Local News Briefs Thursday 2-20-14

 

Winter Weather

There’s a winter
weather advisory until Noon today where we will see a mix of rain, sleet and
snow.  After that it will be mostly rain.   Winds will kick up tonight with gusts up to
50 miles per hour with a little bit of snow mixed in.

 

John Doe
Reaction

(WRN) Reaction
to the release of documents from a secret John Doe investigation in Milwaukee County.  Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate
believes Governor Scott Walker knew what was going on during his 2010
campaign.  Tate couldn’t point to any
political bomb shell coming out of the newly-released information, though, he
says he needs to sift through 27-thousand emails and hundreds of documents.
Regarding Walker‘s
role in all of this, Tate says there’s guilty in the court of law, and then
there is guilty but unproven. Governor Walker had said that he didn’t think
there’d be any revelations after the release of the emails. He said the
Democrats will simply over hype things, but they’ll be disappointed. Walker was never charged
with any wrongdoing in the John Doe case.

 

JFC Changes

(WRN) The
legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has approved changes to Governor Walker’s
tax cut proposal.  The committee has
adopted changes that keep the 504-million-dollar income and property tax cuts
intact, while diverting about 118-million-dollars from the state’s rainy day
fund to help reduce a structural deficit. JFC co-chair John Nygren
(R-Marinette) says it carries on the work Republicans have been doing over the
past three years. The compromise also requires state agencies to lapse about
38-million-dollars in funding and drops a sales tax exemption for construction
companies. State Representative Cory Mason (D-Racine) was among Democrats on
the budget committee who were critical of the proposal. The amended bill now
heads to the Senate. If approved there, the Assembly would have to agree with
the changes.

 

Raw Milk

(WRN) The clock
is ticking on a proposal to legalize the sale of raw milk. There’s SOME support
for the measure at the Capitol, but also plenty of opposition. Shawn Pfaff is
with the Wisconsin Safe Milk Coalition. The bill has been approved by a state
Senate committee, but no further action is scheduled at this point, and the
Legislature is expected to adjourn in April.

Air Show Off

(WRN) Financial troubles are grounding an annual air show in Manitowoc. Organizers of
Thunder on the Lakeshore have canceled the 2014 air show. Manitowoc Mayor
Justin Nickels says while federal budget cuts preventing military jets from
attending last year’s show isn’t the reason…he says “it didn’t
help”. The annual event means between $3 and $4 million in economic impact
to the area. Nickels says they’re preparing to bring the air show back, better
than ever, in 2015.