Wisconsin News and Sports
The Green Bay Packers have released C/G Duke Preston and placed TE Devin Frischknecht on injured reserve.
Preston signed with the team as an undrafted free agent in March after four seasons with the Buffalo Bills.
Frischknecht, a non-drafted rookie from Washington State, signed with the Packers in June and suffered a broken leg in the Packers 31-21 win over Buffalo last Saturday night.
Call it a ‘youth movement’ to draft a candidate for governor. He won’t be old enough to vote in the 2010 governor’s election, but a high school student wants Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on the ballot.
“He really does care about Milwaukee and Wisconsin,” says Asher Heimermann, who will be a sophomore at Sheyboygan South High School this fall. “We believe that it Barrett runs for governor, he can really bring some change to Madison.”
With that goal in mind, Heimermann has launched a social networking effort to encourage Barrett to make a run. “Using Facebook is a good way of connecting with Wisconsinites and other people who want to get involved,” says Heimermann. “We want supporters who are not only Democrats, we also want Republicans and Independents who feel other candidates are not their choice, and who want Barrett to run or who would support Barrett if he were to run for governor.
Barrett made a run for governor in 2002, when he finished second to Jim Doyle in the Democratic primary. No word yet from Barrett on whether he’s even considering another attempt. Heimermann says his effort is entirely independent of either the state or national Democratic parties.
Governor Doyle has appointed an outside attorney to defend the state against a challenge to the domestic partner registry.
The Governor has appointed Madison attorney Lester Pines to represent the state, if a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the registry is accepted by the state Supreme Court.
The move comes after Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced last week he would not defend the law, which was included in the state budget Doyle signed at the end of June. Wisconsin Family Action has petitioned the high court to strike down the registry, claiming it violated the state’s 2006 Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage or any similar legal status for same sex couples.
Pines is already involved in a lawsuit before the Supreme Court that challenges the gay marriage ban. He’s defending a UW-Oskosh political science professor who says the amendment was improperly presented to voters.
Inmates from a Rock County jail diversion program are learning how their labor can help others, by working in a community garden. “What it teaches them is, it gives them a positive reinforcement, they work together collectively. It’s good solid work, and they see the fruits of their efforts at the very end,” says Sheriff’s Captain Russ Steeber. “It really is a good program.”
Steeber says the inmates in the Community Recap program are helping fill food pantries. Inmate grown produce is also going to WIC Clinics and senior centers. “Where seniors may not necessarily be able to go to a farmers market, the farmers market can come to them,” says Steeber. “We’ve expanded the program from smaller plots, to about an acre and a half right now.”
Grant money provides garden classes for the inmates through UW-Extension. “They (the classes) give them a skill set that when they leave the jail, after they’ve graduated out of ReCap, they’ve done their sentence, that they can take back with them,” says Steeber. “Let’s face it, if you have something that you can do as a hobby or kind of on the side, to keep you occupied, you’re more likely to succeed in society.” The Sheriff’s office is offering an open house at the garden on Wednesday.
Submitted by Beth Wheelock, WCLO
Pro-tobacco groups spent a record $1.25 million dollars lobbying in the first half of 2009, according to David Ahrens, UW Carbone Cancer Center researcher. Ahrens says this was the first time the “million dollar threshold” has been crossed. The money was used to fight the statewide public smoking ban and cigarette tax proposals, both of which became law, but he says pro-tobacco groups did score a victory.
“At the end of the session, the funding for the tobacco control programs was slashed by 55 percent,” says Ahrens.
These control programs help maintain the state’s free tobacco quit line, as well as tobacco prevention for youth and adults.
Drawing from Government Accountability Board records, Ahrens says pro-tobacco lobbyists outspent the total of opposing groups like Smoke Free Wisconsin and the American Cancer Society by 7-to-1.
WRN Blog