State News

(Undated)  —  Second baseman Eric Sogard is expected to rejoin the Brewers for Friday’s contest against the Phillies, after he completed a two game minor league rehab assignment. Sogard walked twice and scored once for Class A Wisconsin Thursday night in a 6-1 Timber Rattlers’ home loss to South Bend. Sogard, who’s coming off a More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee police say two officers on foot patrol were injured in a hit-and-run crash on the city’s northwest side. Police say the incident happened just before 5 p.m. Thursday when the suspect’s vehicle ran into another vehicle that struck the officers. They were transported to a local hospital for treatment of their More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the torture and starvation death of a 7-year-old boy. Forty-five-year-old Etter Hughes was convicted last month of four felonies, including child neglect causing death. Authorities say Trevion Winningham was starved, burned with cigarettes, beaten and whipped with More >

OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) — Oshkosh police say a Russian tortoise has gone missing from the city’s zoo. Authorities say the tortoise is about 8 to 10 inches in length. It was discovered missing Wednesday morning from the Menominee Park Zoo. Police say it was likely removed by someone and taken from the zoo. The tortoise More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is unchanged for the month of June. The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that unemployment in June was 3.1 percent. That is the same as it was in May, when it hit its lowest mark since 1999. The national unemployment rate for June was 4.4 percent. More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The head of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will step down next month after seven years on the job. Gov. Scott Walker’s office issued a news release Thursday saying Ben Brancel will retire from the agency on Aug. 13.Brancel sent a letter to Walker saying he wants More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Justice has started publishing a list of pending record requests online. The agency announced in a news release Wednesday that it has added the list to its website at https://www.doj.state.wi.us/office-open-government/responses-public-record-requests and update it weekly. The list contains the name of the requestor, a description of the records being sought More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law a bill that won bipartisan support in the Legislature requiring private schools in Wisconsin’s voucher program to conduct employee background checks. Walker signed the bill making mostly technical changes for the state’s voucher schools on Wednesday. The new law eliminates academic benchmarks the voucher More >

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — A father has been charged in the fatal shooting of his 3-year-old son in Racine, Wisconsin. Police were called to the apartment July 12 where they found Jere’Miah Pitt dead of a single gunshot wound to the chest. A criminal complaint says his 30-year-old father, Jeffrey Pitt Jr., told police he More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Students in the Madison Metropolitan School District are calling on administrators to hire more teachers of color. Students gathered outside Madison West High School last month with signs reading, “Stop whitewashing our schools,” and “The more the variety, the better the society,” The Capital Times (http://bit.ly/2tpQIVN ) reported. Data from the Wisconsin More >