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News 10.03.16

3 October 2016 News


Many family pets in the Fox Valley were blessed Saturday as part of a celebration of Saint Francis weekend. St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment, and at Congressional Church in Oshkosh pets were blessed for the third year in a row. The church blesses animals any day of the year, but admit this weekend means a little more. The church says they blessed about 60 animals Saturday.

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Gov. Scott Walker has asked a federal agency to assess damage to roads and bridges caused by recent floods and mudslides in western Wisconsin. Walker’s office said Friday the governor requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency conduct a preliminary damage assessment of public infrastructure in 12 counties. Flooding and mudslides last month caused more than $14 million in damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure in western Wisconsin. In a letter, Walker asked that FEMA assess damage in Adams, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Eau Claire, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Richland, Trempealeau and Vernon counties. FEMA teams will begin assessing damage to public infrastructure Wednesday. The information will be given to Walker to help determine if the state will request a federal disaster declaration, the first step in requesting federal aid.

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Authorities say a missing 3-year-old boy has been found safe nearly 24 hours after he wandered into a cornfield in northeastern Wisconsin. The Langlade County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday morning that medical personnel were checking the boy, but he was alert, warming up and eating and drinking. Hundreds of volunteers joined police from nearby cities to help search for the boy, who wandered away from his rural home near Antigo Saturday afternoon. The volunteer who found him, Tom Andraschko of Antigo, says the 3-year-old was terrified and sitting cross-legged on the ground. Sheriff Bill Greening says the boy was playing outside when he wandered away from family members and into the cornfield. Greening says several helicopters, drones and police dogs were used in the search.

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A judge says a Madison man who fatally shot a former grocery store co-worker will serve at least 40 years in prison. Twenty-six-year-old Christopher O’Kroley received an automatic life sentence Friday. O’Kroley pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide for killing 24-year-old Caroline Nosal in February outside the Metro Market. O’Kroley killed Nosal the day after he was fired from the store. O’Kroley blamed Nosal after she complained to management that he was harassing her. Even if O’Kroley is granted parole in 2056, Judge William Hanrahan said he still won’t leave prison. The Wisconsin State Journal reports O’Kroley would then start serving another five years for shooting at a Madison police officer as she tried to arrest him the day after Nosal’s death. O’Kroley did not speak in court.

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A state Department of Transportation spokeswoman says a report of agency employees refusing to issue temporary IDs for voting is concerning and the agency intends to comply with a federal judge’s order for a review of procedures. The Division of Motor Vehicles employees refused to issue a temporary ID to a man because he lacked a birth certificate and workers at other DMV offices are giving a wide range of answers about how to obtain one and how long it will take. U.S. District Judge James Peterson ordered the state Friday to investigate the allegations. DOT spokeswoman Patricia Mayer says the stories aren’t consistent with DMV protocol. She says DOT has already started an investigation and will report findings to Peterson as ordered.


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