Wednesday, 5.23
A city Parks division truck accidentally hits a 28-year-old woman sunbathing in James Madison Park. The woman is taken to UW Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Thursday, 5.24
The UW-Madison's Committee on Student Organizations reports that Delta Upsilon has been suspended for two years for harassing two African American women who walked by the Frances Street fraternity in March. The women reported that people on the fraternity's porch yelled racial slurs at them and threw a glass bottle in their direction. The committee finds that the slurs related to class, not race, but does not elaborate.
Friday, 5.25
Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett square off in the first of two debates for the recall election. Barrett goes on the attack, while Walker sticks to his main campaign themes. Both sides declare victory.
Monday, 5.28
Tim Metcalfe, organizer of the World's Largest Brat Fest, closes the annual festival at Alliant Energy Center's Willow Island an hour early because of severe thunderstorms. This year's event sells 151,216 brats, almost 60,000 shy of the record.
Tuesday, 5.29
The National Registry of Exonerations reports that Wisconsin has a wrongful conviction rate 30% higher than the national average. However, Keith Findley, co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, says the high figure is partly because there is a watchdog group like his looking for wrongful convictions. "When you look, you find [wrongful convictions]. When you don't look, you don't find them."
Gov. Walker releases his latest campaign finance report showing that he continues to break fundraising records. He raised more than $5 million between April 24 and May 21, bringing his total since January 2011 to more than $30 million. Recall challenger Tom Barrett has raised $4 million in 2012. Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, hopes Walker's haul is an anomaly. "I hope it's never duplicated," he tells the State Journal. "For a state of Wisconsin's size, it's all out of proportion." The reports also show that Walker transferred $100,000 to his legal defense fund for the ongoing John Doe investigation. He had previously transferred $60,000.
Wednesday, 5.30
The State Journal reports that Madison school superintendent Dan Nerad is interviewing Thursday for the top schools job in Birmingham, Mich., a Detroit suburb. He is one of five candidates for the job, which starts July 1. Nerad's contract with the Madison district expires June 2013.
The State Journal reports that the Department of Natural Resources will not order Herr Environmental, which illegally dumped sewage on fields in Jefferson County, to test nearby drinking wells, which might have been contaminated. Herr gave campaign donations to DNR executive assistant Scott Gunderson when he served in the state Assembly. Something stinks.
A Marquette University Law School poll finds that Walker has a seven-point lead over Barrett and that more Republicans than Democrats say they're certain to vote.
Compiled, in part, from local media.
