Thursday, 12.19
Gov. Walker signs into law a bill making it harder to force public schools to drop racially offensive mascots, claiming it's a free speech issue. Barbara Munson, an Oneida Indian who chairs the Wisconsin Indian Education Association's mascot and logos task force, tells the Associated Press that people have free speech rights, not governmental bodies. "It's a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to all Wisconsin tribes, and it is an act of discrimination leveled directly at our children."
The state releases data showing that 80% of the 400 unions representing schoolteachers and staff have been recertified in elections this fall.
Friday, 12.20
Gov. Walker signs a bill that delays Medicaid coverage for 83,000 childless adults living below the poverty level. The adults were supposed to begin qualifying for coverage in January but will have to wait at least three more months. The bill also pushes 72,000 parents and caretakers who earn more than the poverty level off the program next month. Happy New Year.
A federal appeals court upholds an injunction against a new state law requiring that abortion clinic providers have hospital admitting privileges.
Monday, 12.23
Katrena D. Salmon, 22, is charged with misdemeanor child neglect in Dane County Court for allegedly tying her 2-1/2-year-old son to the bed while she ran errands. The boy was found outside, wearing only a diaper and T-shirt. He is now in protective custody.
Tuesday, 12.24
The State Journal reports that less then three months after Anchor Bank's bankruptcy and recapitalization were finalized, its parent company has filed papers to rejoin Nasdaq.
