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We're half-way there! Double your contribution for peace and justice Thanks to a generous donor, new WNPJ memberships in 2013 will be matched, up to $2,000. Not yet a member? Please join and help us build a stronger statewide network! Already a member? Why not get a gift membership for a friend who shares your commitment to peace and justice? |
With the addition of 19 new member cities on September 16th, Mayors for Peace reached 5003 member cities, becoming the largest international, direct-membership association of local governments in the world. Mayors for Peace member cities are located in 151 Countries and 188 U.S. Cities, including Wisconsin members LaCrosse, Madison, Milwaukee and Waukesha. Since 2003, thousands of cities have been inspired to join Mayors for Peace in support of its ‘2020 Vision’ of a world free of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. The total number of citizens represented worldwide by Mayors for Peace is approaching one billion.
After weeks of controversy surrounding a new policy that would require groups of four or more protesters to seek a permit from the state 72 hours in advance of a protest and potentially pay for police at the cost of $50 per hour per officer, the Wisconsin Department of Administration is now saying it will not take any steps to enforce the policy. According to Channel 27 news, "DOA spokesperson Jocelyn Webster reiterated the agency's stance today that no arrests will be made for violating the policy," saying that "if someone is holding an event without a permit, they will be given a permit application and strongly encouraged to apply, but that Capitol Police will take no action beyond that." The reversal comes after more than 500 people packed the Capitol rotunda to take part in Solidarity Sing-Along, a singing protest that has taken place in the Capitol every weekday since March 11th. See the full story here...
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| Governor Doyle signs race-based mascot bill, witnessed by students from Prescott High |
Gov. Jim Doyle has signed into law SB25, requiring the Wisconsin Department of Instruction to set up a process to mediate disputes about schools that use race-based mascots. Noting that Wisconsin is the first state in the nation to enact legislation of this sort, Barb Munson of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association said, "I have seen the best spirit of Wisconsin in action - people of all ages, races and ethnicities working together to make things better for all the children in our state." Full WIEA statement here, Wisconsin Radio Network report here.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, WNPJ member group Worker Rights Center scored a significant victory for employees of the Madison-based cleaning firm Dirt Destroyers, which had failed to pay employees for hours worked, for travel time or overtime worked. Dirt Destroyers had refused to pay, even after the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development-Wage & Hour Division had investigated the company and ruled in favor of the workers. After the workers came to Worker Rights Center for help, WRC put out an alert, and the owner was soon deluged by emails and calls. WRC reports: "After a few days of this, and after his story changed a number of times, the owner finally relented and paid workers who had been waiting in one case for four months to get paid."
A plan to put "edible landscaping" in Madison city parks won the approval of the Madison city Parks Commission last week, over an earlier proposal to require volunteer groups planting fruit and nut trees to buy $1 million of liability insurance for each public park site where the trees would be planted. More than three dozen people came to the Parks Commission hearing to speak out in favor of fruit and nut trees in city parks, and in the end, all but one of the commissioners voted in favor of permitting the trees to be planted without the liability insurance requirement.
The fossil fuel divestment campaign organized locally by 350 Madison, a WNPJ member group, can celebrate a victory.
"Mayor Paul Soglin announced Thursday that Madison will join nine other U.S. cities in a campaign to encourage divestment of city funds from the fossil fuel industry," reports the Wisconsin State Journal.
"Soglin said Madison doesn't have any funds invested in fossil fuel companies but will introduce a resolution encouraging the Madison School District, Dane County, UW-Madison, the state and other local governments to divest their holdings."
From the Nuclear Resource and Information Service:
THANK YOU! You've done it again! You sent more than 15,000 letters to Congress in December and made many, many phone calls to stop $8 billion in taxpayer loans for new nuclear reactor construction. And the final government funding bill, signed by President Obama, contains not one dime for new nukes!
The UNA-USA Dane County member group met this weekend in Madison to celebrate UN Day with the annual luncheon. For the 4th year, a Dane County resident was chosen to receive the Global Citizen Award for international justice work. This year's recipient is Lisa Fernandez, RN - who leads the Wisconsin-Nicaraugua Wheelchair Project (WNWP). Lisa is a member of WNPJ - as were the past three recipients of this award; Mike Boehm, Winds of Peace in Vietnam; Jennifer Loewenstein, Madison Rafah Sister City Project; and Norma Berkowitz of FOCCUS. To learn more about this group, contact Todd Kummer at finchcrk@tds.net
The State Senate has adjourned for the session, without the Clean Energy Jobs Act ever coming to a vote in either house of the legislature. The Carbon Free Nuclear Free Coalition, which includes WNPJ, has issued the following statement:
The Kewaunee nuclear reactor, near Green Bay, will be shut down in mid-2013, owner Dominion Resources announced.
Dominion had been trying to sell the reactor for a year and a half, but could not find a buyer.
In a statement, the company said the decision to mothball the nuclear reactor "was based purely on economics."
The Chicago Tribune reports, "Kewaunee is the first nuclear plant to shut its doors due to competition from natural gas. Production has jumped in recent years as new technologies like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' enable energy companies to tap the United States' vast shale reserves."
608-250-9240, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, 122 State Street, Suite 405A, Madison, WI 53703, Send an email to the office info@wnpj.org.
WNPJ is a member of the Community Shares of Wisconsin.
