Thursday, 1.24
Authorities find Jennifer Boyce, 31, dead from knife wounds in her Milwaukee Street home. Later in the day, police find her estranged husband, Bernard Grosso, 34, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police call the crime a murder-suicide. Boyce is the first murder victim of the year.
Albert Nicholas, a Milwaukee mutual fund manager who played basketball for UW-Madison in the 1950s, announces he's established a $50 million scholarship fund for high school basketball players to attend UW.
The 4th District Court of Appeals overturns a restraining order barring Jeff Decker from having contact with UW System officials and the Board of Regents. Decker, the son of former state Senate majority leader Russ Decker, has been disrupting campus meetings over how the university uses student fees. The Appeals Court rules that Decker is exercising his right to free speech.
Residents speak for and against the annual Fourth of July Rhythm & Booms fireworks show at the Warner Park community center.
Tuesday, 1.29
Gov. Scott Walker names Reed Hall chief executive officer of the beleaguered Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Hall has been leading the agency since last fall on an interim basis. Democratic Senate minority leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) calls Reed the least qualified of three finalists for the job. "It's clear that government waste, cronyism and a lack of accountability have again trumped the importance of turning around our failed job creation corporation that lost track of $57 million in taxpayer dollars."
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray addresses a community gathering on the east side regarding the fatal shooting of Paul Heenan by Officer Stephen Heimsness on Nov. 9. Wray argues that an independent review of the incident is not needed. See Elliot Hughes' report.
The state Senate approves a bill shifting the responsibility of publishing bills from the Secretary of State to the Legislative Reference Bureau. In 2011, Secretary of State Douglas La Follette delayed publishing the controversial Act 10, and the GOP bill looks like payback. La Follette, who ran for governor in the recall primary, calls the bill "ridiculous" and "a real affront to our democracy."
Wednesday, 1.30
The Associated Press and State Journal report that Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) filed $14,608 in expense claims last year, more than any of the other 132 state lawmakers. Assembly majority leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) came in second, filing $13,112. But on average, Democrats spent more than Republicans last year. The Legislature had a combined $774,858 in expenses.
Compiled, in part, from local media.
