Majority leader cancels Friday floor session

The Senate majority leader says Friday's floor session is canceled to allow the state Capitol to return "to something of a sense of normalcy."

Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement that Republican senators want time to allow law enforcement to adjust their staffing levels. Senate Republicans and Democrats remain in a standoff over a budget balancing bill that strips the majority of public workers of most of their bargaining rights.

Gov. Scott Walker said he would issue 1,500 layoff notices Friday if at least one of the 14 Senate Democrats doesn't return from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needs to vote. Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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