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Push on for extenstion of unemployment benefits

September 25, 2009 By

Wisconsin’s unemployed workers may be getting an extension in benefits. The federal government is looking to pass emergency legislation to extend unemployment benefits or states with an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent or higher. Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman says Wisconsin, where the most recent seasonally adjusted unenmployment rate stands at 8.8 percent, would be included.

“We have thousands of people who are going to be running out of even the extended benefits that we’ve been able to provide through the recovery act,” Gassman says. “Given the national recession, we know that turning around unemployment, and turning around job losses, is going to be the last part of our economy to show true recovery.”

All eight members of Wisconsin’s House delegation voted for the emergency legislation, which now awaits Senate action. Gassman says Wisconsin is one of many states hoping to get more federal money for benefits, which are set to expire for more than 9,000 state residents. Numbers from August show Wisconsin’s unadjusted unemployment rate is 8.4 percent.

WIBA’s Chandra Lynn submitted this report

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government

Conviction for Marinette man who shot wife

September 25, 2009 By

A Marinette man who claimed he shot his wife accidentally has been convicted for her murder. It took about two-hours Thursday for the jury to return with the guilty verdict for 44-year old Joseph W. Evans, Jr.

AUDIO: Ken Conners reports (:42 MP3)

Evans was accused in the July 2008 shooting death of his wife Dina in Marinette. Evans had maintained the shooting was an accident, prosecuting attorney David Wambach says he trusted the jury would not convict Evans of a lesser charge. 

Evans faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the First Degree Intentional Homicide conviction. His sentencing is scheduled for December 1.

WAGN’s Ken Conners contributed this report

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mayor explains sex remarks caught on tape

September 25, 2009 By

Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan is explaining his actions after a video of him appears on You Tube which shows him making sexual remarks about his sister-in-law. It appears to have been shot on a camera phone unbeknown to Ryan.

AUDIO: Bob Ryan (MP3 :18)

Ryan appeared drunk in the video. It shows him talking on a cell phone in a bar. Ryan then makes a remark about his wife’s sister and oral sex. In a news conference Thursday, he called the comment “inappropriate” and says it was a “conversation between guys.”

His wife Mary called the remarks about her sister embarrassing, meanwhile the mayor says he’s seeking the help of a medical professional.

Mayor Ryan questioned whether the timing of the Internet post was connected to recent allegations he fired his human resources manager, Angela Payne, because she resisted his sexual advances. Ryan has said he released Payne after other city departments complained about her job performance, and said they lost confidence in her abilities.

Jason Fischer contributed to this report

Filed Under: Politics & Government

Effort to curb run off into Mississippi River

September 25, 2009 By
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced a major four-year, $320 million effort to reduce pollutants on the river and its tributaries. That includes working with farmers to improve their conservation practices, with the goal of reducing runoff from fertilizers. Runoff is blamed for creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico which lacks oxygen, and cannot support aquatic life. This year’s dead zone is about three-thousand square miles. It’s one of the smallest in recent years. But environmentalists say there still needs to be an effort to limit the chemicals which enter the Mississippi, which feeds into the Gulf.

 

AUDIO: NCRS Chief Dave White (MP3 :13)

Natural Resources Conservation Chief Dave White says federal money will be available through competative grants.

The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative. It will fund numerous conservation projects in the states where the river and its tributaries are located. Officials say the cleanup will be announced at a meeting in Des Moines Iowa of a task force created in 1997 to reduce the size of the Gulf’s dead zone.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation

Evers: First State of Education speech was humbling

September 25, 2009 By

Wisconsin’s top teacher delivers his first “State of Education” address in Madison.

Newly-elected Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Tony Evers has more than 30 years of public education experience, but this was his first “State of Education” address. How did it feel?

“It was great and it was humbling. I mean, standing in the capitol is humbling enough even if you’re just walking through on a regular day, but being with all the people that really make things happen in our schools, and all the friends of education and teachers are here.  It was a humbling experience but very rewarding.”

Evers served as Deputy Superintendent of DPI from 2001 to April of 2009, when he was elected to the top job.

Jackie Johnson report (1:48 mp3)

Filed Under: Education
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