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News 04.07.17

7 April 2017 News


The state Supreme Court says defendants don’t have the right to confront accusers during suppression hearings. The court’s 5-2 decision Tuesday revolves around a Fond du Lac County judge’s decision to allow recorded statements from a police officer who stopped Glenn Zamzow for drunken driving during a hearing on whether to suppress evidence obtained during the stop. The judge allowed the recordings because the officer had died before the court could hold the hearing. Zamzow argued the decision violated his right to confront his accuser. The justices ruled defendants have the right to confront accusers at trial but not at suppression hearings, noting a trial is about determining guilt or innocence and a suppression hearing is about whether police violated the defendant’s rights.

Members of the Joint Finance Committee will be on hand today in Berlin to discuss the proposed 2017-19 state budget. Members will include Democratic representative Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh and Republican state senator Luther Olsen of Ripon. The public hearing will be held from 10am-5pm at the Berlin High School Auditorium. The session is the third of six listening sessions around the state.

A mother and son suspected of selling heroin and Oxycodone out of a Campbellsport home made their initial appearances in Washington County Court this week. Bond was set at $50,000 cash for 57-year-old Lori Merget and her 31-year-old son William Merget of Campbellsport. According to a criminal complaint Merget obtained hundreds of prescription oxycodone pills per month from two Milwaukee pain clinics and street dealers. Informants told detectives they had been buying drugs from Merget for as long as a decade. Merget is accused of using the profits to supply her 31 year old son with heroin.

More than 60 percent of school referendums increasing local school spending by $700 million have been approved. Voters approved 40 of 65 school referendums in Tuesday’s election. Nearly $465 million is for new debt for building projects and $235 million for operating expenses. School officials in the 25 districts where referendums failed say they will be forced to cut programming, lay off staff and eliminate or defer building maintenance and improvements. Dale Knapp is research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. He says voters may have have second thoughts about approving referendums given Gov. Scott Walker’s and state Superintendent Tony Evers’ efforts to seek additional state funding for schools. Walker’s budget would increase K-12 school funding by $649 million.

Dairy farms in Wisconsin and other states could be forced out of business as early as May because of a trade dispute that’s halted the export of their milk to Canada. At issue is a U.S-Canada dispute over what’s called “ultra-filtered milk,” a protein liquid concentrate used to make cheese. Until recently, it had entered Canada duty-free from the United States. Canadian dairy farmers objected, resulting in Ontario and other provinces applying import taxes. The National Milk Producers Federation says losses for the dairy industries in Wisconsin and New York alone could run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Members of Congress from those two states say Canada is violating trade agreements, and they plan to raise the issue with President Donald Trump.


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