Thursday, 1.16
State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) acknowledges that she won't be running for governor, as expected. The announcement leaves Madison school board member Mary Burke as the only declared major Democratic challenger. Vinehout, who is considered more liberal than Burke, broke her arm in a December car accident, requiring surgery. The injury is cited as the main reason for her withdrawing.
A UW-Madison librarian, 62-year-old Edith Dixon, is killed by a truck backing up on Lake Street by Mendota Court.
Friday, 1.17
The Associated Press reports that Marcia Mercedes Perkins of Milwaukee has filed to run as a Democrat for governor. Although she does not appear to have any political experience, Perkins also filed to run for governor in 2010 but could not get the needed 2,000 nominating signatures.
Monday, 1.20
Madison police respond to a call of a man passed out in a car in Woodman's parking lot on Milwaukee Street. The 32-year-old allegedly admits telling police he just shot up with heroin.
Tuesday, 1.21
The Middleton-Cross Plains School District announces that Andrew Harris, who was fired from Glacier Creek Middle School in 2010 for looking at porn while at work, will begin teaching at Kromrey Middle School on Friday. In 2012, an arbitrator ruled that Harris had been unfairly fired. The school district appealed to the state Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case, forcing the district to comply with the arbitrator's decision.
Wednesday, 1.22
Gov. Scott Walker gives his annual State of the State address to the Legislature, unveiling a tax-cut plan that would save the average Wisconsin family $150. It would also shave $504 million from the budget.
The State Journal reports that a bill before the Legislature would exempt a single lot on the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal from the oversight of the state Department of Natural Resources. Cliff Tebon has been trying to build a house on the lot since 1995, but the DNR has forbidden it, arguing it would endanger the bay's water quality. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay), who recently announced he would not run for reelection, tells the paper: "I can't see how this little postage-stamp piece of property is going to ruin the whole world."
