Monday, March 1, 2010

Top Stories, March 1st

BD Council To Consider New PD Tonight

3/1/10 - The Beaver Dam Common Council will decide tonight whether or not to move forward with building a brand-new $5.1 million police station. During a joint meeting of the city’s two standing committees last week, members of the Administrative Committee unanimously approved to recommend the five-year Capital Improvements Plan to the full council, in two parts. One vote would be to authorize the construction of the police station and the other vote would be for all the other projects. In making the motion to split the vote in two, Alderman John Litscher encouraged public comments on the vote. The proposed CIP also includes construction of a new DPW storage facility at a cost of $60,000 and engineering or construction work for about a dozen street projects. In addition, $600,000 would be allocated to either replace the dam gate on Beaver Dam Lake or to undertake a downtown storm sewer diversion project which is intended to reduce flooding in portions of the downtown area; a final decision on that is contingent on grant funding. There is no funding anywhere in the five-year plan to help with a new senior center. The Common Council meets tonight (Monday) at 8pm in City Hall.

Kennedy Opens Door

3/1/10 - Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy will hold another one of his regular open door meetings Tuesday morning. Kennedy says city residents are invited to meet with him, one-on-one, without appointment on the first and third Tuesday of every month. He says it is important that constituents have the opportunity to speak with him the day after each regular meeting of the common council. The meetings are held in Room 109 on the first floor of City Hall from 10am until noon. Kennedy says he also make himself available for private meetings by appointment by contacting the mayor office.

Ag Meeting To Detail Working Farms Program

3/1/10 - Ag officials say a meeting Monday afternoon on the Working Farms program is very important for farmers and local town and county officials. Dodge County Farm Bureau President Jim Schoenike says dramatic changes to the Farmland Preservation Program will have far-reaching effects for years to come. Speakers include Nate Olson, Senior Planner for Dodge County Land Resources and Parks and Paul Zimmerman, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Director of Public Relations. There will be an open discussion period after both speakers. The Working Lands meeting will be held at the Dodge County Administration Building beginning at 1pm today.

Woman Sentenced In Waupun Storage Unit Break-Ins

3/1/10- A former Waupun woman was sentenced to one year in jail Friday for burglarizing several storage units. Amanda Bryant was connected to break-ins last May at Verhage Storage after authorities found a sack of broken padlocks in her car. The 23-year-old was being questioned about a series of purse snatchings in the Horicon Marsh area when the padlocks were discovered. She and her boyfriend, Bryan D.J. Robel, reportedly used credit cards stolen from the purse for a shopping spree and were tracked down with the help of video surveillance footage from two Beaver Dam businesses. Robel pleaded “not guilty” earlier this month to charges related to his role in the break-ins and he’s got court activity on the calendar this week. Bryant was also placed on probation for six years and ordered to pay restitution.

Pharmacy Burglar Sentenced

3/1/10 - One of the men who broke into a Horicon pharmacy in September has was sentenced Friday to nine months in jail and seven years probation. Andrew W. Stockwell of Watertown pleaded “no contest” to felony burglary and drug delivery charges. The 22-year-old was holding a duffle bag full of stolen narcotics when officers arrived at the scene of the September 23 break-in at Marshland Pharmacy. A 34-year-old Beaver Dam man said to be with Stockwell has a jury trial scheduled for this month.
Man Accused of Robbing Pregnant Woman Denied Bond Modification

3/1/10 - A Delafield man accused of assaulting a pregnant woman and stealing $1000 in student loan money from her, had a motion to modify bond denied. On Friday, Judge Andrew Bissonnette turned down 22-year-old Brad Kiefer’s request to have his $10,000 cash bond changed to a signature bond. Bissonnette also turned down the prosecution’s request to increase Kiefer’s bond to $50,000 to bring it in-line with 20-year-old Andrew Hoffman of Madison. Kiefer, Hoffman and possibly a third man, are also breaking into the woman’s residence. The suspects say the victim took $400 from them in a drug deal. Kiefer has a preliminary hearing set for Thursday.

Slinger Man Injured In Hustisford Wreck

3/1/10 - A Slinger man was airlifted from the scene of a one-vehicle accident in the Town of Hustisford Friday evening. Richard Justmann lost control of the U.S. Mail truck he was driving on County DJ. The 53-year-old spun around and went airborne before striking a power pole and coming to rest with the power lines lying across the overturned truck. Justmann was ejected from the vehicle and was flown to Froedtert Hospital.

Senate Set to Vote on Unemployment Benefits Extension



3/1/10 - The U-S Senate is expected to act as early as tomorrow on a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits. And the second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl, said yesterday the measure will definitely pass. 27-thousand Wisconsinites receive the benefits for which the funding expired late last night. But state officials say those people probably won’t be cut off, as long as Congress acts this week. Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning held up the funding, because other budget cuts were not identified to cover the new spending. Kyl says he sympathizes – but he still believes the 30-day-funding will still be approved while the Senate works on a longer term extension. The House approved the extension last week.


Candidates Concerned About the Cost of High Speed Rail Line

3/1/10 - Construction will start by the end of the year on the new high-speed passenger rail line from Milwaukee to Madison. But the two main Republican candidates for governor both say they’d shut it down if it gets to be too much of a burden on state taxpayers. Scott Walker and Mark Neumann are both critical of the operating costs the state will have to pay once the federal stimulus funds for construction are gone. But both say they’d favor the line if they could find other ways to pay for it. The D-O-T says the operating costs would be seven-and-a-half million dollars a year for the Milwaukee-to-Madison line once it gets going in 2013. And by 2022, it would cost 28-million a year to run that line plus Amtrak’s current train from Milwaukee-to-Chicago. Walker says he’d shut down the Madison line if takes money away from new-and-improved roads. Neumann said he would also consider the costs of the current Milwaukee-to-Chicago line. But the main Democratic candidate for governor, Tom Barrett, says it would be a huge mistake to stop the Madison project once it’s started.

Powerball and Mega Millions Jackpots Over $100M

3/1/10 - The Powerball jackpot is above 100-million dollars for the second time this year. It's at 114-million for the next drawing on Wednesday night. Nobody won the top prize during the weekend, and nobody from Wisconsin got the second prize, either. The current jackpot has been building since February sixth, when a ticket sold in North Carolina won 141-million. Wednesday's cash option is 55-million-dollars. Meanwhile, the Mega Millions jackpot is also above 100-million for the first time since Wisconsin joined that multi-state lotto game in February. It's at 112-million for tomorrow night. The jackpot has been growing since January 29th, when a player in Texas won 144-million.

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