AAA projects the number of year-end holiday travelers will top 100 million for the first time on record. Nearly one in three Americans will take a trip this holiday season, with 100.5 million expected to journey 50 miles or more from home. This represents a 1.4 percent increase over last year and the seventh consecutive year of year-end holiday travel growth. Locally, over 2 million Wisconsin residents will make a […]
The Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue Division Chief of Fire prevention says a Fond du Lac couple is fortunate to escape their burning home unharmed. Troy Haase says there were no working smoke detectors in the Lincoln Avenue home when fire broke out early Monday morning. Meanwhile Haase says the investigation continues into the cause of the fire. The fire damage was contained to the living room, but there […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin labor officials referred 36 unemployment fraud cases to the state Department of Justice during the past year, up from six cases in 2014. DOJ spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said says the increase is due largely to her agency expanding its anti-fraud efforts. She says most of the referrals involved people who collected unemployment even though they were ineligible because they had found work but failed to […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two prosecutors involved in a secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's recall campaign say they won't appeal a ruling that halted the probe. Five prosecutors began a probe in 2012 into whether Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with outside groups. A judge later appointed special prosecutor Francis Schmitz to run the investigation at the prosecutors' request. The state Supreme Court halted the investigation this summer. This month […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Government Accountability Board is getting ready to implement changes to Wisconsin's campaign finance laws. Gov. Scott Walker is expected to sign a bill this week that overhauls campaign finance regulations, including raising contribution limits and allowing corporate donations to political parties and legislative campaign committees. The GAB voted Tuesday to make technical changes to its internal rules to deal with issues the bill doesn't […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Dave Hansen has apologized to "anyone offended" by his retweet of a message that included a profane, derogatory reference to Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Hansen said Tuesday he was trying to share a tweet about new limits on political corruption investigations when he inadvertently posted the foul Twitter message that's derogatory to the governor and people with disabilities. Hansen says it's not the message […]
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) — Emergency managers in Columbia County are watching the rising waters of the Wisconsin River. Winter flooding can present unique challenges. Emergency manager Pat Beghin says there's no evaporation because it's too cool and there's a lot more runoff because the plants and trees aren't taking up the moisture. Columbia County and City of Portage administrators are met Tuesday to go over updated flooding predictions and emergency […]
A National Weather Service meteorologist says the weather over the last few days is extremely unusual for this time of year in Wisconsin. Justin Schultz says its been a while since we have seen this much rain and temperatures pushing or topping 60 degrees in the middle of December. "The last time southern Wisconsin had temperatures in the lower 60s (in December) was in 1984," Schultz told AM 1170 […]
When Better Business Bureau launched BBB Scam Tracker earlier this year, it was expected that tax scams would be high on the list. What was surprising was how high; more than the next three categories put together. In the first 10,000 scam reports processed by BBB, a whopping 24% were about imposters pretending to be either the Internal Revenue Service (2,363 reports) or the Canadian Revenue Agency (50 reports). The rest of […]