Sunday State News Briefs: Judge orders new trial for Strong

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APPLETON - An Outagamie County judge has ruled 35 year old Dennis C. Strong Jr. gets a new trial on his child abuse conviction.

Judge Nancy Krueger ruled prosecutors took too much time to hand over evidence which could have helped Strong’s defense. Prosecutors withheld the recorded testimony of one alleged victim until the first day of his trial. Strong argued that interfered with his ability to get ready for the trial. The original criminal complaint said the Fox Valley man was accused by a six year old boy of dunking his head in a toilet, punching the boy’s mother and slapping another child.

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Democratic State Representatives Cory Mason of Racine and Jon Richards of Milwaukee have been re-appointed to the Wisconsin Legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee. They will serve on the Joint Finance Committee for another two years after being appointed by Minority Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha. Because they control the Legislature, Republicans will hold a 12-4 majority on that committee. Members will review Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal, then send its own version of the spending plan to the full Legislature for consideration and a vote. Walker’s budget is expected to be introduced in February.

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The Dane County Medical Examiner’s office is reporting at least 21 heroin-related deaths this year. That’s a small jump from 20 last year, but there are other statistics leading local officials to sound an alarm about what they see as a growing trend. Madison Fire Department paramedics say they have had to inject Narcan, which is mainly used to reverse overdoses of opiates, almost 300 times this year. That’s nearly double the 178 instances last year. The Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force reports it is working with local doctors and dentists to examine how and when they prescribe drugs. The effort is to reduce abuse and educate the doctors and patients about misuse.

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Beloit police say they were first alerted to an underage drinking party when they started getting reports of young people darting out into traffic. Officers responded to the area early yesterday morning at about 2 a.m. and wound up handing out 32 municipal citations. Police say they found more than 50 people at the drinking party, including 30 people who weren’t 21 years old yet. In addition to the 30 underage drinkers, two adults were also cited.

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