Wisconsin Public Radio News

Assembly Passes Budget, Which Now Heads To Senate Floor

Shawn Johnson — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:53:38 +0000

The Assembly approved a state budget today that expands school vouchers statewide, rejects Medicaid funds, and cuts taxes for all income brackets.

Microsoft Responds To Fan Outcry, Changes Xbox One Policies

Steve Mullis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:30:00 +0000

Fans spoke, and apparently Microsoft listened.

In a reversal of the company's previous position, Microsoft announced Wednesday that its forthcoming Xbox One gaming console would no longer require a regular Internet connection and would not restrict used or shared games.

Since the system was revealed in May and at its big presentation at E3 Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) has filed an intent to mine with the state, the first formal step towards an open pit mine in the Penokee Hills.

Capitol Hill's Partisan And Racial Divide Cast In Bronze

Frank James — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:15:00 +0000

A 7-foot-tall statue of famed, lion-maned abolitionist Frederick Douglass that was dedicated Wednesday on Capitol Hill is perhaps best understood as a bronze symbol of the partisan divide in Washington and of racial politics.

The ex-slave, who later became a friend of President Abraham Lincoln, was a federal official and an important journalist of his day.

Federal Agents Accuse Two Of Plotting Deadly X-Ray Weapon

Bill Chappell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:14:00 +0000

Two men in upstate New York have been arrested for planning to build a "radiation particle weapon" that could be mounted on a vehicle and used to target people, according to a report by the Albany Times-Union Wednesday.

Outgoing UW-Madison Chancellor Questions Tuition Freeze

Kristen Durst — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:59:14 +0000

Outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor David Ward says that a legislature-mandated tuition freeze without any larger debate is wrong.

To Rebuild NYC's Beaches, A Native Plant Savings And Loan

NPR Staff — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Across the New York region, people are still working to rebuild homes and businesses after the havoc wrought by Hurricane Sandy. But the storm also devastated the dunes and native flora of New York's beaches.

When the city replants grasses on those dunes, it will be able to draw on seeds from precisely the grasses that used to thrive there.

A Dry Reservation Clashes With Its Liquor Store Neighbors

Charles Michael Ray — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

At the Pine Ridge Reservation just outside the town of Whiteclay, Neb., an upside-down American flag flies on a wooden pole next to a teepee. About 60 people gathered here Monday to protest as beer truck drivers unloaded cases into a Whiteclay liquor store a few hundred yards away.

Whiteclay has one paved street and four liquor stores. Alcohol is banned on Pine Ridge, but alcoholism is rampant here and the unemployment rate hovers around 80 percent. The town sells the equivalent of about 5 million cans of beer annually — mostly to impoverished tribal residents.

G-8 Nations Pledge To Crack Down On Corporate Tax Evaders

Jim Zarroli — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

The world's wealthiest nations are promising to fight what they call the scourge of tax evasion. This week's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries concluded with a pledge to end the use of tax shelters by multinational corporations.

But there are still big questions about how they will make a dent in the problem.

In the aftermath of the global recession, countries all over the world have struggled with budget shortfalls.

A Day After Making List, One Of FBI's Most Wanted Caught

Steve Mullis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Just a day after being added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, a former University of Southern California professor was arrested in the Mexican beach resort of Playa del Carmen.

Reporting for our Newscast unit, NPR's Carrie Kahn says 64-year-old Walter Lee Williams had been pursued by the FBI since 2011.

She says the indictment against Williams alleges he used his position as a professor of gender and sexuality studies to travel internationally and prey on underage boys.

The U.S.