly productions positions and approximately 100 salaried positions at Buell. According...

A three-story downtown warehouse, initially planned as a condo conversion project, is being sold to a local nonprofit agency for its new headquarters. An investors group organized by Dave Jorgensen, a partner in VJS Construction Services, is selling the 45,000-square-foot building at 728 N. James Lovell St. to Community Advocates Inc. for $1.8 million, said Joe Volk, the agency's executive director. Community Advocates, which helps the poor deal with tenant-landlord disputes, problems with obtaining health care, and other basic needs, plans to renovate the building for its headquarters, Volk said Tuesday. The project will consolidate the group's main office, now...

We are marching on TMJ4 on Saturday from 2-5PM. The location is at 720 E Capitol Dr, Milwaukee, WI‎. There is street parking south of the location, just be observant of meter regulations. Signage should be tea party oriented with a focus on liberal media.

State creates or retains 8,284 jobs with stimulus funds By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Oct. 13, 2009 2:00 p.m. Madison — Wisconsin state government has used federal economic stimulus money to create or retain 8,284 jobs in Wisconsin, mostly by saving public-sector jobs. A brief report released Tuesday by Gov. Jim Doyle provided details on money spent by state government, but did not cover funds awarded directly to local governments and the University of Wisconsin System. Those numbers will be made public later. More than 6,100 jobs for police officers, teachers and other government workers were retained...

He's just getting started. And if this fellow is any indication of the kind of judges we can expect to populate our federal courts, I guarantee you we will spend the next decade or more scratching our heads at the idiotic leftist decisions that will become commonplace on the federal bench. From an editorial in the Washington Times: On Oct. 1, the president nominated Louis Butler, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, to the U.S. District Court of his state's Western District. While Mr. Butler's resume is in order, his appreciation of a judge's proper role seems lacking. Mr. Butler...

(snip) LARRY KING: Senator, we're going to begin with a quote from your Senate colleague, in fact, the co-author of one of the most famous bills ever offered in the Senate, Russ Feingold -- you of the famed McCain- Feingold bill. But here is his statement.... How would you respond to that statement by your friend? SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, he is my friend and I have the highest regard for him and he's a man of integrity.(snip)

In 1999, Ian Wallace was elected king of Memorial High School's Winter Carnival and was named co-captain of the varsity hockey team. In 2003, he was named to the dean's list for his academic achievement as an anthropology student at the University of Minnesota. In between, he admitted to federal officials last year, Wallace attempted to firebomb two buildings at Michigan Technological University in an act of eco-terrorism. As a result, the former Memorial honor student and student council member is locked up in federal prison and not scheduled for release until Jan. 12, 2012. Ian J. Wallace, now 28,...

Amid worse-than-expected job losses and an unemployment rate that hit 9.8% last month, new Labor Department data Friday showed the 21-month recession is taking a greater toll on college graduates than high school dropouts. You're still far more likely to be employed with a bachelor's degree than if you're a high school dropout. But in a telling sign of the breadth of the recession, the latest data also indicate that the numbers of unemployed jobseekers are growing fastest among Americans with higher education. Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed school dropouts, 25 and older, rose...

From: Date: Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 12:22 AM Subject: Sunday Oct 4th, 0% Tax Increase Rally, Serb Hall 2-4PM! To: You : You are one of many people in Southeastern Wisconsin who attended the Milwaukee Tea Party and had expressed an interest in holding down taxes and holding politicians accountable for their actions. As you may know there is another battle raging in Milwaukee County that has implications for all counties in the area. We are asking for your help by inviting you to join us for a Rally and a show of force that demands that government live...

Sometimes, it's hard to resist the relentless pressure of bloggers. They make jokes about you. They spawn commenters who make even more jokes about you. Until you finally decide that your are the serf and the bloggerati and commenterati are your whip-wielding masters. So it has proved for the dedicated and passionately committed staff of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation. Since this Web thing has spread around the world like swine flu, more and more witty folks have made japes about the WTF being, well, you know, I mean, WTF!!!! So, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the organization sat down...

Nov. 29, 2006 – In the ongoing battle to eradicate lead poisoning, state and local governments have begun targeting the companies that sold toxic paint before it was banned for residential use in 1978. This week, grassroots activists are taking that fight to the streets. Toolbox Email to a Friend Print-friendly Version Add to My Morning Paper Even though lead-laced pigment was taken off the market almost three decades ago, about one in four homes in the US still contains deteriorating lead paint or dust, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. "The federal government has provided...

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin Rep. Jeff Wood has been arrested again for suspected driving while intoxicated. The State Patrol says the 40-year-old Independent from Bloomer was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 39 near Wausau following a report of a vehicle being driven recklessly in Portage County. The agency says investigators found a prescription bottle of Lorazepam, an anxiety medication, with seven pills in it after stopping Wood's vehicle and noticing he looked sleepy. The prescription of 45 pills had been filled Tuesday. A message left for Wood at the Capitol was not immediately returned. Wood was charged...

A 16-year-old boy who tried to rob another youth with a pellet gun was in critical condition late Thursday when his intended victim pulled out a real gun and shot him in the head, police said.

MADISON, Wisconsin, September 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-Life Wisconsin's True to Life media campaign has announced the beginning of a two-week television commercial campaign protesting the Madison Surgery Center's plan to begin performing late-term abortions.The campaign is the latest in a string of protests since the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) Authority Board voted 11-3 on February 4 to offer on-demand abortions through the second trimester at the Madison Surgery Center.  The Madison Surgery Center, a publicly-funded facility, is a joint venture of UWHC, the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, and Meriter Hospital.About 2,000 pro-life protesters rallied...

May we, please, have a respite from the supposed controversy over open carrying of firearms? Perhaps it is extremism fatigue brought on by the recent wave of demonstrations about health care, a purported turn toward socialism, and so on-all of which have added to the amount of noise but not to the potential solutions for problems. The people now accusing Racine police of overreacting to an armed citizen are off base. Our problem is not with open carry in and of itself. Our problem is that the advocates of open carry are asserting that the right to carry a firearm...

Conservative pundit and best-selling author Michelle Malkin told several thousand anti-tax protesters gathered in Milwaukee on Saturday that their movement is about pushing back "against the culture of corruption in Washington." "I've never been so proud in my lifetime to be part of this angry mob," Malkin said in a fiery keynote address at a Taxpayer Tea Party event at Veterans Park along the city's lakefront. Malkin criticized political leaders and other figures, including President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, Attorney General Eric Holder, government 'czars,' "Republican sellouts" and union "thugs."

Attended a great tea party today on the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. It was a sunny and almost crisp afternoon and 10,000 American Patriots came to Veteran's Park on the lakefront. Among the speakers were our County Executive Scott Walker - running for governor; James T. Harris - who became a liberal target for telling John McCain to fight harder against the One; David Clark - our County Sheriff, a powerfully tall black man who resembles but is more handsome than Samuel Fishburne (he also spoke very non-partisanly and anti-tax); Joe the Plumber - an impressively articulate young...

As union workers at Mercury Marine fought over contract concessions meant to save hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin, the company's midlevel managers filed a lawsuit over unpaid bonuses. The class-action lawsuit, filed last month in federal court, argues that the Fond du Lac-based outboard-engine maker failed to pay $7 million in bonuses to roughly 100 managers. According to the suit, senior Mercury executives instructed lower level managers in April 2008 to implement a cost-savings program and assured managers that they would receive 10% of whatever savings they managed to achieve as an incentive. The suit names Brunswick Corp., Mercury's parent...

(Her license was revoked. She owes $103,000. But money is still coming.) State regulators pumped $25,132 more in taxpayer money this week into the pockets of Latasha Jackson, the day care provider who bought a Jaguar convertible and built a million-dollar mansion in Menomonee Falls - all while officials ignored red flags that she was conning the system for more than a decade.The payment was made Tuesday despite the fact that regulators already are scrambling to recoup more than $103,000 they admittedly overpaid her during a recent four-month period. Jackson was the subject of a Journal Sentinel investigation and story...

The buyer of a pretty property in northern Wisconsin will get a former hideout of Chicago mobster Al Capone along with a bar and restaurant complete with portholes to shoot from

UPDATED Thursday, September 17, 2009 --- 4:40 p.m. The fiancee of the man who was shot and killed after he broke into a house speaks. Forty-one-year-old Jamie Chen was alone at his home on the 2900 block of Osmundsen Road in Fitchburg Wednesday afternoon when police say Roberto Vega-Gil broke in. Fearing for his life, Chen grabbed a gun. A short time later he shot and killed Vega-Gil as he emerged from the basement. And now the intruder's family is trying to figure out why he did what he did. "This is Roberto and I when we were ready to...

Home » News » Milwaukee County Milwaukee County DNA of 12,000 felons missing from state registry By Gina Barton and John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Sept. 16, 2009 A fellow prisoner posed as Walter E. Ellis in 2001 and gave a DNA sample for him, keeping the accused serial killer out of a statewide database and letting him avoid capture for years, according to a state Department of Justice memo.It wasn't an isolated incident. DNA for about 12,000 felons convicted since 2000 is missing from the database, the department said Wednesday. Even today, the failures in the system...

The state Assembly has passed a bill that would require Wisconsin children complete kindergarten before entering first grade. Bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Smith, an Eau Claire Democrat, says the requirement is designed to ensure kindergarten students attend class. Because kindergarten isn't mandatory now, he says students aren't bound by truancy rules. Not many children would be affected by the requirement. Each year, an average of just 117 first graders haven't been to kindergarten. That's about one-third of 1 percent of the total number of first graders as of last school year. The Assembly passed the measure 53-44. It goes next...