Weekend State News Briefs: Rally held for gun rights in Madison

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MADISON - One of the gun rallies held around the nation brought 500 to 600 people to the Wisconsin Capitol yesterday.

The group Wisconsin Guns Across American held a peaceful rally in Madison. That rally was one of dozens taking place in state capitols across the nation. The activity was put together through social media, the rallies sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based group Political Media. No incidents were reported from the Madison rally.

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Wisconsin is now one of 13 states issuing drivers licenses which meet federal standards. The licenses include stringent checks on proof of legal presence in the U.S., the person’s address and identity. Drivers will need to bring documents like their Social Security card, passport and something like a utility bill as a proof of address. The IDs will be made compliant with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. You can still get a regular drivers license, by the new IDs will be required for air travel or entering some federal buildings in the next few years.

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Delafield police say it looks like equipment problems are to blame for the death of a 32 year old scuba diver in Lake Nagawicka Saturday. Steven LaLonde had been diving under the ice near the beach at a park when he encountered the problems. Other divers in his group pulled LaLonde out of the water and performed CPR, but he will pronounced dead later.

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Even though the company dropped Lance Armstrong as a representative last fall, Tek Bicycle Corporation in Waterloo says it is keeping an eye on the developments related to statements from the one-time cycling champion. Armstrong was on Tek bicycles for his now disqualified seven Tour de France wins. In a two-part interview on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Armstrong admitted using performance-enhancing drugs. Tek officials say they are hopeful for the future of clean cycling competitions and they don’t plan to renew their connection with Armstrong.

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Special prosecutor John Franke is reportedly planning to ask inquest jurors to consider charges of reckless homicide and failure to render ad by law enforcement in connection with Derek Williams’ death. The Milwaukee man died in July 2011 while he was gasping for breath and begging for help. He was left struggling in a patrol car for eight minutes. The inquest will be held next month. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting Franke will present five days of witnesses, including medical experts. An attorney for Williams’ mother says the charges would be a chance to hold officers accountable.

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An accident which sent an ATV through the ice at High Cliff State Park Marina on Lake Winnebago has left a 42 year old man dead. The unidentified victim from Sherwood was underwater for about an hour according to the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department. Two men were riding ATVs across the ice when they encountered open water. The first man got across safely, but the second went under. The victim was flown to Theda Clark Trauma Center in Neenah where he was pronounced dead.

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The Democratic Party of Wisconsin says it will raise about a half-million dollars to spend on hiring regional political directors in Green Bay, Eau Claire and La Crosse. The party calls it a “72-county strategy.” Party officials say losses in the 2010 election can be blamed on the failure to turn out voters in Milwaukee and Madison. They say they also need to be more competitive outside the population centers. The effort is aimed at defeating Governor Scott Walker in the 2014 election. Though the party hasn’t picked a candidate yet, it expects to have one by the end of this year. The Democrats also hope they can regain control of both the Senate and Assembly.

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Milwaukee County assistant district attorney Bruce Landgraf says a former close associate of Governor Scott Walker should spend at least two years in prison. Landgraf says Timothy Russell should be held to a higher standard because he was a public official who violated the community’s trust. Landgraf submitted a sentencing memorandum to the court last week, leading up to the sentencing hearing next Tuesday. Russell admits stealing more than 20 thousand dollars from the Heritage Guard Preservation Society, a nonprofit which organizes outings for veterans to the Milwaukee County Zoo. He was appointed to that position by Walker. Russell’s attorney says the defense will be asking for probation.

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The Milwaukee man whose beating by off-duty police officers led to a multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement with the city is facing domestic violence charges. It’s not the first time for 33 year old Frank Jude Junior. He has already been convicted and served prison time for a previous domestic violence case. Jude turned himself in to police yesterday. An arrest warrant had been issued for him after he was charged two weeks ago with a violation of a domestic abuse injunction. Jude was beaten by the officers at a house party eight years ago after he was accused of stealing a police badger. Three officers convicted in federal court in the case were sentenced to 15 years each in prison.

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The Waukesha County district attorney has ruled a sheriff’s deputy who wounded a man when he refused to drop a shotgun acted justifiably. It was ruled a case of self-defense. Deputy Michael Dowd is a 22-year veteran of the sheriff’s department. He shot 31 year old Justin Ebbe January 8th after deputies had been sent to an address in the Town of Delafield. A relative told authorities Ebbe was suicidal and had fired the weapon inside that home. Dowd shot him when he pointed the gun at the relative and refused orders to drop it.

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Corey Benson gained attention for overcoming a childhood of poverty and a broken home by becoming his high school’s valedictorian and earning a scholarship to Purdue University. Despite the feel-good story, the 28 year old Benson will now spend the rest of his life in prison. He has never accepted responsibility for killing his girlfriend’s two year old son in 2011, after severely injuring the boy the year before. Benson was convicted last March of the murder. He was given a life sentence yesterday by a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, without the possibility of parole.

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Four students at Whitefish Bay Middle School have been questioned and released to their parents after allegedly bringing weapons onto the high school grounds last Thursday. The high school is across the street from the middle school. The boys – one aged 13 and three who are 12 years old – are accused of bringing a BB gun and a pellet gun to the school grounds. Parents received an e-mail about the incident yesterday morning. School officials say neither of the guns was loaded. The students will be referred to Milwaukee County Children’s Court for possible charges to be filed.

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Wisconsin workers are noticing a significant tax hit on their paychecks despite all the attention given to fiscal cliff negotiations. Though that agreement did avoid a dramatic increase in federal income taxes for most Americans, a two-percent reduction in Social Security taxes was allowed to lapse. The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance says that means an across-the-board tax increase, taking more money from your paycheck. Alliance President Todd Berry says for people nearing retirement age, the pain could be eased by the knowledge that money will be used to help stabilize the Social Security trust fund.

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A report due to be released next week by the Transportation Finance and Policy Commission will recommend an increase in the Wisconsin fuel tax. That commission reportedly looked at what it would take over the next 10 years to maintain the current level of service on state roads and highways. The conclusion was reached that Wisconsin will be about five billion dollars short. A five-cent per gallon adjustment in the gas tax is one suggestion. Others include a one-cent vehicle miles traveled fee, or a $55 increase c in the registration fee, eliminating the sales tax exemption on trade-ins or a $20 increase in the license renewal fee. Although Governor Scott Walker has said transportation infrastructure is one of his priorities, it isn’t clear if any of the recommendations will get his support, or a vote in the Legislature.

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A Waukesha man has been arrested for walking into North High School and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend. Eighteen-year old Jordan Hartz had been expelled from the school and wasn’t allowed to return. The 17 year old girl says she was sitting in English class when she heard someone pounding on the door. When the teacher opened that door, the girl says she could see Hartz. First, he tried to push his way in, then he ran away when more teachers arrived. Hartz had been able to get in when another student let him in through a side door. He faces several charges, though no one was injured in the incident.

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A husband-and-wife found dead at their home in Green Bay were identified today as 49-year-old Michael Carroll and 52-year-old Kyung “Kim” McCoy. Police said both were lying in a bedroom when officers were called to their home yesterday morning. Officials said there was no obvious sign of trauma to either victim – and it would take two weeks or longer for complete autopsy results to be revealed.

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A Wisconsin man convicted of hunting a mule deer buck in South Dakota has been put on one year of probation. Reports did not provide a hometown for 37-year-old Keith Jorgenson. Prosecutors said he and another man admitted killing mule deer bucks in the area of Scenic South Dakota. Authorities said Jorgenson attempted to transport one of his bucks across state lines in November of 2010. Besides the probation, Jorgenson must also pay a one-thousand-dollar fine and $2,500 in restitution.

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A former Duluth Minnesota man has pleaded guilty in Madison to stealing two-and-a-half million dollars from investors. Garry Milosevich is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in April, after he was convicted of a mail fraud charge. Milosevich was arrested in Honduras last year after his partner in the scheme, Daniel Tepoel, was sentenced in 2008 to 11-and-a-half years behind bars. Authorities said the two claimed to have access to international trading programs that never existed. Their investors were guaranteed to make profits – but instead, they lost all of the two-and-a-half million they put up. Officials said the men used the stolen money to travel, and to buy construction materials for a resort in Grenada that never worked out. The fraud scheme ran from 1997-to-2007.

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Prosecutors in Milwaukee say two members of an Hispanic street gang plotted to kill the head of a rival gang and up to three Milwaukee police officers. 21-year-old Michael Geluk of Milwaukee and 24-year-old Gabriel Guerrero of West Allis are both charged with conspiracy to commit homicide. Authorities said the alleged murder plot stemmed from an incident last August in which another man and a woman were shot-and-wounded. As the police investigated, a witness who was a member of the La Familia gang said an officer disrespected her – and the officer was related to the rival gang leader who was targeted, Robert Lopez. The next day, the female witness saw Lopez in a car parked nearby – and she assumed the officer would be with him. Prosecutors said the La Familia members then plotted to kill the officer, plus another officer who had repeated contact with the gang, and perhaps a third officer. Officials said three gunmen were recruited to commit the murders at night, but none of them were charged. Guerrero is due in court next week. Geluk has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, and a judge will review a doctor’s report on Geluk’s health status in February.

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A woman shot in the head in Racine this week has died. And the alleged shooter is now facing a homicide charge. Police said 44-year-old Lucinda White died last night at Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital. Officers found her collapsed on a street in downtown Racine late Wednesday night, and she was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. A man was later arrested in Millersville, Tennessee on a possible homicide charge.

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A national Republican official says states like Wisconsin should be very careful about changing its electoral system for choosing the president. National vice chair Roger Villere of Louisiana is concerned how it would tilt the national vote for years to come. He tells the AP the Electoral College has worked – and he’s worried about what could happen down the road. Some Republicans in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have talked about scrapping the idea of giving all their state’s electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote. Voters in all three states elected Democrats to the White House, and Republicans to run their state-houses. Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus from Kenosha says he supports a change -- and so should all states with Wisconsin’s political makeup. The idea in Wisconsin is to give an electoral vote to the winner in each U.S. House district, with two going to the statewide winner. Governor Scott Walker says it’s interesting, but he won’t push it. President Obama took Wisconsin by seven-percent – but under the change, Obama and Republican Mitt Romney would have tied in the electoral vote with five each. Sheboygan County Assembly Republican Dan LaMahieu suggested the change in the last session. He made it clear that he’s tired of seeing Democrats carry Wisconsin like they’ve done since Ronald Reagan left office in 1988. Current GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Burlington says he’s open to a change, but no lawmaker has proposed it. Michigan’s in a similar boat, but a proposal has been made in Pennsylvania. Michigan’s governor says he wants at least a discussion about it. Michigan Democratic chair Mark Brewer calls it “election-rigging.” The AP says Democrats are warning of political consequences for the Republicans who support a change – especially Walker and the governors of Michigan and Pennsylvania, all of whom are up for re-election in just over 21 months.

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An employee of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department is being investigated for an incident at a bar near Merrill. Deputies in Lincoln County, where the bar is located, are investigating. And Waukesha County officers are also doing what they call a “professional conduct review.” Neither county is saying what happened. Lincoln County captain Mike Rakovich said nobody was hurt in the incident, the community is not at risk, and the State Crime Lab is reviewing evidence. Rakovich said his investigators won’t know what, if any, charges to request until the crime lab results come in. For now, the employee is on administrative leave.

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