Top Stories, February 13th

Dodge County Fair Acts Announced

2/13/11 - The Dodge County Fair Association has announced the musical acts for the Main Stage at this year‘s fair. On Wednesday it will be Rodney Atkins, while Luke Bryan will take to the stage on Thursday night. The rock act will be Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Saturday’s entertainment is still undecided after two separate performers decided to do other gigs. Fair Secretary Sharon Keil is hopeful they’ll have an act in place in the near future. Meanwhile, Ticket prices will stay the same as last year, with entry costing $6 before 2pm and $10 after. Season tickets are $25 before the beginning of the fair and $30 there after. The 2011 fair runs August 17 through the 21.

Juneau Man Arrested Following Chase

2/13/11 - Dodge County Sheriffs deputies arrested a Juneau teen early this morning after he allegedly ran from police. According to department records, it started just after midnight on Prospect Road in the Town of Oak Grove. The 18-year-old reportedly drove his truck into a driveway and then got out of his vehicle and fled on foot. He was later located running down the railroad tracks and jailed on charges of felony Fleeing and Eluding. He was also given citations for violating absolute sobriety, driving without headlights, imprudent speed and trespassing.

Archdiocese Defends $75 Million Transfer

2/13/11 - The Archdiocese of Milwaukee says the transfer of 75 million dollars over the last six years wasn't an effort to shield its assets from sex abuse settlements. The families of sex abuse victims implied moving the money was something like a shell game during a bankruptcy hearing before a federal trustee. An attorney for the victims also asked about another 55 million dollars put into a trust a year after the Wisconsin Supreme Court opened the door for victims to sue the archdiocese. A spokesperson for the church denies the allegations, saying it has been liquidating all non-essential assets for years to help pay the costs of therapy and voluntary settlements. The spokesperson says the archdiocese had been holding the 75 million dollars for local parishes in an investment account, then returned it when it quit offering those services. The church says it only has seven million dollars available for settlements, but the families of victims apparently intend to challenge that figure. The Milwaukee Archdiocese serves Catholics in ten southeast Wisconsin counties, including Dodge County.

Oshkosh Corp Secures $102 Million Contract

2/13/11 - The Oshkosh Corporation has received another big military contract. This time, they’ll be reinforcing over two-thousand heavy-duty trucks. Oshkosh said it received a 102-million-dollar order from the Army to provide armor-and-protection kits for the new type of military truck the company’s been building the last couple years. Eighty-four hundred such vehicles have been produced. Those all-terrain units are designed to withstand blasts from roadside bombs, and they can handle the mountainous and rugged terrain in Afghanistan where they’re used. Oshkosh says it will deliver the armored kits by September.

One Percent of Wisconsinites Supported Fall Election

2/3/11 - A report from Wisconsin Democracy Campaign found only one-percent of the state’s population funded last fall’s political campaigns. Director Mike McCabe says that means the other 99-percent of Wisconsin residents are not being given a voice. The Campaign launched a citizen vigil at the Capitol last Thursday which McCabe says is intended to keep alive the idea that government should be working for the “greater good” of the state. McCabe says they want to focus a spotlight on the influence of special interests. He says those standing vigil need to get the word out to the rest of the state about what’s going on, as lawmakers cater to the rich and powerful. McCabe says they hope to have people on hand for each day the Legislature is scheduled to be in session.

Woman Freezes To Death Outside Home

2/13/11 - Investigators say it's hard to know how long a female victim was lying in the cold, but it was long enough to freeze her body. The Marathon County coroner says the victim in her 60s likely died of hypothermia. Her body was found Friday afternoon in the driveway of her home. The coroner says it is possible she may have been intoxicated or confused -- and was unable to get back into the house. He says she didn't suffer any injuries that prevented her from getting inside out of the cold.

Snowmobile Fatality in Vilas County

2/13/11 - A snowmobile driver is dead from injuries he suffered when he crashed into a snow mound. The accident happened Friday afternoon on the ice pack on Big St. Germaine Lake in Vilas County. The dead man's name, age or hometown hasn't been released yet, pending notification of his family. Witnesses say the man was driving the snowmobile at high speed when he hit the mound and was thrown clear. He was reportedly taken to a nearby hospital with several injuries. The Sheriff's Department reported he was dead Saturday morning.

DOJ Unveils Recidivism Calculator

2/13/11 - The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to make crime statistics easier for the public to understand. The new recidivism calculator on the DOJ website allows users to see for themselves who is most likely to commit a new crime after release from prison. The web-based numbers cruncher is designed to help the public understand what the word recidivism means when you apply it to a specific group of convicts. Users can plug in age, number of prior arrests, race and ethnicity length of sentence and type of crime. The calculator will then spit out a graph and a list of results, telling what percentage of that group of inmates will re-offend, and how soon after release they're likely to commit a new crime.

Milwaukee D-A Wants More Judicial Flexibility

2/13/11 - Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says he'd like to see judges have more options in sentencing. Chisholm is proposing major changes to the Wisconsin criminal justice system. He says his ideas would ease the burden on prisons while shifting the money to programs which slow recidivism. Chisholm says counties could be reimbursed 15 thousand dollars for every offender they don't commit to prison. Since it costs 30 thousand dollars to hold a person in prison for a year, that would be a net gain for the state. The money coming to the counties could be used for programs proved to reduce the rates of re-offending.