The March 9 hearing on the Safeguard the Guard bill, before the Wisconsin State Assembly's Committee on Veterans and Military Affiars attracted notice from TV and newspapers across the state of Wisconsin, and even a report from Vermont, the home state of State Rep. Michael Fisher, the author of the nation's first law challeging federal call-ups of a state guard. Photo: WKOW-TV News, Madison

Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio reports on the Carbon Free Nuclear Free Coalition, of which WNPJ is an active member:

Anti-nuclear groups are trying to close a potential window for expanded use of nuclear power, as Wisconsin lawmakers debate a global warming bill.

Doug Moe's column tells of Marilyn Ross, a retired teacher who was arrested -- for the first time -- at age 76 at a sit-in at the office of a military contractor in Madison, as part of an action by Madison Pledge of Resistance to protest sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan. 

Longtime activist and WNPJ member Joy First organized the action last December, and she and her daughter, Jennifer also were arrested that day.

WNPJ Executive Director Judy Miner says she wasn't actually writing a letter to the editor for publlication, but it ended up -- after being "cleaned up" by editing -- as a letter in the Capital Times:

What she actually did was write to the newspaper, to the editor of the 77 Square section, to complain about the ad. Without knowing what she was complaining about, which was edited from the published version, it was hard to know what she was so steamed up about. Her actual letter said:

Sadly, but predictably, Presbyterians who oppose the planned ordination of a gay Madison man have filed a complaint with the national church in hopes of derailing the process. The action attempts to reverse a decision by a regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to ordain Scott Anderson, 54, who has said he has been in a committed relationship with a man for 19 years.

Cassandra Dixon, of WNPJ member group Mary House near Wisconsin Dells, reports from Tuwani, Palestine:

A student protest Thursday at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee over the cost of higher education ended with campus police using pepper spray, 15 students arrested, and different and conflicting accounts of what happened. Here's the AP version.

This statement is from Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the youth component of WNPJ member group Voces de la Frontera:

While the Wisconsin legislature considers a Clean Energy Jobs Act that would open the door to more nuclear reactors in Wisconsin, a similar pro-nuclear proposal has suffered a major setback across the Mississippi in Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio reports:

 Michele Naar-Obed, of  member group Loaves and Fishes, of Duluth,  has returned to Suleimaniya, Iraq this winter. WNPJ will post her reports on our website. Michele can be reached at obedsinduluth@yahoo.com. Michele writes: March 5, 2010 - Dear friends, It's been a long and tiring month and a lot has happened here in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Our long awaited human rights report is now public. "Where there is a promise, there is a tragedy": Cross-border bombings and shellings of the northern village peoples of the Kurdish region of Iraq by the nations of Turkey and Iran

This new video from the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort Educational Fund, a WNPJ member, on why we need background checks on all gun sales, is done simply. But it makes its point. Take action.

Two Madison college professors with religious backgrounds, who have worked tirelessly to change the world -- Esther Heffernan and Joe Elder, pictured above  -- were honored for their lifetimes of activism on Oct. 3 by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), a statewide network of 170 organizations working for social change.

Peacemakers 2009: Elaine Kinch (Racine), Jannet Arenas (Madison), Jason Moon (Milwaukee), Dartanian Lewis (Milwaukee), Don Hoffman (Wisconsin Rapids), Will Williams (Windsor), and Josh Bartz (Madison).

Peacemakers of the Year for 2009 were honored by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at a ceremony Oct. 3rd at the Goodman Community Center in Madison, following the WNPJ's annual fall assembly.....