GOVERNOR’S RACE
Barrett to campaign across state this week

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will make his first statewide campaign tour as a Democratic Candidate for governor this week.
Barrett will stop at Western Technical College in La Crosse on Monday to meet with students. He’ll make stops at a high-tech business in Eau Claire and a business development center in Wausau on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Barrett will stop at Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc and meet with small business owner in Sheboygan.
The tour comes as the campaign to replace Gov. Jim Doyle seems to be heating up.
Republican Mark Neumann sad last week he has put $1 million of his own money into his campaign. He is running for the Republican nomination against Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.
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HOSPITAL EVACUATED-WISCONSIN
Stoughton hospital up and running after evacuation

STOUGHTON, Wis. (AP) – Stoughton Hospital evacuated 18 patients Sunday after receiving numerous bomb threats over the last 24 hours.
The first threat came in about 8 p.m. Saturday, but Stoughton police and Dane County Sheriff’s officials found nothing.
Hospital officials say they received more threats by phone on Sunday, so at about noon they evacuated 16 patients to Skaalen Sunset Home and two patients to Madison hospitals.
Once authorities deemed the building was secure, patients began returning to the hospital about 3:30 p.m.
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CARBON MONOXIDE-WINDSOR
Family of 7 in Windsor sick from carbon monoxide

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A family of seven in the town of Windsor was sent to the hospital Sunday for carbon monoxide poisoning.
DeForest firefighters and officials from Madison Gas and Electric Co. were called to the home on Sunday. Officials spent three hours ventilating the home and trying to find the source of the leak.
Deputy Fire Chief Brent Foss says the leak might have come from a swimming pool heater.
The family members started feeling sick about the same time the carbon monoxide detector indicated a problem.
The two adults and five children were alert when firefighters arrived. They were taken to a Madison hospital.
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal

http://www.madison.com/wsj

HAITI-WISCONSIN STUDENTS
UW-Madison students home from Haiti

MADISON, WI (AP) – A small group of University of Wisconsin -Madison engineering students who were working in Haiti during Tuesday’s earthquake are now back home safe.
Students Tyler Lark, Eyleeen Chou and Randi Schieber were with a group of six people from the university who were in Haiti. They were working about 70 miles north of Port-au-Prince on an assessment and surveying project to fix a bridge.
WISC-TV reports the group crossed into the Dominican Republic to fly home.
Chou says the group feels lucky and had a lot of help getting home.
The students say they felt the earthquake while they were surveying in fields, but it had little impact in their location.

Information from: WISC-TV

http://www.channel3000.com

MILWAUKEE STUDENTS-HAITI
2 Milwaukee 20-year-olds describe Haiti escape

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) – Two Milwaukee-area 20-year-olds who were in Haiti with other students from Lynn University in Florida are back in the U.S. and describing their harrowing escape.
Tom Schloemer of Fox Point and Melissa Elliot of Merton arrived back on their Florida campus on Friday.
Schloemer says they were with six others who escaped the quake, then dashed through the streets of Port-au-Prince, passing crumbled houses, dead bodies and fearing aftershocks.
They held hands as they ran through dangerous areas. With the help of an armed U.S. Marine and a Coast Guard member, they made it to the U.S. Embassy and slept together on the ground. They were flown to the Dominican Republic and eventually back to Florida.
Four students and two professors from Lynn were in the hotel and haven’t been found.

Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com

VETERANS TUITION
Wisconsin veterans face maze of education benefits

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin veterans must navigate a bureaucratic maze this semester to continue receiving state and federal benefits to pay for college.
Campus officials report confusion and frustration as Wisconsin forces students receiving the state G.I. Bill to use a new federal benefit first it they are eligible.
Campus officials say many veterans have applied for the federal benefit but are waiting to learn their level of eligibility. That means they are not receiving tuition payments and housing allowances in the meantime.
University of Wisconsin ccampuses say they will help by waiving deadlines for veterans to pay their tuition.
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(Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

BRAIN DISEASE EXPOSURE
Wis. hospital: No new reports of brain disease

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – It was six months ago that the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison notified some surgery patients they may have been exposed to contaminated instruments.
The exposure left the patients with a low risk of contracting a deadly brain disorder. The hospital says as of mid-December, none of the 53 patients reported any symptoms of the disorder.
The surgical tools were used on a woman who died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob (KROYTS’-felt YAH’-kuhb) disease. the other patients had surgery when the intruments were still in use.
Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette says the patients were told to report symptoms of CJD, including problems with walking or vision. She tells the Wisconsin State Journal the patients faced an “infinitesimal” chance of contracting it.

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal

http://www.madison.com/wsj

(Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)