News 9.15.17
15 September 2017 News
A novice Wisconsin legislator almost got one of his first provisions signed into law this week, which would’ve installed a railroad crossing on a road near his home. Republican Rep. Ron Tusler proposed adding in a railroad gate crossing on a road in Winnebago County after hearing safety concerns from his neighbors. The Legislature’s budget committee added in the earmark for the railroad to the state budget. But the Assembly Republicans removed the provision from the budget in a floor amendment Wednesday after questions about the railroad crossing arose. Tusler says he’s unsure how the provision was included in the budget and that he’d thought it had been dead for months.
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A bomb squad and authorities are investigating a bomb threat called into Oshkosh West High School. The Oshkosh Area School District says students and staff were evacuated from the building at 10:52 a.m. on Thursday. The Brown-Outagamie County Bomb Squad searched the building with the help of the police department. Nothing was found. The district says the threat did not impact other schools. Lunch was held at the football field during evacuation. The district says students returned to afternoon classes by 12:40 p.m.
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Assembly Republicans have passed the state budget more than two months after the document was supposed to be finished but it’s still unclear when it will land on Gov. Scott Walker’s desk. The Assembly passed the budget 57-39 Wednesday evening after 11 hours of debate. The budget was supposed to be done by July 1 but GOP infighting over road funding has delayed the process. The vote sends the $76 billion budget to the state Senate. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has said he doesn’t have enough votes to get the budget out of his chamber and ship it to Walker. A group of Senate Republicans want to speed up repeal of the prevailing wage, block spending on University of Wisconsin System diversity training and expand the statewide voucher school program. Senate Republicans met behind closed doors Wednesday while the Assembly was debating the budget. Fitzgerald emerged from the meeting saying he still doesn’t have the votes.
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Four Democrats and two Republicans broke with the majorities of their parties in the Wisconsin Assembly vote over a $3 billion incentive package for Foxconn Technology Group. The Assembly passed the bill Thursday on a 64-31 vote, sending it to Gov. Scott Walker. The bill was passed to entice Foxconn to build a massive flat-screen display factory in southeast Wisconsin. Three Democrats from that region voted for the bill. They are Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca, Cory Mason, of Racine, and Tod Ohnstad, of Kenosha. They were joined by Democratic Rep. Jason Fields, of Milwaukee. Republicans who joined Democrats in voting against it were Rep. Adam Jarchow, of Balsam Lake, and Todd Novak, of Dodgeville. Walker has said he hopes to sign the bill soon.
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It was a brief taste of freedom for Joey the kangaroo who kicked his way out of a pen at a southeast Wisconsin pumpkin farm. The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department got the call Thursday about 7 a.m. from someone who reported an animal on the loose along Highway L in Somers and it kind of looked like a kangaroo. Deputies were dispatched. And sure enough, there was Joey hopping down the highway, making his getaway. Deputies figured the kangaroo belonged to Jerry Smith’s pumpkin farm just blocks away. Sheriff’s officials say Joey was returned safely without injury.
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