1-23-14 windchill advisory extended

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE-INCLUDING FDL AND DODGE COUNTIES
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1123 AM CST THU JAN 23 2014

...BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY...



...WIND CHILL ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM CST FRIDAY...

THE WIND CHILL ADVISORY IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM CST FRIDAY.

* WIND CHILL VALUES...10 TO 20 BELOW THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON...FALLING TO 20 TO 30 BELOW THIS EVENING...THEN 25 TO 34 BELOW OVERNIGHT. WIND CHILLS WILL RECOVER BACK ABOVE 20 BELOW BY MID-MORNING FRIDAY.

* IMPACTS...THIRTY MINUTE EXPOSURE OF YOUR SKIN TO WIND CHILLS OF THIS LEVEL CAN LEAD TO FROSTBITE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.  IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES.

1-23-14 fdl council postpones vote on lifting citywide sidewalk bicycle ban

The Fond du Lac city council has postponed a vote on a proposal to rescind a citywide sidewalk bicycle ban.   The council voted unanimously to push off the issue until the council’s first meeting in March to provide more time for public outreach.   Council president Sam Meyer says his initial reaction is a safety concern if bicycles are allowed on sidewalks.  City manager Joe Moore says under state law bicycles are banned on sidewalks unless municipalities enact their own ordinance.  The issue has been focused on downtown sidewalks where  Fond du Lac Downtown Partnership director Amy Hansen says downtown there’s not

enough room for a bicycle lane on Main Street.   Hansen says several business owners don’t want to discourage people from coming downtown.  Hansen says the bike ban was implemented for safety reasons, but she says police could still ticket a bicyclist who is riding in an unsafe manner.

1-23-14 state of state address

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker says in his State of the State speech that extra money collected thanks to an improving national economy should be returned to the people as property and income tax cuts.  Walker said in his speech Wednesday that "The state of our state is strong and improving every day. He says, "The economy is dramatically better and our finances are in great shape."  But Democrats say his tax cut plan is irresponsible and some Republican senators say they want to reduce the state's projected deficit rather than grow it as Walker's plan would do.  The speech is Walker's fourth State of the State and comes as he is running for re-election in November. Democrat Mary Burke, a former Trek Bicycle Corp. executive, is challenging him.

1-23-14 proposed tax cut-senate majority leader

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the growth in a projected budget shortfall caused by Governor Scott Walker's proposed tax cut plan is "definitely a concern." But Fitzgerald says today that Republicans are looking at whether the growth in the projected shortfall in 2015 would be erased by increased tax collections. Fitzgerald says it would only take revenue growth of 1.5 percent to erase the projected shortfall.

1-23-14 health overhaul-wi

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A new report says the federal health care law could spell additional tax penalties for Wisconsin businesses with a large number of low-income employees.  Starting next year, employers will face a tax penalty if their workers get subsidized coverage through the federal online exchanges instead of through Medicaid.  In states that agreed to expand their Medicaid programs, large employers won't be hit with tax penalties. But Wisconsin isn't expanding its Medicaid coverage. It only agreed to delay by three months the date when 77,000 people just above the federal poverty line will lose Medicaid coverage.  A report released Wednesday by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. says if Wisconsin doesn't expand Medicaid, employers could face total tax penalties ranging from $25 million to $37 million.

1-23-14 emerald ash borer firewood restrictions

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' board has approved tighter firewood movement restrictions to slow the emerald ash borer's spread.  The DNR in 2006 prohibited out-of-state firewood on state properties. The following year it prohibited people from bringing firewood onto state lands from further than 50 miles out. In 2010 the agency shrunk that radius to 25 miles.  The agency asked the Natural Resources Board to reduce the radius to 10 miles and allow out-of-state firewood if it came from within 10 miles. DNR officials say they want to make the change because emerald ash borer infestations are rising around the state and models show the tighter perimeter can significantly slow the beetle's spread.  The Natural Resources Board approved the new perimeter on a 5-2 vote Wednesday.

1-23-14 flu season at its peak

BELOIT, Wis. (AP) — Health experts say the flu season in Wisconsin is at its peak and is striking younger patients.  Wisconsin influenza surveillance coordinator Thomas Haupt says the state is recording 50 to 70 hospitalizations a week.  Haupt says there seems to be fewer total influenza cases this year compared with last season. But he says the difference this year is the age of those with the most serious cases of influenza.  Haupt says the two age groups with the most hospitalizations are patients ages 18-to-49 and those 50-to-64. He says last year the over-65 group was the most affected.  Rock County Health Officer Karen Cain tells the Beloit Daily News (http://bit.ly/KIstqa ) it's still not too late to get a flu shot, since flu season in Wisconsin can run through March or April.