Wednesday 1.31
Two local skiers return to Madison after spending 24 hours stranded on a mountain in Utah. Curt Shomberg and David Lieck were among a group of five expert skiers who got lost. The group was rescued after making a giant SOS sign out of pine boughs.
Thursday 2.1
A metal dust collector catches fire at Madison-Kipp, injuring one man and causing an estimated $20,000 in damage. The fire department is investigating the cause of the blaze.
AFSCME Local 60, which represents city of Madison employees, files a grievance because the city does not offer full health benefits for domestic partners. Currently, domestic partners of city workers must find their own health insurance and are only partially reimbursed by the city.
Saturday 2.3
Former Monona Ald. Rita Wlodarcyzk dies at age 85. Wlodarcyzk, who served on the Monona City Council from 1976 to 1984, was well-known for her activism for reproductive rights and women's equality and against the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
Monday 2.5
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announces the city will offer smaller garbage bins for its automated pick-up service, scheduled to begin in September. The city previously said it would only offer 95- and 65-gallon carts, but added a 35-gallon cart after some residents complained.
A Dane County judge finds Jeik Romero guilty of ordering the murder of Alexander Ortiz, 20. In 2003, Romero paid Ramon Cruz del Valle $1,000 to kill Ortiz, who was selling drugs for him. Romero faces a mandatory life sentence. Cruz del Valle is being tried separately.
Madison schools close due to the cold for the first time in 13 years. Supt. Art Rainwater announces a new district policy to cancel classes whenever the wind chill dips to minus 35 degrees.
State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen appoints former Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin to head the Justice Department's Division of Law Enforcement Services, which oversees the state's crime lab. Hamblin says he'll reduce the backlog of cases, now more than 1,700, awaiting DNA tests.
Tuesday 2.6
Icy roads and snowy conditions cause 150 Madison-area car crashes, including a 15-car pileup on the Beltline that closes the highway for an hour.
Ody Fish, a prominent Wisconsin Republican and longtime member of the UW Board of Regents, dies in his Pewaukee home at age 81.
Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate put the kibosh on a proposed constitutional amendment that would curtail the governor's power to use vetoes to create words and meanings in the budget bill that the Legislature never intended.
Compiled from local media
