Sunday State News Briefs: Tea-Party rally draws throusands to state capitol

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MADISON - Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch tells several thousand tea party members rallying outside the state Capitol Saturday the nation is watching the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker.

Walker and Kleefisch face a recall election June 5th. Walker has already told a crowd of NRA members in St. Louis that election will be a referendum on big government. Kleefisch offered praise for Governor Walker and Republican lawmakers for passing legislation to reduce the Wisconsin budget deficit. Organizers of the recall effort started their drive after Walker signed a bill limiting collective bargaining rights for most public workers in Wisconsin.

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Wisconsin is looking on as researchers test a chemical coating they are hoping stops invasive mussels from clogging dams. The work is being done at Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border. The invasive mussels haven’t reached the Pacific Northwest yet, but the research is being done there because hydropower managers on the Columbia River are worried about their impact if and when they arrive. The testing on Lake Mead will see how the mussels react to panels coated with the chemical solution. If it works, the same approach could be tried in the Badger state – where zebra and quagga mussels are having a major impact.

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Students from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh are packing for a trip to the Far East. The business students will join officials with Mercury Marine on the trade mission to China and South Korea. The group is scheduled to visit several manufacturing operations, suppliers and additional industries in those countries. The 15 students will join the others in the middle of next month. UW-Oshkosh says the first-ever partnership with Mercury Marine will give the students a unique learning experience about the international business culture. When the trip is over the students will make recommendations to Mercury Marine executives on things they learned while they were taking the informative trip.

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The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a 51-year old bus driver, accusing him of sending nude photos of himself to an 11-year old boy. Bobb Bergman of Schley has been charged with four felonies, including stalking. He was released from the county jail after he posted bond. The child’s parents called authorities saying their son had received 10 photos from Bergman’s cell phone, including several of Bergman’s private parts. The boy was a passenger on the bus Bergman was driving. He allegedly asked the boy to collect cell phone numbers from the other students on that bus.

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A sergeant assigned to the Milwaukee city jail’s property division could soon face charges. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office is considering whether to charge the officer accused of falsifying claims for overtime he didn’t work. Police administrators have asked the DA’s office to file the charges. The same officer was fired five years ago when he was accused of kicking down the door of an apartment he shared with his girlfriend. He had also threatened to kill himself with his service revolver. The Fire and Police Commission later reinstated him. The district attorney’s office says it will decide whether to file those charges by the end of April.

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