Top Stories, December 19th

Christmas Radio Play Rebroadcast Today

12/19/10 - The Beaver Dam Area Community Theater and Good Karma Broadcasting teamed up again on Friday for the Ninth Annual “Christmas Radio Show” and you can catch the rebroadcast this morning on WXRO. The show, presented as an-olde thyme radio broadcast, features two different stories this year. Director Heidi Freeby says the “Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is a funny and heartwarming story about a family of troublemakers that crash a holiday play. The other show is the beloved Christmas classic “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The show will be re-broadcast on 95.3FM this morning at 10am.

WSP Arrests Fox Lake Man For OWI

12/19/10 - A Fox Lake man was arrested last night for drunk driving with two small children in the car. The Wisconsin State Patrol says a trooper stopped a 2000 Dodge Durango on Highway 41 in Fond du Lac County just after 7pm for unsafe lane deviation. The 27-year-old driver was taken into custody for Operating While Intoxicated. Two minor’s, ages four and six, were taken to the Fond du Lac State Patrol Headquarters, where they were later picked-up by a family member.

M & I To Keep Strong Presence In State

12/19/10 - State government and business leaders say they were assured that M-and-I Bank will keep a strong presence in Wisconsin, after it’s sold to a Canadian firm. The Badger State is losing another of its largest corporate headquarters, as the B-M-O Financial Group of Toronto said Friday it would buy Milwaukee’s home-grown banking chain for four-point-one billion dollars. Governor-elect Scott Walker has spoken with chief executives Bill Downe of B-M-O and Mark Furlong of M-and-I, along with retired M-and-I chairman Dennis Kuester. And they assured Walker the bank would keep a strong presence here – and it will work the new governor as he tries to create a quarter-million new jobs in the state by 2015. Tim Sheehy of the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce did not expect much change. Furlong will take a top job with B-M-O in Chicago, and Sheehy says Furlong will stay in touch with Wisconsin. Sheehy said the bank would re-name itself as Harris – the large bank in Chicago that B-M-O also owns. Julia Taylor of the Greater Milwaukee Committee said M-and-I is a major supporter of the arts and community programs. That’s something which often disappears when a corporate headquarters leaves. But Taylor expects continued involvement, just as other bank takeovers have shown. And she said it would bring more financial tools for both home-and-business owners. M-and-I has lost money for eight straight quarters, mainly due to delinquent home loans during the recession. B-M-O executive Downe called M-and-I a “well-run bank clearly caught in the real estate down-draft.”

Oshkosh Corp Secures Contract

12/19/10 - The Oshkosh Corporation will build another 37-hundred military trucks-and-trailers. The company said Friday that the Army has ordered 513-million-dollars worth of Medium Tactical Vehicles. The National Guard will use them to transport soldiers, supplies, and equipment in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Just over two-thousand trucks and 16-hundred-50 trailers will be made in the latest order. They’ll start being delivered in November of 2011. It’s part of a line of 17 models in the Oshkosh Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. The new order is part of a five-year contract for Oshkosh to build the vehicles and provide training-and-support services until the end of 2014.

Charter Offers New High Speed Internet

12/19/10 - Charter Communications is expanding the availability of its high speed broadband service to several Wisconsin cities, including some in our area. It’s called Ultra 60 and it costs $99 dollars, 99 cents a month, and provides 60 megabytes per second downstream speed and five megabytes per second upstream. That's about 20 times fast than basic broadband service. On Tuesday, Ultra 60 will be launched in Watertown, West Bend, Fond du Lac, Oconomowoc, Roscoe, Beloit and Delavan. It will be offered in several other cities in the state a week later.

LaCrosse Memory Man on 60 Minutes

12/19/10 - The amazing so-called “Memory Man” from La Crosse will be featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes” program today. Brad Williams is famous for his ability to remember a surprising amount of information. Williams is already the subject of a study by researchers in California who are trying to unlock the secrets of his talent.

Traveler Dies At Mitchell Airport

12/19/10 - Efforts to revive a passenger at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport failed Friday. The 89 year old man was making a connecting flight when he collapsed in the airport concourse. An off-duty sheriff’s deputy and medical staff tried to revive the victim using CPR and a defibrillator, but those efforts failed. The medical examiner pronounced the man dead at 7:40 a.m. The man was apparently catching a connecting flight to Madison, then to Fort Myers, Florida.

Flu Season Quiet, So Far

12/19/10 - Wisconsin’s flu season can run from December through March, but it’s been quiet so far. Cindy Woldt-Schmidt, a Greenwood-based Family Nurse Practitioner, says they have not seen anything yet this year and says she hasn’t heard about anything in other areas of the state yet. Last year at this time, everyone was petrified about the spread of H1N1. Woldt-Schmidt worries that this calm after the storm could have people a bit off-guard. The good news is there’s still time and plenty of vaccines available. You should call your local health care provider to schedule a vaccination, especially if you’re in those “at risk” groups. Woldt-Schmidt said the vaccinations are usually covered by insurance and the protection kicks in about three weeks after the treatment.

Kohler Company Union Vote Today

12/19/10 - Union members at the Kohler Company will try again to vote on a new labor contract today. Leaders of the union have called the latest offer unreasonable. The vote had been scheduled for last weekend, but it was called off due to heavy snow and blizzard warnings. More than 22 hundred union members are eligible to vote today. The company's offer includes a two-tier wage system, dramatically reducing the pay for new workers at the Wisconsin company. Union leaders at UAW Local 833 are not recommending the offer be accepted. The UAW says a strike is possible, but it's hoping a no vote leads to more negotiations. The company has said it is done with negotiations.

Milwaukee Daycare Worker Faces Possible Charges

12/19/10 - A Milwaukee daycare worker is in trouble for failing to intervene when one child started attacking an infant. A video surveillance camera reportedly caught the three year old boy punching an 11 month old girl in the back and biting her, causing her to bleed. The daycare worker who was supposed to be watching the children could face charges. The video apparently shows that the adult didn’t try to stop the assault. The 11 month old girl has been released from the hospital and is said to be recovering.

Snap Rejects Cash Offer

12/19/10 - The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests calls a cash offer from the Milwaukee Archdiocese a bribe – unless the church agrees to other concessions. A spokesman for SNAP says the group also wants the archdiocese to be more transparent. And, it wants every priest to sign a document saying he’s never sexually abused a child. The archdiocese had offered 4-point-6 million dollars to resolve lawsuits filed by 16 alleged victims. The group says the settlement was rejected because money is secondary to other concerns. A spokesman for the church says all relevant files have been released and he feels the archdiocese and the victims can reach agreement on any remaining issues.

Coast Guard Breaks The Ice

12/19/10 - The Coast Guard continues to break ice, expanding into Lake Michigan. Officials say the thickest ice in the lower 48 states is in the Duluth-Superior harbor. The 9th District Coast Guard has four cutters on the job. The Biscayne Bay of Michigan and the Mobile Bay of Sturgeon Bay are cutting through thinner ice in the St. Mary’s River which links Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes. Sector Sault Ste. Marie Vessel Traffic Services Director Mark Gill says the cutter Alder has just returned to its home port of Superior-Duluth, back from Lake Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac. Cutter Katmai Bay is breaking ice to help move grain in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Gill says the ice is around two to four inches thick in Green Bay and the St. Mary’s River has ice around six to eight inches thick. The Superior-Duluth Harbor reports that their ice is around a foot thick.