Economy, politics, crime mark another year in Wisconsin

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The economy continued to implode, taking workers with it. The governor called it quits. State justice officials realized no one ever collected DNA from thousands of prisoners. Thousands of state soldiers continued to find themselves in harm’s way.

This year in Wisconsin was bleak, brutal and bizarre. Here’s a look at the people who made news over the past year:

THE GREAT RECESSION

—The unemployed: Wisconsin lost 130,000 jobs in the year that ended this past October. Unemployment rates hovered around 9 percent for much of the year. State revenue officials issued a report in November saying employment numbers aren’t likely to reach pre-recession levels until 2012.

—Taxpayers: Lost jobs meant lost taxes for the state, helping blast a record $6.6 billion hole in the 2009-2011 state budget. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, and the Democratic-controlled Legislature bridged the shortfall in part with $2.1 billion in tax and fee increases, including higher taxes on cigarettes and tobacco products, a new 75-cent monthly fee for phone users, a higher income tax bracket for households earning more than $300,000 a year and more expensive boat registration fees.

—State workers: All state employees were ordered to take 16 unpaid furlough days before June 30, 2011.

—Mercury Marine: Wisconsin and Oklahoma found themselves locked in a bidding war for the boat engine manufacturer’s headquarters. The company decided in September to keep its Fond du Lac operations going after last-minute union concessions and promises of government aid.

—In April, the last vehicle rolled off the line at the Janesville General Motors plant, the oldest in the GM family. Production of GM vehicles had ended just before Christmas the previous year, cutting 1,200 jobs. But the plant remained open as about 110 employees finished an order of trucks for Isuzu Motors Ltd.

POLITICS

—Jim Doyle: Wisconsin’s Democratic governor announced in August he would not seek a third term in 2010, saying a governor should serve only two terms. His approval ratings were sagging, however, and the state faces another billion-dollar plus deficit in its next budget.

—Scott Walker: Milwaukee County’s chief executive announced in April he will run for governor as a Republican in 2010.

—Barbara Lawton: Wisconsin’s Democratic lieutenant governor launched a campaign for governor after Doyle’s announcement. But she mysteriously dropped out of the race in October with no explanation. The move sparked speculation White House Democrats pushed her out to make way for …

—Tom Barrett: Milwaukee’s mayor announced in November he would run for governor, ending weeks of will-he or won’t-he speculation. Barrett said he delayed his decision as he recovered from a beating he took after leaving the State Fair in August when he tried to defend a woman from an attacker.

—Smokers: If paying more for their cigarettes wasn’t enough, smokers won’t be allowed to light up inside any Wisconsin restaurants, bars or hotels starting this summer. Doyle signed a bill creating a statewide smoking ban in May, ending a bitter battle between health advocates and the state’s powerful Tavern League that had raged for years.

—Jeff Wood: The troubled independent state representative from Chippewa Falls was arrested in September near Wausau and again in October in Tomah for allegedly driving under the influence. He now has been arrested three times for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs since December 2008. His fellow legislators are considering whether to kick him out of the Assembly.

—Gay couples: Wisconsin became the first Midwestern state to enact protections for gay couples through legislation when Doyle signed the state budget in June. Provisions granted same-sex couples dozens of the same legal protections as spouses, including hospital visitation, inheritance, and medical leave rights. As of Dec. 2, 1,240 couples had registered.

—Drunken drivers: Doyle signed a bill in December that makes fourth offense drunken driving a felony in some cases, a first offense a misdemeanor if someone younger than 16 is in the car and requires repeat offenders and certain first timers to get ignition interlocks. Doyle hailed the bill as a major step toward combating drunken driving, but others complained the bill doesn’t go nearly far enough.

—Michael Gableman: A three-judge panel dismissed ethics charges against the state Supreme Court justice, saying his racially charged campaign ad last year amounted to free speech. The Wisconsin Judicial Commission had accused Gableman of violating the state judicial code by falsely suggesting in a campaign ad that his opponent, then-Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, helped free a convicted rapist.

MISCHIEF AND MAYHEM

—Walter Ellis: Police arrested him in September after DNA from his toothbrush linked him to a series of Milwaukee homicides over the last 20 years. The story grew even more serious after the state discovered Ellis should have given DNA in 2001 during a prison stint but had another inmate give it instead. A review found the state’s DNA database is missing about 12,000 convict samples. Doyle blamed confusion during the early days of Wisconsin’s DNA submission laws over who was responsible for taking DNA from offenders.

—Kurtis and Joshua Popp: The brothers were sentenced to 90 days in jail in October for shooting a military flare into the Patrick Cudahy Inc. meatpacking plant in Cudahy during a Fourth of July celebration, sparking a massive fire that forced thousands of residents to evacuate. The brothers must serve their time each July for the next three years.

—Edward W. Edwards. Police arrested Edwards, 76, in Louisville, Ky., in July in connection with the 1980 slayings of Jefferson-area sweethearts Tim Hack and Kelly Drew. Edwards wrote an autobiography describing how he spent the 1950s drifting across the country, writing bad checks, stealing cars, robbing banks and seducing women. He landed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List in 1961 and did time in federal prison.

—Geu Tou Vang: The St. Paul, Minn., gang member showed up at a birthday party in Menomonie, got into an argument over a bottle of alcohol. He gunned down his date’s three brothers — Toua Kong, Siong Kong and Seng Kong — before killing himself.

—Adam Dylan Leon. The 31-year-old Turkish-Canadian stole a plane from a Thunder Bay, Ontario, flight school in April and flew it across Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, hoping fighter jets would shoot him down. Authorities evacuated the state capitol in Madison as a precaution. Leon was sentenced to two years in federal prison in November.

—Tyrone Adair. The 38-year-old Middleton man killed his two young children and their mothers in December, then vanished. Police found him dead in his car in Cottage Grove four days later. His motives remain unclear.

BAND OF BROTHERS

—The Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team: About 3,200 members of the unit along with six other Army National Guard units left in February for a 10-month tour in Iraq. The call-up marked the largest deployment of Wisconsin National Guard forces since World War II.

—Wisconsin soldiers: Six had died during the year as a result of duties in Afghanistan or Iraq as of Dec. 23.

—Army Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger and Army Capt. Russell Seager. Krueger, of Kiel. and Seager, of Racine, were among 13 soldiers killed when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire at a Fort Hood soldier processing center in November.

BACK TO NATURE

—Deer hunters: They killed 29 percent fewer deer during the November gun season than last year, prompting concerns the herd has dwindled under state Department of Natural Resources management practices.

—Young hunters: Wisconsin’s new mentored youth hunting program went into effect in September. The program allows 10- and 11-year-olds to hunt with an adult. The state Department of Natural Resources says it had sold more than 10,000 youth licenses through mid-November.

—DNR secretary: Doyle vetoed a bill in November that would have stripped the governor of his power to appoint the DNR secretary and hand it instead to the Natural Resources Board. Supporters say the measure would have removed politics from the position, but Doyle insisted the secretary is more effective as a cabinet member.

—Lake Delton: DNR engineers succeeded in refilling the empty lake in time for the summer tourist season. The lake drained away during the summer of 2008 after thunderstorm washed away a giant section of bank.

OBITUARIES

—Les Paul: The Waukesha native who developed the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording died in August. He was 94.

—Oscar Mayer: The retired chairman of the Madison-based meat processing company that bears his name died in July. He was 95. He was the third Oscar Mayer in the family that founded Oscar Mayer Foods, once Madison’s largest private employer.

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