Sgt. Andrew Bossert, 24, of Fountain City, Wis., died Monday in Iraq. Bossert was at a checkpoint when a car passing through exploded. This was Bossert's fifth year in the army; he joined after graduating from Fountain City High School. Bossert was serving in an engineering division that arrived in Iraq in August 2004.
The Republican leaders of the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee announced Wednesday that when the time comes to vote on individual programs in the state budget, the committee will largely use their own plans rather than Gov. Jim Doyle's budget proposal.
Co-chairs Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, said in a statement Wednesday that Doyle's budget is iddled with gimmicks"" and would be a bad deal for Wisconsin residents.
""It would be irresponsible for our committee to use it as the base of our work,"" Fitzgerald said.
The Legislature will submit its budget plans for approval in August.
Four men face multiple counts for an ongoing deer poaching operation in Sauk County, according to Wispolitics.com.
Patiently piecing together information passed on to Department of Natural Resource wardens by concerned Sauk County citizens, wildlife officials worked for two years to make arrests in the case.
The men, Michael Huebsch, 23; Daniel Draves, 21; Kenneth Ellestad, 47; and Blaine Maybee, 47, were cited after wardens found 16 deer carcasses, several wild turkeys, two spotlights and a rifle with a homemade silencer at a home near Baraboo, Wis.
The DNR suspects many of the deer were shot from the windows of cars, many near houses.
Dan Rather anchored his final broadcast of CBS Evening News Wednesday evening. Rather served as news anchor for the broadcast since 1981, when he assumed Walter Cronkite's former position.
At the age of 73, Rather is the second of the top three news anchors to retire this year after Tom Brokaw did last November. Rather ended his final transmission by offering a message of courage:
""To my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all. And to each of you, courage. For the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather reporting. Good night.'
