Eric Hainstock was given his mandatory life prison term Friday for killing his high school principal. The 16 year old Hainstock will have a chance to go free in 30 years, at age 46. Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart set the parole eligibility date at the end of an emotional sentencing hearing. District Attorney Pat Barrett asked Taggert to keep Hainstock from becoming eligible for parole for the next 50 years. "The public has every right to be terrified," of Hainstock, said Barrett. "There has not been one moment of remorse." The judge said he believed the 16-year-old Hainstock can be rehabilitated and urged state corrections' officials to place him in a juvenile center, where he's most likely to get mental treatment. But Taggart said he could not mandate such a placement under the law. Hainstock's attorney, Rhoda Ricciardi, asked that her client become eligible for parole in 20 years. Hainstock was found guilty Thursday of killing Weston School principal John Klang last September.
Life term for Hainstock, parole possible in 30 years
Wisconsin leading the nation in organ donations
The demand for organs nationwide is growing by the minute, with over 100,000 people on waiting lists nationwide and 1,400 waiting in Wisconsin. As demand increases, Governor Jim Doyle says Wisconsinites are making their wishes known that they want to donate life. The Governor says Wisconsin is leading the nation when it comes to organ donations, with over 767 organ transplants completed in the state in 2006.
The families of those donors were honored Friday, during the annual "Gift of Life" Medal ceremony at the executive residence in Madison. Doyle thanked them for turning a tragic loss into a gift.
Wisconsin residents have the option of identifying themselves as organ donors on a state issue driver's license or ID card. The Governor says about half the state has made that choice so far. He's is encouraging the rest will make their choice known.
Defining deficient bridges in Wisconsin
Hearing that twenty-one hundred bridges in Wisconsin are deficient doesn't mean they're ready to collapse.
There are degrees of deficiency according to UW-Madison Civil Engineering professor Mike Oliva. And, he says, that doesn't mean a bridge declared deficient is necessarily ready to collapse. It could mean inspectors need to take a closer look to see what's going on and keep close track of it.
And depending on the exact deficiency rating, there's a difference between immediate repair and immediate attention. Sometimes, Oliva says, it just requires inspecting the bridge with high tech equipment to confirm what may be noticed during a visual inspection.
Overall, Oliva says Wisconsin gets good marks for its bridge work. He says the state has done quite a bit over the past decade to lower the number of "deficient" bridges and is well below the national average.
Brewers pounded by Mets in series finale
The New York Mets sent the Milwaukee Brewers to their 10th loss in the last 14 games with a 12-4 final at Miller Park on Thursday.
Damion Easley's 2-run inside-the-park home run in the 6th gave the Mets the lead for good as they broke the game open. It made a loser of Chris Capuano, who fell to 5-8. Capuano allowed 5 runs on 10 hits in 6 innings of work.
Carlos Villanueva gave up 3 runs on 4-hits in just 2/3 of an inning in relief and Chris Spurling surrendered the final four runs on four hits while pitching the ninth.
The Brewers have lost the last 13 games in which Chris Capuano has started.
Corey Hart clubbed a pair of home runs for the Brewers, his 17th and 18th of the season in the loss.
The Brewers remained a percentage point behind the Cubs in the NL Central. The Cubs lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 10-6 on Thursday.
Milwaukee opens a 3-game weekend series against the Phillies on Friday night.
Listen / Download – Bill Hall says the Brewers aren't pannicking. :19
Badgers ranked 7th in Coaches Poll
The Wisconsin football team is ranked seventh in the country according to the USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released today. The only other time UW was ranked higher in the preseason poll was in 2000 when the Badgers started the season fifth.
Wisconsin is one of three Big Ten teams ranked in the top 10. Michigan checks in at No. 5 while Ohio State is 10th. Penn State rounds out the Big Ten teams in the rankings, placing 18th. Among the teams receiving votes are two of UW's first four opponents this season, Washington State and Iowa.
USC is the preseason No. 1, receiving 45 of the 60 first-place votes. LSU is ranked second with Florida, Texas and Michigan rounding out the top five.
Wisconsin returns 18 starters from last year's record-breaking team that finished the season 12-1 and won the Capital One Bowl. The Badgers, whose 31 wins over the last three seasons are tied for the sixth-most in the country, enter 2007 having won their last nine games. That is the third-longest active winning streak in the country.
