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Walker wants wage cuts for state workers

November 2, 2009 By

A Republican candidate for governor says the state needs to get wages for public sector employees under control.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker says government needs to realize that the wages and benefits given to public employees will be difficult to sustain. He says there are a lot of good public servants, but the pay and benefits are woefully out of balance when compared to the private sector.

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Walker said cuts to state employee wages could help fuel efforts to cut taxes in other areas. The GOP hopeful says he’d like to see taxes cut for employers, along with rolling back combined reporting from the recent state budget and lowering capital gains taxes.

Walker says he also wants to see changes made in local government and school districts that receive state funding. He says there should be an expectation that wages and benefits are under control in those areas as well.

Walker is running against former Congressman Mark Neumann in the Republican primary.

AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:05)

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With:

Bank robbery suspect arrested

November 2, 2009 By

The final suspect in a deadly bank robbery in rural northwestern Wisconsin was taken into custody Sunday afternoon in Rhinelander. Law enforcement had been searching for 20 year old Robert McCallie of Kennan since Friday. Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. the Sawyer County Dispatch Center received a report of a hold up alarm at the Dairyland State Bank in Exeland. Deputies from the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department and officers with the Birchwood Police Department were dispatched to the scene. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Doyle wants more DPI power to deal with failing schools

November 2, 2009 By

One of Governor Jim Doyle’s proposed education reforms has gotten little attention, but is now on the fast track at the Capitol. The Assembly Education Committee holds a public hearing on the bill (AB 534) today. 

The idea is to give the state Superintendent of Public Instruction more authority to turn around struggling schools. Doyle was asked whether that isn’t better left to local school districts. “No,” said Doyle. “Not if a school is failing, and failing, and failing. And in fact, under federal law, eventually that decision gets taken away from the local district.”

Doyle would like to see the DPI superintendent be able to direct local school boards to order curriculum changes in specific schools, and even order personnel changes, subject to collective bargaining. Doyle believes this would actually be less severe than what can happen currently. “The tool that we have had before, is to just withhold funding from the school or the school district,” he said, adding that “that never made much sense.”

As defined by the federal No Child Left Behind law, there are currently 79 schools and two districts are identified for improvement in Wisconsin.

Filed Under: Education, Politics & Government

Farmers long for dry weather

November 2, 2009 By

It’s been tough fall for farmers in Southern Wisconsin with rain hampering crops. Growers are having a hard time getting their crops in, according UW Ag agent David Fischer. Soybeans, being so close the ground, are most critical. Less than 50 percent are in and if farmers can’t finish before the snow starts falling, the “beans will probably be lost.”

Only about ten percent of the corn is in. Fischer says farmers are hoping for some sunny days so they don’t have to spend so much money drying corn once it’s been harvested. 

AUDIO: John Colbert reports (MP3 :35)

Filed Under: Agriculture
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