Judge to Protesters: Leave Capitol
ABC News reports:
A judge has ordered pro-union protesters occupying Wisconsin's state Capitol in Madison to leave the building -- though the public will be allowed back inside when normal business hours resume at 8 a.m. Monday, prompting some protesters to claim a legal victory.
Judge John Albert in Dane County, Wis., ruled that people are allowed to attend hearings at the Capitol and enter the building during normal business hours, but not to sleep there overnight when it normally is closed, according to ABC News affiliate WKOW in Madison, Wis.
At least 100 protesters were in the building in opposition to proposals by Republicans that would roll back union rights for many public workers.
Republicans and Democrats, joined by the protesters, are engaged in a two-week budget standoff that has paralyzed the Wisconsin state capitol and touched off a national debate on how best to deal with growing government debt.
Earlier Thursday, Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said layoff notices to at least 1,500 Wisconsin state workers would start going out as early as Friday if the state legislature doesn't pass a controversial "budget-repair bill" that calls for the stripping away of state employees' collective bargaining rights.
Click here to read more.
