News – March 25, 2019

(Beaver Dam) The Beaver Dam Police Department is investigating a weekend shooting death as a homicide. Stacia F. Hollinshead of Sycamore, Illinois was apparently shot to death inside a residence on the 300 block of East Third Street Saturday around 2:42pm. The suspect has been identified as Ulisses W Medina Espinoza of Beaver Dam, who is currently in the Dodge County Detention Facility. Police Chief John Kreuziger says his office is working closely with the Dodge County District Attorney’s Office in the determination of charges but noted (quote) “the incident is being investigated as a homicide.” At a Saturday press conference, Kreuziger said there has never been a murder in the city in his 28 years with the department.

 

(Effingham, Illinois) The woman killed in an apparent weekend homicide in Beaver Dam was an Assistant State’s Attorney in DeKalb County, Illinois. In a Facebook post, DeKalb County State Attorney Rick Amato wrote Sunday evening that they were “stunned and saddened” to learn of the death of [Stacia] Hollinshead. The 30-year-old Effingham, Illinois-native was killed in a shooting Saturday in Beaver Dam. While local authorities have released few details, Amato is calling the incident the (quote) “worst possible outcome of domestic violence.” The post laments that “no faction of society is immune from [domestic violence], not even those who work in the public safety arena, fiercely dedicated to stopping

it.”

 

(Dodge County) Vehicle sales in the region are booming compared to the first two months of last year. According to the Waterloo-based industry-tracking firm Reg-Trak, Dodge County saw 648 vehicle sales in January and February, a 28-percent increase from last year. In Columbia County, a modest three-percent increase with 432 vehicle sales. In Jefferson County, 438 vehicles rolled off dealer lots in the first two months of the year up 12-percent from the same time frame last year. In the nine-county south-central Wisconsin region as a whole, vehicle sales were 12-percent higher with roughly 7400 sales in the first two months of the year compared to 6600 last year.

 

(Ashland County) Two Ashland County Sheriff’s deputies rescued a pair of bear cubs trapped in a flooded culvert. The Ashland Daily Press reports deputies Zach Pierce and Dylan Wegner discovered the cold and wet baby bears Friday near the Bad River Reservation. They brought them into their squad car to warm up, but the mother bear was nearby. Pierce said “the little cubs were screaming and crying like crazy.” A conservation warden arrived and the cubs were placed in an open area for their mother to retrieve.

 

(Madison) Governor Tony Evers will take his first tour of flood damage today in western Wisconsin.  He will meet with City of Arcadia officials regarding flood concerns, then will visit several townships in Trempealeau County impacted by this month’s snow melt and rains.  Damage to public property has been estimated at nearly two-million dollars at last report.

 

(Madison) Governor Evers says work continues on re-establishing the state’s pardons board and how applications will be submitted.  That has not stop his office from receiving over one-thousand letters, phone calls and emails for consideration.  Former Governor Scott Walker disbanded the board in 2011.  Evers says pardons and commutations are a tool that can change the criminal justice system.

 

(Madison) Wisconsin is one of six states impacted by a voluntary recall of whole avocados due to possibly being contaminated with listeria.  Grower and distributor Henry Avocado near San Diego says a routine inspection of its packing plant found positive test samples for listeria.  So far there have been no reports of any illnesses.

 

(Madison) For the second year in a row, Madison-based Badger Honor Flight will send area veterans to Washington DC on five planned flights. Most years since the hub began operations a decade ago has seen four flights on average. The flight dates are April 20, May 18, September 7, October 5 and November 2. The public is encouraged to attend a welcome home ceremony after each return flight to the Dane County Airport.  More information along with applications can be found at badgerhonorflight.org.