The ups and downs of J. Tay’s crew
Is ‘Tiny Furniture’ director Lena Dunham the new Woody Allen? ARTS
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Despite a disappointing finish, UW men’s basketball had one hell of a season
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SPORTS PAGE 8
Monday, March 28, 2011
Budget repair bill published, legal effects not clear
bikes for bargaining
By Adam Wollner the daily cardinal
brett blaske/the daily cardinal
A fleet of bicyclists joined protests against the budget repair bill at the Capitol Saturday.
Despite a Dane County judge’s temporary restraining order against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, the Legislative Reference Bureau published the legislation Friday, sparking controversy over whether the law is in effect. State law requires bills to be published within 10 working days after they are enacted. Walker signed the bill March 11, making Friday, March 25, the last day it could be enacted. On March 18, Secretary of State Bob La Follette wrote to Mike Barman of the Legislative Reference Bureau asking him to remove March 25 as the date for publication of the bill and “not to proceed with publication until I contact you with a new publica-
tion date.” Laws generally take effect the day after they are published, making Saturday the first day the law would be implemented. There is disagreement, however, as to whether the law is actually in effect since La Follette’s office has not published it yet. “I don’t think this act makes it become effective,” bureau director Stephen Miller told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “My understanding is that the secretary of state has to publish it in the [official state] newspaper for it to become effective.” Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said the Legislative Reference Bureau’s actions are of no legal significance. “This case, including the legal signifipublishing page 3
GOP files request for e-mails of UW history professor Targeted professor denounces it as an abuse of state’s open records laws By Ariel Shapiro the daily cardinal
The Republican Party of Wisconsin filed an open records request to obtain UW-Madison history professor William Cronon’s e-mails, sparking a debate over academic freedom. Cronon, whose column criticizing Gov. Scott Walker was featured in The New York Times March 21, wrote on his blog about the American Legislative Exchange Council, a national conservative group that provides model legislation for lawmakers to introduce in their states. In response to the blog post, the RPW requested copies of all e-mails going into and out of Cronon’s WiscMail account referencing specific topics such as “Scott Walker,” “Scott Fitzgerald” and “collective bargaining.”
Cronon said on his blog he supports Wisconsin’s open records law, which allows anyone to request copies of correspondence between state officials such as UW professors, but he said that the request was an abuse of it. “When such tools are turned toward purely partisan ends, and when they are used with the express purpose of intimidating or punishing those with whom powerful people disagree, then precious institutions of democracy are deployed to subvert the very liberties we all cherish,” Cronon wrote. CRONON The RPW issued a statement saying it is within its rights to file the request, however, and do “not have to give a reason for doing so.” The party also said it is the one being intimidated in the situation. “It is chilling to see that so many members of the media would take up the cause of a professor who seeks to quash a lawful open records cronon page 3
Man stabbed to death at Park Street gas station Police are investigating the apparent homicide of a 23-year-old man they believe occurred Sunday morning on South Park Street. Officers were originally sent to Meriter Hospital, where a vehicle dropped off a man who was bleeding from a stab wound, Madison Police Department South District Captain Joe Balles said. “The male died a short time later in the emergency room while being treated for his injuries,” Balles said in a statement. Police said they believe the victim’s injuries were sustained in a large fight involving
several people outside the BP Amoco Station at 318 S. Park St. around 2 a.m. Sunday. It appears no one involved in the disturbance lived in the immediate area, Balles said. Authorities said there are no suspects in custody at this time but they are still investigating the incident. Police said they want to speak with anyone who may have been in the area of the station at the time of the disturbance. Anyone with information can report tips anonymously to Crimestoppers at 2666014, Balles said. —Maggie DeGroot
kathryn weenig/the daily cardinal
Wisconsin AFL-CIO president Phil Neuenfeldt and others stood with Planned Parenthood Friday to support their services, which face de-funding in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget.
Planned Parenthood rally criticizes Walker for cuts to birth control funding By Ariel Shapiro the daily cardinal
Democratic lawmakers and reproductive health advocates gathered on the Capitol steps Friday to rally for Planned Parenthood, which would face defunding under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennial budget. State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said Planned Parenthood has enjoyed three decades of bipartisan support, but said Walker brought his ideology into health matters. “I am not a woman, but if I were, I wouldn’t want what Governor Walker thinks to come close to my health care decisions,” Erpenbach told the crowd. Meg Robertson, a Planned Parenthood nurse practitioner, said she was “outraged” with the role politics was playing in health care and asserted the services Planned
Parenthood provides are essential for reproductive health. Wisconsin Right to Life praised Walker for his efforts in “ensuring that taxpayers are not involved in the taking of human life.” However, under Wisconsin law state funds are not used for non-medical abortions, so the funding currently being provided to Planned Parenthood goes towards other services. Although the cut in funding is intended to save the state money, according to state Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison every dollar put into Planned Parenthood saves taxpayers $3. Other groups have come out in objection to the provisions of Walker’s budget regarding reproductive health care. The Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health specifically parenthood page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”