Wednesday, 6.13
Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in Washington, D.C., Gov. Scott Walker compares public-sector benefits to "a virus." Because if you give public workers health insurance and retirement benefits, everybody will want them. Before long, they'll even want Christmas off.
Friday, 6.15
State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) requests a recount in his recall election. Wanggaard trails Democratic challenger John Lehman by 834 votes. Wanggaard pays for a portion of the recount - $5 for each of the 137 wards, or $685. Racine County will pay for the rest.
Saturday, 6.16
About 60 people in various states of undress participate in the city's third annual Naked Bike Ride with a two-hour tour around Madison.
Monday, 6.18
Jim Packard, longtime announcer for Wisconsin Public Radio's Whad'Ya Know?, dies in New York. Packard, 70, worked at WPR from 1981 until his retirement in 2010, although he continued his work for the show. Host Michael Feldman says "Jim was my only successful long-term relationship. He was simply the best and irreplaceable."
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in Janesville with the help of the state's two conservative heroes, Gov. Walker and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
The state Government Accountability Board approves Sen. Van Wanggaard's request for a recount and orders it to begin Wednesday. Racine County will have until July 2 to complete it.
U.S. District Judge William Conley sentences 23-year-old Matthew P. Hendrickson, a former UW-Madison student, to 12 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography.
State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen drops an appeal over a decision that requires the state to redraw a voting boundary between two districts in Milwaukee. Two groups challenged the redistricting passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature last year. In dropping the appeal, Van Hollen agrees to pay the plaintiffs' attorneys $185,000.
The Madison school board votes to increase taxes by 4.95% in approving its $376.2 million budget for next year.
Tuesday, 6.19
Gov. Walker announces a plan to offer online degrees at the UW, starting as soon as this fall. The idea follows the lead of MIT and Harvard in offering more affordable and flexible educational offerings.
Authorities charge James Buskov, 47, with first-degree reckless endangerment for allegedly setting a fire last month in the basement of his father's Sun Prairie home and leaving, without telling his father who was asleep upstairs. Buskov reportedly has a sexual fetish involving fire and was masturbating when he started the blaze. No one was injured in the fire.
Compiled, in part, from local media.
