It's Wayne Mauser, local news.
Good morning.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
A two-vehicle crash in the town of Wolf River left one passenger dead and sent both drivers to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office said it responded at 12.29 p.m.
to the crash and county-trung double-eye and Riverview Drive along with Fremont Ambulance and the Fremont Wolf River Fire Department.
When first responders arrived, they found a deceased passenger in one of the vehicles.
The passenger's identity was being withheld pending notification of the family.
Both drivers were taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.
The roadway was closed for about four hours for investigation and cleanup.
A 42-year-old Fond du Lac man was sentenced Tuesday in Fond du Lac County Court on a fentanyl trafficking charge.
Nathan Ziegler pled no contest and was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision which was stayed and he received four years of probation.
He must also serve six months of conditional jail time with credit for 145 days already served.
90 days of conditional jail time was also imposed and
In October of 2018, Ziggler was sentenced to eight years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision for his role in a $1 million heroin conspiracy ring.
He fled no contest to heroin conspiracy and trafficking in that case.
The latest charge stems from an incident last March.
Former Nina Public Work Superintendent Gregory Radke was fined $50 and paid $3,098 in restitution for stealing the proceeds from municipal metal recycling.
The 54-year-old Radke played a no-contest Tuesday to one count of theft of movable property.
According to the criminal complaint, employees realized that Radke had been directing his department to take scrap metal to Gibson Iron and Metal to get cash for it, and it did not appear that cash ever got to any legitimate fund at the
City of Nina.
One accounting determined the amount in question was $3,098.
Radke initially said the money was used for city purposes.
Wisconsin Public Service is requesting a rate increase.
WPS says the increase will allow the company to bury more power lines, trim more trees, and upgrade aging equipment.
The citizen's utility board says if approved, it would be six consecutive years, rates go up.
If approved, WPS would raise electric rates by about 9.7 percent.
next year, plus 4.3% the following year.
That's a total increase of about 14%.
That means for the average customer, they'll see an additional $11.19 beyond their monthly bill in 2027, plus another $5.43 in 2028.
Combine the two, and that's an extra $200 over the next two years.
Also, for the average customer, natural gas rates would go up by about 11% in 2027 and stay within 0.1% in 2028.
That's an extra $86 over the next two years.
Wisconsin's Public Service Commission gets five
approval on the request, although there's no official deadline, it says the hope is to make a decision by the end of this year.
If approved, WPS said the new rate would take effect in January.
The Rippon City Council Monday night approved the payment of bills for several ongoing improvement projects that included the Houston Street reconstruction and the DPW building project.
A change order was also approved for the Hall Street and Tambert Avenue Road Improvement Project.
The change order is for Tambert Avenue at a cost of $118,434.90.
The council also approved an agreement with the state to replace the Pacific Street Bridge.
Rippon is receiving $1.6 million
who the state's local small structure improvement program, or 90% of the more than $1.7 million cost of replacing the bridge.
City Administrator Adam Sontag told the Council the design and engineering for the project will be accomplished next year.
The project won't be completed until 2028.
Sontag says the city is looking at doing an overall improvement of the street at that time.
In other news, there are options for the millions of Americans that suffer from atrial fibrillation
or AFIB, an irregular heartbeat condition.
Bob Nelson has the story for Civic Media News.
Kirsten Lompry is a nurse practitioner with SSM Health's Adele Michaels Heart and Vascular Care and Fond du Lac.
She says AFib is not all that uncommon.
More than 2 million Americans have atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia.
Usually everyone knows someone that has it, whether that's a family member, a neighbor, it's very common.
Kimberly Hornas, another nurse practitioner with Dale Michaels, says other than a sped-up heartbeat, AFib can cause other physical symptoms.
You might get dizziness, feel faint.
It could cause you to be more short of breath, even with minimal activity.
You might get...
more sweaty with activities, feel tired, weak.
Treatment could include a procedure that shocks the heart back into rhythm or a surgical procedure called ablation that could end the irregular heartbeat.
There are also medications, including blood thinners, that reduce the risk of stroke for those who have AFib.
I'm Pop Nelson for Civic Media News.
Rippon High School on Monday announced Rob Neal, a member of the Rippon High School class of 1987, as a recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award.
From performing on the Rippon High School stage to Broadway, Rob Neal has spent much of his life making theater and perhaps more importantly, helping other people tell stories.
Rob was involved in theater all four years he was in high school.
He also lettered in tennis and
With strong ties to Rippon, Rob has returned often.
After graduating from Grinnell College with a major in philosophy and a minor in Russian studies, Rob studied acting at O'Neill and Lambda.
He eventually made his way to New York City, where he was a founding member of the New York Neo Futurists.
Over the next 30 years, he helped build the non-profit experimental theater company into an internationally recognized award-winning ensemble.
As a performer, writer, producer,
and eventually artistic director, he helped create and produce hundreds of original plays and thousands of performances.
You can read more about Rob's accomplishments at the Ripon Area School District's website.
I'm Wayne Mauser for Civic Media News.
For Civic Media News, I'm Connie Feldman.
If you loved sitting around a campfire this time of year, the DNR has an important reminder about firewood.
Civic Media's Maddie Schaefer tells us how you can help protect the woods at the cabin or the campground.
If you're heading out camping this fall, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is reminding people to be careful about bringing firewood along.
October is National Firewood Month, and the DNR says moving untreated firewood can also move invasive insects and diseases that can damage or kill trees.
Pest can hide on or inside firewood and emerge after its move somewhere new.
That includes spongy moths, emerald ash borers, and the fungus that causes oak wilt.
The DNR is asking campers to buy local, burn local, buy firewood at or near where you're staying and leave any unused wood behind instead of bringing it home.
Wisconsin State Parks and other state-managed lands generally don't allow firewood brought in for more than 10 miles away.
The exception is wood that's been certified as treated by the State Department
of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection.
The DNR says all staff state parks and forests with campgrounds offer local firewood for sale.
For Civic Media News, I'm Maddie Schaefer.
If you're looking
for a place to buy local firewood, you can find a list of approved vendors at firewoodscout.org.
As we reach the end of Suicide Awareness Month in September, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announces new and expanded partnerships to help reduce suicide deaths across the state.
In addition to extending its four-year collaboration with Aspirus Health, DHS has entered into a new partnership with Calm America, a group focused on safe storage of firearms and dangerous medications.
Health workers say together these groups will help provide health care workers, mental health professionals, and local communities with vital resources and training to save lives.
With a national spotlight focused on an alleged sexual assault at a Cornell fraternity, UW Madison officials are reporting two suspected druggings and sexual assaults linked to off-campus fraternity houses.
Authorities say one victim reported being drugged and fondled at two different Greek life properties over the weekend, prompting a referral to
Madison police.
A second reported incident involved a victim who said they were drugged at a fraternity house earlier this month before being sexually assaulted in a campus residence hall.
University leaders reiterate that sexual violence and exploitation are strictly prohibited and violate both state law and campus policies.
The Appleton Area School District has approved plans to borrow a total of $35 million.
The district says they are opening a line of credit with the city for $20 million and borrowing another $15 million in the meantime.
The money will help the district get by until it receives its state funding, which usually comes between six to eight months into the school year.
District leaders say they don't have enough cash reserves for mid-year operational costs, such as payroll.
They plan to repay the money before the end of the fiscal year.
If you're looking forward to watching the oldest rivalry in the NFL at Lambeau Field on October 11th, you'll need to move your plans up by a couple hours.
The NFL announced yesterday the Packers-Bears game has been moved to a noon kickoff time.
It was originally set to start at 325 central time.
The last of four kangaroos that escaped along I-39 near Portage last month
may have been hit by a semi.
Columbia County Sheriff's deputies say a driver called to report seeing a semi hit a kangaroo yesterday afternoon.
Deputies searched the surrounding area but didn't find the animal.
A local online search group posted that someone did find the kangaroo deceased.
This is the third of the four kangaroos reportedly hit and killed after escaping a trailer during a transport transfer.
Authorities say the fourth was found the same day and returned to its owners.
And that's your state news update.
I'm Connie Feldman
for Civic Media News.
A setback for the Badgers.
High on Mike Clemens with sports, college football, Wisconsin flying high after that win over Penn State.
But head coach Luke Fickle says defensive back Cal Bates.
A transfer from Florida State is out for the year with a torn ACL.
I'm not going to dwell upon it.
Injuries happen, things happen.
It's all about continuing to develop the guys that you got.
You know, that back ends got some multiple people that can play some different positions if we get into situations we need.
The Badgers host the Michigan State Spartans Saturday morning at 11 30.
Baseball, the Brewers holding a workout session.
Will Jacob Mizorowski and Logan Henderson start games one and two of the playoffs this weekend?
Pat Murphy.
I mean, I think
that pretty much everyone realizes that we're going to go with Miz and Henderson predominantly in the, you know, as the obvious there are two top starters right now.
So probably be the way we go.
I mean, subject
to change.
You never know how things go.
Meanwhile, the Cubs lost to the Padres in San Diego 8 to nothing in game one of the wild card best of three series with sports on Mike Clemens.
Cloudy with scattered showers today are high in the upper 60s to low 70s this afternoon.
Scattered showers will kind of dwindle off here by later this afternoon.
Tonight, cloudy scattered showers upper 50s to low 60s.
Tomorrow, mostly cloudy scattered showers with highs in the upper 60s.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.
Local news, local sports and local people you know.
Your hometown station 93.1 and AM 1600 The Wave.
Joining us today, we have Eric Tony, the district attorney for Fond du Lac County, is also a Republican candidate for the state attorney general's seat.
Good morning, Eric.
Good morning, Bob.
Great to be with you.
Now, I hear you were in our neck of the woods last night for Wisconsin Towns Association meeting in Montelma.
What did the folks there let you know about what they want to see with their AG?
You know, it's pretty consistent across the state where people want an attorney general that's focused on fighting crime and not broken promises that we've seen from our Department of Justice.
And something that's been really important to me in this Attorney General's race is visiting all 72 counties and hearing from people, whether it be law enforcement or town's association at a festival, you name the event, I'm there trying to hear from people about what our Department of Justice can do to make their lives better and safer.
Okay, so what did you tell them?
What did you promise them?
Well, what we've seen, unfortunately, over the last eight years from our Attorney General is broken promise after broken promise.
He had made promises to fix the forensic testing, which our Department of Justice, out of our nearly 700 or so employees there, nearly 200 of them alone work in our crime labs, helping make sure that whether it's DNA, fingerprints, firearms, controlled substances, or blood tests, that evidence is tested and law enforcement gets those results to take
dangerous criminals off our streets and then as prosecutors for us to be able to hold them accountable in our court system.
And what we've seen our attorney general has promised it would get better and he got more lab analysts for DNA in 2019.
The next year he talked about having better technology to improve the efficiencies and said they put
new policies in place that could limit the evidence law enforcement has tested.
And he said all three of those things combined would make the testing faster within two years.
And that was back in 2020.
Well, we're six years later, and now Josh Call is taking on average over twice as long to test less DNA despite more resources, better technology, and less testing.
And that consequence means that we have victims that are having justice denied with these delays.
criminals are on our streets longer than they should be.
Some defendants continue to commit new crimes with new victims while the original victim is waiting for justice and that doesn't even get into the congestion it creates in our court system that radiates on to other cases and other victims making it more difficult for law enforcement and prosecutors across Wisconsin.
And so we talked about making sure we never have a hiring freeze put in place that Josh Call did at our Department of Justice because I actually helped him get more
crime lab analysts in the 2023 state budget when I was the president of our district attorneys association, and we saw in a nonpartisan audit over a year later, he hadn't even filled those positions and had about six or seven less DNA analyst positions filled compared to four years prior to that.
And earlier this year, we started learning why that Josh Call put a hiring freeze in place at our Department of Justice where
During a period where we've seen record homicides in parts of the state increases in violent crime and drug deaths across Wisconsin, the attorney general limited the resources at our crime labs for law enforcement during that period.
And we need an attorney general that's going to make sure that never happens again and eliminate some of those work from home policies that we see for lab analysts that don't allow those great analysts to be in our labs doing that critically.
important work in ensuring that we've got formal performance metrics in place that the nonpartisan audit recommended be put in place.
Doing those things will maximize the efficiencies of our crime labs and support law enforcement's crime fighting mission and helping us as prosecutors holding them accountable on court.
That was one of the biggest messages that I talked about given, you know, when we look at our Department of Justice, there's something that it does that no one else can do.
and that's that critically important forensic testing and to have an attorney general that put that hiring freeze in place despite the funding being authorized and the positions being authorized because he apparently wanted to do something else with those resources, we cannot afford another four years of those failures.
How is that affecting cold cases?
I know that we've had one in the ripping area that looks like it's had some movement after 30 years.
You know, it's one of those things that kind of
a wide range of cases, whether it's a new case or an old case, because we're seeing DNA taking over twice as long to be tested.
And we're seeing it take over 100 days now on average.
And so that means law enforcement's waiting longer for these results.
They may need that evidence to decide if they're going to do an interview or questions they may want to ask in an interview with leaving criminals on the streets longer.
One of the other challenges
that we've seen in a broken promise our attorney general campaigned on addressing the fentanyl and opioid epidemic and we all I think generally agree that there's accountability for pharmaceutical manufacturers related to that opioid epidemic but if you talk to a sheriff for a DA right now when we see these overdose deaths and we look at those medical examiner toxicology reports
We're seeing fentanyl and it's illegal fentanyl that's coming across the southern border and into the United States and here into Wisconsin.
And our attorney general has ignored that crisis at the border with illegal drugs pouring into the country and here into Wisconsin.
And all one has to do is look at his website and see that there's been no mention of that and to drive the point further.
He said that there was needed to be from our Department of Justice accountability and going after those that are delivering those drugs into our state.
And we heard earlier this year from Nicole Boyd at the state of the tribes at the state capitol.
that Josh Call eliminated drug investigator positions in northern Wisconsin, and those actions were causing unnecessary death in our state.
It's just another example of a broken promise, and people are looking for an attorney general that's going to put public safety over politics, and that's exactly what I'm going to do as our attorney general on day one.
Eric, I know you've been monitoring the situation with automated license plate readers, the flock camera systems.
Tell us about that, if you would.
You know, here in Fond du Lac County, my local law enforcement in the last few weeks decided to discontinue that use based on concerns that they shared with me about protecting information for ongoing investigations, victim privacy and that of the general public.
And I supported that decision based on the conversations I had with my sheriff and police chiefs.
What I'd like to see is legislative action because we've seen these license plate readers take dangerous criminals off the streets and aid law enforcement in some incredibly
sensitive investigations.
And so I'd like to see our legislature take some action to ensure that we have specific penalties on the books for the misuse of that type of technology.
Right now, we have one type of felony that we can try and issue in those cases, but having additional statutory penalty would act as a deterrent from others and misusing that because we don't want to see that data compromised.
And so I'd like to see additional action from the legislature.
Well, some of that data was taken from out of plate or out of state agencies, wasn't it?
Yeah, we've seen when public record requests get made to an out of state agency the way that network of cameras would work that could cause data here in Wisconsin to be released.
And so that's where we need some legislative action to make sure that we're protecting that data that we have here in Wisconsin.
And so hopefully we'll see some action once the legislature is back in session.
All right.
I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the last election you ran against Josh Call.
It was a close one.
Have you built support since that?
You know, just yesterday, we announced that we've got bipartisan support from endorsements from over 75% of our sheriffs across Wisconsin.
It's Republican Democrat and independent sheriffs that have seen Josh calls record for eight years of broken promises, failures with forensic testing, failure to fight the fentanyl epidemic and going after those drug dealers that they recognize.
We cannot afford another four years of those failures.
And then it's time to make a change in leadership in our Department of Justice.
And they're supporting me and, you know, think about it this way.
The people that we trust the most to keep us safe are trusting me to lead our Department of Justice to support their crime, fighting mission, to make sure our communities and families across Wisconsin are safe.
And so we've continued to build that support all across Wisconsin.
I'm excited about the direction that the campaign is going.
But one of the things
We need people doing is talking to others about what is their plan to vote because not everybody lives near their polling place or they may be working two jobs taking the kids to school.
Maybe they'll be out of town and asking them what their plan to vote is so that they can.
Figure out how they're going to do that on election day or maybe vote early in person.
If you live in a township, you might need to contact your town clerk to arrange a specific time to come in an early vote or maybe taking advantage of that absentee ballot.
However, somebody votes, as long as they get out there and vote.
Eric, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
Great to be with you, Bob.
Have a wonderful day.
We've been talking with Eric Tony, the Fond du Lac County District Attorney or Republican candidate for the state attorney general's seat.
Joining us today, we have Eric Tony, the district attorney for Fond du Lac County, is also a Republican candidate for the state attorney general's seat.
Good morning, Eric.
Good morning, Bob.
Great to be with you.
Now, I hear you were in our neck of the woods last night for Wisconsin Towns Association meeting in Montelma.
What did the folks there let you know about what they want to see with their AG?
You know, it's pretty consistent across the state where people want an attorney general that's focused on fighting crime and not broken promises that we've seen from our Department of Justice.
And something that's been really important to me in this Attorney General's race is visiting all 72 counties and hearing from people, whether it be law enforcement or town's association at a festival, you name the event, I'm there trying to hear from people about what our Department of Justice can do to make their lives better and safer.
Okay, so what did you tell them?
What did you promise them?
Well, what we've seen, unfortunately, over the last eight years from our Attorney General is broken promise after broken promise.
He had made promises to fix the forensic testing, which our Department of Justice, out of our nearly 700 or so employees there, nearly 200 of them alone work in our crime labs, helping make sure that whether it's DNA, fingerprints, firearms, controlled substances, or blood tests, that evidence is tested and law enforcement gets those results to take
dangerous criminals off our streets and then as prosecutors for us to be able to hold them accountable in our court system.
And what we've seen our attorney general has promised it would get better and he got more lab analysts for DNA in 2019.
The next year he talked about having better technology to improve the efficiencies and said they put
new policies in place that could limit the evidence law enforcement has tested.
And he said all three of those things combined would make the testing faster within two years.
And that was back in 2020.
Well, we're six years later, and now Josh Call is taking on average over twice as long to test less DNA despite more resources, better technology, and less testing.
And that consequence means that we have victims that are having justice denied with these delays.
criminals are on our streets longer than they should be.
Some defendants continue to commit new crimes with new victims while the original victim is waiting for justice and that doesn't even get into the congestion it creates in our court system that radiates on to other cases and other victims making it more difficult for law enforcement and prosecutors across Wisconsin.
And so we talked about making sure we never have a hiring freeze put in place that Josh Call did at our Department of Justice because I actually helped him get more
crime lab analysts in the 2023 state budget when I was the president of our district attorneys association, and we saw in a nonpartisan audit over a year later, he hadn't even filled those positions and had about six or seven less DNA analyst positions filled compared to four years prior to that.
And earlier this year, we started learning why that Josh Call put a hiring freeze in place at our Department of Justice where
During a period where we've seen record homicides in parts of the state increases in violent crime and drug deaths across Wisconsin, the attorney general limited the resources at our crime labs for law enforcement during that period.
And we need an attorney general that's going to make sure that never happens again and eliminate some of those work from home policies that we see for lab analysts that don't allow those great analysts to be in our labs doing that critically.
important work in ensuring that we've got formal performance metrics in place that the nonpartisan audit recommended be put in place.
Doing those things will maximize the efficiencies of our crime labs and support law enforcement's crime fighting mission and helping us as prosecutors holding them accountable on court.
That was one of the biggest messages that I talked about given, you know, when we look at our Department of Justice, there's something that it does that no one else can do.
and that's that critically important forensic testing and to have an attorney general that put that hiring freeze in place despite the funding being authorized and the positions being authorized because he apparently wanted to do something else with those resources, we cannot afford another four years of those failures.
How is that affecting cold cases?
I know that we've had one in the ripping area that looks like it's had some movement after 30 years.
You know, it's one of those things that kind of
a wide range of cases, whether it's a new case or an old case, because we're seeing DNA taking over twice as long to be tested.
And we're seeing it take over 100 days now on average.
And so that means law enforcement's waiting longer for these results.
They may need that evidence to decide if they're going to do an interview or questions they may want to ask in an interview with leaving criminals on the streets longer.
One of the other challenges
that we've seen in a broken promise our attorney general campaigned on addressing the fentanyl and opioid epidemic and we all I think generally agree that there's accountability for pharmaceutical manufacturers related to that opioid epidemic but if you talk to a sheriff for a DA right now when we see these overdose deaths and we look at those medical examiner toxicology reports
We're seeing fentanyl and it's illegal fentanyl that's coming across the southern border and into the United States and here into Wisconsin.
And our attorney general has ignored that crisis at the border with illegal drugs pouring into the country and here into Wisconsin.
And all one has to do is look at his website and see that there's been no mention of that and to drive the point further.
He said that there was needed to be from our Department of Justice accountability and going after those that are delivering those drugs into our state.
And we heard earlier this year from Nicole Boyd at the state of the tribes at the state capitol.
that Josh Call eliminated drug investigator positions in northern Wisconsin, and those actions were causing unnecessary death in our state.
It's just another example of a broken promise, and people are looking for an attorney general that's going to put public safety over politics, and that's exactly what I'm going to do as our attorney general on day one.
Eric, I know you've been monitoring the situation with automated license plate readers, the flock camera systems.
Tell us about that, if you would.
You know, here in Fond du Lac County, my local law enforcement in the last few weeks decided to discontinue that use based on concerns that they shared with me about protecting information for ongoing investigations, victim privacy and that of the general public.
And I supported that decision based on the conversations I had with my sheriff and police chiefs.
What I'd like to see is legislative action because we've seen these license plate readers take dangerous criminals off the streets and aid law enforcement in some incredibly
sensitive investigations.
And so I'd like to see our legislature take some action to ensure that we have specific penalties on the books for the misuse of that type of technology.
Right now, we have one type of felony that we can try and issue in those cases, but having additional statutory penalty would act as a deterrent from others and misusing that because we don't want to see that data compromised.
And so I'd like to see additional action from the legislature.
Well, some of that data was taken from out of plate or out of state agencies, wasn't it?
Yeah, we've seen when public record requests get made to an out of state agency the way that network of cameras would work that could cause data here in Wisconsin to be released.
And so that's where we need some legislative action to make sure that we're protecting that data that we have here in Wisconsin.
And so hopefully we'll see some action once the legislature is back in session.
All right.
I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the last election you ran against Josh Call.
It was a close one.
Have you built support since that?
You know, just yesterday, we announced that we've got bipartisan support from endorsements from over 75% of our sheriffs across Wisconsin.
It's Republican Democrat and independent sheriffs that have seen Josh calls record for eight years of broken promises, failures with forensic testing, failure to fight the fentanyl epidemic and going after those drug dealers that they recognize.
We cannot afford another four years of those failures.
And then it's time to make a change in leadership in our Department of Justice.
And they're supporting me and, you know, think about it this way.
The people that we trust the most to keep us safe are trusting me to lead our Department of Justice to support their crime, fighting mission, to make sure our communities and families across Wisconsin are safe.
And so we've continued to build that support all across Wisconsin.
I'm excited about the direction that the campaign is going.
But one of the things
We need people doing is talking to others about what is their plan to vote because not everybody lives near their polling place or they may be working two jobs taking the kids to school.
Maybe they'll be out of town and asking them what their plan to vote is so that they can.
Figure out how they're going to do that on election day or maybe vote early in person.
If you live in a township, you might need to contact your town clerk to arrange a specific time to come in an early vote or maybe taking advantage of that absentee ballot.
However, somebody votes, as long as they get out there and vote.
Eric, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
Great to be with you, Bob.
Have a wonderful day.
We've been talking with Eric Tony, the Fond du Lac County District Attorney or Republican candidate for the state attorney general's seat.