Top Stories February 12th

Profits Up for Alliant Energy

2/12/12 - Alliant Energy of Madison reports a 21-percent increase in its quarterly profits. But the company also said it would sell its renewable energy division due to a problem with a solar project. Among other things, Alliant operates Wisconsin Power-and-Light in south central Wisconsin. Its net income rose from 47-million-dollars in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 57-million in the final quarter last year. Alliant said its electric and natural gas businesses did well, thanks to higher rates that were approved by state regulators, and lower costs to secure electricity. But the R-M-T renewable energy division lost 19-cents a share – 17-cents more than the year before – due mainly to problems at a solar facility in New Jersey. Alliant said a sub-contractor abandoned the project, and it led to delays and additional costs. The firm says it’s suing the sub-contractor – and R-M-T’s wind energy projects also had slightly fewer returns. Alliant’s board decided this month to sell the renewable operation.

Website Launched to Help State Businesses

2/12/12 - State officials have launched a new Web site to help businesses that want to move Wisconsin, or expand here. The state's Economic Development Corporation and the G-I-S Planning firm have put together a host of things to help companies make decisions about site selections. It provides free-and-fast real estate data, breakdowns of local demographics, details of Wisconsin communities, lists of buildings for sale, and other workforce information. The corporation's C-E-O, Paul Jadin, says the new Web is a powerful tool to help grow companies both outside Wisconsin and within. The address for the new site is LocateInWisconsin-Dot-Com.

Evers Says Bill Doesn’t Hold Schools Accountable

2/12/12 - State public school Superintendent Tony Evers says a new education bill that's gathering support in the State Capitol does not improve the system for holding schools accountable. Governor Scott Walker recently announced a new reform package with ideas from three task forces, two in which Evers participated. But yesterday, the superintendent said the bill that's now being circulated at the Capitol does not include charter or voucher schools in the accountability system -- and it does not update accountability measures in the old No Child Left Behind Act. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said officials were waiting for guidance from the U-S Education Department on what to put in the bill. Without that help, he says too much is uncertain about the changes legislators need to make. The state plans to file an application February 21st for federal waivers from certain parts of the No Child Left Behind Act. Assembly Education Committee chairman Steve Kestell says the waiver application has blanks to be filled in -- like how a school would be rated under the new accountability system. He and other lawmakers are concerned that Washington will reject the state's waiver request.

Judge Won’t Stop Voter ID Law

2/12/12 - A judge in Madison refused yesterday to stop Wisconsin's new voter I-D law from taking effect in the local primaries a week from Tuesday. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan rejected the N-Double-A-C-P's request for a temporary injunction. It would have held up the photo I-D requirement for voting, until the judge could act on the group's request to throw out the law permanently. The N-Double-A-C-P's lawsuit includes 40 affidavits from people explaining difficulties in getting the required I-D's. Judge Flanagan said the statements did not show the irreparable harm needed to justify an injunction. But he said the issue is still worth considering in a trial. And he scheduled another hearing for Monday. The League of Women Voters and the A-C-L-U have also filed lawsuits to kill the voter I-D law. They say it disenfranchises seniors, minorities, college students, and others. Both suits are pending.

State Receives Disaster Planning Funds

2/12/12 - The federal government is giving two-million-dollars to a statewide team that finds-and-rescues people when large buildings collapse. The U-S Department of Homeland Security awarded the grant to provide equipment and training. The rescue team is made up of 250 fire-fighters from throughout Wisconsin. They’ve been trained for search-and-rescue operations in large building collapses. And they can organize and respond anywhere in Wisconsin within eight hours. Governor Scott Walker says 800-thousand dollars of the new grant will provide tools, protective gear, and medical supplies. The rest will train more fire-fighters in specialized rescue techniques for building collapses.

More Charges Filed in Marijuana Sales Ring

2/12/12 - Seven more people have been charged in a marijuana sales ring involving school teachers and others in Antigo and Merrill. That brings to 10 the total number who’ve been charged, and the investigation continues. All seven of the new defendants are due in Langlade County Circuit Court March 12th on misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession. Three of them have been on paid leave, after their names turned up in criminal complaints last month against three other defendants. The three are special education teacher Joseph Adams and learning disabilities teacher Mark Incha, both from Antigo High School – and Merrill middle school teacher Jay Peterson. The other newly-charged defendants are Anthony Crabb, Robert Hurlbert, Chris Nicholson, and Peter Miller. Two other Antigo school employees who were paid on leave have not been charged. The Antigo district says it’s still doing an internal investigation of all its employees on leave. The Merrill district has not commented. All the new defendants are in their 40’s-and-50’s. And prosecutors have said most bought their marijuana from Scot Peterson, who was charged last month with 26 counts. He’s due back in court March 19th, along with Brad Maahs of Wittenberg and former Antigo football coach and elementary principal John Lund. Lund was ordered yesterday to stand trial on eight felony charges, including marijuana possession and delivery and maintaining a drug trafficking place. Lund resigned last week.

Majority of Funds Spent on Recalls Last Summer Came From Out of State

2/12/12 - The independent groups that tried to influence last summer’s Wisconsin Senate recall elections got most of their money from out-of-state. That’s according to a new report released today by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The watchdog group examined just over 10-million dollars that were given to seven organizations like the Republican State Leadership Committee and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. And the report said only one-point-four million dollars – or about 15-percent of the total money – came from Wisconsin donors. The liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee raised the largest percentage of in-state money to try and get Democrats elected. It raised two-point-nine million dollars in all, and one-point-two million came from Wisconsinites. Most of that was from the state’s largest teachers’ union. Democrats gained two seats in last year’s six recall votes. The Dems did not achieve their goal of winning back the majority in the Senate – but they did reduce the G-O-P’s margin from five votes to just one.

Big Contract for Marinette Marine

2/12/12 - Marinette Marine has been given a big contract from the U-S Coast Guard. The northeast Wisconsin boat-maker has received an order totaling almost 90-million dollars to make 40 rescue boats. Marinette will start delivering the boats early next year. The company says the order is part of a 600-million-dollar commitment by the Coast Guard to contract for boats over a multi-year period. But it was not immediately known how much of that business would go to Marinette Marine.