Boots

Lance Burri has this story over at the BBA.

Volunteer firefighters who built sandbag barricades to protect Baraboo from record flooding earlier this month wrongfully did the work of city workers, a union representative argues in a complaint.

A grievance filed with the city says Department of Public Works employees are qualified to perform the work done by volunteer firefighters and should’ve been called on first.

Union workers are demanding pay for overtime they lost out on as a result of volunteers from the Baraboo Fire Department filling sandbags June 7 through June 12.

(Read the full post about ‘Union Files Grievance Over Volunteers Who Filled Sandbags’…)

I think I’d like to be the state’s new “fatherhood coordinator.”

Madison - The launch of the state Department of Children and Families this week will mark the first time Wisconsin has had a cabinet-level focus on kids and families.

One of its first initiatives is a searchable Web site with information about 5,700 licensed child-care centers and day camps around the state.

The new department was authorized in the budget passed and signed into law last fall. It represents the biggest realignment of state services since the mid-1990s, when the Wisconsin Works, or W-2, welfare reform program prompted the reshuffling of responsibilities into the Departments of Workforce Development and Commerce.

(Read the full post about ‘Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’…)

The fossilised remains of the oldest mother ever discovered. One of the biggest breakthroughs in palaeontology ever made, the discovery was attributed to pure serendipity after Australian paleontologists John Long and Kate Trinajstic put the fossil in a final acid bath before typing up a routine description, only later to discover the find by chance. (AFP/AFP/MUSEUM VICTORIA/FILE)

It would be nice if a more detailed description of the suspect could be given by the media.  I’m sure that the golfers were more descriptive than that. 

A party of six, four golfers and two caddies, had reached the 16th tee at Brynwood Country Club shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday when a lone gunman emerged from nearby woods and said, “Give me your money,” police said.

Armed with a handgun and covering his face with a mask, the gunman robbed two of the golfers and one of the caddies before fleeing into the woods at the club, located at 6200 W. Good Hope Road.

You can practically see the spittle from the author on this column in the Washington Post about the Heller ruling.  But even with all of its venom, it misses the point entirely.  Here’s the closing:

The court has spoken, but citizens and lawmakers should base future gun-control decisions—both personal and political—on something more substantive than Scalia’s glib opinion.

(Read the full post about ‘The Role of the Court’…)

Hat tip to Harvey at Bad Example.

This is a picture of competence. 

Over the past few years, as the state has ratcheted up its support for schools struggling with the costs of high-need special education students, the amount collected by Milwaukee Public Schools has barely budged.

Of the $5.4 million pool distributed this year, MPS took in just $40,182, according to an announcement by the state Department of Public Instruction. That puts MPS in the same range as Brown Deer, Manitowoc, and Montello, and the Milwaukee district received less than a third of the $131,390 that went to Middleton.

[…]

“The question is less why does MPS get so little as why does Milwaukee not claim more,” said Stephanie Petska, the DPI’s director of special education.

(Read the full post about ‘MPS Lagging in State Special Education Funding’…)

This is crap.

A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department. Steven Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

Settlement documents were filed in federal court Friday. Both sides have agreed to the deal, according to the documents, and as soon as they are signed, the case will be dismissed.

(Read the full post about ‘Scientist Awarded $5.8M in Anthrax Lawsuit’…)

This is interesting.

Epic Systems Corp., the Verona-based electronic medical records company, is threatening to pull its business from local vendors who support the state’s largest business lobby over a political disagreement with the group.

In a statement to the State Journal, the company cited concern over Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce’s spending this year on behalf of state Supreme Court candidate Michael Gableman, estimated at $1.8 million, as a reason for working only with vendors whose officials oppose WMC’s agenda.

(Read the full post about ‘Epic Pressures Vendors to Drop WMC’…)