Breaking: Without Democrats Present, Wisconsin Senate Voting on Largely-Intact Budget Repair Bill  —  Update 7:33 p.m.: As I was writing this up, the state senate voted 18-1 to pass the bill described below.  —  Update 7:38 p.m.: Wisconsin senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald confirms …

What happened in Wisconsin tonight  —  Here's what just happened in Wisconsin: The rules of the state's Senate require a quorum for any measures that spend money.  That's how the absence of the Senate's Democrats could stymie Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget law — it spent money, and thus it needed a quorum.

Anti-Public Employee Bill Passes Senate in Wisconsin; Only the Beginning of the Fight  —  Wisconsin's Capitol dome in Madison (photo: WxMom)  —  If you've been following along in my last post, you know the news: the Wisconsin State Senate rushed through and passed a bill …

WI Senate GOP Leader Admits On-Air That His Goal Is To Defund Labor Unions, Hurt Obama's Reelection Chances  —  A prank call from a man purporting to be petrochemical billionaire David Koch to Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) a few weeks ago revealed that Walker had crafted his “budget repair” bill in a bid to crush the labor unions.

Protesters are locking the Capitol doors shut from the inside using metal handcuffs, Meade reports from the scene.  —  He told me that just now, by phone.  He got out, and is warning others not to go in.  Obviously, it's a terrible fire hazard to make it so people cannot get out of the building easily.

GOP rams anti-union bill through Wis. Senate  —  End run around Democratic senators who left state to prevent passage  —  Below:  —  NBC News and msnbc.com  —  MADISON, Wis. — Republicans pushed a provision stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights through …

Why I'm Fighting in Wisconsin  —  We can avoid mass teacher layoffs and reward our best performers.  But we have to act now.  —  In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin.  A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Wis. GOP bypasses Dems, cuts collective bargaining  —  MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans outmaneuvered the chamber's missing Democrats and approved an explosive proposal …

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns  —  This follows yesterday's news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotapped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization …

The New York Times' Rape-Friendly Reporting  —  From today's New York Times: … This story from Cleveland, Texas, is beyond horrifying.  Obviously.  Unfortunately, further injustices have now been heaped on the victim (and the movement to end rape culture) by the article's writer and editor.