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• Wisconsin woman unaccounted for in Haiti
• Lawmaker strikes plea deal on OWI charges; other state briefs
• Update: Wisconsin woman, missing in Haiti, reports she's OK
• 'Mr. O'Boyle's candidacy lives'
• 'Mr. O'Boyle's candidacy lives'

At least one Wisconsin resident was still missing in Haiti Wednesday night as dozens from the Badger State turned up OK amid the chaos of the earthquake.

Melissa Elliott, 20, of the Waukesha County town of Merton remained unaccounted for.

She was among 12 students and two instructors from Lynn University in Florida who were on a food relief project during the winter break. They were staying in a hotel that reportedly collapsed. The university hired helicopters to search for the students.

Another Wisconsinite in that group, Thomas Schloemer, Fox Point, turned up OK Wednesday night.

About a dozen nervous Wisconsinites called U.S. Senator Russ Feingold's office Wednesday to ask for help locating their relatives.

Among those who were safe were six members of a church in Yuba in Richland County who were on a gospel mission in Haiti. They thought they were having car trouble when the 7.0 tremor hit.

Also, six people from Beloit and Madison on a medical mission are okay, along with dozen from the La Crosse area on another medical trip. Two volunteers from the Milwaukee Episcopal Diocese also turned up fine. They stayed behind after five others had left before the quake hit Tuesday.

Assemblyman Jeff Wood has struck a plea deal on the most serious of his three driving while impaired cases.

His attorney said Wood will plead no contest April 19 to two of four charges in Columbia County. The independent from Bloomer will be convicted of his third OWI offense and a misdemeanor count of possessing drug paraphernalia. A marijuana possession charge will be dropped.

Attorney Tracey Wood refused to say what prosecutors would recommend for a sentence. A prosecutor in Columbia County would not comment on the deal.

The charges are connected with an incident in December of 2008. Authorities said Wood's car struck a highway sign on I-90/94, and a state trooper caught him urinating on the roadside.

He was arrested in September south of Wausau for driving under the influence of cough medicine. A month later, he was picked up in Tomah for driving under the influence of anti-anxiety medications.

A state Assembly committee is considering a resolution to expel Wood, who is in his eighth year in the Legislature. He said he won't run for re-election this fall but will not resign before then.

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Rare pheasant back home

A rare golden pheasant captured in Superior on Monday is back home in Duluth.

A police officer found the brightly colored rooster and called Debbie Waters of the Hawk Ridge Observatory. She returned the bird to a coop owned by Jim and Doreen Timmermann, where it escaped while Jim was checking out a disturbance.

The bird almost escaped again while it was being transferred from Waters' cage to the Timmermanns' cage.

The pheasant is a native of Tibet, but the couple bought their bird online from a place in Texas. It has a golden head with bright red and blue feathers on its back.

Doreen Timmermann said the bird would remain as a pet and will not be eaten for dinner. Some folks wondered about that, after a goat was rescued in Superior some time back and ended up on a holiday dinner platter.

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Court upholds grandparents' visitation rights

A state appeals court has upheld a Wisconsin law that lets grandparents seek visitation rights with kids after at least one of their parents dies.

A father whose wife died from of cancer tried to convince the courts that the law is unconstitutional. He said the law is not fair because it lets the state interfere with the wishes of a widow or widower, but it does not interfere when both parents are alive.

The Second District Appellate Court in Waukesha did not buy the argument. The judges said the state has a legitimate reason to help children when their parents die and letting grandparents visit provides a sense of continuity.

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Stimulus money to ban cherry-flavored 'chaw'?

Wisconsin lawmakers are being asked to discourage kids from chewing candy tobacco and cigars and to seek federal stimulus money to pay for the effort.

Today (Thursday) the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee will consider asking for $3 million in stimulus money to encourage communities to ban things like cherry-flavored chaw.

Seth Boffeli of the state's Health Services Department said local bans make it easier to adopt a statewide ban later on - the same strategy used in passing the statewide indoor smoking ban which takes effect in July.

But Assemblyman Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon, said it's the wrong use of federal stimulus money. He says that money was meant to create jobs and getting communities to ban tobacco has nothing to do with job creation.

Montgomery said he'll vote against the funding request. President Obama signed a bill last year banning candy and fruit flavored cigarettes, but it does not apply to other forms of tobacco.

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Barrett persists with plan for mayor-controlled Milwaukee schools

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has proposed a compromise on a controversial bill in the state Legislature to let the mayor control the city's schools.

Barrett's plan would let the elected school board override the mayor's school budgets and the appointments of a superintendent. It's considered to be a last-ditch effort to keep the bill alive in an effort to help the state win up federal stimulus dollars in President Obama's "Race to the Top" education program.

States must demonstrate reforms and efforts to improve in order to get the money, and Gov. Jim Doyle has been pushing hard for the Milwaukee mayoral control plan.

The plan was derailed after Milwaukee residents and their legislators split on the idea.

Doyle and other supporters say it's needed to improve student performance. Opponents say it takes power away from the people.

Barrett's compromise did not sit well with two key Milwaukee legislators. Rep. Tamara Grigsby and Sen. Spencer Coggs, both Democrats, said it does not provide the direct mayoral authority they say is needed for the Milwaukee schools to change.

Meanwhile, Barrett accused the school board of trying to pick a new superintendent as quickly as possible to discourage the Legislature from taking action. Three finalists will be interviewed today, and the board will discuss them tonight.

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Man wanted for Wisconsin murder escapes

A manhunt continues for a Wisconsin murder suspect who escaped from custody in Arkansas while being transported to Waukesha to face charges.

Police in Van Buren, Ark., said Justin Welch, 26, stabbed a guard, stole his gun, shot at a second guard and stole the transport van Wednesday at an interstate rest areas.

Welch was arrested in San Diego in November for a murder in Oconomowoc on Oct. 1. Authorities said a man hired Welch to kill Kimberly Smith, who was in a bitter court battle with the man over the custody of their four-year-old son.

Welch was one of five prisoners being transported by the North Atlantic Expedition Service, a private firm from Mississippi. They stopped so they could use a restroom.

Police said Welch somehow got a screwdriver-like tool which he used to stab the first guard. They said he also robbed a truck driver in the restroom, stole his jacket and cell phone and handcuffed him to the other prisoners.

A warrant in Arkansas charged Welch with escape, attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, battery and theft.

A Wisconsin resident, who was still missing in Haiti Wednesday night, has texted her mom to say she is fine and on her way to the Dominican Republic.

Dozens of others from the Badger State also turned up OK amid the chaos of the earthquake.

The farther of Melissa Elliott, 20, of the Waukesha County town of Merton, said her parents received a text message from Melissa just as their plane landed in Atlanta. Mike and Lisa Elliott were travelling from Milwaukee to Lynn University, where Melissa is enrolled.

She was among 12 students and two instructors from the Florida university who were on a food relief project during the winter break. They were staying in a hotel that reportedly collapsed. The university hired helicopters to search for the students.

Another Wisconsinite in that group, Thomas Schloemer, Fox Point, turned up OK Wednesday night.

About a dozen nervous Wisconsinites called U.S. Senator Russ Feingold's office Wednesday to ask for help locating their relatives.

Among those who were safe were six members of a church in Yuba in Richland County who were on a gospel mission in Haiti. They thought they were having car trouble when the 7.0 tremor hit.

Also, six people from Beloit and Madison on a medical mission are okay, along with dozen from the La Crosse area on another medical trip. Two volunteers from the Milwaukee Episcopal Diocese also turned up fine. They stayed behind after f five others had left before the quake hit Tuesday.

By Judy Wiff

Rivertowns staff

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board determined Thursday that John O'Boyle did meet deadlines for to be on the ballot for the Pierce County judgeship, triggering a primary election on Feb. 16.

"Mr. O'Boyle's candidacy lives," said GAB spokesman Reid Magney Thursday afternoon.

The other two candidates for the office are River Falls lawyer Joe Boles and Ellsworth lawyer Robert Loberg.

O'Boyle overnight mailed all his paperwork to the state office Monday, Jan. 4, intending that it meet the 5 p.m. Jan. 5 deadline. The material did not arrive at the GAB office until the morning of Jan. 6.

Magney said the problem arose when the GAB moved its office in January 2009. Prior to that it had a post office box that GAB staff would check at 5 p.m. on the filing deadline.

But with the move, the agency's mail is sent to another box.

"It's actually a bin sitting in the main post office on the east side of Madison," said Magney. He said post office workers drop all mail for state offices in the same receptacle. A worker for the state's central mail system picks up the mail and sorts it.

The mail is picked up at 8 a.m. each day. Because O'Boyle's materials didn't arrive until 11 a.m. Jan. 5, they weren't delivered to the GAB until the next day.

For more, read next week's print edition of the River Falls Journal or the Pierce County Herald.

By Judy Wiff

Rivertowns staff

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board determined Thursday that John O'Boyle did meet deadlines to be on the ballot for the Pierce County judgeship, triggering a primary election on Feb. 16.

"Mr. O'Boyle's candidacy lives," said GAB spokesman Reid Magney Thursday afternoon.

The other two candidates for the office are River Falls lawyer Joe Boles and Ellsworth lawyer Robert Loberg.

O'Boyle overnight mailed all his paperwork to the state office Monday, Jan. 4, intending that it meet the 5 p.m. Jan. 5 deadline. The material did not arrive at the GAB office until the morning of Jan. 6.

Magney said the problem arose when the GAB moved its office in January 2009. Prior to that it had a post office box that GAB staff would check at 5 p.m. on the filing deadline.

But with the move, the agency's mail is sent to another box.

"It's actually a bin sitting in the main post office on the east side of Madison," said Magney. He said post office workers drop all mail for state offices in the same receptacle. A worker for the state's central mail system picks up the mail and sorts it.

The mail is picked up at 8 a.m. each day. Because O'Boyle's materials didn't arrive until 11 a.m. Jan. 5, they weren't delivered to the GAB until the next day.

For more, read next week's print edition of the River Falls Journal or the Pierce County Herald.