Google+

Wisconsin Radio Network

Wisconsin News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Raymond Neupert

Legislators seek to end special sales tax for Miller Park

By

A group of state legislators want to get rid of the Five County sales tax for Miller Park.

State Senator Van Wanggaard says the people of southeast Wisconsin have paid enough for upkeep at the stadium and he’d like to see it all ended by the end of the year.

“I’ve had so many constituents come to me and say ‘when is this going to be over?’ Well this bill that we’ve introduced that we’re putting forward will end that by December 31st of this year.”

Wanggaard says residents have paid out more than half a billion dollars in taxes since the tax went into effect 22 years ago.

West Allis girl fends off kidnapper with a bag of candy

By

A scary situation for a student in West Allis on Thursday after a fifth grader at Horace Mann Middle School says a man tried to kidnap her.

He allegedly grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her into his car, but she fought him off with her bag of Valentine’s candy.

Local resident Chini Lorenzana says she’s proud of the girl. “She did everything right and she told the school when she got here and that’s pretty awesome. Pretty brave of her.”

Police say the man is described as possibly Hispanic, between 30 and 40 years old, around 5 and a half feet tall and walked with a limp. He was driving a white S U V with larger than normal tires.

Republicans signal possible plans to create toll roads in Wisconsin

By

Toll roads might be the future of road funding for Wisconsin, according to state Republicans.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald broached the subject at a Wisconsin Counties Association meeting Wednesday.  Fitzgerald says tolling could be the only way to solve transportation infrastructure problems.

He says collecting tolls could generate billions of dollars to cover the costs and that raising the gas tax won’t create enough revenue.

Patterson waives preliminary hearing, will head to trial for Closs kidnapping and murders

By

The man accused of kidnapping Jayme Closs and killing her parents is headed to trial

In a very brief hearing on Wednesday, 21-year-old Jake Patterson waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Barron County judge James Babler accepted that waiver and bound Patterson over for trial on two counts of homicide, one count of kidnapping, and one count of armed burglary.

Police say Patterson confessed to the attack and the kidnapping at the time of his arrest.

Patterson will be back in court for arraignment March 27th.

Slick roads and ice warnings for Northwoods

By

The mild temperatures we’ve had over the weekend are giving way to seasonable cold, which could be a problem to the far north. 

National Weather Service meteorologist Roy Eckberd says it’ll be more than just slick, foggy roads in northern Wisconsin.

“Significant ice accumulations, from generally Tomahawk and Wausaukee on northward, where we’re looking for a quarter to a half inch of ice.

That amount of ice can bring down small trees and power lines, and Eckberd says there’s likely to be scattered power outages.

Don’t travel unless you have to in the affected areas. Check http://511wi.gov for current road conditions.

 

Reuters: Foxconn to roll back plans on Wisconsin LCD factory

By

Foxconn might be changing its plans to create a massive production facility in Wisconsin.

Reuters is reporting today that Foxconn might not be building liquid crystal displays in Wisconsin as they originally considered.

Company officials told Reuters that the labor costs of making displays in the US are very high, and that they might instead create a research and technology hub in the state.

The company stated earlier this month that they’re still committed to hiring 13-thousand people in Wisconsin, but it’s now unclear if or when that will happen.

State legislators spar over controversial UW-Madison course on Trump presidency

By

There’s dueling viewpoints from the Assembly over a UW-Madison professor’s modern politics course.

The course syllabus says Trump “gleefully flouts the norms of governing” and describes a number of scandals he’s involved in.

Assemblyman Dave Murphy says the wording could have been better. “The syllabus was somewhat over the top, and I’m somewhat concerned about how it would affect students and their feelings about taking the course.” 

Murphy says he’s working for his constituents in raising concerns over the education of students. “They pay taxes that go to the University to fund this. They have a right to be heard and we have a right to say something about this.”

Democrat Assemblyman Jimmy Anderson says this is a perfect example of the sort of protected free speech that Republicans championed last session, and they have no room to complain. “I hope that in the future Representative Murphy and Speaker Vos take more careful consideration when they are selectively applying what they determine to be free speech.” 

“[They] made a big showing of saying how important is that we have free speech on campuses, and that we allow our students and professors to be able to speak their minds, and it struck me odd that we were now criticizing a professor for doing exactly that.”

Assemblyman Dave Murphy says his concerns were over the wording of the syllabus, and that he doesn’t have any desire to change the nature or content of the course.

Winter storm to drop up to a foot of snow on parts of Wisconsin

By

Parts of Wisconsin may be getting more snow than expected as a winter storm shifted overnight.

National Weather Service meteorologist Phil Kurimski says heavy wet snow is set to blanket south central and south east Wisconsin.

“It’s really hard to pinpoint where these bands will set up, but where they are you’ll get heavier snow in those areas.”

A section of the state from Madison and the Dells northeast to Green Bay will be getting anywhere from 6 inches to a foot of snow. Roads are going to be very hazardous heading into the evening commute.

“As this thing ramps up, we could get some freezing drizzle before the better moisture gets in here and it all changes over back to snow,” says Kurimski. 

You should take your time getting where you’re going, and give yourself plenty of room around other drivers.

Miller Park naming rights go to American Family Insurance

By

The Milwaukee Brewers and American Family Insurance announced their new partnership for the naming rights to Miller Park.

American Family CEO Jack Salzwedel says this is a part of a larger effort for his company to create a new office location in Milwaukee.”And a strategy that includes more jobs, and jobs in the software engineering and data science area. And we’ve been working very closely with the Mayor to look at different sites.”

Brewers officials say that MillerCoors will continue to be a strong partner with the team, and that you’re not going to see them leaving Milwaukee baseball any time soon.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he’s happy to be a part of the process. “The city of Milwaukee is very excited about this. We think that this is a beautiful relationship that’s going to grow even stronger between your company and this city.”

The actual name of the park and other branding issues will be discussed at a later date.

Women’s efforts highlighted at Wisconsin MLK day celebration

By

The State Capitol in Madison played host on Monday to a celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and also a call to action. The event highlighted the women who struggle for racial equality, and author Rita Coburn said that the unjust racial killings of African American children have to come to an end.

“As we build our tribe, awakened women and men must lift their voices across aisles and racial lines for these injustices to stop.” Coburn highlighted the 40 years of activism of Mamie Till, whose son was lynched in 1955. “African American mothers all over this country are still grieving the wrongful deaths of their sons and daughters,” she said.

This is the 39th year of the event in Madison, one of the longest continuing celebrations in the country.