Wisconsin set to strip collective bargaining rights

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The standoff over union rights that rocked Wisconsin and the nation for weeks headed for an end today, as Republican lawmakers were set to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state’s public workers and deliver one of the strongest blows to the power of unions in years. Wisconsin Senate Republicans outmaneuvered their missing Democratic colleagues late Wednesday, using an unexpected but surprisingly simple procedural move to remove all spending measures from Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining legislation and allow them to vote without Democrats present.