Rusty Cunningham: Your right to know: Keep public notices in print

For more than two centuries, governments in this country have paid newspapers to publish public notices about the actions of government. But now, Wisconsin state legislators are circulating a pair of bills, AB70 and SB42, that aim to take public notices out of newspapers and put them instead on government websites.

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Todd Novak: The publishing of public notices

As a local and state government official, I want the public to have as much information as possible. It doesn’t matter if they gather their information from a government website or if they read it in the public notice section of the local newspaper. In many areas of the state, newspapers are the lifeblood of a community and sometimes the only convenient source of information.

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Budget BLOG

Walker budget would green light DNR reorg

A DNR reorganization plan proposed by its secretary would get the green light under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget, which also gives the agency the authority to increase state park fees.   But a former DNR secretary is skeptical of many

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State board approves self-insurance recommendation

The Group Insurance Board today voted to move forward with self-insuring state employees, just hours before Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to deliver his budget address. The GIB’s recommendation, which board members approved 10-1, would need approval from the state’s

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Rusty Cunningham: Your right to know: Keep public notices in print

For more than two centuries, governments in this country have paid newspapers to publish public notices about the actions of government. But now, Wisconsin state legislators are circulating a pair of bills, AB70 and SB42, that aim to take public notices out of newspapers and put them instead on government websites.

Read More »

Todd Novak: The publishing of public notices

As a local and state government official, I want the public to have as much information as possible. It doesn’t matter if they gather their information from a government website or if they read it in the public notice section of the local newspaper. In many areas of the state, newspapers are the lifeblood of a community and sometimes the only convenient source of information.

Read More »

Fitzgerald highlights areas of concern in Walker’s budget plan

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says lawmakers may split with the governor on several areas in his budget, including funding for K-12, tax cuts, the school choice program and self-insurance, among others. Fitzgerald predicted lawmakers will agree to increasing funding for K-12 education in the upcoming biennium. But he wouldn’t

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Budget BLOG

Critics say Walker’s transportation budget not a long-term fix

Critics are taking aim at Gov. Scott Walker’s transportation budget and say it does little to solve the state’s long-term funding issue. They cited, for example, the roughly $293 million cut that the southeast megaprojects would take under Walker’s budget proposal, which would spend $122 million on those projects. Walker’s

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Budget BLOG

Walker budget would green light DNR reorg

A DNR reorganization plan proposed by its secretary would get the green light under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget, which also gives the agency the authority to increase state park fees.   But a former DNR secretary is skeptical of many of the budget’s key provisions, including the department’s ability to

Read More »

State board approves self-insurance recommendation

The Group Insurance Board today voted to move forward with self-insuring state employees, just hours before Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to deliver his budget address. The GIB’s recommendation, which board members approved 10-1, would need approval from the state’s Joint Finance Committee once the contracts are drawn up. GIB

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Walker wants $649 million boost to K-12 education

Rolling out a key plank of his budget, Gov. Scott Walker called for a $649 million boost to K-12 education as part of a plan that would increase per-pupil funding statewide while also targeting more money to Milwaukee Public Schools and rural districts. The guv said the proposal, which will

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LFB ups tax collection projections by $454.6 million

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau gave the budget a boost today, both in how much money the Capitol will have to play with in 2017-19 and the state’s ending balance for 2015-17. In November, the Walker administration had projected nearly $1.4 billion in revenue growth for 2017-19. But LFB today upped

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