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• New phone fees start in September; and other state briefs

Phone companies won't be required to tell consumers about a new state fee that's getting added to their monthly bills. And while some customers will start paying the fee in September, others might not get charged until later.

The new state budget created a 75-cent Police and Fire Protection Fee for every landline and cell phone in Wisconsin. It's expected to generate about $100 million over the next couple years.

Other telephone fees get split off and itemized on phone bills. Chris LaRowe of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association says that's what most companies will do with this fee.

But the way the budget is worded, they don't have to. Most providers will want to list it as a separate fee, but it's possible that instead, some may simply add a 75-cent increase in a customer's local service rate.

The Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association did not like the way this fee ended up. It was originally supposed to pay for 911 centers, but lawmakers changed it to help balance the budget and prevent deeper cuts to local governments. In the process they moved up the start date from October to September.

LaRowe says some companies will be ready, but others with complicated billing systems may not. He says they might end up having to back bill, which means that would bill more in later months to make up for what they did not charge to begin with.

The bottom line, warns LaRowe, is that companies won't eat the increase, consumers will.

LaRowe says other questions remain such as how the new fee applies to customers with more than 10 phone lines.

The state Department of Revenue says it's still too early to say how the fee will be implemented.

-- Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin high court ruling may affect clout of local courts

MILWAUKEE -- A defense lawyer says it may become tougher to enforce agreements with governments, now that the State Supreme Court has sided with Milwaukee County on a case involving jail conditions.

Eight years ago, the ACLU and Legal Aid Society reached an agreement with Milwaukee County to correct overcrowding and sanitary problems at the Milwaukee County jail. The legal groups say the county violated the consent decree more than 16,000 times over the next three years.

In 2006, a circuit court found the county in contempt, but said there was no authority to provide money or other remedies to thousands of people who had been held in the jail's booking area.

A state appeals court said there was the authority for damages. But now the Wisconsin Supreme Court has voted 4-3 to reverse the appellate court.

Justice David Prosser says Milwaukee County had improved jail conditions by the time of the circuit court ruling. The county's lawyer, Bill Domina says the ruling is proper.

The plaintiffs' attorney, Patrick Patterson says the ruling limits the powers of courts to enforce their orders. He says that could weaken people's faith in the legal system.

He says the state court did leave open the possibility of a federal civil rights lawsuit, personal injury lawsuits, or the legislature giving new powers to the lower courts to enforce their orders.

-- Chuck Quirmbach, WPR

Dry spell hurting crops up in 22 northeastern counties

Northeastern Wisconsin is experiencing a moderate drought. The area's rainfall is well below average, and crops could be adversely affected.

The National Weather Service hasn't issued a severe weather warning for the 22 counties in Northeastern Wisconsin since the end of April. Severe weather often brings damaging hail, but also heavy rains.

Steve Meyer, professor of natural science at UW-Green Bay, says it's very unusual to go so long without a storm. He also says, the Green Bay area is almost 3.5 inches behind its average rainfall.

Meyer says seemingly promising systems dry up. The rain moves from west to east and hits the drier pockets, so the drought perpetuates more drought in that respect.

He says it's going to take a really humid air mass to come in and clean the area out of the drought conditions. But one rainfall probably won't do that.

Brown County extension agriculture agent Mark Hagedorn agrees. He says farmers need a good two-day soaking followed by an inch of rain each week.

He says the corn crop is showing visible signs of heat stress. He compares the appearance of heat-stressed corn to the swirling effect seen in pineapple fields.

Without rain the stress could mean lower yields, especially because few farmers in the area have expensive watering or irrigation systems.

Short term forecasts from the National Weather Service include a slight chance for rain this week. But long term forecasts show the region could be facing El Nino, which means dryer than normal conditions for the next six months.

-- Patty Murray, WPR

Port activity worst in nearly 80 years

SUPERIOR -- Great Lakes cargo is down a third so far this year compared to 2008.

One port official calls it the worst performance for iron ore shipments since 1932, during the Great Depression. That's when 4 million tons was delivered. This year, they're a little ahead of that pace, but 61 percent behind last year's mark which also was sub par.

Adolph Ojard is the Duluth Port Director, the busiest port on the Great Lakes. He's hoping this is the recession's low point, and that they'll see a gradual improvement on the shipping season. Ojard says that'd be a "nice way to celebrate Christmas".

Lake Carrier's Association's Glen Neckvasil can't say this is the bottom, but a third of the Great Lakes Fleet is idle, with 42 ships working compared to 75 last year.

Ojard does say the Duluth-Superior port is up in grain trade and getting more general cargo inquiries which could translate into a rebound next year.

Mike Simonson, WPR

Green initiative wants vendor trucks to shut off engines

MADISON -- A Madison grocer is expanding efforts to "go green" by convincing others in the shopping mall where his store is located to prevent delivery trucks from unnecessary idling.

"Going green" has been both a marketing tool and environmental decision for a number of businesses. And the lower pollution limit set by the federal government is a concern for rapidly-growing Dane County, one of two locations for Metcalfe's Sentry.

Owner Tim Metcalfe has persuaded other tenants in Hilldale Mall to stop their delivery trucks from wasting fuel and producing smog by running the engine while parked.

Computations figure 125 hours' worth of idling at the mall, by merchants and Metcalfe's. Add up each week's truck idling, and Metcalfe says it amounts to 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

State Representative Spencer Black hopes the voluntary ban on idling at Hilldale Mall will generate support to make it law statewide.

He says a statewide ban on unnecessary idling will prevent one-quarter million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution, and also save 15 million gallons of diesel fuel.

The idling ban at Hilldale Mall is voluntary and not in effect when temperatures drop below freezing. The same policy will be in place at Metcalfe's grocery store in Wauwatosa.

Shamane Mills, WPR

Actual EAB presence may surpass earlier assessments

An official with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture says the infestation of Emerald Ash Borer near the Mississippi River may be larger than first thought.

Jennifer Statz is the EAB program manager for the Department. She says they now have found three adult beetles five miles south of Victory just over the Crawford County line.

Ag officials sent around 25 infested tree samples from Victory to Michigan State University last month. Statz says tests there will determine how long the Emerald Ash Borer has been in southwestern Wisconsin, but until they get data back it's all speculative as to how long some of the infestations have been going on.

Some think Victory's history of infestation is greater than that of Newburg, which is in Ozaukee and Washington Counties where the Emerald Ash Borer has been present since 2004.

Statz says the decline and death of ash trees near Victory is evidence the Emerald Ash Borer has been there for a number of years. Statz says they expect test results on the infested tree samples within the next two weeks.

Danielle Kaeding, WPR

DPI outlines areas of improvement for UW-L education program

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse School of Education is undergoing some changes so it doesn't lose its accreditation to train tomorrow's public school teachers.

A program review conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction often finds areas that need improving at schools of education.

However, DPI assistant state superintendent Deborah McHaffey says UW-L has a longer than average list of areas that need addressing, including student advisement, curriculum development, and high faculty turnover.

UW-L has the end of the next academic year to turn things around or the over 200 students expected to graduate next spring won't be eligible for a teaching license.

Kathleen Enz Finken, UW-L's interim director of the school of education says more teachers are being hired there. She adds the school is working to be more consistent throughout all of its programs, and that there's lots of oversight involved in implement rules and regulations for teacher education.

Both UW-L and the DPI say they expect the school of education will meet its requirements, and likely won't lose its accreditation.

-- Steve Roisum, WPR

Bear-human encounters increasing in number and aggressiveness

Bear encounters this year have been dramatic.

In La Crosse, a black bear was cornered and shot. In Siren, a pregnant woman was attacked in her home.

For some locales, bears are regular visitors. The Twin Lakes RV Resort near Hayward usually has half a dozen bears trapped and moved from its premises every year.

But owner Bryon Schoeder says while no one has been hurt yet, there are more and more incidents each year. He had one bear at his home this spring that busted through the glass door and screens on his porch, to eat some watermelon. Schoeder says he and his 100-pound lab were screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs, and were just 5 feet away from it.

"It didn't really care," he recalls.

In the case of last month's incident in Siren, the woman and bear surprised each other at her home. Department of Natural Resources wildlife specialist Paul Peterson says the bear ran her over, knocked her down, and took a swipe at the woman as she covered her stomach.

That bear is still at large.

Peterson says the Wisconsin bear population has increased six fold since the 1980s, from 5,000 to 30,000. And people continue to build homes deeper into the North Woods, which he says presents bears with all sorts of new, good smells coming from garbage, grills, and kitchens.

Black bears can smell food a quarter of a mile away. Peterson says people should never feed the animals. Schoeder says more bear hunting permits should be issued this fall.

-- Mike Simonson, WPR

Environmental advocates want Congress to target pests in Great Lakes

GREAT LAKES -- Great Lakes backers hope Congress pours nearly $500 million into restoring them. But some wonder if Congress needs to single out one of the Lakes' biggest problems: invasive species.

Kris Martinsek of the Milwaukee Harbor Commission says Congress should pass new national standards for ballast water in ocean ships. She says that would slow more invasive species from coming into the lakes and give the restoration money a better chance to work.

Cameron Davis, the EPA's new senior advisor on the Great Lakes, says some Midwest states are going ahead with their own ballast water controls. Wisconsin's own ballast water plan remains on hold.

Davis says assuming the Great Lakes restoration money comes through, the EPA will aim to spend the dollars on projects that have a plan in place and are ready to go.

The $475 in restoration money proposed by the Obama Administration has cleared the House, and is expected to survive a House Senate conference committee.

The EPA has started a series of public meetings about how the funds should be spent, and to hear proposals for a five-year Great Lakes action plan.

-- Chuck Quirmbach, WPR