Earth Day Celebrated At Marsh Haven Sunday
4/22/10 - Earth Day will be celebrated this Sunday at the Marsh Haven Nature Center. Center Founder Larry Vine says the event will feature a variety of conservation-oriented activities that’s perfect for the whole family, including a nature hike, discussions on conservation issues and wildlife photography. Wolf experts Jerry and Debbie Saunders will be talking about the “Family Lives of Wolves and Their Behavior.” Native American Expert Herb “Dirty Kettle” Heck will also have a presentation on “Caring For Mother Earth, How Early Americans Lived.” In addition, Raptor Specialist Barb Harvey will be there with her Birds of Prey discussing “Hawks and Owls and Their Fascinating Lives.” Harvey says she often asks her audiences, “What do you put back to the land for taking up space?” She says you have to get out and listen to the land and have a “sense of awe and wow and wonder to really appreciate it and then maybe as human beings we would all fight a little harder to preserve it.” Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for kids under 15.Marsh Haven is located three miles east of Waupun on Highway 49.The Earth Day Celebration runs 10am to 5pm Sunday.
Statewide Tornado Drill Today
4/22/10 - It’s Tornado & Severe Weather Awareness Week in Wisconsin. Dodge County Emergency Management Director Joe Meagher (ma-her) is marking the occasion by urging the public to invest in a NOAA Weather Radio. He says you should make sure it has a SAME feature, which stands for Specific Area Message Encoder, and allows you to program the radio to a specific county or counties. Tornado sirens will be blaring today (Thursday) as part of a statewide drill. Local media will also be interrupted. Meagher urges members of the public to take advantage of Thursday’s drill to review or implement an evacuation plan and prepare or update an emergency survival kit. The test in Dodge County will be at 1:20pm.
Fox Lake Sewer Rate Hike Discussed
4/22/10 - The sewer utility in the city of Fox Lake continues to be a worry for officials. At last nights meeting the firm of Baker and Tilly ran through an audit on the final 2009 financial figures. While they were complimentary of a number of things, such as the city’s healthy general fund, auditors remain concerned with the sewer utility, which lost more than $200,000 in 2009. City Administrator Bill Petracek says the only real fix would be to increase rates, something the city may look at later this year. Meanwhile, despite the sewer utility concern, Baker and Tilly gave the city a “clean audit“, which is the highest form of assurance they can give in regards to a city’s financial situation.
Debt Cap Policy Hammered Out
4/22/10 - Elected officials in Beaver Dam could soon be considering passage of a debt cap policy on the council floor. Alderman John Litscher introduced a debt cap ordinance in committee last month. After some discussion in the Administrative Committee, it was decided that a debt cap policy would be more appropriate. Litscher threw his support behind the policy, saying he didn’t want to tie the hands of future councils. Director of Finance John Somers drafted the policy, which limits borrowing for Capital Improvements Projects at $1.6 million, with some exceptions. Somers says if the prior year’s tax rate for debt service as compared to the total city rate is less than 20%, then the option to borrow more than $1.6 million is available. However, if the tax rate for debt is more than 20%, then the Administrative Committee would have to bring a resolution to the common council and it would take a three-quarters vote of the council in order to approve exceeding those limitations. Litscher says the proposed policy as written reflects his intentions for controlling spending. The debt cap policy is expected to pass out of committee once it’s reviewed by the city’s financial advisor.
Randolph Referendum Readied
4/22/10 - Randolph School District residents will see a building referendum question on their ballots when they head to the polls this fall. The school board decided to move forward with a referendum that would pay for an addition at the high school property that would allow for grades K through 12 to be housed at one site. The board must now decide how to proceed. Option one would be to do the entire project at once at a cost of about 20-million-dollars. Option two would be to divide the project into two parts with a referendum for 10-million-dollars this year and another referendum question for a similar amount a few years down the line. The board must make a decision by July 30th if they want the referendum to be a part of the September primary. Otherwise, it would be on the ballot for the general election in November.
Fire At Hartford Business
4/22/10 - Thirteen fire departments battled a blaze at a Town of Hartford business in Washington County last night. Sheriff’s officials say there was hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage done to Ener Con Incorporated, but none to structures or machinery. The fire consumed large outdoor wood mulch piles and passing motorists could see the glow from the fire leading to a call to the owner who then notified authorities. The business is located on Highway 60. No one was hurt fighting the fire.
Schellin Leaving Columbus PFC
4/22/10 - Columbus PFC leader Ed Schellin will be leaving the volunteer, five-member Commission when his current term expires in May. Schellin has been PFC President during recent disputes over “who makes the decisions” in hiring Police and Fire Chiefs. Mayor Bob Link thanked Schellin for his time, talent and leadership. Link said Schellin “never lost sight of the ‘big picture’ in spite of (sometimes) overwhelming pressure from special interest groups.” The Mayor has nominated Joseph Sampson of the Dane County Sheriff’s Department to succeed Schellin in the five year appointment.
Assembly Censures Wood
4/22/10 - The Wisconsin Assembly voted 73-to-24 Wednesday to censure Representative Jeff Wood, as a legislative punishment for his three O-W-I arrests during the past 17 months. Wood himself got to vote – and he voted against being punished. Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald was among those voting not to censure Wood. The Republican from Horicon did vote in favor of an amendment to expel Wood early Wednesday morning but said he didn’t believe that censure would have any real impact. The Assembly rejected the original request of Whitewater Republican Steve Nass to make Wood the first since 1917 to be removed from the Legislature. That vote was 49-to-48. Nass said it quote, “underscores the Assembly’s lack of interest in getting tough on drunk driving.” Nass called it an example of why people are quote, “mad as hell with their government.” But Rice Lake Democrat Mary Hubler, who chaired a committee that deadlocked on the question of expulsion, said Wood won’t be able to drive for two years – and he’ll be in jail for 45 days after he was convicted Monday of his most serious offense in Columbia County. In the other two cases, Wood was accused of driving under the influence of prescription drugs. Those cases are still pending in Marathon and Monroe counties.
Legislative Session Winding Down
4/22/10 - Wisconsin legislators will meet today for the final time this session – and it looks like they will not pass controversial bills aimed at making cleaner energy and reforming elections. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker said neither package is on the agenda for his house. And the same is true for letting communities form regional transit authorities which could raise taxes for bus-and-train service. Any bills that don’t pass both houses after today are dead, unless a special session is called later. Among the items that still have a chance to pass would regulate pay-day loans, allow the sale of raw milk, and having the state superintendent intervene to improve Wisconsin’s lowest-performing schools including Milwaukee. The clean energy bill would have had a quarter of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2025, with other energy efficiencies to count against that goal. But lawmakers, businesses, and others disagreed on the total impact. Doyle and others said it would create green jobs and reduce electric rates. Republicans and the state’s largest business group said it would raise rates and eliminate jobs. The Assembly may still vote on that package, as well as election changes to allow registration on the Internet, absentee voting at more locations, and having people automatically register when they get driver’s licenses. Decker said the package was introduced too late for senators to understand all the effects. The Senate could vote on creating a bare-bones health plan for childless adults on the waiting list for Badger Care Plus. Decker says the Senate will not vote on A-T-and-T’s bill to deregulate telephone land-lines.
AIDS Testing Expanded
4/22/10 - More Wisconsinites can be tested for the AIDS virus, under a bill Governor Jim Doyle signed into law yesterday. Supporters say it will encourage more routine tests, and many will get diagnosed and treated earlier. The new law comes at a time when AIDS cases are on the rise in Wisconsin. A recent state report said the number of gay men infected with H-I-V is at a 14-year high – and hetero-sexual men have the most infections in a decade. It used to be that a patient had to give written consent to get tested for H-I-V and AIDS. But the new law allows patients to be tested as long as they’re informed of what’s involved, and they don’t opt-out. State Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake says the new law will reduce the paperwork and delays connected with H-I-V testing. She said it also increases patients’ privacy, by increasing penalties to those who release test results to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment