Radiothon In Retrospect: Competition Benefits All
6/24/14 – This year there were eight organizations in the running to win the coveted Dodge County Service Cup. The DCS Cup is awarded to the non-profit organization that raises the most money for the Children’s Radiothon. Each of the agencies in this year’s event held their own fundraiser in a designated community in Dodge County. Jodi Slowiak with Clothes For Kids says although it’s a competition, it is all in good fun. Slowiak says they all use each other’s resources and make sure they are meeting each other’s needs. She says the Radiothon is one fun way to raise money for those in need and the collaboration throughout the Radiothon is what makes the community unique. The groups all work as a group with the same goals in mind. YMCA Executive Director Jen Kruel says everybody learns something new and they get to educate people on the history of the Radiothon and the impact it truly has on the youth. As the organizations join forces, the cooperation and collaboration comes together throughout the community. Community Care Administrator Renee Henning says they are all a team and all the recipients are winners in the end. Henning says every dime that is raised goes right back into each organization. She says it is fulfilling to know the money that is raised from Radiothon helps the non-profits continue doing what they are doing. This year’s preliminary total was $113,691.23.
Columbus Among Those Named ‘Connected Community’
6/24/14 – The city of Columbus is one of 21 communities in Wisconsin added to the state’s downtown revitalization program on Monday. It’s called the “Connected Communities Program” and it provides access to statewide resources and training to help communities in revitalization efforts. As a Connected Communities participant, Columbus will benefit from a variety of local economic development assistance and resources including: access to an online network; participation in Main Street workshops; training for downtown merchants; invitations to discussion groups and access to the state’s downtown development online library. The program is a product of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). City Administrator Patrick Vander Sanden said he hopes the Connect Communities program can be a catalyst for downtown renewal.
Statewide Home Sales Dip, Dodge County Sales Up
6/24/14 – Home sales in Wisconsin are down for the fifth month in a row. The state Realtors Association is reporting its members sold just under 7000 existing houses in the Badger State last month — down from almost 7500 in the same month of 2013. Home sales in Dodge County last month were down 12-percent with 825 sales, 113 less than last May. For the first five months of 2014, the group said its home sales were down by eight-percent from the previous year. Year-to-date home sales in Dodge County are up two-and-a-half percent with 332 home sales so far, eight more than by this point last year. The median house statewide sold for 140-thousand dollars this year, compared to 135-thousand last year. In Dodge Couty, the median price rose is $4000 higher at $116-thousand dollars. Realtors’ board chairman Steve Lane said his group expected a slight recovery in the sales figures, once the unusually long-and-cold winter ended — but it hasn’t happened yet. Realtors’ president Michael Theo said rising home prices and interest rates might be a couple of reasons for the sales drop — along with tighter regulations on lending. The Realtors’ median sales prices jumped three-point-eight percent last month, compared to a month ago.
Beaver Dam Man Pleads Out In Triple Burglary Case
6/24/14 – A Beaver Dam man pled no contest Monday in connection with three area business break-ins that occurred in one night. Randall Riese entered the plea to felony Burglary and had a handful of misdemeanors dismissed but read into the record. Riese, along with 25-year-old Rylee Umland of Beaver Dam, are charged with breaking into Cocktail’s Bar and Grill and the North Plaza Laundromat and Schmid’s Car Wash in March. A propane torch was used to open the coin machines at the car wash and laundromat. Alcohol and frozen pizzas were stolen from the tavern. Umland was connected to the Beaver Dam property crimes after he reportedly used the coin machine at ShopKo to cash-in over $300 dollars in stolen quarters. He dropped a bank bag with “Schmid’s Car Wash” written on it at the department store. Umland was then identified at the scene of the crime in video surveillance footage. When he was stopped, officers found a small propane torch in the backseat. Umland has a plea hearing next month. Judge Joseph Sciascia ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for Riese and a hearing is scheduled in September.
Waupun Teen Charged With OWI Causing Injury
6/24/14 – A Waupun man is accused of injuring a passenger in a drunken driving crash. Donovan Bostwick is facing two charges of OWI Causing Injury for the accident on April 27th, 2014. According to the criminal complaint, the 19-year-old crashed a car into a Waupun resident’s front-yard, hit a tree and fled from the scene. An officer located Bostwick at his residence approximately one-block away. Bostwick reportedly admitted that he had been drinking and should not have been driving. A passenger in his vehicle sustained a concussion while another fled the scene and has a warrant out for his arrest. Bostwick’s preliminary breath test was allegedly twice the legal limit for driving at point-one-seven-one (.171). A signature bond was set Monday at $500 and Bostwick will be in court again next month. The charges carry a combined maximum of up to two years in jail, if he is convicted.
Guardsmen Sentenced To Life In Mauston Bar Murder
6/24/14 – A former Air National Guardsman will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his girlfriend and wounding another woman outside a bar in Mauston. Thirty-year-old Cody Treul of Mauston was sentenced yesterday to life, with no chance for a supervised release. Truel pleaded no contest in March to a Juneau County charge of first-degree intentional homicide. Authorities said he shot-and-killed 29-year-old Gail Howland and wounded Ebony Lasher — who was then 23 — outside of P-J’s Bar and Grill in downtown Mauston on May 31st of last year. Lasher became a paraplegic.
Dem’s Focus On Walker’s Jobs Record
6/24/14 – Governor Scott Walker has said that Democrats might hammer him over the allegations that he led illegal campaign coordination between recall candidates and conservative groups. However, state Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate told reporters Monday that the fall governor’s race will hinge on Walker’s job record. Tate said the Republican Walker’s greatest challenge is defending the state’s slow job growth — the 37th slowest in the nation, according to federal figures from last week. Tate said Wisconsinites do not have the confidence that things will get any better — and Tate says his party’s main gubernatorial candidate, Mary Burke, has a better job plan. The state has created just over 100-thousand jobs since Walker took office at the start of 2011. That’s less than 40-percent of the private sector jobs Walker promised when he first asked voters to elect him in 2010.
Walker Supports Utility Merger
6/24/14 – Governor Scott Walker says the merger of two of Wisconsin’s largest electric utilities will mean a stronger business, and better service for customers. The parent companies of We Energies in Milwaukee and Wisconsin Public Service announced the deal today. Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Energy is buying the Integrys Energy Group of Chicago for nine-point-one billion dollars in cash, stock, and debt. Wisconsin Energy C-E-O Gale Klappa will head the combined company, with a new name of W-E-C Energy. It will be headquartered in Milwaukee with additional operating headquarters in Chicago and Green Bay. Integrys C-E-O Charlie Schrock will stay in that post until the sale is complete. That’s expected to be sometime next summer. Schrock will then retire after that. Integrys shareholders will own about 28-percent of the new company. Besides Public Service, Integrys owns Minnesota Energy Resources, Peoples and North Shore Gas, and the Michigan Gas Utilities. The newly-combined operation will serve over four-point-three million electric and natural gas customers. Both boards have approved the deal — but it still needs the blessing of stockholders, Wisconsin and other state utility commissions, the F-C-C, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. W-E-C Energy will also own about 60-percent of the American Transmission Company, which builds and operates electric transmission lines statewide.
PAC Files Suit Against Aggregate Spending Limits
6/24/14 – A Wisconsin political action committee filed suit Monday, hoping to strike down the state’s total limits on what legislative candidates can receive from all such groups. The conservative C-R-G Network claims that recent U-S Supreme Court rulings put the Wisconsin law into question — even though the State Supreme Court upheld it in 1990. The law limits a state Senate candidate to just over 15-thousand dollars in total contributions from special interest P-A-C’s. Assembly candidates are limited to just under eight-thousand. The C-R-G Network said it tried making small donations to three people, but those candidates returned either some or all of the money because they had already received the maximum allowed from other political action groups. In a statement announcing the suit, attorney Rick Esenberg said the restrictions “cannot be justified by the state’s interest in avoid corruption in the campaign process.” The defendants are members of the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees the election process. The state Justice Department says it will review the lawsuit, and respond accordingly.
Charges Dropped After Gun Left In Church Bathroom
6/24/14 – An Oconomowoc woman has been cleared of criminal charges for allegedly leaving a loaded handgun in church restroom. Circuit Judge Lloyd Carter dropped a misdemeanor count against 66-year-old Susan Hitchler. She was charged with negligent handling of a weapon, after she openly carried a Ruger-.380 into Brookfield’s Elmbrook Church in March and left it in a stall. Her attorney said the weapon was only seen by a custodian at the church, despite concerns that youngsters might have spotted it. Officials said Hitchler called the church about a half-hour after she realized it was missing. Defense lawyer Tom Grieve said the charge required that the defendant’s conduct directly endangered another person — and in this case, there was no proof that it did.
