Thursday, 1.13
Madison police close down the Dane County parking ramp on Dayton Street after finding a suspicious package on a car. The package turns out to be a cat trap left by a member of Dane County Friends of Ferals for someone to borrow.
Perry Lucas, 30, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Detarius Martin and injuring his brother, Chukarius Martin, in a June 2009 shooting in Fitchburg. Lucas was convicted of second-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless endangerment last October.
Thomas Kuehn, a 24-year-old UW-Madison student, dies of suspected bacterial meningitis at St. Mary's Hospital.
Friday, 1.14
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announces that Tim Cooley, the city's economic development coordinator, is resigning to return to private-sector work at the end of the month. Cooley took the job in January 2009. Cooley critic Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway tells the State Journal, "I'm frankly not exactly sure what he's been working on." Ouch.
Saturday, 1.15
McFarland comedian Josh Casey breaks the Guinness world record for faking flatulence by sitting on 30 whoopee cushions in 30 seconds at the Wisconsin Union Theater. Um, congratulations?
Monday, 1.17
Former Gov. Jim Doyle takes a job with Foley and Lardner, the state's largest law firm, where he'll work to implement the new health-care law - even as his successor, Gov. Scott Walker, fights to undo it.
The Associated Press reports that many sheriff departments are ignoring a state law that went into effect Jan. 1, requiring them to record the gender, age and ethnicity of people they stop in an attempt to monitor for racial profiling. Sheriffs complain it takes too long.
Tuesday, 1.18
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he'll join a lawsuit by 20 other states to block federal health-care reforms. They claim the mandate that every citizen have or buy insurance, instead of freeloading off those who do, is unconstitutional.
The state Senate passes a bill that makes it harder for people to sue companies and health providers that injure them (see "Walker plan a boon to bad care").
The White House announces that President Obama will visit Manitowoc on Wednesday, Jan. 26, the day after his State of the Union address.
Ron Boylan, 46, chief deputy of the Dane County Sheriff's Office and a Mazomanie town supervisor, dies after a brief fight against cancer.
Wednesday, 1.19
The state Department of Justice charges La Crosse County sheriff's deputy Trisha Stratman with negligent homicide for killing Brandon Jennings, 16, in a car accident. Stratman was responding to a call when she allegedly ran a red light at 106 mph, colliding with Jennings' car.
Compiled (in part) from local media
