State News

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) – La Crosse County sheriff’s officials say
money motivated a West Salem man to kill his parents.
     Chief Deputy Jeff Wolf says Eric Koula went to his parents’ town
of Barre home May 21 and shot 65-year-old Merna Koula as she sat at
her computer. Wolf says Koula then shot his 68-year-old father,
Dennis, when More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin officials say a new unofficial
survey suggests that nearly four out of five motorists buckle up.
That would be an all-time high.
     The State Patrol’s Bureau of Transportation Safety says a
statewide survey last year found seatbelt use around 73 percent
last year.
     State Patrol Maj. Dan Lonsdorf says the improvement to 79
percent is More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The no. 2 official at the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources is leaving his job to join the
private sector.
     Pat Henderson has served as deputy secretary of the agency since
2007. His last day with the agency will be Friday.
     The agency said in a press release that Henderson would explore
his options in More >

OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) – Actor Gary Sinise is visiting Oshkosh on
Friday.
     He’s performing with his band the “Lt. Dan Band” at
Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture convention,
during its event “Theater in the Woods” event.
     Sinise played Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in the film
“Forrest Gump” and stars on the TV series “CSI: New York.”
     It’s Sinise’s More >

     LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) – The 40-year-old son of a slain Wisconsin couple has been arrested in their deaths.
     La Crosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson says Eric Koula of rural West Salem was arrested Thursday. He was being held without bond.
     Koula is the son of 68-year-old Dennis Koula and 65-year-old Merna Koula. The More >

     MADISON, Wis. (AP) – All 35 Wisconsin schools with nicknames that relate to American Indians may be forced to prove how they are not discriminatory under a proposal being considered by the state’s education department.
     A new Wisconsin law gives the Department of Public Instruction the ability to bar schools from using race-based logos More >

     MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee’s overall crime has decreased almost 8 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared to the same time last year.
     Crime continues a downward trend in the state’s largest city, with the numbers being down 19 percent from the same six months in 2007.
     The biggest changes came in More >

     RIPON, Wis. (AP) – Police say a Ripon woman was unknowingly trafficking weapons and other goods for a Russian militia.
     Officers investigating a credit card fraud case earlier this month determined a number of packages involved were shipped to a Ripon home. Police seized about 20 packages from the woman’s home and discovered they More >

     MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin man can sue a former girlfriend’s insurer for the wrongful death of a fetus, which was stillborn after the woman was in a car accident.
     Shannon Tesar, the father of the fetus, says the woman’s negligent driving was partly to blame for the accident in Wisconsin Rapids and More >

     OCONTO, Wis. (AP) – An Oconto County man was arrested Thursday and charged with killing his estranged wife, then setting the house on fire.
     Fifty-year-old Randall Staeven  is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 40-year-old Christine Staeven, arson, mutilating a corpse and endangering the lives of three children in the home.
     More >