Evening State News Briefs: State home sales reported strong

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Wisconsin home sales continued to be strong last month. The state’s Realtors Association said today that almost 3,450 existing houses were sold by Realtors in January. That’s over 500 more sales than in January of 2012, for a year-to-year increase of 18.3 percent.

The median resale price for the month was 123-thousand dollars, up three-point-four percent from last year’s average of 119-thousand. For 2012 as a whole, the average resale price jumped above 133-thousand. But Renny Diedrich, who chairs the Realtors’ board of directors, said January normally has the fewest home sales of any month of the year. The first month only accounts for about five-percent of total home sales in a typical year – and Diedrich said the strong January sales bodes well for the spring, when the housing market begins to heat up. Home sales were up in all parts of the state last month.

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Wisconsin motorists who use premium-and-diesel fuels are already paying more than four-dollars a gallon – and those using regular unleaded may not be far behind. Milwaukee Gas Prices.com said one station was charging $3.99 today – and the average for the state’s largest metro is $3.80. Experts say the price hikes are not a surprise due to an improved economy, recent price hikes in crude oil, and refinery breakdowns around the country. Statewide, the Triple-“A” reports an average price of $3.74-a-gallon today for the regular unleaded that most cars use. That’s almost two-and-a-half cents more than yesterday – 13 cents more than a week ago – and 56-cents more than a month ago. But the Triple-“A” says Wisconsin has a long way to go to hit the statewide record of price of 4.11 for regular unleaded, set in May of 2011.

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Planned Parenthood says it will close four offices in Wisconsin, and it blames Republicans at the State Capitol. The group said today that its facilities in Chippewa Falls, Shawano, Beaver Dam, and Johnson Creek will shut down for good between April and July. Planned Parenthood said the shutdowns are the direct result of the governor and Legislature eliminating one million-dollars in state funds for Planned Parenthood in the last budget. The group said it would affect around two-thousand clients in all.

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A seven-year-old boy killed in a house fire in Milwaukee was identified today as Miguel Quintanilla. Authorities said he suffered smoke inhalation in a blaze on Saturday morning. He died yesterday at Milwaukee Children’s Hospital. Firefighters said they revived Miguel twice just outside the burning house, before he was taken to the hospital. A preliminary investigation shows that an electrical problem caused the fire. This afternoon, Milwaukee fire-fighters will check the neighborhood where the fire broke out – and they’ll see whether those homes have working smoke detectors. Milwaukee officials give away smoke detectors to residents, as a way to discourage house fires.

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There’s a report that Governor Scott Walker might need to have legislators change a school funding law, in order to give money to more private schools to teach low-income kids. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says lawmakers might have to break a required link between the percentage in state aid that goes to private voucher schools – and the aid which goes to public schools. The paper’s Web site says the Republican Walker wants to give low-income voucher students an average of nine-point-four percent more funding to attend private K-to-8 schools, and almost 22-percent more for high schools. Walker has proposed a one-percent increase in general aid for the state’s public schools, plus specialized aid in a number of areas. Jim Bender, head of School Choice Wisconsin, says private voucher schools deserve more state aid – because they haven’t kept up with public school aid in recent years. But David Ewald of the liberal Institute for Wisconsin’s Future says Walker needs to raise the public schools’ revenue limits – because any increase in school funds would go to taxpayers, and not to classrooms. Under the governor’s proposal, up to nine new school districts would qualify for voucher aid, including Madison and Green Bay. Some of Walker’s fellow Senate Republicans oppose the new voucher districts unless people in those places agree to it. Senate GOP President Mike Ellis said Walker quote, “did not respect the thoughts of about 8-to-10 Republican senators who didn’t want it in the budget.” But Walker says parents in struggling schools need choices to make sure all kids get a great education.

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The first of three women charged in the killing of another woman near Appleton appeared in court today. A judge in Outagamie County ordered a one-million-dollar bond for 53-year-old Dianna Siveny on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and substantial battery. Siveny was the domestic partner of 30-year-old Lara Plamann, who was killed by a gunshot wound to the head in 2007 on a property the two shared in the town of Greenville, west of Appleton. Siveny’s daughter, 34-year-old Kandi Siveny, is also charged with homicide and substantial battery. 38-year-old Rosie Campbell is charged with homicide. Both are from Saint Paul, Minnesota, where they’re being jailed while awaiting extradition to Wisconsin. According to prosecutors, Kandi apparently fired the gun that shot Plamann, because she suspected that Plamann was cheating on her mother. Campbell was reportedly an accomplice.

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The Government Accountability Board reports doing away with Election Day registration in Wisconsin could wind up costing other state agencies more than $16 million dollars. That’s the price tag for the board and four state agencies to be able to comply with federal laws after the ability to register at Wisconsin polling places was done away with. Allowing Election Day registration exempts Wisconsin from several provisions of the National Voter Registration Act. Republican legislators started talking about the change after the November elections, saying the additional job of dealing with voters who sign up at the polls causes problems for local election officials.

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The discovery of a woman’s body in a ditch near Onalaska ended a search effort yesterday. Police say they don’t suspect foul play, adding that alcohol and weather could have played a role in the death of 23 year old Neala Frye. The student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was last seen at a local pub Saturday night. She and a second woman were working at a promotional event for a tanning and massage studio. When Frye failed to show up for work yesterday morning, friends and family started to search.

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The special prosecutor will offer immunity to two Milwaukee police officers in connection with the Derek Williams death investigation. Williams is the Milwaukee man left in the back seat of a squad car while he was complaining he couldn’t breathe. The two officers will be asked to testify at the inquest being held by special prosecutor John Franke tomorrow. Seven Milwaukee police personnel refused to testify last week, citing their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Earlier today, an investigator from the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office described the inquiry which had cleared seven officers of wrongdoing in the case previously.

Tags: news, wisconsin