News 02.08.17
8 February 2017 News
A transient worker from Texas accused of attacking a Waupun woman is bound over for trial. Probable cause was found at a preliminary hearing in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court for 23 year old Juan Antonio Arriaga on multiple charges including kidnapping and robbery. The incident happened last November 27th when Waupun police chief Dale Heeringa says a police officer on routine patrol was in the right place at the right time. Heeringa says the officer noticed a man who appeared to be following a woman. The woman than began screaming for help. Chief Heeringa says he believes Arriaga had planned to sexually assault the woman. Arriaga is being held in the Fond du lac County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.
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A former program director at the Fond du lac Berry House, accused of sexually assaulting a resident at the facility, is been placed on probation. Fond du Lac judge Peter Grimm placed 30 year old Jennifer Wenger on probation for three years. The judge imposed and stayed a one year prison sentence and two years of extended supervision. A charge of second degree sexual assault by an employee of a child welfare agency was dismissed and read into the record. Wenger pleaded no contest to an amended charge of public fornication, and felony bail jumping. Wenger was the lead social worker at the Berry House, a group home for people with mental illness. According to a criminal complaint Wenger had an ongoing sexual relationship with a female Berry House resident between May and July of last year. According to the complaint Wenger would have sex with the victim in her office and the victim’s bedroom and in a car at different locations in Fond du lac.
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School administrators hope they’ll soon be able to start the school year before Sept. 1. A state law enacted in 2000 and pushed by the tourism industry prohibits public schools from starting earlier than September. Republican Rep. Jim Ott is circulating a bill that would remove that restriction. Schools have pushed for years for the option of starting earlier to align with high school sports practices and free up time for advanced placement exams in the spring. Advocates say support for the measure among administrators has never been so high. But businesses that rely on tourists don’t want school years shifting back into August, one of their most profitable months. And Republican Sen. Luther Olsen of Ripon, whose district includes the Wisconsin Dells, says he’ll veto any budget that includes the measure.
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Democratic lawmakers are calling on Republicans to let the public weigh in on whether Wisconsin should join 28 other states that have legalized medical marijuana. Rep. Chris Taylor and Sen. Jon Erpenbach have introduced a bill that would let Wisconsin residents vote in an advisory referendum on whether marijuana should be legalized for medical use. They’ve introduced another bill that would actually legalize the drug for that purpose. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he is opposed to both bills and it’s not an issue he’s taken seriously. Regardless, Taylor and Erpenbach tried to drum up support for their bills at a news conference, saying the state is failing sick people by not letting them use marijuana. They say Republican leaders should at least ask the public what it wants.
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Gov. Scott Walker says his state budget will eliminate the waiting list for long-term supports for about 2,200 children with developmental, physical or severe emotional disabilities. Walker outlined the details Tuesday at a meeting of the Wisconsin Counties Association. Walker says he’s calling for $39 million in funding to expand access to care for children that will eliminate the waiting list. He’s also calling for more money for to support nursing homes, foster care, drug courts and family aids. He is calling for increasing foster care and kinship care rates by 2.5 percent a year, bolstering nursing home provider rates by 2 percent a year and spending $9 million on grants for a program designed to keep high-risk, non-violent offenders out of jail.
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The Environmental Protection Agency approves a plan from two Republican Wisconsin state lawmakers that allows companies to pay to delay compliance with strict phosphorous pollution standards. Sen. Robert Cowles and Rep. Amy Loudenbeck say the plan allows companies to pay fees in exchange for a longer timeline over which to reduce their phosphorous pollution levels. The fees go toward reducing phosphorous runoff from other sites. Cowles’ spokesman Jason Mugnaini says the measure passed the Legislature in 2014 pending EPA approval since it relates to the federal Clean Water Act. Mugnaini says companies will be able to apply to the Department of Natural Resources for a variance permit. Mugnaini says paper and cheese manufacturers were among those pushing for the measure.
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