Barking at Biting: Felons will no longer be allowed the company of certain breeds of man's best friend. A bill passed by the state Senate would prevent people convicted of serious felonies from owning so-called "vicious" dogs. Vicious isn't described clearly in the bill and we all know a poodle can be as vicious as a bulldog or even a collie.

The bill goes so far as to ban felons from owning or residing in a place with dogs that have not been spayed or neutered or from possessing a dog that does not have an implanted identification microchip.

State Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) says it's the same as banning felons from owning guns. True, but how does that relate to the question, "it's not dogs that kill people it's people that kill people"?

Cheesy Bet: I'd think two millionaires could put up more than some cheese and cheesecake when an important wager goes down. Sen. Herb Kohl has staked the standard (it seems of late) cheese from Wisconsin wager while New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is putting a Junior's Cheesecake on Sunday's game between the Packers and the Giants.

"Brooklyn may have sent Green Bay a gift in Vince Lombardi, but the generosity ends there," Schumer said, providing the best quote of the match-up.

Kohl may get the better part of the deal if the Packers win. Junior's calls itself "the world's most fabulous cheesecake" and has been a staple in Brooklyn for 50 years.

A Butler Boost: Milwaukee aldermen were nearly unanimous in endorsing state Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, the justice's campaign announced. One notable absentee was Ald. Michael McGee, who has no problem giving interviews from jail, but maybe couldn't call Butler's campaign in time. Or perhaps Butler's camp wouldn't answer that call.

Mayor Tom Barrett has also gotten into the endorsement crew, too. Butler faces Barnett County Judge Michael Gableman in an April race most media watchers will know about soon. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce will spend millions on behalf of Gableman to try and take out Butler, who doesn't toe the corporate line as much as WMC would like.

Public Stifled: In another chapter in the encyclopedic drama known as "Democracy now or Whenever," state Assembly Republicans want to ban local referendums on social issues like health care or political issues such as the war in Iraq. That drew the ire of the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, which claims it is a ban on democracy.

"Local referendums have been around since before the Revolutionary War and are as American as apple pie or democracy itself," cries Jim Smith, director of the ADCC.