Doyle Delivers State of the State
1/29/09 - Governor Jim Doyle says the deficit for Wisconsin’s next budget will be even worse than the record five-point-four billion dollars projected in November. In his annual State-of-the-State address last night, Doyle warned that all of state government faces spending cuts – and that includes his top priorities of education, health care, and aid to local governments. Doyle renewed his calls for a statewide public indoor smoking ban, sobriety checkpoints to nab drunk drivers and making three-time O-W-I a felony. After last night’s speech, the G-O-P minority leaders of both houses said Doyle was setting us up for a tax increase. Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald called the speech “broad-brush doom-and-gloom.” His brother, Assembly leader Jeff Fitzgerald, said Doyle should have vowed not to raise taxes on hard-pressed families. Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan says it’s too early to say what might be cut, and everything’s still on the table. Doyle is scheduled to introduce his next budget February 10th.
Childs Retiring (Again) in 2010
1/29/09 - The Superintendent of the Beaver Dam School District says he will likely not be returning to the district when his current contract is up next year. Don Childs told us on WBEV’s Community Comment yesterday that the plan will be to find a replacement who will come in on a long-term basis. Childs came out of retirement to take an interim position with the district following the departure of Brian Busler in the spring of 2006.
BD Chamber Hands Out Community Service Awards
1/29/09 - The Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce gave out its annual awards in front of a large crowd at the Old Hickory Golf Club in Beaver Dam last night. Countryside GM auto Group and co-owners Keith Gahnian and Dan Fox received the Business of the Year award. Pat Coe was named the chamber’s Citizen of the Year, while Brenda Kuhl of Mane Stage Hair Salon was named the Chamber’s Member of the Year. The Women’s Affiliate received the Chambers first ever award as Non Profit Organization of the Year.
Waupun to Increase Sewer Rates
1/29/09 - Waupun is looking to increase the city’s sewer rate by six-percent. The Common Council approved a recommendation to raise the rate based in part on a loss of revenue from trucking-in other municipalities waste. Waupun Utilities Manager Zak Bloom says the city lost a contract with Racine for trucking in their waste which resulted in a loss of around $221,000. With the loss of the revenue Bloom says a rate analysis showed the city would need to increase the rate to cover $112,000 in operational costs. If formally approved next month the average customer would see an increase of $1.31 per month.
Repair or Remove?
1/29/09 - The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has put the City of Columbus on notice that the Udey Dam must be removed or repaired. The question argued at this week’s Council meeting was whether approved Dam “repair” should go ahead…or…should the question of “repair or removal” go to a voter referendum in the City’s April election? The Common Council voted in 2007 to repair the Dam, at a cost not to exceed $500 thousand dollars. However, the June 2008 floods in the City put repair planning on hold.
Council Member Darrell Augustine said that any further delay in action on the Udey Dam repair would cost the taxpayers more money. Repairing or removing the Udey Dam has been debated since 2004 when high waters of the Crawfish River caused officials to remove the flood gates. The City can no longer continue to do “nothing.” The State D N R has let Columbus officials know that a decision to repair or remove the Dam must be made soon. Council Member Roger Sneath told the Council that the voters needed to have a say in the controversy. The disagreement on a voter referendum will come to a vote on Tuesday, February 3rd when the Common Council holds their next regular meeting.
More Layoffs At National Rivet
1/29/09 - A Waupun company is blaming the current recession for the layoffs of a number of employees. National Rivet and Manufacturing informed an undisclosed number of employees last week of the layoffs. Executive Vice-President Bur Zeratsky says the layoffs are due to the (quote) “business conditions reflected in the country’s economic crises.” The layoffs are the second round of cuts over the past few weeks but Zeratsky says the company is hopeful that as business conditions change they would be able to bring those people back in. National Rivet is known for its production of fasteners.
House Members Reject Digital Changeover Delay
1/29/09 - Almost a quarter of Wisconsin households will have their T-V signals cut off February 17th – unless they buy cable, satellite, or a converter box now. The House said no yesterday to delaying the requirement that T-V stations go all-digital. President Obama sought a delay until June 12th, after six-and-a-half million American households missed out on government coupons which ran out for digital converter boxes. Democrats blamed the Bush administration for that, and said poor and rural residents are the biggest victims. The G-O-P line was that viewers would be confused by the delay, after being told for years that analog signals would end next month.
Man Arrested for 4th OWI with 3 Unrestrained Kids
1/29/09 - Dodge County Sheriffs deputies arrested a Reeseville man Tuesday afternoon for his 4th OWI. The 53-year-old was already on probation and allegedly had three small children between the ages of 4 and 8-year-old unrestrained in the front of his pick-up. A preliminary breath test showed the driver reportedly had a point-zero-seven (.07) blood alcohol level which would be just below the legal driving limit for most people, but because it was his fourth offense, he is prohibited from driving with more than a point-zero-two (.02). He was booked into the Dodge County jail and is being held on a parole violation.
Suspected Deer Killer Linked to Hit and Run
1/29/09 - One of the snowmobilers charged with running down five deer near Waupaca this month is also a suspect in a four-year-old hit-and-run traffic death. 24-year-old Rory Kuenzi of Weyauwega is in jail on numerous animal abuse charges. He and two others are charged in a brutal January ninth incident which had snowmobilers statewide defending the integrity of their hobby. Authorities said Kuenzi allegedly struck-and-killed 20-year-old Kevin McCoy with his pick-up truck west of Waupaca in October of 2004 – and he never stopped. Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel said he just received a re-construction report on the crash scene. And it puts him one step closer to solving the case for certain. Hardel said the State Patrol recommended a visibility analysis of the scene – and that could take a few months. In the meantime, the sheriff says he’ll talk with prosecutors about the evidence he’s got. Kuenzi was never charged in the hit-and-run crash. He reportedly told officers he thought he hit a deer. Meanwhile, Kuenzi’s brother Robby and Nicholas Hermes are also charged in the deer killings. Yesterday, a judge ordered a preliminary hearing in Hermes’s case. But no date was set.
Reward Doubled In Duck Slaughter
1/29/09 - There’s now a five-thousand-dollar reward for information about the killings of 70 ducks on the Rock River in Fort Atkinson. The Humane Society of the U-S and its Wildlife Land Trust put up 25-hundred-dollars yesterday for information leading to an arrest-and-conviction. The Jefferson County Snowmobile Alliance had put up 25-hundred on Monday. Authorities said one or more snowmobiles were trying to skim across open water when the ducks were run over and killed. It happened between Friday and Sunday nights under the Main Street Bridge in Fort Atkinson where the ducks congregate. Three mallard hens were taken to a wildlife rehab center for treatment of their injuries. D-N-R Warden David Walz says a person who intentionally kills ducks-or-geese can go to jail for it.
Cambria PO Makes Changes
1/29/09 - The Cambria Post Office will be undergoing some changes at months end. Officials with the US Postal Service say two rural route carriers will move their operations from Cambria to the Randolph Post Office. Rural route customers may see a half hour difference in the time their mail is delivered. Zip codes will not change. The Cambria Post office will keep their same hours of operation and retain their postmaster. Declining mail volume and revenue are being cited as the reason for the move. The change goes into effect on Saturday. There are 10 other post offices around the state experiencing similar changes.
Petri Votes Against Stimulus Package
1/29/09 - The House of Representatives passed its stimulus bill Wednesday without the support of Congressman Tom Petri. The Republican from Fond du Lac says a stimulus bill is needed but he voted no because the proposed transportation spending -- which is about seven percent of the total stimulus package -- would create only half of the jobs originally anticipated from the stimulus. "Since seven percent of the bill would provide vastly more bang for the buck than the other 93 percent, it seems to me that we ought to spend more on crumbling infrastructure and actually get something lasting for the spending, and less on the other things in the bill, if creating jobs is what we are really trying to do. And that's what we need to do to stabilize the economy.”
Petri says some of the programs in the stimulus bill are worthy and some are not but a majority of them don’t belong in a stimulus bill. "The massive added spending that is contained in this bill will be with us for years to come, and we'll soon be confronted with votes for tax increases to stabilize the finances of our country as a result. It seems to me that we should be going through the normal committee and hearing process for this unnecessary part of the bill, and deciding whether this is something that is right or not, and if it's necessary, getting it right before passing it." The stimulus bill passed by a vote of 244 to 188.
Petri Hosts Town Meetings/ Appears on Community Comment
1/29/09 - US Congressman Tom Petri will be our guest on WBEV’s Community Comment this afternoon. We’ll be talking to Petri about the transition of to new administration, the economic stimulus plan and bill he is sponsoring that would modify the testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Petri will join us beginning at 12:35pm on AM1430. Following the program, Petri will host a Town Meeting at Beaver Dam City Hall from 2pm to 3pm. The town meetings provide an opportunity for residents in his Sixth Congressional District to their share concerns in a group setting. Petri will also be at the Fond du Lac County City-County Government Center tomorrow from 1pm to 2pm. Childs Retiring (Again) in 2010
1/29/09 - Governor Jim Doyle says the deficit for Wisconsin’s next budget will be even worse than the record five-point-four billion dollars projected in November. In his annual State-of-the-State address last night, Doyle warned that all of state government faces spending cuts – and that includes his top priorities of education, health care, and aid to local governments. Doyle renewed his calls for a statewide public indoor smoking ban, sobriety checkpoints to nab drunk drivers and making three-time O-W-I a felony. After last night’s speech, the G-O-P minority leaders of both houses said Doyle was setting us up for a tax increase. Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald called the speech “broad-brush doom-and-gloom.” His brother, Assembly leader Jeff Fitzgerald, said Doyle should have vowed not to raise taxes on hard-pressed families. Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan says it’s too early to say what might be cut, and everything’s still on the table. Doyle is scheduled to introduce his next budget February 10th.
Childs Retiring (Again) in 2010
1/29/09 - The Superintendent of the Beaver Dam School District says he will likely not be returning to the district when his current contract is up next year. Don Childs told us on WBEV’s Community Comment yesterday that the plan will be to find a replacement who will come in on a long-term basis. Childs came out of retirement to take an interim position with the district following the departure of Brian Busler in the spring of 2006.
BD Chamber Hands Out Community Service Awards
1/29/09 - The Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce gave out its annual awards in front of a large crowd at the Old Hickory Golf Club in Beaver Dam last night. Countryside GM auto Group and co-owners Keith Gahnian and Dan Fox received the Business of the Year award. Pat Coe was named the chamber’s Citizen of the Year, while Brenda Kuhl of Mane Stage Hair Salon was named the Chamber’s Member of the Year. The Women’s Affiliate received the Chambers first ever award as Non Profit Organization of the Year.
Waupun to Increase Sewer Rates
1/29/09 - Waupun is looking to increase the city’s sewer rate by six-percent. The Common Council approved a recommendation to raise the rate based in part on a loss of revenue from trucking-in other municipalities waste. Waupun Utilities Manager Zak Bloom says the city lost a contract with Racine for trucking in their waste which resulted in a loss of around $221,000. With the loss of the revenue Bloom says a rate analysis showed the city would need to increase the rate to cover $112,000 in operational costs. If formally approved next month the average customer would see an increase of $1.31 per month.
Repair or Remove?
1/29/09 - The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has put the City of Columbus on notice that the Udey Dam must be removed or repaired. The question argued at this week’s Council meeting was whether approved Dam “repair” should go ahead…or…should the question of “repair or removal” go to a voter referendum in the City’s April election? The Common Council voted in 2007 to repair the Dam, at a cost not to exceed $500 thousand dollars. However, the June 2008 floods in the City put repair planning on hold.
Council Member Darrell Augustine said that any further delay in action on the Udey Dam repair would cost the taxpayers more money. Repairing or removing the Udey Dam has been debated since 2004 when high waters of the Crawfish River caused officials to remove the flood gates. The City can no longer continue to do “nothing.” The State D N R has let Columbus officials know that a decision to repair or remove the Dam must be made soon. Council Member Roger Sneath told the Council that the voters needed to have a say in the controversy. The disagreement on a voter referendum will come to a vote on Tuesday, February 3rd when the Common Council holds their next regular meeting.
More Layoffs At National Rivet
1/29/09 - A Waupun company is blaming the current recession for the layoffs of a number of employees. National Rivet and Manufacturing informed an undisclosed number of employees last week of the layoffs. Executive Vice-President Bur Zeratsky says the layoffs are due to the (quote) “business conditions reflected in the country’s economic crises.” The layoffs are the second round of cuts over the past few weeks but Zeratsky says the company is hopeful that as business conditions change they would be able to bring those people back in. National Rivet is known for its production of fasteners.
House Members Reject Digital Changeover Delay
1/29/09 - Almost a quarter of Wisconsin households will have their T-V signals cut off February 17th – unless they buy cable, satellite, or a converter box now. The House said no yesterday to delaying the requirement that T-V stations go all-digital. President Obama sought a delay until June 12th, after six-and-a-half million American households missed out on government coupons which ran out for digital converter boxes. Democrats blamed the Bush administration for that, and said poor and rural residents are the biggest victims. The G-O-P line was that viewers would be confused by the delay, after being told for years that analog signals would end next month.
Man Arrested for 4th OWI with 3 Unrestrained Kids
1/29/09 - Dodge County Sheriffs deputies arrested a Reeseville man Tuesday afternoon for his 4th OWI. The 53-year-old was already on probation and allegedly had three small children between the ages of 4 and 8-year-old unrestrained in the front of his pick-up. A preliminary breath test showed the driver reportedly had a point-zero-seven (.07) blood alcohol level which would be just below the legal driving limit for most people, but because it was his fourth offense, he is prohibited from driving with more than a point-zero-two (.02). He was booked into the Dodge County jail and is being held on a parole violation.
Suspected Deer Killer Linked to Hit and Run
1/29/09 - One of the snowmobilers charged with running down five deer near Waupaca this month is also a suspect in a four-year-old hit-and-run traffic death. 24-year-old Rory Kuenzi of Weyauwega is in jail on numerous animal abuse charges. He and two others are charged in a brutal January ninth incident which had snowmobilers statewide defending the integrity of their hobby. Authorities said Kuenzi allegedly struck-and-killed 20-year-old Kevin McCoy with his pick-up truck west of Waupaca in October of 2004 – and he never stopped. Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel said he just received a re-construction report on the crash scene. And it puts him one step closer to solving the case for certain. Hardel said the State Patrol recommended a visibility analysis of the scene – and that could take a few months. In the meantime, the sheriff says he’ll talk with prosecutors about the evidence he’s got. Kuenzi was never charged in the hit-and-run crash. He reportedly told officers he thought he hit a deer. Meanwhile, Kuenzi’s brother Robby and Nicholas Hermes are also charged in the deer killings. Yesterday, a judge ordered a preliminary hearing in Hermes’s case. But no date was set.
Reward Doubled In Duck Slaughter
1/29/09 - There’s now a five-thousand-dollar reward for information about the killings of 70 ducks on the Rock River in Fort Atkinson. The Humane Society of the U-S and its Wildlife Land Trust put up 25-hundred-dollars yesterday for information leading to an arrest-and-conviction. The Jefferson County Snowmobile Alliance had put up 25-hundred on Monday. Authorities said one or more snowmobiles were trying to skim across open water when the ducks were run over and killed. It happened between Friday and Sunday nights under the Main Street Bridge in Fort Atkinson where the ducks congregate. Three mallard hens were taken to a wildlife rehab center for treatment of their injuries. D-N-R Warden David Walz says a person who intentionally kills ducks-or-geese can go to jail for it.
Cambria PO Makes Changes
1/29/09 - The Cambria Post Office will be undergoing some changes at months end. Officials with the US Postal Service say two rural route carriers will move their operations from Cambria to the Randolph Post Office. Rural route customers may see a half hour difference in the time their mail is delivered. Zip codes will not change. The Cambria Post office will keep their same hours of operation and retain their postmaster. Declining mail volume and revenue are being cited as the reason for the move. The change goes into effect on Saturday. There are 10 other post offices around the state experiencing similar changes.
Petri Votes Against Stimulus Package
1/29/09 - The House of Representatives passed its stimulus bill Wednesday without the support of Congressman Tom Petri. The Republican from Fond du Lac says a stimulus bill is needed but he voted no because the proposed transportation spending -- which is about seven percent of the total stimulus package -- would create only half of the jobs originally anticipated from the stimulus. "Since seven percent of the bill would provide vastly more bang for the buck than the other 93 percent, it seems to me that we ought to spend more on crumbling infrastructure and actually get something lasting for the spending, and less on the other things in the bill, if creating jobs is what we are really trying to do. And that's what we need to do to stabilize the economy.”
Petri says some of the programs in the stimulus bill are worthy and some are not but a majority of them don’t belong in a stimulus bill. "The massive added spending that is contained in this bill will be with us for years to come, and we'll soon be confronted with votes for tax increases to stabilize the finances of our country as a result. It seems to me that we should be going through the normal committee and hearing process for this unnecessary part of the bill, and deciding whether this is something that is right or not, and if it's necessary, getting it right before passing it." The stimulus bill passed by a vote of 244 to 188.
Petri Hosts Town Meetings/ Appears on Community Comment
1/29/09 - US Congressman Tom Petri will be our guest on WBEV’s Community Comment this afternoon. We’ll be talking to Petri about the transition of to new administration, the economic stimulus plan and bill he is sponsoring that would modify the testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Petri will join us beginning at 12:35pm on AM1430. Following the program, Petri will host a Town Meeting at Beaver Dam City Hall from 2pm to 3pm. The town meetings provide an opportunity for residents in his Sixth Congressional District to their share concerns in a group setting. Petri will also be at the Fond du Lac County City-County Government Center tomorrow from 1pm to 2pm. Childs Retiring (Again) in 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment