Former Walker aide pleads guilty to embezzlement; State sets record for voter turnout; more briefs

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Former Milwaukee County Walker aide Tim Russell has agreed to spend 2 ½ years in prison plus 2 1/2 more under extended supervision for stealing about $25,000.

That’s the plea deal he arranged with prosecutors, and it resulted in his guilty plea Thursday afternoon to a single embezzlement charge. Two other theft charges were dropped in the plea bargain, along with allegations of misconduct in public office.

Russell, 49, was a deputy chief of staff in Scott Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office when he embezzled $20,000 from a program to salute veterans. He also took $3,000 from County Board candidate Chris Kujawa’s campaign fund and $550 from Larry Spicer’s election fund for county supervisor.

Russell is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 14. Judge David Hansher does not have to accept the prison and supervision time that both sides agreed upon.

Russell was charged earlier this year as part of a wide-ranging John Doe investigation into Walker’s former aides and associates in Milwaukee County. All five of those associates have now been convicted.

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State sets record for voter turnout

A record number of Wisconsinites voted for president Nov. 6. The state Government Accountability Board said Thursday that 3,071,434 people voted for one of the White House hopefuls. Those were the most votes in a statewide election for a single office in Wisconsin history.

President Obama won the state’s 10 electoral votes by getting 52.8% of the popular vote to 45.9% for Republican Mitt Romney.

A little over 70% of Wisconsin’s eligible voters cast ballots. That was the fourth-highest percentage since officials started keeping track of that in 1948.

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Alleged obituary-page burglar appeals conviction

A Sheboygan Falls man accused of burglarizing the homes of dead people he read about on the obituary page is appealing the case.

The attorney for Dennis Petrie, 62, said police illegally seized numerous items from his home without having a warrant.

Circuit Judge Timothy Van Akkeren said the police didn’t need a warrant because Petrie’s wife allowed officers to find evidence in his home and they did not coerce her in the process.

Petrie pleaded no contest to the first four charges against him, but 38 others are still pending. They’re all connected with thefts of about 60 guns and other items stolen from numerous homes over a number of years after Petrie allegedly used newspaper obituaries to identify the victims.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced on the four charges Jan. 18. He remains free on a signature bond for now.

Police said the stolen items came from estate sales or while relatives were attending funerals.

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Brothers charged with 4th count of murder

Two brothers from Argyle have each been charged with a fourth count of homicide for the death of an unborn child in a house fire they allegedly set.

Armin and Jeremy Wand were already charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in Lafayette County after three of Armin’s children died in their burning home Sept. 7.

Authorities said Armin’s wife Sharon had severe burns as she ran away from the fire, and doctors at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison said the child she was carrying died a few hours after the blaze.

Wisconsin adopted a fetal homicide law 24 years ago. The law makes it a felony to cause the death of an unborn child or the infant’s mother.

Both defendants are also charged with attempted homicide in connection with Sharon’s injuries and the safe escape of the couple’s two-year-old daughter during the blaze.

Armin Wand III, 32, and his brother Jeremy, 18, are both due to enter pleas next Wednesday. Their lawyers have asked that their possible trials be heard by juries from outside the Madison TV market due to heavy publicity about the case in that region.

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Company owner says state demands too much of businesses

A Marshfield furniture maker told Gov. Scott Walker that small businesses face “layers and layers” of government red tape, and they could create jobs if they didn’t have so many mandates.

Lang Furniture hosted Walker’s second listening session Thursday on the priorities that people want Madison to address.

Plant owner Lyle Lang told the governor that he wants high public safety and health standards.

But, said Lang, “There’s got to be a more customer-friendly way to do that.” Lang said it’s almost impossible for small businesses to do everything that government agencies ask.

Walker agreed that it would be more attractive to start a business in Wisconsin if regulatory mandates were streamlined.

Later in the day, the governor held a similar listening session at the Torrance Casting foundry in La Crosse. One worker said he wanted to study to be an electrician, but he could not afford to take a loan, and he didn’t expect his boss to pay for his schooling.

Walker said it might be possible for the state to provide matching funds to businesses for that purpose. The governor also received questions about the Obama health care law and how it would work.

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Mom gets 14-year term for trying to kill six-year-old

A Fond du Lac woman has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to kill her six-year daughter -- at the same time the woman was trying to take her own life.

Kenna Bowe, 26, cried as her sentence was handed down Thursday. She pleaded no contest in September to attempted homicide. A charge of reckless endangerment was dropped in a plea deal.

Prosecutors said Bowe gave her daughter a dozen sleeping pills and then took similar pills herself.

Defense lawyer Mary Wolfe said Bowe was fighting through mental health issues, but things fell apart.

Authorities said Bowe tried killing her child because she didn’t want to leave her behind, and she did not want the child to believe that Bowe’s impending suicide was the youngster’s fault.

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Farmers in most counties approved for disaster loans

Farmers in all but six Wisconsin counties will be eligible for low-interest emergency loans as the result of two new disaster declarations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thirty-one counties were named as “primary natural disaster areas” after a warm spring caused crops to start growing prematurely, only to die when a wave of frost and freezing temperatures hit afterward.

Also, Kewaunee County was declared a disaster area because of drought conditions from May through early August. Brown, Calumet, and Sheboygan were designated for both reasons.

All the counties that surround the primary areas are eligible for the same disaster relief, which means that only six are not covered. Those six are Crawford, Door, Grant, Lafayette, Racine and Richland counties.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency will handle the disaster loans. Eligible farmers have eight months to apply for loans that will help cover part of their actual losses.

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Apartment owner, manager pay $57,000 in discrimination suit

The owner and manager of an apartment complex in La Crosse have agreed to pay over $57,000 to settle a federal discrimination suit.

The U.S. Justice Department said the manager of Geneva Terrace told prospective black renters that apartments were not available, while telling white renters that they were available.

Justice officials said the defendants will pay $47,500 to a black couple who was turned away for an apartment even though the building had signs advertising vacancies.

The Geneva Terrace owner and manager must also pay a civil penalty of $10,000.

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Teacher gets prison sentenced for using two names to get student loans

A former Milwaukee public school teacher has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for using two identities to get $65,000 in student loans and false income tax refunds.

Shurone Nash, 43, pleaded guilty in July to federal charges of wire fraud and filing fraudulent tax returns.

At the time, she told Judge Charles Clevert that she earned her doctorate in education. But as it turned out, she had only pursued the degree.

At her sentencing yesterday, Clevert called her out for lying to him.

“This case revolves around one’s obligation to be candid … I’m very disturbed,” said the judge.

Nash’s lawyer sought only probation. But Judge Clevert said it would have sent a message to others that “the truth doesn’t really matter.”

Besides the prison time, Nash must also spend two years under supervision when she’s released.

Nash was a special education teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools from 1997 to 2008. Prosecutors said she obtained loans and grants to attend five different schools using both her maiden name of Nash and her married name of Goodlow. She also used both identities when filing her tax returns.

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23 years after her death, Gilda’s Club changes its name

The Madison chapter of Gilda’s Club celebrated its new name yesterday amid opposition from those who felt it’s erasing Gilda Radner’s memory.

The group is now called the Cancer Support Community of Southwest Wisconsin after it decided to drop the name of the person whose death inspired the creation of the group over two decades ago.

“Saturday Night Live” comedian Gilda Radner faced her cancer with hope and humor, and her plight encouraged others to face their cancer in the same way.

But Radner’s been dead for 23 years. Madison Director Lannia Stenz said the name Gilda’s Club is confusing to the younger cancer patients who’ve never seen her on TV and it creates confusion that keeps patients from seeking the group’s services.

But lots of us still remember Radner and her numerous funny characters, and some have criticized the Madison group’s name change.

“The only educating you’re doing is teaching kids that when they die from cancer, their name will be erased from history in 20 years because the next generation doesn’t know who they are. Way to give them hope,” said Mark Warneke of Arlington, Texas, said on Facebook.

In 2009 Gilda’s Club merged with The Wellness Community, and the name of the national headquarters was changed to the Cancer Support Community. Local groups were given the option of taking that name or keeping Gilda’s Club.

A number of Gilda’s Clubs around the country say they won’t change their names.

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