Top Stories April 14th

Waupun Coach Facing Sexual Assault Charges

4/14/12 - Prosecutors are preparing a pair of child sexual assault charges against a track and field coach in Waupun. Published reports indicate that the 43-year-old man is in custody, and officials expect charges to be filed sometime early this coming week. When administrators were made aware of the allegations, the man was immediately relieved of his coaching duties while the district conducted their investigation. The alleged incidents occurred in the gym at Rock River Intermediate School. School officials say the man is a civilian coach and not a member of the teaching staff in the district. A disorderly conduct charge is also expected.

Accident Victim Identified

4/14/12 - Local authorities are reminding people to be on the lookout for farm equipment traveling on roadways this spring. That’s after 30-year-old Matthew Ritter came up on a slow moving farm vehicle on his motorcycle and couldn’t slow down fast enough, veering into oncoming traffic where he was hit and killed by a semi-truck. It happened Thursday night on Highway 67 about a mile south of Iron Ridge. The Horicon man was pronounced dead on the scene. The death was the second fatal traffic accident in Dodge County this year.

Metzger Gets Jail Time

4/14/12 - A Rubicon man was sentenced to a year in jail for breaking into the Marshland Pharmacy in Horicon. Alexander Metzger pleaded “guilty” in February to felony charges of Burglary and Drug Possession. The 23-year-old smashed in the front glass doors to the pharmacy in September of 2009 and took over $3600 of Oxycontin. Police were tipped to the crime by an anonymous call. According to the criminal complaint, a hair found at the crime scene matched one obtained from Metzger. When he was questioned, authorities say he had a white, powdery substance crusted around his nostrils that turned out to be Oxycontin. In addition to jail time, Metzger will be on probation for five years.

Kaiser Trial Date Set

4/14/12 - A three-day jury trial has been set for the suspect in last July’s robbery of the Shell Travel Mart in Beaver Dam. Josiah Kaiser is charged with Armed Robbery with the Threat of Force. The 33-year-old is accused of threatening employees with a handgun during the robbery and a firearm was among the items taken as evidence and sent to the State Crime Lab for investigation. The jury trial is scheduled to begin June 20. Kaiser is still being held at the Dodge County Jail on a $20,000 cash bond.

Major Recall of Tuna Due to Salmonella Outbreak

4/14/12 - A tuna product used to make restaurant foods like sushi is linked with a salmonella outbreak which has sickened at least 116 people in 20 states. Five more cases have just been reported in Wisconsin, running this state’s total to 14. No deaths have been reported. Many of the people who became sick reported eating raw tuna in sushi like “spicy tuna,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. All five of the most recent cases came from Milwaukee. A voluntary recall of more than 58 thousand pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna has been announced.

Walker: Recall is a Referendum on Big Government

4/14/12 - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tells members of the National Rifle Association he sees the recall election he is facing as a referendum on what he calls big government. The NRA is holding its annual convention in St. Louis. Walker is seen as a rising star in conservative politics and the crowd of more than one thousand gave him several standing ovations. He acknowledged he has become a polarizing figure. He says the size of government is being fought in statehouses all around the country and in Washington, but nowhere more prominently than in Wisconsin.

Zebra Mussel’s Causing Havoc Along Lake Winnebago

4/14/12 - Shells from the invasive zebra mussel are piling up along Lake Winnebago – and they’ve closed up at least one small channel near Oshkosh. Folks who live along the channel are frustrated, because they cannot move their boats through the inlet and onto Lake Winnebago. The mollusk shells are only about the size of a fingernail – but there are literally millions along the lake. And at the channel, they’re created a barrier several feet high. The mollusk walls are keeping boats, fish, and even fresh water from passing through the channel and into Wisconsin’s largest inland lake. Ron Bruch of the state D-N-R said the mussels were brought in by boats on the Great Lakes. They were first discovered in the Lake Winnebago system in 1998, and their numbers peaked early last decade. There are large walls of zebra mussel shells at various spots around Lake Winnebago, to both the west and east. Bruch says they’re impossible to deal with, and all folks can do is live with them.

Thompson Has Raised Most Money Among Republicans

4/14/12 - The U.S. Senate campaign for former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has raised about 660 thousand dollars in the first quarter of this year. If true, that would put Thompson marginally ahead of former Congressman and Republican rival Mark Neumann. Neunmann’s campaign is reporting first-quarter collections of 650 thousand dollars. Political newbie Eric Hovde (HUV dee) entered the race a month ago and has reportedly raised about 110 thousand. A spokesperson for Republican state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald says his campaign has 35 thousand dollars cash on hand and the only Democrat in the race, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, has reportedly raised more than two million dollars, with about 2-point-8 million in the bank.

“Tax Day Rally” at the Capitol

4/14/12 - Tea party groups and their supporters from Wisconsin will gather today in Madison for a what is called a “Tax Day Rally.” The tea party movement in this state got its start in the winter of 2009, with the first “Tax Day Rally” held that April. The Wisconsin state director of Americans for Prosperity says the state chapter has added 100 thousand members over the last four years. Luke Hilgemann says the grass-roots movement is strong, alive and energized.

Jackson Jr. Calls for Recall of Paul Ryan

4/14/12 - Illinois Congressman Jessie Jackson Junior tells Wisconsin voters they should start a recall effort against Congress Paul Ryan – after they get done with Governor Scott Walker. Jackson was speaking to about 100 people at a rally in downtown Racine. Attendees were marching against the Republican budget plan drawn up by Ryan, a Republican from Janesville. Jackson also criticized Ryan’s plan for tax cuts. He said those cuts and tax cuts from the Bush administration are policies leading to more national debt, while failing to create jobs.

Indians Still Berlin’s Mascot…For Now

4/14/12 - For the second time in a year, a Wisconsin judge has ordered the state not to force a public school to change its Indian nickname and logo. Green Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Slate issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Public Instruction, until he could issue a ruling on whether an order to change the Berlin Indians’ name is constitutional. Five Berlin school district residents challenged the 2010 state law which set up a statewide complaint system for those offended by Indian monikers. The D-P-I ruled that the “Indians” name-and-logo discriminates against Native Americans. The state tried to throw out the lawsuit, saying it should be filed by a school district and not by individual taxpayers. Last year, a Waukesha County judge threw out the D-P-I’s order to have Mukwonago High School change its Indian nickname. The state had ordered three districts to change their team names. The third one – Osseo-Fairchild – complied with the state’s order.

Farm Tech Days Coming to Dane County

4/14/12 - Wisconsin’s largest outdoor farm show will be held in the Madison area in 2015. The board of Wisconsin Farm Technology Days has accepted a bid from Dane County to host the show three years from now. Dane County previously hosted it in 1970 and 1986. This year’s Farm Technology Days will be near New London in Outagamie County from July 17th-through-19th. Next year’s show will be held near Rice Lake in Barron County – and the 2014 show will be at Plover in Portage County.