Sunday State News Briefs: Contamined soil scuttles Oshkosh School Board's plan to buy land

OSHKOSH - The Oshkosh Board of Education has canceled plans to buy a plot of land on West Linwood Avenue after contaminants were found in the soil.

The contaminated soil was found near the construction site for the new Oaklawn Elementary School. Its discovery means more tests will be conducted on the school grounds, costing another five to seven thousand dollars. School district officials say results from the additional soil tests should be available in about a month. They say the canceled land sale will not delay construction on the new school building. It should be open for classes by next September.

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The state is already promising to appeal last week’s ruling which sets aside the law which effectively ends collective bargaining for public employees. Now, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he will ask the court to allow him to continue enforcement of Article 10 which the appeal is argued. Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas overturned almost all of the law which has been the defining issue of Governor Scott Walker’s time in office. Walker has called Judge Colas a “liberal activist judge.” Meanwhile, the appeal by the Republican governor is likely to end up on the docket of the conservative-dominated state Supreme Court.

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Wisconsin Congressman and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan made a second visit to his home state yesterday, attending a private fund-raising in Middleton. Both parties think Wisconsin’s electoral votes are up for grabs, even though the state has voted Democratic for the last six presidential votes. Ryan had made a Wednesday stop in Ashwaubenon. And, President Obama has a fundraiser set for Milwaukee next Saturday. Ticket prices range from $500 to $25,000 apiece for the event at the Milwaukee Theater. Obama was last in Milwaukee in February.

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Janesville police accuse a 21-year old man of pointing a handgun at a car full of children last Friday night. A Milton man was taking his child and some friends to a sleepover at a home in Janesville when the incident happened on Highway 26 a little before 10 p.m. The victim gave a description to police which led officers to stop Kyle Kliver. Police say they found two handguns in his vehicle and Kliver admitted his involvement. Kliver was booked into the Rock County Jail. He faces several charges.

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Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is pushing to have at least one of the county’s three lobbyists report to him, but there’s been no movement in that direction yet. Abele says he has to ask the county board chairwoman for permission to even have a conversation with the lobbying staff the way things are set up now. Abele just met with Wisconsin’s congressional delegation and some policy advisers at the White House, trying to get some additional federal aid headed this way. He was specifically seeking more federal help for mental health care costs, programs for seniors, single parents and others under the Affordable Health Care Act.

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After nine months on the job, the director of the Wisconsin Works program at Milwaukee’s Social Development Commission has been fired. There has been controversy when 30 year old Jamye Chapman was hired last winter because he didn’t meet the minimum requirements posted for the position. The welfare-to-work program has been cited in a state monitoring report for the way it allocated costs, and the way it provided emergency assistance to families. Chapman was brought in to work on some of those problems and the CEO of the anti-poverty agency had praised the progress he had made. The SDC let him go last week.

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