Top Stories January 17th

Winter Weather Advisory until Midnight


1/17/11 - All of Wisconsin is supposed to get a fresh blanket of snow on this Martin Luther King Day. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory until midnight tonight and forecasters are calling for three to five inches of snow during the day and light snow tonight. The snow is supposed to clear out sometime tonight, except along Lake Superior where it will stay around for another day. A new round of cold air will then move in. Falling temperatures are in the forecast tomorrow afternoon, and it could get down to 12-below in the north by early Wednesday.

State to Celebrate MLK Jr. Day

1/17/11 - Wisconsin will observe Martin Luther King Day with its 31st annual State Capitol ceremony at noon. It’s a holiday for the state-and-federal governments, and many people – especially in Wisconsin’s largest cities – have the day off. In Madison, the United Way and a number of other groups are urging people to volunteer in some way to honor the memory of King, the slain civil rights leader. They suggest, quote, “Make it a day on – not a day off.” Governor Scott Walker will attend a King Day breakfast put on by Milwaukee’s Y-M-C-A before heading to Madison for the state’s official ceremony. He’ll present a proclamation in the Capitol Rotunda. Tonight, a number of people will receive humanitarian awards at a combined Madison-and-Dane County observance to Doctor King.



Open Records Lawsuit Opens New Chapter



1/17/11 - Cheryl Grulke’s lawyer has asked that at least one person from the Beaver Dam School District give pre-trial testimony on 25 different topics related to her open records lawsuit. Grulke filed the suit against the district and Superintendent Steve Vessey in an effort to have documents released that her lawyer believes will show she was harassed while working in the high school’s main office. The deposition is expected to take place later this month. Vessey says they’ve passed the subpoena on to their legal team.



Gas Prices Holding Steady



1/17/11 - Gas prices in Wisconsin held steady over the past week with an average price of $3.10 per gallon this morning. According to Wisconsin gas prices dot com that’s the same as a week ago. Locally, Beaver Dam and Lomira are each at $3.12 per gallon, while Fond du Lac is at $3.11 and Watertown is $3.10. The high price in the state is $3.22 in Rice Lake and the low price is $2.99 in South Milwaukee. The statewide average of $3.10 a gallon is still 36-cents higher than at the same point last year.



State Senator Looking to End Data Gathering



1/17/11 - A state senator says she’ll try to end the requirement that Wisconsin police agencies collect and report racial data on the people they stop. Republican Mary Lazich said she’ll introduce a bill in the next month, after the sheriffs of Kenosha and Racine counties stopped following the new law. Since January first, officers have had to collect the ethnicity, gender, age, and zip code of everyone in the vehicles they stop. And the agencies must send it to a state data-base, with the goal of determining racial profiling. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said his officers followed the new law for three days. And then they felt their safety was being compromised on the road because it takes up to 15 extra minutes to complete the required forms. The law has no penalties for not complying. But Tami Jackson of the state Office of Justice Assistance says courts can find those agencies in contempt. Assembly Democrat Tamara Grigsby was among the original authors of the law. She’s surprised by the response, considering it was created so openly and law enforcement had a big hand in writing the measure.



Wautoma Hunter Sets State Record



1/17/11 - A deer hunter from Wautoma has set a new Wisconsin bow-and-arrow record. Brian Inda killed a buck November second with a rack measuring 187-and-five-eighths inches. That’s three-eights-of-an-inch longer than the previous state record, set by Barry Rose in Dunn County in 2006. The new mark was determined this past weekend. Inda had to wait 60 days for the deer’s rack to dry. Two teams then measured it independently, and they agreed on the score. The rack had 12 points, with an inside spread of 22-inches.



American Idol Begins this Week



1/17/11 - “American Idol” debuts this week – and you won’t have to wait long to see those who auditioned in Milwaukee. The best-and-worst of the Wisconsin auditions will be shown next Wednesday night, January 26th, on Fox. It’s the 10th season of the national singing competition, in which Milwaukee’s Danny Gokey finished third in 2009. Gokey was a main reason the show held its first auditions in Milwaukee last summer, to see what other talent might be out there. This week, “Idol” will show auditions from New York on Wednesday night and New Orleans on Thursday. Two new judges are joining Randy Jackson this season – Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.