Labor
Original Author:
(James Rowen)
I went out of my way Tuesday afternoon to listen to John Mercure on WTMJ-AM radio interview apparent US Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, and frankly, Tommy brought nothing to the conversation.
Short answers.
No pep.
No snappy three-point program, no fresh pitch to listeners and voters who may have little information about a who last held office in Wisconsin 11 years ago.
And even his offering up a contemporary conservative talking point to prove he could speak in modern Tea Party lingo about taking the country back and denying Barack Obama a second term had theh inspirational content of used Cliff Notes and the energy of a batting practice toss.
There wasn't anything worthy of writing down and quoting.
His campaign hasn't even started formally, the election is a year away and already Tommy sounds weary.
WisDOT Having Hiring Problems; Walker's Pay Raise, Bargaining Limitations Aren't Helping
Original Author:
(James Rowen)
Seems WisDOT is having trouble filling engineer vacancies. Here's the somewhat unusual hiring application
re-announcement.
Who'd come here for 1% annual pay raises?
[Wednesday evening update: And why is DOA refusing to approve some requests from DOT to fill vacant positions and meet federal accountability and financing requirements? The positions in question would be financed with federal, not state dollars.]
Separately, the department is looking for recruiting help through its employee newsletter. Diverse hiring is certainly an important goal, but the timing is curious.
Help recruit new employees for WisDOT
One of the goals of the Department of Transportation is to recruit and retain a diverse workforce. The Bureau of Human Resource Services (BHRS) works with managers and supervisors on identifying recruitment resources during the staffing process.
In order to ensure we are attracting a diverse applicant pool for our vacancies, BHRS is reaching out to all department employees to learn of new or existing
recruitment resources we could use. As a department employee, you may be
aware of resources in your communities, organizations or internet outreach
Original Author:
Brian Leubitz
HMO faces scrutiny for their arithmetic
by Brian Leubitz
Kaiser is something of a mixed bag. They get some good press for focusing on areas that help to reduce health care costs, preventative care, that sort of thing. On the flip side, they are usually somewhere in the background on lobbying efforts, killing any attempts to make health care insurance more consumer friendly in California.
Well, today's news is more on the dark side. It turns out that they've been overcharging small business customers and not really providing the data to back it up:
Kaiser Permanente has retroactively rolled back rate increases that went into effect for small businesses on July 1 by 1.2 percent.
The welcomed - albeit small - bit of news for thousands of California enrollees comes after a bit of wrangling with the state regulators.
Kaiser in April had proposed a 10.7 percent rate hikes for the bulk of its small business customers. The state Department of Managed Health Care, armed with a new law that allows them to scrutinize actuarial data behind the rate filings, pushed back.
"We've been concerned about the lack of data they provided to support their trends and we requested they reduce their rates," said department spokeswoman Lynne Randolph.
The new increase of 9.5 percent translates into a total savings of $13.5 million, Randolph said.
No guns for UW-Madison employees, Faculty Senate says
University of Wisconsin-Madison employees would be barred from carrying concealed weapons while in the course or scope of their employment, under a policy approved Monday by the Faculty Senate, the UW News Service reports:
The policy, similar to a UW System policy now being drafted, states: “No employee shall carry or go armed with a firearm or other weapon at any time while in the course and scope of employment unless it is necessary as determined or approved by the chancellor or designees, usually the police chief.”
The policy does not apply to those employed as law enforcement officers.
Those violating the provision would be subject to employee discipline or dismissal. The policy is also expected to go before the Academic Staff Assembly, officials said.
A new law allowing concealed carry in Wisconsin takes effect on Nov. 1. In addition, the law provides the university may continue to ban concealed weapons in its buildings, athletic events, at campus events and where appropriate signage has been posted.
No guns for UW-Madison employees, Faculty Senate says
University of Wisconsin-Madison employees would be barred from carrying concealed weapons while in the course or scope of their employment, under a policy approved Monday by the Faculty Senate, the UW News Service reports:
The policy, similar to a UW System policy now being drafted, states: “No employee shall carry or go armed with a firearm or other weapon at any time while in the course and scope of employment unless it is necessary as determined or approved by the chancellor or designees, usually the police chief.”
The policy does not apply to those employed as law enforcement officers.
Those violating the provision would be subject to employee discipline or dismissal. The policy is also expected to go before the Academic Staff Assembly, officials said.
A new law allowing concealed carry in Wisconsin takes effect on Nov. 1. In addition, the law provides the university may continue to ban concealed weapons in its buildings, athletic events, at campus events and where appropriate signage has been posted.
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