Sunday State News Briefs: Board of Regents to take up UW-Madison personnel plan

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MADISON - A wide-ranging plan changing the way employees are recruited, paid and evaluated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be forwarded to the UW System Board of Regents and the state Legislature.

If it’s passed, the changes for those 20,000 workers could go into effect my next summer. The plan released Friday includes performance-based pay increases for faculty and staff, plus a guarantee of a living wage for all employees. The new approach would reportedly give hiring managers more flexibility in adjusting salary offers to make the school competitive nationwide.

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As he was about to be sentenced to 20 years in prison, 28 year old Jeremiah T. Brown told the judge he took responsibility for what he called his “senseless act.” That man from Racine shot 34 year old Terrell Byers after a card game. Brown apologized to his family and Byers’ family after the sentencing. The two men were reportedly playing cards in 2009 when tensions developed. Witnesses say things calmed down when Brown left, but he was accused of returning with a gun wrapped in plastic. Byers was shot in the back.

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Relatives of James Southworth are hoping an announced reward will lead to a new break in the 11 year old case. Southworth was shot in the back while he was hunting alone near Chili November 23rd, 2001. Clark County sheriff’s officials say they are still looking for a pickup which had been seen parked near the location where Southworth’s body was discovered. Three men were seen standing around the truck at about noon that day. Investigators want to talk to them.

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A woman tells Dane County sheriff’s deputies she fired several shots at a masked intruder who tried to break into her home early yesterday morning. The man ran away when she started shooting and it isn’t know if he was injured. Both sheriff’s deputies and Madison police officers were called to the home in the town of Blooming Grove at about 2 a.m. on the report of an attempted home invasion. The woman told police she was investigating what sounded like footsteps when the intruder confronted her and tried to use a form of pepper spray on her.

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