Afternoon State News Briefs - Appeals of ID law filed immediately despite delay request

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MADISON - Wisconsin’s top elections official said he did not want the Justice Department to immediately appeal two court rulings that halted the state’s voter ID law but the appeals were filed anyway.

Kevin Kennedy said the courts changed the rules for voters in the April third presidential primary and local elections. And Kennedy, who heads the Government Accountability Board, told the Justice agency he didn’t want the appeals courts to change them back in the next two weeks. He said it would put the public in a quote, “yo yo type situation.” The Justice Department filed almost immediate challenges after two Dane County judges struck down the photo ID mandate for voting. One ruling was meant to kill the law permanently. Another put it on hold until at least mid April, when a trial could be held. The rulings were made in two of the four lawsuits filed against the ID law passed by Republicans last year. All four lawsuits said the measure discourages the poor, minorities, and other groups from voting. The GOP says the law is designed to fight voter fraud, anyone who needs ID’s can get them for free.

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A Catholic Church pastor from Lake Geneva was named today as the new bishop in the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois. Pope Benedict selected Monsignor David Malloy to replace the retiring Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford. He submitted his resignation to the Vatican on his 75th birthday, as the church requires. Malloy is 56. He’s a Milwaukee native who graduated from Marquette and studied the priesthood in both Milwaukee and Rome. Malloy was ordained in 1983. He’s currently the pastor of Saint Francis de Sales in Lake Geneva, which is part of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. Archbishop Jerome Listecki called Malloy’s appointment a loss for his area but quote, “a gain for the faithful in Rockford.” Eleven northern Illinois counties are part of the Rockford Diocese. It serves over 450,000 Catholics.

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A former Catholic Church secretary from suburban Milwaukee was sent to prison for three years today, for embezzling $400,000 dollars. 57-year-old Darlene Vodvarka apologized for stealing the money from Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Oak Creek and she was ordered to pay it back. Circuit Judge David Hansher called the crimes a character flaw that was motivated by greed. Vodvarka was first accused of taking $217,000 dollars by the use of subscription gift cards that merchants donated for Saint Matthew’s School. A related civil lawsuit then uncovered $183,000 dollars in stolen cash which Vodvarka covered up by falsifying church ledgers. Vodvarka said the thefts were almost like an “addiction” to her since she started them in 2004. She told the judge she must have spent the money on her family because quote, “I don’t gamble. I don’t have new cars. I don’t take trips.” Vodvarka claimed she gave some of the stolen funds to charities, but Judge Hansher said he didn’t believe that. Lawyers said an insurance company has reimbursed the church about $250,000 dollars of the losses.

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Wisconsin’s deer trustee will hold six town hall meetings next month, to get public input on the way the state manages its deer herd. James Kroll says he wants to get ideas from sporting enthusiasts and others. Kroll was hired a few months ago to perform an independent review of the state’s deer management practices. His town hall meetings begin April 16th in Appleton and most will be at night from 7 to 10 o’clock. The other sessions are set for April 17th in Rhinelander, the 18th in Hayward, the 19th in Black River Falls, and the 20th in Mount Horeb. A daytime meeting is planned April 21st, a Saturday, from 10 to 1 at State Fair Park near Milwaukee.

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum brings his campaign for the Republican nomination for president to Wisconsin this weekend. He will make an appearance at the Americans for Prosperity forum in Milwaukee Saturday. U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Oshkosh) and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) are also scheduled to attend the event. Wisconsin’s primary is still several weeks away on April 3rd, with contests in Illinois today and Louisiana on Saturday.

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Five Wisconsin school districts have reached a financial settlement to recover millions of dollars in lost investments with a St. Louis based firm. Waukese, West Allis-West Milwuakee, Whitefish Bay, Kenosha and Kimberly will be getting $13 million each in settlement money, with an additional $9 million set aside for future recoveries. Taken together, more than $217 million in faulty investments have been recovered from Stifel Nicholaus and Company. Stifel also sent a message saying the school districts and the company would move on to pursue a legal challenge against the Royal Bank of Canada, which put together the risky investments.

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Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn says a video of a downtown fight on St. Patrick’s Day misrepresents the situation. Chief Flynn and Mayor Tom Barrett say the city is safe for visitors and people should not be afraid to go downtown. The video showed the fight on Water Street last Saturday. Flynn points out there were 40,000 people downtown, but there were just nine arrests for disorderly conduct and only a half dozen fights were reported. He says there were no more fights than would be reported on an average weekend in Milwaukee.

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