This Just In ...
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
Photos of the Week (05/19/13)
1) Cathy Munoz of Lincoln purchases Powerball tickets for an office pool at a convenience store in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, May 17, 2013. The estimated Powerball jackpot climbed up to 590 million dollars. A single ticket sold in Florida matched the winning numbers. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
2) Kenny Chesney performs during a tour stop Saturday at a sold out Miller Park. Journal Sentinel photo: Rick Wood
3) Grant Gauthier (from left), 15, Rachel Gauthier, 9, their cousin Zach Wollner and brother Mitchell Gauthier, 12, cheer as Kenny Chesney takes the stage as part of his 'No Shoes Nation' stop at Miller Park. Journal Sentinel photo: Kristyna Wentz-Graff
4) Kayla Spatt (left) and Alexa Reese, both of Sheboygan, missed their graduation so they could attend Kenny Chesney's 'No Shoes Nation' tour at Miller Park, where they hoped to 'walk the stage.' Journal Sentinel photo: Kristyna Wentz-Graff
5) This May 14 photo provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows a smoky wildfire in northwestern Wisconsin that has consumed 8,700 acres, destroyed nearly 50 structures and forced dozens from their homes. The DNR says the wildfire in Douglas County is about 90 percent contained Wednesday morning, meaning firefighters have stopped most of the fire from spreading. Photo: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via AP
6) A structure burns along Sutfin Road east of Comminsky Road in Highland Township, Wis., east of Solon Springs, Wis., on May 14. Crews from Wisconsin and Minnesota were trying to control a rapidly growing wildfire in northwestern Wisconsin that forced evacuations of the sparsely populated area. Several structures were destroyed in a mostly rural and wooded area east of Solon Springs as the forest fire grew to 9 square miles, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said. No injuries had been reported. Photo: Clint Austin / AP
7) Denise Avrutik (R) gets emotional as she and her daughter Julianne Avrutik, watch the home she grew up in get demolished after it was damaged six months ago by Superstorm Sandy, May 15, 2013 in Ortley Beach, New Jersey. Mrs. Avrutik's family has owned the home since 1959 when she was only three years old. The nearby town of Mantoloking had all 528 homes either damaged or destroyed by the storm and say that at least 50 homes are scheduled to be demolished in the upcoming weeks. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
8) Searchers working the Rancho Brazos neighborhood in Granbury , Texas, look for unaccounted residents, Thursday, May 16, 2013. A rash of tornadoes slammed into several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens more injured and hundreds homeless. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley)
9) This aerial photo shows first responders sifting through the wreckage of a home Thursday, May 16, 2013 in Granbury, Texas. Ten tornadoes touched down in several small communities in Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens injured and hundreds homeless. Emergency responders were still searching for missing people Thursday afternoon. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, G.J.McCarthy)
10) Baby birds are rescued from a fallen tree on Thursday, May 16, 2013, in Cleburne, Texas, after overnight storms sparked tornadoes and caused damage to the area. (Michael Ainsworth/Dallas Morning News/MCT)
11) A U.S. soldier arrives at the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul on May 16. Photo: Anja Niedringhaus / AP
12) U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol May 15, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
13) Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, disabled in the Vietnam War, and a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, right, looks at the casket containing the remains of 13 servicemen from the Vietnam War during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
14) Jackmial Robles-Garcia, son of Corporal Wilbel A. Robles-Santa, squats next to the base of a Eastern Red Bud tree that was dedicated to his father during a Warriors Walk Tree dedication ceremony, Thursday, May 16, 2013 at Fort Stewart, Ga. Robles-Santa died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan. The Eastern Red Bud trees planted on Warriors Walk serve as a living monument to soldiers serving with the 3rd Infantry Division since the war in Iraq in 2003. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
15) Protesters depicting detainees of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, stage a 'murder scene' during a demonstration outside the US embassy in central London, Saturday, May 18, 2013. Friday, May 17, marked the 100th day the vast majority of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, have been on hunger strike. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
16) Denise White, of Duxbury, Mass., center, pauses to read notes written on running shoes at the site of a memorial near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, one month after the bombing, in Boston, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
17) Plastic surgeon Oskar Assmann, center rear, stands next to his patient, Hungarian worker Tibor A., in Vienna's AKH hospital on May 13. The 37-year-old man drove just over nine miles to the nearest hospital on May 11 after he accidentally sawed off his right arm below the elbow while cleaning a machine that processes construction rubble. He was able to retrieve the cut-off arm from the machine, then drive himself from Purbach, eastern Austria, to a hospital in Eisenstadt. He was then flown to Vienna, where doctors successfully reattached the arm. Photo: Herbert Neubauer / EPA
18) Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) stands next to a printed version of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, during a news conference on Capitol Hill May 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. On top of calling for the repeal of Obamacare, Boehner fielded questions from reporters about the Obama Administrations' subpoena of AP phone records, the IRS scrutiny of conservative political groups' applications for tax exemption and other issues. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
19) Attorney General Eric Holder, the nation's top law enforcement official, is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Justice. Department. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte,R-Va., wants to know more about the unwarranted targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department's secret seizure of telephone records at The Associated Press. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
20) O.J. Simpson walks up to the witness stand to testify during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court May 15, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine to 33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (Photo by Julie Jacobson - Pool/Getty Images)
21) In this April 15, 2013 photograph, abortion opponent Corrie Zastrow, left, calls out to patients while clinic escorts secure signs on the front gates to prevent abortion opponents from visually confronting patients as they enter the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss. The 2012 Mississippi law requires each doctor who performs abortions at the clinic to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Diane Derzis, the clinic’s owner, says all hospitals have refused. Last summer, the clinic filed its federal lawsuit seeking to permanently block the admitting privileges law. A federal judge allowed the law to take effect in July but prohibited the state from punishing the clinic as it sought to comply. In April, the judge blocked the state from holding a license revocation hearing while the lawsuit is pending. A trial is at least two months away, or the judge could decide the case without testimony, based on written arguments that are still being submitted. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
22) Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with faithful on the occasion of a Pentecostal vigil St. Peter Square at the Vatican, Saturday, May 18, 2013.(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
23) First lady Michelle Obama hugs Jenika Headley-Greene as Obama hands out diplomas during the graduation ceremony for Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
24) This is the incredible moment a fierce lightning bolt crashed against the Grand Canyon. Shrouded in darkness, the breath-taking landscape was shocked into life as mother nature fired the bolt illuminating the canyon walls. As it cracked against the rocks the bright blue bolt lit up the South Rim of the canyon, considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. With just the Desert View Watchtower in the foreground, the lightning was perfectly framed by Arizona's most famous landmark The once-in-a-lifetime shot, captured by photographer Travis Roe, was taken last year but has only just surfaced after he submitted the image to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The DOI, the government agency tasked with protecting US land, water and wildlife, runs an annual photo contest called Share the Experience.
25) Young locusts hop across the desert sand in the Negev Desert in Israel on May 12, 2013. Photo:
Dave Copeland / NBC News
26) Keeper Tobias Taraba looks into the mouth of walruss Odin during the annual animal inventory at Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany, on May 16, 2013. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS GERMANY OUTCHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/AFP/Getty Images
27) In this undated handout photo provided by John Gomes, photographer for the Alaska Zoo, is Kali, a polar bear cub orphaned when its mother was killed by a hunter in northwest Alaska. The cub arrived at the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo N.Y., on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Alaska Zoo, John Gomes)
28) A Humboldt penguin swims at Taman Safari in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Monday, May 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
29) This could very well be the Fischer back yard. But it's not. A Canada goose gosling walks on the north shore of the Allegheny River near downtown Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
30) Jockey Gary Stevens celebrates aboard Oxbow after winning the 138th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
31) Paris Saint-Germain's midfielder David Beckham from England, waves to supporters as he celebrates PSG's French League One title, at the Parc des Princes Stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 18, 2013. The match was his final home game for Paris Saint-Germain before retirement. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
32) Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins picks up his pink bat, in honor of Mother's Day, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, May 12, 2013, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
33) Serena Williams from U.S. is tossed by ball boys while she poses for pictures after winning the final of the Madrid Open tennis tournament against Maria Sharapova from Russia, in Madrid Sunday, May 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
34) Wisconsin third baseman Michelle Mueller, right, hugs winning pitcher Cassandra Darrah (8) as Badgers catcher Whitney Massey (2) hugs teammate Taylor-Paig Stewart following the team's win over Minnesota on Sunday, May 12, 2013, during the Big Ten Softball Championship game at Bowlin Stadium in Lincon, Neb. The Badgers defeated the Golden Gophers 9-3. (AP Photo/The Journal-Star, Francis Gardler)
35) A deflated Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman floats on Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, with the island skyline looming at the background, May 14. The 16.5-meter-high inflatable sculpture, which made its first public appearance in the territory on May 2, will be shown at the Ocean Terminal for a month. The Rubber Duck was deflated after some of its parts broke. Photo: Tyrone Siu / Reuters
36) Men using sledgehammers on a Maserati car outside the Qingdao International Convention Center in Qingdao, Shandong province, on May 14, 2013. A wealthy Chinese Maserati owner hired four sledgehammer-wielding men to smash up his $420,000 supercar in protest at poor customer service. Photo: AFP - Getty Images
37) A visitor of a Wave-Gothic meeting poses for a photo on May 17, in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / AFP - Getty Images
38) A topless FEMEN protester with an inscription on her body that reads "Life In Plastic Is Not Fantastic" holds up a burning cross with a Barbie doll attached to it outside the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience on May 16, 2013 in Berlin. Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
39) Rock and Roll devotees Lori Barker and Yvette Hillebrandt pose as they attend the 50th Hemsby Rock 'n' Roll Weekender on May 21 in Hemsby, England. Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
AND FINALLY...
President Obama, a Marine, and an umbrella. The Daily Mail has the story and photos.
Also...
If you win the Powerball...
Don't be like Sharon Tirabassi.
Week-ends (05/18/13)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
HEROES OF THE WEEK
Cleveland officers
CURE
Melissa Torrez
Emma Paulson
Anthony Espada
Maureen Renaghan
Florence Powell
Stephen Nunez
Christopher Newbury
Vince Young
Robert Kinney
Alayna Adams' dad
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
Manhattan moms
Florida's Department of Transportation
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Today, the people who find frequent fault with the eminently faultable record of Barack Obama aren’t presented as dissenting patriots; they don’t get the glowing Cindy Sheehan, Move On or Occupy Wall Street treatment; rather, they’re smeared as haters, bitter white men, racists, reactionaries, menacing, potential terrorists (darn that inconvenient fact that attacks, killings, and terror keep coming from crazies, lefties, and lovers of 'the religion of peace,' not from Tea Party members).
"But anyone who yells about the massive spending, surging national debt, about unconstitutional power grabs, job loss, sky high dependency on government, obscene programs in the heart of Mexico to promote food stamps to prospective immigrants, about gun running to Mexico that killed hundreds, about a war on traditional energy, or a Big Brother explosion of regulations of commerce, or billions in corrupt grants to corrupt cronies, a train wreck of a hijacking of health care, outrageous neglect of embassies in the hottest hot spots, cowardly neglect of attacks, transparently dishonest cover-ups of incompetence (incompetence is the only thing that’s been transparent in this administration) or, about…well, you get the idea…"
Shawn Mitchell, former state Senator in Colorado who has a private law practice in Denver.
"The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that we should have done a better job of handling the influx of applications by advocacy groups. Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation. We are — and will continue to be — dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner.”
Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. He later apologized and was fired.
“It is almost inconceivable to imagine that top officials at the IRS knew conservative groups were being targeted but chose to willfully mislead the committee’s investigation into this practice. The blatant disregard for which the agency has treated Congress and the American taxpayer raises serious concerns about leadership at the IRS.”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
“The question is, how stupid do they think we are? Just imagine if the George W. Bush administration had IRS underlings, out in Cincinnati of course, saying, ‘We're going to target groups with the word 'progressive' in their title,’ we would have all hell breaking loose.”
Conservative columnist George Will
“People are pretty mad — mad that government has not taken what we do seriously. When the news broke yesterday…people were outraged and disgusted. No one was yelling and screaming, but it was like, Are you kidding me!?”
An unidentified Associated Press reporter. Reporters across The Associated Press were outraged over the Justice Department’s sweeping seizure of staff phone records - and they say such an intrusion could chill their relationships with confidential sources.
"It's outrageous. It's totally inexcusable...the object of it is to intimidate people who talk to reporters. There's no excuse for it whatsoever."
Liberal reporter Carl Bernstein on the AP scandal. Bernstein was one of the two reporters who broke the Watergate story.
"The Heritage Foundation recently issued a comprehensive report showing that Sen. Marco Rubio's plan to instantly legalize 11.5 million illegal immigrants would add $6.3 trillion to the nation's budget deficits over the next 50 years. Currently, the average illegal alien gets about $24,721 in taxpayer-funded benefits and pays about $10,334 in taxes. After full legalization, they will be eligible for a whole new panoply of government benefits such as direct welfare payments, Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare. Heritage concludes that the total government benefits to these former illegal aliens will then rise to about $43,900 per household, while the taxes paid by them will increase only modestly to around $16,000. Rubio says Heritage's report is all wrong because it fails to use 'dynamic scoring.'
"The sentence ends there. It's like when Obama responds to questions about Benghazi by saying it's a 'political circus,' or liberals say their position on abortion is that 'it's a complex issue.' What isn't political? What isn't complex? Those aren't answers; they're deflections."
Ann Coulter
"I think we are heading for a worse economic crisis than we had in 2007. You're going to have a collapse in the dollar...a huge spike in interest rates... and our whole economy, which is built on the foundation of cheap money, is going to topple when you pull the rug out from under it. The crisis is imminent. I don't think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors are oblivious to the problems. We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out."
Peter Schiff, best-selling author and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital
“It's going to be very interesting to see if the Drive-Bys will cover the verdict, given how studiously they have Gosnelled the actual case. Do you know what to Gosnell is? What is to Gosnell? What does that mean? Gosnelled is the New Media term meaning ignored or aborted with prejudice.”
Rush Limbaugh
"He said if we have chocolate bullets, nobody would get hurt and nobody would be sad. I'm going to start crying again because he was so insightful."
Barbara Rankin, the reading specialist at the Downtown Montessori Academy in Milwaukee, describing a letter written to Vice President Joe Biden by 7-year old Myles Nelson, a second-grader at the school.
“Dear Myles, I'm sorry it took me so very long to respond to your letter. I really like your idea. If we had guns that shot chocolate, not only would our country be safer, it would be happier. People love chocolate. You are a good boy, Joe Biden."
The vice president’s response to Myles.
"Have you ever been recognized by an association of writers as Journalist of the Year? If you ever are, and I read about it, I will congratulate you, not try to poop on your recognition."
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in a response to the Journal Sentinel’s Dan Bice. Bice wrote a column critical of a group that named ClarkeThe Sheriff of the Year for 2013.
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS commissioner who once oversaw the division that processes tax-exempt organizations, now heads the IRS office responsible for overseeing the new tax laws in ObamaCare.
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
Black Christian leaders call for abortion investigation.
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
OJ wants out of jail.
STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK
This ban doesn't hold up.
That's it for Week-ends.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted.
The Barking Lot-America's Finest Dog Blog (05/18/13)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of This Just In…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it’s DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
