“News-May 9, 2011”

Fire Destroys Town of Lowell Shed

 

5/9/11 – Five fire departments battled a blaze in the town of Lowell yesterday afternoon that destroyed a large shed.  It happened on Soldner Road around 3:30 p-m.  Officials say when they arrived on scene the tin shed was fully engulfed, as was a large portion of the marsh surrounding it.  Crews were on scene for about two hours.  Officials believe the fire started when some brush being burned got out of control and ignited some of the vegetation in the area. No one was injured.

 

Gas Prices Down

 

5/9/11 – Gas dropped back below four-dollars a gallon in Beaver Dam this weekend.  After getting as high as $4.09 last week, a gallon of unleaded regular can be had for $3.97 this morning.  There was a smaller decrease statewide.  The website WisconsinGasPrices.com, says gas dropped 7.4-cents per gallon in the last week, average $4.02.  Including the change during the past week, prices yesterday were $1.12 higher than the same day a year ago and nearly 20-cents higher than a month ago.  The national average is $3.93.

 

Officials Expected to Ask for Extension in Recount

 

5/9/11 – State elections’ officials will ask a judge this morning to let Waukesha County continue its Supreme Court recount beyond today’s 5 p-m deadline. Only 30-percent of Waukesha’s ballots have been re-tallied, while all but three other counties have their recounts completed. Brookfield’s ballots – the ones the county clerk forgot to add to her Election Night total on April fifth – were double-checked on Saturday. And there was only a tiny change, compared to the initial county canvass. Justice David Prosser led challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg by 27,000 votes as of Friday, with some areas of Kloppenburg’s biggest support still out.  Dodge County finished their recount last Wednesday with Prosser and Kloppenburg each picking up an additional five votes.  That allowed Prosser to win the county by about 4,900 votes.

 

Walker to Speak in Washington Today

 

5/9/11 – Governor Scott Walker will speak in Washington today at a national conference on private school vouchers and charter schools. The Republican Walker and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett will address a policy summit put on by the American Federation for Children. Walker’s proposed state budget includes an expansion of Milwaukee’s nearly 20-year-old private school voucher program – in which state tax dollars are used to send low-income Milwaukee kids to private schools. In Pennsylvania, Corbett wants to cut one-point-six billion dollars from public schools while starting a voucher program there. Union leaders and other activists plan to protest today’s conference. They say the children’s group is trying to “dismantle public education.” The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has voted to end the enrollment limits for the Badger State’s program, and to let voucher students go to private schools in suburban Milwaukee County instead of just the city. Walker also wants to remove income limits. Supporters say all inner-city Milwaukee kids deserve a chance to escape poverty by learning at a private school. The Milwaukee Public Schools have argued for years that the program hurts them – and city taxpayers – by taking away some of their state aid.

 

FDL Girl Who Survived Rabies Graduates from College

 

5/9/11 – Jeanna Giese of Fond du Lac – the world’s first person to survive rabies without vaccine in 2004 – graduated from college on Mother’s Day. The 21-year-old biology major was among 840 students to receive their degrees from Lakeland College in Sheboygan. One of the doctors who saved Giese was on hand for the milestone. Rodney Willoughby worked with colleagues from Milwaukee Children’s Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin to come up with an experimental treatment. They placed Giese into a coma to protect her brain from the rabies virus – and then they injected a cocktail of medicines. That was after she was bit on the left index finger by a bat she was trying to rescue in a Fond du Lac church in September of 2004. Today, Jeanna Giese walks and talks normally, but she still occasionally has trouble running-and-balancing. She’s been working at a pet lodge in Fond du Lac – and her life’s goal is to work with animals. Doctors have tried to share their treatment with others around the world, but almost 30 known cases had failed. At least five rabies’ patients taking the Milwaukee treatment survived for awhile. But only two of them are alive today – a girl in Qatar, and a teenage boy in Brazil.

 

ID to Vote Bill Expected to Pass Soon

 

5/9/11 – The state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote today on the bill that makes voters show photo I-D’s. The Badger State would become the fifth to require I-D’s at the polls. Critics say Wisconsin would become the most restrictive state for voting – and they say it’s an expensive solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. The expense comes in giving free I-D’s to the estimated one-fifth of Wisconsinites who don’t have I-D’s that would be allowed – including driver’s licenses or passports. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau puts the total cost to implement the bill at five-point-seven million dollars. An Assembly panel voted last week to allow certain college I-D’s. But no college in the state meets those standards, and key senators are against using school I-D’s anyway. But the bill itself is sure to pass in the full Legislature later this week, since it has almost universal support among majority Republicans. G-O-P Governor Scott Walker supports it, too. Republicans have long argued that photo I-D’s would cut down on fraud, while Democrats say it would keep poor and elderly voters away from the polls. But according to the Wisconsin State Journal, other states have found neither to be all that true

 

BDUSD Announces Employees of the Year

 

5/9/11 – The Beaver Dam School District has announced its 20010-2011 Employees of the Year. Winning the Elementary School Teacher of the Year was Sis Ulrickson, a fourth grade teacher at Lincoln, while the honor at the middle school was given to retiring social studies teacher Bonnie Kieffer.  At the High School, math and computer science teacher Dennis Gutgesell, who passed away earlier this year, will be honored posthumously.  Wilson Elementary Principal Laura Maron was named the Administrator of the Year, while Judy Heffron was awarded as the Special Services Teacher of the Year.  Lincoln Elementary’s Special Education Teacher Assistant Brenda Riege was named the Teacher Assistant/Tutor of the year, while South Beaver Dam’s Kristi Fredrick will honored as the Nutrition Services Worker of the Year.  And finally, the high school’s Allen Born will receive the Custodian of the Year award, while Cyd Rohr will get the Secretary of the Year award for her work at the middle school. All the winners will be recognized at the District’s Recognition Banquet to be held on May 15th.

 

GKB Earns Five 1st Place Finishes at WBA Awards Dinner

 

5/9/11 – Good Karma Broadcasting was recognized this weekend by the state broadcasters association. WBEV took home five first place awards in six Small Market categories at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s “Excellence In Broadcasting” Awards Gala Saturday night in Middleton.  Leading the charge was John Kraft, who scored the top honor in the category of “Best Humorous Commercial” for his “Dave’s Heating and Plumbing” ads. Kraft also brought home the gold for the “Best Promotional Announcement” for his “Go-To-Guy” promo’s. Morning News Anchor Zach Heilprin went one-for-one in garnering his first award-winning submission in the category of “Best Continuing Coverage of a Single News Story” for his coverage of the Beaver Dam High School Block Scheduling change. John Moser won “Best Specialty Program” for the Annual Veteran’s Tribute he hosts on Veterans Day in conjunction with the Beaver Dam American Legion. And finally, WXRO afternoon personality Lezli Young was recognized in the category of “Significant Community Impact” for her emotional tribute during the funeral of fallen Beaver Dam soldier Jacob Gassen. All told, WBEV garnered more first place awards in the Small Market Radio category that any other radio station in the state. Craig Warmbold took home a second place plaque for “Best News Feature” for his coverage of Beaver Dam’s Second Annual American Hero’s Music Festival.