State budget negotiations down to the wire (MADISON)
With the end of the fiscal year looming, state budget negotiations are down to the wire. Governor Tony Evers spoke to reporters in Wausau on Tuesday. He said he wasn’t sure work on the two-year spending plan will be completed by the weekend, but that progress is being made. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he spoke with Evers Tuesday morning, and needs to know whether “everybody wants to be at the table” so negotiations can be completed. Vos said “it takes three people to tango.” referring to Evers, Assembly Republicans and Republicans in the Senate, at least two of whom are on record as opposing the process which has seen Evers negotiating with Republicans in the Assembly. Representative Mark Born co-chairs the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. Born said the Assembly finance team is “prepared to finish the budget in the coming days,” and is hopeful Senate members will join them. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement his members of the Finance Committee are ready to continue deliberations, “but it is hard to imagine that a budget will pass next week.” The fiscal year ends Monday.
Police renew call for tips in unsolved murder from 2007 (MADISON)
Madison police renew a call for tips in an unsolved 18-year-old murder. Kelly Nolan, a 22-year-old UW – Whitewater student living in Madison for the summer, was last seen alive downtown during the early morning hours of June 23, 2007. Nolan had been out with a group of friends and became separated from them. Her body was found 16 days later in a densely wooded area in rural Dane County. Police currently have no person of interest or suspect. Anyone who remembers seeing Nolan or has any information regarding the case is asked to contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers.
Bill at the Capitol could allow schools to use VR to teach math (MADISON)
At the Capitol, legislation would allow Wisconsin schools to use virtual reality to teach math. Weston Republican Representative Pat Snyder says a pilot program would be launched where an urban, suburban-urban, and a rural school would all be selected by the Department of Public instruction to use the VR goggles. Snyder says teachers would still be an important part of student learning and would be taught how to be interactive with students while they use the goggles. Snyder says the bill has a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle. The legislation is currently working its way through committee.
Man accused of kidnapping Beaver Dam girl asks for delay in federal trial (LITTLE ROCK, Ark.)
The man accused of kidnapping a pregnant Wisconsin teen and taking her across the country wants his federal trial delayed. Attorneys for 40-year-old Gary Day asked a federal judge in Arkansas to delay his trial because he’s still being held in a Wisconsin jail on $2 million bond. Day faces multiple charges in Dodge County, including child enticement and child abduction in addition to numerous federal charges in the 2024 abduction of the pregnant 16 year-old from her parent’s home in Beaver Dam. Federal prosecutors did not object to the request. Day had been scheduled to stand trial next month in Little Rock.
Green Lake County man admits to lying about potential record breaking buck hunt (MARKESAN)
A Green Lake County man admits to lying in an attempt to get into Wisconsin’s deer hunting record books. 62-year-old Richard Waters of Markesan registered a 49-point antler rack with the state in 2024, saying he shot and killed it during the muzzleloader season. That would have easily broken the state record, but there were immediate questions about the legitimacy of Waters’ claim. D N R wardens investigated, and found that the antlers instead came from a buck that died on a game farm several years ago. Waters admitted to buying the rack and trying to pass it off as legitimate. He had to turn over the rack and pay a fine, and his hunting privileges have been revoked for a year.