Sunday State News Briefs: Protestors mark one-year anniversary of Budget Repair Act

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MADISON - Thousands of people filled the Wisconsin Capitol grounds yesterday, marking the one-year anniversary of the state Legislature passing a measure taking collective bargaining rights away from public union workers.

Marchers carried signs calling for Governor Scott Walker’s recall. Some demonstrators banged drums, rang cowbells and some even played bagpipes. The AFL-CIO in Wisconsin staged the rally. Union officials call the actions by Walker an assault on Wisconsin workers. Before the rally, Democrats Kathleen Falk of Madison and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma had criticism for Walker in a candidates’ forum. Both say they plan to run against Walker in a possible recall election.

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Both the prosecutor and the defense attorney recommended a fine as an appropriate sentence for 23 year old Joshua J. Ozment. The Waupaca County man pleaded guilty to causing a wreck that killed an unborn child in 2009. He was reportedly going 70 miles an hour in a 55 zone when he crashed into the other vehicle. Ozment cried last Friday as he was being sentenced, saying he was sorry. The judge acknowledged Ozment’s genuine remorse and his lack of a criminal history. The Fremont man will have to pay about $1,450.

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Trial starts later this month for an Appleton man who used his religion to explain why he rented out property he doesn’t own. Erik B. Hudson is accused of filing a fake deed indicating ownership of the property in Oshkosh had been transferred to the Moorish Science Temple of America. He’s accused of turning around and renting it to a woman from Neenah. Hudson reportedly told investigators that church can exercise its jurisdiction through its missionaries and Grand Sheikhs. He says the felony charge against him should be dismissed because the judge has no legal authority over him.

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If you know of, or suspect, public assistance fraud, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services wants to report your suspicions online or by phone. The Office of the Inspector General within that state department launched a new website for that purpose last week. If you suspect fraud is being committed in programs like Medicaid, FoodShare and BadgerCare, the state wants you to go online to dhs.wisconsin.gov – or call the toll-free fraud hotline at 877-865-34-32. The hotline has been in operation for three months and has already received more than 400 reports.

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Despite setting a record for passengers served during its first eight months, air service between Manistee, Michigan, and Milwaukee is ending after today. Frontier Airlines flies out of Blacker Airport in the Upper Peninsula for the last time today. The airport is hoping to bring in a new carrier before the busy summer season gets its start. The airport director says it’s not good to lose airline service, but it’s better that it happened now than during the peak season. Frontier brought its service to the airport last April. Five months later the company announced it would stop serving that route in March.

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An eighth-grader from Menomonee Falls will represent Wisconsin at the National Spelling Bee next spring. Heloise Cheruvalath won the Badger State Spelling Bee yesterday in Madison by spelling the word “mellifluous.” Cheruvalath won when Verona sixth-grader Aisha Khan missed on “catalineta.” The two battled through five founds before Cheruvalath emerged the victor. The Scripps Howard Spelling Bee will be held in Washington, D.C., in late May.

Tags: news, wisconsin