Month: October 2015

An Iron Ridge man convicted on charges related to holding his estranged wife at gunpoint after kicking in the door of her home will serve some time in prison.  On Wednesday, Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger sentenced 66 year old Charles Kaepernick to 18 months of initial confinement and 4 years of extended supervision.  In August, Kaepernick pleaded no contest to charges of burglary-armed with a dangerous weapon […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says he'll sign legislation banning so-called John Doe investigations into potential political corruption, a measure that passed the Legislature this week. Speaking at a groundbreaking in Milwaukee Thursday afternoon, the Republican governor said he looks forward to approving the bill. He says it's just a matter of how quickly it gets to his desk, whether that's "in the next day or two or […]

A Ripon college political science professor says how congressman Paul Ryan fares  as House speaker could determine whether he runs for president in the future.  Professor Marty Farrell says Ryan is answering the call of his party.  Farrell says if Ryan can bring some sense of unity to the party that would certainly burnish his leadership credentials.  "I think he probably still harbors some presidential ambitions, as Speaker of the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — All three House Republican groups that Rep. Paul Ryan said must support him before he runs for speaker have lined up behind him. That makes it all but certain that he will take the chamber's top job.  The huge Republican Study Committee represents mainstream House conservatives and claims over 170 members. It said Thursday Ryan is "the right person to lead the House going forward." Minutes earlier, […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Assembly health committee has signed off on a package of legislation designed to combat heroin use.  The package includes bills that would require opiate dispensers to enter prescriptions in a statewide database within 24 hours; require police who find an opiate prescription at an overdose scene to enter it in the database; create methadone and pain clinic registries; and require treatment programs that use […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The body of a Wisconsin airman killed along with 10 others in a military plane crash in Afghanistan is being returned to his home state.  The remains of Airman Quinn Johnson-Harris are arriving at Mitchell International Airport Thursday. The 21-year-old airman was a 2012 graduate of Homestead High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon. Johnson-Harris was among 11 people killed Oct. 2 when an Air Force […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Three ethics complaints filed against U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin over her firing of a top-level staff member have been dismissed.  Baldwin on Thursday released a letter from the Senate's ethics committee notifying her that the complaints related to the firing of her former deputy state director Marquette Baylor had been dismissed.  Baylor, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust earlier […]

Fond du Lac city officials are preparing to move forward with the next step in dealing with a former convent building destroyed by arson fire last summer.   Community Development director Diane Benson says the city has not heard from the owner of the Holy Nativity Convent building since a  raze or repair order was issued last month.  "The property owner has not reached out to the city in regard to […]

An elderly Fond du Lac man has died from injuries suffered in an October 7th crash in Appleton.  Police say 84 year old Louis Weigel Jr. died this week.  Police say Weigel was involved in a two vehicle rollover crash on Highway 441.