Professor Jonathan Martin chairs the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW Madison. He’s closely watching the development of Hurricane Irene. “This storm seems destined to affect areas of the eastern United States that, though historically they’ve been subject to visitations by severe hurricanes, it’s been a long while since that’s happened,” said Martin. His best advice is for everyone to monitor the situation closely, something that technology has made much simpler since the last major hurricane struck the region some twenty years ago. And with major population centers including Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, New York, Boston and Providence in the path of Irene, Martin says damage could conceivably be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Report details Supreme Court incident
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office has released the results of its investigation into an alleged fight between two state Supreme Court justices. The report includes interviews with several Supreme Court justices and members of court staff regarding the June 13th incident that took place in Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s offices, when Justice David Prosser allegedly putting Bradley in a chokehold.
The confrontation occurred as conservative members of the court were pushing for the release of a controversial ruling that upheld the governor’s collective bargaining law. Members told investigators they felt the minority in the case was being delayed in order to hold up the release of the decision. [Read more...]
Governor tours tornado aftermath
Governor Scott Walker on Thursday toured the aftermath of a tornado that struck Clark County earlier this week. Tuesday’s EF-2 tornado with winds of up to 130 miles per hour destroyed four homes, damaged nearly two dozen more, and flattened four barns and 15 outbuildings.
At a stop in Chili, Walker said the damage probably will not trigger any major disaster declarations. Walker says it likely will not meet the high threshold the federal government sets, although state assistance is possible. Still, Walker says such determinations would be premature. [Read more...]
Lawmaker critical of public assistance bill
A state lawmaker says a proposal mandating that anyone applying for public assistance programs in Wisconsin prove they are a legal citizen is not needed. The Republican bill would require those applying for public assistance programs to provide documentation proving they are a U.S. citizen.
Democratic State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) says the legislation is simply an attempt to use immigration and immigration reform as a political tool. Under current laws, she says undocumented immigrants cannot access public assistance programs and there’s no evidence that is happening. [Read more...]
Driver hits “Miracle Mile” store
All that lottery luck has not managed to keep some misfortune away from the doors of Ma and Pa’s on Fond du Lac’s Miracle Mile. Owner Mike Forsyth says a woman driving up to the store experienced a stuck accelerator Thursday morning, causing her to crash through a set of doors.
Forsyth says no one was injured, and the only major damage was to the actual set of doors. He says someone had walked through that entrance just minutes before and another customer was using a nearby copier when the car drove into them. [Read more...]
