The public is invited to examine the first online archive of top state officials’ 2011 financial disclosure forms, now posted on Wisconsin Watch, the website for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

When it passed the Open Meetings Act, the Legislature reserved for itself a unique exception: Members of the same party in the Senate and Assembly can meet secretly whenever and wherever they want.

Opengovernment.org, a promising new tool that tries to scrape pretty much everything you could want to know about the Wisconsin state legislature.

Despite the continued concern over preventable boating accidents and fatalities, Wisconsin lawmakers tried but failed in the last session to pass new laws mandating life jackets for children and cracking down on intoxicated boating.

Last month, as the current legislative session ground to a close, Wisconsin became the 39th state to pass a shield law for news reporters.

Auditors released a report Wednesday documenting state employees’ misuse of state credit cards on 131 charges totaling nearly $75,000, including a fox fur stole, pricey airline tickets to Europe and $16,686 in inappropriate purchases by a state worker who subsequently resigned.

News and notes: New tools for monitoring environmental data in Wisconsin; the governor’s campaign contributors favor keeping him in control of DNR; DOJ hosts free seminars on government sunshine; and tax revenue was down last year.

The offer by Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) comes after a collaborative report on Gov. Jim Doyle’s failure to properly document his spending.