State News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration says new revenue projections show the state will finish the 2011-2013 biennium with a $154.5 million surplus. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated in February the state would finish the two-year period with a $143 million deficit. But Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch wrote in More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal judge has sentenced a former Beloit official to prison for using city funds to purchase personal items. According to court documents, Timothy Kosier was authorized to purchase supplies and equipment in his position as city water maintenance supervisor. Last June an anonymous city worker tipped city officials that Kosier More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser has asked another colleague to step out of his discipline case. The Wisconsin Judicial Commission has accused Prosser of violating judicial ethics when he allegedly placed his hands around Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s neck during an argument last year in front of four other justices. More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Department of Natural Resources is banning baiting and feeding of white-tailed deer in some northwestern Wisconsin counties. The ban takes effect Thursday in Barron, Burnett, Polk and Washburn counties. The DNR says it’s taking the action after a wild deer in Washburn County tested positive for chronic wasting disease. DNA More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Polls are open in Wisconsin for a primary election that will determine who will take on the first-term governor in a historic recall election next month.      Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk are two of four Democrats on Tuesday’s ballot who are looking to challenge Walker More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Milwaukee County sergeant accused of producing child pornography has resigned from the sheriff’s department.      Philip Wentzel is a former spokesman for the department. The 44-year-old Wentzel is accused of taking pictures of young girls who were sleeping or drugged at a Fond du Lac County campground and then trying to More >

 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – The Obama administration will release a short list of options next year for protecting the Great Lakes from Asian carp and other invasive species.      Previously, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had insisted it needed until 2015 to devise a permanent solution to the carp threat. But administration officials More >

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has canceled a rally in Madison for the day after Tuesday’s recall election primary that was to have included all four candidates for governor. Party chairman Mike Tate said Monday that he decided to cancel the Wednesday rally after deciding time was better spent on get More >

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office says an infant girl is electrocuted while sleeping with her mother.      The medical examiner’s report says 3-month-old Diamond Nicole McDuffie came in contact with a baseboard heater, a metal bed frame and a frayed extension cord with an exposed wire at a Milwaukee apartment.      More >

TOWN OF MEDINA, Wis. (AP) – Dane County sheriff’s officials say two young children are hospitalized after swallowing gasoline.      Deputies were called to the Town of Medina Sunday night where the 3-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy had ingested gasoline. Authorities say the siblings climbed into a neighbor’s car, which had a gas can in More >