Top Stories May 18th

Man Injured in ATV Accident

5/18/12 - A teen from just outside of Watertown was seriously injured in an ATV accident yesterday afternoon.  It happened in a farm field by County Highway M-M and Venus Road in the town of Lebanon.  19-year-old Aaron Fenner was riding through the field when his ATV struck an embankment and went airborne.  Fenner was thrown from the machine.  Authorities say he wasn’t wearing a helmet or any other protective gear.  Fenner was taken by Flight for Life to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee.  The crash is still under investigation. It’s the second time in the last ten days that Dodge County resident was injured while riding an ATV.  24-year-old Jacob Pitzlin was also flown to Froedert after he was thrown from his machine on May 10^th.

DPI Visits the “Box” in Waupun

5/18/12 - The State Department of Public Instruction visited the Rock River Intermediate School in Waupun yesterday (Thurs) following a complaint that a student with autism was disciplined in a seclusion room against the wishes of his parents. Mandy Rennhack had asked special education teachers last fall to stop placing her ten-year-old son into the 5-by-7-foot padded plywood box when he was having discipline issues – and she’d pick him up from school instead. Rennhack said she was upset to learn that the box was used again in March. Waupun Interim Superintendent Donald Childs says it’s an accepted practice to place a child into a secluded padded room if the youngster’s behavior cause harm to himself or others. Two members of the DPI staff conducted the on-site review yesterday, which included interviews with the student’s teacher and the assistant principal. According to a letter from the DPI, their staff requested access to the seclusion room as well as the records for each special education student that could be placed in seclusion. A report is being assembled and officials with the DPI say it will be made public once it is completed, though no timeline was given.

Presidential Race in WI Tightening Up

5/18/12 - While most political attention is on the Walker recall effort, the presidential race in Wisconsin has quietly tightened up. President Obama had double-digit leads in three major polls as recently as late March. But this week, the Marquette Law School poll showed that Republican Mitt Romney has caught up for the first time. And Romney and Obama were tied at 46-percent among the 600 likely voters surveyed late last week. The Democrat Obama has seen his approval ratings drop this month, amid new concerns about the economy following a weaker jobs report two weeks ago. In the Marquette poll, the president’s approval rating in the state slipped from 50-percent in late April to 45-percent this week. Public Policy Polling gives Obama 44-percent approval in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, it appears that Wisconsinites are warming up to Romney. The Marquette poll gave the former Massachusetts governor a 40-percent approval rating this week – the first time he hit that mark in any of the independent polls during the campaign. Also, Romney’s negative ratings have dropped.

Carriola Pleads Guilty to Federal Robbery Charges

5/18/12 - A Columbia County man has pleaded “guilty” to federal charges for robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint. Officials with the US Justice Department say Anthony Carriola of Lodi walked into Eannelli’s Pharmacy in Prairie Du Dac on January 10 and stole morphine pills. The 28-year-old brandished a .44 caliber revolver. He also pleaded guilty to robbing a pharmacy in Indiana in December. Carriola was arrested in a local motel and found in possession of the stolen pills. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each robbery count, and a mandatory minimum penalty of seven years for using a firearm, which would be served consecutively to any other prison term imposed. A sentencing hearing is scheduled in July.

Babcock Gets Probation for Standoff

5/18/12 - One year probation for a Fox Lake man who sparked a standoff with authorities last December. Brandon Babcock pleaded “no contest” yesterday (Th) to a misdemeanor charge of Disorderly Conduct – Domestic Abuse with a Dangerous Weapon. Police were called after the 24-year-old was involved in an altercation with his spouse. The woman left the residence but Babcock remained inside. While no weapons were involved in the domestic incident it was believed there were weapons available to the man inside and some nearby residents were evacuated. After several hours, Sheriff Todd Nehls says it was necessary to decide if they would escalate the situation by firing tear gas into the home or calling in the SWAT Team. Nehls instead made the determination to “disengage.” The Dodge County District Attorneys office later issued an arrest warrant and Babcock turned himself in without further incident. A 90 day jail sentence was imposed and stayed. Babcock will also have to pay fines and court costs.

Public Hearing Over Herr Environmental Will Go on as Planned

5/18/12 - Minority Democrats in the state Assembly will proceed with a public hearing next week on how the D-N-R handled an Oconomowoc firm fined for spreading excessive waste on farm fields. Brett Hulsey of Madison said the case has a lot of unanswered questions – including possible contamination of nearby water wells, and who should pay to test for pollution and clean it up. Six Democrats on the Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee will hold the hearing next Wednesday starting at 2 p-m at the State Capitol. Top D-N-R executive Scott Gunderson asked local prosecutors to punish Herr Environmental for excessive spreading of human waste on farm fields last year. Gunderson bypassed the normal process of having the Justice Department prosecute – and critics have said Herr could have paid a penalty 10 times as high as the 43-hundred dollars it paid under five citations. D-N-R Secretary Cathy Stepp said her agency is trying to seek cooperation from businesses rather than be confrontational. Stepp also said Herr would face heavy penalties if they commit another violation. Stepp has been invited to speak at the hearing – which D-N-R spokesman Bill Cosh recently called a “waste of time.” None of the committee’s nine majority Republicans will be there.

DNC Says They Are Doing Enough to Support Barrett

5/18/12 - National Democrats came out swinging yesterday, amid concerns that they’re not doing enough to help Tom Barrett try-to-win his June fifth recall election for governor. As Republican Scott Walker pulls ahead in the polls, Greg Sargent of the Washington Post wrote this week about a lack of commitment by national Democrats. And former long-time House Democrat Dave Obey of Wausau expressed the same concerns to the Madison Capital Times. Yesterday, Brad Woodhouse of the Democratic National Committee said any suggestion of a lack of national party commitment to Barrett is quote, “off the mark.” The D-N-C has spent a reported 800-thousand-dollars on the Walker recall effort. That’s normally a lot, but it pales to the 25-million Walker has raised. The Republican Walker has a 5-to-6 point edge in the polls. Obey says the race has always been winnable for Barrett – but with only 18 days left, the former House Appropriations chair says national Democrats need to get going and show their support. The Capital Times says there’s been some talk that President Obama or Vice President Joe Biden would show up in Wisconsin to campaign for Barrett. Obey says a lot of people who love to see former President Bill Clinton appear in Milwaukee on Barrett’s behalf. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently campaigned for Walker in Wisconsin. And the governor got lots of support during the recent presidential primary campaign, when apparent G-O-P nominee Mitt Romney spoke up for Walker a number of times while campaigning in the Badger State.

Job Report for April Shows Loss of 6,200 Private Sector

5/18/12 - Wisconsin’s much-anticipated jobs report for April came out this afternoon. And it showed that the state lost an estimated 62-hundred private sector jobs last month – while the statewide jobless rate fell by one-tenth-of-a-point to six-point-seven percent. Both numbers are seasonally-adjusted. Before the Workforce Development agency released the new report, Republican Governor Scott Walker told a Madison reporter that they expected a decline. He said the national figures released two weeks ago were not what he hoped – and it normally has an effect on the state’s numbers. Walker and his administration have been highly critical of the preliminary job data put out each month, because the U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys only a fraction of employers. Walker has said the numbers don’t correspond with other data showing that Wisconsin’s economy is on the mend. So on Tuesday, his administration took the unusual step of releasing more detailed data before the federal government could review it for a report it plans to put out in late June. Walker’s people said it showed that Wisconsin added 23-thousand public-and-private jobs during 2011, the governor’s first year in office. Democrats questioned the numbers, saying Walker’s only trying to round up votes to win his recall election on June fifth. The administration denied political motivations.

Wisconsin Graduation Rate 87%

5/18/12 - State education officials said today that Wisconsin’s high school graduation rate was 87-percent last year, under a standardized national reporting system. The agency also listed a rate of 90-and-a-half percent under a more liberal reporting policy that was previously used by the Department of Public Instruction. The old formula was known as the “legacy rate.” It counted graduates who took more than four years to finish, and it took dropouts into consideration. But the new formula – required by the U-S Education Department – counts only graduates who earned a regular diploma within four years after starting high school. The state reported graduation rates under both formulas, and both were improved from a year ago. Under the new calculation, the rate increased by one-point-three percent from 2010. The old formula had Wisconsin surpassing 90-percent, with a year-to-year increase of six-tenths of a percent.

No New Airport in Portage

5/18/12 - This sounds like a classic Catch-22. The federal government says Portage cannot have a new airport because there’s not enough traffic to justify it. But city leaders say the airport cannot get the additional traffic without a larger facility that can handle larger airplanes. The current airport is surrounded by development, and therefore is limited. Airport manager John Poppy says Portage needs a larger airport if it hopes to grow. And he told the city’s Airport Commission to keep fighting for a new facility. Portage officials plan to meet with the state Bureau of Aeronautics to determine what they should do next.

Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee Kicks Off

5/18/12 - It’s all about the music this weekend in Fox Lake, where for the next three days, at three different venues, four bands are gathered to honor the music of one man: jazz trumpeter and hometown legend Bunny Berigan.  A free concert will be held today from 4 to 6pm at Mullins Drive-In. Tickets are still available for the remaining events which continue all three days at the Fox Lake Community Center and the American Legion. Performers include The Vagabond Reeds, Talk of the Town and the Barb City Stompers. In addition, organizer Julie Fleming says Bunny’s nephew Kaye Berigan will be playing with his 5-Tet. And an all-star assemblage of swing jazz greats is performing all three days in the Bunny Berigan Jubilee Band. On Sunday morning there will be a special graveside service at St. Mary’s Cemetery at 11am. There are also free presentations scheduled throughout the weekend on the life and music of Bunny Berigan from Michael Zirpolo, author of the book “Mr. Trumpet: The Trials, Tribulations and Triumph of Bunny Berigan.”