• News tips, submissions
• Questions, comments
• Contact webmaster

• Deer license sales off slightly, Hudson store is 10th biggest seller statewide; other briefs

EAU CLAIRE -- License purchase figures released Monday by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources indicate slightly fewer people are chasing whitetails with firearms this week but archery deer hunting continues to become more popular.

As of Saturday, Nov. 21st, opening day for the gun-deer season, the gun deer licenses were down by about 4,800 compared with last year but a total of 626,404 were sold.

"It's like the famous line, 'The reports of my death were premature,'" quipped Ed Culhane, the DNR's public affairs manager for the 11-county West Central Region.

Conversely, total sales of archery deer licenses is up 1,118 over a year ago.

A total of 13,645 licenses were sold from St. Croix County locations -- including more than 6,000 at Hudson's FleetFarm store alone. That outlet is the 10th largest in the state, according to DNR figures. In Pierce County, a total of 5,060 licenses were sold through local stores, government offices and on-line.

So, in regards to reports of a drop in license sales . It's like the famous line . "The reports of my death were premature."

Wisconsin's gun deer season continues through Sunday, Nov. 28th.

Doyle signs emergency order to help with propane distribution.

MADISON -- Gov. Jim Doyle has declared a state of emergency to address a propane shortage in Wisconsin.

Doug Caruso of the Wisconsin Farmers Union said with so many farmers just finishing the harvest, and with plenty of wet crops needing to be dried out, propane is in higher demand than usual at this time of year.

The governor's declaration will expand the hours that propane terminals are open during the next two weeks. This will give commercial vehicles more time to fill up. He said there have been long waits at terminal points as suppliers try to get propane to drying facilities.

The proclamation also temporarily lifts federal restrictions on when and how long truckers can drive if they're transporting propane.

-- Steve Roisum, WPR

Asian Carp may have reached Lake Michigan

Federal and state officials say there's scientific evidence that a harmful invasive species, the Asian Carp, has gotten beyond electric barriers near Chicago. That means the hungry fish may be much closer to getting into the Great Lakes.

Scientists have been taking water samples from the rivers and canals between electric barriers 25 miles southwest of Chicago and Lake Michigan. The researchers say they found 32 positive samples of Asian Carp DNA during the last week of September. Some of the samples were within about 8 miles of Lake Michigan. University of Notre Dame biologist David Lodge says the carp may be there as well, but he says that isn't certain.

Lodge also says it isn't clear how long the DNA has been in the waterways. The scientists and agency officials say they don't know how the carp got beyond the barriers and say they didn't put the newer barrier on higher voltage until there was evidence the carp were just a few miles away. John Rogner of the Illinois DNR says options now include trying to find some carp by shocking the water or dumping in poison.

Conservation groups have called for immediate closure of all Illinois gateways and locks leading to Lake Michigan in what the groups say is a last-ditch attempt to keep the destructive Asian Carp from invading the Great Lakes.

-- Chuck Quirmbach, WPR

Group believes public financing of campaigns is over

MILWAUKEE -- As political candidates begin to fill their war chests for next fall's election, a Milwaukee-based think tank says the state's campaign public financing system is dead.

The calendar is filling up with dates for candidate fund raisers, and special interest groups are mapping out their strategies for attack ads. Meanwhile, election campaign reformers are still holding out hope that the next election will not be a spending free-for-all. But Mike Nichols of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute says if they're hoping candidates will avail themselves of the state's public financing program they shouldn't hold their breath. He says tax payer support for the income tax check off has been waning since the program began in 1977. Nichols says tax payer support has fallen from 20 percent in 1977 to about 5 percent last year. He doesn't expect Wisconsin tax payers to reverse that trend since it hasn't happened around the country.

But public financing advocates like Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign have a different view. McCabe points to neighboring Minnesota for evidence that a well run public election fund can lead to lower cost elections. He says Wisconsin's last governor's race cost $32 million and Gov. Doyle spent more than $10 million. But McCabe says Minnesota has a limit of $2.5 million and half of that money comes from public financing.

McCabe says if Minnesota can do it so can Wisconsin. But WPRI's Mike Nichols says any change in the current system depends on tax payer willingness to fund it.

-- Gil Halsted, Wisconsin Public Radio

Allowing gay clergy divides Lutherans

LA CROSSE -- Lutherans are split over a recent vote by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that will allow gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy. That resolution becomes effective next April. Conservative Lutherans now plan to break away from the largest Lutheran denomination.

The conservative group Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) decided last week that it will leave the ELCA to form a new denomination. Lutherans are now wondering what that will mean for their congregations. Timothy Duesenberg is pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Holmen. Duesenberg says he would like to see his congregation become a member of Lutheran CORE. He says it's unsure whether that's possible, and he adds they would likely lose some of their 700 members. But Duesenberg believes his church would gain members since a number of people are looking for a church with an ELCA background that stands firm on "plain sense teaching on marriage and sexuality."

Mark Solyst is pastor of English Lutheran Church in La Crosse. Solyst says he hasn't heard many in his 1,400-member congregation talking about leaving. He says the prevalent view at his church seems to be that some aren't happy with the ELCA decision, but they feel everything else at English Lutheran is great and they aren't planning to leave.

Either way, both pastors say the division among Lutherans is painful. So far, five congregations have left the ELCA. 87 others voted to leave the ELCA, but 28 lacked the two-thirds vote necessary to leave. The ELCA has more than 10,000 congregations nationwide.

-- Danielle Kaeding, WPR