The head of a government watchdog group says dismantling the state elections board would be a mistake, but a Republican lawmaker from Fond du Lac says he supports making changes. Governor Scott Walker says he wants to replace the GAB with something completely new and that is accountable to the people. Common Cause in Wisconsin Director Jay Heck says that’s why the GAB was established following the legislative caucus scandal. […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Property taxes on the typical Wisconsin home are projected to decrease $1 on bills mailed this December and $2 next year. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a new estimate on property taxes for a home valued at just over $154,000 based on the state budget recently signed by Gov. Scott Walker. Walker's original budget proposal would have resulted in a $10 decrease in property taxes […]
BRISTOL, Wis. (AP) — Authorities say they tracked a cellphone to southeastern Wisconsin in their search for a small plane that was long overdue at the Experimental Aircraft Association convention. The bodies of two men were discovered in a crashed plane in a field in Kenosha County on Sunday. Authorities had picked up a signal from a cellphone in the wreckage. Sheriff's deputies and the Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol began […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republican Party executive director Joe Fadness is leaving his position to join Scott Walker's presidential campaign. The state party announced the move on Monday. Mike Duffey will take over as director of the state GOP. Fadness will be in charge of running the national ballot access program to qualify Walker for election in each presidential primary contest. Fadness began his political career as an intern […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel is hosting an open government summit this week, just weeks after he spoke out against proposed changes to the open records law that would have kept many government records private. Schimel says that he wants to update the state's open records law for the first time since 1981 to better reflect government officials' use of modern technology. The meeting Wednesday is […]
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Officers armed with rifles and Department of Natural Resources staff carrying tranquilizer guns searched a ravine and surrounding neighborhood for an elusive lion-like animal after police were among those who spotted big cat in Milwaukee. Police called in canine units as they searched thick bushes near Lincoln Creek Sunday. Curious citizens joined in the search, even though police warned residents to stay away from the area where […]
NECEDAH, Wis. (AP) — Wildlife specialists have hope for the population of endangered whooping cranes in Wisconsin, despite a high mortality rate for the young chicks. A record 24 cranes hatched from 37 nests in Wisconsin this year, but only three chicks have survived so far. If those chicks survive to the fledging stage, the count will tie with a previous record of three surviving fledglings from 2010. Whooping cranes […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin's nonpartisan elections and ethics oversight board created under a broad bipartisan deal now faces elimination by Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators upset with a series of its decisions. They question the Government Accountability Board's involvement in a secret investigation into Walker and other conservative groups that the Wisconsin Supreme Court earlier this month declared unconstitutional. Even former Republican Sen. Mike Ellis, who helped broker […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Madison man accused of killing his developmentally disabled son then attempting to take his own life at an area park has died. Authorities say Friday that 47-year-old Theodore Peterson died from "self-inflicted trauma." Authorities say Peterson killed his 16-year-old son, Maxwell, at Token Creek County Park on Tuesday then tried to kill himself. A passer-by found them along a park trail. Search warrants say the […]