Madison’s mayor is raising concerns about unsafe conditions in some city facilities, which he says are the result of several homeless people spending their days in the lobbies and halls of city office buildings.

Mayor Paul Soglin says there continues to be a problem with the homeless people using the City County and Madison Municipal buildings as shelters. The problem has increased this winter with the usual locations, the basement of the state Capitol building and downtown public library, closed to the public.

Soglin says many of the individuals have been found to be highly intoxicated and threatening to those working there. There have also been reports of people sleeping on benches and relieving themselves in public areas.

AUDIO: Mayor Paul Soglin (:09)

Soglin sent an e-mail to all city employees this week, saying it’s a high priority to halt unsafe or unpleasant conditions in city buildings. He’s asking employees to stop encouraging the practice by bringing in food or blankets.

John Colbert, WIBA

An elderly man from Rhode Island has some good Samaritans to thank for saving him after his car goes into a river in Kenosha County Wednesday. Richard Weiss, 90, who’s in the process of moving to Burlington, lost control along a curve to Hwy 142, and the vehicle started sinking in the Des Plaines River.

Sergeant Bill Beth, with the Kenosha Sheriff’s office, says some men driving behind the older gentleman, stopped and two got onto the roof of the nearly submerged car. They needed a hammer from a toolbox in one of their cars, and broke the sunroof to get Weiss out. Weiss suffered only minor injuries.

Tom Karkow-WRJN

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is out with its top ten list of complaints received in 2011. For the ninth year in a row, violations of the state’s Do Not Call list were the top complaint received by the state.

Of the nearly 1,700 cases reported, Division of Consumer Protection administrator Sandy Chalmers says robo-calls were the worst offenders. Chalmers says many of those reported were tied to criminal activity, which is made possible by technology that allows scammers to make thousands of calls each minute.

Consumers are urged to hang up and report those calls to the state.

Second on the list was telecommunications complaints, followed by landlord-tenant disputes and home improvement scams.

For the first time last year, complaints about identity theft made their way into the top ten. Chalmers says it’s an old crime, but the way thieves are going after that information continues to expand.

Aside from shredding sensitive documents with personal information on them, she says consumers should make sure computers, smartphones, and online accounts have strong password protections. Regular checks for computer viruses and spyware are also recommended.

Other top complaints for 2011 included gas pump accuracy, vehicle sales, and problems with satellite dish providers.

AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:18)

Some rumblings overnight when unnoticed by many. The U.S. Geological Survey confirms there was a magnitude 2.4 earthquake that struck last night along the northern side of the Wisconsin-Illinois line, just before 10 pm.

The epicenter was about 11-miles west of Kenosha, near George Lake in the Town of Bristol. There have been no reports of any damage or injuries, with a lot of folks waking up to the news for the first time this morning.

UDPATE: Officials with the USGS have shifted the location of the epicenter of the quake to McHenry, IL.

Tom Karkow - WRJN

The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau is warning homeowners to be wary of a company selling property deeds. Susan Bach of the BBB explains her agency started getting inquiries last week from Wisconsinites about a company called “Deed Retrieval Services.”

Bach says the letter looks really official, “like it’s a bill from the U.S. Government for a copy of your property deed, but it’s not. It’s actually a solicitation,” she says, “they’re trying to sell homeowners a copy of their deed for $87, which you can actually get for yourself for a lot cheaper.”

It’s a solution without a problem. Bach says homeowners probably already have a copy of their property deed filed with all the paperwork after purchasing the house. You don’t need to be scammed into paying 30 times the price of your deed for a new one.

If you need one, Bach says you can get a copy for about $3 from your local county clerk or register of deed’s office. If you already paid the $87, you probably can’t get that money back because the solicitation wasn’t illegal. “What they’re doing isn’t illegal, but it’s not the most ethical sales practices.”

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report 1:17