Evening State News Briefs: Chemistry experiment sends five to hospital from Stoughton

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STOUGHTON - A teacher and four students were sent to a hospital today, after a chemistry science experiment failed to go off as planned at Stoughton High School.

The 45-year-old female teacher was taken to UW Hospital in Madison with burns. Four students were taken to the Stoughton Hospital. School officials said 10 classrooms in the high school science wing were evacuated – and the chemistry classroom would stay closed until it could be cleaned, and the air quality becomes acceptable again. Other parts of Stoughton High School remained open. Officials did not give immediately give condition reports on those hurt. The incident happened around nine this morning.

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Oak Creek police lieutenant Brian Murphy was wounded more seriously than was first reported in the days after the August fifth shooting massacre at the Sikh Temple. At a news conference this afternoon, Police Chief John Edwards said the 51-year-old Murphy was hit by 15 bullets from gunman Wade Michael Page. Authorities originally said he was hit 8-to-9 times. The chief said three of the shots hit Murphy’s bullet-proof vest, and the other 12 hit other parts of his body. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm told reporters that the officers who fired at Page were quote, “justified and privileged” in their use of force. Officer Sam Lenda, who hit Page with six bullets, said the gunman was on a mission and had to be stopped. The FBI said Lenda’s bullets would have been enough to kill Page, had the gunman not fired a final shot to his head. Officials say the self-inflicted wounds are what killed him. Page killed six worshippers and wounded four people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Video from two Oak Creek police cars was released. They showed Page and Murphy exchanging gunfire, and Lenda wounding Page.

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The two candidates for Wisconsin’s open U.S. Senate seat have agreed to debate each other three times before their November election. Republican Tommy Thompson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin will hold their first debate on September 28th. The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association will televise that forum from Milwaukee. The second debate will be on October 18th in Wausau, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Television, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. The Marquette Law School and Milwaukee’s WISN-TV will host the final debate on October 26th from Milwaukee.

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An Appleton man has died from injuries suffered in a one-car crash on a Milwaukee freeway. Sheriff’s deputies said 28-year-old Terrell Norwood lost control on the Interstate-43 exit ramp at National Avenue – and the vehicle crossed a ditch and a nearby on-ramp before it landed in a grassy area. Investigators said Norwood was legally drunk at the time, and empty liquor bottles were found in his auto. Also, deputies said Norwood did not have a valid driver’s license. The crash occurred just before 7:45 yesterday morning. Norwood died last night at Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital.

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It can be a difficult process to cast ballots at election time for registered voters who don’t speak English. An estimated 47,000 people living in Milwaukee face that challenge, so Milwaukee elections officials must provide translated ballots and bilingual workers at the polls. Another 170 thousand additional non-English speaking residents live in Oshkosh, Appleton and Wausau. Officials are not required to provide bilingual support at polling locations in those cities.

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A Sunday crash of a small plane in Kansasville leaves the pilot dead. Witnesses say the aircraft went down in the back yard of a home near Eagle Lake. No one on the ground was injured. The Federal Aviation Administration reports the single-engine plane had taken off from Chicago and was headed to Minocqua, which is about 275 miles away from the crash site.

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Injured Milwaukee police officer Joshua Albert is still in critical condition, but his doctors say he is improving. Albert was off-duty and driving home after his shift last week when a car going the wrong way on Interstate 94 hit his vehicle head-on. The driver who hit him, 23 year old Erick Salmon, was also seriously hurt. She is facing charges of drunken driving.

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It was a hot summer in most of the U.S., but a new report says Wisconsin led the way with its scorchers. Climate Central favors solutions to fight global warming. It said communities in the Badger State broke 1,345 records this summer – four times the number expected. On average, the new records were almost four-and-a-half degrees warmer than the old ones. And Wisconsin had 41 times more record highs than record lows during the season. This should be no surprise, since the National Weather Service said the three-month period ending August 31st was the hottest on record in Milwaukee. Climate Central said Texas had the largest number of record-high temperatures, but Wisconsin was Number-One in most other categories. Other states in the group’s overall Top-10 were Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Arkansas. Today, most of Wisconsin is basking in 70-degree weather. But above-normal readings are expected the next couple of days, with highs in the 80’s expected through Wednesday.

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The U.S. Coast Guard and a salvage ship have located a fishing vessel that sank off Washington State in March, killing four people – including one from the Fox Valley. Fisheries’ service observer Chris Langel of Kaukauna died in the incident – which happened when the Lady Cecilia went down. The boat was found yesterday in 460-feet of water, about 20 miles of Washington’s Point Ledbetter near Willapa Bay. A skipper and two deckhands – one from Washington and two from Oregon – also died, along with Langel. Underwater video will be reviewed for clues on why the boat went down so fast. The crew was not able to put out a distress signal for a mayday call. The findings of the study will be given to the Coast Guard at a hearing in Oregon.

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Police were looking for known suspects this morning in the weekend murders of two people from southern Wisconsin. 36-year-old Lori Daniels of Janesville was shot-to-death while riding in her alleged killer’s SUV yesterday morning on Interstate-39-90 just south of the Wisconsin-Illinois line. And in Fitchburg, 39-year-old Willie Taylor was stabbed to death at the apartment of his girlfriend. She was wounded, and police said the suspect is a former boyfriend – 25-year-old Dominique Hale. Taylor was from Sun Prairie. Police say they’ve been getting leads about where Hale might be located. Meanwhile, officials said the suspect in the other killing – 22-year-old Kody Walsh of Rockford Illinois – was being chased by officers until he crashed his car in Rockford an ran off. Illinois State Police said they consider Walsh armed and dangerous.

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A state panel hopes to hear some fresh ideas this week on how to help low-income people get the justice they need from the civil courts. The Wisconsin Access-to-Justice Commission has held hearings in Green Bay and Eau Claire – and a similar meeting is planned for Thursday evening in Milwaukee. About 30 people have signed up to testify. They include judges, lawyers, government-and-religious leaders, service agency officials, school students, and others. Commission member Hannah Dugan says there are people who don’t know they can use the court system to solve problems. She cited the increasing college debt issue as a growing a concern. Also, numerous other problems face veterans, the elderly and poor. They include evictions, guardianships, child support, loss of benefits, consumer scams, and protection from domestic violence. Private legal service agencies have seen their funding dwindle – and the Supreme Court has struck down efforts to make judges appoint lawyers to represent low-income civil defendants. Dugan said it would be a start to raise more public awareness, so more low-income people can realize that the law might offer them solutions.

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A Manitowoc woman will stay under house arrest until she’s sentenced December fourth for killing three people with her van while driving drunk. 44-year-old Becky Holly struck a plea deal with prosecutors. She pleaded no contest to three counts of negligent homicide. Seven other charges were dropped, and prosecutors agreed to ask a judge to give her 20 years in prison plus 18 more years of extended supervision. Holly’s van left a road near Two Rivers last October. Authorities said it careened down an embankment, and struck three people who were standing on a lawn watching a relative’s roofing project. Holly was also injured, and she remains in a wheel-chair almost a year after the mishap. A relative of the victims, Mark Gerroll, said it’s better for the victims’ family not to have to go through a trial. Manitowoc County District Attorney Mark Rohrer prefers to call it the “beginning of the closure” for the survivors.

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