News & Commentary

Almost a year after a Wisconsin federal judge refused to overturn a ban on the controversial "i (heart) boobies!" bracelets at Sauk Prairie Middle School, a federal appeals court made a different decision in a different state.

MILWAUKEE - A new law passed by the legislature this year could affect some clinics performing abortions by requiring them to be within 30 miles of a hospital with admitting privileges.

Amid uncertainty over when — or if — Wisconsin's new regulation of abortion clinics will go into effect, seven doctors who perform the procedure are filing applications for hospital admitting privileges.

This past Saturday morning, I had the privilege of speaking at Community Brainstorming, a weekly forum held at St. Matthew's CME Church. The topic was the Supreme Court's recent decision in Shelby County. Although Shelby County is often simply described as "gutting" the Voting Rights Act, it actually struck down the 48 year old formula by which certain states are required to seek the permission of the federal Department of Justice before they can implement any change in their election laws. Denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race continues to be prohibited by the Voting Rights Act and the United States Constitution. I don't want to repeat the arguments for and against the result in Shelby County. Wisconsin was never one of these pre-clearance jurisdictions. I want to make a larger point about federalism.

Police say the systems, which are growing in use among municipal departments and were highlighted this month in a report by the American Civil Liberties Union, enhance an officer’s ability to find stolen vehicles, kidnapped children, crime suspects or vehicles with expired registration.

Dozens of organizations came together, including the Boys and Girls Clubs, the ACLU and Milwaukee Public Theatre.  MPT organizer Barbara Leigh thinks the rally benefits adults as much as children. "There's been a lot of violence and there's been a lot of fear about young people," Leigh said.  "We need to show the community that, no, no, there's all kinds of people out there doing wonderful things."

Dom and Crutte discuss their grievances, and are joined in studio by Michael Kissick, Plaintiff of Federal Lawsuit vs DOA and Capital Police and his lawyer from Wisconsin ACLU Larry Dupuis and we take your calls.

Welcome back to our weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done and where god has mercy, on them that has been slandered and humiliated.