Top Stories May 6th

Foreclosure Rate Stable in Dodge County

5/6/09 - The foreclosure rate in Dodge County for April held steady from the previous month. According to Foreclosurealarm-dot-com, there were 28 foreclosures filings in the county, the same as March. Jefferson County saw foreclosures jump slightly, going from 28 in March up to 32 last month. Meanwhile, foreclosures were down over the two-month period in Columbia County dropping from 31 in March to 26 in April. Statewide, filings were down 5-percent. However, one economist says it’s too early to celebrate. U-W Whitewater professor Russ Kashian says if unemployment remains high, you’ll lose see a lot more foreclosures. And this time, it will be those with traditional mortgages and not just homes with the risky sub-prime loans. It all depends on what happens Friday morning when the national unemployment numbers come out. If less than a half-million jobs were eliminated in the past month, Kashian says it will be a sign of better times. But if 600-thousand more jobs are lost, he says foreclosures will rise again.

H1N1 Virus Update

5/6/09 - Most Wisconsin schools that were closed due to Influenza-“A” will re-open today. That’s after the federal government did an about-face on its previous advice that schools with links to the swine flu be shut down for two weeks. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he agreed the virus is not severe enough to warrant the mass school closings right now – and 17 city schools will re-open today. State officials said 32 schools had shut down across Wisconsin. A few will re-open tomorrow. Many school officials and parents questioned whether the closings were necessary. Milwaukee School Board member Terry Falk said it was easy for the government to close schools – while shutting down businesses and large gatherings like Brewer baseball games would have gotten more complaints. But Milwaukee medical officer Geoffrey Swain said schools were targeted for a good reason – because the kids are so close all day, it’s where the disease spreads the most. And if the outbreak was more serious, Swain said other things could have been shut down.

Meanwhile, America’s pork industry says it’s losing at least two-and-a-half million dollars a day because of the public’s reaction to the H-1-N-1 virus. Most media outlets still call it swine flu, even though the World Health Organization officially calls it Influenza-“A.” Thirteen foreign pork customers – including major buyers China and Russia – continue full-or-partial trade bans on pork and live swine. U-S officials and the pork industry still insist that pork meat is safe. And there’s no link between U-S hogs and the current outbreak, despite a recent case of a hog herd in Canada getting ill – and a report that a Sheboygan teen got the same disease after butchering pigs in 2005. But the teen did not spread the disease any further. Wisconsin is the nation’s 17th largest processor of pork meat, and the state’s producers are feeling the impact. Nick Giordano of the National Pork Producers Council says Honduras may drop its pork import restrictions soon. And the U-S-D-A and America’s trade representative are working to get other countries to lift their bans – and stop more countries from imposing them.
The state reported 119 probable flu cases and five confirmed cases in its latest update yesterday.

Short-Notice Smoking Ban Hearing Held

5/6/09 - Just over 70 people made their feelings known yesterday at a Wisconsin Senate hearing on the proposed statewide public indoor smoking ban. But they didn’t really know what they were commenting on – since the bill’s details are still being negotiated. Governor Jim Doyle’s budget called for a smoking ban in all workplaces, but legislators felt the issue should be considered separately because of its importance. Rob Swearingen, president of the state’s Tavern League, says his group is hammering out the bill’s details with key lawmakers, the American Cancer Society, and Smoke-Free Wisconsin. Taverns want the ban phased in – and they want an exception for cigar bars. But Maureen Busalacchi of Smoke-Free Wisconsin says she’ll defend the need to protect workers from second-hand smoke. At the hearing, 60 people either spoke or registered in favor of a statewide ban, and 11 opposed it. Swearingen said there would have been more opponents, had there been more than one day’s notice of the hearing. The Assembly plans a similar committee hearing today. Both houses are scheduled to act on the smoking ban next Wednesday.

Man in Satisfactory Condition after Accident

5/6/09 - A 30-year-old man involved in a motorcycle accident last Friday in Beaver Dam was listed in satisfactory condition at a Milwaukee Hospital yesterday. Paul Deluca and a passenger were driving on Madison Street Friday night when they collided with an SUV. Deluca and his passenger, 27-year-old Faleon Sarto, were both flighted to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee. Sarto was released Saturday. The driver of the SUV, 66-year-old Arthur Rettschlag suffered minor injuries and was taken to the Beaver Dam hospital where he was treated and released.

Woman Unconscious after Accident

5/6/09 - A two-vehicle accident late yesterday morning sent one person to the hospital. Authorities say a woman driving an SUV was stopped at the intersection of Highways A and B in the Town of Beaver Dam. When she pulled into the intersection an empty milk truck traveling south on A struck the side of the vehicle. The woman was ejected from the vehicle and initially unconscious. Beaver Dam EMS responded and took the woman to Beaver Dam Community Hospital where she was treated for non-life threatening injuries. The Wisconsin State Patrol is investigating the cause of the accident.

Appeal Upheld in Vote Bribing Case

5/6/09 - A Milwaukee man failed yesterday to get out of a criminal conviction for buying votes for his nephew’s recall election. The First District Court of Appeals said a jury was correct in finding Garrett Huff guilty on three counts of conspiracy to commit election bribery. The 40-year-old Huff paid people five-dollars to vote for Alderman Michael McGee in a recall election in 2007. McGee won that contest just weeks before he was arrested himself for extortion and taking bribes. Police said Huff – as a McGee campaign worker – paid three undercover officers five-bucks each for their promises to vote for McGee. But Huff later claimed he didn’t do anything wrong because the officers didn’t live in McGee’s district, and they could not have voted in the election anyway. The appeals court did not buy that argument.

Farmers Encouraged by Planting Progress

5/6/09 - Wisconsin farmers are making good progress with their spring planting. Just over one-sixth of the state’s corn crop is in the ground. The southwest and west central regions had almost a-third of their corn planted by Sunday, but wet conditions in the southeast have pretty much held things up. Almost 90-percent of the fields in southeast Wisconsin have surplus moisture. But three-fourths of soils around the state have adequate moisture. It’s still a bit dry in the northwest and northeast. Oat planting is 74-percent complete, and almost a third of the crop has emerged. There are some reports of winter-kill in the alfalfa and winter wheat – but most farmers say those crops look good.