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• MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin judge has struck down nearly all of the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
• Walker's administration immediately vowed to appeal the Friday ruling, while unions, which have vigorously fought the law, declared victory. But what the ruling meant for existing public contracts was murky: Unions claimed the ruling meant they could negotiate again, but Walker could seek to keep the law in effect while the legal drama plays out.
• The law, a crowning achievement for Walker that made him a national conservative star, took away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most workers and has been in effect for more than a year.
• Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ruled that the law violates both the state and U.S. Constitution and is null and void.
• In his 27-page ruling, the judge said sections of the law "single out and encumber the rights of those employees who choose union membership and representation solely because of that association and therefore infringe upon the rights of free speech and association guaranteed by both the Wisconsin and United States Constitutions."
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• CHICAGO (AP) -- Negotiators seeking an end to Chicago's teachers strike sound more hopeful than they have in weeks, announcing they have achieved a "framework" that could bring students back to the classroom by Monday.
• But the leader of the teachers union cautions against assuming the nearly weeklong walkout is over until her members have seen the final offer in writing in a meeting scheduled for Sunday.
• "They are suspicious, you have to understand," Karen Lewis told reporters after a meeting with nearly 800 members of the union's House of Delegates. "We have been a little burnt by the (school) board in the past."
• With no contract ready and the strike still formally in effect after days of anticipa

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