May 16, 2012

Justified use of ‘deadly force’

POLICEfile

A 26 year old Sun Prairie man was the robbery suspect shot and killed by a Madison police officer Wednesday. 

The officer who shot and killed an armed robbery suspect on Madison’s south side Wednesday had a loaded gun pointed in his face moments before using “deadly force.” That today from Police Chief Noble Wray.

AUDIO: Chief Noble Wray (:11 MP3) [Read more...]

Wisconsin Museum of Broadcasting goes online

From the early days of Wisconsin radio and television to some of the industry’s key players, you can now explore its history in a virtual museum. The Wisconsin Museum of Broadcasting can be found on line.

John Laabs is the President and CEO of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation. He says they thought of a brick and mortar facility, but a virtual museum gives them time to raise funds and get more donations for a real museum.

“We were always torn between which way to go, then finally someone at a planning session said ‘Why don’t we just join the modern world and do it online. If that’s successful, perhaps we can then, with artifacts in hand, do it bricks and mortar.’” [Read more...]

Words from Wisconsin on Obama’s peace prize

President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize but has he earned it?  Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de La Frontera, says the President has yet to deliver on his campaign promise to pull troops out of Iraq. She told WRN, “that has been a huge disappointment for many people.”

The Milwaukee-based advocate says there is promise with the administration and admits it was a historic election. However, she adds with little progress in Middle East negotiations, Obama has done little to warrant such a high award.

AUDIO: Christine Neumann-Ortiz (MP3 :15)

Former Vice President Al Gore says President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is a “well deserved” recognition of Obama’s foreign policy efforts. Gore made his comments in Madison at the convention of the Society of Environmental Journalists.

AUDIO: Al Gore (MP3 :23)

The Vice President to President Clinton also says the award also honors Obama’s efforts to bring the world together to tackle “climate crisis.”  Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

President Obama was only in office for 12 days before the Nobel nomination deadline last February. The Norwegian Nobel committee noted Obama’s vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and his stressing of multilateral diplomacy.

Adding market based reform to health care

An idea without much traction in Congress could “account” for positive changes to health care. George Lightbourn, President of Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, says lawmakers should expand the use of Health Savings Accounts.

HSA’s allow users to purchase high deductible insurance plans for major expenses such as serious illness while paying for routine medical expenses out of their own special account.

Lightbourn, a free market policy researcher, claims HSA users have seen their insurance premiums drop because they are “more engaged” in their health care decisions and wouldn’t have to rely on “someone in Washington to make decisions over their health care.”

Republicans have advocated Health Savings Accounts most notably House member Paul Ryan of Janesville.

Opponents of HSA’s believe they fragment the potential pool of patients by attracting younger, healthier applicants.

Lightbourn also supports a change to the current policy of taxing people who purchase their own medical insurance compared to coverage obtained through an employer being tax free.

He would also like to see people able to shop for insurance carriers out of state, idea supported by some Democrats and Republicans.

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :75)

Lawmaker proposes naming highway after historian

The legislative transportation committee discusses a handful of bills on Thursday.

One bill (AB-415) would designate a portion of U-S Highway 12 in the city of Whitewater as the Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway.

“He dedicated his life to memorializing the citizen soldiers and band of brothers who fought for our freedom, particularly those in WWII.”

Whitewater Democrat Assemblyman Kim Hixson calls Ambrose the best known historian in the last 100 years, citing his numerous best-selling books, including Band of Brothers, and his presidential biographies. Ambrose also founded the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.

“He brought us the stories of these men and helped us younger folks get to know more about our uncles, fathers, and grandfathers [Read more...]