3.12 Wednesday
Ald. Larry Palm confirms that a prospective developer for the old Royster-Clark fertilizer plant on Madison's east side has backed out. Urban Solutions, a local company, was deterred by the cost of demolition and of cleaning up the 26-acre site, which is contaminated with benzene, a carcinogen.
Daycare provider Jennifer Hancock, 37, is ordered to stand trial for the death of a 4-month-old baby. She is also charged with one other count of child abuse. Lincoln Wilber, who suffered from head trauma, was taken off life support last September.
3.13 Thursday
Madison police say DNA evidence has cleared Andrew Clark, 33, as a suspect in a brutal rape. Police say Clark did not assault a 25-year-old woman in her home on Jana Lane in December 2006. He is still facing charges for two similar incidents last year, where a man attacked women in their homes.
3.15 Saturday
A fleeing suspect rams two police cars, injuring two Madison police officers. Richard Kudish, 58, of Sun Prairie is eventually caught when he crashes his car on Marston Avenue. He's charged with recklessly endangering safety and driving without a license. Police were chasing Kudish because he was suspected of trying to entice two teenagers the day before.
3.17 Monday
Michael Crawford, 54, of Madison, is charged with first-degree reckless endangerment for allegedly hitting a Wal-Mart employee with his car after she tried to stop him and an accomplice from stealing a TV set. Patricia Rice, 18, of Stoughton, is also charged with retail theft for stealing the TV.
The Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee, an independent monitoring group created by the State Bar, calls on state Supreme Court candidate Michael Gableman to issue an apology and pull "a highly offensive and misleading" TV ad attacking his opponent, Justice Louis Butler. Gableman's campaign defends the ad, which pictures Butler alongside a convicted rapist.
3.18 Tuesday
The Madison police announce that burglaries increased 26.6% from 2006 to 2007, which accounts for an overall increase of 5.5% in serious crimes in the city. The police say they will create a countywide taskforce to address the issue.
3.19 Wednesday
Yenna Phillips, 88, of Middleton, is found in the Greyhound bus terminal in St. Louis, a day after she disappeared from her home in Middleton. Police say Phillips, who suffers from dementia, was confused about her whereabouts.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, Citizen Action of Wisconsin releases an estimate that the war will cost state residents $1.3 billion in 2008. The group says the money could instead have been used to build 89 new elementary schools, provide health care for 861,342 people, give 198,642 college scholarships, and hire 29,904 new public safety officers.
Compiled from local media
