The man responsible for the massacre that killed six people in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin shot himself in the head, as confirmed by the FBI on August 8. The authorities have maintained so far that the shooter, Wade Michael Page, died from being shot during a confrontation with a police officer after the killings.

FBI Special Agent in Wisconsin, Teresa Carlson, said on a news conference on Wednesday that, according to the security video footage of the scene, it was the shot in the head, not the one from the police officer received in the stomach, that killed Page. Therefore, he committed suicide when he was already injured by the first officer, who responded to emergency calls in the temple of Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee.

Carlson, who leads the investigation, also confirmed that Page acted alone and did not blame anyone else for the shooting. In the hours after the incident, local police did not rule out that Page had received support.

Carlson said the FBI is going to keep investigating, to determine the causes which would lead the Army veteran to act against a religious temple, and why he would choose the one on Oak Creek.

“This is a guy that has moved around a lot, and so we are very, very thorough. We’re going to try to talk everybody that he may have had contact with or anywhere that he may have been. So we’ve got leads going in a lot of different places.”

Although Page’s supremacist ideas are well known, there is still a lot to be clarified: “We may never know exactly why he chose that place at that time,” Steven Conley, an FBI assistant, told reporters. “We may have a good idea of his motives when the investigation is finished, but the reasons may have disappeared with Page.”

Authorities also said on press conferences that Lt. Brian Murphy, the veteran Oak Creek police officer who first arrived at the temple and was shot at least eight times, is recovering.

“He’s progressing amazingly and we’re very, very thankful for that,” said Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards. “Yesterday he was up walking and they had him sitting up for a period of time.”

As part of the investigation, police arrested Page’s former girlfriend on August 7 as a “felon in possession of a firearm,” according to South Milwaukee police investigator Michael Hill. However, she is not being accused of playing a role in the slaughter.

Image Courtesy of   BC Gov Photos

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Five Sikh men and one woman were killed on Sunday, August 5, in a shooting at a Sikh Temple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Victims are Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Prakash Singh, 39; Paramjit Kaur, 41; and Suveg Singh, 84. Three other people were wounded, and two are still in intensive care, fighting for their lives.

The killer went into the Sikh temple at 10:30 AM when mass was about to start. He opened fire against the patrons and killed four people inside the temple. Then he went outside and killed two more in the parking lot next to the religious house.

The gunman, Wade Michael Page, was shot dead by police in the parking lot. Authorities say that Page shot at the police officer who arrived at the scene first while the officer was tending to one of the victims. Later Page fired at two police cars. The police did not believe they had other options than to shoot him.

According to authorities, the killer was a United States Army veteran who served from 1992 until 1998. The Southern Poverty Law center, a group that studies hate crimes said that they have been following Page’s steps during the past ten years. They say that Page was involved in neo-nazi movements and that he was the frontman of a racist, ‘white power’ band called End Apathy.

Mark Potok, the spokesman and director of publications and information for the Southern Poverty Law Center described Michael Page: “This guy was in the thick of the white supremacist music scene and, in fact, played with some of the best known racist bands in the country.”

“The music that comes from these bands is incredibly violent and it talks about murdering Jews, black people, gay people and a whole host of other enemies. It is music that could not be sold over the counter around the country,” Potok said.

Police is now trying to find out why Page attacked the Sikh temple. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that has its biggest congregation in India, along with 27 million followers around the world.

Indian Prime Minister and member of the Sikh religion, Manmohan Singh, made a statement to express his grief and sadness that a religious group was being targeted so deliberately: “That this senseless act of violence should be targeted at a place of religious worship is particularly painful,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, the top Sikh religious body, said it would send a committee to meet Singh and India’s ambassador to the US to demand Sikhs be protected from future attacks.

This attack is the second massacre to take place in the United States in the past weeks. The gun control law is currently on everyone lips, and it will be a topic for discussed ahead of the Presidential elections.

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Old Mill Creek, U.S.A. - After a hiatus in 2011 to focus on training, Tempel Farms is launching a series of performances featuring its famous Lipizzan Stallions.  The season kicks off on Saturday, June 9, with its new Evening Toast and Performance and a matinee program on Sunday, June 24.  All shows take place at Tempel Farms in Old Mill Creek where the rare Tempel Lipizzan horses are bred, trained and perform.

The Tempel Lipizzan performances, often described as “equine ballet” follow training from the youngest stallions’ basic movements, to rhythmic, choreographed dance steps on the ground, to the dramatic Pegasus-like leaps and lifts known as “Airs Above the Ground,” the difficult “high school” dressage movements made famous by the breed.

Each Evening Toast and Performance begins with a champagne toast followed by the horse show  set to music. Afterwards, guests can tour the stables and courtyard and enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer.

The family-oriented matinee performances will take place on select Sunday and Wednesday afternoons. Attendees can also enjoy a self-guided tour through the stallion stable and visit the yearlings in the pasture. Riders, trainers and handlers will be present to answer questions.

Evening performances are scheduled for June 9, July 21, August 18 and September 8.  The Tempel Lipizzans began in 1958 when the late Tempel and Esther Smith imported 20 Lipizzans from the Austrian stud farm in Piber and started what became the largest privately owned herd of Lipizzans in the world.

Tempel Farms is the only place in the United States where these rare white horses are bred, trained and perform on the same property. Tempel Farms is located in northern Lake County, Ill., a 50-minute drive from Chicago or Milwaukee, near Great America.

Image Courtesy of Ventura / Shutterstock.com

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Wisconsin, US -Kohl’s Department Stores announced that in celebration of life, survival, and a “Wish for a World with Less Breast Cancer and More Birthdays,” Kohl’s threw a “One Wish” Birthday Bash at the 2012 American Cancer Society Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk, May 5, 2012, on Milwaukee’s lakefront. Decorated with nearly 8,000 pink cake pops, balloons and giant birthday candles, the celebration represents the company’s greater commitment to the fight against breast cancer. More than 3,000 Kohl’s associates, friends and family took part in the walk.

“Kohl’s is proud of our partnership with the American Cancer Society in providing valuable information and resource tools to local women battling breast cancer. It is important that Wisconsin women – our mothers, daughters, friends and co-workers – have easy access to breast health care information for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.”

“In the three years since we began our partnership, our program has provided nearly 17,000 women in southeast Wisconsin with life-saving breast health information and more than 1,850 breast cancer patients have received services and information,” said Julie Gardner, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Kohl’s Department Stores.”

“This year our Kohl’s team included more than 3,000 associates, friends and family members – making it the largest corporate team in the history of the Making Strides against Breast Cancer Milwaukee walk. We know breast cancer has impacted thousands of families across the state and as a company, we are passionate about making a true difference in the fight against breast cancer and providing support to those when they need it most.”

“In 2012, more than 4,000 Wisconsin women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Our partnership with Kohl’s Department Stores provides Wisconsin women access to life-saving breast health information and the steps necessary to prevent breast cancer or find it early.

It’s a gift that is truly life changing,” said Jari Johnston-Allen, chief executive officer, American Cancer Society, Midwest Division. “The American Cancer Society is honored to partner with Kohl’s in the fight against breast cancer and together, are working towards creating a world with less breast cancer and more birthdays.”

In 2010, Kohl’s philanthropic program, Kohl’s Cares, announced a nearly $5 million donation to the American Cancer Society’s Midwest Division over three years. In addition to this contribution, Kohl’s offers its Kohl’s Cares women’s cause merchandise, a series of exclusively-designed products to support the fight against breast cancer.

This women’s health philanthropic initiative builds upon Kohl’s long history of charitable involvement in the communities it serves. Since 2000, Kohl’s and the Kohl’s Cares program have combined to give approximately $47 million to support charitable initiatives in the metro-Milwaukee area. Also, during the past 12 years, the company’s Kohl’s Cares kids cause merchandise program, which sells plush toys and books, has raised more than $208 million to benefit children’s health and education initiatives nationwide.

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To the delight of all Milwaukee Brewers fans, yet simultaneously to the dismay of baseball purists, Friday brought news that Brewers left fielder and reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun had won his appeal against the 50 game suspension that Major League Baseball was poised to hand him following his failing of a performance enhancing drug test in October of 2011.

“Today is for everybody who has ever been wrongly accused,” said Braun at a news conference held at the Brewers training facility shortly after. “The simple truth is that I’m innocent. The truth is always relevant, and the truth prevailed.”

Braun, whose test results uncovered elevated levels of testosterone in his system that were made public in a December episode of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” became the first player in baseball history to successfully appeal a drug-related sentencing. Braun vehemently denied ever taking any sort of performance enhancer from the beginning of this entire process and continued to echo that same sentiment on Friday.

“If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally, I’d be the first one to step up and say I did it,” Braun said. “I would bet my life this substance never entered my body.”

MLB officials were livid with the arbitrator’s ruling, considering that Braun’s winning case argued against the fashion in which the procedure was handled, as opposed to claiming wrongful tampering took place or that the test was simply incorrect. Two unnamed sources vouched for Braun, stating that the urine sample that he provided on October 1was not delivered by the collector to FedEx until two days later.

MLB’s drug testing policy requires that all samples make their way to FedEx the very same day. The sources identified the collector as Dino Laurenzi, Jr. and testified that he left Miller Park with the sample at 5 P.M. on Saturday, October 1. It was said to be in a triple-seal container.

Laurenzi, Jr. then allegedly decided to take the sample home and not deliver it to Fed Ex until 1:30 P.M. on October 3, feeling that it would not be sent out to the lab in Montreal until Monday anyway. He supposedly placed it in a cool, dry area during that time period, and the lab chief told ESPN’s Lester Munson that the sample had not been tainted in any way and that the positive test result was indeed valid.

However, Braun still focused on the delay of the process, referring to it as “fatally flawed,” and questioned what could have happened to the sample during the 44-hour window between pickup and delivery.

“Our program is not fatally flawed,” said MLB Executive Vice President Rob Manfred in a statement. “Changes will be made promptly to clarify the instructions provided to collectors regarding when samples should be delivered to FedEx based on the arbitrator’s decision.

Neither Mr. Braun nor the MLBPA contended in the grievance that his sample had been tampered with or produced any evidence of tampering.” Because MLB did not follow protocol the way that they should have, there was not enough sufficient evidence to rule Braun guilty.

“I’ve lived this nightmare every day for the last four months,” Braun said. “At the end of the day, the truth prevailed. I’m the victim of a process that completely broke down.”

Sources are now saying that MLB may look to appeal the ruling in federal court.

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevethephotographer/

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Expansions to the nation’s oldest private school choice program are giving thousands more Wisconsin families a choice in their child’s education, according to the School Choice Yearbook 2011-12—the annual award-winning publication offering the most comprehensive data on the nation’s 27 private school choice programs—released by the Alliance for School Choice.

A total of 23,198 children are receiving scholarships to attend the school of their parents’ choice thanks to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which last year underwent its most significant expansions since it became the first publicly funded private school choice program ever back in 1990.

Among the new provisions in the voucher program are the removal of the cap on the number of student participants, rules allowing schools across the states to accept program participants, expanded enrollment to benefit children from middle-class families, and—with a Democratic-sponsored provision known as “Once In, Always In”—a guarantee that participating families can remain in the program regardless of future income growth.

Legislators in the Badger State also created a new program in the city of Racine.  Signed into law in June 2011, the Racine Parental Choice Program, which is modeled after the highly successful Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, enrolls almost 250 students after only a short enrollment period last summer. The two programs in Wisconsin are among seven new programs and 11 expanded programs nationwide.

“Wisconsin’s school choice expansions represent years of hard work on behalf of kids,” said Yearbook coauthor Malcom Glenn, the national communications director at the Alliance. “The gains in Milwaukee and Racine are an integral part of what made 2011 such a breakthrough year.”

The Alliance’s annual Yearbook, entitled School Choice Now: The Year of School Choice, is a collection of the nation’s most accurate data on publicly funded private school choice programs across the country.  It features analysis of trends and information regarding school choice, a directory of the accountability provisions and requirements for each of the 27 private school choice programs, and a chronicle of the events from the past year.

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It’s change that’s coming literally at the speed of light. In fact, there will be more change in the world of electric lighting in the next few years than there was in the past 100. Halogens, CFLs, LEDs.

This change has spawned public uncertainty and it affects everyone. Though Congress recently de-funded the January 1st ban on the 100-watt incandescent bulb, the federal law is still on the books. Retailers who sell the bulb will technically be violating the law. As the remaining incandescent bulbs are phased out in the very near future, some people are already hoarding them.

“Lighting technology is changing dramatically and it’s much more than just grabbing a light bulb from the hardware store shelf,” said Rodney Heller, Lead Lighting Designer at Energy Performance Lighting (EPL). Heller is a nationally recognized leader in the field of energy-efficient lighting and is based in the Madison area.

He has also produced a new, 30-minute television special entitled, ‘Electric Light: Dawn of a New Era.’ The program will premiere on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10 on Friday January 6, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. (CST). It will also air on Channel 36 on Saturday January 7th at 12:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. (CST).

Heller recommends four steps that will help businesses and consumers adjust to the future of electric lighting:

1. Don’t be afraid of change
2. Realize that there are many more choices than just the compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb. For example, halogen bulbs provide instant brightness and last 6 times longer than incandescents.
3. Select cool/blue colors for alertness and warm/yellow colors to relax
4. Don’t fret the higher cost of LEDs. The energy savings will quickly offset that cost and the price of LEDs will drop by the end of 2012.

“We’ve got many different bulb choices for selecting energy efficiency, wattage and light color,” said Heller. “We are only now beginning to understand how the color of light affects us physically and psychologically. Not only will you be able to save up to 75% on your lighting bill, you’ll be able to install lights and never have to replace them in your lifetime!”

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