Top Stories February 1st

Woman Pinned Underneath Vehicle in Critical Condition

2/1/12 - A 43-year-old Theresa woman was listed in critical condition at last word after she got pinned underneath her vehicle yesterday morning. It happened on Doyle Road just before 7 a-m. Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls says they believe the woman stopped to get the mail on her way to work when her vehicle started sliding backwards. The woman was apparently trying to get back into the vehicle when she got knocked down, and the car rolled on top of her. Nehls says because of the snow and ice the car didn’t roll over her, but instead, wedged her underneath one of the front tires. She was dragged about 300 feet down an embankment and into a marshy area. Nehls says the woman’s son saw the accident happen and called 9-1-1. She was flown to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee and was in the intensive care unit last night.

Despite Privacy Concerns, Recall Petitions Now Online

2/1/12 - The recall petitions against Governor Scott Walker are now on-line. The Government Accountability Board put all of the estimated one-million signatures on its Web site last night, after a number of people asked that their names not be posted due to privacy concerns. But Board director Kevin Kennedy says no expectation of privacy is justified or implied when somebody chooses to sign a public recall petition. He also cited a recent U-S Supreme Court decision which ordered Washington State to release petitions for a referendum. The Walker petitions were expected to be posted Monday. But the Accountability Board held them back for a day to weigh the privacy concerns against the public interest – which is the required balancing test under the Open Records Law. Kennedy said the balancing test favored disclosure of the entire petitions with nothing blacked out – even when signers feared that previous abusers would seek them out if they saw their victims’ addresses in the petitions. The Accountability Board took heat for holding the petitions back. State Attorney General J-B Van Hollen said the petitions should be distributed as widely as possible, and he had attorneys meet with elections’ officials on the issue yesterday. You’ll find the petitions at GAB-Dot-WI-Dot-Gov. The state Republican Party and the Walker campaign have been reviewing the petitions, looking for false and duplicate signatures. The board has until March 19th to validate the petitions.

Voter ID Law Informational Meeting Tonight

2/1/12 - Dodge County voters are invited to an informational meeting tonight that covers new statewide changes in elections laws and the new voter ID requirements. The non-partisan event is sponsored by the Government Accountability Board and Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson. It will be held at 5:30pm at the Beaver Dam Public Library. Link with more info can be found on our website. www.gab.wi.gov or www.co.dodge.wi.us

No Candidate for Scott Fitzgerald in Possible Recall

2/1/12 - State Democrats announced that three present-and-former lawmakers will run for the Senate in the possible recall elections. Democrats, however, have not announced a challenger for G-O-P Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau. Wausau Representative Donna Seidel will try to unseat Republican Pam Galloway. Former Racine Senator John Lehman will try to get his old job back, after he lost to Van Wanggaard in 2010. And former Assembly Democrat Kristin Dexter of Eau Claire will run against Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls. State Democratic chairman Mike Tate said his party is quote, "poised to complete the job of taking back the Senate which was begun last spring." But Fitzgerald called Seidel, Lehman, and Dexter "retread candidates" who will provide a stark contrast to the G-O-P's quote, "fiscal responsibility and pro-jobs leadership."

Jeff Fitzgerald Lagging Behind in Money Raised

2/1/12 - State Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald has not raised nearly as much campaign money as his Republican opponents in Wisconsin’s U-S Senate race this fall. The Horicon Republican says he raised $77,000 dollars in the last three months of 2011. That’s well below the $518,000 raised by former Congressman Mark Neumann, and the $656,000 raised by former Governor Tommy Thompson. Fitzgerald says the race is a marathon, not a sprint. And even if he doesn’t keep up financially, he says he can win by pointing to his accomplishments in the Assembly any chance he can get. The winner of the September G-O-P primary is expected to face Democrat Tammy Baldwin in November. And she raised $1.1 million dollars from October through December. The winner of the Senate contest will replace retiring Democrat Herb Kohl.

Wisconsin Losing Residents and Tax Dollars

2/1/12 - A new report says 45-thousand Wisconsinites – which equals the entire population of Fond du Lac – moved to Florida and Arizona from 2006-through-2010. The state’s Taxpayers Alliance examined 15 years of Census and I-R-S data, and it concluded that quote – “Wisconsin has shifted from a net importer to a net exporter of people and income.” Almost 28-thousand state residents who moved to Florida during the five years the group studied had average family incomes of 82-thousand-dollars. Dale Knapp of the Tax Alliance says many are retirees. And for them, he said “no income tax in Florida seals the deal.” About 17-thousand Wisconsinites who moved to Arizona took away annual incomes of 53-thousand dollars. The report said 35-thousand more Milwaukee County residents left than arrived – and they reduced the county’s total incomes by one-point-three billion dollars. But those who moved to Wisconsin are no dummies – not all of them, anyway. Forty-percent of the incoming residents 25-and-older had college degrees. And about a quarter of those who moved here are in the 18-to-24-year-old age group. Wisconsin had a net population gain during the five-year study period, but that was due to births and deaths within the state. The Tax Alliance said a total of 413-thousand Wisconsinites left from ’06-through-2010 – while almost 389-thousand moved in.

National Guard Sendoff this Weekend

2/1/12 - A sendoff ceremony will be held this weekend in Hartford for several local Wisconsin Army and Air National Guardsmen. Approximately 60 members of the 82nd Agribusiness Development Team, are being deployed to Afghanistan. Their mission is to teach Afghan farmers how to effectively farm and herd to expand their agribusiness, create jobs and reduce poverty. That includes training Afghans in beekeeping, advising grape farmers in the use of trellises to increase yield, educating livestock owners in the use of vaccines to improve herd health, and establishing demonstration farms to highlight various agriculture techniques. The members of the 82nd include a forestry specialist, agronomist, agricultural marketing specialist, a hydrologist, a pest control specialist, engineers, a veterinary technician, mechanics, medics, communications specialists and security personnel. Their sendoff will be held at 2:30pm Saturday at Hartford High School. Another ceremony for 130 Army National Guard soldiers from the Oshkosh-based 1157th Transportation Company, will be held at 11am Saturday at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Eagle Hangar in Oshkosh. Prior to their deployment overseas, the soldiers will train for several weeks at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Both ceremonies are open to the public.

47% of Wisconsinites Approved of Obama

2/1/12 - Just over 47-percent of Wisconsin adults approved of President Obama’s job performance during the course of last year. That’s according to numbers released this afternoon by the Gallup polling organization. It sampled about 48-hundred Wisconsinites throughout 2011 – and it listed Obama’s approval rating in the Badger State at 47-point-four percent, with 43-point-eight-percent disapproving. Wisconsin’s rating was three points above the national figure – and it was second only to Michigan among a dozen battleground states in this year’s presidential race.

Telemarketers Still #1 Complaint from Residents

2/1/12 - Wisconsin’s Number-One consumer complaint is still the tele-marketers who violate the do-not-call list. The state Consumer Protection agency received 16-hundred-69 written complaints about telemarketing firms last year. Cell phone and Internet providers were second on the complaint list. Landlord-tenant disputes were third followed by home improvement scams, identity theft, gas pump inaccuracies, vehicle sales, furniture sales, car repairs, satellite dishes, dentistry work, and various contests and promotions. Many of the telemarketer complaints were about automated “robo-calls” from firms that seek credit card numbers and other personal data. Consumer protection administrator Sandy Chalmers says her office gets a dozen calls a day from people who want the practice stopped. But that’s hard to do, because many calls are placed from outside the U-S. Of the 12-hundred-72 telecom complaints, almost 700 were against Element Mobile – which had numerous contract-and-billing problems after it took over from All-Tel in most of central Wisconsin a year ago. The company has said that most of the complaints resulted from the transition to Element Mobile.

Columbus Accepts Statue and Land

2/1/12 - The City has accepted the statue and land that were the property of the “Columbus Quincentenial Celebration Committee.” The statue of Columbus asking for a heavenly invocation upon his discovery of a new land is located on highways 60 & 16 entering the City from the west. The Council accepted the 1.6 acres of parkland and the historic 1992 statue at their last meeting by accepting the transfer of assets of the Quincentennial Committee to the City.

Customer Thwarts Robbery in Milwaukee

2/1/12 - An effort to rob a Milwaukee grocery store was thwarted when a customer pulled out a gun and opened fire. Police said a man entered an Aldi's store on the city's northwest side Monday evening and announced a hold-up. A customer then fired at the suspect, and the would-be robber ran off without getting anything. Later, police say a 20-year-old man showed up at a hospital to be treated for a non-life threatening gunshot wound, no word yet if he’s connected.

Lins on Community Comment Today

2/1/12 - Join us on WBEV’s Community Comment this afternoon when we welcome the Beaver Dam School District’s Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Coordinator Deb Lins to the program. February is National Prescription Drug Awareness Month and Lins will join us to discuss the dangers facing youth today and efforts parents can undertake to keep their kids away for the growing problem of prescription drug use and abuse. Community Comment airs weekdays on 1430AM at 12:35pm.