Traffic fatalities are at a 17 year low in Dodge County. Sheriff Dale Schmidt says there were eight traffic deaths on Dodge County roads last year. That’s down from 20 the year before and the lowest fatality total in 17 years. Schmidt says in November 2017, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office initiated a long-term traffic crash reduction strategy in response to a disturbing increase in fatal crashes. That effort included […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A handful of Wisconsin Republicans are hoping new Democratic Gov. Tony Evers will help them finally criminalize first-offense drunken driving. Wisconsin is the only state in the nation that doesn't treat a first offense as a crime. Instead it's a traffic ticket. Two Wisconsin Republicans — state Rep. Jim Ott and Sen. Alberta Darling — have introduced a bill that would make a first offense a […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The man suspected of kidnapping a Wisconsin teenager and killing her parents more than two months ago appears to have led an unremarkable existence until then. Investigators believe 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson gunned down James and Denise Closs in their home near Barron in October and abducted their 13-year-old daughter, Jayme . Jayme escaped Thursday from a cabin in Gordon, Wisconsin, where she said he had […]
BARRON, Wis. (AP) — Attorneys for a man suspected of kidnapping a Wisconsin teen and killing her parents are calling it "a very tragic situation." Charles Glynn and Richard Jones, attorneys for 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson, said in a statement late Friday that there's a lot of emotion surrounding 13-year-old Jayme Closs' apparent abduction in October. Jayme was found alive on Thursday. Patterson faces kidnapping and homicide charges and has […]
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Dozens of small, simultaneous explosions have brought down the steel roof of the Bradley Center, the former home of the Milwaukee Bucks. The controlled demolition Sunday morning left debris scattered in the street. The Bradley Center closed last summer and the Bucks moved next door to the $524 million Fiserv Forum. The NBA team bid the 30-year-old arena a fond farewell in a series of tweets. The aim of […]
BARRON, Wis. (AP) — A 21-year-old man shot a Wisconsin couple to death at their home in a scheme to kidnap their teenage daughter, then held the girl captive for three months in an isolated north woods town before she managed to escape, authorities said Friday. Jayme Closs, 13, was skinny, disheveled and wearing shoes too big for her when she approached a stranger and pleaded for help Thursday in […]
RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) — Petco Animal Supplies Stores is shuttering its Drs. Foster and Smith operations, eliminating 289 jobs at the online business based in Rhinelander. California-based Petco says the operations, with the exception of Live Aquaria, will shut down during a two-week period starting March 10. Petco says since it acquired Drs. Fosters and Smith in 2015, the pet supplies industry has changed at a rapid pace. The company […]
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Shopko has announced the closure of six more stores in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin-based retailer announced late last year that it was closing 39 stores in 19 states by the end of February. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that it has added to the list stores in Appleton, Grafton, La Crosse, Menasha, Seymour and Sussex. Before, it had announced only one Wisconsin closure, in Mauston. […]
BARRON, Wis. (AP) — Elizabeth Smart says that finding a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who had been missing for three months is "why we can never give up hope on any missing child." Smart was 14 when she was abducted from her Salt Lake City home in 2002. She was rescued nine months later. Jayme Closs disappeared in October after her parents were killed inside their home in Barron. Authorities say […]