Suburban leaders rally against bill on sex offenders

March 09, 2010 3:12 p.m. | Suburban Milwaukee leaders are mobilizing against a bill that would outlaw local ordinances that restrict where sex offenders can live.

A hearing on Assembly Bill 759 is set for Thursday before the state Assembly Committee on Corrections and the Courts.

Franklin Ald. Steve Olson said Tuesday that elected officials from Franklin, Greenfield, Cudahy and possibly other suburbs plan to attend the hearing.

Olson said he thinks the bill would result in Milwaukee sex offenders being released from prison and allowed to live in the suburbs.

"It's an effort by some Milwaukee legislators to again pass something quickly, when nobody sees it, and put their problems on to other communities," Olson said.

Brookfield Central vs. Whitnall, Tosa West basketball photos now online

March 08, 2010 10:30 a.m. | This weekend featured a number of closely contested regional-final boys basketball games and we've posted NOW photojournalist Peter Zuzga's photo galleries from two of the top matchups.

Brookfield Central defeated Whitnall, 73-65, in a regional final Saturday to advance to a sectional semifinal and our photo gallery features more than 20 images from the game.

We also have shots of Wauwatosa West's 78-67 loss to Milwaukee Washington that included a post-game tribute to West coach Mike Landisch.

Brookfield Central vs. Whitnall gallery

Wauwatosa West vs. Washington gallery

Mortag, Lancers defeat Falcons in regional

March 06, 2010 4:49 p.m. | The Brookfield Central boys basketball team overcame a 37-point effort from Whitnall senior Will Pelkofer to defeat the host Falcons, 73-65, in a WIAA Division 1 regional final Saturday.

Central sophomore Seth Mortag had team-highs of 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead a balanced Lancer attack that included five players with double-digit points.

His key block of a layup attempt with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left prevented the Falcons (15-7) from tying the score at 63-63 and gave Central (14-10) one final momentum boost to close out the contest. The Lancers put the game away with a 10-0 following the block.

Pelkofer's 37 points were a season-high and boosted his season total to 515. He finished with 1,166 for his career.

Balance, however, was an issue for the Falcons, who did not have another player with more than nine Saturday.

First of its kind assisted living for women opens in Greenfield

March 04, 2010 10:12 a.m. | Greenfield - An assisted-living home described as the first in Wisconsin for women who are deaf and have cognitive disabilities such as mental retardation has opened at 4324 S. 50th St.

An open house is set for 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday.

The facility, a converted single-family home for four women, is being run by Options for Community Growth Inc. of Hales Corners.

The for-profit company operates 14 residential facilities and a day program for adults with disabilities in Milwaukee County, president John Rathmann said.

Rathmann said there are no other homes of its type in Wisconsin. Adaptations include video phones and beds that vibrate to alert residents to emergencies, he said.

Vote for the All-Suburban Basketball Team and you could win Bucks tickets

March 04, 2010 7:43 a.m. | Want to weigh in on who you think are the best boys basketball players in the suburban area?

Now's your chance, as we're asking high school hoops fans to help us select the annual NOW Newspapers All-Suburban Boys Basketball Team, and the Player of the Year.

We've nominated 14 players to fill 10 spots on the honors team and we're asking you to pick the player that you think is the top basketball player in the NOW Newspapers coverage area.

When the fan voting is over, your votes - along with the votes of our sport staff - will determine the makeup of our All-Suburban Team. And one lucky person will win a pair of lower-level tickets to a Milwaukee Bucks game just for voting!

Vote here.

Whitnall candidates forum set for March 23

March 02, 2010 5:30 p.m. | The Edgerton Elementary School parent-teacher organization will host a Whitnall School Board candidates forum at 6:30 p.m. March 23 in the board room at the high school, 5000 S. 116th St.

Incumbents Suzette Larson and Michael Clarizio, and challengers Stephanie Richter and Jon Jones are running for three seats on the School Board.

The general election is April 6.

UWM to unveil County Grounds campus plans tonight

March 02, 2010 10:06 a.m. | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials will introduce plans tonight for its proposed Innovation Park, which will include an engineering and applied sciences campus, on the County Grounds off Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa.

The plans will be presented to the Wauwatosa Common Council during a Committee of the Whole meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 7725 W. North Ave. The public is welcome to attend the meeting to learn about the proposed project, but there will be no opportunity for comments or questions during the meeting.

Residents who would like to speak to UWM officials can arrive at 6 p.m. and ask questions prior to the meeting.

The next opportunity for public input will occur during the Plan Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

Swing into the 2010 Golf Show with free tickets

March 01, 2010 1:50 p.m. | The 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Golf Show starts Friday, and you could win a pair of free tickets by entering our Twitter and Facebook contests.

On Twitter, simply follow MyCommunityNOW and tweet "I want to win free tickets to the #MKE Golf Show from @MyCommunityNOW. RT to win. Details: http://bit.ly/cPficZ"

A random drawing will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday for the three sets of free tickets, with each winner receiving four tickets. Winners must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.

On Facebook, become a fan of the MyCommunityNOW fan page and respond or write on the wall about a story, photo or some other staff work you saw in one of our papers or on one of our Web sites and tell us what you liked or didn't like about that work. Two winners will be picked during a random drawing at 10 a.m. Thursday with each receiving four free tickets. Winners will be contacted through Facebook and must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.

For more information on the golf show, visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Golf Show Web site.

Greenfield's Bruyette all class after falling in state wrestling 215-pound finals

Feb. 28, 2010 8:05 p.m. | Beaten physically as he was in his 14-2 WIAA state 215-pound finals loss to Beloit Memorial's Alex Polizzi, Greenfield wrestler Patrick Bruyette was nothing but victorious in his reactions and thoughts afterwards.

He reached out and pulled Polizzi to his feet after the final buzzer and clapped him on the back. After shaking hands and then accepting the warm consolation greetings from his coaches, including long-time Hustlin' Hawks mentor Keith Morin, he looked around and made sure he found the Memorial coaches so he could congratulate them too.

And he was only getting started, as the first Greenfield finalist since 1989 152-pound state champ Billy Kumprey wanted to spread the joy of the great experience he had at state.

"I think strength-wise, he (Polizzi) and I are about 50/50," Bruyette said, "but he has so much more experience in greco-roman and freestyle wrestling, while I'm all folkstyle (high school wrestling). He used that experience against me because I don't see a lot of that."

"But it was an honor to be here (in the finals). In fact, it's an honor for the team and for everyone in the middle school program. For that matter, it was a Woodland Conference effort too."

State wrestling photos now online

Feb. 26, 2010 10:15 a.m. | We've just posted a photo gallery featuring more than 20 images from yesterday's opening round of the WIAA Division 1 individual state wrestling tournament.

Competitors from Brookfield, Franklin, Germantown, New Berlin, Nicolet, Muskego, Oak Creek, West Allis, Whitnall and Whitefish Bay are featured.

See NOW photojournalist Peter Zuzga's photo gallery.

Whitnall School Board shoots down restructuring plan

Feb. 23, 2010 8:06 a.m. | The Whitnall School Board on Monday night soundly rejected a proposal to reconfigure the district's elementary schools.

The board's 6-1 vote came after residents packed the board's meeting room in a 50-minute special forum prior to the board meeting. Many of them were parents of elementary school children, and everyone who spoke asked board members to keep the schools structured the way they are.

The proposal would have shifted Hales Corners Elementary to a school for students in 4-year-old kindergarten through second grade, and Edgerton Elementary for students in third through fifth grade.

Administrators proposed the reconfiguration because it would save at least $280,000 by cutting four teachers, and would also help balance the enrollment at the schools.

But parents said the proposal was rushed, would lead to a difficult transition for students and would only be a short-term fix for the schools' enrollment issues.

Man accused of stealing panties at open houses

Feb. 23, 2010 8:02 a.m. | A Hales Corners man has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of theft after police say he attended real estate open houses in the Milwaukee area and stole women's underwear from the homes.

According to Wauwatosa police:

Robert Remiker, 58, attended open houses in the 2300 block of North 62nd Street in Wauwatosa, as well as Greenfield and Franklin. Realtors and other visitors to the Wauwatosa open house said they saw Remiker opening drawers and taking items. When he was stopped by police, they found plastic bags containing eight pairs of underwear and printouts of Internet listings for area open houses.

Remiker told officers he was taking the items because he missed his ex-wife. He said he had about 50 more pairs at the home he lived in with his parents.

A look into his criminal history showed he had been arrested in 2004 for disorderly conduct and trespassing in the town of Brookfield for peeping into a neighbor's bathroom by attaching a stick to a mirror and putting it near a window.

Threat, gas force some to evacuate homes in Greenfield

Feb. 22, 2010 4:24 p.m. | Several residents in the 6300 block of Leroy Ave. in Greenfield were evacuated from their homes Monday afternoon after a 45-year-old man told police he was trying to fill up his house with gas, Greenfield Police Capt. Paul Schlecht said.

The man was described as distraught when he called police at 1:48 p.m. and made the threatening statement, Schlect said.

Officers arrived and could smell gas outside the house where the man was located, he said.

The fire department and We Energies were called and several nearby residents who were home were evacuated, Schlecht said. As that was taking place the man, who was originally uncooperative, came outside the home and turned himself over to police, Schlecht said. No one else was inside the house, he said.

Schlecht said he did not know if the man was armed. Police were questioning the man, and investigation is continuing.

DA finds no problem with primary vote count at nursing home

Feb. 22, 2010 2:02 p.m. | The Milwaukee County District's Office has examined the absentee ballot procedures at the Mount Carmel nursing home and found nothing irregular occurred during Tuesday's primary election.

The district attorney's office was asked to look into it after one of the candidates, Donald Carlson, picked up 73 votes out of 102 ballots cast in Ward 16, which includes Mount Carmel. Carlson is employed at Mount Carmel, 5700 W. Layton Ave., as an activity therapy manager.

Incumbent Cathy Walsh placed second in that ward with 29 votes. That margin of 44 between the first- and second-place vote-getter was easily the widest among the 21 wards in Greenfield. Voters could pick two candidates out of five on the ballot.

Carlson, who received 45 percent of the vote in the rest of the city, received 72 percent of the ballots cast in Ward 16. In fact, Carlson captured a higher percentage of the vote in that ward that he did in the ward in which he lives (65 percent).

The district attorney's office found that all of the balloting at Mount Carmel was handled property by authorized voting deputies, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf said Monday. The office considers the matter closed.

Lawyer charged with embezzling $2.4 million from client

Feb. 22, 2010 1:26 p.m. | A 46-year-old Greenfield lawyer was charged Monday with embezzling more than $2.4 million he had recovered for a Texas-based corporate client over five years.

Thomas H. Koch told investigators he spent most of the money gambling at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, according to a criminal complaint.

If convicted, Koch faces up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

Koch declined to comment, but his attorney, Steve Kohn, called it a tragic case of someone with an addiction and access to someone else's money.