Top Stories, August 5th

2010 Tornado Season Above Average

8/5/10 - The first six months of 2010 have seen an above average number of tornadoes in the state. Lori Getter with Wisconsin Emergency Management says there have been a confirmed 35 tornado touchdowns in the state this year. That compares to an average of about 21 tornadoes a year. Most of those reported this year have been rated at either EF-0 or EF-1, which are among the weakest ratings received. An EF-1 tornado touched down southeast of Cambria last month that had wind speeds of 90 to 95mph and was on the ground for around four miles. There have been four EF-2 tornadoes that have touched down this year, including one in Waukesha County in June that badly damaged the Village of Eagle and Old World Wisconsin. Otherwise, Getter says damage has been relatively limited to crops, trees, and some roof damage. There have been no deaths caused by tornadoes this year, although several injuries have been reported.

Power Outage Closes YMCA

8/5/10 - The YMCA of Dodge County in Beaver Dam was closed for most of the day Wednesday following a power outage. Business Manager Terry Pfeiffer tells us that an employee struck a transformer with a riding lawn mower just before 10:30am. That blew out the transformer, which began leaking oil, and knocked out power to the entire facility. Alliant Energy responded immediately and YMCA officials were told it would take at least five hours to get the power restored. Because of the open-ended timeframe, Pfeiffer says the decision was made to close down operations for the entire day, which included sending all kids home from daycare. The YMCA is expected to re-open at 5am Thursday morning.

BD Man Charged With Possessing Child Porn

8/5/10 - A Beaver Dam man is charged with Possession of Child Pornography. Richard A. Michel is accused of storing the images on as many as eight computers, three back-up hard drives and over 80 CDs and floppy discs. The 70-year-old is bedridden and was unable to appear for an Initial Hearing this week in Dodge County court but his attorney appeared on his behalf. According to the criminal complaint, a social worker visited Michel’s home in December of 2008 to determine if he was eligible for state housing. At that time, he reportedly showed the woman nude pictures of pre-pubescent children on his laptop. When authorities executed a search warrant at his residence, Michel’s said the pictures were not illegal because they were pictures of him as a young child. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Michel’s had a signature bond set at $10,000 this week and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next month.

Sup Ct. Passes On Mercer Case

8/5/10 - The State Supreme Court has now taken three passes on reviewing cases related to the conviction of former Fond du Lac City Human Resources Director Ben Mercer for the possession of child pornography. The latest had to do with his conviction on 14 counts of possession of child porn. The District 2 Court of Appeals had recently asked the high court to review the case, but the Supreme Court sent it back to the appeals court, which upheld the Fond du Lac County Court conviction. The Supreme Court this past April refused to review a lawsuit the 60-year-old Mercer had brought against the City of Fond du Lac for wrongful termination. Judge Peter Grimm had previously dismissed that lawsuit. Mercer was convicted for viewing child porn on a work computer. He was sentenced to a year in jail and 8 years of probation, but has yet to serve any jail time.

State Fair Time

8/5/10 - The Wisconsin State Fair gets underway Thursday in West Allis, minus one of the leaders of state agriculture. After state Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen drowned in Lake Superior last month, Governor Jim Doyle asked Deputy Secretary Randy Romanski to run the agency on an interim basis. Doyle has yet to name a new ag secretary, who might only be on the job until January when Doyle is scheduled to leave office. Doyle says the state fair will be a "hard event" for him this year, with Nilsestuen not there. But Doyle says the typical fairgoer will still have a good time. While the state Ag Department has a significant role at the State Fair, the State Fair Park Board is actually attached to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. About 900,000 people are expected to attend the fair, which runs through August 15. The Dodge County Fair starts four days after that.

Wisconsin Unemployment Too Low?

8/5/10 - A drop in Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is horrible news for those who’ve been out of work for almost two years. That’s because the federal government has reduced the maximum number of weeks that state residents can get jobless benefits from 99-to-93. The longer benefits are given to states where the unemployment rate is at least eight-and-a-half percent. And Wisconsin’s rate has averaged eight-point-two percent for the last three months. The reduction in the maximum benefits will take effect August 15th. The state’s workforce development agency says it’s notifying those who are near the end of their eligibility. The reduction in the maximum benefits comes as Wisconsin lost private sector jobs on a seasonally-adjusted basis for three of the last four months.

Transformers Not Returning To Milwaukee

8/5/10 - Film crews for the movie “Transformers-3” will not return to Milwaukee this month, as previously scheduled. Crews used the Milwaukee Art Museum in July as a backdrop for scenes with Patrick Dempsey and Shia LaBeouf (shy-uh luh-buff’). And they considered blowing up Milwaukee’s former Tower Automotive plant for another scene. But changes were made to the August production schedule, and Dave Fantle of the group Film Wisconsin says the producers found it impractical to come back. The group figures that last month’s filming added a million dollars to Milwaukee’s economy – even though “Transformers-3” was not eligible for a state tax break. The movie is scheduled to be released next summer. Fantle said he thanked director Michael Bay for filming in Wisconsin, even though the previous tax credits were reduced by Governor Jim Doyle and the Legislature in the current state budget. He told Bay his group would work with the new governor elected this fall to bring quote, “more economic impact and jobs to the state through the desirable business of film and television.”

Ginseng Crop Takes A Hit

8/5/10 - Wisconsin’s ginseng crop is being hit hard by bad weather for the second time this year. A snow-storm in early May ruined up to 40-percent of the three-year crop. Now, state ginseng board president Joe Heil says the heavy rains this summer have saturated the many of the plants. Heil, who grows the ginseng root near Edgar, says the plants have been hit with blight and other fungal diseases. He says farmers won’t know the extent of the damage until they try to harvest the crop in October. Wisconsin’s annual ginseng crop is worth 15-to-20-million dollars. But because it takes three years for the crop to mature, officials have said the losses might be more than that. Heil says it’s the first time ginseng farmers were hit with a double-whammy by the weather in the same year. Wisconsin grows 95-percent of the nation’s ginseng, and most of it is sold to China.

Elk Herd Has High Mortality Rate

8/5/10 - Wisconsin’s wild elk herd saw its highest mortality rate since the herd was introduced to the northern Wisconsin from Michigan in 1995. In May 2009, Department of Natural Resources Elk Biologist Laine Stowell counted 131 wild elk. This May, Stowell counted 131 elk, again. Since then 38 calves were estimated born but it appears 36 elk died overall. Wolf attacks are being blamed. After this spring’s birthing season, the herd is back up to 164. Stowell’s keeping his fingers crossed because they saw a big increase in the calf mortality rate last year. This year the herd boasts 38 calves with a better survival rate. He says this year the herd lost about six to seven calves, half the estimated number of calves compared to last year. The herd grew an average of 19-percent each year from 1996 to 2003. Since then, the herd has yo-yoed between declining numbers and modest increases.