Wheeler News - Afternoon State News #3 - 6/29/11

===Stations: Learfield Data has been down this afternoon, so we've sent all 3 Wisconsin PM State News feeds here, along with the Afternoon State Sports. We anticipate Learfield Data to be back up this evening, and we'll make sure all the PM Reports get on that wire for your use tomorrow morning. Thank you for your patience.===

Wheeler News Service – Wednesday, June 29, 2011 – Afternoon State News #3

Editor on duty: Thom Gerretsen (715) 389-2373
Story contributions: wheelernews@yahoo.com
Wheeler Blog: http://learfielddata.blogspot.com

Here are the headlines:
Former U-W Madison chancellor David Ward returns to the post on an interim basis for a year…
A judge in Minnesota says the Stillwater Lift Bridge at the Wisconsin border will stay open, even if there’s a government shutdown in the Gopher State…
An Elkhorn man dies in a vehicle garage mishap in Walworth County…
A guard at the Milwaukee children’s detention center is charged with physically abusing a child held at that facility.

Here are the details:

U-W Madison announced late this afternoon that its former chancellor will return to the post on an interim basis. David Ward will replace Biddy Martin on July 18th, as she leaves to become the new president of Amherst College in Massachusetts. His term will be for one year. Ward ran the Madison campus from 1993 until 2001, when he became the president of the American Council on Education. He served in that post until 2008. U-W System President Kevin Reilly said Ward will be involved in major budget decisions, as the campus faces a loss in state aid of well over 100-thousand dollars in the next two years. And Reilly said Ward would help implement the school’s new-found flexibility, as granted by lawmakers in the next state budget which takes effect on Friday. Reilly called Ward a “strategic thinker” who can help make the upcoming changes in ways that fit with Madison’s academic traditions. Board of Regents’ president Michael Spector said Ward has demonstrated he can do the job of chancellor well – and he understands the role of the flagship campus within the entire U-W System.

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A key link between northwest Wisconsin and Minnesota will stay open, if the Gopher State’s government shuts down on Friday. Transportation officials said this afternoon that the Stillwater Lift Bridge will not shut down. Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin of Saint Paul agreed that the bridge serves a critical function in maintaining public health and safety. It’s one of a number of core functions in Minnesota’s government that will keep going during a possible government shutdown – which is the result of an impasse over that state’s new budget. The shutdown is looming for Friday. Officially, Gearin said the Stillwater Lift Bridge will stay open to accommodate ambulance traffic between Minnesota and Wisconsin. But thousands of commuters also use the bridge to get to-and-from their jobs each day in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

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An Elkhorn man died today while working at a vehicle garage in far southeast Wisconsin. Walworth County authorities a car fell off its hoist at Lockhart’s Service Station in the town of Lafayette – and it landed on 28-year-old Nicholas Van Dyke. Sheriff’s deputies and co-workers eventually got him free, but he died later at a hospital.

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A guard at a children’s detention center in Milwaukee was charged today with physically abusing a child who was being held there. Prosecutors said 61-year-old George Mack of Milwaukee assaulted a juvenile at the facility on June eighth.

(End)