State News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Federal health officials say nearly 71,500 Wisconsin residents have signed up for health insurance through online federal exchanges. The data the U.S. Department of Health Services released Tuesday tracks enrollments from Oct. 1 through March 1. The figures show 71,443 signups, up 26 percent from 56,436 as of mid-February. About 56 percent More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin state Senate has voted to change a state law that requires police to collect DNA from people arrested for felonies. The Senate voted Tuesday to have the DNA go directly to the state crime lab rather than have the local law enforcement agency that makes the arrest hold on the More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says he is open to a bill that would limit in-person absentee voting in the two weeks leading up to an election. Walker said Tuesday that while the proposal hasn’t been on his radar, it is something he will look at once it passes the Legislature. The state Senate More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says he would call lawmakers into special session to modify Wisconsin’s voter photo identification requirements to conform to court rulings. Walker told reporters during a Wisconsin Bankers Association gathering at a Madison convention center Tuesday that he sees voter ID as the most pressing election-related issue Wisconsin faces. He More >

MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) – Manitowoc Co. says it’s moving production of Indigo ice machines to Mexico. The company says the transfer will cut 150 jobs in Manitowoc over the next two years. WLUK-TV (http://bit.ly/1fn1IzD ) says the production is being moved to a plant in Monterrey. A statement from the company says the transfer will More >

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) – Several Wisconsin Rotary clubs have overcome cultural differences and formed a partnership with their counterparts in Peru to create a successful business in soy milk production. Two Oshkosh Rotary clubs and another in Fond du lac have partnered with a Rotary Club in Lima, Peru to produce more than More >

NEILLSVILLE, Wis. (AP) – A former Abbotsford High School teacher charged with sexually assaulting two students is accused of contacting one of the teens. Clark County prosecutors have filed additional charges of bail jumping and intimidating a witness against 25-year-old Andy Follen. A criminal complaint says Follen tried to convince one of the teens to More >

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin man has been found competent to stand trial on charges of fatally shooting and dismembering a Minnesota man. Marathon County Circuit Judge Mike Moran has ruled Kou Thao is mentally capable of assisting with his own defense. The 27-year-old Wausau man is accused of shooting and dismembering 58-year-old Tong More >

BOYCEVILLE, Wis. (AP) – This story of three little pigs is no fable. The piglets are alive today because of firefighters and emergency medical technicians from Boyceville, who are nursing them back to health at the fire station. Firefighters responded to a barn fire north of Boyceville Sunday and were able to save three in More >

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) – A daycare provider is charged in Marathon County with spanking a baby so hard it left bruises and abrasions. Forty-five-year-old Carla Blood, of Birnamwood, faces a felony charge of child abuse. An investigative report says Blood told the grandfather of the 11-month-old girl when he came to pick her up that More >