(1/29/12) Here are the stories:
Wisconsin-based Stoughton Trailers says it plans to hire about 125 production workers at its plants in Brodhead, Evansville and Stoughton. That company makes large components for semi-trailer trucks. The company already added about 300 workers last year. This latest surge in hiring will push its total workforce to about 925. The available jobs include assembly workers, welders and industrial painters. A company spokesman cites a significant increase in orders. Stoughton’s primary product is the box-and-chassis combination called a dry van – the trailer pulled behind most of the nation’s big trucks.
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Bureaucratic glitches and clerical errors are being blames for almost 80 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers not getting thousands of dollars they are owed for serving in Iraq. In some cases the money has been owed them for more than five years. The soldiers are members of the Wisconsin National Guard 1157th Transportation Company. When they got back from Iraq in 2007 they were due extra pay or leave days for serving multiple deployments. More than 90 of the 170 guardsmen and women were paid, but the rest didn’t get their money.
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A former day-care provider from Fitchburg has been guilty on one of seven charges of injuring children she was supposed to be caring for. The attorney for Michelle S. Christensen says his client was acquitted on three charges and jury members deadlocked on the other three. The jury reportedly convicted the 42 year old Christensen in the case of a one year old child who appeared to have been slapped in the face by an adult hand. An appeal is planned. Christensen could serve up to three years behind bars.
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Arson suspect Sameer Sridhar tells fire investigators his parents are “very controlling.” He apparently set a fire in their Outagamie County home to make a statement. Firefighters were called to the home Wednesday morning. A lighter was recovered from Sridhar’s room. The damage was mostly confined to that room, although there was smoke and water damage in other areas of the home. If he is convicted on the felony charge, the suspect could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.
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Starting this weekend, the Wisconsin DNR has more authority to manage the state’s grey wolf population. Those wolves are no longer considered a federally-endangered species. That cedes control back to the state, allowing a more balanced approach to the damage caused by the animals. The DNR says it is ready to issue permits to landowners who have been dealing with wolf attacks on livestock. Wolves which have been attacking or threatening livestock or pets can now be removed – if those landowners apply to the state. The most recent state estimates suggest there are about 800 wolves in the state of Wisconsin.
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The former director of Camp Fire USA in Oneida County has been sentenced to four years in prison. Jeremy E. Fadoul was found guilty of taping girls while they showered at the camp. Investigators reported they found the shower video on his computer last March. They were checking the computer after the camp’s board of directors accused the Rhinelander man of taking nearly 44 thousand dollars out of the camp’s bank account without authorization. Fadoul pleaded no contract to one count of theft and and a second count of owning or distributing a recording of nudity last month.
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Madison police will file charges against a 14 year old girl accused of taking part in an attack on three 12 year old girls last month. Investigators say she was one of seven teenage girls who attacked the victims at Lucy Lincoln Hiestand Park on December 12th. The seven girls and three boys approached the victims that night and started kicking, slapping and punching them. Witnesses say the attack didn’t stop until one of the boys told the attackers to stop. The victims weren’t seriously injured.
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The Wisconsin Farm Bureau says it is worried new agriculture labor laws affecting people under the age of 18 will make it hard to manage family farms. The proposal rule changes would significantly reduce the amount of farm work a young person can do legally. One of the proposed regulations would limit the operation of power-driven machines by youths 16 and older. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack supports the changes, pointing out that while only four percent of working youth are in the farm sector, 40 percent of fatalities among the working young people come while they are working on or around machines, equipment or facilities related to agriculture.
