Washington County Man Killed Outside Country USA
6/24/11 – A Washington County man was struck by a vehicle and killed early Thursday morning on an expressway near the Country U-S-A music festival in Oshkosh. Winnebago County authorities said the 20-year-old Richfield man was walking to a campground near the festival, when a car driven by a teenager struck him on Highway 41 near an exit at Highway 44. It happened about 12:3am. Another person who was walking with the victim escaped injury.
NWS Confirms Two Twisters
6/24/11 – The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes from Tuesday’s storms in southern Wisconsin. Both were “F”-one twisters with sustained winds of around 100-miles-an-hour. The first tornado traveled from near Alto in Fond du Lac County to near Markesan in Green Lake County. Officials said it leveled half of a barn, flattened a pole-shed, and took down numerous trees and power lines. The second tornado landed near Green Lake 11 minutes after the first one. It tore part of the roof off a barn, and uprooted trees. It’s the third day this year that Wisconsin has had multiple tornadoes. Twelve tornadoes landed on April 10th. And six more touched down on May 22nd from the same weather system that produced the devastating twister in Joplin Missouri. All told, the Badger State has had close to two dozen tornadoes – about the same number it normally gets for an entire year.
Memorial Service Held For Potential Recall Candidate
6/24/11 – A memorial service was held Thursday for a man who was planning to run against state Senate Republican Randy Hopper in the upcoming recall elections. 53-year-old John Curry of Waupun took out nomination papers – but his name never made the ballot for the July 12th primary. He died June fourth in his apartment, after his wife had passed away in April. Curry made friends at the Waupun Area Food Pantry and Waupun’s Community Food Table in his regular visits recently. Friends cited his strong interest in politics, and they noted that he once ran as a write-in against Fond du Lac Congressman Tom Petri. Officials say Curry’s family does not have a lot of money, and no one has claimed his body yet. The medical examiner says Fond du Lac County will arrange a burial if need be.
Businesses Paying Up For Unemployment Shortfall
6/24/11 – Wisconsin businesses will have to come up with money by September to help the state pay interest on a huge federal loan to cover a big spike in jobless benefits. The state’s Workforce Development agency is telling businesses this week that they’ll be billed in early August. And their payments will be due the next month. Wisconsin was among 30 states that ran out of funding for unemployment benefits during the recession. And they had to borrow money from Washington, as the applications for benefits kept piling up. The Badger State owes around one-and-a-half billion dollars. Congress decided late last year to give states an extra two years to start paying the principal on those loans – but they’re required to pay the interest this year. State officials say businesses with over 25-thousand-dollars in payrolls last year will have to fork up something. They won’t know how much until August.
Giving USA: ‘Charitable Giving On The Rise’
6/24/11 – It appears that more Wisconsinites are opening their pocketbooks for charity, just like other Americans are doing. The Giving U-S-A Foundation said charitable contributions rose by over 10-billion-dollars last year. That’s a four-percent increase, after a combined 13-percent decline in the recession-plagued years of 2008-and-’09. Stephen Webster, the head of Wisconsin’s United Ways, said they raised 3-to-4 percent more last year, as compared to ’09. He said the state’s United Ways took in over 100-million-dollars. But on the other hand, Webster says the needs have been growing by leaps-and-bounds. And the United Ways are spending more time with fund-raising because of that. Meanwhile, the Salvation Army’s Milwaukee County office reached its fund-raising goal in 2010 for the first time in three years. Faithe Colas said they took in almost three-million-dollars – but that’s stretched thinner as well. She said they’re seeing two-thousand needy people a week, up from 15-hundred a few years back. The national survey said Americans gave two-percent of their disposable incomes to charitable causes last year.
Jail Inmates Washing Own Sheets in Crawford Co
6/24/11 – Jail inmates in one southwest Wisconsin county are about to help taxpayers save a little money. Starting next month, prisoners in the Crawford County Jail in Prairie du Chien will start washing their own linens, instead of throwing them in a basket so the county can clean them professionally. Sheriff Dale McCullick says his jail has used a professional service to supply and clean the linens for his entire 19 years in the sheriff’s department – and it’s all been at taxpayer expense. The cost has run from 500-to-700-dollars a month, depending on the jail’s population. Now, the county will buy its own set of sheets, pillow cases, towels, and wash-clothes for just over 14-hundred-dollars – and the inmates will have the job of cleaning them. McCullick figures the linens will pay for themselves in just a couple months. Crawford County already has the washers-and-dryers for the job. The sheriff says it’s nice to save money, and not have to cut any services.
