Top Stories, October 2nd

Victorious Homecoming For Beaver Dam

10/2/10 - Hundreds upon hundreds of spectators donned in green and gold lined the streets of downtown Beaver Dam Friday afternoon for the high school’s homecoming parade. School spirit was high as local businesses chalked their windows with slogans supporting the Golden Beavers and students with died green and yellow hair screamed and scurried for candy. There were floats from various student organizations, the homecoming court and the Golden Beavers football team. Beaver Dam had a victorious homecoming game Friday night, defeating Oconomowoc 14-10.

FEMA Begins Infrastructure Flood Assessments

10/2/10 - Five teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will assess Wisconsin flood damage next week. The teams will be inspecting damage to public infrastructure in Iowa, Buffalo, Clark, Trempealeau, Jackson, Wood, Portage and Taylor counties starting Tuesday. An updated FEMA schedule that is expected to include Columbia County will be released on Monday. Damage assessments will continue throughout the next few days in Columbia County based on the water levels and how quickly officials can get into the affected areas. High water is still preventing officials from inspecting at least one bridge and several roads are also still underwater and won't be able to be assessed for damages until next week. Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have deactivated their Incident Management Team in Columbia County. Early reports indicate that statewide flood damage will top nine million dollars on bridges, roads and other infrastructure alone. Three homes were destroyed and more than 400 were damaged -- as were 62 businesses. Flood warnings remain in effect for counties along the Mississippi River. A State of Emergency remains in effect for Columbia and seven other counties.

Tanzanian Education Project Documentary Screening

10/2/10 - A documentary detailing the recent trip of the Tanzanian Education Project and their successful fundraising efforts in Beaver Dam will be shown later this month. Tanzanian Education Project founder Cassie Parkhurst says she and her colleagues have assembled a 45-minute documentary so the people in her hometown – like the service organizations, churches and school kids who contributed -- can see the positive results of their efforts. The 2006 Beaver Dam High School graduate raised over $17,000 and collected 10,000 books this spring and sent it to Tanzania, where it was used to build four libraries, which is one more than they had planned. Along the way the group dealt with malaria, bacterial infections and worms not to mention political corruption and even the death of a close Tanzanian friend who had founded two of the schools. But in the end Parkhurst says the documentary shows that you truly can make a difference in the lives of children halfway around the world. The community-wide screening will be held at the Beaver Dam High School Auditorium on Monday, October 11th and 6:30pm.

County Poverty Rates Released

10/2/10 - According to newly-released U.S. Census Data, over 12% of children in Dodge County lived in poverty last year. That is below the statewide average of 16.7-percent and also below the national average. According to that same data, just over nine percent of all the people living in Dodge County lived in poverty last year and while 5.8-percent of residents had no health insurance. That percentage was lower for Dodge County children at 2.1-percent. Neighboring counties saw similar percents for kids living below the poverty line, with Fond du Lac and Jefferson both at 13.1-percent.

Settlement Reached In Dells Injury

10/2/10 - A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit against Extreme World in Wisconsin Dells. A 12 year old Florida girl was seriously injured last July when she fell from the Terminal Velocity ride. The Department of Commerce ruled the ride operator failed to follow protocol when Teagan Marti was hurt. She fell 100 feet to the ground. No details of the agreement were released and a court still has to approve it. It is possible another suit may be filed against the maker of the ride. A state report on the accident says Marti was dropped before the cage she was riding in had reached the top, and before a net to catch her was in the proper position.

BDCH CFO Resigns

10/2/10 - The Chief Financial Officer of the Beaver Dam Community Hospital has resigned. In his resignation letter, K. Scott Abrams indicted that he will be moving back to Racine to pursue other business ventures. CEO Kim Miller says Abrams has been with the organization for over a decade and she wishes his well in his future endeavors. Abrams resignation is effective October 6.

Yates Trial Slated To Begin Monday

10/2/10 - Opening statements in the murder trial for 48 year old David Yates should start Monday. Yates is the Baraboo man accused of killing his infant twins. Jurors will be taken to Sauk County for the trial tomorrow. Prosecutors say Yates’ five week old twins, Tyler and Savannah, were found in April 2008 under his bed at a Baraboo condominium. The twins’ mother had called police after she came to pick them up and nobody answered the condo’s door.

Kaiser Survey On Medicaid

10/2/10 - A nationwide survey shows Wisconsin is not alone as it struggles to find ways to pay for rising Medicaid enrollment. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey finds that next year, states will spend an average of 7.4-percent more on Medicaid, one of their biggest expenses. This year many states -- including Wisconsin -- were able to tread water when the federal government threw them a lifeline through increased funding. Vernon Smith of Health Management Associates says that influx of money known as 'FMAP' can't be underestimated, and “literally saved” the health care safety net. But that extra federal money won't be there as of next June. The Kaiser Foundation survey shows some states have scaled back Medicaid, but Wisconsin did not cut back on benefits this year and in fact is expanded eligibility, one of only two states to do so.

UW Minority Enrollment Flat

10/2/10 - Minority enrollment has increased across the board at the UW-Madison. But the university’s lead administrator on diversity calls the gains “flat” and adds that there needs to be an intensified effort to help more students of color graduate. Of the 29,000 undergrads attending the UW-Madison, nearly 4,000 are minorities. The university says that’s almost a 5-percent increase since 2000. There’s also been roughly a 5.5-percent increase in undergrads receiving federal Pell Grants, which is financial aid for low-income students. Damon Williams, the UW-Madison’s Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate, says the university can do better. He says the gains have been steady, but very small. Williams is also concerned that not enough minorities are graduating. About 72-percent of Latinos and southeast Asian students graduate within six years. Only 58-percent of Native American and African American students graduate in that same time frame. Williams says weighed against the overall 82-percent graduation rate for UW-Madison students, it’s time to act. He’s unveiled several new strategies which include boosting financial aid, improving the diversity of faculty and staff, and more stringently analyzing and tackling achievement gaps.

Americans Driving To Pluto

10/2/10 - High gas prices and a weak economy are not keeping us from getting behind the wheel. We’re still driving. Bruce Aunet with the state Department of Transportation says motorists in the state drove more than 58 billion miles in 2009. He says that’s enough to travel to the sun and back 313 times or 11 round trips out to Pluto. That much driving represents a 1-point-2 percent increase in travel miles from 2008, which saw one of the biggest drop offs in driving since World War II. That was largely blamed on high fuel prices and economic uncertainty resulting in more people putting off long distance vacations.

A Horse Did What To My Car?

10/2/10 - An assistant hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin has to explain what might be a strange car insurance claim. Gary Shuchuk says he was in a meeting with head Badger coach Mike Eaves and Bill Butters when he saw two horses run up the ramp into a parking lot. Suchuk says he thought that “was kind of weird.” A few minutes later the coach says a man came up to him and told him his bumper had been damaged. Three more people followed, informing the coach about damage to his car. The horses apparently are to blame. They belong to university police and were part of the security detail for last Tuesday’s visit by President Obama. Word is, they were spooked by a train near the Kohl Center and Shuchuk’s car wasn’t the only one damaged by the runaway horses. The horses weren’t injured.