Five flicks you can’t miss at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival ARTS
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
CHOP SUZZY CUTS IT UP ON THE RINK
The Mad Rollin’ Dolls star talks bouts, alternate personas and femininity FEATURES Complete campus coverage since 1892
Walker blames Miller for absent Democrats By Adam Wollner the daily cardinal
Gov. Scott Walker called out state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, in a press conference Monday, saying Miller has been holding up negotiations and preventing Democratic state senators from returning to Wisconsin for a vote on Walker’s budget repair bill. Miller sent an open letter to Walker and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, asking to meet near the WisconsinIllinois border to discuss a compromise on the controMILLER versial bill. Walker called Miller’s offer “absolutely ridiculous,” saying he has been attempting to negotiate with Democrats and “reaching out to reasonable senators” for weeks. Walker said staff from his administration and Fitzgerald met at a McDonald’s in
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Tuesday, March 8, 2011
all day (and night)
Kenosha with Democrats who they said have “a sincere interest in coming back” over the past few days to work on a compromise. “We have a way home for at least some of those state senators so we can get a vote on this measure and more importantly move this state forward,” Walker said. Sen. Fitzgerald said he met with Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, and Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, and had constructive negotiations. But according to Fitzgerald, Miller is preventing any further progress. “Your stubbornness in trying to ignore the last election and protect the broken status quo is truly shameful,” Fitzgerald said in a letter to Miller. In response to Walker and Fitzgerald, Miller said, “the people of Wisconsin have spoken loudly and clearly over these last three weeks” against Walker, and said he has repeatedly tried reaching out to Republicans budget page 3 Mark Kauzlarich/the daily cardinal
Mash-up DJ Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, rocked a packed crowd at the Alliant Energy Center’s Exhibition Hall Monday night.
Capitol open to protesters, but with substantial limits By Patrick Tricker the daily cardinal
ben pierson/the daily cardinal
Gov. Scott Walker addressed the public along with the Fitzgerald brothers Monday and called Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller’s request to meet “ridiculous.”
Supreme Court decides not to hear UW-Madison Badger Catholic case By Kayla Johnson the daily cardinal
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday it will not hear UW-Madison’s appeal of a lower court decision that found denying funding to the Catholic student group Badger Catholic violates the First Amendment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of Badger Catholic in a September 2010 ruling, saying the university’s denial of funding violated the group’s First Amendment right to free speech. By deciding not to hear the case, the Supreme Court ended UW-Madison’s appeal process. The UW System Board of Regents and several higher education organizations, including the American Council on Education, urged the Supreme Court to hear UW-Madison’s appeal.
The education organizations argued in a brief to the higher court that a public university should not be required to provide funds specifically for religious worship activities. During the 2006-’07 and 2007-’08 academic years, UW-Madison denied funding for some Badger Catholic activities the university deemed strictly religious in nature. The activities included student mentoring sessions with Catholic nuns and priests and a retreat at which participants held regular mass and prayer sessions. UW-Madison’s legal department said those activities were a violation of the separation of church and state, and therefore the group should not be rewarded student segregated fees for them. UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said in a statement university adminiscatholic page 3
As the fourth week of protests over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill began Monday, the state Capitol was unrecognizable compared to the past few weeks. The building’s walls were clear of signs, its halls devoid of sleeping bags and protesters inside numbering less than a hundred. Despite decreased crowds the police presence remained as strong as ever, with officers searching bags, using metal-detecting wands on people entering the Capitol and forcing protesters out of the building by 6 p.m. State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, said the policy was a deliberate attempt to intimidate protesters. “The building today, while certainly more open than it was for most of last week, contin-
ues to be in a highly secured state,” Roys said. “It’s still quite onerous for members of the public and staff to get into the Capitol, and there’s no safety justification for this lock out.” Police prohibited members of the public from bringing in megaphones, tape that could be used to put up signs and any items indicating they planned to sleep at the building, including mattresses, pillows and blankets. Despite the restrictions, a group of protesters stayed in the building to voice their opinion and keep the opposition alive. Chris Reeder said he has protested each day since Feb. 15 for his friends who are teachers and social workers in public unions. Reeder said the decreased in attendance has not affected his faith in the protests. capitol page 3
Democrats file complaint over Walker prank call The Democratic Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint against Gov. Scott Walker with the Government Accountability Board Monday, citing his conversation with blogger Ian Murphy posing as conservative billionaire David Koch as evidence of multiple offenses. The complaint alleges Walker admitted to a number of violations during the phone call, including misuse of the Attorney General’s office for political means and using his public position to obtain “something of value” by accepting a trip to California from the person he thought was Koch. Walker’s consideration of “planting troublemakers” was also listed as grounds for complaint. The DPW alleged that admission could be considered “a conspiracy to recklessly endanger public safety,” which
would be punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and a 90-day jail sentence. The DPW is not the first group to voice concern over that particular part of the phone call. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said in a statement following news of the call it was “very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers.” The complaint also alleges Walker broke campaign finance rules by asking the Koch pretender to run advertisements for Republican incumbents in swing districts and by conducting a call organizing contributions from a government building. The Walker administration has yet to respond to the complaint. —Ariel Shapiro
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”