Month: February 2016

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Legislature's budget committee has approved state health officials' request to spend more on Wisconsin's mental health institutes.  The Department of Health Services wants to spend an additional $15.8 million beyond the state budget on upgrades at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, the Winnebago Mental Health Institute near Oshkosh and three centers for the mentally disabled in Madison, Union Grove and Chippewa Falls.  The […]

Each year elementary school students at Central Wisconsin Christian partner with the American Heart Association in their annual “Jump Rope for Health” campaign. This year the students and their supporting donors raised a record $4,104.06 at the January 28th event.  In all, 81 of the elementary students (63% of grades K-5) participated by engaging partnership pledges for the event. Kindergartener Korbyn Wenzel was the top fundraiser, followed by 4th graders […]

Nobody was injured when a  truck went  through the ice  on Luco Creek in Fond du Lac.  According to a Sheriff’s report a  62-year-old woman called dispatch Tuesday afternoon to report her pick up went through the ice by the bridge and Giese Drive near Schmitty’s Oar House.  The water is only a couple feet deep in that area. Barricades have been erected around the large hole in the ice.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office says a Campbellsport man apparently shot and killed himself.  The 59 year old man was found dead about 8am Wednesday  at Baumhardt Sand and Gravel on Highway W with an apparent self-inflicted shotgun wound.

The state Assembly has voted in favor of a so-called sexual assault amnesty bill.  The bill’s author, Republican state representative Joan Ballweg says the measure would encourage more victims to report the crime.  Ballweg says the bill  would ensure victims and others who report sexual assaults can’t be cited for underage drinking. The bill comes as universities try to increase sexual assault reporting on campus through education and outreach programs.  Many colleges and […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Spitting at prosecutors would carry a felony charge under a bill the Wisconsin Assembly has approved. It's already a felony for someone to throw or expel bodily substances at police, prison guards, firefighters and first responders, such as emergency medical technicians and ambulance operators. The GOP bill would extend that protection to prosecutors, who currently can only charge people with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for the act.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Assembly has approved a bill that would push the start of Wisconsin's wolf hunt back if the federal government allows the season to resume. Under current law, the wolf hunt begins on Oct. 15 and ends on the last day of February the following year. The bill would push the start date back to the first Saturday in November.

Wisconsin consumer protection officials compiling a list of top complaints in 2015 say identity theft is on the rise.  The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says telemarketing remains the perennial leader among complaint categories, reinforced by a rash of threatening phone scams.  The agency says tax-related rip-offs drove the identity theft category up one spot on the list to third place. Consumer protection administrator Frank Frassetto says you may not know that […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Deferred maintenance has driven a long-term fix for Milwaukee's Mitchell Park Domes to $65 million to $75 million.  Taxpayers will likely have plenty to say on whether the domes are worth saving. All three domes are closed until temporary repairs can be made after debris began falling recently in one of the structures. Weddings and other events at the domes will have to be moved to alternative […]