Top Stories, November 27th

Dodge County Company Sued For Firing

11/27/10 - A former risk manager for a Dodge County construction firm is suing her old bosses, saying they fired her for seeking alcohol treatment. 44-year-old Lynne Kossow of Jackson has asked a federal judge for un-specified damages, saying the Michels Corporation of Brownsville violated the Americans-with-Disabilities-Act. Kossow was a risk manager for the company. According to the lawsuit, she had a relapse of alcoholism after 14 years of being sober – and she told her bosses she would immediately get treatment. Kossow said she went against the advice of her doctor and hospital by letting her company’s employee assistance program obtain her medical records. The suit said she tried to withhold notes of personal comments made in her therapy sessions – but the employer demanded notes, and she was fired soon after the company got them. The lawsuit claims that the Michels Corporation broke the A-D-A law by seeking too broad of a release of medical records, and retaliating against Kossow for holding back her therapy notes. The company says it looks forward to defending the lawsuit.

Columbus Pair Proceed To Arraignment

11/27/10 - Two Columbus residents will proceed to trial on charges of assaulting a five-year-old girl. 31-year-old Heidi Duesing-Christensen faces up to 29-years in prison if she is convicted on charges of child enticement, neglect and reckless endangerment. Police said Duesing-Christensen not only struck her daughter but also locked her in a bedroom for long periods of time with no food or bathroom. Prosecutors said the girl also received an overdose of a cold medicine to get her to sleep. 38-year-old Kenneth Faria faces up to 28 years in prison on charges of physical abuse of a child and first-degree sexual assault of a child younger than age 12. The girl was sent to live with her father in Arizona last year and Faria was charged after the girl told a nurse about the alleged incidents of molestation. Duesing-Christensen told investigators that the girl would have fits that were so bad that she had to be pinned down to get her to stop. Duesing-Christensen has an arraignment hearing scheduled just before Christmas while Faria will be arraigned after the New Year.

Fond du Lac Bus Driver Enters Alford Plea

11/27/10 - A former school bus driver will be sentenced on charges he sexually assaulted a child. William Rangel entered an Alford plea last week in the case. An Alford plea is the same as a guilty plea, but it doesn't force the defendant to admit committing the crime. Rangel was accused of assaulting an 8 year old girl who wasn't riding his bus, and exposing himself to a 9 year old girl who was. The 58 year old man from Fond du Lac has been held in jail since October of last year.

Rail Line Proponents To Form Network

11/27/10 - Midwestern states hoping to form a network of high-speed trains are finding their project interrupted by Wisconsin. Governor-elect Scott Walker has says he will reject federal stimulus money for a line between Madison and Milwaukee that has a stopover in Watertown. He calls it a waste of taxpayer money. But, without that segment, the vision of having 110 mile per hour trains offering service between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago is in jeopardy. Backers call it the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. They're not giving up, in fact, more than a million dollars is being spent on an environmental impact study. Fourteen routes are being considered, with three of them bypassing Madison. One route follows Amtrak’s current Empire Builder through Columbus and another goes through Fond du Lac.

Meteorite On Display At UW

11/27/10 - Remember the meteorite that landed in southwest Wisconsin in April? Five fragments are now part of the permanent collection at the U-W Madison Geology Museum. The meteorite lit up the night sky in parts of Wisconsin and neighboring states. In August, the Meteoritical Society classified it as an ordinary chondrite meteorite – and it was given the name “Mifflin,” to recognize the town where most of the chunks landed. Scientists say the meteorite appeared to part of an asteroid that was separated between Jupiter and Mars about 470 million years ago. Eight fragments of the Mifflin Meteorite are now on display at the U-W Geology Museum. Three are part of the university’s permanent collection, and five others are on loan. Mifflin is one of 14 meteorites which are known to have landed in the Badger State – and six of those meteorites are a part of the current museum display.

State Cranberry Growers Thankful

11/27/10 - If you were fortunate enough to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast, you probably consumed a lot of cranberries. Tom Lochner, Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, says even though you’ll likely see a lot more of the state’s official fruit throughout the holiday season, that’s just a small fraction of the overall market. He says most of the tangy delight is marketed in products other than fresh fruit. “Maybe 3- to 5-percent of the crop is sold as fresh fruit in the bags that people see in the stores. The rest is in a processed product such as sweetened dried berries or the sauces or the cranberry juice drinks.” Wisconsin’s cranberry industry currently provides nearly 350 million dollars annually to the state’s economy and supports over 7-thousand jobs across the state.

Ground Broken On Energy Research Facility

11/27/10 - Ground has been broken on an energy research facility on the UW Madison campus. Governor Jim Doyle, who provided $50 million in state funding for the new Wisconsin Energy Institute in his 2009-2011 budget, said the work to be done there can decrease dependence on fuel sources from out of state. The first phase of construction is funded by the $50 million Doyle provided in the budget, along with an additional $4 million in private funding. A second phase will require raising an additional $50 million in private sector money

Wisconsin Firm Tabbed For MN Bridge Project

11/27/10 - A Wisconsin company is expected to help Minnesota’s Twin Cities avoid a potential traffic nightmare. Lunda Construction of Black River Falls is waiting to be certified, after it submitted the apparent low bid to replace the Lafayette-Highway 52 bridge in Saint Paul. Minnesota officials rated the bridge as “fracture critical” in the wake of the Interstate-35 bridge collapse – and it has since undergone inspections and other repairs. Lunda offered to fix the Lafayette Bridge for 130-million dollars. A new northbound span will be built first, in the hope of alleviating a traffic nightmare for people heading into Saint Paul from the south.

Invasive Species Study

11/27/10 - The Asian carp isn’t the only thing being studied, as the Army Corps of Engineers looks for ways to prevent migrations between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Major General John Peabody says his agency is looking at ridding the waterways of many types of invasive species. Congress approved the massive study in 2007, and it provided 25-million-dollars for it last year. Peabody says the study is complex in scope. He says it will take time, support, and cooperation as the Army Corps studies over a-thousand miles of waterways. But the head of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Joel Brammeier, said the Corps should be further along. He knows something won’t happen overnight – but he’s disappointed that the project is still in the planning stages. Peabody expects a final recommendation by 2015. It could result in separating the link between the Great Lakes at Chicago, and the carp-infested Mississippi River.