County Exec to Cut Services, Give additional Worker Benefits

MILWAUKEE - It was a packed house at the Washington Park Senior Center Thursday evening. One by one, people stepped up to the microphone, to speak out out against proposed cuts to Milwaukee County Services.

The county faces a $55 million dollar budget shortfall. County Executive Chris Abele says the budget situation is dire, and even compared it to "the Titanic meeting the Hindenburg". -620WTMJ

County Exec Abele is threatening cuts to Mental Health, Bussing and Special Needs transportation. Stating the County Defecit as the reason for the needed cuts. Wasn't it just last month that he agreed to give benefits to County Workers Domestic Partners?

White Supremacy group plans Protest in West Allis

WEST ALLIS - A white supremacy group is planning a protest in response to the State Fair mob attack, and police are issuing an unusual alert.

Maureen Metzer owns a dance studio a block away from West Allis City Hall. She heard about the rally scheduled for Labor Day weekend and isn't taking any chances. "I am concerned. We actually did decide that we will not be open that day."

It's advice she and other business owners in the area got from the Police Chief in a letter recommending people "lock their doors and close during the time of this activity." Maureen is grateful for the warning. "They told me they've never experienced anything like this before, and I guess better safe than sorry." - 620WTMJ

Illinois Raising Tolls by almost 88%

Driving in Illinois is about to take a much bigger toll on motorists' wallets.

Tolls will shoot up an average of 88% next year to finance a $12 billion toll road expansion and renovation plan, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority decided Thursday.

For drivers who have an I-PASS, an electronic device that allows them to pay tolls automatically, it's the first toll increase in 28 years, the toll road authority said.

But for the occasional toll road user who pays in cash - including many Wisconsin drivers who don't have an I-PASS - it's going to be the second massive increase in seven years, with a third coming up three years later.

In 2005, tolls doubled for anyone without an I-PASS. Those drivers will face increases in both 2012 and 2015, while those with an I-PASS will see only a 2012 increase.

At mainline toll plazas, the ones that all drivers must pass through, the average toll will rise 35 cents, from 40 cents to 75 cents for an automobile equipped with an I-PASS on Jan. 1, the toll road authority said. Trucks pay more, depending on their size and the time of day; their rates will hold steady next year but rise in 2015.

Individual tolls vary from one plaza to another, however, and rates are above average at several of those closest to the Wisconsin border.

At the Waukegan Plaza on I-94, the I-PASS rate will jump from 75 cents to $1.40 next year. The cash rate will increase from $1.50 to $1.90 in 2012 and $2.65 in 2015. - JSOnline

13 Union Protestors Arrested and Carried out of Capitol

Madison - Several hundred chanting, cheering protesters entered the Capitol rotunda Thursday around the 6 p.m. closing time. An hour later, Capitol police carried 13 of them away.

Most of the protesters left around 6:30 p.m. at the urging of police. Officers sought to close the building and enforce a Dane County judge's order from earlier this year that the building be cleared of the public after its business was done for the day.

"I'm asking you very nicely to leave," Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said. "Please leave now. We need to lock the building."

The protest came on the first day that higher pension and health contributions kick in for state employees.

The scene recalled in a modest way the massive protests of last year over Gov. Scott Walker's legislation repealing most collective bargaining for public workers. That measure also made the cuts to workers' benefits taking effect Thursday to help balance the state budget.

The first wave of protesters entered the statehouse carrying banners, shouting and banging on drums and cowbells. One of them - among those later arrested - was waving an American flag and standing on the first-floor railing overlooking the rotunda until police asked him to step down. - JSOnline

It is this type of behavior and that at the offices of Paul Ryan that have led many Independents to turn away from supporting the Union. Disruptions to the system and blatant disrespect of the law.

No Charges in Supreme Court Choking Claim

Madison - Neither Supreme Court Justice David Prosser nor fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will face criminal charges for a June altercation that broke out as the judges were considering Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining law, a special prosecutor has determined.

But the incident still could have far-reaching effects - possibly even opening the doors of the court to the public as justices debate how to decide cases.

Breaking her silence about the altercation in a written statement Thursday, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said she would propose "the presumption will be that court conferences are open to the public," as a way to lead the fractious court back toward civility.

Abrahamson was not available for an interview, and a court spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether the chief justice was referring to deliberations on individual cases. But meetings on the court's rules and finances are usually open to the public already, unlike the justices' deliberations.

No other appellate court in the nation opens its deliberations to public scrutiny, former state Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske said. If Wisconsin's high court did so, "that does create huge problems in decision-making," as citizens see for the first time how the justices' reasoning and even rulings can shift in the months between the time a case is argued and time a decision is handed down, warned Geske, a Marquette University law professor. - JSOnline

Terrorist Planning attack on Food?

The group behind last year’s failed Christmas Day bombing and the recent attempt to send two explosives-laden packages to the United States wants to attack U.S. food supplies, but U.S. authorities don't believe the group has the capability to do so, Fox News has learned.

A source with knowledge of the situation said authorities obtained information “a while ago” indicating a possible plot by associates of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to target food at hotels and restaurants inside the United States, perhaps slipping harmful agents into salad bars or buffets.

“We don’t have a specific target or time frame, just the intent,” the source said.

Nevertheless, the source said, authorities are not convinced that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – or AQAP – has the capability to actually carry out such an attack.

An administration official agreed, and a Department of Homeland Security official, who declined to discuss the specific threat information, echoed that in a statement to Fox News. - Fox News Story

Nebraska Gets the Shaft by Officials

He screamed, cursed, stomped, pointed and roared at the men in the striped shirts. But after the costliest of Nebraska's school-record 16 penalties, a dubious roughing-the-passer call that helped give Texas A&M a go-ahead field goal, NU head coach Bo Pelini glanced briefly to the heavens, as if to ask the pigskin gods: Are you done yet?

The Huskers' faint hopes for a BCS national title berth certainly are, as they lost 9-6 to the Aggies in front of a school-record 90,079 fans at Kyle Field in College Station. Nebraska (9-2 overall, 5-2 in the Big 12) committed 16 penalties – including several personal fouls – for 145 yards. Pelini himself picked up the second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his career for appearing to call the side judge a name. Officials flagged A&M – normally one of the nation's most penalized teams – only twice.

“You guys can make your own deductions,” Pelini said afterward. “All you gotta do is look at the numbers.” - NE StatePapers.com

County Approved fixing Deadly O'Donnell Park

MILWAUKEE - County supervisors approved funding to repair O'Donnell Park after the deadly concrete collapse.

The collapse, which happened during Summerfest, took the life of 15 year old Jared Kellner. He was walking near the O'Donnell Park parking garage when a large concrete slab fell on top of him. The slab was hanging on the building as part of the decorative facade. The garage has remained closed since the incident.

In the 2011 Milwaukee County budget, supervisors opted to spend $6.5million to remove all of the other concrete panels on the structure's facade and put a coating on the building. The funding also covers other repairs to the parking garage's structure. - 620 WTMJ

Retired Cop accused of Beating and Sexual Assault

RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) -- A retired Rhinelander police officer is accused of beating and sexually assaulting a woman.

Sixty-one-year-old Greg DeRosier faces trial in Oneida County on charges of third-degree sexual assault, battery and intimidating a witness. The woman told investigators DeRosier was at her house Oct. 3, became angry and beat her. She says DeRosier then ordered her to the bedroom where he sexually assaulted her. The Daily News reports the woman says DeRosier warned her that if she contacted police "there would be a price to pay."

Defense attorney Jeff Jackomino asked the woman during cross-examination in court why she didn't yell for her teenage daughter during the attack because she was in the home at the time. Jackomino also asked the woman why she waited several days before calling police. - WTMJ 4

Lawrencia Bembenek - Innocent?

Could Lawrencia Bembenek be innocent? As she clings to life outside of Portland, Oregon, we explore the evidence.

Bembenek was convicted of killing her husband's ex-wife. She later escaped from prison, was captured in Canada and was brought back to Wisconsin. She pleaded "no contest" to second degree murder, was sentenced to time served and released.

But before she dies, she wants to clear her name. - WTMJ 4