Clerk: nearly 200 ballots not processed in general election (MADISON)
The City of Madison Clerk’s Office says almost 200 ballots from the November 5 general election were not properly processed. In a statement on Thursday, the Madison clerk’s office said 193 mainly absentee ballots from three wards were discovered during post-election reconciliation and clean-up. The clerk’s office said that number was not enough to affect the outcome of any race or referendum, but Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway said in a separate statement that a discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable and that a thorough review of the City’s election policies and procedures will be conducted to ensure this kind of oversight does not recur. Clerks have 45 days to complete the reconciliation process after a presidential election. The clerk’s office informed the Wisconsin Elections Commission of the unprocessed ballots by December 20 and will send a letter of apology to all affected voters.
Life with possibility of parole for Price Co. murder (PRENTCE)
Prison time for a Price County man who admitted to killing a woman. Christopher Dyer will serve life in prison for killing Denise Schwarz on April 13th outside a Park Falls home, though a judge did grant the 50-year-old the ability to apply for parole after 30 years, according to court records. Dyer previously pleaded not guilty to the crime, but changed his plea on Thursday after reaching a deal with the state last month. Schwarz was 57 at the time of her death. Investigators say the couple had been in a relationship but broke up some time before the shooting. Dyer was taken into custody on April 15th and formally charged with the homicide in May.
Another bird flu outbreak in Wisconsin (BURNETT COUNTY)
The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said Thursday that birds at a commercial poultry farm in Burnett County, in northwest Wisconsin, were destroyed to prevent spread of the H5N1 virus and that it will not enter the food system. Bird flu outbreaks have led to destruction of commercial flocks in several Wisconsin counties and it’s also infected wild birds in the state. Earlier this month Wisconsin’s first human H5N1 case was confirmed in a worker at a Barron County farm where an inflected flock was also destroyed. So far, there’s been no evidence anywhere in the United States of human to human transmission of bird flu, which has also infected dairy cattle in several states.