A day after debate, Obama takes jabs at Romney during Madison visit; Federal funding hold slows rural Internet progress; more briefs

Talk about it

President Obama used his Madison visit Thursday to encourage his supporters to vote early and to shake off criticisms from his debate with Mitt Romney the night before.

A crowd estimated by UW-Madison police at 30,000 waited several hours for Obama to arrive, putting up with strong winds and occasional rain.

The president gave them a 22-minute speech that hit on his familiar themes of tax fairness, paying for education and creating jobs.

Obama also took jabs at Romney after many observers said the president was not tough enough on his challenger in Wednesday night’s debate.

Obama told the UW crowd that he didn’t see the real Mitt Romney Wednesday night – the one who’s “been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy.”

Obama also slammed Romney for wanting to cut government subsidies for public TV, saying Romney was “finally getting tough on Big Bird,” the Sesame Street icon.

The president also told the UW students that instead of booing Romney, they should get out and vote.

Obama made his second visit to Wisconsin in as many weeks, and a Romney pollster said it was an indication of how well the Republican ticket is doing in Wisconsin.

But a Marquette poll released this week still had Obama up by 11 points, down from 14 in late September. Romney’s running mate, Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, is due in Milwaukee tomorrow night for a campaign fund-raiser.

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Federal funding hold slows rural Internet progress

The expansion of lightning-fast Internet service is slowing to a crawl in some of Wisconsin’s rural areas because of new concerns over the future of federal funding that helps pay for those projects.

The Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association said about half its member firms are delaying or scrapping rural broadband projects because recent changes have put their federal funding in jeopardy.

The Federal Communications Commission has limited the use of the Universal Service Fund, which rural Internet providers rely upon for subsidies. FCC officials said the $8 billion fund had a lot of wasteful and inefficient spending, and therefore, a crackdown on allocations was necessary.

But Internet service providers say they need the subsidies because rural areas don’t provide enough revenue for companies to install broadband service on their own. In some cases, half of a rural broadband expansion is funded by the government.

The Obama White House says universal high-speed Internet is critical for creating jobs and growing things like medical research. The FCC has a goal of making broadband service available in all rural areas by 2020.

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Man gets 23-year term for killing veteran in road-rage incident

A Racine man will spend 23 years in prison for punching a World War II veteran to death after their vehicles bumped each other in a hospital parking lot.

Richard Lewis, 25, must also spend 10 years under extended supervision after his prison time.

Lewis was sentenced Thursday by Racine County Circuit Judge Tim Boyle after a jury convicted Lewis of felony murder and battery to the elderly for killing 88-year-old Albert Paragamian in the lot at Racine’s Wheaton Franciscan All Saints Hospital.

Prosecutors said their vehicles collided in March of last year, and they then got into a skirmish. It ended when Lewis poked Paragamian in the eye, and the victim fell and hit his head on the ground. He died about a week later.

Paragamian was backing out of a parking space when he struck the Lewis vehicle. Lewis continues to claim his innocence.

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Drought stretches into fall

It’s been extremely dry in Wisconsin this year, especially since July 1.

The National Weather Service said Mather in Juneau County has only had 4.5 inches of rain in the last three months – that’s the driest on record. That’s where a stubborn grass fire burned for days and blew heavy smoke that caused a chain reaction traffic crash that killed a woman.

The Weather Service said Medford and Ontario also had their driest periods on record from July 1 through Wednesday of this week. Medford only had 4.1 inches of rain during that stretch.

Other parts of western Wisconsin are in their driest periods since 2003.

The Weather Service says central and west-central Wisconsin are 6 to 8 inches short of their normal rainfall since July 1. Southwest Wisconsin is 3 to 8 inches short, and north central areas are 5 to 9 inches short.

Things won’t get much better any time soon. Forecasters say snow showers are possible throughout the state tonight and into tomorrow, and only a slight chance of rain is in the statewide forecast for Monday and Tuesday.

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Times are tough for California dairy industry

Wisconsin’s top competitor in the dairy industry is going through some hard times.

California’s dairy producers are struggling with high feed prices and low milk prices, and matters have been made worse by what some call an unfair pricing policy in the Golden State.

Producer groups are suing California’s agriculture department, alleging that the gap between the state’s milk price and the federal Class Three order price is larger than it should be.

California overtook Wisconsin a number of years ago as the nation’s top milk producer, but Wisconsin has been catching up. In August, California made 43% more milk than Wisconsin did, but a year ago that gap was much bigger, at 59%.

Also, Wisconsin keeps pulling away from No. 2 California in cheese production.

At this week’s World Dairy Expo in Madison, milk-and-cheese producer John Fiscalini of Modesto, Calif., said he does not see the industry growing in his state anymore.

He told the Brownfield Ag News Service that California has lost one-ninth of its 1,800 dairies over the last two years. And they’re getting milk prices which are $2 less per 100 pounds than the rest of the country.

Fiscalini also said California’s regulations make it hard for dairies to expand, and when a dairy sells out, more cows go to slaughter instead of to another herd.

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India shares Sikh Temple’s grief, says foreign minister

India’s foreign minister says his entire nation shares the grief of Wisconsin’s Sikh Temple members.

SM Krishna and two other dignitaries from India spoke Thursday to about 150 Sikhs at their temple in Oak Creek. That’s where gunman Wade Michael Page killed six people and wounded four others before killing himself in a rampage two months ago today.

The Sikhs have 27 million members, most of whom live in India.

“I convey the sympathy of a billion people,” said Krishna. “I come here not only to offer prayers at this sacred temple, but to express our deepest condolences.”

The Sikh community is still grappling with the aftereffects of the tragedy. Krishna said it was even more tragic that it happened in a place of worship and peace.

Krishna, Ambassador Nirupama Rao and Consul General Dutta Toma also visited a hospital where Punjab Singh is still being treated. He’s the only survivor still hospitalized, and he remains in serious condition.

The FBI says it continues to investigate the shootings.

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Executives ready to buy paper company, diversify product lines

Executives in central Wisconsin are about to buy the specialty paper plant where they work.

Officials of Nekoosa Coated Products are joining Wingate Partners of Dallas in purchasing the Nekoosa plant from its current owner, Dunsirn Partners of Appleton.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Nekoosa CEO Paul Charapata says it will allow the company to diversify its product lines and find new manufacturing capabilities.

The firm has around 90 employees, and the new owners expect to add more people in the next 12 to 16 months.

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DNR warns duck hunters to watch out for trumpeter swans, whooping cranes

Wisconsin duck hunters are being warned not to shoot trumpeter swans and whooping cranes.

The state Department of Natural Resources says hunters should identify their targets before shooting.

Two trumpeter swans were shot by hunters a year ago. One died, and the other was treated at a rehab center in Minnesota.

Trumpeter swans were removed from the state’s endangered species list three years ago, but the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act still makes it illegal to kill them.

Whooping cranes are protected under both state and federal laws. A dozen baby cranes are heading from Wisconsin to Florida this month as part of an annual migration program.

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Milwaukee pizza king dies

He turned a small restaurant into one of Wisconsin’s best-known frozen pizza giants.

Jack Fallucca, the founder of Palermo’s Pizza in Milwaukee, died Thursday from natural causes. He was 82.

Close friend Henry Piano said Fallucca was “one of the hardest workers I’ve ever known in my life – an immigrant who lived the American dream.”

Fallucca was an immigrant from Sicily where his wife Zina was born near Palermo. He moved to Milwaukee in the 1950’s, starting as a hotel dishwasher and working in construction before his family opened an Italian bakery in Milwaukee in 1964.

The Palermo Villa restaurant opened five years later, and it served celebrities like Frankie Avalon and James Darren.

Fallucca sold the restaurant in 1979, and his family started the frozen pizza business from a former Milwaukee bakery where they made the sauce and the sausage from scratch. They introduced 12-inch pizzas a few years later.

The operation grew over the years. It’s now in a 250,000 square foot plant in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley, where 500 people work.

Recently, Palmero’s became engaged in a labor dispute dealing with immigration issues and efforts to start a union.

A recent Nielsen survey showed that Palermo’s is now the fifth-largest frozen pizza company in the U.S.

Funeral services for Jack Fallucca will be held tomorrow in Fox Point.

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Embattled police chief gets unexpected performance review

Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission gave Police Chief Ed Flynn an unscheduled performance review last night.

That was after religious leaders and others called for the chief’s resignation or firing amidst a controversy over the death of Derek Williams in police custody.

The commission normally reviews Flynn’s performance every three months. The last review was just a month ago. Commission Director Michael Tobin said the new review was prompted by several issues of community concern, including the Williams death.

The review was done behind closed doors. Afterward Tobin would not say whether the commission would consider releasing Flynn.

The chief has been on the hot seat ever since a video was released last month, showing Williams gasping for air and begging for help for almost eight minutes before he collapsed in the back seat of a squad car. He had just been arrested for a street robbery.

Milwaukee Police have also been under for strip searching drug suspects and forcing the mother of 13-year-old murder victim to sit in a squad car and not be at her son’s side.

Earlier Thursday, a Milwaukee alderman questioned police procedures for critical incidents and handling prisoners. Police officers said they would post all of the department’s operating procedures online for everyone to see.

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Authorities say burglar uses obits to target homes

Authorities believe a burglar in central Wisconsin is using newspaper obituaries to target the homes of people who recently died.

Portage County sheriff’s deputies say three break-ins between July and September in the Junction City area appear to be related. And Portage County deputies are working with officers in neighboring Wood County, where a series of burglaries around Milladore appear to be related. One other break-in is also being investigated in nearby Marathon County.

Deputies said jewelry, electronics and up to $3,000 were taken in the Junction City burglaries.

Portage County detective Wayne Kropidlowski said officers have seen these types of crimes in the past, but they don’t happen very often. He said it takes a certain type of person to break into the home of a person who just died.

Kropidlowski said the stolen merchandise often gets sold privately or at pawn shops.

Officers say they have a line on one possible suspect.

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Motorcyclist killed in crash

GRANT COUNTY -- A Fennimore man has died in a motorcycle crash in southwest Wisconsin.

Grant County sheriff’s deputies said John Pagel, 57, was thrown from his bike when it collided with a vehicle that ran through a stop sign. The accident happened late Thursday morning on Hwy. 129 near Lancaster.

Investigators said Pagel was not wearing a helmet, and he died at the scene. Two people in the other vehicle were treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

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