February 11, 2012

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Kind assesses flood damage, seeks federal aid

August 21, 2007 By

"It was a doozy." …Those words from a Congressman working to help constituents in his district to recover from the flooding .

Five counties in southwestern Wisconsin are disaster areas , and all five — La Crosse, Sauk, Richland, Vernon and Crawford counties — are part of the 3rd Congressional district , represented by Democrat Ron Kind . He says the damage sustained in his district is nothing short of devastating.

"But it's also incredibly inspirational, seeing how quickly the community rallied and pulled together in order to help one another. I think it's, to a great extent, why we didn't have any human tragedies – no loss of life, no serious injuries."

Kind says it's going to take a long time to repair and rebuild the communities and get them back on their feet; that's why he's working closely with Governor Doyle in submitting a formal request for federal disaster aid.

"Already we're looking at tens of millions of dollars worth of private and public property damage, and it's gonna require the help at all levels – from the federal, from the state, from local entities all pulling together to try to make these people whole again."

Kind says the low lying area has suffered tremendous crop loss, and that comes just before harvest time. The farm service agencies will be working with farmers to get good damage assessments on those crops, as well as lost livestock.

(Thanks to Bob Meyer of Brownfield for contributing to this story.)

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:22 MP3)

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather

Traffic accidents down

August 21, 2007 By

A decrease in traffic accidents in the Badger State. The state Transportation Department 's final report on traffic accidents last year shows the lowest number of crashes for any year since 1983. Highway Safety Director Dan Lonsdorf says they were down 6% from the year before, and there were 90 fewer fatalities. Lonsdorf says last year's drop in crashes was probably due to more enforcement efforts by police, and higher gas prices leading to slower speeds and fewer trips.

AUDIO: John Colbert reports (:35 MP3)

Filed Under: Transportation

Budget committee topic du jour: Stewardship stew

August 21, 2007 By

Budget negotiators wrangled over the state's land purchase program. Back at the table on Tuesday for more negotiations on the state budget, and Democrats offered a position on the state's Stewardship fund for land purchases. Republican Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald jumped on the increased bonding involved. Fitzgerald said that amounted to handing a billion dollars over to bureaucrats with no oversight. "Credit card spending," according to Fitzgerald, who called on Democrats to respond to a GOP proposal on K-through-12 education funding, which has been on the table since last week. Democrat, Sen. Bob Jauch charged the Republicans "would decimate . . . stewardship." There may be room for compromise on the stewardship issue: Fitzgerald said he's willing to look at the Democrats' plan, but he still wants to see a counteroffer on K-through-12 funding.

AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Budget, Politics & Government

Sentencing disparities have racial tinge

August 21, 2007 By

A study finds racial disparities in Wisconsin criminal sentences. Kristi Waits is executive director of the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission . Analysis of three years of sentencing data finds some racial disparities, not in length of terms, but in whether or not prison time was served behind bars, what's known as the "in/out" decision. The amount of racial disparity in sentencing increased as the severity of the crimes decreased. Waits says more data will be needed. The sentencing commission is slated to sunset at the end of this year, although Governor Doyle's budget has proposed a Bureau of Criminal Justice Research to continue compiling findings. Waits says the legislature needs to look at this study, because changes are needed in the way the state sentences some criminals.

AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Flooding damages Iron Interstate worse than thought

August 21, 2007 By

Flooding in southwest Wisconsin is worse than originally thought for the "Iron Interstate."

More than 12 inches of rain in Vernon County, near LaCrosse, caused a mudslide, creating, according to State Railroad Commissioner Rodney Kreunen , one of the most monumental railroad blockages they've seen in decades.

"As the Burlington is trying to recover and get this going again, they're finding that the damage is far worse than they thought — several 20-foot holes. At the moment there are 80 dump trucks that have been hired that are moving back and forth to move out the mud and bring ballast in to stabilize things."

The Burlington Northern 's twin track main line runs along the Mississippi River and with up to 50 trains a day, it's the heaviest rail traffic in the state. Kreunen says the damage from the flooding has shut down the railroad to a heavy extent.

"For the railroad, this is close to a major catastrophe. This would be like shutting off an interstate highway and you don't have any on ramps or off ramps."

For now, Kreunen says rail traffic is shifted to other lines in the state … at a cost of a million dollars a day in diversionary traffic.

"By the time this is corrected, this is, at this time, is at least an 8-to-10 million dollar problem. That will be borne completely by the railroads."

Kreunen (pronounce) says they had hoped to have one line open on Monday evening, running at just 30 miles per hour, but that didn't happen because, he says, the magnitude of the railroad disaster is much worse than they had thought.

NOTE: They were hoping to have one line open by late Tuesday night.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:35 MP3)

Filed Under: Transportation
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