Top Stories February 13th

FEMA Funding Coming In To Beaver Dam

2/13/09 - The city of Beaver Dam has collected just over $272,000 in state and federal funding reimbursement from the June floods. Beaver Dam Emergency Management Director Lee Smith says the city incurred an estimated $565,000 in damages and labor costs. But the city will not see all of that money; current estimates put the total reimbursement at just over $434,000, meaning the city still has another $162,000 to collect. However, Smith says all the numbers are likely to change and the city could receive more money once work is completed to fix the culverts and repair damages to the river downstream from the dam. A Kunkel Engineering estimate put the costs of shoreline repair at $341,000, but FEMA estimates the work will cost half that amount and will reimburse the city based on their lower estimate. However, if the actual cost of repair is higher the city will submit a request for additional funding. Depending on the project, the federal government is picking up either 75% or 90% of the costs of flood recovery, with the state and the local municipality splitting the remainder. The total for Beaver Dam amounts to $41,600.

BD Man Charged With Explicit Online Relationship with Teen

2/13/09 - A 21-year-old Beaver Dam has been arrested for allegedly having sexually explicit online conversations with a 15-year-old girl. Beaver Dam Police Chief Dale Boldt says officers from his department and the Fall River Police Department made the arrest Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation. The man had been talking to the Beaver Dam teen on the social networking website “My Space” and was arrested on felony charges of Exposing a Child to Harmful Materials. Boldt says the arrest shows his department’s “commitment to online safety for children,” adding that his officers will “continue to aggressively investigate and arrest individuals who use the internet as a tool to prey on children.” Formal charges are expected Friday.

Minnig Convicted of Arson

2/13/09 - After a three day jury trial, a Town of Westford man was convicted yesterday of burning his own house down. It took over four hours of deliberations for the jury to find Paul Minnig guilty of felony arson. The 41-year-old Minnig told detectives that he purposely started the fire at W10567 Fay Road in November 2006, by overstuffing the wood burning stove. American National Bank is listed as the victim because the lending institution had an open mortgage on the home with a balance in excess of 100,000. Minnig could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison with fines of not more than $100,000. A pre-sentencing investigation was ordered and a hearing scheduled for March 13.

Strieff Waives Prelim

2/13/09 - A 41-year-old Waupun man, accused of the repeated sexual assault of two young girls at their home in Fox Lake, waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday. Dean Strieff is charged with two counts of repeated sexual assault of a child. According to the criminal complaint, the victim’s mother contacted Fox Lake police earlier this month and informed them that Strieff had allegedly assaulted the children on several occasions. One girl said that Strieff had touched her inappropriately 20 to 30 times between September of last year and January of this year. A younger girl told investigators that Strieff had touched her at least four times during the same period. He is being held on $20,000 cash bond and has arraignment set for March 11. If convicted, Strieff is facing up to 120-years in prison.

Wisconsin to Get 3.5B from Stimulus Package

2/13/09 - Wisconsin governments will get three-and-a-half billion dollars from the federal economic stimulus package that’s up for a final vote in the House today. Governor Jim Doyle announced the figure yesterday – and he said two-billion of it would go toward covering the state’s five-point-seven billion dollar revenue shortfall in the next state budget. Doyle will explain what that means next Tuesday, when he submits his budget proposals to the Legislature. Congressional leaders say they’ve resolved all their disagreements on the massive 789-billion-dollar stimulus plan. And after the House votes, the Senate will vote either today or during the weekend. House Appropriations chairman David Obey of Wausau says the stimulus package will have direct benefits for you. They include an income tax cut of 800-dollars this year for working couples – 200 less than the original House plan. There are also tax credits for college, and more-and-longer jobless benefits. Obey and Senator Herb Kohl both say the stimulus plan will either add or save 70-thousand jobs in Wisconsin.

BD on Verge of Going Over $2 for Gas

2/13/09 - Beaver Dam is on the cusp of going back above $2 for a gallon of regular unleaded gas for the first time in months. Prices jumped five-cents at most stations yesterday to $1.99. That’s the same price as in Horicon and Waupun and just a cent more than the state average but still five-cents higher than the national average. The most expensive gas in the state can be found in Park Falls at $2.14 while the cheapest gas is in Beloit at $1.84.

Homes Sales and Prices Down in 4th Quarter of ‘08

2/13/09 - Existing home sales in Dodge County were down about 15% in the fourth quarter of 2008, as compared to 2007. According to the Wisconsin Realtors Association, in the fourth quarter of last year there were 109 homes sold, compared to 128 homes the previous year. The median price of homes in Dodge County went down 8.5% to $120,000. Columbia County, meanwhile, experienced a 43% drop in overall home sales while the price of existing homes declined by just three-tenths of a percent. In Jefferson County, there was a 4.3% decrease in overall sales while the price of existing homes went down 9.7%. Statewide, overall sales dropped about 19% in the fourth quarter, that’s compared to a 14.9% decrease throughout the rest of the Midwest region. The average home price in Wisconsin fell by 3.7% to $158,000 as compared to 2007. Nationally sales were down just 13.1% over the last year.

Miles Driven Way Down in ‘08

2/13/09 - Wisconsinites and most American drove a lot less in November of last year when compared with the year before. The question many are pondering now is –why? The D-O-T says vehicle miles logged in the north-central part of the nation were down 5-point-3-percent. Eric Sundquist watches transportation trends at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the U-W and he says everyone in his industry is carefully watching to see whether the price shock of ’08 will have a lasting effect. Sundquist says the fact gas prices were low and driving was still down is encouraging. Many mass transit systems in the region set ridership records last year, but Sundquist says it will take some time to see if we really have made significant progress in changing energy consumption patterns.

Some TV Stations Forced to Keep Analog

2/13/09 - At least one T-V station in the Madison, La Crosse, and Eau Claire areas will keep having an old-fashioned analog signal for a few months. That’s after the F-C-C said all the stations in those markets could not dump their analog signals on Tuesday, like they were planning to do. President Obama signed a bill this week that delays the switch to all-digital signals from February 17th to June 12th. And on Wednesday, the F-C-C said at least one station in 43 U-S markets would have to keep broadcasting in analog, to make sure folks without digital converters yet can watch things like local newscasts. The Fox station in Madison, and the A-B-C affiliates in La Crosse and Eau Claire volunteered to continue their analog signals.

A Cure for a Cold?

2/13/09 - New research at U-W Madison has brought the incurable common cold one step closer to becoming curable someday. Scientists at the U-W and the University of Maryland say they’ve put together the genetic puzzle for all 99 known strains of the rhino-virus – which is the most frequent cause of a cold. U-W virologist Ann Palmenberg says it could lead to better cold medicines – but she agrees it would take years. She and other scientists say it might be impossible to find a drug that’s effective against all strains. That’s because there are too many types of rhino-virus for a single vaccine to work. And some people feel worse than others with the same types of infections. Still, Maryland researcher Stephen Liggett says anti-viral drugs may be developed to attack specific genetic regions in at least part of the human population.

Watch Out for Potholes

2/13/09 - Stretches of warmer weather during a Wisconsin winter often result in the development of potholes on the state’s streets and highways. Water flowing into cracks, then freezing overnight, can cause weak spots that turn into potholes. Dodge County Highway Commissioner Brian Field says that for the most part the county is in much better shape in terms of potholes this year compared to the abundance his crews were fixing a year ago. However, a number of other municipalities are dealing with quite a few potholes so motorists are being reminded to stay alert for road repair crews that are typically out during daylight hours this time of year filling them. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says if you see a maintenance vehicle to slow down and, if possible, move over, to give the crews a safety zone in which to do their jobs.

DMV Closed on Monday for Training

2/13/09 - Division of Motor Vehicles customer service and phone centers throughout Wisconsin will be closed for business on Monday, Presidents' Day, so all front-line customer service representatives can receive technical and procedural updates and training. Although staff at DMV phone centers will be in training and unable to take calls, DMV's automated phone system will remain available so motorists can still make road test appointments and have access to recorded information.

‘Triangle’ Playwright on Community Comment

2/13/09 - Our guest on Community Comment this afternoon is the writer of the play “Triangle,” which premiers tonight at the Beaver Dam Area Community Theater. Laurie Brooks play tells the story of a teenage girl in New York and her connection to a fire at the Triangle Waite Factory in 1911. It’s based on a true story and the fatal fire was the worst workplace tragedy in American history until September 11, 2001. The play runs through February 22 at the Community Theater building on North Spring Street. Brooks joins us on Community Comment beginning at 12:35pm Friday afternoon.