Wheeler News - Morning State News #3 - 12/5
Wheeler News Service – Monday, December 5, 2011 - Morning 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:
Wisconsin groups that help sexual assault victims will get 42-percent less in state aid next year...
A G-O-P lawmaker wants to give parents more time to give up their unwanted babies under the Safe Haven law...
U-W Superior and Minnesota-Duluth have received federal funds to study how a Lake Michigan ferry boat can run on natural gas instead of coal...
Milwaukee Police investigate a weekend traffic accident that killed a 56-year-old pedestrian.
Here are the details:
Wisconsin groups that help sexual assault victims will get 42-percent less in state aid next year. The Justice Department said the cuts were mainly due to a drop in revenues from criminal fines -- along with much lower funding ordered by the governor and Legislature in the new state budget. Pennie Meyers of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault calls the cuts "disastrous." She said it would "imperil" the efforts of local groups in meeting the needs of sexual assault survivors. But Assistant Attorney General Steve Means said it was nothing his agency wanted to do -- and it did not have much of a choice. Criminals help pay for the sex assault victim programs with surcharges on their fines. And that revenue has been reduced from one-and-three-quarter million dollars in 2008 to about one-point-four million this year. Also, the Justice Department said the new state budget required a 10-percent spending cut for all state agencies. And officials said they'd have to find an additional 174-million dollars. Attorney General J-B Van Hollen asked lawmakers to exempt from the Justice Department from the budget cuts -- but they said no.
-12/5-
A Republican lawmaker wants to give parents more time to give up their unwanted babies under Wisconsin's 10-year-old Safe Haven Law. Right now, they have 72 hours to leave an infant at a hospital, law enforcement agency, or rescue service with no questions asked. And Representative Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield wants to expand that time limit to 30 days. He also wants health care clinics to be able to take those unwanted babies. Kooyenga says some mothers are still in a hospital when the current 72-hour limit is up. But many such infants are born outside a medical setting. And there are a couple of major cases each year in Wisconsin in which mothers leave infants in the garbage or another hidden location -- and they tell police either they had no idea that a Safe Haven law existed, or they were afraid they'd get in legal trouble for it anyway.
-12/5-
U-W Superior and Minnesota-Duluth have received federal funding to see how a Lake Michigan ferry boat can run on natural gas instead of coal. The two schools are part of the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute -- and they hope to make the S-S Badger one of the most environmentally-friendly vessels on the Great Lakes. The federal money will pay for an engineering study to change the fuel source for the Badger -- which carries vehicles and passengers across Lake Michigan between Manitowoc and Ludington Michigan. The federal E-P-A wants the Badger to stop dumping coal ash into the lake by the end of next year. The company that runs the ferry has asked for a longer grace period. And a bill approved by the House would exempt from the Badger from coal ash emission limits altogether -- because the boat is being considered for national landmark status as the nation's last remaining coal-powered steamship. Senate opponents are trying to kill that exemption.
-12/5-
Milwaukee Police are investigating a weekend traffic mishap that killed a 56-year-old pedestrian. Police said the man hit near a south side intersection on Saturday. Other details, including the victim's name, were not immediately released.
(End)
Editor on duty: Thom Gerretsen (715) 389-2373
Story contributions: wheelernews@yahoo.com
Wheeler Blog: http://learfielddata.blogspot.com
Here are the headlines:
Wisconsin groups that help sexual assault victims will get 42-percent less in state aid next year...
A G-O-P lawmaker wants to give parents more time to give up their unwanted babies under the Safe Haven law...
U-W Superior and Minnesota-Duluth have received federal funds to study how a Lake Michigan ferry boat can run on natural gas instead of coal...
Milwaukee Police investigate a weekend traffic accident that killed a 56-year-old pedestrian.
Here are the details:
Wisconsin groups that help sexual assault victims will get 42-percent less in state aid next year. The Justice Department said the cuts were mainly due to a drop in revenues from criminal fines -- along with much lower funding ordered by the governor and Legislature in the new state budget. Pennie Meyers of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault calls the cuts "disastrous." She said it would "imperil" the efforts of local groups in meeting the needs of sexual assault survivors. But Assistant Attorney General Steve Means said it was nothing his agency wanted to do -- and it did not have much of a choice. Criminals help pay for the sex assault victim programs with surcharges on their fines. And that revenue has been reduced from one-and-three-quarter million dollars in 2008 to about one-point-four million this year. Also, the Justice Department said the new state budget required a 10-percent spending cut for all state agencies. And officials said they'd have to find an additional 174-million dollars. Attorney General J-B Van Hollen asked lawmakers to exempt from the Justice Department from the budget cuts -- but they said no.
-12/5-
A Republican lawmaker wants to give parents more time to give up their unwanted babies under Wisconsin's 10-year-old Safe Haven Law. Right now, they have 72 hours to leave an infant at a hospital, law enforcement agency, or rescue service with no questions asked. And Representative Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield wants to expand that time limit to 30 days. He also wants health care clinics to be able to take those unwanted babies. Kooyenga says some mothers are still in a hospital when the current 72-hour limit is up. But many such infants are born outside a medical setting. And there are a couple of major cases each year in Wisconsin in which mothers leave infants in the garbage or another hidden location -- and they tell police either they had no idea that a Safe Haven law existed, or they were afraid they'd get in legal trouble for it anyway.
-12/5-
U-W Superior and Minnesota-Duluth have received federal funding to see how a Lake Michigan ferry boat can run on natural gas instead of coal. The two schools are part of the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute -- and they hope to make the S-S Badger one of the most environmentally-friendly vessels on the Great Lakes. The federal money will pay for an engineering study to change the fuel source for the Badger -- which carries vehicles and passengers across Lake Michigan between Manitowoc and Ludington Michigan. The federal E-P-A wants the Badger to stop dumping coal ash into the lake by the end of next year. The company that runs the ferry has asked for a longer grace period. And a bill approved by the House would exempt from the Badger from coal ash emission limits altogether -- because the boat is being considered for national landmark status as the nation's last remaining coal-powered steamship. Senate opponents are trying to kill that exemption.
-12/5-
Milwaukee Police are investigating a weekend traffic mishap that killed a 56-year-old pedestrian. Police said the man hit near a south side intersection on Saturday. Other details, including the victim's name, were not immediately released.
(End)
posted by Learfield Data at 6:54 AM
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