The annual budgets for public relations and public information positions for state agencies, including the UW System and Wisconsin Technical College System, accounted for more than $12 million in 2004, according to The Capital Times.
While the state has tried to do more with less money in most areas by eliminating services and jobs, public relations positions have not been cut. The state employs 208 PR people overall, and many agencies have multiple PR staff, The Capital Times reported.
However, Gov. Jim Doyle said his budget proposal, introduced Monday, could eliminate some of the spots, as the governor continues to search for ways to pull the state out of its current budget deficit.
Under Rastafarian yellow, green and red flags and draped in the continent's colorful dress, African-Americans from Brooklyn came together with Ethiopian royalty returning from exile and Rastafarian pilgrims from Jamaica, England and Japan. The purpose behind the intercontinental gathering was to celebrate what would have been reggae hero Bob Marley's 60th birthday.
However, the Ethiopian capital city contains numerous painful reminders for many of the Marley followers that there are two versions of Africa: one an idealized Promised Land for many hyphenated Africans scattered across the planet and the other a continent with much to worry about, including AIDS, poverty, armed conflicts and the siphoning off of Africa's most educated.
After years of war in the separatist republic of Chechnya, Russia now faces an offer that politically is almost as difficult: an end to fighting.
Rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov confirmed Monday that he had ordered a unilateral cease-fire and appointed an emissary to attend peace talks on the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people since 1994.
Another rebel leader, Shamil Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for the September assault on a school in the southern Russia town of Beslan that left 331 hostages dead, said last week that he would observe the cease-fire.
The two announcements significantly upped the ante for Russia, which faces growing international pressure for a political solution to the war. President Vladimir Putin has long refused to negotiate with separatist leaders, and officials Monday left no doubt they would not take up Maskhadov on his cease-fire offer.
