No Charges in Supreme Court Choking Claim

Madison - Neither Supreme Court Justice David Prosser nor fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will face criminal charges for a June altercation that broke out as the judges were considering Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining law, a special prosecutor has determined.

But the incident still could have far-reaching effects - possibly even opening the doors of the court to the public as justices debate how to decide cases.

Breaking her silence about the altercation in a written statement Thursday, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said she would propose "the presumption will be that court conferences are open to the public," as a way to lead the fractious court back toward civility.

Abrahamson was not available for an interview, and a court spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether the chief justice was referring to deliberations on individual cases. But meetings on the court's rules and finances are usually open to the public already, unlike the justices' deliberations.

No other appellate court in the nation opens its deliberations to public scrutiny, former state Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske said. If Wisconsin's high court did so, "that does create huge problems in decision-making," as citizens see for the first time how the justices' reasoning and even rulings can shift in the months between the time a case is argued and time a decision is handed down, warned Geske, a Marquette University law professor. - JSOnline

Terrorist Planning attack on Food?

The group behind last year’s failed Christmas Day bombing and the recent attempt to send two explosives-laden packages to the United States wants to attack U.S. food supplies, but U.S. authorities don't believe the group has the capability to do so, Fox News has learned.

A source with knowledge of the situation said authorities obtained information “a while ago” indicating a possible plot by associates of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to target food at hotels and restaurants inside the United States, perhaps slipping harmful agents into salad bars or buffets.

“We don’t have a specific target or time frame, just the intent,” the source said.

Nevertheless, the source said, authorities are not convinced that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – or AQAP – has the capability to actually carry out such an attack.

An administration official agreed, and a Department of Homeland Security official, who declined to discuss the specific threat information, echoed that in a statement to Fox News. - Fox News Story

Nebraska Gets the Shaft by Officials

He screamed, cursed, stomped, pointed and roared at the men in the striped shirts. But after the costliest of Nebraska's school-record 16 penalties, a dubious roughing-the-passer call that helped give Texas A&M a go-ahead field goal, NU head coach Bo Pelini glanced briefly to the heavens, as if to ask the pigskin gods: Are you done yet?

The Huskers' faint hopes for a BCS national title berth certainly are, as they lost 9-6 to the Aggies in front of a school-record 90,079 fans at Kyle Field in College Station. Nebraska (9-2 overall, 5-2 in the Big 12) committed 16 penalties – including several personal fouls – for 145 yards. Pelini himself picked up the second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his career for appearing to call the side judge a name. Officials flagged A&M – normally one of the nation's most penalized teams – only twice.

“You guys can make your own deductions,” Pelini said afterward. “All you gotta do is look at the numbers.” - NE StatePapers.com

County Approved fixing Deadly O'Donnell Park

MILWAUKEE - County supervisors approved funding to repair O'Donnell Park after the deadly concrete collapse.

The collapse, which happened during Summerfest, took the life of 15 year old Jared Kellner. He was walking near the O'Donnell Park parking garage when a large concrete slab fell on top of him. The slab was hanging on the building as part of the decorative facade. The garage has remained closed since the incident.

In the 2011 Milwaukee County budget, supervisors opted to spend $6.5million to remove all of the other concrete panels on the structure's facade and put a coating on the building. The funding also covers other repairs to the parking garage's structure. - 620 WTMJ

Retired Cop accused of Beating and Sexual Assault

RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) -- A retired Rhinelander police officer is accused of beating and sexually assaulting a woman.

Sixty-one-year-old Greg DeRosier faces trial in Oneida County on charges of third-degree sexual assault, battery and intimidating a witness. The woman told investigators DeRosier was at her house Oct. 3, became angry and beat her. She says DeRosier then ordered her to the bedroom where he sexually assaulted her. The Daily News reports the woman says DeRosier warned her that if she contacted police "there would be a price to pay."

Defense attorney Jeff Jackomino asked the woman during cross-examination in court why she didn't yell for her teenage daughter during the attack because she was in the home at the time. Jackomino also asked the woman why she waited several days before calling police. - WTMJ 4

Lawrencia Bembenek - Innocent?

Could Lawrencia Bembenek be innocent? As she clings to life outside of Portland, Oregon, we explore the evidence.

Bembenek was convicted of killing her husband's ex-wife. She later escaped from prison, was captured in Canada and was brought back to Wisconsin. She pleaded "no contest" to second degree murder, was sentenced to time served and released.

But before she dies, she wants to clear her name. - WTMJ 4

New Book Blasts Obama's Gulf Oil Spill Response

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal uses a new book to portray President Barack Obama as disconnected from the Gulf oil spill, charging that he was more focused on the political aftermath than the actual impact of the crisis.

Jindal recounts a pair of private conversations with the president that paint him as consumed with how his actions were being perceived.

On Obama’s first trip to Louisiana after the disaster, the governor describes how the president took him aside on the tarmac after arriving to complain about a letter that Jindal had sent to the administration requesting authorization for food stamps for those who had lost their jobs because of the spill.

As Jindal describes it, the letter was entirely routine, yet Obama was angry and concerned about looking bad.

"Careful," he quotes the president as warning him, "this is going to get bad for everyone."

Nearby on the tarmac, Jindal recalls, then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was chewing out his own chief of staff, Timmy Teepell.

“If you have a problem pick up the f——n’ phone,” Jindal quotes Emanuel telling Teepell.

The governor asserts that the White House had tipped off reporters to watch the exchange on the New Orleans tarmac that Sunday in May and deemed it a “press stunt” that symbolized what’s wrong with Washington. - Politico Story

Obama Re-Election Map Not Looking so Good

Two years after his dramatic expansion of the electoral map paved the way to a landslide win, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign appears likely to resemble the political trench warfare that marked the 2000 and 2004 presidential races.

Last week’s midterm elections saw the trio of conservative-leaning states Obama captured in 2008 — Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana — return to their Republican tendencies while more traditional swing states also broke sharply toward the GOP. - Politico Story

GOP looking form Dem Help in Health Care Fight

Newly empowered congressional Republicans plan to chip away at the health care reform law next year — and they're hoping a handful of at-risk or moderate Senate Democrats will help them out. (See: Republicans Push Health Care Repeal)

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin won a Senate seat vowing to repeal "the bad parts of Obamacare," and Republican aides say they'll hold him to it. Republicans are also eyeing Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Jim Webb of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana — Democratic senators in red or reddish states who will face voters in 2012. (See: Republican Party Eyes Choking Health Law Funding) - Politico Story

Lets Hear it for Gibss. Good Job

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs threatened to pull President Obama from a meeting with India’s prime minister on Monday when security attempted to restrict the number of U.S. reporters

allowed into the event.

The meeting between Obama and Prime Minister Manmoham Singh proceeded as planned after Indian officials relented.

It was arranged beforehand that eight reporters from the White House press pool would be admitted to the meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, but Indian officials tried to cut the number from eight to five just before the photo-op.

Several U.S. officials pushed to have all eight pool members let in, but it wasn’t until Gibbs said that he was serious about pulling Obama from the event that the whole group was admitted.

“That whole group is going in because they’re going in with me,” Gibbs insisted. - FOX News Story

It is not often that I back anything that Robert Gibbs does, but this was a good job. Pat on the back for Gibbs.