Wisconsin News and Sports
The Wisconsin Badger women’s hockey team earned a weekend sweep over St. Cloud State with a 6-1 in Madison on Sunday.
Hilary Knight earned her 100th career assist, becoming the 8th player in NCAA Division 1 history to record 100 goals and 100 assists in a career.
Badger men
The Wisconsin men’s hockey team took two games from Mercyhurst over the weekend. The Badgers are off this week and will return to Kohl Center ice in two weeks against Minnesota-Duluth.
Proposed new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles could help Wisconsin drivers save at the pump.
The new clean car guidelines offered by President Obama would require most new passenger vehicles to almost double their gas mileage over the next 13 years. They would require cars and light trucks built between 2017 and 2025 to meet an average fuel efficiency standard equivalent to 54 miles per gallon, compared to the current standard of about 28 miles per gallon.
Megan Severson with Wisconsin Environment says the higher efficiency would help cut fuel costs for many drivers, with an average annual savings of about $571 million by 2030. For the average family, that would break down to about $240 a year in savings.
Severson says it would also have a major impact on pollution. She says it would be about the equivalent of shutting down 71 coal fired power plants for a year.
Federal officials say the new standards would add about $2,000 to the cost of a new passenger vehicle. A public comment period on the proposed standards is currently underway.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:06)
Sales apparently were “in the black” for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season over the weekend. Susan, who manages a major department store in southern Wisconsin, estimates Black Friday sales at her store were up two percent from last year. She says customers were “shopping smart,” looking for big bonus items, especially when it came to electronics.
AUDIO: Susan on what shoppers were buying (:18)
Meanwhile Green Bay retailers were calling sales numbers from Black Friday “spectacular” and “awesome.” The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports some stores say they had 50 percent of their projected sales for the day in the cash registered by 4 a.m. Many stores were opening at midnight for the first time.
Nationally figures indicate a record breaking Black Friday, setting a positive tone for the holiday shopping season.
John Colbert-WIBA contributed to this report
Six straight losses to end the season cost Illinois coach Ron Zook his job after seven seasons.
The Illini won their first six games, becoming the first FBS team to open the regular-season with six straight wins and close it with six straight losses.
Zook took the Illini to their first Rose Bowl since the 1980′s and last season led the team to its first bowl win in more than a decade.
Zook had five losing seasons, finishing with a 34-51 record.
The Wisconsin Badgers National Title hopes went up in smoke when they lost a last second heartbreaker to Michigan State back on October 22nd in East Lansing. The Badgers lost that game 37-31 on a last second hail mary pass that gave the Spartans the win.
This Saturday, the Badgers (10-2 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) get the opportunity to return the favor against the Spartans (10-2, 7-1) in the first ever Big Ten Conference title game in Indianapolis. [Read more...]
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