Balmy (for us) weather returns; GOP Assembly speaker urges more cooperative stance; more briefs

Talk about it

It’s quite a bit warmer in Wisconsin than it was yesterday at this time.

It was 36 degrees in Sparta at 7 a.m. after it got down to just 12 above at the same hour the previous day.

Most places in the state were in the 30’s overnight thanks to a fresh cloud cover that moved in.

Forecasters say the clouds will stick around at least until this evening. It’s not supposed to totally clear up until tomorrow, but forecasters say it will remain dry at least through the weekend.

That’s bad news for deer hunters who were hoping to have snow to track the animals when the nine-day gun season begins on Saturday. Daytime highs are projected to be in the 40’s every day through Sunday, and some 50’s are possible in southwest Wisconsin tomorrow.

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GOP Assembly speaker urges more cooperative stance

The Wisconsin Assembly’s new speaker has told his Republican colleagues to focus on a more cooperative future after a tense and polarized session over the past two years.

Robin Vos, a conservative hardliner, vowed to set a new tone and work with minority Democrats. The Racine County lawmaker was elected Tuesday as the new speaker.

Vos outlined an aggressive agenda that includes income tax cuts, education reforms and incentives for mining. He told fellow Republicans to try to listen to all of Wisconsin. He said a single party or chamber does not have a monopoly on good ideas.

But Vos and his fellow Republicans also took a dig at Senate Democrats. They cheered loudly when they learned during their caucus that first-term Milwaukee Democrat Chris Larson was elected the Senate’s minority leader.

“Sometimes, God gives you a gift,” Vos told his colleagues.

Larson wouldn’t respond and said, “I do believe we can find a way to work together.”

Larson is the Senate’s biggest critics of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. After last week’s elections, Larson lamented the Republicans’ return to power in the Senate, saying they treated Democrats like “pieces of furniture” in the last session.

When the new session begins, Republicans will control the Senate 18-15 and the Assembly 60-39.

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In one Milwaukee ward, it was Obama-714, Romney-1

A voting pattern discovered in Philadelphia has nearly been duplicated in Milwaukee.

The City of Brotherly Love reportedly had several precincts where there was not one vote for Republican Mitt Romney.

The Milwaukee Election Commission reports no instances of a complete shutout for the presidential candidate – but close.

One ward at Douglas Complex School recorded one vote for Romney and 714 for President Obama. At another ward the vote was 818 to two in the president’s favor.

There were six wards on Milwaukee’s north side where Romney received only two votes, and 40 of Milwaukee’s 327 wards saw the Republican candidate managing to get 10 or fewer votes.

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There was no contest so voters made their own

In Sheboygan County, almost 1,000 people wrote in somebody’s name against District Attorney Joe DeCecco, who was unopposed last week.

The Sheboygan Press said over 2,500 write-ins were entered. The choices included Perry Mason, the fictional defense lawyer who would have had to jump on the other side had he been elected district attorney.

Rock star Ted Nugent – who’s an outspoken Republican gun advocate in his spare time – got votes for president, Congress and district attorney, among others.

Elvis and Bob Dylan got votes as did TV and movie stars Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon. Past and present political leaders were written in, and so were a lot of the Green Bay Packers.

DeCecco has been an outspoken critic on some criminal justice issues, and he figures that some of the those who wrote in names held that against him. He also thought some people wanted to make a statement without wasting a write-in on somebody who was contested on the ballot.

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Pianist hopes profits from tour will save home from foreclosure

A piano performer who’s a holiday fixture in Wisconsin has a house that’s in foreclosure near Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal said Lorie Line has been trying since last month to sell her 8,500 square foot home on Lake Minnetonka in Orono.

A foreclosure case was filed because Line and her husband Tim still owe just over $2 million on a mortgage with a bank in New York. A sheriff’s auction is scheduled for Dec. 12.

Lorie Line has recorded over 40 albums since 1989 and has had Christmas tours in Wisconsin for years.

Tim Line said the couple is looking for a smaller house because their kids have grown and moved out. The original asking price was $4 million. The Business Journal said the 3.6 acre spread is assessed at $2.9 million.

Tim Line said the couple expects to satisfy the bank’s requirement with profits from Lorie Line’s 39-day tour which starts tomorrow in Indianapolis. There are 34 cities on the tour, including Eau Claire, Wisconsin Rapids and Appleton.

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Woman confesses to shooting both husband and lover

A woman accused of killing her lover in Wisconsin has admitted slaying her husband in Minnesota.

Angelina O’Mara, 39, was in the fourth day of her Minnesota trial when she pleaded guilty Tuesday to her first-degree murder charge.

She admitted taking a .22-caliber rifle to James O’Mara’s apartment in Sauk Rapids, Minn., and shooting him once in the head as he was lying on a couch. That happened Oct. 28 of last year.

A few days later, police in far northern Wisconsin said the woman’s boyfriend, Michael Pies of Blaine Minn., was found shot to death at a motel room in Ashland.

Angelina O’Mara is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21 in Benton County, Minn., for her husband’s murder. Once that case is finalized, officials say she’ll face a first-degree intentional homicide charge in Ashland County in Pies’ death.

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Foreclosure mediation, fairly successful in Milwaukee, will be tried in other cities

An official with the Metro Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program says about half of the cases it handles works out in a way the home is retained.

That program started in 2009 and its record of success is why it is expanding statewide.

Leaders say they are looking for attorneys and experienced mediators to serve as volunteers to commit one half day per month. The Wisconsin Department of Justice provides the funding.

Regional centers are being established in Wausau, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Oshkosh and Green Bay. A training program for volunteers will be held in Wausau Nov. 29 and 30 with the application deadline Nov. 24.

Tags: state news, news, politics, crime