January 27, 2012

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Sportsmen lobby legislators on DNR control

January 26, 2010 By

Sportsmen and environmentalists converged on the Capitol Tuesday, urging legislators to override Governor Doyle’s veto of a bill that would return control of the DNR to a citizens board.

Politics plays too much of a role in decisions by the DNR these days. That’s according to Kerry Schumann, Director of the Wisconsin League of Conservation voters. “We’re really trying to get politics out of natural resources decision making, and make sure that it’s based on science. And to do that, the Department of Natural Resources secretary really needs to be independent of political influence,” says Schumann. They’re urging lawmakers to override Governor Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill which takes away the governors’s ability to control the agency. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government

Senate passes BPA baby bottle ban

January 26, 2010 By

The state Senate has passed a bill banning a widely used chemical from use in baby bottles. The bill, which has also passed in a state Assembly committee, would ban Bisphenol A, or BPA, from use in products used by kids five and younger. The legislation coincides with the latest Food and Drug Administration action regarding the chemical. Earlier this months the federal agency declared BPA, a “chemical of concern.”

An American Chemical Council representative recently testified to a legislative panel that thousands of studies have looked at the chemical, and they’ve lead most governments around the world to conclude it’s not dangerous. Meanwhile some manufacturers of products like sippy cups have voluntarily stopped using the chemical. The Senate passed the bill on a unanimous vote.

Filed Under: Children & Families, Health & Medicine, Legislature

Empty Covenant?

January 26, 2010 By

As Governor Jim Doyle prepares to deliver what will be his final state of the state address, some Republican state legislators say the Democratic governor has failed to follow through on a promise made to 8th graders. In his state of the state address four years ago, Doyle said 8th graders who signed the Wisconsin Covenant Pledge, and lived up to its conditions, would be eligible for financial aid packages for college. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Children & Families, Education, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Opening statements in trial of man accused in family’s slaughter

January 26, 2010 By

A jury has heard opening statements in the Rock County murder trial of James Koepp. District Attorney David O’Leary said the evidence would show that Koepp committed the murders, although the only witnesses to the crime other than Koepp are dead. O’Leary told the jury they’ll hear a taped message Koepp made when calling his brother shortly after the murders.

AUDIO: D.A. David O’Leary (:40 MP3)  AUDIO: D.A. David O’Leary (:40 MP3) 

Defense attorney Walter Isaacson said Koepp was in the Lentz home the evening of January 11, 2007, but that he left, and someone intent on robbery entered the trailer later that night. Isaacson told the jurors that Keopp was a neighbor who had a friendly relationship with the victims, that Keopp did some repairs to the Lentz mobile home, and that Koepp admitted to having an affair with Danyetta Lentz.

AUDIO: Attorney Walter Isaacson (:40 MP3)  AUDIO: Attorney Walter Isaacson (:40 MP3) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Hoping for Haiti

January 26, 2010 By

A Wisconsin man evacuated from Haiti is still trying to contact friends in that earthquake-stricken nation. Pat O’Malley owns the Kilkarney Hills golf course in River Falls. For nearly 20 years, O’Malley has worked with a charitable group which has built homes and schools in a remote part of Haiti. O’Malley had just landed at the Port au Prince airport with truck parts and other supplies when the earthquake hit. He says he was lucky to be outside, but that the truck he was riding in jumped and slid during the tremors. From a distance, he could see the smoke and dust from collapsing buildings and thought at first there was a big fire or maybe even a riot. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Human Interest
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