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• Bomb threat closes Capitol

The Capitol in Madison re-opened to the public today, after a bomb threat closed the building Tuesday afternoon.

Administration spokeswoman Carla Vigue said the threat was called in to 911, and the Capitol was evacuated about 3 p.m. She said Capitol Police and a Dane County K-9 unit searched the building but found nothing. They were looking for a suspicious man with a duffel bag.

Employees were let back in nearly two hours after the Capitol was evacuated. A nearby coffee shop was also evacuated for a short time, but a suspicious package there turned out to be a sleeping bag.

Gov. Jim Doyle was returning from an event in Oconomowoc at the time. He went directly to the executive residence.

The bomb threat interrupted a Red Cross blood drive at the Capitol. Karen Heller said needles had to be pulled out of donors. But workers were allowed to carry out blood that was collected so they didn't lose any of that.

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Firefighter dies in explosion

A 33-year-old firefighter was killed and nine others were injured Tuesday night when a dumpster exploded outside a foundry in eastern Wisconsin.

The incident happened at Bremer Manufacturing about a mile west of Saint Anna in Calumet County.

Sheriff Jerry Pagel said a deputy saw a fire at the Bremer property about 7:20 p.m. Saint Anna firefighters were called, and the explosion happened around 7:50 in one of several dumpsters located about 50 feet from County Road Q.

No foundry employees were there at the time.

One of the four injured firefighters was in critical condition at last word at a hospital in Neenah.

Pagel says the state fire marshal and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will help investigate the cause of the fire and explosion.

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Bag recycling big in Madison

Folks in Madison seem more eager than expected to keep their plastic grocery bags out of the garbage. They've been dropping them off at 10 locations ever since bag recycling became mandatory Dec. 19.

Recycling coordinator George Dreckmann said his crews have collected 742 pounds of the ultra-light plastic store bags as of Monday, and workers are emptying the collection bins more often than anticipated. They expected to collect the bags every couple weeks, but they've done it twice in the last 11 days.

Madison is the first Wisconsin city to ban plastic bags from landfills. Dreckmann said it's possible that folks had been saving a lot of bags before the recycling mandate began.

The Wisconsin Grocers Association had fought the measure, saying many stores already recycle those bags on their own.

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Truckers face new penalties

The New Year will bring new penalties for those who violate Wisconsin's commercial driving laws.

Starting Friday, truckers and other commercial drivers will be disqualified for two years if they don't appear in court for a citation, pay a judgment or follow court-ordered penalties.

Also, those who drive while they're supposed to be out of service will pay higher fines, and they'll face longer disqualifications. Drivers committing two out-of-service violations can be off the road for two years instead of one. Three-time violators can be disqualified for three years instead of two.

The changes were approved in the state budget earlier this year. They're designed to put Wisconsin's rules in line with those at the federal level. ----------

Ski lift malfunction injures 14

A state inspector said she found a number of problems with the ski lift that went backward at Devil's Head Resort near Merrimac, injuring 14 people Dec. 17.

Inspector April Hammond said she also found two other ski lifts at the resort that need new anti-rollback devices, so a similar accident does not happen on those units.

The ski lift that malfunctioned suddenly stopped and moved backward. Hammond said the gear box failed in three places, knocking out one of two major brakes on the lift. She also said the anti-rollback device was not properly installed, and a safety check of the lift was not done at the beginning of the day the accident happened.

The lift cannot be re-opened until the state does another inspection.

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Wisconsin astronaut visits with soldiers

Wisconsin astronaut Jeff Williams and a partner aboard the International Space Station talked for about 20 minutes Tuesday with troops in Iraq.

Williams is from Winter in northwest Wisconsin. He and T.J. Creamer floated in their weightless cabin while answering questions from Wisconsin National Guard troops and others at a studio in Baghdad.

Williams, a retired Army colonel, said there's not a day that goes by when he and his fellow astronauts don't remember the service and sacrifice the troops are making.

NASA said Williams and Creamer asked for the satellite meeting. Creamer is also an Army colonel.

Williams is on his second mission aboard the International Space Station. He's been there since October and is due to return in the spring.

The soldiers asked the astronauts how they stay fit, how they keep in contact with their families and how they fixed a broken system on their craft that processes urine.

Williams and Creamer said they use a stationary bike to stay in shape, and they didn't fix the urine system yet.

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Senators block Butler appointment

U.S. Senate Republicans have blocked the president's nomination of Louis Butler for a federal judgeship in the western half of Wisconsin.

Butler, a former State Supreme Court justice, was one of seven federal nominees who failed to win Senate approval before the end of the year. The GOP minority pulled a procedural maneuver and sent the appointments back to President Obama.

Butler has been criticized by Republicans for being a liberal activist judge, and some said he doesn't deserve a lifetime federal post after being rejected twice by Wisconsin voters when he lost a pair of Supreme Court elections in the last decade.

Butler refused comment and referred all questions to the White House, which also didn't say anything.

Obama can re-submit his nominations next month, but if a single senator objects, the nominations would be put on hold until 60 votes can be rounded up for their approval.

Butler was one of two federal judge nominees who were blocked. The other was Edward Chen in northern California.

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