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.
Week-ends
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
The female bartender and bar patrons at Hank's Again Bar on 7th and Cleveland on Milwaukee's south side who fought with two would-be robbers Tuesday evening.
After sitting down for a beer, one of the men walked behind the bar and tried to steal money. That's when the workers and patrons fought back. The bartender, a woman in her 40's, fought the robber, eventually putting him in a headlock. Other customers helped hold the man down. So many piled on top of him, that when police got there, they couldn't even see the suspect. Another regular customer fought the second bad guy.
I played a sound bite of the female bartender on one of my shows this week on WISN. She said that her blue-collar place was patronized by neighbors who wouldn't stand for robbers barging in. If they did, she said they'd better be ready for a fight.
See the WTMJ-TV news story here.
Oh, and I would add this little girl, too.
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
Whoever called the state Division of Gaming to tattle on the senior citizen Bingo games at the Cream City Cafeteria at Southridge's Boston Store. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
I would include Bob Sloey, the head of the State Department of Administration's Division of Gaming. After receiving the calls from the snitches, he contacted the local authorities in Greendale and ordered them to shut down the games immediately, and they did.
Sloey claims he read about the games in an ad in a local shopper. I'm sorry but that's hard to believe. I don't think this pencil-pushing bureaucrat sitting in his office in Madison is reading a Greendale shopper. Besides, the bingo games reportedly haven't been advertised for years. So, we know that Sloey is not only a bureaucrat with too much time on his hands, he may be lying as well.
When confronted with calls from the news media, he softened his tone, suggesting that if only Boston Store would contact him, maybe a solution could be worked out. Why does Boston Store or anyone else have to kowtow to Sloey, call him, genuflect and kiss his ring? Isn't he there to help the taxpaying public? He should be calling Boston Store and telling their officials what needs to be done so the games can be reinstated as quickly as possible.
Is it any wonder people hate government?
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Nothing short of returning his dirty casino money can restore even the slightest degree of confidence in Doyle's administration.
Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state Republican Party, after Dennis Troha, Kenosha businessman who has contributed $500,000 to Governor Doyle, was indicted Jefferson said Doyle had been re- elected with the help of "dirty money," and called on the governor to get rid of it. Both Doyle and Troha have denied that the donations had anything to do with Troha's proposal for an $808-million casino in Kenosha, a deal that needs Doyle's approval.
I called the head of Boston Store security and told him that either this stops right at this moment or we start making arrests.
Greendale Police Chief Robert Dams, after the state Division of Gaming instructed him to shut down senior citizen bingo games at the Boston Store at Southridge.
I just think this is a tragic message, a race to the bottom, demeaning this profession.
State Representative Frank Boyle (D-Superior) voting against a bill in the Assembly to put an end to lawmakers accumulating unused sick leave to buy health care coverage when they retire.
This is not sick leave, it is a post-retirement health care benefit.
State Representative Pat Strachota (R-West Bend), the author of the bill to end the sick leave benefit.
It is an incentive to keep quality members and it is, in my view unfair, for my staff to get this benefit and that it be denied to me. This is not about me in spite of the way the press reports my ripping off the taxpayers. I have already earned this benefit after 37 years and it cannot be taken away and I turn 66 next year and reach full Social Security age and Medicare age anyway. It is about attracting and keeping younger people in the legislature.
It is Sunday morning and I am working from home. Not to whine just to point out that nearly every weekend I am called upon for some activity or other, I work all week in the Capitol, and take calls at night and on weekends... as I'm sure you must as well.
I work nearly every day and have not had a real vacation in 37 years. I'm not complaining I love it....
State Representative Marlin (snarlin')Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids) in an e-mail to an inquiry as to why he opposes the bill to end sick leave. Never in the e-mail does he mention he's accumulated over $100,000 in unused leave.
He says he's not complaining. Sounds like he is to me...
That's so gay
Rebekah Rice actually said it in 2002 when other students razzed her about being Mormon. It got her in trouble. Read the story here.
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
The New American magazine exposing the state DMV for assisting illegal aliens to get state ID's and driver's licenses, a story I talked about on WISN Radio this week that generated tremendous response... There's a DMV center at Loomis and Grange. Right down the road, at Southridge Mall, heavy-handed state bureaucrats shut down harmless senior citizen bingo games at a cafeteria inside Boston Store. But at the DMV center less than a mile away, the state knowingly and willingly is complicit in breaking the law by issuing legal documents to people they know are here illegally.
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
I thought we got rid of welfare as we know it..... maybe not.
One out of six Americans receives government assistance. And yet some argue we need to spend more?
Read the story here.
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
Al Gore getting an Oscar. Oh my God, Democrats were orgasmic! Should he run for President?!
STRANGEST STORY OF THE WEEK
If you watched the Wisconsin-Ohio State basketball game last Sunday, you saw it. And you probably said to yourself, "Did that coach just do what I think he did?"
THE VOTE IS NO APRIL 3
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