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Jan. 28, 2010 3:24 p.m. | Five Wisconsin school districts' legal claims can go forward against banks that district officials say misled them to invest millions of dollars of borrowed money in risky investments, a judge decided Thursday.
In an oral ruling, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William W. Brash III denied motions to dismiss the districts' lawsuit against Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, RBC Europe and RBC Holdings.
In ruling for the districts, Brash employed a minimal standard that considered only whether they could show a violation of the law if everything they claimed were proved true.
The districts will have a tougher time backing up their claims as the lawsuit proceeds, said Brian Cahill, an attorney for Stifel, Nicolaus.
"Now, the next step comes, which is much more expensive for everybody involved," he said.
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By MARY BUCKLEY
Aug. 31, 2010 10:24 a.m. | Whitefish Bay police have arrested a Milwaukee man they believe is responsible for as many as seven burglaries in the village and neighboring Shorewood.
Police received a call of a prowler in the 1500 block of East Cumberland Boulevard about 1:30 a.m. Monday, according to police.
Responding officers located a suspect who matched the description provided by the caller and arrested him. The facts of this incident closely resemble recent entries to residences in both Whitefish Bay and Shorewood in which homes were entered by cutting first floor window screens at night while residents slept.
Police Chief Robert Jacobs said there were four incidents in Whitefish Bay and three in Shorewood in recent weeks.
The suspect remains in custody, and charges are being sought through the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.
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By Steven L. Tietz
Aug. 27, 2010 10:58 p.m. | If you looked at the halftime statistics of Whitefish Bay's season-opening football game with defending Classic 8 Conference champion Waukesha West Friday, you'd think the Blue Dukes would have been ahead.
The Blue Dukes ran off an astounding 45 plays to the Wolverines' 18 and outgained them 204-184 with a 13-7 first down advantage.
But because statistics are known to lie, Bay found itself actually down 20-13 at the half as the Wolverines had scoring drives of just one, three and five plays, respectively, and when West exposed the Blue Dukes youthfulness in the secondary early in the second half, the game was over quickly.
In the space of just 10 offensive plays in the third quarter, West scored 21 points on minimal drives of one, two and seven plays, respectively, in finishing off a 41-13 rout.
"They were just gashing us," said Blue Duke coach Jim Tietjen, "and in doing that we discovered a few things tonigh about ourselves, like the fact that we need to get a few older kids in the secondary." Bay started three sophomores and a junior in the defensive backfield.
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Aug. 26, 2010 12:18 p.m. | We're just hours away from the first official games of the 2010 high school football season and there is no better way to find out the latest news on your favorite team then to check out NOW's comprehensive football preview page.
The page is packed with videos on area teams, a roundtable discussion from our sportswriters previewing the top teams to watch, position by position breakdowns, an interactive poll, photo gallery and more.
Go to NOW's 2010 football preview section.
By
Tom Tolan and
Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 23, 2010 11:46 p.m. | Basement flooding in Whitefish Bay over the weekend was caused by somebody popping a sanitary sewer manhole cover, presumably to drain a flooded street, according to a statement from the village government.
Meanwhile, the Shorewood Village Board on Monday night adopted a plan laying out steps the village will take following serious flooding there last month.
Both North Shore suburbs suffered some of the worst damage in the massive flooding that hit Milwaukee County on July 15 and 22.
The release from Whitefish Bay said that one of the contractors working on E. Fairmount Ave. street and sewer construction discovered Saturday morning that somebody had tampered with and dislodged a sanitary manhole cover at Fairmount and Cumberland Blvd.
Village Manager James Grassman was sharply critical of whoever had popped the manhole cover, though he conceded they might have thought they were helping.
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By
Amy Hetzner of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 17, 2010 5:08 p.m. | The credit rating for the Whitefish Bay School District has been downgraded for the second time this year following school officials' refusal to settle a debt with a European bank that helped purchase $10 million in investments now believed worthless.
The Aa3 rating assigned to the district by Moody's Investors Service is the second lowest rating for Wisconsin districts.
Lower credit ratings can translate into higher interest costs for long-term debt. According to Moody's, Whitefish Bay was scheduled to issue $8 million in general obligation promissory notes on Tuesday to pay for construction authorized by voters last year in a referendum.
Whitefish Bay Superintendent Mary Gavigan and business manager Shawn Yde could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Whitefish Bay School District was one of five Wisconsin school systems that borrowed money from DEPFA Bank through district-run trusts in 2006 to help fund a total of $200 million worth of investments in collateralized debt obligations meant to help pay employee retirement benefits. Those investments have since gone sour, triggering a lawsuit against two investment banks that helped set up the deals and causing DEPFA to pressure the districts to return about $160 million that it is owed.
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By MARY BUCKLEY
Aug. 17, 2010 3:54 p.m. | Village officials hope to make the termination of the Oak Leaf Trail at Wilson Drive safer with the installation of new signs.
The Village Board approved signs indicating 300 feet to the intersection that will be placed under existing signs showing bicycles.
The village will also plant signs on the pavement on Wilson Drive indicating the upcoming trail.
On the trail itself, bikers and walkers will be warned that Wilson Drive traffic does not stop for them, with a yield to oncoming traffic sign.
The cost for all the new signs is about $1,000.
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Aug. 12, 2010 1:40 p.m. | A physician from Whitefish Bay has pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges.
Leon Terry, 68, understated his income for 2005 by $186,711, thereby cutting his tax liability by $71,690, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office.
The understatement was part of a three-year pattern, according to the news release, but Terry pleaded guilty Wednesday to making just the one false income tax return, the release states.
Terry, a neurologist, faces a possible maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000, though he would likely be sentenced to less at his hearing in December.
Aug. 12, 2010 8:04 a.m. | With just a few days left of the Wisconsin State Fair, you still have time to score free tickets from NOW Newspapers.
All you have to do is "like" NOW Newspapers on Facebook and respond to our last status update and tell us your favorite story from our papers this week.
A random drawing will be held at 8 a.m. Friday and announced on Facebook.
Winners will receive a four-pack of tickets to the fair, which begins runs to Sunday. Winners will have to pick up the tickets in our Waukesha office, 1741 Dolphin Drive, Suite A, 53186.
By
Becky Vevea of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 11, 2010 8:28 p.m. | Whitefish Bay - A home sustained about $50,000 in damage after a basement fire Wednesday afternoon, according to the North Shore Fire Department.
The fire, in the 4600 block of Elkhart Ave., was contained in the basement, where officials say there was no working smoke detector. An alarm on a different level of the house was going off when responders arrived.
In a news release the fire department reminds residents to make sure they have working smoke detectors that are tested monthly on all levels of the home.
No one was injured in the incident and the cause of the fire is being investigated.
By
Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 09, 2010 7:00 a.m. | A block occupied by the former Schmidt & Bartelt funeral home, in Whitefish Bay, and a former law office is being marketed as a new development site.
The 32,400-square-foot site is on the north side of W. Silver Spring Drive, between Lydell and Bay Ridge avenues, said Jim Grassman, Whitefish Bay village manager. The former Thomas Bailey law office was recently razed, and the former funeral home, which closed in July, also is apparently slated for demolition.
The site is being listed through broker Mike Fitzgerald, of Mid-America Real Estate Group. Fitzgerald said there are no specific plans yet for the site, which could be used for retail or office, including medical offices.
The site is about two blocks east of Bayshore Town Center, in Glendale.
By Adam Mccoy
Aug. 05, 2010 10:30 p.m. | 
A standing-room only crowd of more than 100 people packed a meeting room at the Shorewood Library Thursday night and peppered officials with questions and complaints about the severe flooding that hit the community last month.
Some residents at the meeting, the first of four town hall sessions on the flooding in the village, held signs that read "Sewerwood" or branded biohazard symbols. Complaints also were heard over the lack of seating as residents lined the wall of the room.
Frustrated residents like Mary Jo Kukoda said the village didn't do enough during the floods that caused at least $1.5 million in damage and affected hundreds of homes.
"Shame on the village of Shorewood, shame on you," Kukoda said.
Other residents asked about potential health issues associated with sewer water in basements and wondered why the village didn't answer phone calls on the Monday following flooding.
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By MARY BUCKLEY
Aug. 03, 2010 10:42 a.m. | The Village Board will likely make a decision later this month on whether to install play equipment at Klode Park.
Members of the Friends of Klode Park group have asked the board to develop a more comprehensive plan that addresses future playground equipment and existing safety issues at the park before moving ahead with adding any equipment.
The village has $36,600 in Community Development Block Grant funds to pay for a new toddler play structure this year. Time is running out for the board to get bids and install a play structure before cold weather.
The Friends group contacted County Supervisor Joe Rice who said the block grant money could be carried forward into next year, but the group was unable to reach the administrator of the program to discuss that option.
Village President Kathleen Pritchard said there is some risk of losing the money if it is not spent this year. Village staff will talk with the county to determine the feasibility of rolling the money over to 2011.
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By MARY BUCKLEY
Aug. 03, 2010 9:18 a.m. | In an overheated room at the library, more than 200 residents Monday night demanded answers from the Village Board - wanting to know what is wrong with the sewer system, why areas of the village near road construction seemed to be harder hit than others and why the village didn't pump overflow sewage directly into Lake Michigan.
Many of those in attendance said they had to clean out their basements twice in a week, after rains on July 15 and the torrential storm on July 22.
Residents told trustees about staggering property losses and asked whether the village would continue to tax damaged property at the current assessment.
Some also were angered by a handout that there give Monday night that showed how clear water can enter private sanitary sewer laterals and cause a bad situation to get worse. Many saw that handout as an indication that the village was blaming residents for the flooding problems.
There were no answers to those questions and countless others from residents, but the board listened for more than three hours.
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Aug. 02, 2010 12:36 p.m. | We've just added the latest home to the Whitefish Bay Historic Preservation Commission's Preserving our Past column. This month's entry is the Werner J. and Beulah L. Trimborn Residence on North Santa Monica Boulevard, a vaulted-tudor style home built in the late 1920s.
Visit the links below for more information on historic homes.
By MARY BUCKLEY
Aug. 02, 2010 10:24 a.m. | The Village Board will meet upstairs in the library, 5430 N. Marlborough Drive, at 7 p.m. tonight in anticipation of a larger than normal crowd. The board will review the flooding that took place in the village July 22 as well as review the play equipment for Klode Park. Both topics are expected to draw extensive public comment.
Village staff estimates more than 30 businesses and 500 houses were flooded during a 500-year rain event July 22. Between 50 and 75 of the houses were also flooded during heavy rains the night of July 14.
Last month residents questioned the selection of playground equipment for the park, suggesting the village should seek more public input. Since then, a Friends of Klode Park group has formed.
Flooding hits the North Shore
Five North Shore police departments are teaming up on a new blog that provides residents with the crime prevention and safety tips, and news about community service projects and events throughout the area.
