Morning State News Briefs: Death threats against Walker investigated

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MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Police and the state Justice Department are investigating threats made on Twitter against Governor Scott Walker after he won his recall election last night.

Milwaukee Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said officers are evaluating the threats, the details of which were not immediately released. Schwartz said all threats can represent criminal acts – and people cannot assume they’ll be anonymous on social media when they threaten another person’s life-or-safety. Walker said this morning he does not compromise his safety, but he won’t let threats stand in the way of mingling with Wisconsinites and doing his job.

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Sauk County authorities are investigating a head-on crash that killed a woman and injured three others. 79-year-old Lucy Hasheider of Prairie du Sac died at the scene of the mishap, which took place yesterday morning on Highway 12 west of Sauk City. Authorities said Hasheider was a passenger in a van that was struck head-on by an oncoming vehicle that crossed a center line. A passenger in that vehicle, a 36-year-old woman, was hospitalized in fair condition at last word at UW Hospital in Madison. There was no word on the conditions of the other two who were injured. Part of Highway 12 was closed while the crash site was being cleaned up – and it cut off access to a town polling place that got no business for an hour-and-a-half. But officials said voters came back later, and they did not believe the road closing affected their turnout.

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If someone calls from Microsoft, and says they need to work on your computer, don’t buy it. Authorities in Prairie du Chien call it a scam in which a man was victimized by having his personal bank information stolen. Police Chief Chad Abram said the resident got a call from a man with a foreign accent who said he was a Microsoft technician, and that he needed to look for viruses on the person’s computer. The victim followed instructions, and his machine locked up a short time later. Abram said computer technicians generally don’t call to work on machines – and those with problems call for help themselves.

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Carroll University of Waukesha has received four-million-dollars from the estate of a man who wanted to honor his late wife, by supporting the school’s nursing and other health programs. 96-year-old George Richter of Canada died on Christmas of 2010. But before he passed on, Richter created a gift plan in recognition of his wife Gladys, who graduated from Carroll in 1936. School president Doug Hastad said Richter developed a strong interest in Carroll and its students over the years.

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A motorcyclist was killed in the Fox Valley late last night. Outagamie County sheriff’s deputies said the biker struck a deer, and then another vehicle in the same direction hit the motorcycle. It happened just after 10 last night near Seymour in the town of Cicero. The victim’s name was not immediately released.

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A plea deal for a Milwaukee reptile specialist is being held up, after his alleged victim complained about it. Authorities said 62-year-old Terry Cullen drove a woman from Chicago to his conservatory in Milwaukee where he sexually assaulted her. And while police were investigating that, they noticed that over 200 unique reptiles were living in squalor. Charges were filed just over two years ago. Prosecutors had considered dropping false imprisonment and sexual assault charges involving the woman, in exchange for Cullen’s conviction on animal mistreatment. But the victim complained, because it was the equivalent of dropping all the charges which involved her. Prosecutor Sara Lewis wrote that Cullen’s sexual assault charges would be hard to prove. She asked a judge this week for up to six more weeks to get the matter resolved.

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Wisconsin will spend a million dollars from its legal settlement with national mortgage lenders to remove blighted houses throughout the state. The state’s Housing and Economic Development Authority has started to promote what it calls the “Strategic Neighborhood Revitalization-Demolition Program.” It will remove dilapidated houses which pose safety hazards in locations where new homes are part of larger development plans. Half the blighted properties to be removed are in Milwaukee, and the rest in other parts of Wisconsin. The state Justice and Financial Institutions’ departments are each kicking in a half-million-dollars. But the Wisconsin State Journal says it’s not much, considering that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has said it would cost $48-million to remove the abandoned and deteriorating homes in his city. The state received the settlement money earlier this year from a lawsuit against banks over deceptive lending practices. The state received $140-million from the settlement. And the Walker administration used $25-million of it to help balance the state budget, raising complaints from Barrett who said the money should have been used to help those made homeless by the lending scandal.

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An elderly Manitowoc man died yesterday, after he was struck by a car on Monday. 83-year-old Roy Hanson died at a Green Bay hospital from head injuries suffered in the crash. Manitowoc Police said the driver who struck Hanson claimed he didn’t see him because of the sun. The mishap occurred around 3 o’clock on Monday afternoon.

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