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State Senate passes pair of bills toughening OWI penalties

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The State Senate has approved a pair of measures aimed at toughening drunk driving laws.

The two bills both cover stricter sentences for drunk driving convictions. The first bill will impose a minimum five year prison term for people convicted of O W I homicide. That bill now heads to the Governor’s desk.

The second bill toughens the penalties for 5th and 6th time OWI to a minimum of six months. An exemption could be made by a judge, if they believe the person is not a danger to the community, and state their reasons for the record. 

Wausau woman sentenced to federal prison for Social Security fraud

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A Wausau woman will spend 18 months in jail for social security fraud.

Marjean Seehafer, 54, was collecting disability benefits while working at several jobs in the area. She initially claimed she was a victim of and entity theft, and that someone else was using her social security number. Investigators say several of her employers confirmed her identity.

She entered a guilty plea to making false statements and social security fraud in August 2019 in federal court in Madison.

Seehafer was also ordered to pay $28,000 in restitution and will be on supervised release for thee years when she completes her jail term.

WSAU

Milwaukee leaders making bid to host G-7 Summit

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Milwaukee city leaders seem to making a serious push to host the G-7 Summit next year.

The effort comes after President Trump was pressured into not hosting the event at one of his own resorts. 

Mayor Tom Barrett has sent a letter to the White House promoting the city, and Vice President Mike Pence told local officials Milwaukee is being considered while he made a visit last week. 

Locations to actually host the event itself could be the American Club in Kohler or one of several resorts in Lake Geneva. 

DNR: keep deer carcasses out of the woods

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With archery deer season underway and rifle season not far off, Wisconsin DNR officials are reminding hunters to properly dispose of their carcasses to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease.

Daniel Kroll is a Waste Management Specialist in the DRN’s Green Bay Service Center, he says they’ve put together a comprehensive website detailing municipal landfills equipped to handle what’s left of the deer.

“We don’t want the deer on the landscape,” said Kroll. “[CWD] can be spread through contact with deer and it also can be incorporated into the soil where it’s been known to survive for many years.”

Kroll says as of now there are just over a dozen landfills that will take the carcass. Hunters can use the site to find basic information such as directions to the site, hours of operation, and any cost that may be associated with the drop-off.

Other city and county facilities are also accepting carcasses, as are some private businesses.

Additionally, hunters can use the site to find the nearest drop CWD testing kiosk.

In Portage County residents can take their carcasses to the Solid Waste Transfer Facility where a DNR dumpster will be stationed from November 1st through December 31st. The Marathon County Landfill will also accept remains for a fee outside of that window.

Firearms deer season will open November 23rd and close December 1st.

WSAU

Joint Finance holds public hearing on Defender’s office funding

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A bill that would increase the funding for the state public defender’s office got a hearing at the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Thursday.

Attorney Richard Jones from the Public Defender’s office says the disparity in funding between the Defender’s office and District Attorney’s offices makes it hard to recruit. “Prosecutors receive consistent, regular raises, that we’re not always entitled to.”

Jones says recruiting young attorneys to the Defender’s office is tougher when they don’t have the same support from the state that prosecutors do. “And my concern is that they’re in the safe fight as assistant district attorneys, and deserve to be compensated at the same level that we compensate them.”

“There are often times they’re struggling to pay bills, they’re weighed down by student loan debt, some of them attempt to work second jobs in addition to the enormous hours that we work.”

The bill would bring those funding levels in line, to go along with an increase in funding for hiring outside attorneys to handle public cases for indigent defendants. 

Joint Finance approves legal settlement after parties waive privacy

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The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has approved a settlement from attorney general’s office. 

That vote was able to be cast because the two parties in the case, a convenience store chain and the attorney general’s office, both waived confidentiality in the case. Democratic Representative Evan Goyke says that’s not how things should work.   

“The lengths to which two parties had to go to bring this settlement through is an example of how broken this new process was.”

Under the lame duck laws, the J F C has final approval of any financial settlements that the state is a party to. Attorney General Josh Kaul says he needs leadership to sign confidentiality agreements to hear those cases, something Republicans have refused to do. 

UW-Madison PD to station officer in off-campus housing neighborhood

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The UW Madison police department is going to be moving one of its officers closer downtown to help provide services to students living off campus.

Police Chief Kristen Roman says they’ll be working closely with Madison Police.

“Regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, we’re not letting those get in our way and we are looking for ways to provide the best services and keep our students safe.”

Roman says collaboration is key in ensuring the safety of Wisconsin students. 

“It’s not just up to the city of Madison Police Department or up to the Mayor and the Council or up to the University and Campus. All of us need to work together, including our community members.”

Both Madison and UW-Police have been dealing with campus related issues over the last several months, including fights and assaults near downtown that involve UW students. Madison PD is also planning on cutting a full time position near Langdon street early next year. 

Get your company ready for a data breach with a plan from DATCP

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It’s not a matter of if your company will face a data breach, it’s when; and state officials say you need to be ready with a plan.

State consumer protection administrator Lara Sutherlin says responsibly handling a data breach requires two main parts. 

“Make sure you’re doing everything you can to shut down further information from being released from your business, and that the people that may have been exposed are quickly notified and can act on that information.”

Sutherlin says part of any response to a data breach needs to be disclosure to consumer protection agencies. 

“DATCP can always help people who’ve been exposed to a data breach, the FTC can help, regulators can be a partner in trying to figure out what happened.”

Sutherlin says trying to hide a data breach will only work for a short time before someone notices what’s happened, and then not only will you have egg on your face, you could face penalties for concealing a loss of information. 

Wisconsin joins multi-state investigation into possible Facebook antitrust violations

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Wisconsin is joining a wide scale investigation of Facebook’s business practices.

Attorney General Josh Kaul says the multi-state group wants to find out if Facebook is violating federal and state antitrust laws. 

“This is just an investigation, it doesn’t that Facebook has engaged in any wrongful conduct, but we are going to investigate to determine if there is any.”

Critics have accused the company of improperly using private data, inflating ad visibility figures, and of bullying other advertisers out of local markets. Kaul says large tech companies like Facebook need to follow the law when it comes to fair business practices. 

“Making sure that there is fair and open competition is important for innovation, it’s also important for our privacy.”

39 states and two territories are taking part in the investigation. 

Scientists discover new virus affecting Wisconsin bald eagle population

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Scientists in Wisconsin have discovered a virus infecting nearly one-third of America’s bald eagles.

They found the virus while searching for the cause of Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome near the Lower Wisconsin River. The newly identified bald eagle hepacivirus, or BeHV, may contribute to the fatal disease, which causes the birds to stumble and have seizures.

But BeHV was also found in eagles without symptoms of the syndrome, making a direct link between virus and disease difficult to confirm.

The virus and the syndrome don’t appear to threaten the resurgence of the bald eagle, which was removed from the endangered species list in 2007.