Sunday State News Briefs: Milwaukee has most early voters in state

• City of Milwaukee

City of Milwaukee

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MILWAUKEE - City of Milwaukee voters are leading the way in Wisconsin when it comes to early voting.

Last Friday was the deadline. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett points out more people have cast their ballots early for this election than those who did so in 2008, despite the face the early voting period was nearly twice as long that year. About five thousand more people voted early in Milwaukee. At a Saturday rally for President Obama in Milwaukee, Barrett encouraged voters to go to the polls next Tuesday, making sure to get their friends and neighbors to cast their votes as well.

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Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore says serving on the House Budget Committee chaired by vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan has made her, quoting here, “witness to the crime.” The Milwaukee Democrat talking about the budget plan pushed by the Janesville Republican, who is chairman of that powerful committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Moore was speaking in Milwaukee yesterday at a political rally featuring an appearance by President Barack Obama. She says she hopes her fellow Democrat, Tammy Baldwin, is also elected to the U.S. Senate. Baldwin is running against former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.

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A request from the city of Racine for help has brought on no response from churches and nonprofit organizations. Racine asked tax-exempt groups to help the local economy by paying taxes, even though they don’t have to. It was called the “Racine’s Fair Share” program and the city administration is saying it didn’t work. Letters were sent to 182 nonprofit organizations last September, asking them to consider paying a portion of the property tax they would have had to pay if they weren’t exempt. Mayor John Dickert wrote the letter, pointing out the nonprofits are getting city services like police and fire protection and snow plowing. Eight other nonprofit organizations already pay for some services through what is called the PILOT program. That brought in a little over 97 thousand dollars last year.

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A 23-year old Marshfield man has a court appearance scheduled for tomorrow morning on charges he pour gasoline on a pregnant woman, then threatened to set her on fire. Tyler S. Ress is charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors. Ress is accused of assaulting the 28 year old Marshfield woman last September. Prosecutors say he punched her in the stomach several times, then also tried to strangle her. The domestic attack lasted three hours.

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Two public safety departments in Dane County are squabbling after a volunteer firefighter in Brooklyn was stopped for speeding on his way to a fire call. Dan Dean accused Oregon police officer Ted Gilbertson with over-reacting when Gilbertson drew his gun during a traffic stop last June. Dean had been speeding to the fire station in his private vehicle after being paged. Both Dean and Gilbertson were using lights and sirens at the time. Dean is contesting the ticket he was given for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. He says he didn’t pull over when he saw Gilbertson’s emergency flashers because he thought they both were responding to the same emergency. Gilbertson has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Oregon authorities point out the fire was a minor one, was broadcast that way, and Dean shouldn’t have activated his emergency siren and flashers. There is also disagreement about how fast Dean was driving.

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Brown Deer is hiring an independent law enforcement instructor to review the way the city’s police department handled incidents involving the man who went on a fatal shooting rampage at a Brookfield spa. All contacts the Brown Deer police had with Radcliffe Haughton will be reviewed by Robert Willis. Haughton killed his estranged wife Zina and two others October 21st. Since then, Brown Deer police have been criticized for not arresting Haughton during several domestic incidents involved the couple over the last 11 years. A dozen Wisconsin lawmakers accused the police chief of not following the state’s mandatory arrest law on at least two of the domestic violence cases reported. Lawmakers from the area said last week’s call for action was a “knee-jerk reaction,” but they are in favor of an independent review.

Tags: news, wisconsin, politics