News 10.27.16
27 October 2016 News
A Wisconsin appeals court strikes down a Fond du Lac County ordinance that prohibits adults from hosting underage drinkers in their homes. The case centers on Stuart Muche of Van Dyne. He was cited last year after minors began drinking at his son’s graduation party. Muche argued the ordinance is improperly stricter than state law, which prohibits adults from hosting underagers on a premises the adult owns or controls. Muche argued that state law defines premises in that context as a place described in a license or permit, namely a tavern or liquor store. The 2nd District Court of Appeals adopted Muche’s reasoning in a 3-0 ruling on Wednesday. Assistant District Attorney Curtis Borsheim, who is handling the case for the county, didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail.
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The Fond du Lac police and fire departments are investigating the cause and origin of a fire that engulfed an adult entertainment establishment. On Wednesday morning, Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue posted photos on Facebook and Twitter showing flames at The Other Place, 208 N Main St. The Other Place is listed online as an “adult entertainment club.” Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue were able to get the fire under control, but the building is “uninhabitable until repairs are made.” The Fond du Lac building inspector was called to the scene. Fire department officials said there was no one in the building at the time of the fire.
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A former nurse at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution accused of having a sexual relationship with an inmate makes her initial Dodge County Circuit Court appearance. Forty-four year old Jennifer Stehling of Fox Lake is facing two counts of second degree sexual assault by correctional staff and one count of delivering illegal articles to an inmate. Following a correctional staff investigation in June, Stehling allegedly admitted to authorities that she had sex with the 30 year old inmate in a room in the health services unit and that it was consensual. Photos of Stehling were located when officers searched the inmate’s cell. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for December 15th.
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Wisconsin is expected to spend almost $245 million on private school vouchers this school year, up almost $15 million from a year ago, driven by enrollment increases in the Racine and statewide programs. More than 33,700 students received vouchers to attend one of 209 participating schools in the Milwaukee, Racine and statewide Parental Choice programs, about a 5 percent increase from last year. Milwaukee remains the state’s largest and costliest program with more than 28,000 students, up almost 2 percent from last year. But enrollments surged in the other two programs. Racine increased 19 percent to more than 2,500 students, and the statewide programs jumped more than 21 percent to more than 3,000 students across the state.
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Wisconsin state park use this year is on track to be higher than average, despite fee increases that were imposed to offset the withdrawal of tax support. The number of camping registrations and nights camped in 2016 through Friday was greater than in any year since 2008 except for last year’s record. This year, there have been nearly 160,000 camping registrations and more than 386,000 nights camped for state parks, recreation areas and southern forests. State parks section chief Chris Pedretti says park usage is highly dependent on weekend weather, gas prices and the overall economy. He says 2016 has been a mostly good year by those measures. Pedretti says park officials haven’t experienced many people complaining about the higher fees.
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Unemployment rates have dropped in every Wisconsin county and all 32 of the state’s largest cities. The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday on local unemployment rates for September. It shows that unemployment fell compared with August in all 72 counties and the largest cities. Dane, Green, Iowa and Lafayette counties all have the lowest rate at 2.6 percent. Menominee County is the highest at 6.6 percent. Racine has the highest city unemployment rate at 5.6 percent. Fitchburg is the lowest at 2.4 percent. The local rates aren’t seasonally adjusted so they can’t be compared to the state unemployment rate, which stood at 4.1 percent in September, the lowest it’s been since 2001.
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