RHINELANDER - When non-profits host special events in Rhinelander, they fill out an application, and pay $10 to get a temporary liquor license.
But if a bar or restaurant wants to do the same, there's no formal application and no fee for expanding an existing liquor license.
Rhinelander city council member Alex Young wants to change that. Right now, the council reviews special events on a case-by-case basis.
That uses up committee and city staff time. Young wants to charge a fee because of the cost of that time to the city. He also believes a formal application would simplify the process.
"We never really had a consistent set of guidelines or consistent set of requirements for people to seek that," Young said. "So that's hopefully something we can address through the permitting process."
The city council is trying to make it easier for both non-profits and businesses to host special events.
It is working on a special events packet to guide people through the complicated permitting process. Young hopes that will benefit the entire city.
"Holding events like that is a draw to the area and brings people in, then hopefully they'll move on and patronize some of the businesses in the area and so forth," he said. "And it's just good for the community, to provide events and things for people to do."
The Protection of Persons and Property Committee will vote on the liquor license fee Monday night.
If it passes, it moves forward to the full council for a vote.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin ttalking politics at Marquette University
Submitted: 04/23/2014
MILWAUKEE - Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is scheduled to talk politics during an hour-long forum at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Baldwin's office says she'll discuss health care reform, immigration, minimum wage and Washington's political divide at Wednesday's event.
The 52-year-old was elected to the Senate in 2012. She previously spent 14 years in Congress, and before that was in the state Assembly for six years.
She serves on the Senate's budget committee, as well as committees involving homeland security, health, aging and natural resources.
A Marquette Law School poll last month said her favorable and unfavorable ratings were both 35 percent. Another 27 percent said they didn't know enough about her to form an opinion.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
GREEN BAY - Two people convicted of mistreating cows at a Brown County dairy farm have been fined hundreds of dollars.
Lucia Martinez pleaded no contest Tuesday to two counts of mistreating animals, and Abelardo Jaimes pleaded no contest to one count. As part of a plea deal the charge was downgraded from a misdemeanor to a forfeiture.
Prosecutor David Lasee says with fines and court costs, Martinez will owe about $1,100, while Jaimes will have to pay $600 to $700.
Martinez, Jaimes and two others were charged after Mercy for Animals, an animal-rights group, secretly recorded workers beating injured cows.
Jaimes' attorney, Luca Lopes Fagundes, says workers were told they needed to make sure sick cows didn't remain down because they could die.
A message left with Martinez's attorney wasn't immediately returned.
MADISON - An aide to a Wisconsin lawmaker says Gov. Scott Walker intends to sign a bill that would put outside agencies in charge of investigating officer-involved deaths.
Craig Trost, an aide to Rep. Chris Taylor, says in an email that Walker's office notified Taylor's office that he plans to sign the bill Wednesday.
Taylor, a Madison Democrat, and Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, developed the legislation in response to three high-profile deaths in the last 10 years. None of those incidents resulted in criminal charges.
Supporters say the new requirements will counter claims that police protect their own from consequences of using deadly force. But police observers say the bill could create conflict and confusion for Wisconsin agencies that have traditionally done the investigations themselves.
The bill passed the Legislature earlier this year.
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