Beaver Dam Municipal Meetings Resume After Labor Day 
9/5/10 - There will be no regular meeting of the Beaver Dam Common Council this week because of the Labor Day Holiday. City officials did meet in special session last Monday to vote on a handful of time-sensitive issues, mostly related to downtown improvement. The city’s Operations Committee is also taking a rare Monday off while the Administrative Committee has posted no meeting notices until September 20. The Beaver Dam Police and Fire Commission is scheduled to meet for their regular meeting on Tuesday. The commission is expected to go into closed session to discuss the hiring of a new police chief. The field of candidates has been narrowed to four, interviews have been conducted and a decision could be made at any time. Also meeting this week: the city of Beaver Dam’s Ad-Hoc Community Center Planning Committee. The committee is tasked with considering a new community center and senior center in the former Herberger’s store inside the Beaver Dam mall. The committee will review a feasibility study when they meet on Wednesday.
Garbage Collection Delayed
9/5/10 - Garbage pick-up in Beaver Dam will be delayed by one day all this week because of the Labor Day holiday. Veolia Environmental will collect tomorrow’s (Monday’s) route on Tuesday; Tuesday’s route will be collected on Wednesday and that will continue all week with Friday’s route collected on Saturday. Brush collection provided by the Department of Public Works will also be delayed by one day next week. In addition, the Department of Public Works Garage will be closed on Labor Day.
Obama in Milwaukee on Labor Day Monday
9/5/10 - President Barack Obama will be in Milwaukee on Labor Day. Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Priebus says in a statement that this visit is indicative of just how desperate the Democrats are about their chances of winning in November. Mordecai Lee, Political Science Professor at UW Milwaukee, disagrees. Lee says, while it is important for Obama to get U.S. Senator Russ Feingold reelected and get Tom Barrett into the governo’s office, Obama’s visit doesn’t necessarily mean that the Democrats are in trouble. The President was in Wisconsin just a couple of weeks ago attending fundraisers for Barrett and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Monday’s visit will be Obama’s fifth trip to the state since he was elected. He will speak on the economy at the annual Laborfest put on by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
Wisconsin School Get Adaptive Testing Funds
9/5/10 - Wisconsin and 30 other states will share millions of dollars in federal cash, for what educators say will be a faster, better way to measure school kids’ academic progress. The U.S. Education Department is providing 330-million dollars in Race to the Top funding, to two multi-state consortiums. Wisconsin’s part of what’s called the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, which is getting 160-million dollars to better measure students in grades 3-8, and the 11th grade, in math and English skills. In a conference call with reporters, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan outlined how the 31-state group will use its award. He says the SMARTER Consortium will test students using computer adaptive technology.
Jump in Milk Prices from July to August
9/5/10 - The price dairy farmers get for milk appears to have made a significant jump between July and August. But farmers say prices are still lower than they need. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Wisconsin milk was worth $15.20 per hundredweight in July, and is believed to have increased by a dollar in August. Although the official August number isn’t in yet, it’s expected to be the largest price increase from July to August this year among the U.S.’s top 10 dairy states. The prices are also about $4 higher than at this time last year. Dairy market specialist Bob Cropp says dairy farmers probably need prices in the $17-$18 dollars per hundredweight range to begin making money again.
Madison Company Threatens to Move Jobs
9/5/10 - About 200 employees at Wolf Appliance in Madison recently rejected a company demand for a 20-percent cut in pay and benefits. Now, the company is threatening to move those jobs to Kentucky. Jim Cavanaugh with the South Central Federation of Labor says there was no indication from the employer that the cuts were necessary for the business and it’s unclear how the union will respond. Company officials have indicated their hope that workers will take another vote on the concessions. The news comes just after the company announced earlier this week it plans to transfer 100 Subzero jobs from Madison to Arizona over the next two years to streamline production.
PSC Finalizes Wind Farm Siting Rules
9/5/10 - The Wisconsin Public Service Commission has finalized wind siting rules, but not everyone is pleased. Michael Vickerman, executive director of Renew Wisconsin, which advocated for the statewide standards, said the new rules will give the wind industry something the local rules don’t - certainty. Vickerman says the patchwork of local rules left the industry feeling it couldn’t have any confidence in what terms and conditions it would have to deal with – because those rules kept changing. In 2009, Wisconsin lawmakers passed an act directing the PSC to formulate the statewide rules, which the legislature must now approve.
NTSB Fatal Med-Flight Report Complete
9/5/10 - Federal investigators say pilot error and the lack of warning equipment caused a med-flight helicopter crash in 2008 that killed three people near La Crosse. The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the crash Friday. A Med-Flight unit from U-W Madison had just flown a patient to a La Crosse hospital when it slammed into a bluff as it started to head home. It happened on a rainy-and-foggy night about four miles from the La Crosse airport. The crash killed Doctor Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne, and pilot Steve Lipperer. The safety board cited inadequate flight planning, as the pilot failed to maintain clearance from a cluster of trees at the top of a ridge-line. The report said the chopper did not have enough altitude – and it did not have an on-board warning system that could have alerted the pilot to the trees ahead of him.
Prominent Madison Businesswoman Arrested
9/5/10 - A well known Madison pharmacist and businesswoman was arrested last week for allegedly selling fake Viagra. Marla Ahlgrimm is owner of Women’s Health America and pharmacies that provide hormone replacement therapy. She was arrested along with 63 year old Balbir Bhogal Wednesday on federal charges alleging they imported and sold millions of doses of fake Viagra and other counterfeit drugs. Ahlgrimm, 55, has been honored for her civic-mindedness and serves on the UW Foundation.
Internet Cell Phone Use Up at UW Madison
9/5/10 - Many students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have the Internet right in the palm of their hand. The results of a campus survey done by the UW’s Division of Information Technology shows nearly 45-percent of students now have smart phones or similar handheld devices that connect directly to the Internet, such as iPhone or Blackberry. The numbers are up from about 24-percent in 2009 and the Division’s Brian Rust expects it to continue growing as students cell phone contracts expire and the technology continues to become more popular. Rust says this year’s survey of students shows they’re constantly interested in new ways to make technology play a bigger role in their education.
DA Klomberg Rescinds Controversial Policy
9/4/10 - Dodge County's new District Attorney has rescinded a controversial policy enacted by his predecessor. As his first official act since being sworn in on Wednesday, Kurt Klomberg issued a memo to all Dodge County Law Enforcement Agencies that says his office will resume prosecuting small-quantity, first-time, adult drug offenses as well as some Disorderly Conduct and Operating After Revocation offenses. Former D-A Bill Bedker had implemented the policy change that shifted that responsibility from the circuit courts to the municipal courts. Bedker says the policy change stemmed from state-imposed furlough days that forced him to prioritize his case load. As a result, the city of Beaver Dam changed their ordinance to allow their municipal court to handle marijuana possession charges. The money from those fines, which could be in the thousands of dollars per offense, would stay in the municipality. As part of the memo, Klomberg did encourage law enforcement officials to exercise discretion and, if appropriate, continue writing municipal citations for minor offenses rather than referring those charges up to the circuit court level. The new policy is not retroactive and only applies to offenses committed on or after September 1.
Jefferson Co. Jury Would Be Used in Forbes Trial
9/4/10 - A jury from Jefferson County would hear the possible trial of a man accused of killing an 18-year-old woman in Columbus 30 years ago. A two-week trial is scheduled to begin November eighth in Columbia County for 52-year-old Curtis Forbes. He's accused of beating, stabbing, and strangling Marilyn McIntyre in her Columbus apartment in March of 1980. Her husband Lane was working at the time. A motive was never determined. Forbes was said to be a friend of the victim's family. He was arrested in March of last year, when authorities said they found his D-N-A in a bathroom sink at the victim's home. He's been jailed since then under a 450-thousand dollar bond. About 200 jurors will be sent questionnaires. Up to 110 of them would have to appear for a selection process involving attorneys on both sides. The pool will then be whittled down to 12 jurors and two alternates. The trial was supposed to begin at the end of April, with a jury from Wood County. But the judge decided to give prosecutors time whether to decide to appeal a ruling to suppress some of the D-N-A evidence. The state decided not to appeal, thus allowing the trial to be re-scheduled.
Bonney Sentenced 
9/4/10 - A Grafton man will spend four years in prison for his seventh OWI. Michael Bonney crashed into a house in the Town of Hustisford in February. According to the police report, the 38-year-old was traveling northbound on County Highway E when his vehicle spun across the roadway and through the southbound lane striking several trees and a fence before smashing into the home. There was no one in the residence at the time. The jaws-of-life was used to cut the Bonney from the pick-up. He was seriously injured and, according to a breath test at the hospital 90 minutes after the accident, his blood alcohol level was over twice the legal limit. In addition to prison time, Bonney will lose his license for three years followed by another three years with an ignition interlock device on his vehicle.
Dells Ride Had No Mechanical Problems
9/4/10 - State officials said they found no mechanical problems on a Wisconsin Dells amusement park ride where a 12-year-old girl was seriously injured. A report released yesterday by the state Commerce Department said the operator of the Terminal Velocity ride did not follow proper protocol when Teagan Marti fell 100-feet to the ground on July 30th. The report said Teagan was dropped before her cage reached the top - and before a safety net was lifted to its proper position. The incident occurred at the Extreme World amusement park. The ride's operator at the time, 33-year-old Charles Carnell of Lake Delton, faces a criminal charge of reckless injury. The ride is still closed. Marti was transferred this week from U-W Hospital in Madison to a Florida hospital close to her home. Doctors say she could be partially paralyzed.
Harley and Union Reach Tentative Deal
9/4/10 - Union workers still have to ratify the deal, but an agreement has been reached which could keep hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin. Workers are expected to vote on the contract a week from Monday. Harley-Davidson had said labor costs at its manufacturing operations in Milwaukee and Tomahawk were too high. The company said it might move that production to other plants if it didn't get concessions. Neither side is saying much about what is in the agreement terms. A company spokesman says the contract gives Harley the flexibility it needs to stay competitive, while maintaining competitive salaries for its workers.
Minimum Mark-up Law Ruling Reversed on Appeal
9/4/10 - Wisconsin's minimum mark-up law for gasoline - which a federal judge struck down a year-and-a-half ago - was put back in place today. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed a ruling from Judge Rudolph Randa, who said the mark-up requirement violates federal anti-trust laws and is therefore unconstitutional. The Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers-and-Convenience Store Association challenged that ruling, and it won its appeal. The group said mom-and-pop gas stations would be driven out of business by larger competitors who could afford to charge less. But critics say the law - which was first passed during the Great Depression - artificially raises gas prices in the Badger State. State Attorney General J-B Van Hollen had decided not to appeal Randa's ruling, leaving the petroleum marketers as the only ones to do so.
Insurance Premiums Mostly on Workers Shoulders Now
9/4/10 - For the first time, an annual health survey shows workers are paying the bulk of health insurance premium increases. A national group which analyzes health trends speculates it's due to the recession, that companies are trying to avoid cutting jobs. The Kaiser Family Foundation has tracked health premiums for over a decade. During that time, health costs have routinely gone up by a greater percentage than wages. What's different about this year is who ends up paying most of the increased premiums, says Kaiser's CEO, Drew Altman. Premiums for family coverage increased on average 14-percent, while there was no increase for companies.
American Hero’s Music Festival: Parade Entries Still Accepted
(Beaver Dam) Entries are still being accepted into the September 11 parade that will kick-off this year’s American Hero’s Music Festival. The event is organized by the Exchange Club and Joe Cantafio, the cousin of fallen Beaver Dam-soldier Ryan Cantafio who was killed in Iraq on Thanksgiving in 2004. Joe Cantafio says the daylong festival is an opportunity to celebrate not only his cousin, but also first responders, gold star mothers and the other Beaver Dam solider who died in Iraq, Kirk Straseskie, who was killed in May of 2003. The festival is in its second year, but this is the first year there will be a parade. Among those expected to participate: US Congressman Tom Petri, State Attorney General JB Van Hollen and State Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. The Grand Marshall is Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls, who is a Colonel in the Wisconsin Army National Guard. In addition, the parade will include military vehicles, marching bands and local veteran’s organizations. Patriotic motorcycle groups are also expected in full force. There will be no commercial floats and only current office holders are invited. The day will be videotaped and the Pentagon has indicated that one of their reporters will staff the event. The parade will assemble in the west Tower Parking Lot at 9:15am on Saturday, September 11 and beginning at 10am will proceed from North Center Street to South University Avenue before ending at Swan Park, which is where the concert will be held beginning at 12:30pm.