Thursday, 10.29
Democrats drop plans to increase the liquor tax to pay for stiffer drunk driving laws. Instead they propose increasing fees for drunk drivers.
Conservative Green Bay talk-show host Jerry Bader is suspended for two weeks after claiming that Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton dropped out of the governor's race because of an affair. Lawton responds: "I will be celebrating in two weeks my 36th wedding anniversary, we have two children and four grandchildren, and this is an outrageous lie."
President Obama nominates Madison attorney William Conley to replace Judge Barbara Crabb as U.S. District Court judge.
Saturday, 10.31
Police arrest just 47 people at the fourth annual Freakfest as Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proclaims the city has put the old scary days of Halloween behind it. But not everyone behaves. A man dressed as a flying monkey from The Wizard of Oz thrashes a patron at the Depot Bar on Main Street, sending him to the hospital in critical condition. A second man is arrested for breaking the window of Himal Chuli on State Street. And a police horse runs into a guy on the street, sending him to the hospital with minor injuries.
Sunday, 11.1
Galen Kirts, 18, is allegedly caught burglarizing an apartment on Madison's west side by the tenant, who tells Kirts to sit down and wait for police. Kirts complies and is later charged with burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia. See, all you have to do is ask nicely.
Monday, 11.2
The Dane County District Attorney's Office dismisses a non-criminal disorderly conduct citation against Madison developer Cliff Fisher, filed in January after a courthouse altercation with a state Department of Natural Resources official (see Watchdog item, 5/28/09). A courthouse weapons screener told Isthmus last spring that the DNR official swore at Fisher and pushed him to the ground; only Fisher was cited. Records show the case involved at least five court appearances before it was tossed.
Rock County sheriff's deputy Steven L. Stenulson, 38, is placed on administrative leave pending allegations that he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman at a Halloween party in Milton Saturday night. Stenulson faces criminal and internal affairs investigations.
Tuesday, 11.3
Madison Common Council adds two voting members - an alder and a resident - to the Alcohol License Review Committee. The council votes down an amendment to require that one slot be filled by a college student, but Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says he'll appoint a student.
Thirty-five refrigerated trucks packed with food leave Madison for food banks around the county. Sponsored by Feeding America and Meals on Wheels, the trucks are delivering healthy food for the holidays.
Wednesday, 11.4
Obama speaks at Wright Middle School in a nefarious attempt to indoctrinate the city's youth into his cult of brownshirts who will escort the elderly to death panels. See reports by Bill Lueders and Lynn Welch on TheDailyPage.com.
Compiled (in part) from local media
