MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Wisconsin's state-sponsored college savings program dropped 8.4 percent in value in the third quarter, reflecting the nation's economic woes.

The loss will be felt by parents and others who invested in the tax-sheltered funds to help save for college.,”WISCONSIN

MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Wisconsin's state-sponsored college savings program dropped 8.4 percent in value in the third quarter, reflecting the nation's economic woes.

The loss will be felt by parents and others who invested in the tax-sheltered funds to help save for college. Since January, the state's EdVest and Tomorrow's Scholar plans have lost 11.3 percent, or more than $251 million combined.

The third quarter loss of 8.4 percent, or more than $181 million, is on part with the 8.1 percent drop nationally in the so-called 529 funds as reported by Financial Research Corp.

"There's been no place to hide," said Linda Schlissel, a consultant with Evaluation Associates, a Connecticut company the state hired to analyze its college savings plan investments.

Schlissel described the current state of the stock market as "really horrific" and "disastrous" in her Monday report to the board that manages the program.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A Milwaukee woman who voted twice in the presidential election said Monday she's been assured she will not be prosecuted for double voting.

Edna Byrd, 51, voted by absentee ballot before the Nov. 4 election and said she was curious whether she'd be allowed to vote again on Election Day at her neighborhood polling site.

She figured workers would turn her away or the machine wouldn't accept her ballot, she said. Instead she was shocked when she was allowed to vote a second time for President-elect Barack Obama, who won Wisconsin by a wide margin.

"It wasn't something I intentionally planned but I was curious to see, would they allow that or kick it out?" she said in a phone interview on Monday. "They looked up my name. They gave me the ballot. I said, 'I'm going to go ahead and put this in and this machine should kick it out.' It never did. I said, 'Oh boy.' I came right home and called (authorities)."

An e-mail obtained by The Associated Press under the open records law confirmed Byrd immediately turned herself into the Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in Wisconsin. Board staff members confirmed that she had returned an absentee ballot Oct. 30 and forwarded her information to officials in Milwaukee.

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MILWAUKEE (AP) _ A gay arts group sued the city of Milwaukee in federal court Monday for violating its free speech rights three years ago when officials shut down a musical revue featuring nudity.

The city temporarily shut down performances of "Naked Boys Singing!" in August 2005 while it considered the group's application for a theater permit. The Milwaukee Gay Arts Center later received a permit and reopened the show.

Larry Dupuis, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which is handling the case for the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, said the city's enforcement seemed unusually zealous, even given the musical's content.

"I think the title made it kind of controversial," Dupuis said. "But of course, 'The Full Monty' has nudity in it, and that doesn't get it threats to shut it down."

Eileen Force, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, declined to comment on the lawsuit, and a call to the office of Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley rang unanswered Monday afternoon.

Dupuis said few, if any, other nonprofit theater groups have been required to get theater permits from the city.

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NATIONAL

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President-elect Obama's advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S., a plan that the Bush administration said Monday was easier said than done.

Under the plan being crafted inside Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials. But, underscoring the difficult decisions Obama must make to fulfill his pledge of shutting down Guantanamo, the plan could require the creation of a new legal system to handle the classified information inherent in some of the most sensitive cases.

Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has not able been to find a country willing to take them.

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