Free Republic

MEDFORD, Mass. — Colleges are paying students to take a year off after high school to travel, volunteer or do internships so that students of all income brackets can benefit from “gap years.” A new program at Tufts University and existing ones at a handful of other schools aim to remove the financial barriers that can keep cash-strapped students from exploring different communities and challenge their comfort zones before jumping right into college. The gap year program starting this fall at Tufts will pay for housing, airfare and even visa fees, which can often add up to $30,000 or more....

The attorney for a maintenance worker who fatally shot two teens police say were attacking him with a baseball bat Wednesday said his client carried a gun because of the nature and location of his work, but is not a gun rights activist or even a hunter. "He considers it an occupational necessity" to carry a gun and has a permit to do so, the lawyer, David Geraghty, said Friday. He represents Jeremy Rossetto, 39, of Cudahy, who was released from jail Friday after initially being arrested on possible homicide charges after the incident. Prosecutors ordered Rossetto released without bail,...

A few words about Nathan Entingh's hand gun. Meaning, you should understand, not a gun you hold in your hand but, rather, the hand itself, thumb cocked and index finger extended to resemble a pistol. One afternoon late last month, Entingh, who goes to school in Columbus, Ohio, was goofing off in science class when he raised such a "hand gun," pointed it at another kid's head and said "Boom." Not a good thing to do, and Entingh, who is 10, certainly should have been reprimanded. Instead, he was suspended for three days. His father, Paul, says he's been told...

A Wisconsin city on Friday temporarily suspended its “bubble-zones,” which prohibit leafleting and other free speech activities. The new Madison ordinance creates hundreds of these 320-ft. wide spaces. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) calls this “unconstitutional.” ADF filed suit last month on behalf of pro-life groups and individuals challenging the ordinance. Former NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Director Lisa Subeck introduced the law—and chiefly sponsored it. The pro-abortion group aggressively promoted it. “No one should want the government to gag speech just because it doesn’t reflect the government’s views or the views of abortionists,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “For that...

Wisconsin Republicans Accused of Sabotaging Common Core Bill 13 March 2014 Even though the national Republican Party has officially rejected the Obama administration-pushed Common Core nationalization of education, a handful of GOP figures in Wisconsin are being accused of sabotaging legislation that would have created a panel to review the controversial standards — and potentially kill them. As the national and statewide uprising against the dubious new federally backed education regime grows, however, lawmakers and activists in Wisconsin told The New American that the fight is far from finished. Due to alleged obstruction by some powerful Republican lawmakers —...

This was an interesting statement made by the 2012 GOP vice-presidential candidate, equating school lunches to an “empty soul.” So one would think the anecdote, described by the National Review as “moving,” would be rock-solid. But the story seemed a bit pat.... ...It did not make much sense in part because [original sources] Schroff and Mazyck are partnering with a group called No Kid Hungry to help end childhood hunger in the United States. One key part of the program is connecting hungry kids with federal programs such as school lunches and food stamps. The group also opposed Ryan’s 2013...

MADISON (WKOW) -- Police arrested six people believed to be involved in what they're calling one of the most brutal crimes in recent memory. . . . The suspects are accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the woman who was six months pregnant. "I can tell you that in my 27-plus years of policing here in Madison, this is probably one of the most disturbing and heinous crimes that I've ever seen," says Interim Chief Randy Gaber.

A powerful labor union backed a Democratic candidate in a special election last year but never disclosed the amount of money it spent on the effort. The AFL-CIO backed Elizabeth Coppola, a Democrat, in the Assembly District 21 special election last November. Running phone banks out of their office and offering the services of a political coordinator, the union campaigned for Coppola’s election. But not once did the AFL-CIO disclose its political spending backing Coppola. Nor did the Coppola campaign report any AFL-CIO spending as an in-kind campaign contribution. State campaign finance regulations require labor unions and other groups to...

Gov. Scott Walker’s public sector collective bargaining reforms of 2011 have not prevented union officials from making hefty six-figure salaries even as some of their organizations struggle to retain members. A review of U.S. Department of Labor filings shows that at least 159 union officials in Wisconsin made six-figure salaries in fiscal year 2012. ... The SEIU has used its political clout to recently push for a minimum wage hike for some Milwaukee County employees and government contractors. While decrying the current minimum wage, the SEIU conveniently lobbied for a carve-out that exempted employers from the requirement if they joined...

The mother of Trayvon Martin is on a mission. Her goal is to change the current "stand your ground" laws because these laws may make it more palatable for shooters to kill the person they are "scared of" rather than fire a warning shot. Sybrina Fulton, 48, rarely grants interviews, but she told me last week that under current "stand your ground" laws, accountability is lost. Several cases show that if you kill the person because you claim you feared for your life, then you have a good chance to walk. But if you fire a warning shot to protect...

A bill that would give the Legislature power to write and approve Wisconsin's academic standards is unlikely to pass in its current form, the leader of the state Senate said Thursday as hundreds of teachers, school administrators and business leaders -- including Madison superintendent Jennifer Cheatham -- converged on the Capitol to oppose it. And the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, which held a hearing on the measure, told The Associated Press that at least five Republican senators told him they opposed the measure that would likely lead to the undoing of the Common Core standards adopted in 2010....

"A full stomach — and an empty soul." That scathing synopsis of the Democrats' pitch will be the crux of Paul Ryan's message to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, when the Wisconsin Republican addresses activists. Ryan's critique, even if delivered in his usual aw-shucks style, will probably stir talk of a possible presidential bid. Politicians looking only to chair the Ways and Means Committee rarely toss out such red meat. In the speech, which the Post obtained late Wednesday, Ryan also urges Republican to craft a conservative reform agenda, and talks up the legacy of his mentor, Jack...

One percenter Mary Burke, Democrat for governor, is telling the Koch Brothers to stay out of Wisconsin. Our Ms. Burke and her largely self-funded campaign have purchased web ads on Wisconsin news websites warning, "Tell the Koch Brothers: Stay Out of Wisconsin." Click on the ad and you’re taken to an appeal from the Burke campaign. Problem is, the Kochs are already in Wisconsin. With paper mills in Green Bay, Neenah and Sheboygan employing thousands. With refining, chemicals and biofuels operations in Junction City, Waupun, Madison and Milwaukee employing hundreds more. With asphalt plants in Green Bay and Stevens Point...

The American CEO of an exchange for the troubled bitcoin digital currency has been found dead after a suspected suicide at her home in Singapore. Wisconsin native, Autumn Radtke, 28, was discovered inside her apartment on February 28 and officials in the South East Asian city state are now waiting for toxicology test results to determine the exact cause of death. Douglas Adams, the non-executive chairman of First Meta confirmed that his colleague had passed away in a statement which said the company was 'shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and CEO Autumn Radtke.' The death...

A Milwaukee man was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in jail, with work-release privileges, for voting twice in the 2012 presidential election. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Leonard K. Brown, 56, to more than a year in prison, a harsher punishment than handed down in the few other cases of double voting. "I'm shocked, to be honest, that the state thinks this is a prison case," defense attorney Christopher Hartley told Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Timothy Witkowiak. "It's outrageous." Hartley said Brown is caught in the political debate over making voters show photo ID to vote, with one...

Madison — Senate Republicans Tuesday narrowly passed Gov. Scott Walker's $541 million tax cut proposal in a vote that guaranteed the cuts will become law. The tax decreases — the third round of cuts by Republicans in less than a year — passed 17-15 with GOP Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal. The proposal now goes to the Assembly, which passed a different version of the tax cuts last month with two Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting it. With growing tax collections now expected to give the state a $1 billion...

As Planned Parenthood's political arm prepares its largest-ever campaign offensive, its sights are set on Wisconsin's gubernatorial race. Planned Parenthood's political entities expect to spend more than $18 million nationwide, putting women's health care and abortion rights front-and-center for the 2014 midterm elections, Politico reported Thursday. "That investment would make the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Votes — the national federation’s political entities — two of the heaviest outside spenders on the Democratic side, and certainly among the top independent expenditure campaigns focused on reaching women," Alexander Burns reported. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin announced in November that...

A Milwaukee man who used his legal, concealed handgun to kill an acquaintance who started a fight with him was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison. A jury last month rejected Phillip K. Green's claim of self-defense in the fatal shooting of Ernest Banks during a men's night out in May and found him guilty of first-degree reckless homicide while armed. Other witnesses confirmed that Banks, 26, had initiated the fight and was the aggressor, but also that he was unarmed and two other men in the group had tried to get between him and Green when Green, 40,...

Madison — Gun-control activists and Democrats — including state attorney general candidate Jon Richards — called Thursday for passing universal background checks on gun sales in the state. In the waning days of the legislative session, the proposal faces an essentially impossible path in the GOP-controlled Legislature, where influential lawmakers see it as a burden on gun owners that doesn't bring enough benefits. Wisconsin requires people who purchase guns from federal-licensed dealers to undergo background checks that can turn up whether a person is prohibited by law from owning a gun because of factors such as his or her criminal...

February 27, 2014 ATF Agents Lose Their Government Issued Guns, Kids Find Them Katie Pavlich 2/27/2014 I am continually amazed how many of the very agents in charge of enforcing America's gun laws at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are completely reckless with guns. Further, it's incredible how good they are at losing guns as a result of irresponsible or careless behavior. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is out with a new report showing ATF agents lost dozens of their loaded government issued handguns, one of which was found by children (paging Diane Sawyer at ABC News):