Governor Walker signs bill that will make fourth offense drunk driving a felony

MADISON -- A statement from the Governor's Office indicates Governor Scott Walker on Monday, April 25th signed into law a bill cracking down on drunk driving.Walker signed Senate Bill 455 into law Monday morning at the Capitol in Madison -- one of seven bills signed by Walker in Madison Monday.The bill will make fourth offense drunk driving a felony -- regardless of when it was committed.

41,000 booted off Wisconsin FoodShare, 12,000 find jobs in first year of work requirement

MILWAUKEE -- Taxpayers have spent $60 million on new work requirements that have kicked three times as many Wisconsinites off of food benefits than those who found jobs.One year after the state began forcing people to work or actively look for jobs in order to remain on the FoodShare assistance program, a report released Wednesday showed that 11,971 people had found jobs.

Gov. Walker issues state of emergency due to elevated wildfire conditions

MADISON — Governor Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency due to elevated wildfire conditions across the state.Walker issued an executive order declaring an emergency on Thursday, April 21st.The order calls on all state agencies to help as they can with wildfire response and recovery efforts and allows Wisconsin National Guard leaders to activate units as necessary to help.According to the order, the state has been experiencing abnormally dry conditions with high winds, low humidity and drought conditions.A new website the Department of Natural Resources has developed for tracking wildfires in real time showed two fires on Thursday.

Governor Walker signs bills cracking down on child abuse, sex trafficking

Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday, April 19th signed a half-dozen bills cracking down on child abuse and sex trafficking.The bills would require the state to develop a procedure for investigating abuse of a disabled child; create the crime of repeated physical abuse of a child; and expand the definition of child sex trafficking to include transporting a child for commercial sex.The legislation also would require the state, county social services and child welfare agencies to report a missing child to police within eight hours; transfer $1 million from drug enforcement and the state's crime labs to combat Internet crimes against children; and make parents who photograph nude children for sexual arousal guilty of a felony.Walker signed the bills Tuesday at various stops around the state.Attorney General Brad Schimel joined Walker for the signing events.

Wisconsin Justice Department fires former prison chief, Ed Wall

MADISON — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says that he has fired the state's former prisons secretary after an investigation.State Department of Justice staff notified former Corrections Secretary Ed Wall of his termination on Friday, Schimel said.

Advocates issue another letter to Gov. Walker -- asking him to restore food assistance to thousands

MADISON -- A broad coalition of advocates, hunger relief providers and religious and fraternal organizations on Tuesday, April 12th sent a letter to Governor Scott Walker calling for him immediately restore food assistance to thousands of Wisconsinites.Last month, Senator Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI 3), Gwen Moore (D-WI 4) and Mark Pocan (D-WI 2) sent a letter to Governor Walker calling on him to request and reinstate the federal waiver for 20 counties and 10 cities with high unemployment rates.These advocates say Governor Walker needs to do something about the number of people in Wisconsin who are going hungry, but Governor Walker says those in need need to be enrolled in his administration's job training program in order to get food benefits from the state.The letter issued Tuesday reads, in part: