Evening State News Briefs: Judge allows Quad Graphics to purchase bankrupt Baltimore company

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BALTIMORE - A federal bankruptcy judge has agreed to let Wisconsin’s Quad/Graphics purchase a financially-troubled printing company in Baltimore.

Quad said today that it expects to finalize a $258-million purchase of Vertis Holdings in January – and the two firms are now discussing how to combine their operations. Quad and Vertis announced a purchase agreement almost two months ago. Vertis filed for Chapter-11 bankruptcy around that time, so it could get relief from creditors while maintaining a steady business operation for customers and employees.

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Governor Scott Walker says he will not prepare an alternative state budget in the event that the federal government goes over the fiscal cliff early next year. The Republican Walker said today he would wait and see if Congress and the White House can negotiate a plan that would avoid massive tax increases and spending cuts that are scheduled to take effect automatically at the start of the New Year. Walker is scheduled to submit his next two-year budget proposal to the Legislature in February. And by then, President Obama and congressional Republicans might reach a deal to ward off the fiscal cliff at least for a while. But if the budget cuts and tax hikes take effect, Wisconsin could lose millions in federal money that the state might have to make up for. The amount is not known, but the Legislative Fiscal Bureau says it could be several hundred million dollars. Besides cuts in government programs, Bureau director Bob Lang says people will feel a squeeze of falling personal income, and a drop in the nation’s gross domestic product.

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The Democrat who chaired a special Wisconsin mining committee knows that majority Republicans can simply toss the panel’s ideas aside – but he hopes they won’t. Veteran Senator Tim Cullen of Janesville said his committee tried to educate everyone on the issue, regardless of party – and he said the panel’s final report has a lot that lawmakers ought to take seriously. Cullen’s panel suggested that the DNR have a two-year deadline to act on mining permits, instead of the one-year limit that failed to pass the Senate in March. The panel also said lawmakers should collaborate with federal regulators and Indian tribes in drafting a new mining package – to make sure it does not run afoul of federal laws or tribal water standards. And the committee said the public should still have the right to challenge the DNR’s decisions in a contested-case hearing – something Republicans tried to do away with last year. The GOP’s package failed in the Senate because the party only had a one-vote majority at the time – and moderate Republican Dale Schultz of Richland Center refused to go along with the package. This time, the GOP has a three-vote majority, so it would take more than one Republican defector to derail what the Republicans want to pass. Hazelhurst Republican Tom Tiffany, who the new chair of the Senate’s Mining Committee, says he’ll look at Cullen’s package and see if his party can use any of it.

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The Grant County Sheriff’s office is recommending prosecutors charge 16 year old Morgan Hoehne with homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle, plus three counts of reckless driving causing great bodily harm. Hoehne was the driver November 22nd when a crash left her 15 year old passenger Makayla Hore dead. Three other passengers were injured. All were students at Lancaster High School. Sheriff’s investigators say speed was likely a factor in the accident. The Wisconsin State Patrol is in the process of reconstructing the crash scene right now. That could become a major factor in the case.

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The first-ever national assessment of how well children understand the meaning of words gives high marks to Wisconsin eighth graders. They scored significantly higher than the national average in results released today. Fourth graders were also above the national norm, though by a narrower margin. DPI secretary Tony Evers calls understanding the meaning of words a foundational skill. Breaking the results down, Wisconsin girls, students with disabilities and English language learners were well above national averages, but black students trailed. About eight thousand Wisconsin students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams last year.

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The Wisconsin Fire Marshal will lead the effort to find the cause of a fatal house fire in Rhinelander. A man died in the fire yesterday, but a his wife was able to get out. Fire officials say the woman was already outside when they arrived. She was taken to a nearby hospital as firefighters then focused on trying to find the man amid the raging flames consuming the house.

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Drought conditions in Wisconsin are about the same as they were a week ago. The U.S. Drought Monitor said today that 88-and-a-half percent of the state’s land area remains abnormally dry or worse. That’s the same percentage as last week. Just over a quarter of the Badger State is still in a severe drought – mostly in northwest and far southern Wisconsin. Eleven counties in east-central Wisconsin are the only ones not in some form of drought. Nationally, drought conditions leveled off this week, after a couple of weeks in which conditions got slightly worse. Over 62-percent of the mainland U.S. is still in some form of drought – and one-fifth of states still have an extreme or exceptional drought status. Wisconsin is not among those. Because of the drought, barge operators fear a shutdown of traffic on the Mississippi River. The National Weather Service said yesterday that the river is not dropping as rapidly as it feared. But not much rain is predicted over the next few days in the driest parts of the river close to Saint Louis.

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The state’s largest electric utility is about to own a sizable wind energy farm in southwest Wisconsin. The state Public Service Commission voted 2-1 today to let We Energies buy the Montfort wind farm in Iowa County for $27-million dollars. Commission chairman Phil Montgomery said the purchase allows We Energies to re-power the 20-turbine wind farm, which started operating 11 years ago. The utility had a contract to buy 25-and-a-half of the 30 mega-watts the wind farm is supposed to generate. Wisconsin Power-and-Light is buying the rest. PSC member Eric Callisto cast the only no vote. He says it force utility customers to pay more for the power that’s generated at Montfort.

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The newest member of the Wisconsin Senate will be sworn-in a week from tomorrow. Assembly Republican Paul Farrow of Pewaukee was unopposed this week in a special election for the seat given up by Pewaukee Republican Rich Zipperer. He resigned in August to join Governor Scott Walker’s office as the deputy chief-of-staff. Farrow has spent two years in the Assembly. As the result of his election, the Senate will have 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats when the new legislative session begins on January seventh.

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After more than three years of trying, Wisconsin is finally getting a competitive federal education grant. The White House said today that the Badger State is one of five that will share $133-million to expand early learning programs, and improve their quality. Governor Scott Walker’s office said Wisconsin would get 22-point-seven million dollars over a four-year period as part of the Education Department’s “Race to the Top” program. Walker’s office said the funding would improve the Young-Star rating system for child care centers, to help parents of high-risk youngsters find the right care for them. The funding also seeks to help day care facilities improve their Young-Star ratings, and get parents more involved in improving their children’s early learning and development. Walker said the grant would also help build a service delivery system for early learning programs, involving the state Departments of Public Instruction, Children-and-Families, and Health Services. The governor’s office said it would help create more uniform standards for programs like Young-Star, Head-Start, and four-year-old kindergarten. The Obama White House started the “Race to the Top” program in 2009, offering federal stimulus dollars to states that design the most effective educational reforms. Wisconsin has had several grant requests rejected.

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Governor Scott Walker said today that his next state budget package will include 25 more full-time nurses at the state Veterans Home in Waupaca County. And it would also add 58 certified nursing assistants. The Veterans’ Affairs Department asked for the additional staffers, after the unions at King complained about being overworked due to chronic staffing shortages. Union leaders said they fear that a stressed employee will make a tragic error affecting the older veterans who get nursing care. Walker said the additional workers would ensure that there’s a registered nurse in the unit at all times, and the ratio of patients to nursing staffers would be improved. Legislators will be asked next spring to approve the extra personnel.

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Wisconsin has the nation’s largest increase in new applications for unemployment benefits. U.S. labor officials said today that almost 59-hundred Wisconsin workers filed benefit applications during the week ending November 24th. That’s more than twice as many as second-place Oregon. Wisconsin did not tell the federal government why so many more residents filed for unemployment. Oregon said its increase was due to the holidays and winter weather. New Jersey had the biggest decrease in unemployment applications. About 24-thousand fewer people filed for benefits, due to fewer claims connected with Hurricane Sandy. Nationally, a seasonally-adjusted 370,000 people sought jobless benefits for the first time during the week ending December first. That’s down 25-thousand from the week before, and officials say the applications are consistent with a modest level of hiring. The state figures normally lag a week behind the national data.

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The National Child Protection Training Center is about to join forces with a health care system based in La Crosse. The center opened nine years ago at Winona State University in Minnesota, and it’s about to become affiliated with the Gundersen Lutheran health system. The child protection center teaches child care providers, school teachers, social workers, police officers, and others how to identify the signs of child abuse – and to make sure they’re properly reported to people who can help. Gundersen Lutheran CEO Jeff Thompson says the center fits well into the system’s greater mission. He says today’s health care is much broader than the traditional format of a doctor talking to a patient. The center will continue to be headquartered at the Winona State campus, while Gundersen provides administrative, professional, and financial support.

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A Milwaukee man who’s accused of killing his brother-in-law in Tennessee now said it was his sister’s idea all along. 49-year-old James Zell Smith testified yesterday against Patricia Matting at her trial in Memphis on charges of murder and conspiracy. Smith told jurors that the 53-year-old Matting wanted to get out a 30-year marriage because he was abusing her. Smith quoted her as saying “I could shoot him myself, but do you want your sister to go to jail for life?” Patricia could get life in prison if she’s convicted. Smith is awaiting trial on charges similar to Matting’s. He told police he only wanted to threaten Fredrick Matting, to get him to stop abusing her – but his comments led to a physical attack. And Matting ended up being stabbed, beaten, and shot on a street about 20 yards from the victim’s home in Cordova Tennessee. Smith said he wore a disguise, but Fredrick Matting recognized him right away. Smith said he fired one shot and missed – but his second bullet hit Matting in the hip. Smith testified that he returned to Milwaukee after the slaying – but he returned a week later for his sister’s funeral. He quoted her as saying that if he ever got caught, he should tell police that he got into a fight over money – and to leave her out of it.

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The owners of the SS Badger car ferry across Lake Michigan suffered a major defeat in Congress yesterday. The House removed an amendment from a Coast Guard spending bill that would have allowed the Badger to keep dumping coal-ash into the big lake, for as long as the 60-year-old ship can run. Fond du Lac Republican Tom Petri and a Michigan lawmaker inserted the amendment, in an effort to keep the Badger running beyond December 19th – when a federal emission permit expires. But critics said the coal-ash causes too much pollution. They called the Petri amendment an improper earmark – and the full House removed it before sending the Coast Guard spending package to President Obama. The Senate had approved it earlier without the Badger amendment. The SS Badger carries vehicles and people from between Manitowoc and Ludington Michigan. The ship’s owners say they’ve had a hard time developing an alternative emission system on the Badger, which is the last coal-burning steamship on the Great Lakes. A competing car ferry which runs between Milwaukee and Muskegon, Michigan has accused the Badger to trying to get a government handout when it doesn’t need one. Aaron Schultz of the Lake Express ferry said the means to end the Badger’s coal ash dumping are quote, “affordable and currently available.” Schultz said the Badger could install a cleaner emission system for just four-dollars more per rider.

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A trial date of February 11th was set today for a woman accused of taking public food benefits from an autistic man, after he was allegedly killed by the woman’s son. The bond for 49-year-old Laura Robar of Fort Atkinson was reduced from 100-thousand-dollars to 20-thousand during a court hearing in Dane County. But her attorney said she probably won’t be able to afford the lower bond – and she’ll likely stay in jail until her trial on two counts of identity theft. Robar pleaded innocent to those charges today. Her son, 28-year-old Jeffrey Vogelsberg, was scheduled to have an extradition hearing in Washington State today. Authorities want him back in Wisconsin to face charges in the slaying of his half-brother, 27-year-old Matthew Graville of Mazomanie. His body was found buried on November fifth near Lone Rock. Authorities said Graville was tortured before he was killed. Vogelsburg is charged with homicide and hiding a corpse. The owner of the Dane County house where Vogelsburg and Graville had lived is also charged with hiding a corpse. 28-year-old Robert McCumber is due back in court on December 17th.

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The 2nd District Court of Appeals tosses out a $125,000 judgment against a West Bend restaurant. Kevin Hansen patronized the Texas Roadhouse in February 2008. When he complained his steak was overcooked, a manager offered him another steak which he could take home. Cook Ryan Kropp thought Hansen was trying to get a free meal, so he stuffed some of his own hair into a slit he cut into the new piece of meat. Hansen sued and a jury found the restaurant wasn’t negligent and Kropp had acted on his own. Nonetheless, the jury still found Texas Roadhouse owed Hansen $125,000 in punitive and compensatory damages. The appeals court ruled the damage award was improper. It decided the restaurant didn’t cause the cook’s conduct.

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Waukesha police have arrested a domestic violence suspect after a four-hour standoff. They say a woman who failed to show up for work this morning is missing and is a possible victim. Police were called to the residence at about 6:20 a.m. They were told the owner of the home had firearms and had previously threatened to shoot police. There was no response when officers tried calling, then went to the front door, so a tactical team was sent to the location. The man finally gave up and was taken into custody, but he has not told investigators where the missing woman might be.

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Don’t expect to see toll roads in Wisconsin any time soon. The incoming chairman of the Wisconsin Senate’s Transportation Committee says the federal government hasn’t given the state the authority to set up a toll road system. Senator Jerry Petrowski (R-Medford) is a freshman in that chamber after serving in the Assembly. He says he plans to reintroduce his own proposal protecting the state transportation fund through a constitutional amendment. It would prevent raising that fund for other state purposes. The proposal has already passed once, but it needs to be passed by the Legislature a second time before it can go to a statewide vote needed to confirm an amendment to the state Constitution.

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The head of the Wisconsin State Assembly’s colleges committee strongly objects to a plan to let more out-of-state freshmen attend UW schools. Whitewater Republican Steve Nass said the change could potentially make it harder for Wisconsin students to be admitted to the state’s flagship campus at Madison. The Board of Regents will consider a plan this week to let up to 30-percent of new students come from out-of-state, as determined by a three-year average. The current limit is 25-percent, and it’s been that way ever since the 1970’s when the UW and the old Wisconsin State University system merged. Nass’s office discovered the proposed change when the Regents issued their public agendas for tomorrow’s-and-Friday’s meetings. He complained that the UW said nothing to lawmakers about it – and he saw it as sign of what the Legislature can expect from the University during its next two-year session. In a letter to the Regents, Nass said, quote, “I wasn’t given the courtesy of a briefing until (this) morning.” He said he asked UW-Madison Interim Chancellor David Ward to delay the matter until there’s more public discussion – and he said Ward quote, “refused that request.”

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La Crosse Police said a 54-year-old man was cold and extremely drunk when he died in a yard early Monday. The medical examiner said Mark Fuchsteiner’s death was caused by hypothermia – but a large amount of alcohol was a contributing factor. His blood alcohol level was .039, almost five times the minimum level of intoxication for drunk drivers.

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Wisconsin medical researchers are getting $900,000 federal dollars to show hospitals how to screen for critical congenital heart disease in newborn babies. Milwaukee Children’s Hospital and the nearby Medical College of Wisconsin will start gathering data next month to better understand the use of what’s known as “POX” screening in babies. It’s part of a current screening project called “SHINE,” which found that early heart disease is missed in about one-of-every-25,000 Wisconsin newborns. And the missed diagnosis results in death in one-of-every-40,000 cases. Medical College pediatrics professor Stuart Berger says the three-year federal funding will show hospitals how to perform the infant heart screening – identify places where further evaluations can be done – and determining the impact on all Wisconsin families. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says one-of-every-seven thousand babies are born with critical congenital heart disease – and it often requires surgeries in the infants’ first year of life.

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Wisconsin religious leaders were taking part in a mid-day prayer vigil at a U.S. Senate office building in Washington. The social justice group Gamaliel is demanding what it calls “just and equitable” financial policies, as Congress gets ready to work on a taxing-and-spending alternative to the fiscal cliff that’s due to hit in January. Willie Brisco of the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope was leading the Wisconsin contingent of clergy and lay leaders in the nation’s capital. The Reverend Dennis Jacobsen of Milwaukee’s Incarnation Lutheran Church was also among the delegation’s leaders. The group expected 300 leaders from 17 states to take part in today’s vigil. They said they would urge Congress to maintain the social safety net for low-income people – and not cut programs or raise taxes in ways that over-burden churches and community groups.

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One of Wisconsin’s best-known sausage-makers has started building a 40,000- square foot expansion that will produce a new product line. Ground was broken yesterday on the project at the Johnsonville Sausage headquarters near Sheboygan Falls. The company did not provide specifics on the new product line – but officials said it would use new technology to make food items that will be a key factor in the future growth of Johnsonville. The new addition will be connected to the company’s current processing operations – and it will make products for retailers and food service customers. Johnsonville expects the new facility to be up-and-running by the third quarter of next year, and it’s expected to create around 35 new jobs. The firm did not say how much the addition would cost.

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Wisconsin’s public-and-private colleges are hailing a new recommendation that when tuition goes up, financial aid should automatically go up by the same percentage. The idea comes from the Higher Educational Aids Board, which says the governor and Legislature should increase need-based aid for college students in the next state budget. It says that over 76-thousand students were eligible for financial aid this fall – but they got nothing because state funds ran dry. Need-based financial aid totaled 108-million dollars in the school year which ended in mid-2011. The year before, student aid totaled $98 million. Rolf Wegenke, the head of Wisconsin’s Independent Colleges-and-Universities, said neighboring Minnesota ranks higher than Wisconsin in the financial aid it gives needy students – and as a result, Minnesota has a higher percentage of residents with college degrees, and higher average incomes. UW System President Kevin Reilly says the new report underscores the value of a college degree and the board benefits of having a stronger workforce. Kathleen Cullen of the state’s technical college system says financial aid is especially important to her students – many of whom are paying their own way.

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A Minnesota lawyer who peppered a court record with anti-Catholic slurs in a case involving a Shawano religious group has skipped out on her own disciplinary hearing. According to the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Rebekah Nett of Hastings refused to appear before a tribunal yesterday, saying it’s wrong for the state to punish her after all she’s been through. The session was called by the state’s lawyer regulation agency to determine if Nett committed misconduct with her attacks – which could ultimately decide whether she keeps her law license. Her attorney in the matter submitted an affidavit in which Nett denied wrongdoing – but the lawyer regulation agency said Nett was required to attend yesterday’s hearing, and the state’s rules are clear on that. A retired Saint Paul judge will make the final decision. Agency attorney Patrick Burns said Nett’s absence could be a separate charge for discipline – and it could be an aggravating factor if it’s found that she committed misconduct. The 37-year-old Nett represents the Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology. The Shawano group says it’s a religious organization, but former members call it a cult. In a Minnesota case involving the group, Nett wrote a number of comments that have been questioned – including one which called the judge in that case a “black-robed bigot” and part of a Catholic conspiracy to deny justice to the Shawano institute’s CEO.

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A trial is underway in the case of a Fond du Lac man accused of killing his wife. 36-year-old Jason Anderson is charged with homicide and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Prosecutors said he shot 33-year-old Nicole Anderson in the head in November of last year. Defense lawyer Robin Shellow said it was all an accident. Shellow said Anderson heard a noise and fired a gun through his bedroom wall – and the first shot caused the firing of a second shot, which killed Nicole. District Attorney Dan Kaminsky told jurors that Anderson did not call for help after the incident – and police had to arrest him two days later at a motel in Birmingham Alabama. Anderson’s trial is scheduled to last just short of three weeks.

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