Top Stories August 15th

Gang Arrests Draw Complaints from Immigrant-Rights Groups


8/15/10 - Immigrant groups are criticizing Madison police for involving federal ICE agents in last week's round up of C-14 gang members. They say the 12 young men were arrested based on rumors and are now being deported. The father of one of the suspects says his teenage son had a job, has a young child and has no criminal record. He says he was trying to get out of the gang. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray says the decision to involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was a difficult one. He says the safety of the community was the main consideration. The men were accused of collecting weapons and planning a retaliation attack for the killing last April of their leader, Antonio Perez. The 12th and final arrest took place in Beaver Dam where Jorge V. Ramirez-Flores was taken into custody by the Madison Police Department and U.S. Marshals office, with assistance from the Beaver Dam Police Department.

BDUSD to Get Update on Scheduling Upgrade

8/15/10 - The Beaver Dam School Board is expected to get an update tomorrow night on a plan designed to address the deficiencies of high school’s block scheduling format. Presented last month, the plan calls for a six-month process broken into three segments. Beginning in September, administrators will establish goals for the 2011-2012 schedule based on input from students, parents and staff, including holding a number of listening sessions with each of the affected parties. Principal Mark DiStefano says they’ll continue to elicit feedback throughout the process. The second step will be to design the 2011-2012 schedule, also with help from the affected parties. Superintendent Steve Vessey says they are going into the process with an open mind and have no preconceived notions on how the schedule will look. If everything goes to plan administrators hope to have a proposal in front of the school board in January and put it up for a vote in February. The school board meets at the Educational Service Center beginning at 6:30 p.m.

WI Supreme Court Grants Injunction

8/15/10 - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has granted an injunction against a new rule regulating political issue ads. Several groups on both sides of the political debate have challenged the regulation in state and federal courts. The rule forces groups running those ads to disclose where they get their money and how it is spent. Opponents say it impacts the First Amendment free speech rights of individuals and organizations to comment on public policy and politicians. The state Government Accountability Board had already reached an agreement not to enforce the rule. That was in a separate suit -- and a federal judge had refused to sign off on the deal. The current injunction will remain in place until the state's high court hears arguments on the rule.

DNR: Don’t Prune Oaks Until October

8/15/10 - The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the state's oak trees shouldn't be pruned until October due to an attack by a fungal disease. Trees in the southern two-thirds of the Badger State are showing the first signs of a condition called "oak wilt." You might start seeing wilted leaves and bronze-green, slightly-wet leaves on the ground. Experts say oak wilt affect red oak and white oak trees. It stops water and nutrients from moving up the root system and it can kill a tree in just a few weeks.

Robbers Take Down a Milwaukee Bingo Hall

8/15/10 - Milwaukee police report more than 100 people were playing in a south side bingo hall Friday night when masked, armed robbers forced their way in. The robbers demanded women give up their purses. No one was injured and the robbers got away with an undetermined amount of cash. The incident happened shortly after 9 p.m. at the St. Rafael the Archangel parish bingo hall. One woman who was there says a robber put a handgun to her daughter's head before taking her purse and running off.

Jury: MPD Doesn’t Promote Excessive Force

8/15/10 - A federal jury concluded that rules and regulations for the Milwaukee Police Department do not create an atmosphere where officers think they can use excessive force against people. The case was brought by the daughters of a man who was shot eight times in the back by officer Alfonzo Glover in 2005. The fact the department's practices and policies were challenged made the suit highly unusual. The jury took about an hour to make its decision in the second phase of the trial. In the first phase, jury members awarded the daughters of Wilbert Prado almost two million dollars.

Man Jailed After Threatening Officer and Attorney on Facebook

8/15/10 - Retaliation through Facebook? A man from St. Francis is accused of using the social networking site on the Internet to harass a police officer and a city attorney. The man was given a ticket last April for disorderly conduct. Officials say the officer and the city attorney then both received threatening messages from the man. Recently, investigators confiscated the man's computer and arrested him, but no charges have been filed in the case so far.

President Obama in Wisconsin Tomorrow

8/15/10 - President Obama makes his fourth visit to the state tomorrow for a fundraising benefitting Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The President will attend a 250 dollar a head luncheon fundraiser for Barrett's campaign for governor. Earlier Monday Obama is to visit ZBB Energy of Menomonee Falls and speak to workers there about clean-energy. That visit is expected to focus on greater Milwaukee's concentration on storing energy.

Man Won’t Profit from Parents Deaths

8/15/10 - A West Salem man accused of killing his parents won't be able to benefit. Eric Koula sought to be co-representative of his parents' estate, with his sister, but that was before he was charged in their deaths. Dennis and Merna Koula were shot to death in their home in the town of Barre. Investigators say Koula is a struggling day trader who deposited a forged check for 50 thousand dollars from his father's investment account the day after the killings. Koula has a hearing scheduled for August 27th. He is being held on a million-dollar cash bond.