Top Stories January 15th

Registration This Week at Fox Lake Charter School

1/16/12 - Registration begins Wednesday for the new charter school in the former Fox Lake Elementary School. The building was closed following the 2008-2009 school year in a budget cutting measure. In 2010, the Waupun School Board unanimously approved a proposal put together by an ad-hoc committee made up mostly of Fox Lake residents to begin a charter school. The conversion into a charter school became a reality last August when the district received a $200,000 planning grant from the state. Waupun School District Superintendent Don Childs says the only new costs the district will have to absorb come from operating costs, utilities and day-to-day operating costs. The acronym for the school is “SAGES” which stands for “School for AGriculture and Environmental Science.” Childs says the school will teach all subject areas, with a focus on agriculture and environmental studies, and with emphasis on hands-on field work and learning through project-based learning. During the first year, the school will teach grades Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. If successful, they will add Seventh Grade in year two and Eighth Grade in year three. Childs says the school will not be able to open its doors if there are less than 50 students enrolled for the upcoming school year. Conversely, if there are more than 125 registrations, all students will be put into a lottery to determine who gets in.

Kitchen Fire Damage Lowell Residence

1/16/12 - Fire damaged a Lowell residence early Sunday morning. Firefighters were called to the 600-block of Lorraine just after 2am. Smoke and flames were visible when crews arrived on scene. The fire was contained to the kitchen. A 46-year-old Lowell man was treated for smoke inhalation and transported to Watertown Hospital.

BDFD Sees Increase In EMS Calls

1/16/12 - The Beaver Dam Fire Department saw a 7.8% increase in their Emergency Medical Service calls last year compared to 2010. There were 1774 EMS calls in 2011, compared to 1646 the previous year, that’s an increase of 128 calls. Those numbers do not include revenue-generating inter-facility transports, which were down 13-percent. There were 377 transports last year, compared to 435 in 2010, a difference of 58 transports. During its first full year of operation, Beaver Dam conducted 533 non-emergency transports for revenue. Beaver Dam is putting its paramedic-level of service to use outside of the city, providing mutual assistance with their paramedics 36 times last year, an increase of eight calls from the previous year. Fire and other service calls were down four-percent. There were 297 fire calls last year, compared to 310 in 2009, that includes actual fires, false fire alarms, carbon monoxide investigations and general service calls.

Shooting At Crowded Jefferson County Bar

1/16/12 - Two people were wounded when shots were fired at a crowded bar in Jefferson County early Saturday morning. The sheriff’s department reports the incident happened just after 2am at Rox’s Sports Bar and Grill on Highway K. Neither wound was serious. One of the injured refused medical treatment and the second was taken to Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Three men were detained in connection with the shooting. Deputies say they have a lot of witnesses to interview before filing any charges.

Registered Sex Offender Moving Into Beaver Dam

1/16/12 - A registered sex offender will be moving into Beaver Dam Tuesday after his release from prison. Deputy Police Chief Dan Schubert says Joseph Volm will be residing on the 800 block of Madison Street. Schubert says Volm has served his time and is not wanted by police. State statute requires the Department of Corrections notify the public when a sex offender of Volm’s caliber is released because his classification level reflects a potential to re-offend. The 34-year-old was convicted of Attempted Second Degree Sexual Assault of an adult woman but many of his violations occurred while on supervision and involved unsupervised contact with minors. Volm will be under 24 hour electronic monitoring and will be supervised by agents specializing in intensive supervision.

Gov. Walker to Participate in MLK Jr Day Events

1/16/12 - Governor Scott Walker will appear at two special events on this Martin Luther King Day. He'll attend the annual Milwaukee Y-M-C-A breakfast in honor of the slain civil rights leader. And Walker will speak at the state's official King Day ceremony at noon at the State Capitol. It's one of a number of events being held throughout Wisconsin today in King's memory. The Reverend C-T Vivian will speak at the Madison-and-Dane County observance. Vivian was one of King's friends who started the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference. The group held the first civil rights march of the King era in 1961.

Property Taxes Up by the Smallest Amount in 15-Years

1/16/12 - Wisconsin's total property taxes went up by the smallest amount in the last 15 years. Preliminary figures from the state's Taxpayers Alliance show a three-tenths-of-one-percent increase in the tax bills received last month by home-and-business owners. The group credits a statewide decrease of one-percent in public school tax levies. State-mandated revenue limits were the main reason for the drop. School taxes are normally the largest part of a property owner's tax bill. City, village, and town tax levies jumped by up to two-percent. That represents almost a quarter of a person's tax bill. The tax alliance said one of every three counties either froze or reduced their tax levies this year. Brown, Marathon, Bayfield, Washington, and Winnebago dropped their total taxes by at least one-percent. Five counties -- Dane, Columbia, Crawford, Calumet, and Kewaunee -- raised their county taxes by four-percent or more.

WI and MN Looking to Expand Rail Service

1/16/12 - Wisconsin and Minnesota officials are looking into the possibility of expanding Amtrak passenger rail service. A feasbility study is expected to begin in the next couple of months on adding a second round-trip each day between Chicago and Minneapolis-Saint Paul as part of Amtrak's long-established Empire Builder. That's the train which currently goes through Milwaukee, Columbus, Portage, and La Crosse among other places. Amtrak says the Badger and Gopher states would have to pay the costs of the added service, because Congress has ordered the national railroad to find outside funding for any new expansions. The two states would also have to share the costs of the feasibility study. The six-month study is expected to cost around 60-thousand dollars. State railroad official Ron Adams says Wisconsin is now trying to come up with its share. The proposed expansion is separate from a recent Minnesota study which suggested high-speed rail tracks along the Empire Builder route.

Whooping Cough Cases Spike In Ashland County

1/16/12 - Nine students in the Ashland school district are among the ten cases of whooping cough reported from Ashland County. The public health department says an adult also has the disease. In addition, another four people are being watched and may have Pertussis. The first case was reported from Ashland Middle School last December. That’s around the same time the Dodge County Health Department issued a warning about an increase in the reported cases of the contagious bacterial disease. Local Health Officer Jody Langfeldt said Dodge County had seven reported cases this year, which twice as many as in a normal year. Langfeldt says the symptoms are similar to the common cold. Additional information is on the health department’s website: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/dph_bcd/communicable/factsheets/pertussus.htm

Bankruptcy Filings Down

1/16/12 - For the first time in six years, bankruptcy filings have decreased in Wisconsin. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court shows nearly 27 thousand petitions were filed in the state last year, a 10 percent decline from 2010. The vast majority of them were Chapter 7 bankruptcies, which wipes out credit card balances and medical and utility bills. The Wisconsin numbers match national trends which saw bankruptcies off by 12 percent. The American Bankruptcy Institute says consumers are getting rid of their debt without declaring bankruptcy and tighter credit standards are keeping people from piling up more debt.

Kennedy Listening Sessions Scheduled Tuesday

1/16/12 - Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy has listening sessions scheduled for Tuesday. City residents are invited to meet with the mayor without appointment, in a one-on-one setting, on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Kennedy says he wants constituents to have the opportunity to speak with him the day after each regular meeting of the common council. The listening sessions are held in Room 109 on the first floor of City Hall from 10am until noon and again from 5pm to 6pm. If the regular schedule doesn’t fir into your schedule, residents are encouraged to schedule a private meeting through the mayor’s office.

Miss Wisconsin Named Miss America

1/16/12 - The newly-crowned Miss America from Wisconsin says she'll work to improve family relationships for those with loved ones who are in prison. 23-year-old Laura Kaeppeler (kepp'-ler) of Kenosha won the Miss America crown and a 50-thousand-dollar scholarship on Saturday night in Las Vegas. She's the first Miss America from Wisconsin since Terry Ann Meeuwsen in 1973. Kaeppeler's father spent 18 months behind bars for mail fraud. And she said she'll encourage families in similar situations to improve ties and move forward together. Kaeppeler says she wants children of incarcerated adults to feel like they're not alone. She wants them to have mentoring for those children, and as much of a relationship with their parents as they can. Kaeppeler, who won the Miss Wisconsin pageant last summer, said there are more than two million children with parents in jail.