Dead Man Walking Comes To Wisconsin, State News Round-Up

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• Weekly News Roundup: Walker Signs Police-Involved Shooting Bill

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  It’s Friday, which means “Central Time” is rounding up the top news stories from around Wisconsin with WPR news director Michael Leland.

  Here are the stories he highlighted this week:

  • Walker Signs Law Requiring External Investigations Of Police-Involved Deaths: On Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law that requires independent investigations into police-involved deaths. Police departments currently investigate their own shootings that involve police officers. The legislation was sponsored by Reps. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, and Gary Bies, R-Sister Bay. The law goes into effect immediately.
  • Grothman Calls For End To Race, Gender Preference Programs In Wisconsin: The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to support a Michigan ban on affirmative action prompted state Sen. Glenn Grothman to re-introduce his bill to end all race and gender preference programs in Wisconsin. The lawmaker said he was already planning to re-introduce the bill, but now he says it has a much greater chance of passing.
  • State Rep. Brett Hulsey Will Run For Governor and New PPP Poll Finds Walker Leading Burke By 3 Percent: On Monday, state Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, announced he’s running for Wisconsin governor. This news means there is a potential primary with Democratic candidate Mary Burke. Hulsey said a primary would be good even if he doesn’t win because it would sharpen Burke’s campaign for the November election. A new poll out this week from a Democratic firm shows Walker leading Burke by 3 percentage points. The results were in the margin of error for the poll, which was about 3 percentage points.
  • Milwaukee Will Hold Gun Buyback Next Month: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced Tuesday that Milwaukee will hold another gun buyback next month in an attempt to reduce violence in the city. Barrett is working with a metal recycling firm owner to melt the received guns into garden tools.

• Dead Man Walking is a biographical tale of Sister Helen Prejean’s relationship with two convicted murders on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun is a leading American activist against the death penalty. Her book was adapted to Opera, with composition by Jake Heggie. “Dead Man Walking” shows at Madison Opera on April 25th and 27th.

• State News Round-Up For April 25th, 2014

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  WPR’s news director joins us to round-up the top stories in Wisconsin this week.