(MADISON) Schools would see a $235 million dollar increase in state money under a plan that cleared the Legislature’s budget panel yesterday Tuesday, but the funding falls short of a benchmark schools got used to over much of the past decade.

The budget approved yesterday would not pick up two-thirds of cost of public schools, and nobody on the Joint Finance Committee tried to change that. In fact, both Democrats and Republicans all supported the exact same level of state school funding as was proposed by the Governor.

Where the sides differed substantially was in how much money they would let districts raise on their own in local property taxes. Assembly Republican Robin Vos (R-Racine) wanted schools to be entitled to less. He says if the schools realize they realize they need more resources than what the state is able to afford, they get to go and ask the people if they believe extra money should go toward something he says, “that’s incredibly important” like our schools. The plan Vos backed would have meant about $300 million dollars less for schools compared to the Governor’s budget.

Democrats defeated that move, saying it would amount to a cut given the rising health care and energy expenses districts have to deal with. Senator John Lehman (D-Racine) says forcing districts to go to referenda ends up tearing communities apart. He says the kids in the schools that don’t get the benefits from the programs are the ones who suffer. He says in the long run, if schools aren’t turning out the same kind of product into the future, the whole state of Wisconsin suffers from not having an educated workforce.

In percentage terms, the extra school funding that cleared committee yesterday would be less than a two-percent increase. It still needs the full Legislature’s approval.

(MADISON) Milwaukee public schools would receive extra funding to pay for tutors or teacher training under a plan that cleared the Legislature’s budget panel. Schools with low-income students would also get more money to pay for a breakfast program.

It would be up to the Milwaukee Public School System to come up with a plan to use the $15 million dollars in extra state funding. Governor Jim Doyle proposed the money with the loose goal of boosting student achievement in the state’s largest city. Over the past decade, the graduation rate in Milwaukee has hovered at or below 60 percent, compared to around 90 percent statewide.

Another of the Governor’s initiatives that cleared the Joint Finance Committee would increase the state’s reimbursement rate for school breakfast programs by a nickel per meal. Democratic committee co-chair Russ Decker (D-Schofield) says that’s money well spent. While most people have grown up with parents that took care of their children, he says, that’s not the case in all situations. He says study after study shows that if a student comes to school hungry, they don’t perform as well when it comes to learning as they would if they had a, “stomach full of food.”

Wisconsin currently ranks last in the nation in its number of low-income students who participate in a school breakfast program. This funding increase would cost the state roughly three million dollars.

Another plan that cleared the budget committee would spend three million dollars on grants to set up four-year-old kindergarten programs. Republicans protested all of the increases, saying the state needs to prioritize its limited education funding on programs that affect all students.

(MADISON) The Legislature’s budget panel reluctantly agreed Tuesday to fund an expansion of Milwaukee's school choice program. Lawmakers also tentatively approved more money for an initiative that reduces class sizes in public schools.

Governor Jim Doyle included the money in his budget to pay for a compromise reached last year with then-Assembly Speaker John Gard. That deal lifted the cap on the Milwaukee voucher program from 15,000 students to more than 22,000. Doyle’s budget would spend $20 million dollars to cover all new students who enroll in the choice program. It would also bump funding for the “SAGE” small classroom program by $20 million dollars.

But Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) was unhappy with the deal, because the funding for small classrooms falls about six million dollars short of the level earlier agreed to. Taylor tried to eliminate the school voucher expansion, but her proposal was voted down. Likewise, Republicans tried to block the extra funding for small classrooms, but they were shot down.

The extra money still needs the full Legislature’s approval.

(MADISON) Homeowners would see a tax credit on some of the money they pay to schools under a plan approved by the Legislature’s budget panel yesterday Tuesday. The credit would pay the property taxes on the first $5,500 of the value of a home or business. It would cost the state $100 million dollars in the next two-year budget.

Senator Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) says this would help families of modest means. He says “it’s time to quit feeding the fortunate and start targeting our resources and our property tax relief to those deserving citizens who truly need help the most; those who are struggling to make ends meet.”

While the plan received unanimous support, some Republicans said it would likely end up in court because it applies differently to different pieces of property, something that potentially violates Wisconsin’s Constitution.

(LADYSMITH) The state began a two-day public hearing Wednesday on whether the land at the now-closed mine at Ladysmith has been completely restored to its natural condition. Critics worry about water pollution and about taxpayers being left to foot the bill.

The Flambeau Mining Company stopped taking copper and gold out of the surface mine several years ago. Now the firm is asking the Department of Natural Resources to approve a final “certificate of completion,” which would say the site has been reclaimed to the point where it can support wildlife and passive recreation to the extent the company promised in 1991, before mining started.

Flambeau spokeswoman Jana Murphy says the reclaimed site is an asset for the Rusk County community. She says the company submitted a notice of completion in 2001 and since that time, there has been extensive ecological monitoring of the site what she says has shown that the result is a bio-diverse site that’s stabilized. Murphy says the nearby Flambeau River is also being protected. She says the mining company is ready to begin 40 years of groundwater monitoring at the site, and that a long-term bond filed with the state is an extra financial guarantee.

But several environmentalists and the Lac Courtes Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa oppose the DNR granting the certificate. Attorney Melissa Scanlan of Midwest Environmental Advocates says a stream on the site and local groundwater are contaminated. She says there’s a concern that if this company is allowed to be released from any further reclamation of the site, the state and the public will be left, “holding the bag.” Scanlan says the Flambeau Mining case also has a broader importance, since it’s the first reclamation project since mining laws were revised over the last decade.

A contested case hearing on the dispute begins at the end of the month and will take a closer look at whether Flambeau Mining has only recently removed contaminated soils.

(UNDATED) According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Native Americans are more than twice as likely to have diabetes than other groups. Other chronic health issues are obesity and high blood pressure. Now, several Native American advocates want to curb those problems, by promoting a more traditional and organic diet in “Indian Country.”

Paul “Sugar Bear” Smith is a type II diabetic. So are his four children. Smith says that’s not unusual among other members of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, who have seen their traditional staples of wild rice, bison, and squash steadily replaced by fast food and processed commodities. He says these foods include refined sugars and wheat, which is a carbohydrate and turns into a sugar base. He says that leads to obesity as does inactivity. He says “we’re not as active as we once were.”

Smith is director of Heifer International’s Indian Nations Initiative, which aims to promote healthy food production and eating in tribal communities. Another advocate is Rhonda Funmaker, a Ho Chunk tribal member and founder of the GoodVillage Foundation. She describes herself as a traditional gardener and cook, who’s dedicated to bringing back the customs and ceremonies of her ancestors. It’s hard work, Funmaker says, but she’s seeing results. She says there are a growing number of Ho Chunk people that are going back to the way they used to eat, prior to receiving commodities from government distribution. She says they are also starting to plant their own foods and she notes that the tribe is actually opening community gardens.

Funmaker says those same gardens are being fertilized by the Ho Chunk’s developing bison herds.

(MADISON) The number of Dane County motorists traveling alone to work has been increasing. There are concerns that too many cars could push pollutants beyond what the federal government allows and will trigger more asthma attacks. A campaign to get people to drive less is underway.

The Dane County Clean Air Coalition wants motorists to consider carpooling, taking the bus, walking or cycling. The push to drive less may get an unintended boost from the escalating cost of gas, although surveys have indicated motorists are unlikely to change daily travel patterns because of pump prices.

The main message of what’s called the Car-Lite Diet Program is that pollution can cause or worsen health problems. One example is asthma, a condition which State Chief Medical Officer Henry Anderson says affects ten percent of Dane County residents.

Studies showing low levels of ozone can trigger asthma have Environmental Protection Agency officials considering whether to implement stricter standards. If that happens, Dane County might exceed federal clean air rules, or be on the verge of doing so as it currently is with particle pollutants. Ozone is often worst on hot days. Last summer got steamy, but Dane County had no ozone alerts, something the clean Air Coalition attributes to the wind blowing the right way.

(UNDATED) Election campaign reformers in Wisconsin are cheering the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal this week to hear an appeal from self-described “political hit man” Todd Rongstad.

In 2002, Rongstad launched an attack mailing against Julie Lassa during her campaign for the state Senate. Lassa sued for libel because the mailing linked her to then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala and the caucus scandal. Lassa was elected and Rongstad was found in contempt of court for refusing to reveal who paid for the mailing.

Rongstad appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming anyone attacking political figures should have immunity from libel suits. Wisconsin Democracy Campaign director Mike McCabe says the Court’s decision to reject the case will help efforts to pass a new state law requiring groups who run election ads to reveal their funding sources. He says this is one small victory in what has to be a much larger fight, because he says there are, “an awful lot” of operators who are trying to do their, “hatchet jobs,” but do it all under a cloak of anonymity.

But according to Barbara Lyons of Wisconsin Right to Life, that anonymity is an important free speech right. She says groups collect less money when people know that their name is going to be disclosed. She says donors fear they will be bombarded with more fundraising requests.

Lyons is holding out hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule favorably on a suit her group has filed that calls for exempting grassroots organizations from revealing their contributor list. A decision in that case is expected next month.

(MILWAUKEE) Governor Jim Doyle says he wants local communities to be able to have gun control laws that are tougher than state law. Doyle wants repeal of a measure passed by Republicans several years ago.

About twelve years ago, the National Rifle Association got GOP lawmakers and then-Governor Tommy Thompson to pre-empt local gun laws, making sure local ordinances didn’t go beyond state statutes.

Governor Doyle says he hopes by this fall, legislators will introduce a bill to overturn the pre-emption law. He says it just makes common sense. He says just as in the case of traffic ordinances, and other sorts of things, Milwaukee can have its own set of ordinances and those might be different than those in effect in a small town. Doyle says that should be true for guns as well.

Doyle made his call in Milwaukee, where a four-year-old girl was shot to death Monday night while sitting outside, and where police are planning a safety crackdown for this summer.

Doyle says one of the local gun ordinances that ought to be put in place would require background checks for all private gun sales. He says what that would do is to make the private sale of a handgun on the street a crime. He says currently, if a police officer saw a hand-to-hand sale of a handgun taking place, it doesn’t violate any law in the State of Wisconsin.

But lobbyist Jim Fendry of Wisconsin’s Pro-Gun Movement says repealing the local pre-emption law would be a bad idea. He says the most egregious thing about it is that it would be pandering to the poor people who are becoming victims of the violence in the city of Milwaukee making them believe that allowing a new gun law is in some way going to make them safer. Fendry also says tougher gun laws only in certain cities would create uncertainty for legal gun owners as they travel.

(MILWAUKEE) Milwaukee police say they’ll start questioning “suspicious” people on the sidewalks and streets, in hopes of heading off violent crime this summer.

Gun crime spiked last Memorial Day weekend in Milwaukee, and police, with support from Governor Doyle, have announced a plan to try to head off another surge in violence this summer. Starting this Sunday, the Neighborhood Safety Initiative will use more police in targeted areas based on crime data. Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Hegerty says beat officers and officers in squad cars will concentrate on field interviews of suspicious persons. She says they’re not going to be stopping “everyone who is walking.” Rather, she says officers will be working under vary strict criteria, looking for what she says is “the worst of the worst,” and being able to identify suspicious characteristics. Hegerty won’t define “suspicious,” because she says she doesn’t want potential criminals to know.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is trying to boost his crime-fighting reputation before next year’s mayoral election, but also doesn’t want to lose the support of progressives on the crime issue. He says the police won’t abuse their powers. He wants the police to be proactive, he says. But he says they’ve talked about constitutional parameters and he says he has every reason to believe that the department will continue to monitor their behavior. Barrett says one example of suspicious people are those who look under age 17 and who are outside after the city’s curfew.

The new crime-fighting plan will cost about two million dollars in overtime pay, with the state promising to foot half the bill, especially if legislators okay a budget request from the governor.

(MADISON) Two Madison lawmakers want to raise Wisconsin’s beer tax, a move that even supporters compare to “walking directly into the mouth of a lion.” But they also call it a first step toward acknowledging that Wisconsin has a problem when it comes to excessive drinking.

The plan would increase the tax on a 12 ounce bottle of beer by two-and-a-half cents, bringing Wisconsin’s tax rate up from third lowest in the nation to closer to the middle of the pack. It would be the state’s first beer tax increase in 38 years. Or as Assembly Democrat Terese Berceau (D-Madison) put it, the first since man walked on the moon.

Berceau says the $40 million dollars raised by the tax hike would go toward alcohol abuse prevention and treatment. She says it is a generally accepted concept of fairness that those who participate in an activity should help shoulder the cost that activity incurs.

This is the second time Berceau has introduced this plan, and neither instance got a warm reception. Republicans and Democrats alike have badmouthed the idea, with some saying it would hurt working families as well as the state’s economy.

Senate Sponsor Fred Risser (D-Madison) says those arguments are familiar. He was in the Legislature the last time the beer tax was raised nearly four decades ago. He says the warnings then were that the state would lose thousands of jobs, would lose an industry altogether and lose beer drinkers. He says there were dire consequences predicted and none of those occurred.

The beer tax increase may get a hearing in the Senate where Risser is President. But even Representative Berceau predicts it won’t pass the Legislature this session.

(UNDATED) The Department of Natural Resources continues to hope it can spread word of a virus deadly to fish faster than the virus spreads in the Lake Winnebago area. Local businesses hope so, too.

Preliminary test results show that some dead fish in the Lake Winnebago system were hit with the deadly virus viral hemorrhagic septicemia. VHS was previously confirmed to be no closer than Lake Huron, but the DNR says the virus somehow leapfrogged to the inland lake, perhaps from a boat or bait hauled in from infected waters east of Wisconsin.

DNR regional fisheries coordinator George Boronow says the goal is now to confine the virus to the Lake Winnebago area. He says the agency has developed posters to alert anglers and has posted them at over 200 different public access locations around that system. Trying to get word out to anglers and boaters not to spread this disease.

Boronow says as with the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, the DNR is asking people who use the Lake Winnebago system not to move live fish or bait from those waters. The DNR also wants water drained from boats and trailers, and to have vegetation and mud removed.

The news that VHS is apparently in the Lake Winnebago system bothers local anglers and tourism officials. Mike Schmal of the Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau says fishing is usually a big draw. He says he hopes the effects of VHS on fish can be minimized, but the state says VHS can infect more than 25 fish species.

(BARABOO) The newest executive director for the Circus World Museum says the fortunes of the Baraboo attraction are starting to look up. This follows years of dwindling attendance and struggling revenues.

Steve Freese, a former Dodgeville legislator, started his job January 1, taking on what many people thought was a struggling institution facing its final curtain call. But Freese says that’s no longer the case. He says revenue is up from their museum store sales, both online and in the gift shop. Also, he says attendance is up, and he says “the bad days are behind us.”

Freese says that’s not to knock last year, when nearly 50,000 visitors came to Circus World and collectively spent $2.5 million dollars in Sauk County. But in the heydays during the 1950s and 70s, visitation could be almost four times that amount.

Freese says many of Circus World’s buildings are getting spruced up, and special event weekends are being planned to better share the facility’s three million circus-themed artifacts with the general public. Freese says it’s all to attract more visitors. About a third of what happens at Circus World is based on attendance, he says, what people pay when they walk through the door; about a third of it is in the neighborhood of food sales and museum sales and the balance is what he is able to do in fundraising. He says those three will measure how successful they are.

Freese says Governor Doyle has requested nearly $300,000 between now and 2009 to help pay Circus World’s utility costs, and the Legislature’s budget committee seems behind the request. He says it’s still not clear when coordinators can revive the annual Circus World parade, which was canceled after 2005’s event.

(UNDATED) The state is taking its plan for deeper cuts in mercury pollution to a series of public hearings that began Tuesday.

The Department of Natural Resources wants to have the state’s largest coal-fired power plants cut mercury emissions 90 percent by the year 2020. Environmental groups support some of the plan, but argue the technology is there to allow for quicker reductions including a target date of 2012.

But some electric utilities say the state plan goes too far. Connie Lawniczak of the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation in Green Bay says the state should instead adopt a federal mercury reduction plan. She says under that program, there will be significant reductions in mercury emissions, up to 70 percent by 2018. She adds that the federal program allows utilities to cut mercury in the most effective way possible. For example, Lawniczak says the federal government has a trading program for mercury emissions that would cap total emissions but let utilities buy and sell pollution credits for individual plants. Lawniczak says her company needs “cap and trade,” in case there’s an emergency or a malfunction at plants like the Pulliam plant in Green Bay or the Weston plant near Wausau.

Environmentalists don’t want a trading program, fearing it would discourage some plants from cleaning up.

The first public hearing on the DNR plan was Tuesday in Green Bay. Other hearings over the next 10 days are scheduled for Stevens Point, Eau Claire, Madison and Milwaukee. The proposal will go back to the DNR Board in a few months and could trigger a later fight in the Legislature.

(UNDATED) The hot, dry weather up north has not only brought drought conditions to the region, but also the likelihood bears could be drawing closer to homes and campgrounds, looking for food. Officials are warning local residents to be cautious.

Jim Bishop of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says people may feed bears to get a closer look at the animals. Bishop says this is not only illegal, but risky for both bear and human. He says the bears can be habituated to people and their ‘fear factor’ tends to go down which makes them dangerous. He says a fed bear can also become more aggressive, making its way into people’s homes. He says recently in Vilas County, one homeowner began feeding a bear regularly, despite warnings by DNR wildlife biologists. This eventually became a problem because the bear started ripping off screens and doing whatever it could to get food. He says the agency had to put the bear down.

Bishop recommends keeping barbecue grills and picnic tables clean, and keeping pet food inside. Bird feeders should be taken in at night, and meat scraps should be kept frozen and out of garbage cans until pick-up day.

(UNDATED) Governor Jim Doyle and representatives from other Great Lakes states will join with a Chinese official later today (5/14) to promote more trade between the Midwest and China.

Doyle and others will meet in Chicago with China’s Vice-Minister of Commerce to sign what the Governor’s office says will be a major new U.S.-sourced purchase agreement. Heads of corporations ranging from General Electric to Hewlett-Packard will also attend.

Doyle spokesman Matt Canter says it’s a chance to grow better relationships between all the Great Lakes states and China. He says it’s an opportunity to open each society and work together, foster investment in Wisconsin and create good Wisconsin jobs.

China was Wisconsin’s third largest international market last year, with exports growing nearly 30 percent to a total of 870 million dollars. Commerce Department spokesman Tony Hozeny says that’s because Wisconsin companies are marketing themselves well and China’s economy is growing. He says China is modernizing quickly and they need a lot of the sophisticated equipment that is made in Wisconsin.

Hozeny says there’s no way to tell on a state level how much Wisconsin imports from China. Wisconsin AFL-CIO Director David Newby says on a national scale, it’s the country most responsible for a U.S. trade deficit that’s growing. Newby says he hopes meetings like this one will boost exports to help deal with that deficit, but he says it won’t get better until leaders take bigger steps. He says the rights of workers to organize unions and to other countries to respect human rights have to be written into trade agreements with real enforcement in the same way that corporations have protections for their patents and intellectual property.

Governor Doyle will visit China and Japan in September. He’s expected to travel with representatives of several Wisconsin businesses to meet with potential customers in Asia.

(UNDATED) A new study challenges claims that Native American fisherman are unethical.

Researchers at Northwestern University surveyed 15 anglers from Wisconsin’s Menominee tribe, and 17 non-Indian fishermen from the Shawano area. They were asked about the ethics of 17 fishing practices, including keeping undersized catches and fishing on spawning beds. The Indian and non-Indian sportsmen were also asked how the other group would probably answer.

Doug Cox, a Menominee tribal member and forest ecologist, says during the survey, he readily recalled every accusation non-Indians have routinely made against his people, such as the belief that Indians strictly spear, they spear only big fish and they overtake. He says those are some of the biggest misconceptions.

But Northwestern University Psychologist Doug Medin says his study shows both the Menominee and neighboring anglers pretty much agree on what are good and bad fishing practices. Medin says Menominee fisherman are much more likely to be thinking ecologically, rather than organizing their knowledge of fish in terms of their goals.

Doug Cox agrees. He says many tribal leaders encourage conserving natural resources. He says tribal members do catch fish for subsistence, yet they do catch fish and let them go as well. He says the Menominee Nation is about sustainability and he says they need to leave for future generations what they had the benefit of being left for them.

Indians and non-Indians did differ in how they regarded bass. Tribal fisherman kept and ate the fish, but white anglers considered them game fish, and threw them back.

The study will appear in volume 35 of the journal Human Ecology.

(UNDATED) Critics have called ads linking weight loss to dairy consumption “white lies.” A doctor’s group even filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Now two national ad campaigns sponsored by the milk industry will change.

Magazine ads, along with those on TV and the internet urged consumers to “Milk your diet. Lose Weight!” Another marketing campaign by the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board suggested three servings of milk a day would help people “burn more fat, lose weight.” On its website, The National Dairy Council cites 50 scientific studies linking the calcium in milk to weight loss; critics say the results are mixed and calories were often limited.

A regional dietician for the Council, Laura Wilford, defends the studies as valid. However, the new advertising will have a different focus: maintaining health and weight, not necessarily losing pounds. She says the dietary guidelines for Americans suggest plenty of whole grains, plenty of fruits and vegetables and three servings of low- or non-fat dairy products every day.

The previous ads prompted a federal complaint from a group which advocates a vegan diet. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine had asked the Federal Trade Commission to take action against what the group called “false and misleading” ads. Amy Lanou, a nutritionist with the Committee, says milk is good for promoting weight gain in babies and young animals. And while healthy, she says, it’s not a way to lose weight. She says dairy is a rich source of whole variety of nutrients but it seems like a really long shot to think that eating something designed to promote growth would help a person lose weight, especially an adult.

The National Dairy Council’s Wilford says the ads were in the process of being changed before the Federal Trade Commission complaint.

(UNDATED) Some businesses are investing more money in efforts to try to at least slow global warming.

Last week, the bank Citigroup said it would put another 40 billion dollars over the next ten years into the climate change issue. The corporation said 30 billion will be invested in companies working in alternative energy and clean technology.

Andrew McKeon of the Climate Project says the investment is significant, and that Citigroup is betting that a key greenhouse gas -- carbon dioxide -- will face federal regulations. He says if there is a price tag with it, the companies doing energy without carbon are going to be in a good position. He says investing in them now, when carbon isn’t regulated, could be “kind of a home run.”

McKeon is one of dozens of climate change ambassadors trained by former Vice-president Al Gore to spread the message on how to attack global warming. McKeon has a business background and is trying especially to convince more firms that directly or indirectly cutting emissions that lead to increasing temperatures can be good for the bottom line.

While at a Milwaukee, McKeon said Wisconsin corporations like Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, and La Crosse-based Trane are helping with some of their energy efficient products. But McKeon says even small and mid-sized companies can make a difference.

Though some critics accuse companies of attempting “greenwashing” or fakery on the climate change issue, McKeon says the real test will be to see how much corporations spend to make things better.

(MADISON) They say the state budget affects everyone somehow. Now, even Wisconsin’s seagull population has a vested interest. It’s because the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted last week to study ways to get rid of the bird.

Assembly Sponsor Pedro Colon (D-Milwaukee) had few kind words for gulls, calling them the “worst birds ever to congregate in any civilization.” Colon says they’re filthy, and blames them for much of the pollution on his city’s beaches. He wants to be rid of them and wants the Department of Natural Resources to tell him the fastest way to get rid of them. Colon’s proposal would give the DNR until January of next year to find ways to “substantially reduce” the state’s gull population.

But it may not be a quick fix. Seagulls are a federally-protected bird, meaning any plan will need approval from Washington.

(MADISON) State efforts to fight chronic wasting disease would get cut by about two-million dollars under a measure that passed the Legislature’s budget panel.

Committee Co-chair Russ Decker (D-Weston) says when C.W.D. was first discovered in Wisconsin, there was a “knee jerk” reaction by the Legislature to try and do something about it. He says those efforts need to be re-evaluated. He says he thinks a lot of money was spent on C.W.D. abatement and everything being done now. He says the state continues to pour money into it with little or no result except that when the animals get tested, it’s learned whether they have CWD or not. Decker says state efforts have backfired in southwestern and south-central Wisconsin where the goal was to reduce the deer herd.

The budget cut still needs approval from the full legislature and the Governor to become law. Only one lawmaker voted against it in committee.

(UNDATED) U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin says questions still remain about why Wisconsin U.S. Attorney Stephen Biskupic was taken off the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired by the Department of Justice.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Television, Baldwin said she asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales if Biskupic kept his job as a favor to Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner. She says Biskupic had been a recommendation of Sen. Sensenbrenner for the appointment in the first place and she says they didn’t want to raise the ire of the then-Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Gonzales and Sensenbrenner both denied that there was any political favoritism involved in taking Biskupic off the list.

Baldwin is playing an increasingly-active role in the investigation into the firings of the federal prosecutors. She says testimony this week from former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling may lead to some important revelations. Goodling has been given immunity from prosecution.

(UNDATED) As thousands of college graduates try to enter the labor force this summer, it may help some candidates to have a background in environmental sustainability.

Home Depot is one of the companies that says it’s now taking a long view of the environment and following some sustainable policies and practices. Unless the corporations are engaging in false environmental image- making, known as “greenwashing,” the switch could be good news for college grads with experience in energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture and certain other fields.

Tom Eggert teaches classes on business and sustainability at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says the green building movement is another area seeking educated workers. This is not something coming from the industry itself, he says, but rather comes from the people who are having these buildings built or deciding to go in a way that would be aligned with being energy efficient or aligned with indoor air quality.

Eggert says he’s taught students who have majored in interior design and engineering, as well as more traditional business students. He says it’s nice to see that young people who want to make a positive difference for the environment seem to be getting more chances in the corporate world.