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Madison police seek man in assault on UW student

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Madison Police say they are putting every available resource into finding a man who brutally attacked a woman in downtown Madison. The 19-year-old UW-Madison student was taken to a hospital with injuries to her face after someone she didn’t know grabbed her from behind and beat her while she was walking early Sunday morning.

“This is a stranger attack, very brutal, lots of injuries, on someone who was just going home, so this is priority number one for the police department right now,” said Madison police spokesperson Joel DeSpain.

Police say witnesses saw the man drag the victim toward Lake Mendota.

“Whether or not they scared this stranger off, we don’t know at this point, but we do know that these good Samaritans went down, found her, got her the help she needed,” DeSpain told 27 News.

WIBA

 

Somali American candidates for Barron City Council believed to be a first for Wisconsin

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Early voting has begun in the city of Barron for the primary election for the open at-large seat on the Barron City Council.  Three candidates are running for the position, including two Somali American residents, Isaak Mohamed and Faisal Ahmed.

They will join Paul Solie on the ballot in the February19th primary, when the field will be trimmed to two candidates for the April 2nd spring election. The winner will serve a two-year term.

Although Somali Americans have been living and working in Barron for more than 20 years, this is the first time a Somali American has run for public office in the city.  It is believed that Mohamed and Ahmed are the first Somali political candidates in Wisconsin history.

WJMC

State’s projected revenues are down

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Wisconsin tax collections are projected to come in lower than expected. That means Governor Tony Evers and state lawmakers will have less money to work with as they hash out the state budget over the coming months.

The Legislature’s non-partisan budget office announced Wednesday that projected new revenues through mid-2021 will about $1.8 billion. That’s $282-million less than was forecast in November. Evers is to introduce his budget proposal in late February.

Colton Treu preliminary hearing set for April 12th

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A preliminary hearing is set for the man accused of killing three Chippewa Falls Girl Scouts and a mother in a crash. Colten Treu was back in court Wednesday by video conference for a review hearing.

Treu’s attorney’s asked for a delay in his preliminary hearing until April so both sides could review his toxicology results. The defendant’s preliminary hearing is set for April 12th.

Investigators said Treu and a passenger in his truck were “huffing” just before Treu plowed into a Girl Scout troop picking up trash along a Chippewa County road last November. Treu faces eleven charges, including homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and hit and run resulting in death.

Suspect in custody for Dells-area homicide

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Robert Pulvermacher

After remaining at large for more than a week, the suspect in a Wisconsin Dells-area murder is in jail. A snow plow driver in Madison thought the sight of a man being dropped off early Wednesday morning looked suspicious, so he called police.

When officers arrived, they followed fresh footprints in the snow, leading them to Robert Pulvermacher, who was arrested without incident.

Pulvermacher has been wanted since 88 year-old Howard Johnson of Portage was found stabbed to death in his vehicle in the parking lot at the Ho Chunk casino on January 14th. Pulvermacher is awaiting a bail hearing.

WIBA
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Soglin says Madison making plans to cover federal funding

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Mayor Paul Soglin

The city of Madison will begin making contingency plans in February, if the partial federal government shutdown continues to drag on. In a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said the city has enough resources to manage a variety of city programs through February, but by March federal money will begin to dry up.

We’ve been though some of these shutdowns before. I have never seen one where a president has held the whole nation hostage, and jeapordized the lives of so many people over a temper tantrum on a specific project,” Soglin said.

City departments will begin planning in February for contingency plans for programs that typically are reimbursed by the federal government. Some of those plans may have to be approved by the city council, Soglin said.

Of greatest concern, are programs that help adults and children, such as SNAP, that are reimbursed by the federal government, Soglin said.

Closings on VA and some FHA loans also are in jeopardy unless the city steps in, Soglin said. Soglin said the city will have to take on some of the responsibilities that won’t be reimbursed.

The Madison Fire Department receives no federal funds, but the Madison Police Department receives several federal grants that will need to be covered by city funds, Soglin said.

WIBA

Suspect sought in Dells area homicide

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Robert Pulvermacher

Law enforcement agencies in south central Wisconsin are looking for a suspect in a Wisconsin Dells-area murder.  Robert Pulvermacher of Middleton is wanted for the death of an elderly man whose body was found in a car in the parking lot of the Ho Chunk casino between the Dells and Baraboo on Monday.

The Sauk County sheriff says Pulvermacher may have been spotted in Madison on Tuesday. Pulvermacher has a long criminal record. He’s done time in federal prison, and escaped once in 1998.  Anyone who sees Pulvermacher should not approach him, but call 911 right away.

WIBA

Shopko files for bankruptcy, announces store closings

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Shopko has filed for bankruptcy and will close 38 stores as part of its restructuring efforts. The Ashwaubenon-based retailer announced Wednesday that it has obtained $480 million in financing from lenders led by Wells Fargo to fund and protect its operations while it goes through bankruptcy.

Shopko has also asked the federal bankruptcy court in Nebraska to allow it to continue to pay wages, salaries, and benefits, and pay vendors and suppliers during the bankruptcy process.

“This decision is difficult, but a necessary one,” CEO Russ Steinhorst said in a news release.

“In a challenging retail environment, we have had to make some very tough choices, but we are confident that by operating a smaller and more focused store footprint, we will be able to build a stronger Shopko that will better serve our customers, vendors, employees and other stakeholders through this process.”

Court documents list the company’s assets at between $500 million and $1 billion, with liabilities estimated between $1 billion and $10 billion.

A list of the 38 closing stores, plus previously announced closures are posted on a separate website dedicated to the bankruptcy.

Included in the list are seven stores from Northeast Wisconsin, and over a dozen stores statewide, which all are set to shut their doors in April.

  • 216 S. Military Ave., Green Bay
  • 3415 Calumet Ave., Manitowoc
  • 1578 Appleton Rd., Menasha
  • 699 S. Green Bay Rd., Neenah
  • Shopko Express – W3208 Van Roy Rd., Buchanan
  • Shopko Express – 2101 E. Evergreen Dr., Appleton
  • Shopko Hometown – 1010 S. Mainline Dr., Seymour
  • 1200 Main Street, Stevens Point
  • 1800 Plover Road, Plover

Additional stores in Madison, West Bend, and La Crosse will also be closed.

Shopko also plans to move more than 20 optical centers to freestanding locations.

The company says it is encouraged by four freestanding optical centers it opened last year and will look to grow its optical business. All optical centers will remain open through the transition, the company says.

Finally, Shopko says it is auctioning its remaining pharmacy business.

The bankruptcy is the latest in a string of announcements from Shopko.

Last month, it announced plans to close 39 stores, mostly Shopko Hometown stores, and sell the pharmacy business at more than 40 locations. Last week, the company confirmed plans to close the Shopko Hometown in Seymour and the full-size department store in Menasha.

 

WTAQ

Woman sentenced in fatal OWI crash has daughter in prison for similar conviction

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Kimberly Adams

A 48-year-old Janesville woman who pled guilty in connection a to drunk driving crash that killed her fiance will spend five years in state prison. The woman also has a daughter who’s currently serving time on a similar conviction.

At Kimberly Adams’ sentencing hearing in Rock County Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Scott Dierks said the November 2017 crash that killed 56-year-old Dan Johnson never should have happened. “She’s had a couiple of warnings along the way about drinking and driving,” Diercks noted. Those include a 1st offense OWI convicton in 2010.

Adams’ daughter, 23-year-old Mackenzi Adams, is serving a two-year sentence for a 2015 OWI crash that killed a 26-year-old Lake Geneva woman and injured several others.

“Your case must serve as a warning to anyone, ever contemplating driving a car after drinking,” said Rock County Judge Karl Hanson, who sentenced Kimberly Adams to five years in prison followed by five years extended supervision.

Adams and Johnson had been drinking at a casino in Madison and several bars in Janesville on November 29th of 2017 before she got behind the wheel and sideswiped a parked car. Her vehicle went airborne and landed on its roof. Johnson spent three weeks in the hospital before dying from injuries sustained in the crash.

WCLO

UPDATED: Jayme Closs alive, charges to be filed next week against kidnapper

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Patterson

A Wisconsin 13-year-old girl missing since October has been found alive, according to the Barron County Sheriff’s Department.

The department shared on Facebook Thursday night that they’ve been notified by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department that they have located Jayme Closs alive. A suspect is in custody.

Twin Cities television station KARE reports that the missing girl was located in the Douglas County Town of Gordon. At a Press Conference on Friday, Douglas County Sheriff Tom Dalbec says a Town of Gordon woman walking her dog spotted a girl who said she was Jayme.

“This lady immediately went to a nearby house, notified that neighbor of the claim, and this neighbor called 9-1-1 and my deputies responded.” Closs was able to give a description of the suspect, who’s been named at 21-year-old Jake Patterson of Gordon. 

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says Patterson specifically planned to kidnap Jayme.

“We do believe that Jayme was the only target. I can tell you that the subject planned his actions, and took many proactive steps to hide his identity from law enforcement and the general public.”

Barron County prosecutors are planning to file kidnapping and first degree homicide charges against him next week.

Jayme Closs has been missing since her parents James and Denise Closs were found murdered in their Barron home on October 15.