Top Stories May 13th

No One Earns GOP Endorsement, Fitzgerald Closest

5/13/12 - None of the GOP candidates for U.S. Senate could muster enough votes Saturday to garner the state Republican Party's endorsement but Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald came the closest.  Candidates needed to get 60-percent of the votes to get the endorsement and while none reached that mark Fitzgerald, in a big surprise, earned the most at 51.5-percent.  Former Congressman Mark Neumann was right behind Fitzgerald at 48.5-percent.  Consensus front runner, former Governor Tommy Thompson, made it past the first round of voting, which saw hedge fund manager Eric Hovde get eliminated.  But in the next round Thompson garnered only 18.5-percent of delegates votes while Neumann picked up 45.6-percent and Fitzgerald earned 31.5-percent.  It’s unclear what the ramifications of the result will be considering Thompson leads most polls, including the most recent one from Rasmussen, which had Thompson with a 50-to-38 percent margin over the only democratic candidate, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.  The margins were much closer, 44 to 42, when Neumann was put up against Baldwin, while Fitzgerald also was close enough to Baldwin to be within the polls margin of error.  A primary in August will determine the candidate the GOP puts up in November’s General Election.  

Local Schools Honored

5/13/12 - A pair of local school districts were honored by U-S New-and-World Report during their annual “Best High School” rankings.  Fall River and Hustisford High Schools were two of 88-schools in the state to earn bronze medals from the national magazine.  Two other Wisconsin high schools’s earned gold medals. And are in the Milwaukee public system. Rufus King was ranked the 130th best high school in the nation. U-S News said 80-percent of King’s students are taking International Baccalaureate course works and exams. The other Wisconsin “gold medal” high school is Reagan College Prep in Milwaukee. It ranks 197th nationwide. Eau Claire Memorial was ranked third in the state followed by Lancaster, Green Bay Preble, Medford, the Milwaukee School of Languages, Appleton West, Saint Croix Falls, and Onalaska High School.  U-S News awarded an additional 24 Wisconsin high schools with silver medals.

Alliant Energy Announces Scholarship Winner

5/13/12 - The Alliant Energy Foundation announced this week that a Horicon student earned a $6,000 scholarship as part of their Children of Employees Scholarship Program.  Graduating Senior Marissa Braun received the award, one of 20 given out by Alliant Energy this year.  Foundation President Tom Aller said in a statement that the company has provided scholarships for over 25-year and they continue to be proud to support the students in their pursuit for higher education.

Home Sales Up in Metro Milwaukee

5/13/12 - For the 10th month in a row, home sales rose in April in Metro Milwaukee. The Metro M-L-S Service said over 15-hundred existing homes were sold last month in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee counties. That’s up 44-percent from the same month a year ago. Mike Ruzicka of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors said April is normally the first busy month for home sales after the winter. But this year, he said real estate agents have been active much earlier than usual due to good weather, low interest rates, and rising consumer confidence.

ATV Accidents on the Rise

5/13/12 - Hitting the trails on all-terrain vehicles is a favorite summer-time activity in Wisconsin. But a Madison hospital has seen a large increase in youngsters getting hurt on A-T-V’s – and they caution parents about the risks. Since the beginning of March, seven youngsters have been taken to the American Family Children’s Hospital at U-W Madison, after riding or driving A-T-V’s. One of those patients, a nine-year-old Lafayette County boy, died from his injuries. The hospital is on pace to surpass last year’s total of 13 young people under 16 who were hurt in A-T-V crashes. Pediatric emergency medicine director Joshua Ross says adults must never forget that A-T-V’s are motorized vehicles that are hard to operate safely – and they need special training and safety equipment to drive or ride them. State law does not require training or special equipment when kids are riding A-T-V’s on family farms. But on the trails, state law requires those 12-and-older to take a safety training course before riding A-T-V’s by themselves. Those under 12 can operate vehicles with smaller engines under a parent’s supervision.  It isn’t just kids that are getting hurt.  A rural Burnett man was critically injured this week when his ATV flipped over while he was riding in an open field.  He was last listed in critical condition at a Milwaukee hospital.

Man Gets 13 Years for Distributing Child Porn

5/13/12 - A northwest Wisconsin man has been sentenced to 13 years in a federal prison for distributing child pornography. And when he leaves prison, 41-year-old Jeff Matheson of Balsam Lake will under extended supervision for life. Matheson pleaded guilty to a single charge of distributing child porn. But the F-B-I said it caught Matheson downloading and sharing about 400 child porn images in December of 2010 – and he kept downloading porn on other machines after the F-B-I seized his computer equipment in March of last year. The U-S attorney’s office in Madison said Matheson also admitted having sexual contact with children. Judge William Conley called it among the worst child porn cases he has ever seen.

New Bridge Plan to be Unveiled

5/13/12 - Folks in western Wisconsin will get their first look on Monday at plans for the new four-lane bridge over the Saint Croix River north of Hudson. An open house on the project will be held at the Houlton Elementary School on the Wisconsin side of the new span. The project will cost around 620-million dollars, give or take around 40-million either way. It’s due to be completed in 2016, after Congress and President Obama ended decades of debate over the bridge by exempting it from the Wild-and-Scenic Rivers’ protections of the Saint Croix.

Unique Approach to Rising Crime Numbers

5/13/12 - Trying to deal with rising crime numbers not seen in West Allis for the last five years or more, the Milwaukee suburb’s police department is taking a unique approach.  Retired police officers are going door-to-door, identifying trouble spots and organizing block watch groups.  West Allis police say this is a case of being proactive – not just going from call-to-call.  The retired officers describe their mission as community building.  Violent crime in West Allis was up 10 percent last year, with drug cases up 15 percent.

Marshfield Man Not Competent to Stand Trial

5/13/12 - A judge ruled Friday that a Marshfield man is not mentally-competent to stand trial on state charges that he plotted to kill a Planned Parenthood abortion doctor in Madison. 64-year-old Ralph Lang will get mental treatment for up to a year, and then Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan can decide again whether Lang can help with his defense. Flanagan delayed a trial after psychiatrist Erik Knudson found that Lang probably suffers from a psychotic disorder. Lang told the judge that jail staffers have refused to bring a priest to him while he’s being held – and he said quote, “I’m not prepared to go to trial because of my spiritual struggles.” Lang faces both state and federal charges after he allegedly shot a gun in his motel room in Madison, and told police he would kill a Planned Parenthood doctor the next day. The incident happened last May 25th. Lang also faces a competency hearing in his federal case on May 31st.

Mother of Five Named Valedictorian at UW-P

5/13/12 - Being a mother of five kids is tough enough. But being a mother of five kids while becoming the valedictorian at U-W Platteville – well, that’s really tough. 32-year-old Cherith Dilley spent two years at Platteville, completing a degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. And she’ll graduate with her class’s top honor at her commencement ceremony tomorrow. Dilley leaves with a perfect four-point-oh grade average – which she achieved while commuting an hour each way from Blue River, taking her classes during the day, getting home to shuffle her kids to their activities, and then studying. Her husband Shane helps with the five youngsters, ages 6-to-13. Dilley said she always had a desire to go to college, but she also wanted a family – and those two just happened backwards. School officials say it’s rare for a non-traditional student to be the school’s valedictorian. After graduating, Dilley plans to start a child protection internship with the Richland County Health-and-Human Services agency.