Wednesday, 4.24
Gov. Scott Walker announces he will amend his budget to freeze tuition after a $650 million surplus was discovered at the UW System. The freeze has support among both Republicans and Democrats, who are outraged that the university has hiked tuition every school year since 2007-08.
Thursday, 4.25
Wisconsin's 4th District Court of Appeals urges the state Supreme Court to take up a challenge brought by two unions to Gov. Walker's Act 10, writing, "it is hard to imagine a dispute with greater statewide effect or with a greater need for a final resolution."
Sunday, 4.28
Dean, Gary and Chloe Thoreson - 76, 70 and 66, respectively - are found murdered in a rural Lafayette County home. Police later announce that 31-year-old Jaren Kuester is being held as a suspect. He allegedly hiked six miles naked through brush and swamps, before randomly stumbling upon the family's house.
Monday, 4.29
Wisconsin officials announce plans to delay highway reconstruction and cut back on road funding to communities in order to close a projected $63 million deficit in the state's transportation fund.
Tuesday, 4.30
Gov. Walker's office announces that state agencies cut overtime costs by 22% over the last year. Walker credits his controversial Act 10, saying it "saved taxpayers more than a billion dollars, including millions of dollars in state employee overtime."
Republicans introduce a joint bill that would drastically curtail renters' rights. Among other things, it would eliminate the provision that landlords inform tenants about building code violations or disclose conditions that create an unreasonable risk of personal injury.
The Capital Times reports that Gov. Walker has proposed creating 89 new positions in the Department of Health Services at a cost of $10.4 million. The jobs are needed to cope with the implementation of Obamacare, say health officials.
Wednesday, 5.1
The Legislative Audit Bureau reports that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the agency created by Gov. Walker when he took office, has routinely failed to follow state laws, awarded money to ineligible projects and didn't properly track loans. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) says, "Walker supposedly created WEDC to be the state's job creation agency and yet, because it does not have a clear plan, strong leadership, meaningful board involvement and it has thumbed its nose at any attempts at oversight, those efforts are failing."
Compiled, in part, from local media.