Morning State News Roundup: New details emerge from shooting inside the Governor's Mansion

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MADISON - Newly-released records show that a former State Capitol police officer was fired soon after shooting her handgun inside the Governor’s Mansion last October.

And the Wisconsin State Journal said the shooting may not have been an accident, as it was first claimed to be. Photos obtained by the Madison newspaper showed that a bullet went right through the eye of a decorative ghost that was displayed for Halloween in the mansion’s security office. But officials said it was never determined why the shot was fired. The bullet went through the decoration before it pierced a window and its metal blinds. According to the report, officer Kimberly Tesch told other responding officers that somebody outside the mansion fired the shot. She was fired after the shooting was investigated. In a letter to Tesch, Capitol Police Chief David Erwin said she was “untruthful” and tried to mislead her department. Just a few days before the incident, Tesch had an initial 12-month probationary period extended, so she could complete firearms training. Governor Scott Walker and family members were not at the mansion at the time, and nobody was hurt.

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The recent death of a man beaten in Milwaukee almost 17 years ago has been ruled a homicide. 49-year-old Joseph Hetzel died last Thursday at a rehab center in Fond du Lac. The Milwaukee County medical examiner said he died from complications of blunt force injuries to his head. His brother told investigators that Hetzel was beaten by five men in a parking lot at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 1996 – and no arrests were ever made. The attack reportedly left Hetzel paralyzed on one side, with a severe brain injury. His brother said Hetzel suffered a second brain injury in 2009, when he fell down some stairs in Hartford.

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Nobody won the Powerball jackpot last night, so it goes up to 150-million dollars for Saturday. Wisconsin players did not have much luck. Two-hundred-dollars was the most anybody won last evening. Seven tickets in the Badger State won that by having the Power Play option and matching either four regular numbers, or three-plus-the-Powerball. Just over 12-thousand Wisconsin players won smaller prizes. Last night’s numbers were 6, 10, 23, 41, and 45. The Powerball was one. The current jackpot has been building since February sixth and has rolled over eight times. Saturday’s cash option is just over 95-million-dollars. In Mega Millions, the top prize is 33-million dollars for tomorrow night.

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A worker at a Tomahawk packaging plant remained in critical condition at last word, after a boiler flared back at him on Tuesday. 53-year-old Mike Slesicki is at the UW Hospital’s Burn Center in Madison. He was hurt at a Packaging Corporation of America plant which makes container-board and corrugated packaging materials. Company spokesman Dave Blank said Slesicki was re-igniting a coal-and-bark-fired boiler that was down for maintenance. And he was using standard operating procedures when the unit flared back at him. Slesicki has worked at the Tomahawk plant for nine years. The facility is the same one where five people were killed in a pair of industrial mishaps since 2008. The federal Occupational Safety-and-Health Administration is investigating the latest incident. Officials say the probe should take about six months.

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No major actions are on the agenda for a meeting today of the UW Board of Regents. But the panel will discuss some important items. They include governor’s funding proposal – plus an update on the UW’s faulty payroll-and-benefit computer system, which caused employees to get over 30-million dollars more in benefits and tax payments than to what they were entitled. The Regents will also chew over Governor Scott Walker’s plan to give the university an additional $181-million in new state money over the next two years, after several years of reduced state funding. The budget package includes $90-million to help keep the UW affordable for students, plus an extra $40-million for construction projects that were previously approved.

Tags: wisconsin legislature, news, wisconsin, government