News – June 25, 2015

The WBEV-WXRO Children’s Radiothon Is Underway

 

6/25/15 – The WBEV/WXRO Children’s Radiothon is here with a 27-hour marathon broadcast to benefit nine local charities. It all started with a live on-air auction Thursday morning at 6am, which will continue through 9am Friday morning. The Seventh Annual Noel’s Angel Walk is at Waterworks Park at 7am and an Angel Cakes Breakfast from 7:30am until 10am will be held at the nearby Girl Scout House. John Kraft is traveling around the county to seven different locations Thursday morning as the organizations benefitting from the Radiothon compete to raise funds with the winner taking home the Annual DCS Cup. Brenda Murphy will host an one-air dessert auction from 9am through 11am There will be a car wash and brat fry at the GKB Verizon Wireless Zone on North Spring Street from 11am to 2pm. We will again be collecting cash donations on the roof of the Stoddard Street radio station this year but with a twist. Instead of our announcers fishing for donations, local celebrities will be lending a hand. Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy has volunteered for a shift on the roof along with Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, Beaver Dam High School Principal Mark DiStefano, Beaver Dam Fire Chief Alan Mannel and State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau. Tonight, the Radiothon Bash will be held at Tower Lanes in Beaver Dam beginning at 6pm. The nine organizations benefiting from the Children’s Radiothon are People Against A Violent Environment, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dodge County, Green Valley Enterprises, YMCA of Dodge County, Clothes for Kids, the Watertown Family Center, ARC of Dodge County, Community Care Preschool and Child Care and – new this year – the ImpACT Coalition.

 

For more information on the WBEV-WXRO Children’s Radiothon go to:

 

http://goodkarmabrands.com/radiothon-events/

 

Kayaker Who Drowned In Horicon Identified

 

6/25/15 – A kayaker who died on the Rock River Tuesday has been identified as Philip Clark of Jackson, Wisconsin.  Horicon Police Lieutenant Russ Saunders says the 62-year-old rented two canoes from the Blue Heron for his wife and grandson. As the family was returning from a sight-seeing trip, Clark’s wife noticed him in the water. Clark’s wife was able to pull him to the shore near Vine Street behind John Deere where an employee heard the woman’s pleas for help. That John Deere employee administered CPR until first responders arrived on scene. Clark was transported to the Beaver Dam Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death is not known though foul play is not suspected. An autopsy was ordered by the Dodge County Medical Examiner.

 

Teens Killed En Route To Dells, Search Underway For Trucker

 

6/25/15 – Minnesota authorities are looking for the driver of a semi-truck that was said to be “extremely close” to a pick-up that crashed and killed two teens heading to a Wisconsin Dells basketball tournament.  One of the two surviving passengers told State Patrol investigators that the semi was very close to his vehicle just moments before Tuesday morning’s crash.  It occurred on Interstate-94 near Fergus Falls Minnesota.  Eighteen-year-old Zach Kvalvog of Moorhead Minnesota died, along with his 14-year-old brother Connor.  They and two others were on their way to the Dells.  The State Patrol’s reconstruction of the accident supports the theory that a semi was close by at the time.  The semi-truck was described as a red-or-green tractor with a white box-type trailer.

 

Walker Defends Jobs Agency During Hartford Stop

 

6/25/15 – Governor Scott Walker defended the state’s job creation agency in Hartford Wednesday, saying it did not “cut corners” when its staff failed to do formal reviews of 27 loan requests to various companies.  The Republican Walker said the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation did staff reviews of the awards, which totaled 124-million dollars.  But he told reporters the reviews were not done in what he called the “traditional” manner.  It was Walker’s first public comments on documents that the W-E-D-C made public late last Friday. Yesterday, the two legislative Democrats on the W-E-D-C board — Peter Barca and Julie Lassa — called on agency C-E-O Reed Hall to resign.  They said the agency’s document release was poorly organized and left some key items out. An agency spokesman said Hall wasn’t on the job yet when the 27 loans were approved. That includes the half-million dollar unsecured loan made to Milwaukee’s now-defunct Building Committee sought by a campaign donor, and pushed by former Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch. The state has gone to court to get the money back.  Walker said yesterday it was appropriate for the administration to work on the type of energy-efficiency project for which the Building Committee sought funding.  Since that time, the governor said the agency has made reforms which “enhance where things were” under the old Commerce Department which the W-E-D-C replaced.

 

Walker: ‘Budget Announcement Imminent’

 

6/25/15 – Governor Scott Walker says there will be an announcement about the new state budget in the next couple days — but he did not say what it might be.  Speaking to reporters at an appearance in Hartford Wednesday, the Republican Walker hinted that a funding dispute over highway projects might be resolved soon.  A majority of Assembly Republicans have said that any delays in road projects over the next two years should be spread equally across the state. Senate G-O-P finance chair Alberta Darling said it’s a must that the Zoo freeway interchange re-construction in Milwaukee move forward full-tilt — because the multi-year project is already well underway.  Walker had earlier said lawmakers should leave it to the D-O-T to decide projects based on safety and economic importance.  Earlier on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau told a Milwaukee radio station he does not have the votes yet to pass the budget — which is due to take effect next week.  Walker downplayed the budget delay, saying that since 1983, only three budgets have been signed before July 19th.  He signed two of those — albeit with not nearly as much resistance from his fellow Republican lawmakers as he’s gotten this year.  Democrats blame Walker’s nearly constant absences from the state as he develops a potential run for the White House.  Walker said he’s actually been more active in this year’s legislative negotiations than in either of his previous two budgets.

 

Supreme Court Decision On Obamacare Expected

 

6/25/15 – Governor Scott Walker says it’s Washington’s problem — not his — if the U-S Supreme Court strikes down health care subsidies for Wisconsinites on Obama-care.  The justices in Washington are expected to rule as early as Thursday on whether the language of the Affordable Care Act limits federal subsidies to states which operate their own marketplaces.  Wisconsin is among three dozen states without their own exchanges.  They rely on the federal government’s insurance marketplace.  Walker was asked if he has a contingency plan, should the 184-thousand Wisconsinites on Obama-care lose their federal subsidies.  Walker — who has distanced himself from the federal health law as much as he could — says whatever happens is not his doing.  The potential 2016 Republican White House candidate said Obama and Congress will, in his words, “want to kick the problem to the states — and we’re going not going to take it.”  Walker said Wisconsinites who are worried about losing their federal subsidies should call the White House and their congressional representatives.

 

VA Knew Of Pain Killer Abuse In 2012

 

6/25/15 – The Veterans Administration’s in-house watchdogs knew as early as 2012 that excessive painkillers were given out at the V-A hospital in Tomah.  That’s according to a new report to be released Thursday by the U-S Senate’s governmental affairs committee.  It said the V-A Inspector General asked for outside opinions from pharmacists about what was going on at Tomah.  One pharmacist said the amount of opiates prescribed was so high, that the government could revoke the hospital’s licenses for dispensing prescription medicines.  None of those warnings were in a V-A report on the Tomah situation in 2014.  Instead, the inspectors appeared to trust V-A officials to fix the problems with Congress and the public none-the-wiser. Committee chair Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said it was another example of investigators protecting the V-A and sweeping negative evidence “under the rug.”  He again called on the interim inspector general to be replaced by someone who would be more independent.  The V-A did not comment on the report, but it again defended current inspector general Richard Griffin.  The revelations came on the same day that Wisconsin Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill to order safer and more effective pain management for veterans at V-A facilities.  The bill was named after Jason Simcakoski, a Stevens Point Marine who died at Tomah last August from mixed-drug toxicity.

 

Deer In Eau Claire County Tests Positive For CWD

 

6/25/15 – A deer on a breeding farm in Eau Claire County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.  The state Agriculture Department said Wednesday that the farm was placed under quarantine — and officials are tracing the deer’s whereabouts to see if any other captive herds may have been exposed to the fatal brain disease.  The antlerless deer died at the Eau Claire County breeding farm, which has a total of almost 170 animals.  The state took a sample from the dead animal, and announced the positive finding yesterday.  Chronic wasting disease has been in Wisconsin since 2002, killing mainly deer in the wild — but a small number on game farms as well.

 

Screech To Be Sentenced Today

 

6/25/15 – Dustin Diamond will be sentenced Thursday morning.  The former “Saved By the Bell” T-V actor from Port Washington faces a maximum of a year in jail for his role in a bar brawl last Christmas night.  An Ozaukee County jury found the 38-year-old Diamond guilty almost a month ago on two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and illegally carrying a concealed weapon.  Diamond testified that he accidentally stabbed Casey Smet during the tavern scuffle.  He said he was trying to scare away others in the bar with his pocket knife, after his fiancee Amanda Schutz was punched in the face.  She was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for her role in the incident.  Schutz will also be sentenced in a proceeding that is due to begin at 8:45am.