MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin school teachers would have to promote abstinence and marriage over contraception in sex education classes, under a controversial bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday night.

The Republican-backed legislation was passed 17-15 on party lines and will now head to the GOP-dominated state Assembly -- possibly as early as Thursday, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Democrats slammed the bill during floor debate, saying it would not give children the information needed to make responsible choices.

A state law was passed last year by Democrats, requiring schools that offer sex education to include information on contraception methods.

The new GOP-backed legislation would not ban teachers from discussing contraceptives, but would demand they stress abstaining from sex the only reliable way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies...

The union-busting reforms that have pushed Wisconsin to national attention are working and the proof came in the recall elections this week that reaffirmed Republican control of the state Senate, Gov. Scott Walker tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.

But if voters had gone to the polls just a couple of months ago, the results would probably have been different, he admitted, as the effects of his policies had not had time to go into effect.

“Every day, every week and every month that goes by, there’s another story about a school that’s turned the corner, where they actually saved so much money with our reforms that they can hire more teachers, lower the classroom size, set money aside for more pay,” he said...

Madison – Republicans held control of the Wisconsin Senate on Tuesday, keeping four of six seats against Democratic challengers in a recall election, but don't expect the bickering to end there as battles remain pitched across the country over union rights and the semblance of economic order.

As the 2012 election season heats up, Democrats have vowed to put Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on the ballot for recall even though efforts to oust six Republicans in the state Legislature didn't go as well as the massive spending effort would have presumed.

With $31 million spent on the recall effort, four Republicans -- Sens. Alberta Darling, Sheila Harsdorf, Rob Cowles and Luther Olsen all held onto their seats. Two Republicans -- Sen. Dan Kapanke and Randy Hopper -- were defeated, respectively, by Democrats Jennifer Shilling and Jessica King...

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Democrats, fueled by millions of dollars in spending by national unions and other outside groups, were hoping to wrest control of the state Senate away from Republicans through six recall elections Tuesday that stemmed from anger over Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining proposal.

The races targeting incumbent Republicans morphed into a high-stakes political fight with national implications as tens of millions of dollars poured into the state, breaking spending records in the unprecedented recalls.

Until this year, there were only 20 attempts nationally since 1913 to recall lawmakers from office, just 13 of them successful...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin's polarizing union rights law will take effect, thanks to a sharply divided ruling by the state Supreme Court that determined a judge overstepped her authority when she voided the governor's plan to curb collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

The ruling Tuesday evening was a major victory for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who said the law was needed to help address the state's $3.6 billion budget shortfall. His proposal -- which drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to the state Capitol for weeks earlier this year -- thrust Wisconsin to the forefront of a national debate over labor rights.

In a 4-3 decision that included a blistering dissent, the Supreme Court ruled that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi overstepped when she declared the law void last month. read more »

Madison, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin Supreme Court challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg asked election officials Wednesday for a statewide recount in her flagging upset bid against Justice David Prosser, a race that marked yet another front in the fight over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's polarizing union rights law.

Final county tallies compiled last week showed Prosser held a 7,316-vote lead over the little-known state attorney. The margin is within one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast, entitling Kloppenburg to a statewide recount at local governments' expense.

Kloppenburg said at a news conference that her campaign detected "widespread anomalies" in the election around the state. She didn't directly answer questions about whether she felt she could make up 7,000 votes, saying instead she wants to shine light on how the election was conducted...

Democrats in Wisconsin were crying foul Friday after a significant vote-count change in the hotly contested Supreme Court election gave the conservative incumbent the lead in a race that could decide the fate of the state's new divisive collective bargaining law.

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said it was "human error" that resulted in more than 14,000 votes from her predominantly GOP county not being reported on Tuesday. The corrected totals gave conservative Justice David Prosser a 7,500-vote lead, according to unofficial tallies, and undid the earlier likelihood of a recount.

Rep. Peter Barca, Democratic Assembly minority leader, said Nickolaus' revelation "raises disturbing questions, particularly in light of her partisan history"...

A judge who ground to a halt Wisconsin's collective bargaining law by declaring it not yet in effect returns to her courtroom Friday for the next round in the battle of the Badger State over the rights of state workers to negotiate their pay and benefits.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi was hearing testimony on Friday on allegations that Republicans violated the state's open meetings law during the dramatic buildup to passage of the legislation this month.

It's unclear whether Sumi, who ruled Thursday that the union bill hadn't been properly published, will make a decision immediately after arguments, but any decision is nearly guaranteed to unleash a flurry of appeals that could stretch to the state Supreme Court...

Wisconsin Republicans are accusing President Obama's political advisers of backing efforts to recall eight GOP senators for their role in trying to curb union rights and benefits.

State GOP Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald told Fox News on Thursday that some of the people filing petitions against members of his caucus have "direct links" to President Obama's political team in Chicago. He suggested the president is keen on aiding labor groups in the state so they can deliver for Democrats in 2012...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Thousands of Wisconsin state workers were bracing for layoff notices Friday as Republican Gov. Scott Walker and absent Democrats remained in a standoff over a budget balancing bill that would also strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Walker said he would issue 1,500 layoff notices Friday if at least one of the 14 Senate Democrats doesn’t return from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needs to vote. Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald canceled Friday’s floor session, saying in a statement that Republican senators want time to allow law enforcement to adjust their staffing levels and “help the Capitol to return to something of a sense of normalcy”...