Morning State News Roundup: Taxpayers to help Hispanic-owned businesses grow

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MILWAUKEE - For the second year in a row, Wisconsin taxpayers will try to help Hispanic-owned businesses grow.

Governor Scott Walker says the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will put another $100,000 into a revolving loan fund operated by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber loans the money to new-and-expanding Hispanic firms – and when it’s paid back, the money is loaned to other growing companies. A year ago, the public-private Economic Development Corporation provided another $100,000 to help the loan program get off the ground. Gov. Walker says the state dollars will be leveraged with other public-and-private matching funds to assist businesses and create jobs. He announced the new funding over the weekend at the Hispanic Chamber’s annual gala in Milwaukee.

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With more Baby Boomers retiring, it might not make sense that Social Security offices are cutting back on their hours. But that’s what’s happening in Wisconsin. It was not too long ago when local offices started closing at three-in-the-afternoon instead of 3:30 p.m. And starting this month, over two dozen Social Security offices in Wisconsin are closing at noon on Wednesdays. Long-time Social Security administrator Webster Phillips says the office employees are doing what they can, but Congress keeps cutting their funding. He says the cost of running the offices comes from what workers put into Social Security. And unemployment is still relatively high due to the shaky economy. Phillips is now with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. He says the agency would like to have most of us get services from the Internet – but he knows that not everyone can afford Web service.

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A man killed after his all-terrain vehicle fell into Lake Winnebago has been identified as 42-year-old Chad Davis of Sherwood. Calumet County authorities said Davis was driving his ATV near High Cliff State Park on Saturday, when he fell into open water on the lake. A companion made it across the opening and Davis tried to follow that machine but fell in. Officials said he was underwater for about an hour before Calumet County divers recovered the body. A medical examiner said Davis died from accidental drowning.

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Sheboygan Police are expected to say more today about a weekend stabbing incident which left one man dead and another in jail. Police said they were called Saturday afternoon to a disturbance in a street on Sheboygan’s south side. A 41-year-old man was stabbed in the back, and he died later at a hospital. A 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene of the incident, and he was taken to jail on a possible charge of second-degree reckless homicide. Police did not immediately say whether the two were from Sheboygan.

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A search continues in today’s extreme cold for a snowmobiler from Superior who’s been missing since Saturday. 51-year-old Craig Friebe was last seen snowmobiling on Saint Louis Bay near the Loon’s Foot Landing in Superior. He told friends he would ride on the bay and the Nemadji River. The U.S. Coast Guard and the state DNR joined local rescuers all day yesterday looking for Friebe in sub-zero wind chills. They focused on Superior’s water-front, the Nemadji River, the Tri-County corridor from Superior to Brule, and the Wild Rivers State Trail before stopping late in the afternoon. Officials said Friebe was known to ride on the two trails, as well as on the frozen ice. The search resumes at eight this morning.

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