Wednesday, 7.15
Hammes Co. files an informational packet regarding its plans for a $107 million upgrade of the Edgewater Hotel. It calls for significant public access via a 45,000-square-foot landscaped overlook and a 28-foot wide staircase to Lake Mendota.
Thursday, 7.16
Sixty-four red-and-white Terrace chairs are liberated from a courtyard outside Grainger Hall. The chairs sell in the Wisconsin Union store for $265 each. That's $16,960 in illicit savings!
Karla M. Schaefer, 29, is charged with first-degree reckless homicide for buying the heroin that caused the death of James D. Kratz, 44. His body was found with her note: "Jimmy Baby...Don't do that to me...You scared me! You turned blue and all that...You're gonna have a great nap."
The Dane County Board rebuffs an ultimatum from a developer to pay $3.2 million for 133 acres ($23,375 an acre) in Cross Plains, seen as a critical segment of the Ice Age Trail. The developer vows to begin selling lots; the county's Topf Wells calls the action "a killing vote."
Friday, 7.17
A beer truck carrying 22 tons of Bud Light Lime rolls over on Madison's far east side, spilling much of its contents. No one drinks it from puddles in the street, as would happen in a beer commercial.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court rules that a Camp Randall official can be held liable for an unsafe platform from which a TV cameraman fell to his death in 2003. The court rejected arguments that the official, as a state employee, was immune from liability.
Brian T. Lawler, 42, is convicted by a jury of eight of 10 charged stalking counts for harassing and intimidating his east-side Madison neighbors. He faces up to 3-1/2 years in prison.
Monday, 7.20
According to newly filed campaign finance reports, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk spent $352,000 beating back a challenge this spring from Nancy Mistele, who spent $218,000. That makes it the most expensive such race in county history - until next time.
Monona tables a proposed ordinance to let residents raise chickens. Apparently the city council was too - what's the word? - to vote either way.
Tuesday, 7.21
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling issued by Justice Michael Gaberman (R-WMC), legislates from the bench a new rule that essentially lets religious schools fire teachers on the basis of age, gender and race. A church lawyer calls it a win for "religious freedom." Justice Patrick Crooks, writing in dissent, says it gives religious schools a "free pass" to discriminate.
Compiled (in part) from local media
