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Badger State Games debut in Fox Valley

June 26, 2009 By

Madison's loss looks to be the Fox Valley's gain. It's a big weekend for the Badger State Games, with events being held at locations around the Fox Valley.

"We have had anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 people come down to Madison over the 24 years that it was in the Madison area," said Jessica Gammey, a spokesperson for the games. This is the debut season for the games in their Fox Valley venues, and Gammey said they're seeing an increase in the number of first time participants, thanks in large part to generous financial support given to the games.

Most of the events take place this weekend, including a cycling road race, soccer, and adult and youth track events. The games are expected to about eight hundred thousand dollars into the Fox Valley.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Hard time for terrorizing Janesville

June 26, 2009 By

A Janesville man has been sentenced to a 195 year prison sentence for a series of home invasions and rapes that terrorized Janesville residents over a ten year period. In sentencing 32 year old Michael Huber, Judge James Daley said he believed Huber carefully planned and executed all of his crimes.

Many of the victims spoke prior to the sentencing. Huber was called an "animal", among other things. One of the victims said that at the "end of your pitiful life, Michael Huber, it is not I or anyone else that will judge you. You'll be judged by God, and may he have mercy on your soul."

Huber appeared remorseful as he apologized to the victims, family and friends, and all of Janesville. He also said he was "ready to reap what he had sown."

Huber will spend the rest of his life at the Dodge County correctional center.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Eliminating tobacco use elminates tax revenue

June 26, 2009 By

Health experts want to eliminate tobacco use within 40 years.

If people don't buy cigarettes, that means less revenue for the state and federal governments. Dr. Michael Fiore, Director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention , says that's not a problem. He says when people give up their smokes, the high cost of tobacco-related health care will disappear, as will the high cost of lost productivity.

"Nationwide, more than $200-billion is spent every year in additional medical costs and lost productivity costs from smoking. In our own state it's now approaching $3-billion a year."

Fiore says the cost of treating people who are addiction to tobacco far exceeds the tax-revenue generated from the tobacco tax.

This week President Obama signed a bill to grant the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco, which Fiore calls an historic move.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (:53 MP3)

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Money to drive RTAs in budget

June 26, 2009 By

Regional transit authorities who levy their own taxes would be allowed in Milwaukee, Madison, Eau Claire and the Ashland-Bayfield areas.  It's part of the Senate approved budget recommended by conference committee. Kerry Thomas of the group Transit Now says current transit funding needed to be changed. She says service is being cut as funding sources from property taxes and federal/state revenues are drying up.

By allowing RTA's more flexibility to levy their own taxes it takes the burden off land owners who are footing the bill through property taxes. She says it allows communities to share the costs more equitably.

The measure allows region to hike the sales tax to pay for transit, which potentially opens up a revenue source not just from the community but tourists and visitors.

Thomas says Southeastern Wisconsin is one of the last major metro areas in the country not to have a local dedicated funding source for transit. She claims Wisconsin has missed out on money from Washington because there has not been the local share needed to match federal funds.

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :70)

Filed Under: Transportation

Eliminating tobacco in four decades

June 26, 2009 By

Can tobacco use be eliminated within 40 years?

It will take a lot of hard work, but Dr. Michael Fiore is convinced we can win the war on tobacco.

"We predict that tobacco use will actually be eliminated in the United States by the year 2047, but we also outline ways that we can accelerate progress so that we actually achieve that goal even sooner."

Fiore is Director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention . He and Associate Director, Dr. Timothy Baker released article in the American Journal of Public Health, in which he says tobacco-use rates in America have fallen over the last 50 years from more than 43 percent in the 1960s to less than 20 percent today. Fiore says over the last couple of decades, more than 10-million Americans have been killed by smoking.

"Half of all people who smoke today, if they don't successfully quit, will be killed prematurely by a disease directly caused by smoking."

Fiore explains eliminating the use of tobacco depends on increasing federal and state taxes, enacting a nationwide smoking ban, cutting out nicotine, media campaigns to point out the dangers of cigarettes, ban tobacco promotion, increase cessation counseling, and prevent kids from starting in the first place.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:24 MP3)

Filed Under: Health & Medicine
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