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Husky provides update on refinery fire

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Officials with Husky Energy Oil Refinery in Superior say, to date, 2,360 claims have been filed since the April 26 explosion and fire. Husky officials say that they have about 318 employees and contractors that are on-site daily, working to secure and stabilize the refinery.

An additional 81 people are staffing the Emergency Operations Center, and another 45 workers are out in the community monitoring air quality, processing claims, and cleaning up debris.

Spokespeople added that electricity has been restored to several buildings, and the wastewater treatment plant is running again.Once debris is cleared, Stinson Avenue is expected to reopen to traffic later next week.

A 24-hour resident’s line is available to assist people with claims related to the incident: 1-855-527-5002.

KDAL

‘SS Badger’ dock repairs underway

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Recovery efforts are underway for the SS Badger Car ferry dock in Manitowoc after it was badly damaged by Lake Michigan waters over the weekend.

Jason Ring is Executive Director of the Manitowoc Visitors and Convention Bureau. “We calculate the economic impact of what visitors spend that come off the car ferry. And the impact of that is around $14 million….pretty significant.”

The car ferry also adds or impacts a total of 700 jobs. Ring says if no setbacks occur, it is believed that they won’t have any lost time.

“The goal is to keep the car ferry sailing season on pace for the May 11th start of the season.” Ring likens the ferry dock damage to what it would be like for another community when a major highway into town is shut down.

WTAQ

 

Standoff resolved in Oconto County

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The Oconto County Sheriff’s Department responded Sunday afternoon to a home in Lena where a suicidal man was armed and barricaded.

He fired several rounds at deputies. No word on injuries. The man was taken into custody shortly before midnight, after a 10 hour standoff. He was transported for medical evaluation.

The man was wanted for domestic related crimes earlier Sunday and is facing several charges.

WTAQ

College students advised to check if school IDs good for voting

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Jay Heck

Wisconsin college students who want to vote next year should start thinking about it now. “What they really ought to do, before they get to bogged down in their studies and partying, is they ought to figure out what it is they have to be able to vote, and make sure that’s going to be sufficient,” says Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin.

Students who already have a Wisconsin driver license or one of the other acceptable forms of photo I.D. can go ahead and register to vote — but should check to find out whether their school issued I.D. will allow them to do so.

Heck noted that, on University of Wisconsin System four-year campuses, only three have I.D. that will that will work for voting purposes. On all other UW four year campuses, and all two year campuses, students will need to get a second school issued I.D. At Wisconsin’s private colleges and technical colleges, some but not all I.D. can be used

Students can check on-line at Common Cause Wisconsin or check with their schools, to see what I-D is and isn’t acceptable.

Merrill child predator draws lengthy prison term

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A 57-year-old Merrill man who attempted to groom young girls as a child predator has been sentenced to 41 years in prison.

Gary Ver Kilen was found guilty of two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of stalking and two counts of child enticement with sexual contact. A jury found him not guilty on three other charges.

Three young sisters went to police last October, saying Ver Kilen sexually touched them on their thighs last summer on a trip to his deer stand. More victims came forward with incidents of stalking and leaving of explicit notes in April of 2015 and January of 2016.

Prosecutors say Ver Kilen’s victims ranged in age from 9 to 16 as he tried to groom young girls of single mothers. He also made a habit of keeping swing sets and bicycles on his property, which prosecutors say was a lure.

Ver Kilen did not testify during a three-day trial.

 

Democrats flag Walker for ‘hypocrisy’ on drug testing issue

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WRN photo

A charge of hypocrisy has been leveled by Wisconsin Democrats, over Governor Scott Walker‘s plans to drug test public assistance recipients. At a Capitol press conference on Tuesday, Scott Ross with liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now said the Republican Governors Association, currently chaired by Walker, accepted 25-thousand dollars from the National Cannabis Industry Association.

“They are, self-described, ‘the nation’s only industry-led organization, engaging in legislative efforts to expand and further legitimize the legal cannabis market in the United States,” Ross said.

Walker wants to require recipients of public benefits, such as SNAP and job training, to be drug tested. “Governor Walker will not turn down an opportunity to turn this into another point of division, hypocrisy be damned,” said state Representative Jimmy Anderson (D-Fitchburg). Anderson said such testing, if implemented, would be a waste of taxpayer money.

“Hypocrisy is a real sickness in this building,” Anderson said.

Records cited by OWN show the marijuana group’s donation to the RGA was made in February. “Receiving a $25,000 donation as head of the Republican Governors Association is extremely disheartening,” said state Senator Latonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee). “It makes me angry.”

It’s unclear whether Walker, who became RGA chair last year, had any role in soliciting the donation from the cannabis industry group. “I suggest that’s something you ask Governor Walker,” Ross said.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson referred questions to the RGA.

A spokesman for the GOP governors group didn’t shed any light on Walker’s fundraising role, but derided the Tuesday press conference. “Wisconsin Democrats are desperate to distract from the positive results Gov. Walker is achieving for Wisconsin, and with this political stunt today, they are only reminding voters that they are out of touch, out of ideas, and have no message to run on,” said RGA Communications Director Jon Thompson.

 

Ryan says tax and regulatory reform remain priorities

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House Speaker Paul Ryan in Oak Creek

House Speaker Paul Ryan says tax and regulatory reform remain priorities for him. Ryan toured an industrial facility in Oak Creek and took some questions from workers there, during an “employee town hall” on Thursday.

With more jobs tied to manufacturing per capita in Wisconsin than in any other state, the Janesville Republican said Thursday that the current tax structure puts those industries at a disadvantage. “One of the reasons that we’re doing tax reform this year is to not just have more jobs and faster economic growth, but to put American businesses and manufacturers at a competitive scale globally.”

Ryan, at WPC Technologies in Oak Creek, said American manufacturers are, in some cases, taxed at twice the rate of their foreign competitors. “That makes us really uncompetitive.”

He said tax and regulatory reform are twin priorities. “We want to have smart regulations that work, that don’t make American products so prohibitively expensive that we can’t make it here.”

Ryan also said Thursday that North Korea is currently his biggest foreign policy concern. Ryan was asked about Tuesday’s missile test by that country. “We cannot accept a North Korea with a nuclear weapon that they could deliver over a long-range,” Ryan said. “It is a real problem.” Ryan said China and U.S. allies Japan and South Korea will play an important role in reining in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

 

Walker warns of project delays if transportation split from budget

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WRN file photo

Governor Scott Walker warns that budget inaction risks costly delays to major highway projects now under construction. That was the message Walker made to lawmakers working on the state budget, during a press conference on Tuesday at an interstate rest stop in Beloit.

“A delay of a week or two like we saw two years ago will not have a . . . negative impact,” Walker said. “The big concern we have is if it were separated.”

Republican lawmakers at odds with Walker on how to pay for projects have talked of splitting off the transportation piece. “There’s no reason why, with the majorities in the Assembly and Senate, they can’t get a budget done the way that it is.”

Walker said big projects could be delayed by inaction. “Let’s just get it done. We agree that these are important projects. We agree that transportation is important. Let’s not separate it out’ let’s get it done as part of the budget as a whole.”

Asked about the possibility of open road tolling as a means to generate revenue for transportation, Walker said he could only support that if it were tied to a reduction in the gasoline tax.

Also on Tuesday, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that the state transportation fund will end the two-year budget cycle with nearly $102 million. That’s due to higher gas tax collections and lower debt service costs, and is significantly higher than the earlier projection of $8.4 million.

Owner of rescued animals charged in jail drug scheme

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The owner of a property raided by animal-rescue teams last Friday in Crandon was charged with conspiracy to help smuggle some drugs into the Forest County Jail just days beforehand.

According to Newsline 9, Patricia Kirker was charged with five felonies after giving prescriptions for morphine and hydromorphone to a 22-year-old inmate to take into the jail when he returned from a work assignment. A search of the inmate recovered 22 pills. Kirker claimed he could sell them for $115 per pill. The inmate told police the pills were for his use.

More than 40 wolf-dog hybrids and horses were found living in “deplorable conditions” on her property by the ASPCA. No charges have been filed against Kirker as of yet for the raid, but she has been routinely ticketed for allowing dogs to run loose, the most recent one issued March 13.

Kirker is to make her first court appearance on the drug charges March 29.

WTAQ

Pence in Wisconsin Friday

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Vice President Mike Pence is in Wisconsin on Friday. The White House has released details of Pence’s visit. He’ll participate in listening sessions with business leaders and employees, at the Janesville Blain’s Farm & Fleet Distribution Center.

Pence will be joined by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Janesville. The vice president is scheduled to deliver remarks at 11:45.