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• Embezzlement charges: Agents find 461 boxes of shoes, 34 fur coats
• Bill would expand malpractice damages; more state briefs

MILWAUKEE -- Federal agents seized 461 pairs of shoes and 34 fur coats when they searched an office suite rented by former Koss Corporation executive Sue Sachdeva.

She was charged in federal court last month with embezzling $4.5 million from the maker of stereo headphones. That amount could go up when a grand jury files a fresh indictment.

Authorities said Sachdeva spent the money on lavish clothes, jewelry and luxury items for her home in Mequon.

Many items seized from the office complex still had price tags on them, and the clothes cost up to $20,000 apiece. Agents said they took 65 racks, 50 plastic storage containers and some cardboard boxes, all filled with clothes.

Since the original charges, Koss officials said they discovered $31 million in unauthorized transfers.

Sachdeva and an accounting firm were fired last month. A stockholders' group has filed a lawsuit accusing Koss of providing misleading information about its finances.

More health care providers could be sued for malpractice under a bill approved Tuesday by the Wisconsin Senate.

The bill would let parents seek damages for pain and suffering if their adult children die from medical mistakes. Adult children could also sue if their parents die from apparent malpractice.

The Senate agreed to nullify Supreme Court decisions from 1994 and 2000 that barred the recovery of damages in those cases.

Insurance companies, doctors and other health providers oppose the bill while victims' groups and lawyers favor it.

The bill now goes to the Assembly.

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Bill eases restriction on buyers' club stores

There might be more buyers' club stores in Wisconsin under a bill passed by the state Assembly.

The vote was 94-2 Tuesday to remove barriers that keep chains like DirectBuy from adding stores in Wisconsin.

Those stores let customers buy furniture, appliances, flooring and other big-ticket items directly from manufacturers. But they require customers to have service contracts longer than the one year that's typically allowed in Wisconsin.

The Assembly voted to extend the contract period to three years. The Senate agreed to the change earlier so it now goes to Gov. Jim Doyle.

DirectBuy has some stores in Wisconsin. Assemblyman Jason Fields, D-Milwaukee, said the company is apparently interested in opening new ones in Milwaukee, Madison and Fort Atkinson.

Fields pushed for the change, saying each store invests $1 million and hires up to 30 people. Fields said he did not believe DirectBuy and similar chains would hurt smaller stores.

Two Democrats cast the no votes: Fred Kessler of Milwaukee and Fred Clark of Baraboo.

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Yacht builders call back some employees

Wisconsin's yacht builders are calling back workers as the recession eases its grip.

Cruisers Yachts of Oconto has recalled about 100 laid-off employees, but hundreds more had been idled.

Marketing director Russell Davis says the downward slide in business has leveled off, and he hopes full production can resume by this fall.

Meanwhile in Pulaski, the Carver and Marquis factories have a new owner, after the previous owner from Minneapolis went into bankruptcy.

Irwin Jacobs said he's cautiously optimistic that the yacht business will improve. His firm expects to start calling back laid-off workers in the next week or two.

The tight credit market has been hard on the yacht companies which sell products costing millions of dollars in some cases.

Ron Cleveringa of the Burger Boat Company in Manitowoc said some of his buyers have been beat up in the media for their "conspicuous consumption." But he said that consumption is now employing 250 people in Manitowoc.

Cleveringa said a few workers have been recalled, and the prospects for new sales have gotten better.

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Facebook for veterans?

Milwaukee Vietnam vet Bob Curry has launched dryhootch.org, a place where veterans can share their experiences.

Curry hopes they'll chat openly about problems they're facing - like alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder which veterans often cover up when they get home.

Curry said he knows what it's like to serve in an increasingly unpopular war. He said many veterans suffered silently when they got the cold shoulder upon returning from Vietnam. He vows that another generation of veterans will not feel abandoned.

Dryhootch.org has online forms, chat rooms and listings of events. Curry said the site also plans to open a coffee shop in Milwaukee where veterans who've met online can see each other in person.

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