Top Stories November 21st

Opening Weekend Safe, Successful

11/21/11 - We won't know until later today -- but Wisconsin deer hunters apparently had more success than a year ago in the opening weekend of the nine-day gun season. A registration station in Askeaton in northeast Wisconsin reported more deer than last year. And Tim Fuller said the deer were a little bigger, showing that hunters are taking their time and not shooting the first things they see. The D-N-R said harvests were up in many parts of the state on Saturday until sleet, snow, and rain hit the northern part of Wisconsin in the afternoon. But yesterday was dry, and the D-N-R said the hunting conditions were ideal. And in the far north, hunters had the added benefit of tracking snow. Up to six inches fell in parts of Vilas County on Saturday. Almost 604-thousand licenses were sold as of Friday. That's four-thousand fewer than a year ago, but the numbers are expected to rise as license sales continue during the week. And the weekend was apparently safe. No hunting deaths were reported, and there was only one report of an injury. That was in Clark County, where authorities said a hunter was wounded about three miles southwest of Thorp early yesterday. An early investigation showed that a hunter was shooting a deer when he hit another member of his group. The victim was taken to a Marshfield hospital, and there was no word on the person's condition. In Dodge County there were no reports of anyone being shot or suffering any serious injuries. The Sheriff’s Department did receive a report of a bullet coming through the siding of a home in the town of Ashippun and landing on a bed inside but no one was injured.

More than 100,000 Signatures Gathered in Walker Recall

11/21/11 - United Wisconsin says it's about one-seventh of the way in getting the signatures it needs to force a recall election against Governor Scott Walker. The group said during the weekend it obtained over 105-thousand signatures. It needs 540-thousand valid ones for the vote to take place. And United Wisconsin has said its goal is to gather as many as 700-thousand signatures to make sure it has enough good ones. Weekend petitioners could be seen at places with crowds -- the largest being a pro-recall rally on Saturday in Madison, and outside yesterday's Packer-Tampa Bay football game in Green Bay. Meanwhile, U-W Madison professor Barry Burden says the gap between Wisconsin's two political parties has grown over the last 10-to-15 years into what he called a "poisonous" level. And he said it's hard to know if it's reversible. But despite things like last week's cyber-attack on the recall organizers' Web site, and the rally outside the private home of the governor's family, U-W Madison professor Dennis Dresang says today's political discourse is not as bad as it's been in the past. He said he remembers the civil rights violence of the 1960's -- and this year's protests were relatively peaceful.

Ads Supporting Walker Premiere

11/21/11 - Two conservative groups have bought more than a half-million dollars’ worth of television ads to support budget proposals backed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The ad campaign starts just a few days after the governor’s opponents launched their effort to recall the Republican state leader. The Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the MacIver Institute are paying the bills. The ads are airing on television stations in Milwaukee, Green Bay, La Crosse and Wausau. The TV spot doesn’t mention Governor Walker specifically by name. A spokesman for the group says the effort is to educate people on the benefits of budget reform.

Prisoner Still Missing

11/21/11 - A prisoner from the Fox Lake Correctional Institution that went missing on Friday still hasn’t been found. 28-year-old Christopher Lacourciere was working on the prison farm east of Waupun when he went missing. He was last seen at 6:30 p-m. Sheriff Todd Nehls said they have received no clues on his whereabouts. Lacourciere, who is currently serving a prison term for 3rd degree sexual assault, is described as being a white male, 6ft tall, 170lbs, brown eyes and brown hair. He's from the Cambridge area. It isn't the first time Lacourciere has escaped from custody. According to the state's circuit court website, he also escaped in 2006. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact the Sheriff's Department at (920) 386-3726

Vehicle Pulled Over After Going Wrong Way

11/21/11 - A vehicle going the wrong way on Highway 41 went through two counties before authorities got it to stop. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Department received several reports of a vehicle traveling northbound in the southbound lane of Highway 41 near Lomira just after 11 p-m. The car continued into Fond du Lac County before Sheriff’s deputies there were able to get the vehicle pulled over. Authorities have not released any more information on the driver.

Man Reports Himself for Drunk Driving

11/21/11 - For at least the third time in recent years, a Wisconsin driver turned himself in for driving drunk. Police said a 21-year-old Merrill man called 9-1-1 just before nine o'clock last night said he wanted to go to jail. The man told a dispatcher he was driving in Merrill -- and the dispatcher asked him to stop, which he did. City police then located him, gave him field sobriety tests, and took him into custody for his first O-W-I charge. An investigation continues. One of the two other instances of a person calling the police on themselves took place in Dodge County in 2008.

Bill Would Make It Easier to Contact Political Ad Makers

11/21/11 - A state Assembly Democrat wants to make it easier for you to contact the people who run the political ads you see on T-V. But Representative Penny Bernard-Schaber said her bill doesn't have much of a chance of passing -- because only 11 minority Democrats have signed onto it. Under the bill, the ad's sponsor would have to be shown during the entire message -- not just at the end. And there would have to be a phone number or Web site you can contact. Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says Bernard-Schaber's bill would only take a small step toward more disclosure of the groups that put out many political ads. And he says it might not help much to demand the disclosure of Web sites, since many of them don't have contact information or list any of their leaders' names. State officials have tried in the past to make groups disclose the people who pay for their ads -- but at least one proposal was met with a court challenge, and it was never adopted.

UW-Madison Has a Rhodes Scholar

11/21/11 - U-W Madison has produced its first Rhodes Scholar in 11 years. Alexis Brown was among 32 students throughout the country selected to study at the prestigious Oxford University in England for the next 2-to-3 years. Brown is a senior majoring in English and history. She said the Rhodes scholarship would help her complete a master's degree in English literature. Brown is from suburban Chicago. Southeast Wisconsin native Astrid Struth of Hubertus was also chosen. She's a senior at Princeton and plans to study international relations. The 32 winners were among 830 applicants nationally. Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. The awards are based on factors that include high academic achievement, leadership potential, and personal integrity.