Wisconsin Public Radio’s Joy Cardin and WisPolitics’ Jeff Mayers discussed the final state budget this morning audio
Monthly Archives: July 2005
Payola is Pervasive
“This is not a pretty picture; what we see is that payola is pervasive,” Mr. Spitzer said, using a term from the radio scandals of the 1950’s in describing e-mail messages and corporate documents that his office obtained during a yearlong investigation. “It is omnipresent. It is driving the industry and it is wrong.”The Attorney General’s findings alleges that the illegal payoffs for airplay were designed to manipulate record charts, generate consumer interest in records and increase sales:
“Instead of airing music based on the quality, artistic competition, aesthetic judgments or other judgments, radio stations are airing music because they are paid to do so in a way that hasn’t been disclosed to the public,” Spitzer said at a press briefing.
An alternative? I think we’ll see more of this.
Cheaper Health Insurance?
The idea behind the legislation, sponsored by GOP Representative John Shadegg of Arizona, is disarmingly simple: Allow Americans to buy health insurance from vendors in any one of the 50 states.
Right now Americans who aren’t lucky enough to get insurance from large employers or poor enough to qualify for Medicaid find themselves at the mercy of the legislators and insurance commissioners of the state in which they happen to live. This can be OK in states that exercise this regulatory function judiciously. But in others, the young and working poor find themselves effectively priced out of the market by special-interest regulations dressed up as consumer protections.
Milwaukee Talk Show Host Faces Court Date for Weblog Post
Barring a late settlement, talk-radio host Charlie Sykes faces a court date as a defendant in a libel suit this week.
The plaintiff, Spanish Journal editor Robert Miranda, sued Sykes in January over a November post on Sykes’ Weblog on the WTMJ-AM (620) site that alleged Miranda had helped foment a protest at a 1991 pro-Gulf War event in which several speakers were pelted with small objects. Miranda wasn’t in Wisconsin at the time of that protest, which Sykes described in his essay as an “an example of the assaults on free speech on university campuses.”
Although Miranda’s original requests for a court order mandating Sykes publicly apologize, undergo sensitivity training sessions and make diversity presentations to middle and high school students are no longer in play – a small-claims court doesn’t have that authority, it turns out – Miranda said the suit, which now requests the small-claims maximum of $5,000 in damages, will serve as a forum in which Sykes’ “journalistic integrity will be questioned,” among other matters.
Mayor Cieslewicz Comments on Doyle’s State Budget Signing
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz:
“Contrary to what some have claimed, this is not a ‘fully-funded freeze’. Such a freeze would have increased shared revenues to reflect the rising costs for providing basic services, and account for inflation in the freeze formula itself. This budget does neither. Adjusting for inflation, this year’s budget effectively cuts our shared revenue payment by 6%, on the heels of a 16% shared revenue cut in the prior budget.
“While city government continues to tighten its belt, property taxes rise faster than inflation because more of our budget must be borne by the property tax. Fifteen years ago property taxes made up 54% of Madison’s budget. Today, thanks to continually eroding state aids, property taxes make up almost 70% of our budget. In other words, what is truly driving property taxes is not increased spending, but cuts in state aids.
Dane County Survey: Residents Support Planned Growth
Dane County residents want to see planned growth within their borders, according to a survey conducted this spring by the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee.
The survey of 500 county residents shows a majority of those surveyed want Dane County government to be involved in planning rather than letting local municipalities have full control or just letting the market decide where growth takes place.
Full survey results: Comprehensive Planning Survey (PDF)
Microsoft Launches Virtual Earth – Camp Randall Example
 |
 |
| Microsoft’s Virtual Earth | Google Maps |
Cool stuff, though the satellite imagery is a bit dated as both fail to include the ongoing Camp Randall renovations.
KCRW’s Live Morning Sessions Now Available via Podcasts
KCRW, one of the best internet radio stations is now providing their excellent Morning Becomes Eclectic via a podcast. Subscribe here. Learn more about Morning Becomes Eclectic.
Morning Becomes Eclectic is committed to a music experience that celebrates innovation, creativity and diversity by combining progressive pop, world beat, jazz, African, reggae, classical and new music. Recognized nationally as a forum for promoting a wide range of music ahead of the curve, the show has become a very attractive whistle stop for both established and emerging artists from around the world.
KCRW now offers podcasts of some of the live sessions performed by unsigned and independent artists on Morning Becomes Eclectic.
The Coming AMT Explosion
John Buckley, Chief Tax Counsel – House Ways & Means Committee Democratic Staff published “The Tangled Web of the Individual AMT” (PDF). All taxpayers should become familiar with this stealth tax increase.
Bad Practices Net Hospitals More Money: The Waste in Medicare Spending
Medicare’s handling of Palm Beach Gardens is an extreme example of a pervasive problem that costs the federal insurance program billions of dollars a year while rewarding doctors, hospitals and health plans for bad medicine. In Medicare’s upside-down reimbursement system, hospitals and doctors who order unnecessary tests, provide poor care or even injure patients often receive higher payments than those who provide efficient, high-quality medicine.