Top Stories, May 1st

Appleton Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

5/1/11 - A 22-year-old Appleton man died from wounds he suffered Thursday while serving in Afghanistan. Army Sgt. Matthew D. Hermanson was just over a week away from celebrating his first wedding anniversary. The Defense Department said yesterday that Hermanson’s unit took on small arms fire in the Wardak province in the east-central portion of the country.

Dem’s Attempt to Revive High Speed Rail

5/1/11 - Supporters of high-speed rail in Wisconsin are making another pitch for it, despite Governor Scott Walker’s intense opposition. The Republican Walker had not even taken office last fall when he convinced the Obama White House to take back 810-million-dollars for a high-speed train from Milwaukee-to-Madison. But Assembly Democrat Brett Hulsey of Madison is touting a new study by the Midwest High-Speed Rail Association which says that a line from Detroit-to-Saint Louis-to-Minnesota’s Twin Cities could generate 13-billion dollars for the region. Hulsey said if Wisconsin doesn’t get on board, the train would go around us and quote, “It would be like not having Interstate highways in Wisconsin.” Walker has contended that not many people would pay over 30-bucks one way to ride the rails from Milwaukee-to-Madison – and it’s faster and cheaper to drive. There was a stop planned in Watertown. But with gas nearing four-dollars-a-gallon, Steve Hiniker of the environmental group One-Thousand-Friends of Wisconsin says Walker might want to sing a different tune. Hiniker also said riders would be more comfortable, and they can get work done on-line. Assembly Democrat Lou Molepske of Stevens Point said Walker’s fellow Republican Tommy Thompson once championed high-speed rail. But Walker has said that Thompson governed in economic boom times, while he has to deal with a budget that’s three-and-a-half billion dollars in the hole. Walker does support funding to improve an existing Amtrak high-speed line from Milwaukee-to-Chicago.

BDCH Launches New Website

5/1/11 - The Beaver Dam Community Hospital has announced the launching of a new medical clinics website. Officials say the site features intuitive, user-friendly navigation and allows visitors to browse clinic locations, read physician profiles, including patient testimonials and patient survey results, learn of upcoming events and catch up on recent news. The site also includes an updated list of all physicians on staff. The effort marks the beginning of a project which will culminate in the complete redesign of the hospitals general website, bdch.com. The medical services website is www.bdchmedicalclinics.com.

Beaver Dam Bulk Pick-Up Begins Monday

5/1/11 – Bulk garbage pick-up for Beaver Dam residents begins tomorrow, Monday, May 2. Director of Facilities David Stoiser says bulk pick-up will continue through Friday, May 6 for residents who receive city-provided waste collection services from Veolia. Stoiser says the collection regulations are the same as in the past. Bulk waste can be placed on the curb no sooner than 24 hours prior to each collection and by 7am on the day of pick-up. Bulk waste is defined as, but not limited to, furniture, wooden doors and windows and rolled carpet, not exceeding 4’ to 6’ in length. No metal items like bed springs, doors, windows, appliances and pipes will be collected. Also, they do not accept bundled or loose piles of lumber or building materials; those items must be broken down and placed in the weekly collection cart. The next bulk pick-up will be the first waste collection day of November.

Madison School Officials Detail Protest Absences

5/1/11 - Madison school officials say that two-thirds of its teachers actively took part in at least one day of a coordinated protest absence in February. Schools in Wisconsin’s capital were closed for four days, so unionized teachers could attend rallies against the bill to curtail most public union bargaining. The district said almost 18-hundred of Madison’s 26-hundred-plus teachers took unpaid time off for at least one of the four days. Eighty-four teachers submitted false medical excuses from doctors in lab coats who were handing them out on street corners at the Capitol. But 46 teachers later rescinded those excuses. And they got the same penalty as other 18-hundred teachers – lost pay and a letter-of-expectation from school officials. The 38 who did not rescind their false doctors’ excuses were given suspensions, which they already served based on their time off. Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad says the numbers validate the district’s decision to close for four days.

Crane Advocates Upset With Sentence

5/1/11 - Advocates for Wisconsin’s whooping cranes were not happy that an Indiana man and a teenager only got one year of probation for killing a crane in 2009. But the prosecutor in the case – Gregory Carter – said they tried to find out who should have received restitution, and that question was never answered. Also, Carter said a staff member from the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service was at every court hearing in the case, and that person never indicated that the cases were handled inappropriately. Wade Bennett and a juvenile were each convicted in the shooting death of a Wisconsin whooping crane that was part of a long-running program to re-introduce the endangered species in the Eastern U-S. The crane was the first in the program to successfully hatch a chick in the wild. Carter said his office learned the crane could have been worth 100-thousand dollars – and they deferred the issue of restitution to see if anyone could legitimately make a financial claim.

A Horse of a Different Color

5/1/11 - Officials with the Beaver Dam Area Arts Association say there has been a good turnout for their spring exhibit. “The Horse in Art” showcases the artwork of regionally and nationally recognized equine artists. Among others it features the photography of Waupun’s Polly Knoll. Knoll has traveled the world shooting her favorite film subject: Arabian horses. She recently published a career retrospective. Among the pictures in “Treasurers of a Lifetime” is a photo shoot with the late actor Patrick Swayze that produced some iconic images. The Beaver Dam Area Arts Association is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 1pm to 4pm. “The Horse In Art” runs through June 5.

More Shoppers Clipping Coupons

5/1/11 - Food shoppers are changing their behaviors to fight back at rising prices. The Center for Food Integrity says 37-percent of shoppers in a recent survey are clipping more coupons. Thirty-two percent are buying fewer name-brand items in favor of the cheaper house brands. And 17-percent have gone to warehouse-and-discount stores to try and keep their food bills down. The Farm Bureau says Wisconsin’s food prices jumped five-percent in the first quarter of the year alone. The federal government says almost 13-percent of our income is spent on food – up from around 11-percent in the recent past. Iowa State economics professor Helen Jensen tells the Brownfield Ag News Service that Americans are still getting a bargain on food compared to other countries. But people might be facing a realization that what they spend on food will no longer be as low as it used to be. Jensen says people do not blame farmers for the price hikes – but there’s some frustration as to why it’s happening. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau has cited a strong worldwide demand for U-S food products, bad weather that has kept supplies down, and higher fuel costs for transporting the food to grocery stores.

Recession Hitting Older Workers Hardest

5/1/11 - The recession is hitting many of Wisconsin’s older workers the hardest. U-W Madison law school attorney Victor Forberger says that if the economy was really recovering, firms would be looking to older-and-experienced employees to get up to speed more quickly. Forberger is a consultant to a job transition program. He tells the Madison Capital Times this is the first time that large numbers of people 50-and-older are out-of-work and looking someplace else. Just over 20-percent of Wisconsin workers 55-and-older were getting unemployment benefits at the start of the year. That’s a 19-percent increase from 2006. U-W career counselor Sybil Pressprich tells the Cap Times quote, “I see frustration with a capital-F.” She runs a job search support group – and a larger percentage of participants are getting to be 50-and-older. The Urban Institute of Washington says many employers are reluctant to hire older workers because they’ll retire before their training pays off – they fear their health-and-pension costs are too high – and some think older people are not willing to learn new things. But Madison college counselor Al Studesville says employers are missing out. He says older workers are more dependable – they don’t need as much supervision – and many more creative at solving problems.

Wisconsin Pays Gopher State Tuition Bill

5/1/11 - Wisconsin paid 13-million-dollars to Minnesota after the 2009 school year, so college students from the Badger State could pay in-state tuition at schools in Minnesota. The same deal applies to students from the Gopher State at Wisconsin colleges, under a reciprocity program that has gone on for 43 years. Normally, each state pays something to the other. But in 2009, Wisconsin made its largest payment since at least 1975 – while Minnesota didn’t owe the Badger State anything. That’s according to Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education. Colleges in the Gopher State tend to be more expensive than those in Wisconsin – and that’s why the Badger State ended up with a much larger payment. Just over 10-thousand Wisconsinites attended college in Minnesota in 2009, while 14-thousand Minnesotans went to schools in Wisconsin. The reciprocity arrangement is totally different from the income tax reciprocity between the two states that’s gotten a lot of publicity. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty ended the income tax reciprocity in 2009 – and there have been efforts by some in both states to bring it back.

DNR Urges Private Well Testing

5/1/11 - The state D-N-R says the owners of private wells should test their water for bacteria, as soon as spring arrives for good. Officials say flooding in parts of Wisconsin can lead to higher contaminations of well water. And the spring thaw often creates more bacteria, as melting snow soaks into the soil. The D-N-R says well-water might be polluted if its taste or color changes – or if the well has a shallow casing, and is near a place where it flooded. Experts urge well-owners to conduct tests once a year – and they suggest more frequent tests near animal feed-lots, farm fields, and manure storage facilities.