Month: January 2019

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Officials with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' administration told lawmakers Tuesday that closure of the state's troubled juvenile prisons needs to be delayed by two years, pushing back the 2021 deadline in state law that the Legislature unanimously approved last year.   Republican Rep. Michael Schraa, chairman of the Assembly Corrections Committee, was part of the Tuesday meeting and said Evers officials said the original timeline "was not […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Milwaukee man in a nurse practitioner's death in a hospital's parking garage.   Kenneth Freeman, 27, faces a charge of first-degree intentional homicide in Milwaukee County court.  Carlie Beudin, 33, was found trapped beneath her car early last Friday, bleeding and frozen in a parking garage of Froedtert Hospital.   The car had crashed into a wall of the parking ramp and no one was inside the […]

BARRON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin authorities have examined call logs, photos and videos stored on the cellphone of the man accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and killing her parents, according to court documents filed Tuesday.  The search warrant documents filed in Barron County Circuit Court don't reveal the nature of the photos and videos stored on the phone of 21-year-old Jake Patterson , who is charged with killing James and Denise […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Assembly Democrats are withdrawing from the federal lawsuit challenging Republican-drawn legislative districts.  The Democrats filed a motion last week in the case seeking to withdraw. That would leave a group of Democratic voters to continue the case , which is scheduled to go to trial as soon as July.  The attorney for Assembly Democrats, Lester Pines, says they are getting out of the case because […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A group of lawmakers is trying again to pass legislation that would allow convicts to ask judges to expunge their records.  Democratic Rep. Evan Goyke, Republican Rep. Dave Steffen and Republican Sen. Alberta Darling introduced the bill at a news conference Tuesday. Under the proposal, anyone with a single conviction for a low-level nonviolent offense could ask a judge to expunge the record after the convict […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee says a $340 million income tax cut could be used to offset an increase in gas taxes or other transportation-related fees to help pay for roads.  Transportation funding is expected to be one of the flashpoints in the two-year state budget that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers introduces in late February. That fight in recent years has hinged on […]

WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO 6 PM CST TUESDAY...INCLUDING FDL AND DODGE ...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM TUESDAY TO NOON CST THURSDAY...INCLUDING FDL AND DODGE * WHAT...Dangerously cold wind chills and very cold wind chills  expected. Wind chills as low as 55 below zero expected. Wind   chills as low as 35 below zero expected. * WHERE...Portions of east central and southeast […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — New state Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole is bringing a former water administrator back to the agency.  Cole announced Monday he has appointed Todd Ambs as assistant deputy secretary. Ambs served as DNR Water Division administrator from 2003 until 2010. He has most recently worked as director of Healing our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which works to preserve the Great Lakes and for affordable, safe […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Madison suburb is suing in connection with a deadly natural gas explosion this past summer.  A VC Tech worker installing fiber-optic cable ruptured a natural gas line in downtown Sun Prairie in July. An ensuing explosion destroyed half a city block and killed firefighter Corey Barr .   The city filed a lawsuit on Friday against VC Tech and Bear Communications, which contracted with VC Tech […]