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Efforts to herd clothed, scantily clad and unclad bicyclists together for a potentially uncomfortable Madison tour on World Naked Bike Ride day have flopped in the past. But next month, they just might pull it off. Or at least most of it. There has been no official announcement, but there have been posters, and several informal meetings in the Rathskeller at the Memorial Union on campus. An earnest discussion group is maintained at Yahoo.com and news has circulated among bicycle groups. NOTE: The image in this story may be considered by some to be mildly not safe for work/children (Similar...

I am a big fan of Madison Police Chief Noble Wray. The man must walk a tightrope between an ultra-liberal Common Council, an increasingly restive population of crime and quality of life victims, and — I suspect — the better instincts of his own uniformed officers. Nonetheless, the chief whacked a hornet's nest when he was quoted in Monday's Wisconsin State Journal thusly: In some cases, long-time residents of some neighborhoods are afraid of young blacks and Hispanics who are not breaking the law. In those cases, the newcomers to a neighborhood may need to adjust their behavior, and long-time...

This is why the American people believe Congress is among the country's sleaziest institutions. Recently when the Senate and House were debating the bill to make credit card companies more accountable and to stop them from arbitrarily changing the rules for their customers, Sen. Tom Coburn, the right-wing flamethrower from Oklahoma, decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to play some mischief. Coburn has been trying for the past couple of years to allow people to carry concealed weapons in our national parks, but even when his party had more power than now, he couldn't get that proposal passed....

With loudspeakers blasting "God Bless America" and the rock song "We're Not Going to Take It" first done by Twisted Sister, thousands converged on the State Capitol on Tuesday to protest higher taxes. Basking in the 60-degree sunlight and, in some cases at least, the newfound status of Republicans and conservatives as out-of-power minorities in both Washington, D.C., and Madison, the protesters billing themselves as part of the "conservative resistance" took on President Barack Obama and a host of other liberal targets. Steve Dawson, 65, of East Troy held up a sign that urged, "Gov. Stop Sucking." Hundreds of other...

The organizers hailed it as movement of ordinary Americans taking to the streets to take back their country. Today, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., they flocked to the Wisconsin state Capitol, as part of a national eruption of Tax Day Tea Parties. They blared working-class anthems including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and Lee Greenwood’s “Proud To Be An American.” And the array of conservative speakers tried their best to work the crowd into a frenzy of anti-tax, anti-Democratic anger on tax day. Most of what they said drew applauses and cheers.But the rally’s political rants may...

Thousands of people are gathered outside the state Capitol to protest what they say is wasteful government spending and taxation. Many in the crowd Wednesday waved American flags, including 50-year-old Ansel Gilson of Appleton. Gilson waved his flag upside down to signify what he says is the financial collapse of the country. Signs included "Stop bailing out failed businesses with our money" and "Taxed enough already." Sixty-one-year-old Jean Snyder of Milwaukee held a sign showing the U.S. Capitol as a pirate ship, with taxpayers walking the plank into a sea of debt.

A group of West Side Madison residents is considering hiring a sharpshooter to kill problem urban coyotes that have become increasingly brazen in recent weeks, attacking and killing neighborhood pets and exhibiting little fear of people. Tammy Graupner, who lives in the Highlands neighborhood off Old Middleton Road and whose poodle, Puff, was killed by a coyote in February, said a number of other confrontations and sightings of coyotes have people in the area worried. Of special concern, she added, is the possibility that the escalating nature of the animals’ behavior toward pets and people could result in someone, possibly...

The board of the Madison Surgery Center unanimously approved an abortion clinic on Friday, meaning second-trimester abortions will be offered there within a few months.The facility, at 1 S. Park St., will provide abortions primarily to women 19 to 22 weeks pregnant. The service will replace the practice of Dr. Dennis Christensen, who had performed abortions up to 22 weeks at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Madison until he retired in December. Planned Parenthood will still do abortions up to 19 weeks.Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, repeated earlier calls for a boycott of the facility and said protests...

MADISON-- WIBA 1310 AM radio talk show host Vicki McKenna recently welcomed former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino onto her show to discuss the second trimester abortions he once performed regularly while practicing in Troy, New York. Levatino estimates that he performed 9 to 10 abortions per week at his OB practice over the course of eight years, including 1,200 D&E (Dilation and Extraction) procedures that are used to abort pregnancies in the second trimester. McKenna interviewed Levatino today on “Up Front” because of plans to establish a clinic at the University of Wisconsin's Madison Surgery Center which would perform the...

From fetal defects and women’s health risks to late recognition of pregnancy and lack of money, the reasons for second-trimester abortions vary, say doctors who support a clinic that would perform the procedures in Madison, WI. "Unfortunately, some women don’t find out that there is a lethal anomaly or other problems with their fetus until quite late," said Dr. Julie Fagan, a women’s health specialist at University of Wisconsin Hospital. But opponents say the only situation where a woman should consider an abortion at any stage — a serious threat to her life — would require her to go to...

From fetal defects and women’s health risks to late recognition of pregnancy and lack of money, the reasons for second-trimester abortions vary, say doctors who support a clinic that would perform the procedures in Madison. “Unfortunately, some women don’t find out that there is a lethal anomaly or other problems with their fetus until quite late,” said Dr. Julie Fagan, a women’s health specialist at UW Hospital. But opponents say the only situation where a woman should consider an abortion at any stage — a serious threat to her life — would require her to go to a hospital, not...

Activists from either side of the abortion divide met face-to-face in a noisy, sometimes heated, confrontation Saturday outside the Madison clinic that may soon provide second-trimester abortions. As many as 800 anti-abortion activists from around Wisconsin marched to the Madison Surgery Center, at 1 S. Park St., from University of Wisconsin-Madison Library Mall. State and national leaders of the anti-abortion movement speaking at Library Mall urged the marchers to hold UW Hospital officials accountable for their decision on whether to permit the procedures. News about a proposal to provide abortions to women at 18 weeks to 22 weeks of pregnancy...

To make up for years of writing that tends to annoy people with guns, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Wisconsin's deer hunters on a job well done. For decades now, I've written one of the few columns in the state about deer hunting from the deer's point of view. And every year I receive a flood of communications from hunters informing me how totally ignorant I am. What I fail to realize, they patiently explain, is the vital role in wildlife management hunters perform for deer when they go Up North to blow away Bambi's mother. If they...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's scheduled trip to Madison on Thursday might be derailed. Obama's campus-area campaign office said workers there have heard the visit was "in flux" and were awaiting further word. The much-anticipated visit would have been the first for the Illinois senator to Madison since winning Wisconsin's primary in February. City workers, however, said they were told the visit would be canceled. Laura Whitmore, community relations manager for the Parks Department, said an organizer left a message with employee Kelli Lamberty, who issues street-use permits for the Capitol, saying the permit requested Friday would no longer be...

According to the AP (can't post link): Kerry was introduced to about 250 people by an 18-year-old high school student. Earlier in the day, Kerry addressed about 200 supporters in Milwaukee near where he held a rally with Jon Bon Jovi before the 2004 election. At both stops, he urged supporters to march to clerk's offices to vote after the event.

First it was a proposed ban on plastic bags. Now, a member of the influential Madison Plan Commission wants to ban the restaurant drive-through -- or at least restrict the ubiquitous symbol of America's auto-centric lifestyle. "Given the concern about all the carbon going into the atmosphere, I'm not sure we should be building more places for people to sit idling in their cars," says Eric Sundquist, who was appointed to the citizen panel by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this spring. A former newspaper reporter in Atlanta now working as a researcher at the UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Sundquist notes...

Madison's profile in the high-tech world just received its second boost of good news in less than a week. The Capital Times confirmed that Internet giant Google has set up an engineering office downtown to focus on hardware and software systems design. "I think Google coming to Madison, a big part of that is because we have a strong (computer sciences and electrical computer engineering) program and we have good students here," said Parmesh Ramanathan, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department at UW-Madison. "I think this is a real positive for both the university and for Madison." According...

With print revenue down and online revenue growing, newspaper executives are anticipating the day when big city dailies and national papers will abandon their print versions. That day has arrived in Madison, Wis. On Saturday, The Capital Times, the city’s fabled 90-year-old daily newspaper founded in response to the jingoist fervor of World War I, stopped printing to devote itself to publishing its daily report on the Web. (The staff will also produce two print products: a free weekly entertainment guide inserted in the crosstown paper, The Wisconsin State Journal, and a news weekly that will be distributed with the...

Madison police have made numerous arrests of possible suspects in the continuing homicide investigation of 21-year old University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann, police announced today. Among those arrested on probation holds or previous offenses unrelated to Zimmerman’s murder is the man who was seen going door to door in the Bassett neighborhood — including entering a home on West Washington Avenue — asking for $40 to fix a flat tire. According to City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, police have a photo and the name of the man who intruded the house on West Washington Avenue but are...

"My Name Is Rachel Corrie," a play about the 23-year-old college student and human rights activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza while defending a Palestinian home from demolition five years ago, has been staged in so many places around the world that her parents can't keep track. It debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in London in April 2005. Since then, it's been staged in Peru, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Greece and Canada. Soon it will be seen in Argentina, Africa, Spain, France and Australia. "There are plans for it on all the continents with the...